Ch.11. Return to the Past

A universal truth for all living beings in this world: when the heart is pierced, death follows.

Regardless of complicated reasons like excessive bleeding or whatever, the fact remains that the warmth of a living being gradually cools.

Unless, of course, someone somehow manages to save a person on the brink of death.

So I was alive.

The knife that had pierced my heart was gone, and at some point, I stopped feeling the pain.

“That person… must have helped me?”

It must have been him who saved my dying body. There was only one voice I heard nearby. How many people would have been willing to save me in the first place?

For now, it seemed best to thank my benefactor and move somewhere else. But…

“This is… my dormitory?”

Only after regaining consciousness did I realize something was strange.

I had thought perhaps my dead body was somehow revived before I died, but that wasn’t it.

Why on earth was the collapsed academy dormitory perfectly intact, and why was I inside that room?

Why hadn’t I felt any sense of dissonance despite lying on a soft bed? Such a thing wouldn’t exist on a battlefield.

Swallowing dryly, I looked around and realized my eyes weren’t deceiving me.

*Swish*

I raised my right index finger and rubbed it against an unused textbook, leaving my fingerprint covered in black dust.

Confirming the thick layer of dust on the unused textbook, suspicion began to grow that time itself might have been distorted.

And that suspicion, along with a disbelieving thought, led me to feel the left side of my chest where I had been pierced.

“The wound is…”

Gone.

Where there should have been at least a scar, I felt only bare skin, and my heart, which had been slowly stopping, was now beating vigorously.

The sensation of blood dripping and skin splitting with a chilling sound was still vivid in my memory.

Just to be sure, I swallowed and touched my left chest, but it was smooth as if no wound had ever existed.

Even though magic exists in this world, and such healing magic might be possible, it seemed implausible that there wouldn’t be even a single wound or the slightest pain remaining.

I immediately searched the entire room, and an undeniable fact became lodged in my mind.

“Could it be… I’ve returned to the past…?”

This wasn’t a recovery from the threshold of death with healed wounds, but time itself flowing backward.

For a while, only the ticking of the clock broke the quiet silence of the room.

And in my mind, the question uttered by the mysterious man kept echoing.

【 Do you truly believe this ending is right? 】

***

I had regressed. With all my memories intact.

I know full well how bizarre this statement sounds, how I’d be ridiculed for dreaming if I told anyone else.

That’s what makes it all the more frustrating. Because it had become reality.

*Gulp. Gulp.*

“Haa…”

Feeling as if my blood was drying up, I downed an entire bottle of water in one go.

As the clean water passed through my parched throat and circulated blood throughout my body, it added a slight weight to the scale of accepting and facing reality.

A bed placed in one corner, a desk and chair for studying positioned about two arm’s lengths away from the bed.

A wardrobe and trash can situated past a narrow gap at the foot of the bed, with a bathroom space right behind the trash can.

Finally, the entrance and front door right in front of the bathroom.

“The Megrez Hall dormitory… no doubt about it.”

My familiar room in the academy dormitory.

The standard second-year uniform provided by Levrant Academy.

The meal tickets scattered on the desk and the textbooks I had used extensively during my second year all confirmed that I was indeed a second-year student at Levrant Academy.

So this was about two years after I had fallen from Earth to the Kempton Continent and lived under the name Junon.

*Clatter.*

I tossed an empty water bottle into the trash can and walked to the window, pulling back the curtains.

“This place too, as expected…”

As I pulled the curtains and gazed out the window, the peaceful campus scene remained unchanged.

There was no trace of blood splattered everywhere, nor could I find any corpse or fragment of magical beasts no matter how hard I looked.

The terrain that had been cratered and scorched by magical aftereffects, the buildings that had been partially destroyed or shaved off, all stood intact and pristine.

This was evidence that magical beasts had not yet invaded Levrant Academy, and another proof that I had indeed regressed.

Then what about my body? Would it be as I thought, unlike the scene before my eyes?

*Whoosh*

Concentrating my magical power, a small, unimpressive flame appeared above my palm.

The magical power I had lost in the past was now circulating. The circuit that had been severely distorted was now rotating smoothly.

“…So my body has returned too.”

I don’t know how or why this happened. All I know is that I’ve returned to a time before anything had occurred.

That’s the only clue I can discern right now, and I need to make use of it.

Because I don’t want to repeat that hellish future.

The present time where no events have yet occurred. And myself, with memories of the events before the regression.

All the puzzle pieces are given; I just need to fit them into the frame. It should be manageable.

I sat at the desk and began organizing a chronological list of events on a promotional poster paper I had intended to use as scratch paper.

After 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours…

It took a total of 3 hours to organize what I needed to do.

I wrote the conclusion at the bottom in the largest letters.

[ Levrant Academy must not fall. ]

The Ardelion Principality in the southern part of the Kempton Continent.

And Levrant Academy, the core institution of the principality, is both a solid pillar and a place that teaches magic—the power to deal with magical beasts that threaten humans from the outside.

I concluded that if Levrant Academy, which had been shaken inside and out, were to falter, the principality would collapse, and the same future would repeat itself.

For me to survive, the principality must remain strong, so this requires separate investigation.

And… there’s another sentence below that, but I don’t want to think about it right now.

“I should wash up to clear my head.”

[ Avoid contact with individuals related to the Tembris Party. ]

This was the condition written below the comprehensive conclusion derived after long deliberation.

