EP.172 Madmen and Nightmares (2)
Autumn comes and the leaves fall.
Chloe’s eyes are cloudy as she looks at the changing leaves. Instead of the same starlight as always, her eyes are filled with worries and concerns.
“Whoa…”
Chloe let out a long sigh and fell down on the desk. With her face buried in the worksheets scattered here and there, Chloe thinks back to the difficult past few days.
There are many tasks.
Even if there is a lot, it is too much.
It felt like I was swimming in a vast ocean with no end in sight. However, is there no way to just die? The mountain of tasks is slowly coming to an end.
“Really, just a little more…”
It’s over, Chloe muttered and rubbed her forehead on the desk. Is it because of my habit of trying to complete tasks as quickly as possible, whether it’s an assignment or something else? Over the past three days, Chloe has been working on her assignment while sleeping less at night.
‘It would be easier if we divided it into 7 days…’
I had a greater desire to finish it quickly and go have fun.
The effort was not meaningless. Chloe rested her forehead against his desk and turned her gaze slightly to the side.
A tower of nightmarish tasks.
The huge tower made of paper that had been occupying a corner of my desk for the past few days… now only has a few floors left. This is thanks to the gradual attack.
‘Let’s try a little harder.’
Chloe pulls herself together.
Although it was difficult, there was also a sense of accomplishment. Chloe recalled what happened this morning. Professor Rania’s eyes widened in surprise when the assignment was submitted.
“Have you already done this much?”
The professor muttered, “It’s pretty good.”
Chloe thinks back on the compliment and regains her vitality.
‘What if it’s a little difficult? Everything helps!’
The first special lecture I ever heard.
This is Professor Rania’s class that I have been looking forward to so much. After taking the class, Chloe was convinced that the words published in the newspaper were not just empty words.
The professor who shined in the brilliant starlight.
Shiny gray hair and blue lake-like eyes filled with mystery. Professor Rania’s expressionless face was like a painting.
‘It’s full of elegance, and you gain enlightenment just by looking at it… A very high-quality class!’
The article was true.
Chloe nodded and tapped my cheek a couple of times with both hands. A little bit of light returned to my sunken eyes.
“Yes, let’s work hard!”
As she consoles herself, Chloe picks up the pen.
It’s hard, but I think I can handle it at this level. If you can adapt, life in Aplia won’t be that difficult.
‘And then.’
Chloe reflected on the stories she had recently heard from the maids she had become friends with. The story was that there were some professors who dropped homework bombs on the first class.
‘Professor Rania must be that type of person!’
Probably so.
Chloe decided to believe that.
There is no way in my right mind I could submit an assignment like this.
2.
“Are you going to be okay?”
On the way to Aplia, Kalt asked me vaguely. Kalt was casting a suspicious glance at Kelhalm, who was following him.
“Of course, there are hounds stationed within Aplia. “I may be able to hold you in case of emergency, but…”
“I don’t know.”
Hold on, d.
‘Because he’s a wizard-type superhuman, you’d think he’d be able to deal with the Hounds if they gather together.’
It’s not wrong.
It was true that wizards were weak against assassins who specialized in close combat, such as hounds. However, this was not the case for Kelhalm.
“I don’t think so.”
I laughed out loud.
I can hold on to it, even if only for a moment.
That was something I could only say because I didn’t know Kelhalm.
“You’ve never seen Kelhalm release restrictions, have you?”
“…Are you talking about pharmaceuticals?”
“Yes, pharmaceuticals.”
I nodded.
A condition that Kelrhalm imposed on himself. It was the means Kelhalm chose to escape from madness… but it was clearly a ‘restriction’.
“Have you ever thought about the price of separating madness and how much it limits it?”
“I’m not a wizard, well…”
I spread my fingers wide.
“Decreased hearing, vision, touch, and muscle strength.”
Fold one.
“Deterioration of mana sensitivity. “The mana I can handle is only half of the maximum mana.”
I folded two, folded three.
I said, folding my remaining fingers together.
“Even the super senses that superhumans gain are limited. In fact, it’s no different from that of an ordinary person. “You don’t think Kelhalm’s ears can hear what we’re whispering right now?”
“…Does that make sense?”
“You know what’s even more ridiculous?”
I laughed bitterly.
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“Even so, you lasted 5 seconds against an apostate.”
Kalt’s pupils shook.
