Ch.5454. Denial (2)

Two days later.

The successful subjugation and cleanup of the Canolathls had made the academy much livelier.

If there was one more topic of conversation, it was naturally the defense against the Osoptera.

[The Osoptera that invaded in the evening were excellently defended against by the academy students, and under Aris Mackenheim’s command, there was no significant damage—.]

I confirmed that Aris’s name was mentioned, and mine wasn’t. Professor Dalia must have arranged it that way.

However, apart from Professor Dalia granting my request, another change had occurred.

“Ah…”

A student saw me and ran away without even looking back.

“What the…?”

Why would they do that? Is their mortal enemy behind me? No?

Then, is there something on my face? I immediately checked, but there was nothing unusual.

“…I don’t recall having any beef with that guy.”

He must have been a classmate from Class E. Even searching through my old memories, I couldn’t recall anything like that. So why run away as soon as he saw me?

“Is it because of the rumors?”

There are occasionally people like that. But that guy is from Class E. He’s not even a noble.

It’s true that I have a reputation for grabbing someone and going after them with gritted teeth when I’m angry, but that only happens if they provoke me first.

Moreover, that guy from Class E should know better than anyone else.

“Well… I guess it’s possible. Some people do believe rumors without checking.”

I thought it was nothing. But then one person, two people.

Everyone who saw me, from classmates to juniors, and even freshmen, started avoiding me.

When I felt something was off, I fortunately ran into Silvia and asked if there were any rumors about me.

“Junon…”

But to my surprise.

Silvia also seemed hesitant, trying to hide something. Feeling it wasn’t going to work, I asked her directly.

“Has some weird rumor spread about me?”

“W-well…”

It seemed the answer was that a rumor had indeed spread.

It’s okay, Silvia. I just want to know what happened, so you can just tell me. I coaxed her gently.

After deep consideration, Silvia finally opened her mouth.

“It’s because of what happened at Alcaide Hall…”

“Alcaide Hall? Where we fought desperately to survive?”

“Yes… where we faced the Osoptera. What happened there has spread everywhere.”

Everyone was busy dealing with the Osoptera, and with their lives at stake, no one would have had the opportunity to gossip.

There were quite a few people crying as they watched Erica dying before their eyes. So why would rumors spread?

“What did I do wrong there…?”

“It’s not that you did anything wrong… but you went in with Professor Dalia for the surgery.”

“Yeah, that’s right?”

“I don’t know about the others, but I covered my mouth in horror when I saw that girl… but Junon, you…”

Ah. That’s it.

“…You don’t need to say more. I understand.”

Now I get it.

Freshmen. Students who had never properly fought against magical beasts.

Those who were there probably thought of blood as just something that comes out when you get a small cut or feel a little pain.

But they witnessed someone attacked by a magical beast, with a large hole in their abdomen.

A wound that naturally evokes disgust. The bright red blood flowing as a person approaches death.

I was like that once too. The first time I faced a real magical beast, not a mock battle, my hands and feet trembled.

When I saw someone on the verge of death, my legs gave out.

But now? In the eyes of others, I’ve become someone who is insensitive, heartless, when seeing such things.

It’s natural for people to want to avoid it, like Silvia and the other students. I, unnaturally, showed a too-natural reaction.

“…So you waited for me to come out, right?”

“Yes… I couldn’t bring myself to go inside…”

The fact that this remained just a rumor was probably because Silvia was there.

She had waited for me, thinking of me, until I returned from finishing the surgery with Professor Dalia and Erica.

If this rumor has spread, it could be troublesome.

“Hello, children?”

…It’s really troublesome. Not just a little, but a lot.

Freshmen, enrolled students.

They barely managed to fend off the Osoptera attack and probably don’t understand what’s going on.

Moreover, having experienced such a battle, they must be terrified of the possibility of death, and I’m certain they wouldn’t have the leisure to look at bulletin boards.

However, the female professor greeting us now is different.

“Hello, Professor Dalia.”

“Hmm. And this young lady’s name is?”

“Silvia… you can call me that.”

“I see. Nice to meet you, Silvia.”

Then Professor Dalia glanced at me and asked Silvia to give us a moment alone.

Somehow, I ended up in a private conversation with the professor who knows the most about me from this incident.

“What is it?”

“Nothing serious. Just that there’s a bit of an obstacle regarding what you asked for.”

“…What I asked for?”

Professor Dalia sighed deeply and handed me something.

“This is…”

It was the Blushire Arc, meant to be used as a pair with the one I was wearing.

“I was trying to pass it on somehow, but this just wouldn’t work. Some professors, for whatever reason, found it strange that the Blushire Arc was borrowed and started making a fuss.”

The document she handed me was an Object Loan Authorization form.

In other words, I now had to fill in the empty borrower’s space with my name.

***

Thinking back carefully, I could understand why.

Just like during the beginning-of-term evaluation, the noble alliance is opposing the Grand Duke’s faction, and Professor Muniher has joined the Grand Duke’s forces.

‘Right now. When the nobles are trying to confront Professor Muniher.’

It might not seem directly related to the object loan, but this Osoptera invasion was induced by the noble alliance.

The nobles removed soldiers from their territories, allowing harm to come to academy students, and are now looking for any excuse to find fault.

They must not have gained anything from the beginning-of-term evaluation.

So this time, they’re trying to find any fault they can to extract something definite.

