Ch.228From Space Menace to Graduate Student (3) (Part 1 Complete)

As soon as I arrived at school, I was immediately summoned.

Professor, really, were you that eager to see my face?

No, that can’t be it. The email asking to see a graduate student’s face lacked context.

Especially the location. The colloquium room is used for significant presentations or meetings.

I have a bad feeling about this.

I took Ireh and went up to the fifth floor. Even from outside the door, the murmuring noise reverberated in my eardrums.

“X78, ZU3403 has disappeared.”

“That makes eight reported cases.”

“They’re all concentrated in the south.”

“Is the Aether Belt situation really okay?”

Physics and astronomy professors, military generals, and even government officials. Various professionals gathered to discuss.

Eavesdropping on their conversation, I began to understand what was happening. That’s when—

“Student Eidel!”

Professor Feynman rushed over with quick steps. The professor was as pale as someone who had just received bad news.

“Black holes are disappearing en masse.”

“I just heard.”

“In the southern direction. Right where we are. As the head of the Rheinland family, you should know this.”

I glanced at the people in the meeting and made eye contact with Ireh. She spoke.

“…It’s begun.”

The great invasion of the Darwin system.

“The timing is too early, way too early.”

“I think it might be because of me. I received a message before saying they were planning to kill me.”

“What do we do now?”

Ireh was clenching her fist tightly. Her stiff shoulders rose and fell with each breath. Though her expression was calm like a lake, her trembling eyelids revealed everything.

It was trauma.

She had gone through numerous forced retries because she couldn’t stop this catastrophe. She had bid farewell to comrades with tears in her eyes. Those memories must be flashing before her like a panorama.

“I’m not perfectly prepared yet…”

Even with the strongest mentality, she couldn’t help but waver.

The experience of failure makes people shrink back. Even if you overcome it, when the same situation repeats, you become tense. That’s human nature.

“…Huff.”

It’s heartbreaking to see her trying to calm herself while being tense.

She must have been alone all this time. Suffering in silence without anyone to truly rely on.

I don’t know if I have the right to say this.

But if it could offer comfort, there was something I wanted to tell her.

“It’s okay.”

It’s okay.

“We’ve overcome situations like this before, haven’t we? Things are much better now than they were then, so it’ll be fine.”

“Ah…”

“You’re not alone, so don’t be afraid. Stay calm and deal with it. Then we can end this without anyone dying.”

Ireh’s head dropped blankly.

She glanced up at me. In response to that hesitant gaze, I answered with a smile.

“Wait here for a moment.”

I left Ireh behind and moved forward.

“It’s Rheinland…”

With someone’s words, the chaotic atmosphere became orderly.

I swam through the crowd and went down the stairs. I approached a person in military uniform. He recognized me first and saluted.

“Pleased to meet you, Head of the Rheinland family. I am Allos Padremont, Deputy Minister of Defense for the Southern Region.”

“I’m Eidel, Professor Feynman’s student. Nice to meet you.”

Padremont.

A surname I’ll hear often when dealing with foreign affairs from now on.

If Rheinland is a prestigious medical family, Padremont is a prestigious military family.

That’s why it’s easier to remember them by their first names.

Allos, Allos. Yes. I’ve heard of him. Was he someone who died in the early stages of the great invasion?

Deputy Minister Allos laughed and said:

“You are truly humble, Head. Introducing yourself as someone’s student rather than as the family head.”

“I genuinely respect Professor Feynman. It’s an honor to be in his lab, so I’m rather proud of it.”

“Haha, is that so?”

We exchanged a firm handshake. Allos changed the subject.

“I’ve heard you’re a genius at the forefront of foreign deity research while still an undergraduate. May I ask you a few questions?”

“Yes, of course.”

Deputy Minister Allos asked in detail about the cause of this situation. With my possessed knowledge, I answered diligently. His expression gradually hardened.

“…Is there no way to stop it?”

“There is.”

“How?”

Instead of answering, I went up to the podium. It was enough to draw the attention of the professors.

Activating the voice amplifier, I began to speak.

“Everyone, please listen for a moment.”

***

A low, gentle voice. Ireh turned her head at that voice.

“Hello, I’m Eidel von Rheinland. Professors, may I say a word about this matter?”

“Of course.”

Unlike the government officials standing blankly, the professors welcomed Eidel as if they were of one mind.

“From my perspective, this situation is very serious. As you know, when a celestial body’s state changes, that information travels at the speed of light. This means they don’t just disappear with a ‘poof’.”

A phenomenon that cannot be explained by conventional physics.

“It means the information that the black holes disappeared was transmitted instantaneously, exceeding the speed of light. For this to be possible in the macroscopic world, a higher-dimensional being must be involved.”

“A foreign deity?”

“Definitely a foreign deity.”

