Chapter 111: Rejection

“Hori?”

After parting with Marina near the Academy entrance, I returned to the mansion and headed straight for Hori’s room on the second floor.

With my hand on Shadowstrike’s hilt, I slowly opened the door, but Hori wasn’t inside.

The made bed and thin layer of dust on the desk suggested she hadn’t been here for at least a few days.

It was unlikely she’d anticipated my visit and returned to the dorms. If she wasn’t here, she was almost certainly in that workshop.

I closed the door and headed there immediately, wrinkling my nose at the strange odor emanating from outside the workshop.

No wonder that kid’s body had smelled odd lately. Spending days in here, the scent must have seeped into her.

‘Alright, just you wait…’

Bang!

I kicked open the door and entered, assaulted by a stench far worse than what I’d smelled outside.

The workshop was utter chaos. Papers, presumably research notes, littered not just the desk but the floor as well.

As I carefully stepped around the scattered papers, my foot caught on something.

Thunk. I paused and looked down to find a bucket reeking of blood on the floor.

‘What the hell?’

Curious, I lifted the bucket. Inside was about a third full of congealed blood.

Stunned by the sight, I set the bucket back down. Then I heard the creak of a bed nearby.

That sound… it was definitely from the cot she’d set up for all-nighters.

After a moment, there came a wet, ghostly footstep. Hori appeared, tightly wrapped in a blanket.

“Ian… What brings you here in the middle of the night…?”

Her voice was so weak she sounded terminally ill, and her complexion was even worse.

Her skin was a sickly, pale purple, like a vampire from the original novel.

The bucket I’d seen earlier explained how her skin had changed so drastically in just one day.

“Don’t tell me you tested that medicine you gave me on yourself?”

“What? Of course. I couldn’t give you medicine I hadn’t tried myself. It still needs improvement, so I drank it again and ended up like this.

But Ian, there’s blood on your uniform… Did something happen outside? It feels a bit colder too…”

Having slept here, she seemed unaware of recent events. I briefly explained what had happened while she slept. Hori frowned and asked:

“…What, breached again? And on the night of the ball with heightened security…”

“Don’t be too harsh. How could we stop a determined Archwizard intent on breaking in?”

“That’s true, but… More importantly, if your uniform is soaked in blood, does that mean you fought too?”

“Yeah, but you should’ve warned me about those side effects!! I nearly died!”

I’d come here intending to give Hori a good scolding, but seeing her state, I couldn’t bring myself to strike her lest she actually die.

“……Nearly died?”

“Yeah, I barely stabilized my blood flow with energy manipulation. Otherwise, I might’ve actually died.”

Hori tilted her head, genuinely confused.

“The bleeding is dramatic, but the side effects aren’t lethal… Besides, I took the same medicine and I’m still alive, aren’t I?”

“That’s true, but…”

“Did anything happen that might’ve altered the drug’s effects? Did you take other medication or get exposed to strong mana for a long time…?”

“Strong mana?”

Come to think of it, I had been exposed to the mana Marina and the puppet mage emitted for quite a while before leaving Academy grounds.

“…Could that be why?”

“We’d need to experiment to know for sure, but it’s possible. More importantly, tell me about the fight!! If you used my doping drug, there must have been quite a situation!!”

Hori’s face lit up as if her earlier weakness had been a lie, and she rushed towards me.

“Well… It’s not that impressive a story.”

I didn’t want to bother explaining everything related to the possessed, so I gave Hori an edited version of events.

She seemed bored at first when there was no mention of the drug, but her eyes lit up at the mention of the whip. By the end of the story, she was trembling with excitement.

“This is it!! This is exactly how Father and I envisioned the rational use of a doping drug!!”

“I still don’t understand. Is that really so exciting?”

“Of course it is!! Just imagining you using my drug, coughing up blood, and defeating an otherwise unbeatable foe gets me so excited…!!”

Hori’s excitement was no lie – her face flushed, and a trickle of blood ran from her nose.

“Ah…!! I can’t afford to bleed right now!!”

