episode_0064

“We do activities that calm the mind.”

“…….”

“First, you dissolve ink like this onto a dish, and write characters with a brush. If you do this, you can relieve the stress from studying, and you can also cultivate your mind.”

“I’ll look elsewhere.”

“Ah, no! Just try it out!”

Celine shook off the senior’s hand holding onto her and left the calligraphy club room with Ashel. A pathetic voice was heard from behind, but she ignored it with a disinterested expression and looked back at Ashel.

“Now, if we just visit the drama club, we’ll have been to all of them.”

Before long, it was around evening. About three hours had already passed since classes ended with history. They were starting to feel hungry, and they had also spent quite a bit of energy going around to all those clubs. There were even cases where they were held up for tens of minutes trying out activities, so by now, they felt like just sitting down somewhere for a bit to rest.

Even Ashel, who considered himself to have a decent amount of stamina for a spellcaster, couldn’t hide the fatigue on his face. However, Celine, where had all the poor stamina she usually showed gone, her face was still overflowing with vitality.

Is it that her stamina drains slowly when she’s doing activities she likes?

Occasionally, there were people like that. Even at first glance, it seemed she had been looking forward to the club activities, so as she went around and looked at each one, it was impossible for her not to feel energized.

Still, seeing her in a good mood, he didn’t feel too bad. Although his stamina was barely holding on, it was still manageable. So, Ashel smiled wryly and nodded his head.

“Let’s go, Drama Club.”

“Alright, this way. If you go around that corner and down to the basement, there’s a theater, right? The club room is behind that.”

A theater in the basement, huh.

Ashel recalled the considerably large theater he had seen while wandering around the academy alone and let out a low murmur.

The academy has quite a few facilities. The theater, used by drama club students or for hosting performances by inviting external theater troupes, was one of them.

A wide stage, audience seating large enough for many people, and various devices to illuminate the stage. What Ashel saw was an empty theater, but its grandeur itself was fully conveyed. It was on a scale that even Ashel, who had seen plays quite often in Weiheim, couldn’t help but momentarily admire. A drama club that regularly rents out such a place. It sparked more interest than the other clubs they had visited so far.

“If you go straight from here…… there it is!”

Talking as they walked, they had arrived inside the theater before they knew it. Celine, who had been walking along the path leading outside, discovered a door standing alone at the end of it and exclaimed. Then, walking with quick steps, she looked back at Ashel.

“Hurry up!”

She looked much more excited than when they were looking around at other clubs. The fact that they visited the drama club last was probably because she had her heart set on this place from the beginning.

Ashel chuckled and followed closely behind her. Celine poked him in the side with her finger, then knocked on the drama club room door.

-Come in~

The answer came back immediately. Celine cleared her throat, saying “Hmmph, hmmph,” once. She carefully opened the door and went inside.

“Welcome~ Prospective member? Or just visiting?”

Perhaps because it was late, there weren’t many people left inside the drama club room. A leisurely-looking female student waved her hand towards the two and spoke to them. Celine replied in a confident voice.

“It’s just a visit for now. We’re looking around today, and we plan to apply tomorrow.”

“Hmm… I see. You have a cautious personality, don’t you? Are you perhaps from the Department of Magic?”

“Yes. I’m Celine, a first-year.”

“I am Ashel.”

Ashel bowed his head in response to Celine’s introduction. Then the female student made a sound of surprise, “Ah,” and clapped her hands together.

“Oh my, that Ashel, the top student of the Department of Magic? The disciple of the Archmage who stirred up the academy?”

“……Yes, that’s correct.”

“Oh my, oh my, oh my. A celebrity has come. Are you okay? It’s been after that incident, you know.”

She asked as she got up from her seat. Ashel nodded his head with a reluctant expression at her attitude, which was friendlier than he expected.

“I’m fine. Thank you for your concern.”

“No problem~ After hearing all about it, it seems you went through a lot. An 8th-circle necromancer isn’t common, and just surviving that is a miracle. You worked hard~”

Her way of speaking was particularly drawn out. But rather than being annoying, it was comfortable to listen to, perhaps thanks to her gentle voice. He felt like she was a person with high tolerance, just like her appearance suggested.

For some reason, he thought of Evelyn, whom he had left at the mansion.

“More than that, talking like this while standing isn’t good, so shall we sit down? Come here~ Which do you prefer, coffee or tea?”

She pointed to an empty sofa and said. The two sat down and replied.

