NOVEL NEXT Chapter 100
EP.100 A Nightmarish Summer Night (1)
It was deep in the night.
Though it was late, no one was asleep. The instructors patrolled the woods with torches in hand. The apprentice knights gripped their weapons, ready for battle at any moment.
Buzzing of bugs.
Cawing of crows.
A tense atmosphere hung between the knights.
The apprentice knights repeatedly swallowed dry gulps, adjusting their grips on their weapons.
A few minutes ago, there was a surprise attack.
The attackers were the Demon Lord’s Army, fleeing from a defeat at a nearby battlefield, and their retreat route intersected with the Apprentice Knight Training Center.
However, the ambush ended in failure.
The soldiers from the demon realm who planned the attack lay dead, buried in the darkness. Though not clearly visible, if one squinted into the woods, they could spot severed limbs at the edges of their vision.
Skeletons with shattered skulls.
Limbs scattered across the ground.
Corpses dangling from trees.
It looked as if a beast had rampaged through.
The knights swallowed nervously and turned their heads back. Their gaze fell upon the barracks. They stole a glance at the barracks where a boy had just entered.
Indeed, the ambush failed.
By the hands of a single boy.
They recalled the image of the boy, drenched in blood, slaughtering the Demon Lord’s Army.
His white hair matted with blood, flesh and gore clinging to the axe blade. The blood-red eyes gleaming ominously in the darkness were hard to forget.
Lac von Grace.
The knights couldn’t help but repeat the boy’s name.
*
Summoned to the barracks, Lac briefly explained the situation to the instructors.
Initially, the instructors appeared skeptical, but upon comparing Lac’s words with reports from the patrolling instructor, their doubts faded.
“Does that even make sense…?”
Though they no longer doubted him, their expressions remained hesitant. Someone still a student had achieved what even instructors found challenging.
And without a single scratch.
Even the instructor who witnessed Lac’s battle seemed taken aback.
“…For now, please rest, Prince Lac.”
With that, the instructors left the barracks. Alone in the barracks, Lac let out a short breath.
“Hoo…”
It had been a little while since he dispelled the heating magic, but it still felt like heat lingered in his body. His heartbeat wouldn’t calm down.
“What a strange feeling.”
Lac muttered.
The realization came unexpectedly. The moment death approached, understanding took him by surprise. He recalled the coolness that was coursing down his spine.
Fidget.
The moment he recalled it, a tingling sensation ran down his spine, bringing back that cool feeling. His previously chaotic thoughts became clear all at once.
“Hmm.”
Lac nodded briefly.
He still didn’t know what it was. However, he was certain it would help in battle.
“The thing I wanted so badly.”
Grasping his instincts while keeping his rationality intact.
“If I have this, I can defeat Belnoa.”
With a sense of pride, Lac grinned widely. His exposed teeth sparkled.
“…Hmm?”
Feeling strangely exhilarated while fiddling with the axe at his waist, Lac blinked. A sense of discomfort caught his eye.
“…Why am I unscathed?”
Lac examined his forearm.
He could have sworn he nearly got hit by the spear, yet there wasn’t even a small scratch. Lac squinted.
“…Ashen?”
Ashen light flickered above his forearm.
Intricately woven mana was protecting Lac’s body. And this wasn’t Lac’s mana.
“I can’t weave mana this precisely.”
He had a hunch about the origin.
Lac recalled a conversation he had with Professor Rania just before embarking on his practical training.
–Lac, can I borrow that axe?
–Huh?
–You have to come back in one piece, right? It should be relatively safe there, but you never know what might happen on a battlefield.
As she spoke, the professor engraved something onto the axe. Judging by the circumstances, it seemed to be this mana barrier. Lac looked at the ashen mana rippling over him and nodded vigorously.
“You really had it all thought out.”
He reprimanded himself for doubting the professor even for a moment.
“I just followed the professor’s words, yet I truly grasped it. I figured out how to do it.”
It was a remarkable achievement. Looking back, the professor’s words had been nothing but correct. Admittedly, it was a bit excessive… but regardless, it truly yielded significant growth.
“Hmm,” Lac nodded once more.
“Truly, it’s Professor Rania.”
Lac was nurturing his faith in Rania.
2.
At the top floor of the Ashen Tower.
The office of the next Master of the Tower.
“……”
There, Gileon listened to the plans of the next Master of the Tower. The elderly elder paid close attention to every word from Resti. They were words worth heeding.
“…That’s all.”
Once Resti finished speaking,
Gileon closed his eyes. He fiddled with the staff he held in his hand.
The rough texture grazed his fingers.
As he touched a recently cracked part, Gileon exhaled. Though it was a sigh, it wasn’t directed at the girl in front of him.
“Is that so.”
Gileon opened his previously closed eyes.
“You’ve changed, Resti Elenoa.”
Not as an elder, but as an old man who had watched her for a long time, he spoke.
“You’ve changed so much I hardly recognize you.”
The words spoken by the girl were sharp.
They weren’t the words of a timid girl who used to hide and cower. They weren’t thoughts she would have formed.
