Ch.151151. Each Other’s Path

“A woman in a dark robe, with a curved figure, beautiful features.”

Even though the last lecture of this semester had ended, students were still gathered in the auditorium, looking at me standing at the podium.

Today, I deliberately set aside extra time to give students a chance to answer questions about the Dark Spiritmaster’s appearance.

Since the reward was a Millennium Library access pass—a precious item impossible to obtain during student years—everyone rushed to answer, but ultimately failed.

I had assumed there would be no correct answers after Aria and Elenoa failed.

However, a noble male student who had been bribing other students to gather information about the Dark Spiritmaster was now giving consecutive answers that came quite close.

[Oh, will this child finally succeed?]

The Dark Spiritmaster beside me nodded while watching the student talking about her.

“She’s shorter than you, Professor, and not particularly large in build. An average adult woman.”

Since I didn’t say he was wrong and just listened silently, exclamations of “Ohhh!” flowed from the students.

He was certainly correct so far.

“Violet eyes. Skin as white as if it hasn’t seen sunlight for a long time.”

“Hmm.”

“How am I doing?”

I slowly nodded to the boy who seemed to think he had gotten everything right.

But there was still one part he hadn’t mentioned.

“Isn’t there one more thing you should mention?”

“…Pardon?”

The male student was flustered by my question. Though not exactly what I was looking for, his effort to discover the Dark Spiritmaster’s appearance was quite commendable.

Since he had shown his abilities and passion in his own way, I didn’t mind giving him a reward.

But shouldn’t the answer be precise?

“If you were to see the Dark Spiritmaster, there’s one particularly noticeable feature. You haven’t explained that yet.”

“A noticeable… feature?”

“Yes.”

“…”

The male student bit his lip tightly. With an indignant expression, he clenched his fist and shouted.

“Isn’t this enough? You just don’t like how I figured it out, do you?”

The boy, realizing he had failed, burst out angrily. I understand his frustration, having spent quite a bit of money bribing students for information about the Dark Spiritmaster.

But I couldn’t let his doubt about my fairness slide.

“That’s not true. I’ve known for some time that you’ve been giving money to other students to piece together the Dark Spiritmaster’s appearance.”

[That’s right. Actually, I knew from the beginning.]

The Dark Spiritmaster agreed beside me.

No one but me could hear her, yet she insisted on adding her comments.

“That’s also part of your individual ability, so I allow it. But the answer must be correct.”

Click.

My footsteps echoed throughout the auditorium. In just a few steps, I reached the boy and looked down at him.

“The most distinctive feature that you can’t miss when you see her. What is it?”

“…”

A tense silence followed.

When sweat trickled down from the boy’s forehead and gathered at his chin, he finally squeezed his eyes shut and answered.

“I don’t know.”

“Very well, what’s your name?”

“…Leyton Hellish, sir.”

The Hellish family.

They maintained close relations with the royal family.

“Good, Leyton. Since you came closest to the correct answer, I’ll make sure you receive extra points.”

“Thank… you.”

His expression showed he wasn’t satisfied with just that. But I immediately threw him a lifeline.

“Since no student correctly identified the Dark Spiritmaster’s appearance, the Millennium Library access pass remains unclaimed. I’ll give it to the top student in my class.”

“…!”

The students stirred, and Leyton quickly raised his head to look at me.

Naturally, with his extra points, he currently held the most advantageous position.

Realizing the opportunity wasn’t over, the students rekindled their fighting spirit.

This was one of the methods Erika had suggested to motivate students.

“Professor, could you tell us what that final feature was?”

Leyton, who had suddenly become friendly toward me, asked cautiously. Well, I wouldn’t be able to use this method next time anyway.

I extended my hand to the Dark Spiritmaster.

“Take it.”

[Excuse me?]

The Dark Spiritmaster looked puzzled. She slowly reached out toward me, and the moment our hands overlapped.

My mana transferred to her, and the translucent Dark Spiritmaster gradually began to gain vivid color.

Then came the exclamations.

“Wooooow!”

“What! What! That’s awesome!”

“Professor has been walking around with someone like that?”

“You’re my ideal type, miss!”

I overlaid the Dark Spiritmaster’s appearance using my mana. Surprised, the Dark Spiritmaster looked around, pointing at herself.

[Can, can they see me? Me?]

“They can’t hear your voice.”

The Dark Spiritmaster looked at me with an incredulous expression. I immediately removed my hand from her, and as the mana surrounding her dispersed, her form disappeared.

Amid the disappointed exclamations of the students, I turned to look at Leyton.

“Now, what did you miss?”

At my question, Leyton made an incredulous expression and declared his surrender.

“I never imagined she would have her face covered with cloth.”

That’s right.

If you see the Dark Spiritmaster, the first thing that catches your eye would be the semi-transparent black cloth covering everything below her eyes.

If you didn’t mention that, it couldn’t be considered a correct answer.

“Well then, today’s lecture is over. Prepare well for your finals.”

I came down from the podium. Having thrown them another tasty morsel to encourage them to do well on the final exam, they would likely study quite hard.

For the top students, this was a much more realistic goal than identifying the Dark Spiritmaster’s appearance.

As I stepped out of the auditorium, the Dark Spiritmaster peeked her head out from beside me.

[How did you do that just now?]

She looked at me with wide eyes, unable to believe what had happened.

“I simply gave your soul a form using mana. I got the idea from illusion magic.”

Among necromancy, there are illusion-related spells, but they’re typically used in aggressive forms.

I broke that mold by creating a way for souls to be visible to others.

It was similar to adding color to an uncolored picture.

“It’s quite difficult and consumes a lot of mana, so it can’t be maintained for long periods. And it can’t produce sound.”

I added that the spell had several inconvenient aspects, but the Dark Spiritmaster just stared at me with her mouth open.