“I’ll have coffee.”

“Me too.”

“Okay~ Just a moment~”

She hummed a tune and began making coffee in a corner of the club room. First, she poured warm water over a cup, then took out coffee beans and ground them herself. Ashel watched the scene and secretly burst out in admiration.

It wasn’t because she made coffee well. It was because both creating water and grinding the beans were done through magic. Using the most basic magic to form high-temperature drinking water, and then forming a high-pressure jet of water with the remaining residual magic. She then put the beans in and ground them like that.

It was quite systematic mana operation. Unlike her gentle impression, the magic she used belonged to the offensive side of the water-stream lineage. Considering that most of the water-stream magic Ashel had seen focused on defense, this was quite unusual.

‘Is she from the Cordelia Magic Tower?’

The Cordelia Magic Tower, which mainly deals with the water-stream lineage. Unlike other magic towers that pursue only one path, it’s a unique organization that continues research by dividing water-stream magic into two branches: defense and offense. She probably belongs to the faction that researches the offensive lineage among them.

Currently, the only water-stream magic one can learn without belonging to a magic tower is defensive magic. This is likely because the publicly known characteristics of water-stream magic are defensive and passive, so the magic towers have only released knowledge related to that.

Therefore, there was no need to doubt her affiliation.

The first magic tower affiliated mage he had seen since Celine. Ashel’s eyes shone, and he tried hard to remember the spell formula she was demonstrating.

“Hey, you’ll end up putting a hole in Reiné’s back like that. What are you staring at so intently?”

At that moment, a cheerful-looking man sat across from the two of them. His bright blonde hair sparkled under the light, and their faces were clearly reflected in his inorganic blue eyes.

He continued speaking with a broad smile.

“Or what? Did you fall in love at first sight? Is that type your preference?”

“…….”

“……If you respond with silence, I get more embarrassed. You really are boring juniors.”

He said that, then crossed his legs confidently and picked up a snack placed on the table.

“Waymond Ormond. A third-year from the Department of Knights, part of the drama club. You said you were here to visit, right?”

“…….”

“Um…… kids? That was a joke just now, so could you please answer? If you keep doing this, I feel like I’ve become the bad guy.”

“Stop bothering the freshmen and come here, Waymond. Why are you acting like a vagrant when it doesn’t suit you?”

Reiné, who had brought the coffee before anyone knew it, sat next to Waymond and said. Waymond replied with an expression of being wronged.

“Because the role I got this time is a third-rate villain. I have to practice like this even normally……”

“If that’s the case, you might as well practice by looking at the script. And when are you going to practice your swordsmanship? Do you know there’s an inter-year competition next month? What if you lose to a junior then?”

“Ah, no more nagging! Bye, juniors! I’m going to practice!”

Waymond appeared so suddenly, and then disappeared just as suddenly. He was a man like the wind.

Ashel watched his retreating back, then took the coffee Reiné handed him and gave a polite bow.

“Thank you.”

“No problem~ Since you came all this way, I have to offer at least this much~ More than that, about the visit… There’s still a lot of time until we perform in the theater, so there isn’t much specific we can show you. Do you want to watch our members practice?”

“Yes, that would be great!”

Celine replied. Reiné looked at her as if she found her cute, then chatted casually until they finished the coffee before getting up.

“Alright, let’s go. I’ll show you around.”

***

What is the soul? What constitutes the essence of a person, the body, or the soul? How can the soul even be defined in the first place? Is it a free spirit trapped in the prison of the body? Or is it an intangible energy reconfigured to fit the body?

Necromancers believed the soul was the essence of existence. That is why they manipulate the souls of the dead (死者) to exert power similar to when they were alive, or undergo modifications to obtain even greater power. They believe that since the body was a prison holding the soul’s limitations, once it is gone, there are no limits to power.

On the other hand, Corpsemancers believed the body was the essence of existence. Their actions of raising already dead corpses again to exert the same or even greater power than when they were alive seem similar to Necromancers at first glance, but their inner workings were completely different. They believe that since the soul has disappeared from the body, they fill that empty space with malice and grasp higher transcendence through death.

They are similar but different. They are the same but wrong.

Therefore, the two types of practitioners fundamentally didn’t get along very well.

The same was true for Virsia and Zervil.

The capital of the Empire. The foremost city on the continent, filled everywhere with vast buildings, all sorts of luxury, and covert activities.