It has to be that way. Because Kalt also had encounters with apostates. Kalt asked me back in a shaky voice.
“…5 seconds against that monster?”
“uh.”
One second while destroying the flocking demonic beasts.
2 seconds by forcibly closing the other world opened by the apostate.
I offer up my ten fingers for another 2 seconds.
In a place where a split second could determine victory or defeat, Kelhalm alone gained 5 seconds. There is no way Kalt, a soldier from the battlefield, would not know the meaning.
“We did it with restrictions in place. “When those restrictions are lifted, will you be able to handle it?”
Kalt’s expression became somewhat serious.
“If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be even worse?”
He straightened his waist.
Hanging there was a cursed dagger created by top alchemists to deal with wizards.
“Sending them back to the battlefield right now…”
“You can do it, but I don’t recommend it.”
I shook my head.
“You know that nothing good comes from making one more superhuman idiot.”
“···that.”
“And, you don’t need to worry right now.”
“yes?”
I looked back.
Kelhalm following behind me looks like a doll. Constant stride length, constant breathing. I listened to Kelhalm’s breathing.
“I guess it’s okay if I tell you.”
“The shaking of my constraints can be discerned through ‘breathing.’ When restrictions are disrupted, breathing becomes unstable. Mana is leaking everywhere.”
“That is the ‘warning’ I have prepared.”
Something I once heard from Kelhalm.
I recalled what he had confessed just before he lifted all his restrictions and became a madman.
‘Breathing is normal, mana is stable.’
In other words, it meant that the ‘shell’ that contained his madness was intact.
“If the restrictions are fine, Kelhalm won’t be a problem. “I guarantee that.”
Contrary to his nickname ‘madman,’ Kelhalm was not a superhuman that was particularly problematic. Everyone is often frightened by Kelhalm’s notoriety, but at least in my opinion, Kelhalm is easy to deal with.
‘You just have to pay attention to restrictions.’
I moved my gaze forward again and opened my mouth.
“If anything, I was planning to subdue it here…”
It didn’t seem necessary.
“No problem. “For now.”
“I mean right away…”
“There are elements that could be problematic. So, I plan to make sure of that here.”
The entrance to Aplia is visible.
The fallen leaves on the ground crumbled. I stopped walking. Kalt and Kelhalm, who were following, also stopped. I slowly turned my body back.
“Kelhalm.”
At my call he saw me.
Gray eyes and blue hair. I continued speaking as I looked at the wizard who was similar to me but had a different color.
“Letting you here carries considerable risk. It’s a risk Aplia doesn’t have to take. “Do you agree with this?”
Kelhalm smoothed his chin.
He nodded slightly.
“Two of seven behavioral principles: I consider myself a risk. Based on that principle, I judge your claim to be valid.”
“I bear a ‘price’ that I should not have to bear. “In that case, may I request the right to add items to your principles of conduct on a limited basis?”
Price and rights.
This is a basic concept for wizards.
“I request a contract, Kelhalm.”
Consideration, rights, and contracts.
Kelhalm’s eyes narrowed at my words.
It took a little longer than before for him to open his mouth. Only after ten seconds had passed did Kelhalm open his mouth.
“···I believe your opinion is valid. “If the ‘principle of action’ you propose is also valid, I will accept your suggestion.”
good night. The first button had been pressed.
“Balance.”
I summoned the scales.
The moment he saw the starlight-filled scale, Kelrhalm’s gaze wavered… but I paid no heed to that and placed my request on the scale.
A contract between a wizard and a wizard.
If you violate it, you will receive an appropriate ‘penalty’.
“···you.”
Kelhalm looked at me after checking the conditions I had posted. There was doubt in those eyes.
“You are strange.”
He said.
“Based on my memory, you and I have met for the first time. “I have never met a sorceress named ‘Rania van Trias.’”
“I guess so.”
“Also, there are only a handful of people who know about my principles of action, my restrictions, and the ‘contract’ that can modify them. “Of course you are not included in that category.”
“I guess so.”
“···however.”
He pointed at me.
“Why do you know all of that?”
“Because I am Trias.”
“···Same bloodline as the Gray Wizard? That is not the reason. It is true that the Gray Wizard knows that fact, but it is a contract between me and the Gray Wizard only, and it is something that cannot be revealed to others…”
“so.”
I cut Kelhalm off.
