At the Academy

Flare, in inconsolable grief, held the recently deceased Scarl in her arms.

The first to discover them were the academy professors, arriving late.

“Honorary Professor Scarl!”

“Student Flare! Student Flare! Wake up! What happened?! Why is Professor Scarl dead here!”

Everyone tried to pry Flare away from the corpse, but she wouldn’t let go.

‘None of this matters!’

“Someone, call Professor Scarl’s maid, now!”

“Room 404. She should be in 404!”

404.

At those words, Flare slowly rose.

‘If it’s there…’

When the professors tried to touch Scarl’s body, Flare reflexively shouted.

“Everyone, don’t move!!”

The holy and radiant light was gone, replaced by an ominous, blood-red aura that dominated the surroundings.

“T-This is!”

“Calm down, Student Flare! We’re just trying to use preservation magic on Professor Scarl’s body to understand the situation—”

The aura, surging as if alive, transformed into a blade at the throat of the magic professor who mentioned preservation magic, threatening him.

“Do it. Right now. In front of me.”

“Y-Yes.”

As the magic was cast, the still-flowing blood began to stop.

Flare took a step toward Scarl, as if he were reviving, but no miracle occurred; he remained cold.

“I’m… so sorry.”

“Calm down, Flare. Of course, I understand how you feel losing someone close to you…”

Do you understand how I feel, unable to do anything and failing to protect my senior?

Do you professors know the misery of watching a loved one die before your eyes?

“I know you received personal tutoring from Professor Scarl, but…”

She fidgeted with the key that had fallen from his grasp earlier, now in her skirt pocket.

She remembered the time she spent with him.

She always ate with Hati, laughing and talking, spending lazy days together.

Every moment with him was happy and enjoyable, and she looked forward to weekdays more than weekends.

‘Senior was the only happiness in the academy.’

Hati was the first to reach out to her, a commoner and a beggar, whom no one else approached.

She remembered the time she spent with Scarl.

He taught her harshly, as if he had foreseen a day like today.

But he would stop as if by magic when she reached her limit.

‘Thanks to Scarl’s teachings, I was able to withstand the demon with the large horns.’

Her dormitory friends were terrified of even small imps, or offered only slight resistance, but she had grown strong enough to defeat a demon wielding a sword of fire on her own.

She had to go to the place where memories of him remained.

“Room 404. I’ll go.”

With a speed incomparable to before, Flare ran towards the faculty building of the swordsmanship department.

The door to room 404 burst open.

“Lord, who has determined justice. Have mercy on Scarl and let him return unharmed and safe—”

Luna, sitting in Scarl’s chair, eyes closed and hands clasped in prayer, flinched as someone opened the door and entered.

“Sc… Flare?!”

Unable to look at her sister, who approached with a surprised expression, Flare averted her gaze.

“…S-Sister.”

Luna, unaware of anything, embraced Flare with a relieved expression.

“Flare! Thank goodness. You’re safe! But what is all this! Are you hurt too?! But did you happen to see… Scarl? He went to the main building and hasn’t returned yet…”

Scarl.

At that name, Flare’s heart sank.

“…”

“Flare? Flare! What’s wrong! Do you know something about Scarl?!”

Flare remembered the bloodstained key in her pocket.

“Sister, do you have anything you received from— from Scarl?”

Luna held up a small key.

“This? I got it this morning. It looks like a drawer key for the mansion? But there’s no matching hole in the lab.”

A key that looked similar to the one that had fallen from her senior’s grasp, but much cleaner.

Scarl, who had died because of her, came to mind again, and Flare’s eyebrows twitched.

Luna was surprised as Flare took out the bloodstained key from her pocket.

“Wh-What’s that! Bl-Blood!!”

As if possessed, Flare went to Scarl’s desk and tried each key in the drawer’s keyhole.

“Why are you putting that in Scarl’s drawer!”

‘This is it.’

Click.

“Wh-What are you doing, Flare! How could you… Oh? Blood…?”

Her sister’s face seemed to sense something.

“Luna, Sister.”

“Flare… No, right? That’s your blood. Right…?”

Instead of me…

“…I’m sorry.”

Senior— no, Scarl—

“N-No, right? …Huh? Right! You got it a long time ago. That key?”

Died…

There was only one letter inside.

She tore open the seal and read the contents.

Scarl’s handwriting, written in her senior’s name… the first time she had ever seen it.

‘Unlike his appearance, his handwriting is so neat.’

Tears blurred her vision.

“Ah… A, Aah—!!”

Flare, wailing, was startled when blood-tears stained the letter and dropped it.

The fluttering letter fell cruelly in front of Luna, who had collapsed with a look of utter loss.

Luna picked up the letter and confirmed the contents written in Hati’s name.

