episode_0210

The night before the acceptance notification, Principal Brecht sank into a plush chair and let out a deep sigh.

His mind was filled with worries about the problematic student who would soon arrive.

“Principal-nim, thank you for your help.”

The inspector’s voice broke the principal’s thoughts.

“It’s a small price to pay for owing a life.”

The principal replied in a deliberately grumbling tone.

He recalled the numerous times he had received help from the inspector, from several months ago up to the recent academy attack.

‘I didn’t know I’d be repaying that debt this way.’

“But why that student, of all people?”

The principal asked. His gaze was clearly filled with suspicion.

“Honestly, I’m uneasy. It doesn’t feel like you’re just sending her to be looked after. Are you perhaps planning to use that child?”

A moment of silence passed. The inspector gazed at the principal and slowly opened his mouth.

“If she agrees, it’s possible. As you’ve seen in the data, her abilities are beyond imagination.”

“Yes, a clone ability. It’s truly remarkable. However, the clone creation ability has significant limitations. It feels like there’s something more you haven’t explained… but I won’t ask further.”

The inspector, meeting the principal’s questioning gaze, remained silent.

“She will be of great help if a problem arises at this academy later.”

“A big problem, like Polaris? Considering the attack targeting me a few months ago, it’s not impossible, I suppose.”

The inspector thought. That child would be very useful.

Though he didn’t explicitly say it, the inspector knew. For five years, ever since the irreversible event, strange occurrences had been happening in every place where young awakened individuals were raised.

The scope included most awakened academies, with the exception of Aegis and a few others.

What he knew alone was significant, so what about other places? Even Polaris Academy attempted to create a hive mind network with its students and then simply disappeared from the map.

“By the way, you. How do you trust us?”

The principal shrugged.

“Well, because Mr. Brecht is here. Aegis is different.”

The principal was speechless at the inspector’s resolute tone. It was the absolute certainty only someone who had come back through time could possess.

‘Until the world collapsed, this place survived to the very end.’

The principal, who had been lost in thought for a while, slowly opened his mouth.

“However, this child, Violet, has issues. Especially regarding her character.”

He listened to the principal’s explanation.

At the mention of a chaotic debate breaking out after the interview, he let out a light sigh.

“Isn’t that true? Honestly, in my opinion, pointing this out… feels naive.”

What would happen four years from now? The war between humans, the war between humans and demonic beasts. And those beings from beyond the second dimension, commanding the demonic beasts, exceeding human imagination.

These educators, steeped in peace, seemed too idealistic.

“It’s true that it’s efficient.”

The inspector’s gaze, recalling the future, was fixed on something far away.

“I don’t deny rationality or efficiency. If the person in front of me were a veteran fixer who had experienced all sorts of hardships, I would have accepted it. The problem is the speaker; her level of speech is too extreme. It’s not the kind of thing you’d expect from a girl her age.”

The principal, having read the inspector’s somewhat displeased expression, responded.

“Usually, one would subdue them non-lethally, not dismember limbs or torture them… that’s far from common sense, isn’t it? What if that child goes astray? An evil weak person can only ruin a few lives, but an evil strong person can destroy tens of thousands of lives.”

The inspector, recalling the Witch of Boundless Power, paused for a moment, and Principal Brecht didn’t miss that instant.

“There’s also this investigation. They say that when comparing before and after the emergence of awakened individuals, the intensity and heinousness of crimes have risen incomparably. Furthermore, cooperation is vital for hunters. An antisocial person disrupts an organization.”

The inspector answered in a calm tone, reassuring the principal.

“Don’t worry about that. We’ve already completed a psychological evaluation. Although there are unstable aspects, she possesses at least a minimum level of sociality. It’s controllable. We’ve also assigned surveillance. If that weren’t the case…”

Seijis, seeing the principal’s darkened expression, trailed off.

‘If there truly were problems, I would have dealt with them immediately.’

The principal took a deep breath and nodded.

For now, he had no choice but to trust this man from the Inspection Bureau. What good would it do to doubt someone from the future who knew the secrets entwined with the academy?

“Anyway, please take good care of Violet. She has many shortcomings, but this academy should be able to sufficiently supplement them.”

“Social common sense and cooperation, you mean? I understand. I’ll trust you. But I’ll take my own measures. Remember that.”

“Thank you.”

The inspector bowed his head and turned away.

The door closed, and the principal was left alone.

Gloomy thoughts weighed him down. Was this decision truly correct?

An anxious light flickered in the principal’s eyes.

Outside the window, dark clouds were rising from beyond the cloudless night sky.

‘That child is needed? Why on earth?’

As the principal pondered, a memory suddenly resurfaced in his mind.

It was the vague prophecy that man, Seijis, had spoken of before. The words from the Inspection Bureau’s new inspector were shocking.

‘So, all awakened academies will be destroyed, and only we will become the last stronghold of the academy city? Does that make sense?’

If that were true, could he, merely an old man, truly stop the impending disaster in the near future? His doubts only grew stronger.

“Sigh…”

Principal Brecht sighed and stood up. Pondering it would only give him a headache; it would be better to get some sleep and prepare for tomorrow’s work.

‘What can I do? I must do my best.’

Building the future was the important task entrusted to them. And students and children were the future of the world.

**

The Violets encountered joyful news. Acceptance!

“We’re now students of a prestigious academy!”