Hori tore one of the research papers on the floor, rolled it into a ball, and hastily stuffed it into her nose.

However, she’d already lost quite a bit of blood. She swayed, stumbled, and nearly fell backward before I caught her.

“Hey! Are you alright?!”

“I’m fine, but I think I need to rest… Ian, if you think you’ll need to use the drug again, please call me next time…”

With those words, Hori slowly closed her eyes and fell into a sleep-like unconsciousness.

I couldn’t leave her in this cold place without heating, so I carried the collapsed Hori towards the mansion.

“Ah…”

As I headed to the mansion, I glanced up at the sky. The clouds that had filled it earlier had dispersed, and the white moonlight illuminated the snow-covered ground.

‘She’ll need to make stronger drugs in the future, but will her body hold up until then?’

This idiot insisted that stronger drugs must have stronger side effects, so the side effects would surely intensify.

And each time, this fool would test those side effects on her own body.

‘…Should I buy her an orphanage? Or maybe use death row inmates or serious criminals from the domain…’

—Raei  Translations—

Days had passed since the Sword Demon Society’s attack, but the ominous atmosphere felt when Ganryu attacked the previous day was absent.

It was surprising, considering a student had nearly been kidnapped and a fantasy movie scene had played out in the sky.

‘I never imagined being so open about it, since we couldn’t cover it up, would have this effect…’

The attack was too grand to conceal, what with altering the climate during the battle.

The Academy, after deliberation, decided it was better to disclose the truth than to poorly conceal it and fuel anxiety.

Of course, they didn’t reveal the whole truth, but crafted a narrative that was true yet not entirely truthful.

The mage who left after achieving his goal became a mage who fled, barely clinging to life after losing to Marina.

Jessica’s near-kidnapping became a close call where I happened to spot her just as she was about to leave Academy grounds.

This explanation reassured the students who had witnessed the Archwizard’s power firsthand, allowing them to resume their normal lives.

‘Lower nobility need to stay at the Academy for social connections anyway…’

Even high nobility had to remain to avoid accusations of fleeing out of fear.

Thus, while the Academy remained dangerous and nothing had truly changed, the students continued their peaceful days, blissfully unaware.

“Headmaster, isn’t this fraud?”

Marina chuckled elegantly, took a sip of her tea, and slowly set down her cup.

“I’d prefer you call it… information warfare to boost our allies’ morale and calm the public. Nothing good comes from needlessly stoking fear.”

“Fancy words don’t change the essence… But it’s a bit late to bring this up now. By the way, I nearly died because you recklessly spread mana everywhere back then.”

“Nearly died because of me…? What do you mean?”

I explained what had happened that day. Marina’s expression turned contemptuous.

“Ian, how is that my fault? The real problem is Hori creating such a terrible drug that barely qualifies as a failure.”

“…What?”

“You’ve spent too much time with Hori, it seems. Think about it. If she hadn’t deliberately created side effects with her eccentric behavior, you wouldn’t have suffered from them, would you?”

“…You’re right.”

At the time, Hori had lost so much blood that I couldn’t think straight, but if she hadn’t intentionally created side effects, I wouldn’t have nearly died.

“But she says she can’t make the drug without those effects…”

“She may look like a fragile girl, but I bet a few stern words would make her stop such behavior immediately…”

“No, that probably wouldn’t work.”

This was someone who tested drug side effects on her own body. Even torture wouldn’t change her mind.

“Haah… Let’s drop the Hori talk. Why did you call me here?”

“Hori was brought up by you, Ian… Anyway, I called you here today because, gloriously enough, the royal family has expressed their wish to commend you.”

“Commend me?”

“Yes, they want to honor your achievements in thwarting the Pierre family’s plot and repeatedly repelling the Academy’s attackers. While the reward may not be grand, this is truly an honor…”

“I refuse.”

“…Pardon?”

Receiving a commendation meant inevitably kneeling before the king at some point during the process.

But I never knelt before those who didn’t practice Baldo, no matter the circumstances.

Even if it was the king, if he didn’t practice Baldo, he was just a foolish old man to me.