After the Underwater Kingdom

The field trip to the underwater kingdom ended with quite an unsatisfactory conclusion.

I had thought I didn’t feel like Ar was properly hit when I swung my slash, but I had hoped it was just anxiety, yet it seems Ar really did avoid the slash.

While I was running towards the library after landing a bit far from it after swinging my slash, Ar beat me to it and escaped with Idea, causing us to lose her.

I felt uneasy about losing Idea, who would have become very troublesome if not killed here, but this was entirely my own mistake that no one else could be blamed for.

Since it happened because I let Ar slip away, I just bitterly gathered the students who were there and Mu and returned to the academy.

However, returning to the academy didn’t mean everything was wrapped up.

First of all, as I was in the role of a professor, I had to check the number of students, calm down the confused students, and additionally, after sending all the students back to their dormitories and homes, I had to go to the dean’s office to meet Mira and report on this incident.

That demons appeared again, that a large army of demonic beasts attacked the underwater kingdom, and that in the process of stopping the attack of those demonic beasts, we caused considerable damage to the underwater kingdom.

Of course, while reporting this, I cleverly didn’t mention our location to hide the story about the library, and I also embellished a bit about breaking the underwater kingdom’s barrier.

After all, I didn’t want to get scolded needlessly, and the events at the library weren’t light enough to tell Mira yet.

Fortunately, Mira didn’t have any doubts about my report and focused only on the fact that demons had appeared, wearing a quite serious expression.

It seems she’s being cautious seeing that the demons’ movements have become more active recently.

Mira continued to ponder like that, then soon told me to be aware that I might be called again if word reaches the king, and said she needed to continue her work and recommended I take a rest.

I also had a lot to think about after returning from the underwater kingdom, so I accepted that and immediately returned to the temple with Mu, Isolde, and Morgan.

I really had a lot to think about in many ways. But first priority was Mu’s recovery, so I entrusted Mu to the Pope for recovery and told her to rest after that.

With the intention of forcibly making her rest if I saw her overexerting herself.

And after that, Mira told me via message that the academy would have another three-day break due to this incident.

Thus, sudden holidays were created.

Including the weekend, it was 5 days of holidays, and time returns to the present.

---

Inside the temple on a bright sunny morning.

“You’re saying Idea had multiple personalities?”

“Yeah. You didn’t know? I thought you’d know since you seemed to know quite a bit about us.”

On the second day of the break that was created due to the underwater kingdom incident, I heard new information from Isolde who had entered my room.

The new fact I learned was none other than that Idea, whom I had only half-suspected, was someone with multiple personalities.

I had asked thinking that perhaps Isolde, being Idea’s sister, would know, but I couldn’t help but slightly widen my eyes at her nonchalant affirmation.

I hadn’t imagined that my guess would actually be true.

At my reaction, Isolde closed the book she was reading and turned to me as if asking why I was asking about something obvious.

It seems she thought I would naturally know since they had told their names when I first saw them on Sky Island.

“No, of course I know a few things about you all, but it’s not like I know everything.”

“Really? Well… if you say so, I guess that’s how it is.”

At my words, Isolde seemed to have some doubts, but soon nodded and put the closed book back on the bookshelf.

Then, at my words that I was hearing for the first time that Idea had multiple personalities, she seemed to think about something for a moment, then slowly opened her eyes and spoke.

“Probably… big sister first became someone with multiple personalities when she was about 13 years old. That was the hardest time when we were living in back alleys after our parents passed away.”

“13 years old for you two is quite long ago.”

“That’s right. It’s an incident from at least 750 years ago.”

Idea first became someone with multiple personalities at 13. Isolde said that and began.

“I don’t know the exact reason, but it was probably due to stress? Big sister always lived with suicidal thoughts as she worked her bones off carrying me too.”

“Suicidal thoughts, you say?”

“Yeah. I probably stopped her from slitting her wrists or hanging herself hundreds of times. I stopped counting after a thousand times.”

Isolde shrugged and sighed. I slightly trembled at her face that showed a glimpse of weariness.

Her tone seemed to have no affection at all for Idea as a sister, no matter how I looked at it.

But this was only my personal judgment, and it seemed like I might get burned if I asked needlessly, so I just kept my mouth shut and listened attentively to Isolde’s story.

“Anyway, it was around 13 that big sister, who lived with constant suicidal thoughts, started showing signs of multiple personalities. I was young then too, so I would frown a bit when I saw big sister trying to commit suicide. So seeing me like that, from some point she started living like a madwoman, laughing.”

