episode_0028

Beyond the door, it was foul.

A repugnant odor relentlessly irritated the nose, and a repugnant mana was endlessly felt.

The floor was still wet with bloodstains. Unwiped blood was scattered all over. The floor, ceiling, walls were all soaked in blood. It seemed that they had hastily dealt only with the body.

David touched his chin and examined the glass case where Eligos’ horn had been.

The glass was broken.

Even inside, a large amount of mana could still be felt. Just from that, one could gauge how powerful the energy contained in Eligos’ horn was.

“You’ve desecrated the body.”

“…How do you know?”

David reached out his hand.

“First, once.”

His finger pointed to the widely spread bloodstains on the floor.

“Turning the victim into the dead once.”

As he spoke, the victim would have died from the first attack. Judging by the widely scattered bloodstains, the victim’s throat would have been cut. When the throat is cut, blood spreads in that manner. It’s a familiar sight.

“Breaking the glass and getting what they wanted.”

After briefly examining the broken glass case, he turned around.

“And secondly.”

This time, he pointed to the wall.

“Three times, four times…? No, it ends with two. They tore it to shreds on the second time.”

Blood splattered in all directions, even on the wall. I looked up at the ceiling. When I illuminated the ceiling with magic, the bloodstains were clear.

“It’s impossible to do alone…”

“The culprit wasn’t alone, or they must be proficient in magic.”

“…That’s a reasonable inference.”

It’s not easy to pretend not to know when you already know the answer. David pondered my words and calmly replied.

“Tearing the limbs of the body in all directions with magic, causing blood to splatter, or multiple culprits desecrating the body simultaneously.”

“Both could be possible?”

“…”

I threw him a hint as he pieced together the clues.

The privilege of the reader. It feels great that the characters in the novel already know the future that they don’t know. The confidence that comes from certainty is even pleasurable.

Thinking that Carl Mayner, that kid, must have lived with this feeling every day, I felt unjustly indignant. Someone suffered as a dog in a woman’s body….

“You’re calmer than I expected, Beatrice.”

“Isn’t it you who… were an investigator before coming to the academy?”

“In the alliance, things happen that you can’t imagine.”

Even when talking about the tragedy of his hometown, his tone seemed unchanged, as if it were nothing. The famous pleasure resort is just a part of the appearance of the alliance. Just a little away from the center, there were all kinds of incidents and accidents, from demon attacks to gangs targeting gambling dens.

“It’s not something to be proud of… But noble ladies of the Primera Kingdom wouldn’t have had many chances to witness scenes like this, would they?”

“….”

David was staring at me with straight eyes before I knew it.

I didn’t avoid his gaze. I looked at him with unwavering eyes too.

Should I have screamed? Even to me, I seemed excessively calm. Even if she was a tough lady who entered the knight department, she looked very delicate on the outside. It was an inappropriate reaction.

I had become numb without realizing it. To violence and death. Because I’m the one causing it.

“Well, there must be difficult circumstances to talk about. I thought of you as a junior in the student council, so I ended up being presumptuous.”

“I don’t even treat seniors well, why would I think of you as a junior?”

“Even if it’s impudent, you’re still a junior. I personally chose you.”

He adjusted his glasses and walked toward the entrance.

“It’s time to go back. Disgusting mana is lingering, making me dizzy.”

Just like David said, “disgusting mana” was the perfect expression. The powerful mana flowing from Eligos’s horn met with the negative emotions of the culprit, and it came to this point.

Since I got hints about the culprit… No, since I gave hints, I’ve seen everything.

However, there is something I need to check before that.

Ziing-

Changes the color of the eyes.

Things that were not visible become visible.

Mana, which had only left traces, rewinds within my eyes. The scattered mana showed everything: what kind of spell it was originally used for, what properties it transformed into, and what results it produced.

There were many things I could see with the eyes of a noble. I could distinguish between the mana emanating from Eligos’s horn and the mana created by the culprit. If I saw the same mana outside based on the distinguished mana, I would be able to detect it.

I know who the culprit is, but I have only seen him described in print. It’s not easy to recognize his appearance in this possessed world. But mana cannot deceive. Even in the midst of a crowd, I can recognize him. This is my privilege.

Omnipotence that seems to place all mana in the world under me.

Not yet… but to that extent…

“Beatrice? What’s wrong?”

