How to Survive at the Academy Chapter 63

< Glast Conquest (12) >

“You have to go straight in this direction. If you walk a little, you’ll find it, right?”

“Hmm~. The further we go, the more it leads in a darker direction.”

Lortel must do everything in his power to restrain and keep Elte in check.

I told him that he could go back to the store and do some work, but he quickly followed the group.

He seemed anxious for no reason. It happened all the time, but this time the direction was a little different.

Unlike the fiery gaze he always gave Jenica, Lortel’s strange gaze today was directed at Lucy.

For some reason, Lucy, who was following me while clutching my sleeve, seemed very uncomfortable… Lortel was exhausted and did not return to the store. Well, now that Elte escapes, there are no mercenaries to assist him. Most likely, he won’t be able to get off the island and will be caught again, so there won’t be much anxiety…

In the end, Yenika also continued to guide with a somewhat liberated look on her face.

An astrological magic circle said to have been discovered in the northern forest by high-ranking spirits. I didn’t know how to disarm it right away, and I didn’t know what it was for in the first place, so I was heading towards the law base that had only been placed under surveillance for now. Even after monitoring for several days, there was no significant reaction, so it was judged that it was not that dangerous.

In the first place, if one was going to build fifteen magical towers, it was necessary to draw sacred positions here and there in the temple. I didn’t pay much attention to it, thinking it was definitely a magic formation that Professor Glast had prepared in advance… but the problem was that not a single magic tower rose from inside the northern forest.

If the Beopjin had a purpose other than building a magic tower… I thought that Professor Glast might have other intentions.

Looking at the sky, many magic towers were cracked and collapsing.

Now that the Glast subjugation battle has come to an end, Tailley and the others will be rescuing Ayla and making their final escape from the Magic Tower.

There is no need to delve further into Glast’s inner thoughts at this point, but there is no harm in being thorough…

Deep in the northern forest, where we arrived following Yenika’s guidance… there was a drawing of an astrological formation that was not very large but had a definite shape.

“There are signs that it was activated recently. I guess the spirits were so focused on the commotion at the school that they didn’t check it out.”

Yenika said that and started looking around the area around the temple. Even so, there was no way that the Aspect Beopjin, which still had many incomprehensible areas, could be deciphered so easily.

“This is a movement type magic. By using the magic power of the Aspect, we have maximized the efficiency of the magic power consumed for imprinting. The magic efficiency is better than the already injected spirit formula, so it would be good to activate it for escape in a crisis situation.”

Surprisingly, it was Lucy who explained in a calm tone.

Looking at Lucy, who was still clutching my sleeve tightly, I tilted my head.

“okay?”

“okay.”

And then he lets out a big yawn.

By the way… I was about to tell him what he was so dissatisfied with and that he should let go of his collar and talk slowly.

“There’s blood.”

Yenika discovered a strange trace.

The thick blood trail that came from the outskirts of the camp stretched towards the outskirts of the forest.

It was a sign of someone seriously injured walking out of the mobile field and heading into the forest.

We exchanged glances and nodded once.

It goes without saying whose work this Beopjin engraved with Aspect magic is.

Close your eyes and think of the last scene of the final act of Act 2.

The end of Professor Glast, who touched a taboo in order to revive a great man who would realize his ideals for the advancement of the world.

His last appearance was as he committed suicide, covered in wounds and leaving behind an unknown will. I thought that was the end of Professor Glast, but he had left a way out.

Did he pretend to jump to his death, use his last remaining magical energy to manifest an astrological formation and escape? If you just run away, you will be chased, so it is a wise choice.

I wonder if he’s planning to run away like this and cause something more… Considering that nothing much has happened since then, I don’t think there’s any need to do anything… Still, I wonder if I should at least check…

With that thought in mind, I followed the blood trail. And when I found Professor Glast at the end, I realized why nothing much happened after that.

Late night, bright moon.

Professor Glast, who was sitting under an old tree and exhaling, was already in a dying state.

*

Torn faculty robe. His hair stuck to his blood. A haggard look. Dark red blood seeping into the surrounding dirt.

The wounds on the body… went beyond stab wounds and were completely pierced. Now, you have to make a fuss and escort the person, but that has already been decided. I was trying to stop the bleeding with what little magical power I had left, but I couldn’t expect any other effect other than extending my life string just a little bit.

“Hoo.”

In a voice that made my blood boil, Professor Glast finally raised the corner of his mouth as if he was interested.