Inside, the interior of a rather luxurious restaurant. Zervil, shrouded in perception-hindering magic, opened his mouth as he looked at Virsia, who was sitting across from him.

“Haven’t seen you in a while, have I? Have you been well?”

“Shut up. Your mouth smells like rotten corpses.”

“Oh dear. Even though I look like this, I brush my teeth diligently. I apologize for the offense.”

At Virsia’s blunt reply, Zervil smiled wryly and shook his head.

Zervil’s temperament varied depending on the grade of the drug he consumed. If he consumed cheap drugs, he became aggressive even if his mental faculties slowed slightly, and if he consumed high-grade ones, he became calmer than usual and his magic power doubled.

The current Zervil had consumed the highest grade among the high-grade ones. His mind was so settled that he could generously overlook Virsia’s disgusted attitude.

It was the appearance most similar to Zervil from when he could still call himself ‘human’, before changing his body into a corpse. Virsia momentarily saw the image of Zervil from several years ago superimposed on him and clicked her tongue.

A gentlemanly yet cruel, merciful yet alien mage. A lunatic who abandoned his humanity in pursuit of transcendence, seeking to challenge divinity by making himself a sacrifice. The perpetrator of an unprecedented massacre, even when searching through history.

Unlike his neat appearance, he was a man whose inside was rotten from the start. A practitioner similar to Virsia, yet with a different feeling. That’s why Virsia didn’t like him very much, regardless of his magic lineage.

In the first place, if it weren’t for the ‘Saint”s summons, she wouldn’t have met him like this. She sighed deeply, pressing her hand on her aching shoulder.

Then Zervil glanced at her shoulder wrapped in bandages and burst out laughing.

“It hasn’t healed yet? It seems you were hit by quite a powerful magic.”

“I was hit by my own magic. I didn’t know he had an artifact that reflected attacks.”

“See? You should have been more careful. I told you. Playing around with your opponent is fine, but before that, you need to thoroughly crush them, didn’t I? You won’t tell me who hit you even if you die, so I don’t know the opponent’s capabilities well, but there’s a saying, isn’t there? What was it…… ‘A cornered mouse bites a cat’, was it?”

“That’s not a proverb I particularly like.”

Virsia let out a deep breath and leaned back in her chair. A banquet was set on the table, but she didn’t touch it and looked at the empty seat.

The Saint, who was the one who organized the meeting, had not yet arrived. Although she knew he was busy with personal matters, she couldn’t help but feel displeased. She crossed her legs and muttered in an annoyed voice.

“Damn it…… When on earth is he planning to arrive?”

“He’ll come when he’s ready. Go ahead and eat. It’d be a waste to leave it.”

“I wouldn’t eat this kind of cheap food even if you gave it to me.”

“Oh…… As expected of someone from royal lineage, you’re different. Your taste buds are quite picky.”

“Royal lineage…….”

Virsia said that, then chuckled and looked back at Zervil.

“So, how’s uncovering the identity of my younger sibling’s disciple going?”

“It’s going well. Our loyal demon worshippers bring back information effectively.”

“…….”

“Fortunately, it seems it’s the person I was looking for. I didn’t know they would have grown so well; it’s quite moving. How regrettable it would have been if I had killed them there.”

“So? You’ve got the information, so what are you going to do? Is that just the end of it?”

“Of course not. It’s the child I let go. I have to see the results of their growth myself.”

Zervil smiled broadly and continued speaking.

“I’m thinking of going and doing a moderate attack.”

“……That’s a thought typical of you.”

“Thank you for the compliment. More than that, what about you? The plan to exterminate the royal family. When are you planning to finish that? Lady Ena is still walking around perfectly fine, isn’t she? When on earth are you going to kill her, and when are you planning to claim?”

“That’s why I came to this meeting.”

Virsia, feeling a presence that had drawn near before she knew it, turned her head towards it and said.

“The Saint said he could help me.”

Where her gaze was directed.

A man wearing pure white priestly robes and with flowing red hair walked towards the two. Virsia looked at him with a disgusted expression and clicked her tongue.

His appearance was one, but what constituted it was not one. A being who served the Parasitic Demon and directly received its grace. Referring to himself as the Saint, a colony of hundreds of thousands of parasites whose every organ and body part repeated individual consciousness and actions as separate parasitic bodies.

[It’s been a while, everyone.]

The very person who overthrew the Magic Kingdom smiled at the two.

쩌저적.

Beyond the corners of his opened mouth, spider-like parasites clung together and crawled.