booktalesy Chapter 178 : Chapter 178
Chapter 178 : Chapter 178
178
A certain weight clung to the word "Emperor."
It was the weight of blood spilled as the Empire waged wars of invasion against the entire world.
Or the weight of the flora, fauna, cultures, historical records, and structures that had vanished as the Empire invaded.
Or the weight of the power that, despite that violent history, could still command the praise and respect of all.
The highest of all. Second only to the heavens, with everyone else beneath.
The apex of the world's current power structure.
The one who held the authority of life and death over every person in the world.
That was the Emperor.
"The Emperor, huh. I have really come up in the world."
"It is actually a bit late. Ordinarily, the Empire would have reached out to someone of your caliber many times over."
In fact, it was not as though I had received no contact from the Empire at all.
For instance, the Academic Exchange Conference with the Empire.
During that, they had tried to crush our spirits and poach Pan as a scout.
In any case, that had been one of the Empire's ways of approaching a noteworthy talent.
The soldiers who had come to capture Isadora.
After apprehending her, those men had likely been going to hold me responsible and pull some trick about taking me to the Empire along with her.
The one who had smoothed over the humiliation suffered by Prince Leferil was, I was told, the princess above him.
That too could have been a scheme — to forge an emotional connection with me first, and then make moves afterward.
"But the Emperor is different."
All the preceding moves had been mere shallow schemes.
But the Emperor does not scheme.
He simply commands.
"So, will you go?"
I had expected him to say of course I could not refuse.
Abrahal wore a serious expression.
"I thought so too at first. But as I kept thinking about it on my way here, I changed my mind."
"Hm?"
"You can refuse the Emperor of the Empire."
......Uh, uh.
"I can do that?"
"You have nothing you need from the Empire. You are not dreaming of making your name in the Empire, nor are you bound to it by blood. Your position and your foundation cannot be invaded by the Empire, and the Empire cannot strip you of your techniques."
It seemed true that he had been mulling it over on the way, because his words kept flowing.
"On top of that, your technique is essential for fighting demons. With the Emperor's authority weakening after the Wolf King's incursion, the Empire is the one that should be clinging to you."
"Hmm."
"So — you can refuse."
Abrahal's words were a bit flattering, but they were not wrong.
I was able to refuse the Emperor's command — or rather, his request.
I thought it over briefly and answered.
"Then I will refuse."
"I said you could refuse, but that is a decisive answer."
Coming to that decision had not been hard.
"If I went there, I have a feeling Chairman Gwen would disapprove."
At my words, Abrahal picked up his bottle and stared at me.
"Is that really the only reason?"
"'Only,' you say. To me it is a big reason."
It was not a flippant statement.
The reason I could not defy Gwen was that she was the Chairman of this school.
And the reason all her scolding landed on me was that it pertained to school administration and my duties as an instructor.
As an Academy instructor, my foremost duty ought to be the education of students.
World peace.
That was surely important, but if it was something that did not necessarily require me to step forward, then it was right not to step forward.
For instance, in cases that could be handled by sending students alone.
If it was a mission Rozalin, Hati, Pan, or others could handle, then I had to prioritize supporting them and protecting the Academy.
'What if I got driven out of the Academy?'
Then a substantial portion of the "reasons you can refuse the Emperor" Abrahal had listed would disappear.
"You really are a fascinating person."
Abrahal drained his bottle in one go and rose from his seat.
"Then for my fascinating friend's sake, I too should get moving."
"Master Abrahal?"
"The other party is Blue Moon — an intelligence unit. Their saying they want to meet with you through me means they already know about the relationship between me, you, and Avril, as well as your movements."
"Then......"
"The Emperor has a strong pride. But he is cornered up against a cliff. He will make a move to meet you. When that happens — how can I make money off it? I will try to ride that line."
Money, he said — moments ago he had claimed he did not particularly like making money.
Beneath that blunt tone, I could feel his concern for me.
And it made me curious.
"Master Abrahal, why are you so good to me?"
In truth, from Abrahal's perspective, I was not exactly a good person.
A portion of the blame for Avril's rampage within the Goldline Merchant Guild did lie with me.
On top of that, he had been entangled in the assassination of Professor Hollians and had to rush off to the Empire.
Now he had even been reduced to the state of a wanderer, having to evade the Empire's eyes.
"I told you, did I not? I love history."
Abrahal laughed heartily.
"In history books, there are no lunatics claiming to have come back from the future. There are only those who agonized over how to live in this world and gave their best."
He slowly made his way toward his carriage, waving both arms.
"You look like the sort of person who will go down in history."
His guards, who had been standing at attention in the darkness, followed behind him.