“Sc, Scarl is Ha…ti?”

Unbelievable.

I can’t believe Scarl is dead.

It can’t be.

It must be Flare’s bad joke.

‘I haven’t seen it with my own eyes yet, right? There’s no way a person can die that easily.’

But the situation at the academy was too serious.

Scarl’s letter told Flare to take her to the mansion and check the drawer as soon as possible.

Luna, with her mouth shut, headed to the mansion with her sister.

The scenery of the capital on the way was grim.

The charred remains were so blackened that it was impossible to tell what kind of building they had been, and even more people were found dead on the streets or roofs.

The streets were stained with blood to the point that it was rare to see anything without red on it.

The corpses of small demons showed signs of fierce fighting outside, no different from the academy.

Luna hypnotized herself as she looked at this scene.

‘…No. It can’t be. Scarl is safe. He must be safe.’

He will surely come back alive and well somewhere and talk to me.

If I knock on the door of his office like every morning, I will hear a familiar voice.

‘Yes! Maybe he’s at the mansion!’

She wishes for vain hope.

“Sister, we’re here.”

“This way.”

The two, who had passed through the firmly locked main gate of the mansion and entered through a small door used by the servants, stood in front of the office.

“Sister? Why aren’t you going in—”

Knock knock

It sounds like a hallucination.

-Come in.-

No one greeted the two who opened the door and entered.

Flare supports Luna, who is about to collapse in frustration.

“Are you okay, Sister?”

She bites her lip until it bleeds and opens the locked drawers one by one.

‘…There must be a letter somewhere.’

He left one for Flare, so there’s no way he wouldn’t leave one for me.

I found it.

She found his letter and a small stone with a swirl drawn on it.

“…Is there usually no one at the mansion like this?”

“They must have all run away. This is… definitely written to me.”

She reads the letter.

[To Luna.

If you are reading this, it means that I am dead or in mortal danger.

Don’t be sad.

Death is the fate of those who are born, so think of it as me leaving a little early for the crime of tormenting you sisters.

And you always wanted to kill me, didn’t you…]

Tears welled up at the fact that he had foreseen this.

“No… Scarl. I don’t anymore…”

[…It would be ridiculous if I, who may be dead, were to convey my feelings to you who are reading this. So I will not include our personal opinions in this letter…]

You never said anything like that.

If only you had told me your true feelings, even in a single line…

‘Scarl doesn’t want me to be like this.’

She regains her composure and continues reading the letter.

[…You are children with the qualities to become Heroes, along with your sister.

The stone that came with the letter is the only one in the world that can hold a day of the world.

I don’t know when you will read this letter, but use it with Flare on the most important day.

Don’t understand what I mean?]

At this point, she nodded as if Scarl was talking next to her.

[Forced save / load]

The scribbled words were incomprehensible.

But the following contained the most important information at this point.

[…To put it simply, ‘If you want to eat the sandwich you made in the morning again tonight, you can record it on the stone, and you can go back 12 hours and eat it again, but only once.’

However, just having the stone will only save the date, and additional materials are needed to turn back time.

Recording also requires fresh blood from the user…]

Can I go back 12 hours?

‘It hasn’t passed yet.’

As soon as she finished reading the letter, she realized that the stone that came with the letter was the most important thing in the world.

[The materials required for that are as follows… If you mention my name to Kasha of the Aiden Guild, she will get you the materials.

The device that can use the stone is in the imperial palace, so if you ask the Second Princess Sophia in my name, she will listen to you through a deal.]

She quickly puts the stone between her breasts, fearing that it might crumble.

[Finally, the most important ingredient to turn back time with this stone is… You will be able to obtain it before going to the Demon King’s castle.

I hope that this stone will be Scarl Bernatore’s atonement for you sisters and become a reserve of life to help save the world.]

As soon as she finished reading, Luna muttered.

“Scarl. We can save you.”

There is a way.

‘The gods must have heard my prayers.’

“What? What are you talking about! Sis—”

“Read it too. We can save Scarl.”

Flare grabbed Luna’s shoulder without reading it.

“How are you going to save Senior?!?!”

“Before today passes, record Scarl on the stone, and the people who use the device can go back to this morning at any time.”

Luna shows her sister the stone she has been holding between her breasts.

“This is it. The stone that rewinds time. We have to use this on Scarl quickly. 12 hours ago. If we’re even a little late…”

Flare’s mind was sharpened by those words.

“If we’re late?!”

“We might not be able to save him. But to record, we need Scarl’s fresh blood… Flare. Where is Scarl now?”

At those words, Flare grabbed Luna’s hand and started running.

“Come on, Sister! The magic professor cast preservation magic on Scarl! Fresh blood!!! We can save Senior!!!”

It is a stroke of luck to have found this letter today.