“It must be curfew in the dormitory. What are students doing here?”

“Do you even say that in this situation?”

Yenica covered her mouth with both hands and her pupils were trembling, and Lortel also looked calm at first glance, but his eyes were narrowed. Of course, Lucy seemed to have no idea. In the meantime, he doesn’t let go of his sleeves.

Yenika asked with a trembling voice.

“Here… what…”

“I was looking up at the moon.”

The shade of large old trees prevents surrounding vegetation from receiving sunlight.

Therefore, the area around such a huge tree is always empty with no other undergrowth.

That may be why the sky is clearly visible through the leaves.

“You planned this escape route in advance, but did you fight until it got to that point?”

“Hehe… I tried until it worked, and when it didn’t work, I tried to run away, but it didn’t work out the way I wanted. In the end, I ended up fighting until it ended up like this… As expected, people don’t know it even if they know it.”

Professor Glast, who was completely devastated, quietly lowered his gaze and chuckled.

“Why? Is it funny?”

“No, it’s not funny.”

“That’s so strange. I think my appearance is funny.”

Professor Glast looked up at the night sky again and continued speaking in a self-mocking tone.

“I guess I knew that my plan would end up like this in some form or another. Well, I guess it was too reckless. I never thought I would be overpowered by a group of students…”

“Who knew?”

“well.”

Professor Glast’s words were slurred, but that was enough for me to understand.

The back of the school’s top manager, Principal Obel Forcius, who was looking down on the teaching building from the Trix Building, seems to flicker before my eyes.

Professor Glast looked at my expression and let out a small sigh. He must have sensed the fact that I had gotten the hang of it to some extent, and he continued speaking in an honest tone.

“I devoted dozens of years to my studies at Sylvania, but I am in a situation where I cannot even receive severance pay… I guess the reason I turned a blind eye for a while was in lieu of severance pay.”

“I don’t think it was the right thing to do. I’m not in a position to judge what others do.”

“Well, the fact that my relationship with Principal Obel has lasted for so long… is strictly due to the circumstances between us. Even if that were the case, if I tried to cross the line, he would have come to stop me. In any case, he is a person with a lot of unnecessary cruelty. It doesn’t suit me.”

What Obel, who had served as principal since Glast was a first-time professor, must have been thinking when he saw him greeting him with such words… I couldn’t guess.

Also, seeing Glast covered in blood, I didn’t feel like questioning him further.

“I took advantage of Principal Obel’s hesitation, but surprisingly, I don’t feel guilty.”

“Because we ended up in this situation.”

“Correct point, Ed Rosstaylor.”

Glast continued speaking in a sly tone, like when a question asked a student in class was answered correctly.

“As expected, you were an honor student more than I thought. I guess I discovered it too late, which is uncharacteristic of me.”

“…Why did you kidnap me in the first place? Don’t I really need you in Professor Glast’s plans?”

Although there may have been some big or small surprises, the main flow went as expected.

What this means is that even if he hadn’t kidnapped me in the first place, there wouldn’t have been any setbacks in Professor Glast’s plans.

“I didn’t have time. The response was immediate, and there was a lot of work to be done, so I just didn’t have the time to recruit and persuade you. As a result, I had no choice but to become violent.”

“…What do you mean?”

“You sent me a letter once, but didn’t you collapse from overwork and not be able to reply?”

On the day I received the letter from Lortel and Princess Fenia, a letter from Professor Glast had apparently also arrived from the academic department.

In the end, I collapsed after a ridiculous forced march… and in the end, I never had a chance to have a conversation with Professor Glast.

“I also had a premonition… After this incident, regardless of success or failure, I will no longer be able to set foot in this school.”

He lifted his blood-covered hand and with difficulty put it into his arms.

Then, with hands that seemed to be about to lose strength at any moment, he took out a key covered in blood.

“I guess I won’t be able to respond to the seal. Since I left the seal there, it will fall into the hands of the bachelor again. Well, that’s something that can’t be helped. You escaped first in the first place.”

“Then the key is…”

“It looks like you stole something from the soul library I set up quite spectacularly, but it was useless.”

Professor Glast gathered his last strength and threw a key into the grass in front of him.

“Did you really think that a few legendary recipes were the most valuable items in the library?”

“Are you saying there’s more?”

“There is a secret safe under the table that Banshee Rayna was guarding. You can take your time and open it later. The library is yours now anyway. You went on a wild rampage, but it’s a good thing. I’ll have to clean it all up again by myself, so I’ll do it myself.” “Isn’t it self-sufficiency?”