“So what?”
That’s not important.
I said so.
“I’m suspicious, these conditions seem like a trap, and if you’re reluctant to sign the contract, just don’t do it. I’m not forcing you into a contract. “This is just a suggestion.”
“······.”
“However, if you decline the offer.”
Kalt put his hand on my waist.
I pulled on my gloves.
“I guess I’ll have to send you back from here.”
“…Do you have the right to do that?”
“It’s something only bourgeois people do, taking the price without the right. “You’re a wizard too, so you know this well, right?”
And, I had no intention of becoming a pushover.
‘If I hit you, you hit me.’
One star was enough to survive being eaten up.
I waited calmly until Kelhalm opened his mouth. For a long time he was silent. For wizards, contracts are something that always requires careful consideration, so it is not something that cannot be understood.
After some time has passed.
“···still.”
He looked at the tilted scale and opened his mouth.
“It still doesn’t change that you’re suspicious.”
But, said Kelhalm.
“Your suggestion is sound. This is an acceptable condition in return for staying in Aplia. “Accept the contract.”
He reached for the scale.
The tilted balance becomes horizontal. The scale turned into light, half of it seeping into me and the remaining half into Kelhalm. It was proof that a contract had been concluded.
“good.”
I nodded.
One step at a time, I approached Kelhalm and held out my hand.
“Welcome to Aplia, Kelhalm.”
A hand extended as if to shake hands.
Kelhalm muttered while looking at the hand.
“You are an unusual person.”
“Not as much as you.”
“When compared to a madman, you also fall into the category of a madman…”
“Use it.”
I clicked my tongue.
There’s nothing I can’t say.
“Is it a characteristic of the Trias family, or are the members of the family just strange…?”
Kelhalm reluctantly shook hands and muttered something, but it was not something worth listening to.
『The contract has been concluded.』
Anyway, the contract was made.
No matter what traps are prepared after Kelhalm’s visit… since a contract has been made, it won’t lead to the worst situation.
‘Next 21 days.’
Three weeks, the time Kelhalm decided to stay.
It’s going to be a long three weeks.
Suddenly I had that feeling.
3.
Kelhalm disguised himself with a magic tool and began to stay in Aplia. With no one knowing the purpose of the visit, the hounds began to take turns watching Kelhalm.
Very few people know Kelhalm’s identity.
A few people stop the blood and pay attention to Kelhalm’s actions. The day goes by like that. Time passes without anything happening.
The 21st becomes the 20th.
Early in the morning of the 20th, Aaron looked at the visitor who came to see him in a cold sweat.
“Are you the dean here?”
The madman, Kelhalm.
“W-what’s going on? “Lord Kelhalm.”
Although it is said to be disguised, Aaron had heard about its true identity through the Hounds. Aaron breaks into a cold sweat in the presence of a madman.
‘Why is he in the dean’s office?’
Aaron gulped and swallowed dry saliva.
‘The madman, the madman Kelhalm.’
We have all heard rumors about madmen. When Aaron heard that he was visiting Aplia, he had to lose a few more of his remaining hairs.
“There is one thing I would like to ask you.”
The madman said with an expressionless expression.
‘What are you asking for?’
Even the hounds who were hiding in various places watching over Kelhalm were sweating coldly from the tension, and the madman opened his mouth.
“I want to teach too.”
“···yes?”
Aaron made a dumb noise.
“Class, do you mean…?”
“Okay, class.”
“How about class…”
“Isn’t this a magic academy?”
“That’s true, but…”
“And, I heard that I was given a false identity as a capable wizard from outside. Why would a capable wizard visit Aplia?”
Isn’t it for the purpose of giving a lecture? Kelhalm continued with a very reasonable question.
“Also, I don’t think my magical knowledge is lacking compared to the professors here.”
It was all true.
“More than anything, I was the general manager of my home country, Artia. Or do I lack the qualifications to be a professor? “If there are any problems, please let me know.”
A sacred place of magic.
Where the first academy was established.
Artia, the country of education and the city of academies.
‘The general manager there.’
In other words, a top educator.
Even though 100 years had passed, there was no way to doubt its qualifications.
“It won’t be a problem… but…”
“Then I will make a formal request.”
Kelhalm said.
“I wish you would assign me a lecture.”
Aaron felt the urge to tear out the few remaining strands of hair.