To tear, to carve, to collapse.
Resti, uttering those words, resembled the previous Master of the Tower, the Ashen Mage. Gileon saw remnants of the Ashen Mage in the girl before him.
“Twice now.”
He sensed what he had felt before from a professor he had encountered in Apuria, once again.
“…Please share your thoughts, Elder Gileon.”
“Is there anything more to say? I will actively cooperate with you. If I don’t, I might face purging myself, so do I even have a choice?”
Gileon raised his arms as if to show he had surrendered. The truth was as such. Cooperation or purging. Those were the only two options he had.
“It’s not an absurd plan.”
It was a plan that could be executed immediately. All that was needed was a determination, and Gileon didn’t think the girl in front of him lacked that resolve.
“Where on earth did you get that information?”
Such intel wouldn’t appear out of nowhere.
It was something that could only be discovered by examining the tower meticulously and digging into the elders’ affairs for a long time.
“If, just if… ”
Gileon swallowed hard.
“What if all this was an act?”
If she had lowered herself, feigning weakness while disguising her true power…
“That would certainly be absurd.”
Gileon shook off the wild speculation.
He could only gaze at the girl before him, holding on to the possibility that this might be the case. As he met her unwavering gaze, a single question popped into his mind.
“…May I ask you a question?”
Resti nodded silently.
Gileon took a brief pause before speaking.
“It seems your attitude has changed significantly. What’s the reason behind this sudden decision?”
“……”
Resti didn’t respond immediately to that question.
She rolled a rectangular magic tool in her hands and then opened her mouth.
“I realized it’s not so different.”
As she spoke, Resti fixed her gaze on a corner of the office. The wall was adorned with the emblems of past Masters of the Tower or potential future Masters.
The wall displayed various symbols.
At the end, the emblem symbolizing Raniel van Trias was engraved. Resti hadn’t yet decided on the emblem for her own eventual leadership.
The day to decide that was approaching.
Resti felt a sense of intuition that day was near. Her three-year stay had ended. Now it was her turn to move forward.
3.
The restoration of the barrier in Apuria was nearing completion. Students were busily spending the last weekend before normal academic operations resumed.
Even late at night, lights were on in the dormitory.
Despite the late hour, students couldn’t fall asleep. With bloodshot eyes, they battled against their assignments. Most assignments were already completed.
“Just one subject left.”
Mana Trading Studies.
The subject had two classes attached. The one dreaded by graduates, Professor Rosel, and…
“A deep and terrifying nightmare.”
The newly reborn nightmare, Professor Rania.
“A ridiculously difficult subject.”
Mana Trading Studies was inherently challenging.
The difficulty of the class was beyond discussion. However, that was it. Just that much, the students bore no complaints.
It was a matter they could tackle with effort.
The problem was that the professor directly forced the students to put in the effort. As is customary in the world, coerced effort comes with annoyance.
“Assignments.”
The students were shedding blood tears.
“Outrageous assignments.”
The pile of assignments on the table could rival mountains and seas. Staring at the circuit analysis mountains and circuit interpretation coastlines, the students gritted their teeth.
Even after the exams were over, the assignments seemed endless.
One alone was enough to drive them mad; having two professors piling on the pressure was a double whammy. Students mentally repeated the names of the two professors countless times.
…Every night, nightmares visit Apuria.
In the form of assignments.
*
Spring passed, and summer arrived.
The blazing sun shining on Apuria made it unusually lively.
“Ugh…!”
“Have you finished all the assignments?”
“You?”
It might be misleading to call it lively when looking at the exhausted faces of the students…
But anyway, the long construction has finally finished.
With the solidified barrier, Apuria began to function normally again. Due to the accidents and incidents piling up, the academic curriculum was already tangled. A more densely packed schedule greeted the students.
“Today’s class will move along a bit faster…”
“We’ll rush through the material so stay sharp…”
The professors who fell behind began to hastily proceed with the lessons. Following the tightly arranged schedule, students rushed to catch up and jammed multiple practical experiments into a single day.
The magic research lab was crowded with students day by day.
The central library was also filled with students.
As they spent their time densely, the students inadvertently realized something.
“The final exam period is approaching.”
It felt like just yesterday they had finished midterms, yet as finals loomed closer, they sighed.
“Hmph, hmm.”
In contrast to the sighs heard here and there, a woman was humming cheerfully as she walked through the corridors. Her ashen hair swayed in the breeze.
Clack clack.
The sound of her heels echoed down the hallway.
With a lively rhythm, she headed toward the academic bulletin board.
“Oh? Professor Rania?”
Rania van Trias.
“What are you doing here?”
“What do you think? I came to post an announcement.”
She squeezed through the students gathered before the bulletin board and posted a notice.
“Make sure to check this out, everyone.”
Leaving just those words, she turned to leave.
As she departed, the students converged around the board, checking the notice.
“Group Project Announcement for Mana Trading Studies, Basic.”
“Reference Book Code: E8ER-1N0LOQ7”
The flower of the academy, the group project.
It was welcoming the exhausted students, disguised as an assignment.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading the 100th chapter!