Ch.3737. Academy Conquest (4)

“I’m busy, busy.”

Findenai chattered beside me, resting her axe on her shoulder. Though she was grumbling, the corners of her mouth curved upward.

At first I thought she liked the axe, but listening to her words, that wasn’t entirely the case.

“The souls are giving in more easily than I expected?”

“…They didn’t wake up because they wanted to.”

Findenai stopped walking at my words and slowly turned her head. Her large blood-red eyes looked at me quizzically.

“What do you mean?”

“If they had truly wanted to wake up, if they had something they desired, it wouldn’t have ended so easily.”

“…Explain it in a way I can understand.”

Findenai was getting irritated for no reason. I didn’t need to explain everything to her, but since we had some distance to cover before reaching our destination, I continued speaking while organizing my thoughts.

“During my first three months at the academy, I had many questions while helping souls find peace and keeping evil spirits in check.”

“Hmm.”

“The biggest question was why evil spirits that should have been dormant were awake and possessed such strong power.”

They weren’t strong enough to take human lives, but they could certainly interfere with reality.

This wasn’t just about the residents of Setima, but also applied to the malicious spirits filled with hatred at the academy.

Findenai made a strange expression at this.

“Couldn’t that just happen? They might just be evil spirits with strong grudges.”

Such cases do exist, albeit extremely rarely.

For example, the widow I met in the carriage on my way to Robern was one of those rare cases whose deep grudge allowed her to harm the living.

Of course, that was largely because she projected herself onto the pregnant Illuania, momentarily amplifying her resentment.

Anyway.

“That’s absolutely impossible.”

“Impossible?”

“Yes, I can’t explain this in detail to you, but I’m certain.”

Because it wasn’t like this in the original game. Even if there were academy ghost stories, they were side episodes and not particularly important parts.

But looking at the current situation, it’s already gone too far. This wasn’t a side episode but a main episode-level crisis.

“Hmm, it’s not because you came here?”

Findenai was trying to deduce something, but I shook my head.

“Back then, I was just a novice who hadn’t even properly learned necromancy. My presence wouldn’t have had any effect on the souls.”

Findenai tilted her head and pondered, trying to find an answer, but eventually surrendered.

“You’re not asking me to find the culprit now, are you? According to you, there must be a mastermind who awakened the academy’s souls and empowered the evil spirits.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The black-haired girl.

The angel of Setima was merely awakened and empowered through that mastermind.

She couldn’t have accomplished anything on her own.

After all, she was nothing more than a thought-form created by the wishes of the people of Setima.

She’s just like the bone worm.

Just as Maalks created the legendary monster bone worm through countless bodies and blood.

The identity of the angel girl was formed by the collective wishes of the people of Setima.

And there was someone who gave power to that angel.

“You’re telling me this because you’ve figured out who it is?”

Findenai grinned confidently, passing the burden of thinking to me. Yes, swinging an axe suits her better than racking her brains.

“Yes, I figured it out.”

Originally, I didn’t know until I arrived at Robern.

The incident itself had already gone beyond common sense.

But I found out.

More precisely, the culprit revealed themselves to me directly.

“But now isn’t the time to dwell on that. First, we need to resolve the incident, then hear the reasons.”

“Okay.”

We arrived at the girls’ dormitory. Climbing the stairs to the second floor, we saw a large man with his head split in half waving his hands in the air in the middle of the corridor.

[Come here]

He looked as if he was embracing people.

Findenai frowned the moment she saw him.

“The second floor of the girls’ dormitory is where all the kids fell into comas, right?”

“That man is the one who put them in comas.”

“Hmm, is he some kind of evil spirit?”

He was a rather pitiful case. Though his intentions weren’t bad, the results were no different from evil deeds.

“He used to run an orphanage in Setima. He’s probably stuck in that final moment when he tried to protect the children by embracing them until his dying breath.”

He was just like the warrior in my hand.

Just as the warrior tried to guard the main entrance on the first floor while unconscious, this soul also thought he was protecting the students, but in reality, he had trapped them in dreams.

“He’s been carrying this burden for too long, becoming too fixated on it.”

I gently extended my sword forward, but no blade energy was released. The warrior was trembling, not wanting to harm the man.

It was telling me that the man had no malice, but…

“This is different from the children in the gymnasium. Regardless of intention, something that puts numerous female students into comas is an evil spirit.”

[…..]

“If you won’t do it, I will.”

Drawing mana into my hand and wrapping it in blue flames, the warrior finally released a blade strike that cut down the evil spirit.

[Come here]

The fragmented soul fluttered to the floor. Standing before it, I calmly extended my hand.

“Release the children.”

[Come…]

“It’s okay to rest now. I will take over your role.”

With that, the soul turned into a mass of light and disappeared. Like the others, he had found peace.

From several rooms came thuds of children falling out of their beds.

They had just awakened from endless dreams and would need time to regain their senses.