And one that’s much stronger than any foreign deity observed so far. Eidel added without reservation.

“It’s likely from the Darwin system, right?”

“It’s not just likely, it’s certain. There are commonalities among the disappeared black holes. Observation of line spectra seen in carbon compounds, enlarged bulges, and high charge. These are characteristics of the Darwin system.”

Eidel continued his explanation logically. This was knowledge that she believed could only be obtained through regression. He had brought it into the realm of what could be inferred through the tool of science.

“I calculated on my way here. Setting up a simple model, it seems there’s a linearity between the number of disappeared black holes and the timing of the foreign deity invasion.”

“That means…”

“Let me get to the point. If three black holes disappear, the storm will reach here within a year. If six disappear, within half a year.”

“Eight have disappeared now, right?”

“Then, pessimistically speaking, a large-scale invasion could begin in three months.”

Contrary to Ireh’s expectation, people didn’t stir. Rather, they seemed too shocked to speak.

“…”

No.

It’s being controlled.

Everything is being controlled and understood through the medium of science.

Knowledge is power, and wisdom is the lamp that illuminates humanity.

Thanks to the presence of Eidel von Rheinland, the calm and composed atmosphere remained intact.

At the same time, there were others who helped maintain this atmosphere. The professors. In fact, most of the people gathered here were professors from the science and engineering departments who were acquainted with Eidel. They gave him looks of trust.

“Timely countermeasures are needed.”

“Yes, that’s why I have something to say. I won’t consider patenting my research on ‘Creating Traps for Darwin System Foreign Deities’.”

“…Really?”

The professors brightened.

The trap is still in the testing phase. However, the test results have been very positive. Three Darwin system patients have already been completely cured in clinical trials.

If Eidel wanted, he could make the trap his invention and earn a fortune.

Yet.

“Yes, please don’t worry about me or the Rheinland family and produce them freely.”

“Even so, isn’t that rushing things? Nothing has happened yet.”

“I’ve been researching with this intention from the beginning. We can’t patent something for the constellations anyway.”

Ireh was surprised.

She might not know about the resonator, but the trap was primarily researched by Eidel.

Rustila, Mezulen, and herself had helped. But since he directed and oversaw the research itself, he should be the one to apply for the patent.

And he was willing to give up the merit that came with it.

It was like throwing astronomical amounts of money on the ground. With so many people suffering from Darwin system foreign deities in this galaxy. Even just the frontier planet where she was born and raised…

“…Amazing.”

Ireh gently clasped her hands. She slowly stroked the fist she had bumped with Eidel with her other palm. Why? She felt a warm sensation.

It’s possible. It really is possible.

This iteration could go all the way.

It was an opportunity that had never existed before and would never exist again.

“Thank you for listening to me. That’s all.”

As Eidel came down from the podium, applause erupted. Feeling the hot acclaim like a burning flame on her skin, Ireh crafted an elegant smile.

She moved her body.

One step.

The girl draws closer to the man.

***

[Graduation Management System]

[Name: Eidel von Rheinland]

[Status: Completed]

[You are eligible to graduate. Would you like to graduate? (Select ‘No’ to remain as completed)]

I chuckled.

I’ve graduated from being a virgin, so it doesn’t make sense not to graduate from school.

I touched the ‘Yes’ part of the screen.

[Once you graduate, it cannot be undone. Please choose carefully.]

I know.

From now on, only irreversible choices await.

But I’ve accomplished a lot so far.

I’ve gone from being a scoundrel to humanity’s supernova, and I’ve gained lovely wives. I’ve removed Adelbein, who was a concern, and become the head of the Rheinland family.

Money, fame, domestic peace.

I’ve built everything up sufficiently. To be able to create graviton bombs. That’s what I’ve been building up for.

Many futures have changed because of my actions. Zernya survived, Rustila developed early, Mezulen’s research was advanced, and I broke the protagonist’s cycle of devastation.

Too much has changed. From now on, the merit of possession is gone.

That’s a good thing.

Making the possessed person’s knowledge useless is the true life of a possessed person. It’s proof that I’ve lived diligently, unbound by shackles.

Pioneering unknown paths. Changing the future is truly wonderful.

The path of doing my best day by day. I believe without doubt that this path is the right one.

Before I knew it, graduation day had arrived.

“Congratulations on graduating, son!”

“Hmm, Eidel. So you’re graduating early from college too.”

Mother congratulates me. Not just her. Father is here, my sister is here, and my wives are here too. Sonia, Ireh, the professor, and other friends.

All of them are people I must protect.

I won’t let foreign deities torment, manipulate, or kill them. I’ll drift the famous “Foreign Deity Slayer” devastation story into a happy ending.

I threw my graduation cap to the south and shouted.

“Ah, I want to become a professor——!!”

It took a long time.

The graviton bomb research begins now.