David also seemed to sense something and turned around. I quickly released the power and returned to my original eye color.

He shrugged his shoulders.

“I just took one last look around. Let’s get out of here quickly, I’m tired.”

We closed the door and escaped underground.

The way back was still long. Throughout the walk, I glimpsed at the green emperor’s helmet.

Even after arriving at the dormitory, only the green emperor’s helmet flickered, not Eligos’s horn.

No matter how much I think about it, it seems like I will be the one to wear that helmet, Beatrice.

A powerful sorcerer, a noble, the artifact of the green emperor, resentment towards the institution… all the clues pointed to only one possibility.

I might be the main villain in the novel…

*

In the throbbing pain of a hangover, I made my way to the classroom.

I drank again before falling asleep. The fatigue from the intense duel with Cloe made the hangover even stronger. Although I managed to drag my leaden body to the classroom, I was already late.

I quietly entered through the back door of the classroom. The professor noticed me but didn’t pay much attention and continued the lecture. A mana wave of spell patterns was unfolding above the platform.

“He’s teaching about installation magic.”

I could tell as soon as I saw it. Today’s lecture seemed to be about installation magic that can store spell patterns like scrolls or magical devices. It’s a useful topic even for students in the Imperial Studies Department who can’t handle magic.

I looked around for a vacant seat.

No, I was looking for the blond man. Perhaps with some hope.

Realizing that I held such expectations, my face felt slightly warm.

Probably blushing, I swept the spacious classroom again. Since he’s a noticeable man, I’d find him soon.

…

“Ah!”

I soon spotted him, but the seat next to him was already taken by someone else. My expectations cooled off. It felt like my heart was pounding. Yes, it must be an illusion.

A pair of blond man and woman were sitting there. The woman with a bob cut who occupied the seat next to Karl was objectively very beautiful. Her smooth neckline was truly lovely. But it irritated me apart from her beauty. An inexplicable annoyance surged within me. My expectations had faded, yet strangely my face seemed to grow hotter.

“Daniella…! I absolutely won’t drink before this class, at least the day before!”

I made a promise I couldn’t keep.

I didn’t know being late would feel this unpleasant.

“Miss Beatrice.”

A soft voice called me.

It was a familiar voice.

When I turned around, Yulia, with her violet eyes, was there. Today, she had her short hair tied up. She looked different, but she was still beautiful as always.

“This way…”

She moved inward, giving up her seat by the aisle for me. Did she deliberately prevent others from sitting so that I could sit next to her?

While thinking such thoughts, I moved my body. Last time, I was too nervous meeting Carl Mayner for the first time to notice, but Julia is also taking the same class. She was in the Imperial Studies Department too.

Thud-

I tried my best to move the chair quietly, but even in the quiet classroom, it sounded loud.

As I sat down, Julia shifted the open book towards me, pointing out the part the professor was explaining with her slender and pretty fingers. Her consideration for me was evident.

“I was learning about the principles of scrolls.”

“Yeah, I see. Thanks for letting me know.”

Even though I already knew, Julia’s consideration made me smile. She continued to lean the book towards me, uncomfortably continuing to take notes. I had brought my own book, but I didn’t want to disturb her, so I didn’t place it on the desk.

‘Hmm?’

I felt a gaze and turned my head.

Carl was looking at me. When our eyes met by chance, he turned his head back to face the front.

By chance…?

Lost in thought with my chin in my hand, I couldn’t focus on the lecture. It was something I already knew anyway. Although I hadn’t learned it, I didn’t feel the need to. It was a principle that I could understand naturally.

More than that, I was curious if Carl had really looked at me just now. He might have coincidentally looked elsewhere and our eyes met, right?

Before possession, I had several experiences of making eye contact with other girls while trying to look at the clock on the wall to see when the class would end.

There were also painful memories of mistakenly interpreting multiple eye contacts as signals and being harshly rejected.

So… making eye contact during class is a common occurrence that everyone has experienced.

If you attach too much meaning to it, it becomes something easily hurtful.

Hmm…

Was there a clock on the wall here…?

I got lost in pointless thoughts, filling my head with things unrelated to the class.

Later, I even pondered whether I could find a way to sit next to a guy during class, knowing that Julia was watching.

How can I sit next to Karl instead of Julia in this class..?

Naturally, without feeling awkward.

I’ve always been reluctant to concentrate on the class, whether it was before or now.