‘It’s because of me.’

Originally, Professor Muniher wouldn’t have been involved in an object issue here.

No matter how much the noble alliance tries to find fault, this time they would have achieved a complete victory and succeeded in replacing the local lords.

That’s the development I knew. If so.

“I’ll sign it. Give it to me.”

“…Are you sure?”

“What’s so difficult about writing my name here once?”

“That’s not what I’m asking. What if this reveals the fact you were trying to hide to others…”

I know. If it becomes known that, contrary to what’s been reported, I gave the orders that led to the successful defense at Alcaide Hall, attention will certainly focus on me.

Nevertheless, I can’t hesitate to make this choice.

Everything that’s happening that didn’t happen before is because I changed the future, and it’s not right for the damage to extend to the Empire and Professor Muniher. I was prepared to accept that much, of course.

First and foremost, as always, is ensuring no harm comes to the Empire.

In this messy factional and political struggle, it must be the Empire that wins, not the noble alliance.

“Is there anything else I need to write?”

“…No. This is enough.”

Professor Dalia said I could go now, as Silvia would be waiting outside.

“Since you seem to want to keep it hidden, I’ll try my best to make sure the students don’t find out.”

“I appreciate that much.”

As I was leaving, Professor Dalia’s face didn’t look particularly relieved.

***

Aris was hospitalized due to the aftereffects of her first mana exhaustion, suffering from headaches and muscle pain.

Thanks to Dalia’s treatment, the aftereffects that would normally last all day subsided after just three hours, making immediate discharge possible.

But she couldn’t leave the hospital yet.

‘They’re here again today.’

Looking through the curtains at the hospital entrance, she saw numerous reporters and journalists gathered.

This was why Aris had extended her hospital stay with a disgusted expression.

The reason these reporters and journalists had gathered was that she had apparently made the greatest contribution to stopping the Osoptera at the academy and reducing student casualties, as prominently featured on the bulletin board.

“And why are there so many of these?”

The second reason for delaying her discharge: all these document files.

Since the hospital was rejecting all interviews from journalists and reporters, saying that Aris and Erica needed mental stability, the documents had arrived instead.

And the academy also mentioned that they needed detailed situation reports and documentation.

If she were alone, she might manage somehow, but Erica, though able to move, couldn’t handle paperwork.

So Aris remained in the hospital to lighten her colleague’s burden.

“I really don’t know what all this is.”

Because of one Osoptera invasion, her workload had quadrupled, not just doubled.

She was already busy returning letters from all her previous teams, and now this incident had driven a wedge, attracting even more attention from former teammates.

Annoyingly, a pile of correspondence and document files that made her shoulders ache was waiting for her.

“This won’t do.”

She made up her mind. This really wasn’t working.

Let’s just do one clean interview and forget about the paperwork and reporters. And if she clearly stated that she already had a team to join, it would all be over.

Rather than wasting time buried in these hellish documents, this would be much better, even for Erica’s sake.

So Aris decided to leave the hospital and face the crowd head-on.

“Oh? Look there. That person…!”

“Miss Aris! Please explain about the Osoptera battle!”

“Lady Aris! Please grant us an interview! How did you lead the students!”

Aris felt momentarily dizzy from the barrage of questions already coming her way.

“Phew.”

Though the voices of the rushing reporters made her head spin for a moment, she regained her composure with one exhale. She was about to speak as she had initially planned when:

“Was it your decision to hold out at Alcaide Hall?”

“Why did you choose the Hasirt Triple Formation?”

“Did you choose the siege tactic based on the judgment that you could hold out until Professor Dalia arrived at the academy alone?”

Alcaide Hall. Siege. Hasirt Triple Formation.

And finally, they mentioned Professor Dalia.

The voice of the reinforcements she heard just before losing consciousness was definitely male.

Those few words made all the answers Aris had prepared disappear.

“…Could I hear how this incident has been reported?”

Sentences far from the situation Aris knew began to penetrate her ears.

***

Something was off.

She had planned to just give the prepared answers to the interview and forget about both the paperwork and interviews, but she had to change her mind.

After giving the reporters only the answers they needed and returning, Aris immediately picked up the document files again and began checking them carefully.

“The person who commanded the siege at Alcaide Hall during the Osoptera battle was fourth-year student Aris Mackenheim.”

“…”

“Using the Hasirt Triple Formation to buy time at Alcaide Hall—”

“…No.”

“By the time Professor Dalia arrived—”

“I didn’t do that…”

It’s true that she established a system during the Osoptera battle, but she didn’t conduct a siege with the intention of buying time.

She had never used anything called the Hasirt Triple Formation. She had only ever used the common Kenick Six Formation.

Professor Dalia? She had barely seen her when she opened her eyes after suffering from mana exhaustion. How could she have seen her arrive?

When she rechecked the documents she had been skimming through, she found that the facts being spread were completely different from what she knew.

Someone had manipulated the situation. To make it seem like she deserved the credit for this defense.

Then who? What benefit could they gain from such manipulation?

“It must be here. The list of students who were at the academy then.”

She checks the names of students she barely knows while looking at the list. Whoever did this must be someone with a connection to her.

And finally, Aris’s eyes stop on one name, past Erica, who couldn’t possibly have done this.

“…No way.”

-‘Everyone, —!’

Though she had denied it was possible, Aris realized that the voice she had heard at the end faintly resembled his voice.