Chapter 67 – Baldur’s Nightmare (1)

I opened my eyes. It felt refreshing, like it was late in the morning when I didn’t wake up to the sound of the alarm.
Fortunately, the clock in my house doesn’t even know how to count time properly, let alone has an alarm function. One of the advantages of being a canteen owner was that there was no need to go to school or go to work.

The house was neatly cleaned.
I got up from the sofa and went to the bathroom. The man standing in front of the mirror looked very different from before.
I remember Darling went there… Did she do it? At this rate, it won’t be a hassle to keep it growing for a while.

But how did we get here? I also had an iron dog set up.

“Ha…”

As his head cleared, he finally had the energy to look around a little. Yes, you should meet Liv and Adela.
They must have been very heartbroken because they kicked them out without listening to any excuses.
Conversation is important to all people. Lehel said that if his head is cut off and he dies, he will be a human being, so I also needed to follow the rules of a human being.

First, we need to know where the two are…

“Huh?”

I came down to the first floor and opened the shutter, and as usual, I picked up the academy’s daily newspaper, which was stuck between the cracks in the door.
However, a fairly familiar face appeared on the front page of yesterday’s newspaper.

[This month’s Parencia Academy specialty selected by the Broadcasting Department: Fountain of a Weeping Woman]
[(Picture)]
[First-year student Adela Sylvester shows off her magic in the aquatic park at the main entrance of Apas Pavilion.]
[Perfect for a date course for lovers! However, do not get close.]

“Why is she crying over there?”

Beautiful ice crystals and spray of water flutter around Adela, who is shedding tears.
It’s really nice to see that they even took a picture of it and stuffed it. From the chairman to the broadcasting department, the academy is going crazy.
As was the case during the last student council president election, students here seem to have a tendency to enjoy unusual phenomena. It was still difficult for me to properly understand the profession of wizard.

First, I changed into the clothes on the sofa. It had a strangely refreshing scent.
As I went outside wearing slippers whose straps were about to break, I felt an atmosphere around me that was a little different from usual.
For some reason, all the students on campus were staring at me as I walked down a quiet street.

Is this perhaps a dream within a dream or something?

Tuk.

“Oh sorry.”

When I lightly apologized to the girl I bumped into while walking, she looked at my face and started shaking her head in strange directions, horizontally and vertically.

“Oh, no, it’s okay…” … Excuse me…”
“Huh?”
“What grade are you in? “I don’t think I’ve seen Yongan until now.”

I’m the store owner.

“Would you like to come to the ball? There is a salon run by our Kanope family…”

I don’t know how to dance.

Leaving behind a student who was strangely trying to cling to me with a red face, I headed to the aquatic park in front of the Apas Pavilion.
An artificially created stream and quite dense trees stretching up to the sky. The power of magic is amazing.

There weren’t many people wandering around the site, so it was quite quiet.
As I went a little deeper into the park, a familiar voice came from afar, flowing down the babbling stream.

Ahhhhh—— Ahhhhh——

There it is. It was Adela, crying so loudly. Something like that… Institution?

“Ugh! Sniff! Ugh… !”

Let’s see, how many days has it been today? She must have been the one who destroyed the stall and never apologized to me, but seeing her cry so sadly breaks my heart.
Swollen eyes and hoarse voice. Meanwhile, it was quite a sight to see transparent ice crystals that appeared to be unique magic fluttering around.

Of course, that’s what she looks like on the outside, but it’s just the kind of magic she’s been showing off since we first met her. It was quite dangerous to leave it like this, so I walked into the small fountain without hesitation.

Pap deuk, pap deuk.
As soon as the water touches her thighs, thin ice begins to form. Ice crystals and small crystals pierce the corners of the eyes.
As I ignored them and moved closer, I was finally able to see Adela trembling.

“Valjean.”
“Hi, Seo, I’m a teacher…” … ?”

As soon as their eyes met, Adela came to her with tears in her eyes. Her flailing arms are even more pathetic.
Before I could rebuke her, she hugged me and spewed out a bunch of apologies.

“I wrote it wrong… ! Sigh, I will never fight again! Jealousy, I won’t do it… !”
“Jealousy? No, rather than that, there is a concession stand…”
“I won’t even use magic… I won’t do anything that bothers the teacher anymore… !!”

I couldn’t bear to express my regrets to Adela, who was clinging to me and saying, “Don’t hate me.”
I didn’t hate you in the first place, but… This also happened because she chose to be by my side. Feeling a little bit of responsibility, I silently hugged Adela.

“I’m not angry… She’s all set, so stop crying. Just be careful from next time. “Don’t use magic carelessly until you get used to it.”
“Yes, sniffle, I understand…” …”
“And what do you mean by jealousy? “Is that why you fought with Baron Liv?”
“That…”
“Say it. That way, I won’t have to take action or do anything.”
“…”

After glancing at my shortened hair several times, Adella spoke in a voice that crawled into her arms.

“… “I don’t know.”
“What?”
“I can’t say this much.”
“…”
“Teacher.”

Adella didn’t answer as she was supposed to, but instead she asked me the question.

“That person… “Do you like it?”

***

Liv Labre des Greenwood.
A girl who is the only legitimate child of the Greenwood family and has lived a life close to a commoner without a fiefdom or vassal.
Her father, her only living relative, died during the Great War. Even though her financial situation is not good, she has exceptional talent and is the head of the Ministry of Magic at Farenzia Academy. A brilliant student who pursues his own life harder than anyone else.