“Findenai, take the children outside and join the others. Some might not be able to walk on their own.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ve put out all the urgent fires.”

I gripped my sword tightly. I had resolved most of the incidents that existed before the barrier was created.

If this had dragged on any longer, it could have been truly dangerous.

“Now I’m going to deal with the barrier.”

“…Will you be alright alone?”

I glanced back at Findenai, wondering if she was worried about me, but she pulled out a cigarette and put it in her mouth before answering.

“The first payday is in a week, you know.”

“Heh.”

Whoosh!

The cigarette in Findenai’s mouth caught fire from the flame I created.

She hurriedly removed it from her mouth, stamped it out, and glared at me.

“Ah shit! That was expensive!”

“No smoking in front of me. Did you forget so quickly after not seeing me for a while?”

“Didn’t you say you were leaving? Ah, whatever! Go ahead! Even if you die, I won’t save you.”

Leaving the grumbling Findenai behind, I headed back to the academy’s main building.

The night had become too long.

To face tomorrow with less fatigue, I needed to end this now.

* * *

The wind on the rooftop felt much stronger than before.

If my memory serves me right, the last time I came up here was when I briefly had coffee with Erika Bright.

[You came?]

Just like then, there was a girl waiting for me on the rooftop this time as well.

[It’s been a while.]

The black-haired girl smiled and waved her hand at me affectionately.

I nodded calmly as I stood before her.

“Why did you go this far?”

[…..]

“Didn’t I tell you before I left? To wait calmly and prepare for peace.”

[Yes.]

The reason I thought the residents of Setima could find peace even after I left the academy was because of this child.

Because she was the wish of Setima.

[After you left, I thought about it carefully.]

The girl slowly raised her hand, and a small soul popped out like a will-o’-the-wisp.

It began to grow until it became the contorted form of a woman.

The woman was posed like a saint crucified on a cross.

But what was supporting and binding her was the girl’s many strands of hair.

The girl’s hair entangled the woman’s tanned, curved body like vines.

[Is it really okay to let the residents of Setima close their eyes?]

“…..”

[People who were killed for no reason, who called out only to God’s name even as they died miserably, seeking salvation rather than revenge.]

“…..”

[People who didn’t even mention revenge to please the goddess who never helped them until they died.]

“…..”

[Those who, even under torture, wept to God asking for forgiveness for the kingdom’s soldiers.]

The girl’s hair began to extend gradually. The sword in my hand trembled at the ominous, threatening sight.

[Weren’t they just ignorant?]

“Even if that’s true, it’s already over.”

[…In the end, you’ve always been like this.]

The girl’s hair writhed and squeezed the ground strongly, causing cracks to form in the floor, as if angered that I wasn’t taking her side.

[You’ve always prioritized the living.]

“…..”

[While hearing our voices, seeing our forms, talking with us and being with us! Why can’t you understand us!]

I feel her fierce hostility trying to push me away through her almost frantic cry.

[Even if everyone else in the world doesn’t understand us vengeful spirits, shouldn’t you at least be on our side?]

“There is a natural order to all things.”

I answered while forcibly resisting her hostility with my raised hand.

“I have fought for you.”

There were times when I protected the vengeful spirits of Setima from being tormented by other evil spirits.

“I have listened to your stories.”

Originally, there were many more vengeful spirits from Setima, but during the three months before I was dismissed, I helped them find peace one by one.

“I deeply empathized with you.”

Dead people often appear as they did at the time of death.

The reason the vengeful spirits of Setima looked grotesque on the outside was because they suffered that much just before dying.

“But precisely because I truly empathize with you, I must draw a clear line.”

[…!]

Blue flames with will rise around me.

The spirits of Setima who had not yet departed and still felt responsible came to help me.

“It may sound cruel, but it can’t be helped. The dead must remain dead. Do not cross the boundary of the living.”

[You…!]

“You say the people of Setima were foolish? That they didn’t seek revenge because they were ignorant? Yes, that might be so.”

Indeed, most people would probably find it foolish.

Who could possibly bless those who harmed them?

But.

“Even so, it’s not for us to judge what’s right or wrong.”

[…Don’t make me laugh.]

“I don’t judge. I simply grant what the vengeful spirits wish for.”

[Stop talking nonsense!]

“The wish named ‘happiness of Setima’ has come to this. It was you who twisted, distorted, and warped it to create this mess.”

The girl.

If I had to specify, there was only one reason why this thought-form called an angel was moving.

For the wish of a nameless girl who wanted the people of Setima to be happy.

But that thought-form called an angel had forcibly twisted and distorted the wish for happiness.

To be happy, they must inflict the same pain.

To protect, they must show their power to the academy.

It was truly regrettable.

If I had been with her, the angel wouldn’t have become this broken.

Though I once cooperated with her for the vengeful spirits of Setima, it’s regrettable, but…

“Now you are an evil spirit.”

I advanced toward her with clenched fists.

“So I will exorcise you.”