[You are, truly remarkable.]

She left a lingering comment as if she had realized something. I frowned, finding it strangely irritating, but.

“Master!”

Beyond her was Findenai. The Dark Spiritmaster naturally stepped aside, and I found myself following her with my eyes.

But Findenai filled my field of vision.

“…What is it?”

Looking at Findenai with curiosity, she spoke dramatically.

“Was that the Dark Spiritmaster just now? This is my first time seeing her directly? Wow, that’s insane.”

“…”

“I wondered why you weren’t interested in women, but you had another pocket? Almost on par with Per’s red-light…”

“That’s enough.”

I warned Findenai with a sigh, and she nodded, giggling.

“Sorry, I just didn’t expect her to look like that.”

As Findenai ended her words neatly, I felt another small doubt rising.

The unease that had bloomed in my chest because of the Dark Spiritmaster grew a little more with Findenai’s appearance.

“Do you have something to say?”

It was Findenai’s specialty to approach dramatically and then lighten the mood this way.

She scratched the back of her head, seemingly uncomfortable that her actions had been read.

“Why do you have to read other people’s minds like that?”

When Erika brought cake.

Findenai had briefly left her seat, and it seemed that from that moment, something about her demeanor was different from usual.

She probably thought she was hiding it well, but perhaps because I had known Findenai for some time.

I could easily notice it.

“You see, our informant in the Republic of Clark hasn’t been in contact recently.”

“…”

“It’s not just our side; other resistance groups haven’t heard anything either.”

“What are you trying to say?”

I asked, uncharacteristically rushing her. Findenai’s eyes trembled slightly in surprise, then she smiled as usual and said.

“You have to go to your fiancée’s family for the formal meeting anyway, right? So, um… I was wondering if I could briefly return there.”

“No.”

“…Huh?”

Findenai responded naively to my sharp, decisive answer. She seemed not to have expected such a harsh response from me.

But the same was true for me as well.

I didn’t expect to react so sharply. My emotions surged, and I recalled Findenai’s previous visit to the Republic of Clark.

If it hadn’t been for Sanguun.

She would have died on the spot.

“I already let you go once. Don’t forget our contract, Findenai.”

“Ah, I know, I know. But there’s no real need for me to attend the formal meeting. Illuania and Owen will be there.”

Findenai shrugged awkwardly. Sensing unease from her unusually stubborn behavior, I asked.

“What’s the problem?”

“…Huh?”

“Tell me. Seeing how stubborn you’re being, there must be a reason why you absolutely need to go.”

“…”

Findenai pressed her lips tightly together.

There was no trace of hesitation. Only a determination to never open her mouth.

“Tell me.”

“I won’t.”

“…Tell me.”

“Sorry, Master. I absolutely won’t. Because this is our problem.”

“…”

‘Our.’

A clearly drawn line.

That did not include me.

The atmosphere grew heavy.

In the silence, Findenai laughed “Ha!” and exclaimed.

“Ah geez, fine. I won’t go. You really can’t do without me, can you?”

“…”

“I’m just going to smoke a cigarette. At least allow me that much.”

As she said this and walked away, her shoulders looked unusually heavy today.

* * *

“Sip.”

Whoosh.

White smoke exhaled.

Only about eight cigarettes remained from those gifted by her master.

“Tastes good.”

With a bitter smile, Findenai looked at the cigarette between her fingers.

Usually, seeing a cigarette made her want to smoke it immediately, but strangely, she found herself treasuring this one.

Probably because it was a gift from her master. That’s why she was unconsciously and rather pathetically cherishing it.

Sip.

Whoosh.

Cigarette smoke was exhaled again.

In a corner of an alley, leaning against the wall, Findenai slowly looked up at the sky.

The sky appeared narrow, visible only between buildings.

If one were born here and had only seen such skies, they might think the sky was always long and narrow like that.

‘Just like I once did.’

For her, life had been a struggle. Having never experienced freedom, the concept was vague, but still, everyone shouted for it, so she fought for freedom.

She came to understand freedom.

She realized that what she had experienced wasn’t something that could be called life.

Struggle was not life.

“Whoosh.”

Contact with all resistance fighters in the Republic of Clark had been cut off.

Well, it was a familiar occurrence.

Many resistance leaders had fallen to Doberman’s call before, so one or two more casualties didn’t concern her much.

What mattered was that before Junkman crossed the Norsweden mountains.

Contact had been lost with the orphanage where she had left the surviving children.

Probably the Salvation Corps members had raided the place.

“I’m sorry, Master.”

If I tell you.

You’ll surely try to help me.

You’d set aside all your important matters and follow me.

Even if that weren’t the case.

Even if you wouldn’t let me go after hearing the truth.

It would only plant an unwarranted sense of guilt in you for abandoning the children.

So she couldn’t tell him.

To the man who already carried too many burdens.

She didn’t want to add herself as another burden.

– This time, I’ll help you.

The words he had spoken at the Robern Summer Festival echoed in her ears. She remembered almost impulsively responding out of relief, barely managing to hold back.

Swish.

As if by instinct, she pulled out a photograph from her front skirt pocket.

His usual expressionless face, but because of the drawing on the wall behind him, it looked as if he had wings on his back.

It was taken by a photographer when they were wandering around Claren, the city of artists.

Findenai kept Deus’s photo, and Deus kept Findenai’s.

It was a secret, but Findenai often looked at this photo. She always carried it with her, unknown to anyone.

She didn’t know why herself.

She just wanted to.

“Whoosh.”

After staring blankly at the photo and finishing her cigarette, Findenai dropped the butt on the ground.

After putting the photo back in her pocket.

Stepping on the cigarette that Deus Verdi had given her.

Findenai walked out of the narrow alley.