episode_0034

Arthur opened his eyes in a dark space.

Incredibly, there before him stood a being that looked exactly like himself.

“Who are you..?”

Looking closely, I’m a little different from you… I don’t have horns on my head, and I don’t have red eyes…

The Demon King answered Arthur’s question with a big smile.

“That’s not the important thing.”

“..?”

“I can give you great power. If you gain this power, no one will be able to ignore you.”

At the Demon King’s words, Arthur’s eyes turned to the ceiling, and he could feel a huge energy floating in the air.

-Gulp.

“I can have that power..?”

“Yeah.”

Arthur easily falls for the Demon King’s temptation.

Arthur’s appearance was due to the Demon King using the power of Raum, which he had absorbed. Raum, one of the Archduke’s, had the power to amplify human emotions or interfere with memories, and the Demon King used this to greatly amplify Arthur’s feelings of inferiority.

Arthur, who felt inferior due to his own weakness, could not help but easily give in to the temptation of great power.

“Instead, you have to win the bet with me.”

“What kind of bet is that..?”

“Would you like to hear my theory about human nature?”

As Arthur nodded, the Dark Lord began to explain the bet, and Arthur’s face darkened as he listened to the story.

“… ”

Let’s make a bet on whether Alice will ‘betray’ me or not…

“What is the standard for betrayal..?”

“What you feel is a betrayal. Don’t judge by that.”

Arthur sighed in relief at the Demon King’s words.

Phew… Then, as long as I don’t feel betrayed, it’s okay? And since there’s no way Alice would betray me, this is a fight I’m sure I’ll win! Let’s just accept it.

“Okay! Then let’s do that..”

“Instead, you will be subject to unfavorable conditions.”

The Demon King cut off Arthur’s words and began to state various conditions, and Arthur’s expression gradually hardened as he heard the contents.

“Well… I feel like I’m at a disadvantage… What happens if I lose?”

“You will lose your body to me.”

“!!”

Mom… losing my body… it’s too dangerous, but if I just get that power…!

“Okay.. Okay, but since it’s too disadvantageous for me, let’s add another condition.”

“If I get betrayed by Alice and then… …then I’ll take it as my loss.”

The Demon King, after hearing Arthur’s words, readily agreed.

This easily..? Honestly, I didn’t know you’d accept it..

“By the way, assuming that it happened after she was betrayed, you really don’t trust that woman.”

“…”

Arthur was left speechless by the Demon King’s provocation.

There’s no way Alice would betray me anyway, this is just insurance. I can’t let that guy take my body.

Yeah… If I do well in the first place, there’s no problem. Even if Alice suddenly becomes strange, I can just tell her the whole truth, right?

“Then check the transaction details.”

Arthur looked forward at the voice and saw a piece of paper with the words ‘Soul Trade’ written on it.

“Certainly… there’s nothing strange.”

I checked the contents written more than a dozen times, but I couldn’t find anything particularly strange. Rather, there were many contents that were too favorable to me, so I was suspicious of this part.

“Do you agree to the transaction?”

“Yes.. I agree.”

Eventually, Arthur, unable to find anything odd, agreed to the deal, and the paper disappeared in a bright light.

“Then let’s get you out of here.”

As soon as the words were heard, Arthur felt his body disappear.

Are we going back to reality now..?

Then the Demon King came to him and began whispering in his ear.

“You didn’t tell me that, this is a unique space called the Mirror World.”

Mirror world? Unique space? What are you talking about all of a sudden?

“That means, if you leave here, you won’t remember what happened here.”

“..!! J..Wait a minute!!”

But despite Arthur’s urgent cries, his body was returning to reality, and Arthur could only look at the Demon King who was smiling at him.

… … …

“Ugh…”

Ah..no!! Huh..? What was it.. It was definitely important..

“Arthur..?”

“Aris?”

I turned my head to the side at the sound of a familiar voice and saw Alice there.

“Arthur, did you know you were passed out in the library? I thought something really big had happened..”

“That..really?”

Right, I was at the library, right? But why did I go to the library..?

“That’s right!! The academy was invaded by demons! Seriously… If you were hurt, I would… Hehe..”

“Don’t cry..I’m sorry.”

Arthur started to comfort Aris, who was about to cry next to him, and fortunately, Aris was able to stop crying quickly.

“Aren’t other people hurt more than that?”