“Is that the usual appearance Idea showed?”

“Yeah. When it’s not that, she looks like an ordinary sick person.”

“What do you mean by looking like a sick person?”

“It’s nothing special. Just… her hands shake a bit, she has frequent suicidal thoughts, and she looks like a shut-in. Most of the guys in the back alleys of the Demon Realm are like that.”

Isolde spoke with a snort, in a tone as if she had seen countless such demons.

However, I looked Isolde up and down and tilted my head at her speaking like that.

“You don’t seem to be like that though?”

“I’m a special case because big sister took care of me so much.”

“Is that so? Hmm, well if that’s the case.”

“Is this much enough for this story?”

When I nodded somewhat understanding, Isolde took out a new book from the bookshelf again.

Looking at that sight, I turned my head to my desk piled high with various documents.

To summarize Isolde’s words in one sentence, it was like saying Idea became someone with multiple personalities as a result of living too hard in the back alleys.

Moreover, the reason for living in those back alleys was to live while carrying her little sister after their parents passed away, so in some ways it seemed quite pitiful.

‘Of course, that doesn’t erase the evil deeds she’s done until now.’

However, even so, the evil deeds Idea has done until now are actions that can’t be overlooked simply because of reasons like having multiple personalities or an unfortunate past.

No matter how unfortunate a past she lived, she has no room for excuses since she made hundreds or thousands of people more unfortunate than herself.

‘But come to think of it, that’s the same for Isolde and Morgan too…’

Hilk──

I slightly turned my eyes and looked once again at Isolde, who had told me the story and was now reading a new book.

Isolde was comfortably lying on her staff with her legs crossed, reading a book.

For a moment, a surge of emotion rose at the sight of her reading a book so comfortably as if it was her own room after entering someone else’s room, but I put away needless emotions and just took in Isolde with my eyes.

Isolde, who committed evil deeds in the position of a demon executive along with Idea.

If counted one by one, her evil deeds would be fewer than Idea’s, but like Idea, that doesn’t mean the evil deeds she committed disappear.

Now she’s working for humans under me, so in some sense it could be seen as atonement, but this is also a semi-forced relationship formed by contract.

‘Of course, I have no intention of ever releasing the contract… but can this be considered atonement?’

For now, if she works hard for humans, in some sense it could be seen as slowly chipping away at her sins bit by bit.

But it’s still lacking to call it atonement. What’s the point of weighing it like this in the first place…

“Sigh… Let’s stop these needlessly complicated thoughts here.”

In the end, I decided to put aside thoughts about Isolde and Morgan and focus only on what I could do now.

After all, the path I’ve lived until now wasn’t that of a good person to the extent of judging them on atonement or whatever, and what I desire is only to save this world and return to my original world.

Honestly, even now it’s ambiguous if this is what I truly desire, but for now it is.

So I organized my scattered thoughts and picked up one of the documents piled on my desk to read.

“She said to read this first…”

The document I picked up was none other than the guide that Mira had given me to read first.

And as I was reading that guide line by line, Isolde, who had been reading a book in mid-air, suddenly became interested and approached.

“What’s that? Is it perhaps another story about the future?”

“No, it’s just a simple guide. A guide to the academy’s schedule when it resumes operations after the holiday given for the students this time ends.”

“Hmm?”

Isolde’s eyes brightened slightly with interest after looking disappointed that it wasn’t about the future, but then hearing it was the academy’s schedule.

Even without asking with her mouth, I could see her eyes asking me what the contents were.

However, even with that urging gaze, I leisurely read down one line at a time at a constant pace, and only when I had read all the contents to the last line of the guide did I raise my head and speak to Isolde.

“It says they’re inviting sponsors who provide funding for the academy to an observational class.”

To summarize the contents written in the guide, it was simple.

Due to frequent accidents, Lua Academy’s reputation has become unstable, so they’re holding an observational class to recover that and show that the academy is safe.

After all, now that the students’ safety has been threatened twice, the academy had to take action like this.

So the observational class seemed fine if you just listened to it, but I burst into laughter at some of the names written on the list of those sponsors.

※Haran

※Shadima Petra

※Rimia Sel Moonsgard

※Helestin’s Van

It seemed it wouldn’t be a smooth observational class.

It was the morning of the next day, with still 3 days of holiday remaining.