***

It wasn’t difficult to figure out that I was in my second year and that it was probably winter given the rather chilly weather, but I couldn’t determine anything beyond that.

Even though I knew how future events would unfold, I needed to go outside to learn other information, including today’s date.

After washing up thoroughly and putting on my uniform, I headed to the cafeteria, where I heard all sorts of comments.

I also noticed everyone avoiding me, which gave me a rough idea of what date it might be.

—Hey, look at that…

—Hah. He’s still attending school? Wonder when he’ll get expelled.

—Why? Did he mess with someone again?

—Just yesterday, he tried to go after someone, but Silvia stepped in and stopped him herself. That was so satisfying to see.

—So he’s got no real skill, huh? Why not just fight him properly?

—He talks a good game, but don’t even make eye contact with him. Just walk away. Why risk trouble? He’s the type to throw punches even with a broken arm.

—Everyone gets ambushed from behind or has sand thrown in their eyes to block their vision. He can only fight dirty because he’s not confident in his own strength.

It seems this is a time when attention on me was quite intense.

The nickname I earned for causing trouble repeatedly at school…

—Anyway, that E-class loser. Seems like he lives to cause trouble every other day. It’s better for you to just keep quiet and move on.

—Ah… so he’s that kind of troublemaker… I get it now.

Oh, right. That was it.

“The E-class loser”—a nickname used by those who fell into a pathetic sense of superiority during the class division process.

I think there were other nicknames too, like “the weakest vanguard.”

‘It’s been a while since I heard that. Just meh.’

I lived on Earth for 16 years before flying here to Levrant Academy around this time. I remember being quite confused at first.

This is a school. Not an ordinary one, but a school that teaches magic.

Levrant Academy is divided into classes, sorted according to some measurement method that serves as a standard for teaching.

Supposedly because different students need different educational approaches.

‘Actually, that’s all nonsense.’

I don’t know what the criteria for class division were, but I remember they were seriously problematic.

How much I raged at receiving such ridicule and unfair treatment. Now I feel nothing because I’ve heard it so many times.

Why should I get worked up over trivial matters when I know these people will die later?

Anyway, I was satisfied with being able to learn what month and day it was in the cafeteria.

Having filled my stomach with breakfast and knowing there was a morning lecture today, I decided to attend a lecture for the first time in a long while.

***

“Haah.”

Professor Kyoph sighed deeply in the lecture hall where E-class students had gathered.

Sighing so soon after the lecture began—what kind of professor does that?

“You. Stand up and explain why we learn magic.”

A middle-aged female professor who couldn’t even remember her students’ names.

Wrinkles covered her face, reminiscent of a witch.

And her nickname really is “the Witch.”

“To fight against magical beasts…”

“Then why do we use magic circles?”

“They help people who can’t handle magical power well to effectively draw out magic…”

At that moment, Professor Kyoph slammed the desk with a bang, causing the answering student to squeeze his eyes shut.

“If you know that, why can’t you solve a simple problem like this? The same goes for all of you. What exactly are you learning at this school?”

Instead of teaching properly, she just intimidates students for being in a lower class, which is why D and E-class students secretly call her “the Witch.”

The class divisions at this school were meant to distinguish potential and teach students properly, but for some reason, students in D and E classes are simply treated with contempt, unlike those in A through C classes.

Professor Kyoph, who just slammed the desk in front of us, is the same kind of person.

She behaves this way because she has no intention of teaching properly.

Levrant Academy was established to train talent by allowing anyone to enroll and learn magic, using the same method as the Empire, but the inside was vastly different from the outside.

The meaning of class division has long been lost, and professors have united with nobles to spread socio-cultural issues.

“Tsk, this is why you lot can’t advance to higher classes. What can people who can’t even solve a problem like this possibly accomplish?”

As can be seen from Professor Kyoph’s sneering remark just now, Levrant Academy is divided into classes.

Those who can properly generate enough firepower to hunt magical beasts and those who cannot.

They teach by dividing students according to that standard through the class system.

Somehow disliking the way Professor Kyoph continued her lecture, I couldn’t help but speak up.

“The balance between the Alphaid Line and the Betrinne Line is broken. The four straight lines of the Betrinne Line should be reduced to two, and the size of the central figure should be reduced to 2/3.”

“…!”

She’s surprised. Definitely surprised.

‘Well, I already know the answer. I was always good at lecture notes.’

My classmates applaud with “ooh” sounds at my answer.

However, Professor Kyoph, seemingly irritated, silenced them by slamming her fist on the podium and telling them to be quiet.

“You seem proud of finally solving this basic problem. And the rest of you applauding as if it’s impressive are just the same. What pathetic fools.”

Huh. This is ridiculous. In what way is this a “basic” problem?

Even those precious A-class students wouldn’t be able to solve this immediately.

And to say this to students who are learning it for the first time today, especially those who primarily stand on the front lines rather than using magic?

‘It’s obvious she’s just trying to break their spirit.’

Things I didn’t properly understand in the past now stand out clearly, even the smallest details.

I instinctively realized that this school was fundamentally flawed, severely so.

Come to think of it, this professor openly badmouthed me in the past, didn’t she?

That’s why I snapped back then.

“Why don’t you give us a difficult problem then, Professor?”

“What…!”

For some reason, I felt the urge to break Professor Kyoph’s spirit as she was trying to do to us.

Go ahead, bring it on if you dare.