“Yeah, the demons did come in, but… hardly anyone saw them, and no one died or was injured.”

“Can that be possible?”

“There was already a fuss because of that, so he must have done something and disappeared.”

I see. But for now, I guess I should be thankful that nothing bad happened.

“I don’t think I’ll have class until tomorrow. Should I go back to the dorm now?”

Oh.. Now that I think about it, this is a hospital room.

Arthur nodded slightly and headed to the dormitory, holding hands with Alice.

… … …

Um… where should I go from here? Over there?

So when Arthur tried to go to a strange place, Alice stopped him.

“Where are you going? The ‘Magic’ faculty boys’ dorm is over there.”

“Magic School?”

Faculty of Magic? What is that? Come to think of it, what department am I a student in?

“Aris? I’m a student at the Faculty of Magic?”

At Arthur’s question, Alice’s pupils began to dilate.

“..? Are you kidding?”

“Are you kidding me? What is magic? Am I a student of the magic department?”

Huh? Arthur’s expression isn’t that of a lie…?

“Okay..Hold on a second.”

Alice put her hand into Arthur’s pocket, took out her student ID from Arthur’s wallet, and showed it to him.

“Read this! It says first year of the Faculty of Magic!”

“Huh? I see… But I don’t know what magic is..?”

“What are you talking about!!!”

Suddenly, when Alice shouted, Arthur, startled, started to panic.

“Why..? Is that so important..? I’m sorry…”

No… why am I doing this? Yelling at Arthur… I guess I was just surprised for a moment, let me apologize first!

“No.. Sorry for yelling.. More importantly, do you remember the class you took this morning?”

Arthur’s expression began to brighten again as he heard the question.

“Of course! What was it…”

But Arthur’s face began to harden again.

“I knew it! It’s strange… I can’t remember…”

Arthur doesn’t know about magic? No way… Yeah, he must have temporarily lost his memory from the shock of falling.

“I guess you were really stressed out after collapsing today.. I’ll take you to the dorm, so go to bed early and see you tomorrow. Okay?”

“Okay..”

After hearing the answer, Alice took Arthur’s hand again and started to move towards Arthur’s dormitory room. Fortunately, she was able to arrive at Arthur’s room quickly.

“Do you remember the room..? Could it be that this is the first time you’ve seen this room..”

“No.. Do you remember my room?”

Fortunately, Alice was able to feel relieved when Arthur remembered the room.

“Arthur, don’t worry too much about today and go to sleep. You’ll remember everything when you wake up tomorrow!”

“Yeah! You too, sleep well, Aris~”

As she left the room, seeing Arthur smiling brightly and waving, Alice thought to herself that she would have to relieve Arthur’s stress for a while and help him find his memories.

… … …

The next morning.

Unfortunately, Alice was unable to meet Arthur because her death threats to the instructor and her escape midway became a major problem and a disciplinary committee was convened.

“Hoo..”

But is that a good thing..? They said they’d let me go if I just ran a few dungeons..

Of course, there were no casualties, the damage was not severe, and Arthur, who had disappeared, was rescued, so these factors were taken into consideration and what could have been an expulsion was ended up as a normal disciplinary action.

“Ha… I really don’t want to do it.. I should go to Arthur and get some healing..”

So, Alice went to Arthur and relieved Arthur’s stress by dating him and spending time with him. However, as time passed, Arthur’s memories did not return, and on the third day, Alice could not help but notice that something was strange.

“Arthur, come sit next to me.”

At Alice’s words, Arthur sat down next to Alice.

“Why?”

“Do you remember going to the library often when you were young?”

“Then! You were living there all the time!”

Hmm… I guess I remember this kind of thing…

“Then what book did you read at the Taoist temple?

“In the library? Of course…! Huh…? Did you just read any book?”

Something’s strange… Why can’t I remember anything related to magic?

“Arthur, do you remember why you came to the Academy?”

“That’s it…”

“… ”

Arthur clearly entered the academy to enter the Magic Tower. However, he couldn’t even remember this, so his condition was very serious.

“Arthur, do you feel something strange about yourself? I don’t feel well right now.. So I think you should go to the hospital. Are you okay..?”

Of course, Arthur was not stupid, so he knew that he was strange, and although he hated going to the hospital, he had no choice but to nod.

“Then let’s go right away.”

On the way to the hospital, Aris prayed that everything would be fine.