I looked at Professor Glast with my eyes wide open.

Professor Glast’s secret laboratory is an unofficial facility that has not been made public even by academics. Well, it’s mostly a monster lab, and there’s almost no research material that I can use in my line to begin with… but at least that soul library was a different story.

Lucy even drilled a direct hole on the outskirts of the forest, so as long as you install a ladder and hide the hole well, it becomes a secret hideout and treasure trove that you can enter at any time.

It’s a facility where a huge number of magical engineering supplies and manufacturing recipes can be found even if you just rob it for a moment. Does this mean that you can slowly restore it and make it completely yours?

“Only get over it when an investigation comes out at the academic level.”

Lucy’s destruction turned out to be a benefit. The academic staff probably doesn’t know what’s buried inside the half-destroyed library.

I slowly walked up to Professor Glast… I carefully lifted the key.

“Why are you giving me this…?”

“Are you dissatisfied if I give it to you?”

“Aren’t you the type to place more value on talented students?”

Professor Glast smiled bitterly at those words.

“There are many talented students in Sylvania.”

I let out words that I thought could never come out of his mouth.

“I thought I would be scolded if I went to see my dead daughter like this.”

“…”

“Yes, I was a bit buried in it. When I was young, I often said romantic things like, ‘Don’t judge a student’s value based on talent or ability.’ It was a long time ago, but looking back now, it makes me really angry.”

Wiping away the flowing blood, Professor Glast mocked himself again.

“But you’re not wrong. At least I was sure of that when my daughter was alive.”

I thought it would be cold when the blood drained, but it actually felt warm.

After spitting out those kind words, Professor Glast relaxed his body.

“Still… the 17 years I spent with my daughter weren’t that bad…”

“You were 17?”

“Yes… 17 years… if it’s long, it’s long… if it’s short, it’s short…”

After talking to that point, Professor Glast coughed up blood. Jenika was so startled that her body trembled… but she couldn’t express her concern.

Even the mana to stop the bleeding had run out. In the first place, it wasn’t a condition that could be resolved by stopping the bleeding. The magical power of the Aspect has been overloaded so much that the body itself has reached its limit.

I barely have any energy left to speak now. In the meantime, the corners of his mouth do not lower, which is truly appalling.

He chuckled a few times, then grinned, making a blood-curdling noise.

“If you think dying alone like this is the punishment, it’s not such a bad exchange for the crime you committed.”

Professor Glast gently closed his eyes.

There is no one around him as he sits leaning against a zelkova tree and slowly reflects on life.

In any case, he is the one who arbitrarily took the student’s life as collateral. No one can deny the fact that in the end, he is a person who has gone astray.

“I met with Assistant Professor Claire. He grumbled about this and that, but in the end, he acknowledged Professor Glast. I was surprised that he cried a lot, saying that Professor Glast was the most scholarly person.”

Professor Glast didn’t respond, perhaps because he didn’t even have the energy left to respond.

“Don’t you have a long relationship with Assistant Professor Claire? 4 years while you were pursuing your degree, and 5 years after completing your teaching career. If you had stayed with me until the end of your retirement age, I would have known you for at least 17 years.”

“…”

The moon seen through the leaves of the zelkova tree is cozy.

“17 years… If it’s long, it’s long… If it’s short, it’s short…”

Professor Glast’s eyes widened at those words.

He raises his voice to say something, but… he no longer has any strength left.

He is mocking himself for dying in solitude, but that is only because his perspective is narrow.

Glast need not think of himself as lonely. This death… will definitely not be a cold death with no one to mourn.

To begin with, the human viewing angle itself is not that wide. If you walk while looking behind you, you have no idea what is right next to you.

Even if he is an authoritative scholar who has read numerous books in the field of magic, he does not know the inside of a Hangil person. Even if it is your own mind, the same is true.

Supporting his increasingly weighty eyelids, the last person in his sight was Lucy.

What kind of expression did Lucy have on her face as she looked at him, clutching my forearm tightly?

Unfortunately, it was not visible from my field of vision.

“Yeah… that’s wise…”

I could only infer it from Glast, who said that and closed his eyes as if he was falling asleep.

Act 2 comes to a close, and the world slowly falls asleep.

The body laid comfortably in the zelkova tree under the moonlight… At first glance, it seemed to be in a deep sleep.

We just stared like that for a long time.