Ch.86Chapter 86. The Emergence of Black Magic (1)

<Main Quest (3) “Approaching Ominous Energy” Complete!>

<Title “Academy Dark Knight” has been awarded.>

“Phew.”

This time it was really close.

Though I didn’t “stain the festival with blood” as the quest described, we almost failed to complete the festival safely.

It would have been nice if we had prevented the incident beforehand, but that was a failure.

Nevertheless, we somehow managed to safely conclude the festival closing ceremony.

It probably would have been difficult without Yuria’s help.

Thanks to Yuria’s behind-the-scenes efforts, the festival was successfully “completed.”

In reality, there were hardly any events after the second day.

“Hey, did you hear?”

“What?”

“About taking down that undead wyvern.”

I perked up my ears involuntarily when I heard mention of my dragon.

After that day, various rumors were spreading throughout the academy.

Professor Kassis Sinclair defeated the undead wyvern single-handedly.

Numerous undead were frozen behind Yuria Phrysis’s ice wall.

A third party, not an academy professor, intervened to protect the academy, and so on.

“I heard something about the Black Shadow Corps?”

“Huh? Black Shadow Corps?”

“You know, those people who stole the Dragon Heart from O’Neil Kingdom before.”

“Ah, them. I know. Wasn’t there an arrest warrant for their leader?”

“Yeah, that’s right. I heard they fought the undead wyvern.”

“What?”

“Someone who was on the second floor of the party hall saw a person in black clothes wearing a mask run out, and the undead wyvern followed them. They said the description matched the Black Shadow Corps perfectly.”

“Come on. How could the Black Shadow Corps get into the academy?”

“Hey, they robbed the O’Neil vault. You think they couldn’t get in here?”

“I guess… you’re right?”

Listening to their conversation made my heart sink.

It seemed like just baseless rumors were circulating, but the problem was that the name “Black Shadow Corps” had come up.

‘I thought I got out quickly without being noticed.’

“The rumor says the vice chancellor is connected to the Black Shadow Corps…”

“That’s not true.”

“…Huh?”

“Ah.”

I had been quietly listening but jumped in without thinking.

When I suddenly interrupted from behind, both students turned to look at me simultaneously.

I made a mistake.

“That can’t be true, right? Haha. If they were on the same side, why would the Black Shadow Corps fight the undead?”

“…”

“Ahaha.”

“W-well, that makes sense. But who are you?”

Ta-da-

I laughed awkwardly and quickly left the scene.

As if I didn’t have enough to worry about, now the name “Black Shadow Corps” was being mentioned among students.

Would I be able to continue attending the academy without being discovered?

I practically ran away and headed straight for the lecture hall.

It was my first time coming to the lecture hall in days since the Landgar incident.

The academy had been temporarily closed after that day, and I was seeing Elaine and the others for the first time in days.

“Sigh.”

While it was nice to see everyone again, I wasn’t completely at ease.

After discovering that black magic was at the center of recent incidents across the continent, our Black Shadow Corps had begun a full-scale investigation into black magic.

Yuria was personally interrogating Landgar, and Erika had headed to the western part of the continent.

I wanted to go somewhere and take action myself, but I couldn’t leave the academy.

If I left the academy behind, the quest would fail.

That would mean game over and reset.

“Ryu, Ryu.”

“Huh?”

While I was walking slowly, lost in thought, someone called me from the side.

A female student with blue hair and large glasses.

It was Emily.

Now that I looked at her, her hair color was identical to Yuria’s.

“Ah, Emily!”

“Yeah. It feels like it’s been a while since we’ve seen each other. Hehe.”

After learning that Emily was Yuria’s niece, Emily looked a bit different to me.

I felt like I needed to take care of her more, with a sense of internal closeness.

“How’s your aunt doing?”

“Yuria? I mean, Lady Yuria.”

“Yeah.”

Emily looked at me with curiosity.

Emily now knew about my identity.

She didn’t know that I was the leader of the Black Shadow Corps, but she knew I was working with Yuria.

I didn’t tell her directly, but Yuria said she had told Emily.

Anyway, it didn’t matter much since Cynthia and Professor Amillion already knew.

Besides, she didn’t know everything.

In exchange, I now knew Emily’s true identity.

Not Emily Franz, but Phrysis.

A member of the Phrysis Family, one of the six great families.

“She’s doing well. She’s been so busy working lately that I’ve hardly seen her face.”

“Ah, I see…”

“Why?”

“Oh, nothing. Just that I couldn’t reach her yesterday and today…”

Emily muttered with disappointment.

I didn’t hear the whole story, but one thing was clear.

Yuria and Emily were very close to each other.

“Come on, she’s just busy. She’ll contact you as soon as she’s done.”

“You think so…?”