If you ask her if they like her, ten of them will say yes.
In fact, I feel sorry for keeping her in her stall until now.

“Yes? “You already left?”
“A few days ago. “The only remaining second years are students waiting for the escort to go to the Alkaid Magic Tower.”

Perhaps that was why, when I heard that Liv had left to receive magic training, my heart was a complex mixture of regret, bitterness, and regret.
I remembered the day she invited me to her dinner. She was going to say this.

The second-year students, who are scattered to magic towers and knights all over the continent, return just before the final exams and compile their first-semester grades based on the evaluations there.
That means Liv won’t be in Farencia, at least not until her summer comes.

“Huh, really… “Can you tell me where it went?”

My appetite was bitter. In particular, I was worried that she would once again set foot on the battlefield, as she insisted on leaving for a dangerous place. Of course, they said that the students heading to the Alkaid Magic Tower have not left yet.

“Ha, really. I don’t even know who you are, so why give out each student’s personal information? …”

The administrative office employee, who had been burying his head in documents a moment ago, looked irritated and pushed up the frames of his glasses.
Is it still not possible?
Well, even if it’s a dead-end administration that puts a student in a fountain with no intention of helping a student with runaway magical energy, finding out personal information is still…

“I went to Pekda Magic Tower.”
“Yes?”
“Student Liv Labre. “It was confirmed that he boarded a tram heading to the Batudis region three days ago at 4:30 p.M.”

Does it work?

“Anyway, are you free this evening?”

Suddenly, a woman whose name I didn’t even know came in, taking Liv’s place.

“There is a restaurant I know well. Would you like to have a drink?”
“No, thanks. I’m a bit busy…”
“Oh, wait a minute! Even the name… !”

I hurriedly left the place after receiving an embarrassing invitation for the first time in my life.
It’s been about ten years since we built a small house in Parencia, which was an empty plain. More than five years have passed since the academy was built.

At this point, not only the students but also the professors, staff, and security guards should all be aware of my existence as the only owner of the cafeteria.
But until now, let alone a dinner date or an invitation to a salon, I have never even been asked to know my name.
I seriously wondered if I was still dreaming.

“Fuck… What?”

With complicated feelings, I returned to the disorganized and disorganized canteen. Contrary to the people who suddenly became friendly, the iron dogs did not even look at me.

It seemed like every detail had changed while I was in a trance, but there was one thing I had to do right away.

Pekda Magic Tower.

As I heard from the three Moirai sisters, the place I was going to investigate Baldur’s nightmare and the demon statue.
I never thought Liv would head there.
Regardless of what we should talk about when we meet, it was natural to be worried about her.

“I guess I should go and see.”

The worry was short-lived. Anyway, I was planning to leave immediately after returning from Sandalphonia.
I tore up the scrap metal that was used as a store shutter and threw it to the dogs, who were still upset, and packed my bags.
I thought about taking Lehel with me again this time, but I was hesitant to take her because of the limitations of her inherent magic that I had previously heard about.
From my experience, anything related to demons can turn into something serious and life-threatening if you make a mistake. I didn’t want to do something I would regret.

And for that reason I was going to Vatudis to see Liv.

The question asked by Adela, who was shaking with anxiety, about whether she liked Liv was, strictly speaking, wrong.
I feel indebted to Paris Greenwood after her death and that is why I have cared for her all this time. She knew that if the day came when Liv found out the truth about his death, she would definitely fall into despair, so she kept him by her side, even though it was a shameful thing.

— Baron Liv, do you love him as much as I do and take care of him out of love?

It is common in aristocratic societies to take concubines, but I am not an aristocrat and people’s emotions are too delicate to be judged by institutions.
Nevertheless, I felt a little resentful of myself for not being able to say no to Adela, who had a more pure and tender heart than anyone else.

Because I knew it would be deceiving myself to say that I didn’t have the slightest feeling during our time together.

And if I had only loved one person my whole life in the first place, I wouldn’t have even been able to accept her.

***

Thud! Coo! Kwasik!!

Inside the electric chariot, which breaks through all the obstacles blocking the way and makes a huge shaking. Liv was resting his chin and staring out the window.
Her friend Karen was worried about Livga, who chose Fekda, which was the least preferred choice after Alkaid Matap, even though her grades were much better than her.

“Liv, aren’t you hungry? “You didn’t eat any of the food provided in the chariot.”
“It’s okay. “Because I’m motion sick and have no appetite.”
“Still…”

Turning her gaze out of her window, where Liv’s gaze was directed, she saw a flash of lightning in her haze.

Weeeeenn——!!

The sound of a siren echoing from afar. It was a warning sound coming from the top of a large spire that occasionally appears beyond the thunderstorm.

The forecast says that the storm is getting worse, and you should be especially careful as you may fall into Baldur’s nightmare. Eventually, as the tram was pulled up in a barren land with no platform or station staff, the students carefully took their first steps into the Batudis region, following the professor in charge of leading them.

“We will keep track of the number of people, so please refrain from traveling individually! “Don’t use magic carelessly!”

As the second graders wearing blue capes waited for a moment in great tension, the guide from the Magic Tower appeared through the fog.

Monocle glasses, three laurel leaves on the chest, and the Commandeur trefoil medal.
And it was a blond man with one arm missing.

“This is Dominic Artsenz, the vice tower lord of the Pecda Magic Tower.”

He smiled softly, stretching his arm, which had been severed from the elbow upwards, toward the black shadow peeking out beyond the fog.

“Welcome the students of Farencia.”