“Wow! Transfer complete!”

Violet 1 was ecstatic with joy. But soon, a question arose.

It’s the law of the world that when one problem is solved, a new one always emerges.

It was good that the transfer was confirmed, but a new challenge approached us.

“Wait, it’s vacation now!”

“So what do we do now?”

“That’s right, we have nothing to do for a while. It’s too boring!”

The Violets put their heads together and pondered.

“Hmm… isn’t there anything fun to do?”

“Ariel Group public opinion manipulation!”

“That too, but first, let’s earn some money! We need war funds!”

One Violet suggested.

“Right! Let’s do a delivery service!”

“Yay, this is exciting! The Violet delivery crew is back!”

One group excitedly prepared for delivery work, while other Violets pondered other ways to earn money.

“How about working at Helios?”

“It’ll be difficult now. They say they’re busy with internal issues.”

“Hmm… then what about dungeons? Should I go alone for the first time in a while to earn some money? And relieve some stress.”

Shortly after, the temporary Violet meeting unanimously resolved to enter a dungeon.

Just as we were about to drive out, someone called us from behind.

“Where are you going?”

Turning around, we saw a woman in neat black attire, arms crossed. It was Sophieel Unnie.

“We’re going to a dungeon. To earn money!”

“Then I’ll go with you too. Is that okay?”

I was about to say yes, but suddenly felt something strange.

‘Until now, she’s left us free, so why is she following us?’

After much thought, I posed the question.

“Don’t you monitor the delivery crew?”

Sophieel smiled and pulled out her phone.

“We’re already tracking them.”

The screen displayed the real-time locations of the moving delivery crew.

“This is…”

“We’ve attached location trackers to each vehicle. Don’t remove them. Unnie would be very sad if you did. Okay?”

Violet 1562 was dumbfounded. She never thought they would truly monitor them like this.

“But why are you telling us?”

“Unnie wants to be open with you. It doesn’t matter, right? Instead, for this matter and any future difficulties, I’ll help you. Got it?”

From Sophieel Unnie, who answered with a smile, a somewhat frightening pressure could be felt.

“O-Okay.”

“Alright, let’s go!”

**

In the end, the Violet group headed to the dungeon under Sophieel’s surveillance.

‘Actually, the number of clones she’s already lost track of is not just one or two.’

While she pondered, the Violets marched in perfect step.

“One, two! One, two!”

Had they somehow forgotten about the surveillance? The Violets acted naturally. Watching the girls enter the dungeon, Sophieel fell into thought.

‘I need to see it once. How they fight.’

She needed practical data. She had seen the data on the Witch’s swordsmanship that her sister had told her about, and the mid-term training for the transfer exam, but it was still insufficient.

‘This is a chance to analyze Violet’s combat style. I also need to reconfirm that suspicious item storage ability.’

She remembered explaining the multi-dimensional storage bag after the special consultation.

They said they luckily obtained it while fighting to earn money; if that’s true, it’s a truly exquisite coincidence.

How could they have the same thing as her sister?

The place Violet visited with Sophieel was a low-level dungeon.

A vast wasteland spread out beneath a sky cracked like a broken mirror.

Rough rocks and winding hills were impressive.

The marching Violets began to sing in clear, ringing voices.

“Born as a Violet~ So much to do~”

“You and I lived in glory~ killing villains!”

In the distance, people working nearby looked up.

The sight of girls with various hair colors marching came into view.

They gazed at the girls with eyes full of curiosity.

“Hmm, silicone masks and wigs seem pretty good too? Of course, we still need to wear masks and goggles.”

“Right! They seem to look less suspicious than with masks and gas masks.”

As the Violets praised their new disguise, they met a pair of black eyes standing beside them.

“Violet, what kind of song is that?”

“It’s a song called ‘True Violet’!”

Violet explained proudly.

‘A song with the intention of protecting friends and the world, how strange.’

It was a blatant act of plagiarism that would have shocked any soldier from another world beyond this one, but unfortunately, to Sophieel, it merely sounded like an unusual military song.

“I see. Do Violets like to sing?”

“Yes! We love it immensely!”

During their break, while the Violets chattered within their network, Sophieel made a new note.

‘They often sing military songs. Is it to boost the morale of the hive mind?’

After entering deep into the dungeon for quite some time, the number of people dwindled as if it had never been otherwise.

The only people occasionally seen were armed hunter teams, far removed from ordinary porters or laborers.

“Oh, it’s a demonic beast! Look over there!”

“I see.”

As Sophieel reached for her weapon, Violet stopped her.

“No, Unnie, just watch!”

“…?”

“Everyone, prepare for battle!”

The Violets were generated.

The girls grabbed their weapons and prepared for engagement.

One Violet, while putting on a vest full of something, paused, noticing the gaze from beside her.

“Violet, may I ask what that is?”

“Ah, I pulled out the wrong thing. It’s a water bottle pouch!”

Violet chuckled awkwardly and tossed the vest back into thin air.

Sophieel started taking notes again.

‘She really uses the multi-dimensional bag actively. But what was that just now…’

Before she could finish her thought, the demonic beast’s roar echoed.

-ROOAARRRR!

The Violets also responded to the roar as if countering it, shouting.

“Yi-ahhhhhh!”

As the girls and demonic beasts clashed, the flames of a new battle ignited.