“Yeah. If she tries to run away again, I’ll catch her for you.”

“…Hehe.”

Emily laughed out loud at my playful remark.

It’s really rare for Emily to laugh out loud.

“Oh, you two!”

“Cynthia, hi!”

After Emily, Cynthia appeared.

Cynthia seemed to have already arrived at the lecture hall.

She came out of the building stretching, and greeted us when she saw me and Emily.

Cynthia was about to say something but glanced at Emily and me and then closed her mouth.

I instinctively knew what she wanted to say.

She probably wanted to ask about that day but held back because Emily was there.

“You can just ask. Emily knows too.”

“…Huh? Really?”

“Yeah. Really.”

Emily awkwardly adjusted her glasses and nodded slightly.

Cynthia muttered that it was unexpected and then continued.

“Then, tell me. What happened that day? The rumors are all over the place about the Black Shadow Corps and undead.”

“The undead part is true!”

“Whoa! Really?”

Emily responded first to Cynthia’s question.

Emily spoke with a proud voice, as if boasting about something impressive.

“Yes. My aunt took care of all the undead.”

“Your aunt? Who’s that?”

“Yuria Phrysis!”

“…Huh?”

Cynthia tilted her head as if she didn’t understand.

It was a similar reaction to when I first learned they were related by blood.

After a moment, Cynthia seemed to understand what Emily meant and was shocked.

“Whaaat? Aunt?”

“Yes. Actually, I’m a Phrysis. Sorry for hiding it until now.”

“…Urk?”

Cynthia couldn’t close her mouth, her expression showing disbelief.

I wasn’t that surprised though.

“R-really? You’re a Phrysis?”

“Yes. But I’ll continue to go by Franz.”

“Um… hmm. I see.”

Cynthia’s expression changed in real-time.

Surprise, bewilderment, curiosity, and finally acceptance.

“Anyway, it’s true that undead appeared that day. It’s also true that my aunt froze them all and used an ice wall to hide the scene.”

“Wow, really? Undead again?”

Cynthia’s interest had already shifted from Emily’s identity to the appearance of the undead.

“So that rumor was true. No one believed it, but somehow I felt it was credible. Especially since undead appeared at the competition too.”

Cynthia nodded as if she had expected it, placing two fingers on her chin.

Then she seemed to be thinking deeply about something.

“Then are they the same undead that appeared at the competition? If so, did someone interfere with academy events twice? Well, if the vice chancellor was behind it…”

Cynthia was muttering to herself even though we weren’t saying anything.

Emily was nodding continuously with a satisfied expression, as if she found it amusing.

“So now that Landgar has been captured, is the matter resolved?”

‘Yeah, I wish it was that simple.’

“Well, who knows.”

“…But Ryu.”

“Huh?”

“Who captured Landgar? Was it you?”

Cynthia looked at me with eyes full of curiosity.

I wondered if I should tell her the truth.

“Well, someone must have captured him.”

“It wasn’t you? Then was it Lady Yuria?”

“My aunt only fought the undead…”

Cynthia and Emily’s gazes turned to me simultaneously.

I thought for a moment about what to say.

Just saying I did it seemed too much, as Landgar was too big a figure.

If they knew I was skilled enough to match the academy’s vice chancellor, it might create more distance between me and the others.

“Of course it wasn’t me. How could I defeat the academy’s vice chancellor? Even if Lady Yuria fought him, the outcome would be uncertain.”

“Is that so?”

“And there are many people working with Lady Yuria.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. Ask her directly when you meet her.”

I deflected the question by passing the annoying task to Yuria.

Just as the conversation was ending, someone else appeared, as if in a tag team match.

“E-everyone is gathered here, I see.”

“Miss Elaine…!”

“Elaine, hi.”

The last to appear was Elaine, who for some reason couldn’t raise her head properly.

Instead of the fancy dress she wore a few days ago, she was wearing her usual knight’s uniform.

Pfft-

As soon as I saw Elaine, I couldn’t help but smile, remembering that night.

“W-why are you laughing?!”

“Hey, Elaine. Didn’t we agree to speak casually like we did that day?”

“No, that day was…!”

Elaine raised her head in irritation, stamping her foot.

Her cheeks were flushed red as she looked up at me directly.

She’s quite cute, actually.

“Come on, everyone. Let’s go in.”

The situation was quickly resolved when Elaine, who knew nothing, arrived.

We couldn’t continue the conversation about the incident that day.

‘Should I tell Elaine too?’

At the same time, I wondered if I should tell Elaine a bit about myself.

Since Cynthia and Emily already knew, only Elaine was in the dark.

“Ugh…!”

Elaine was groaning, unable to raise her head, either from frustration or embarrassment.

I’ll have to think about it later.