Moonlight settled warmly across his body.
After he had fully departed, I pulled out a Goldline Scroll that had been sleeping in a drawer inside my home.
Duke Crownhardt, whom I had met at Professor Hollians' funeral.
The scroll I had received from him.
I tore the scroll, and soon a voice flowed out.
— Your contact took longer than I expected.
"Are the preparations going well?"
— Honestly, I will say this. It is frightening to the point of being unsettling.
From beyond the scroll came a quiet hu hu of laughter.
It was not laughter born of amusement, but rather a dry chuckle of bewilderment.
— People and the world are moving exactly as you foresaw. If all this were not a movement targeting you, I would have thought you were the world's mastermind.
The day Professor Hollians had died and I had grasped Avril's conspiracy.
I had been able to predict, at least in broad strokes, how the Empire would change from there.
I had an abundance of material for predicting the future.
First, there were the experiences of regressors — Rozalin, Avril, Hati.
They had told me what choices the great powers would make in moments of crisis over the next ten years.
I came to know more deeply what kind of personalities the rulers of the great powers had, what bases they made their decisions on, and who the officials forming those bases were.
On top of that, Ulf had been residing at the Academy and informing us of the strategies of the Wolf King and the Great Forest.
The Wolf King's course was a life the regressors had never experienced in their past lives.
There was also the information Avril and Abrahal had passed along, and intelligence about the world delivered in real time by the people who came to audit classes.
And then there were the stories I had experienced firsthand, traveling across the world.
With my heightened senses, I could read what people were thinking from the smallest glance, expression, or gesture.
Professor Hollians' funeral had been a gathering of the heads of state from every corner of the world.
The brief time I had spent there had given me a sharper revelation about the world's future than any other occasion could.
It was there that I had been able to meet the Crownhardt Ducal House.
I had immediately shared everything I had felt and, in preparation for the worst-case scenario that might come, we had laid our groundwork.
And now.
The world was changing in the very direction I had feared.
"It is time for you to show what you have prepared."
— This summer is going to be hot, it seems. Is the south cool?
"The scenery and facilities of the Academy City should satisfy you. We hired a skilled alchemist."
— I will look forward to it.
When the transmission ended, the scroll burned away entirely, leaving only ash.
I gazed quietly at that ash.
The fact that the world was changing as I had feared.
To put it another way, it also meant the world was changing exactly in the direction I had anticipated.
'History, huh.'
I chewed over Abrahal's words.
To become history, one must survive.
For instance, in the past Rozalin had come back from, there was no history.
Because humanity had gone extinct.
To become history, one had to survive.
I stood up, taking my sword in preparation for what was coming.
It seemed a guest had arrived.
Clunk.
When I opened the dormitory door, the still-slightly-chilly night air flowed into the room.
The air from afar carried a faint humidity and heaviness.
It was a sign that spring was gradually ending and summer was coming.
I grabbed my sword and left the dormitory.
I passed the training ground and walked the path out of the town.
From the gardens arranged here and there, the cries of crickets and insects rose.
The sound of my footsteps on the well-paved road mingled with those cries.
As I kept walking, the balance of the sounds shifted.
At last, when all that remained was the sound of my own footsteps —
"Come out."
I called the people forward.
"......"
In the moon shadows draped across pillars.
In the alleys between walls, particularly dark even at night.
From spaces overgrown with foliage.
People flowed out like liquid, silent and smooth.
The air was thick with a negative aura, so dense it made my skin tingle.
"Not the Emperor, I see."
There was no way they would send assassins just because I had turned down an immediate meeting.
As Abrahal and I had discussed, the Emperor needed me right now.
Rather than eliminate me, he would look for a way to win me over.
Which meant.
"Red Moon."
The ones who had reportedly joined hands with Avril.
Five figures, their bodies thoroughly wrapped in black masks.
As if moving as one body, they drew small daggers from within their robes.
The eerie energy that had been tickling my skin seemed to flow from those very daggers.
Unfamiliar, yet somehow familiar, energy.
'Curses.'
I quietly drew the Holy Sword.
The sword seemed to understand my state of mind — it glowed white and hummed.
But my opponents showed no reaction.
'Highly trained assassins.'
I could not allow these men to wander freely around the Academy.
There was no need to go easy on them.
"Hoo."
I steadied my breathing and focused my senses.
I had practiced enough with Teacher Berlith.
Curses were invisible magic.
So reacting to what I saw would already be too late.
The key to dealing with curses was reading the opponents' intent.
'......I can see it.'
Ironically, because these men were so well trained, their killing intent was clearly legible.
With no other intent mingled in, only killing intent — sharpened to a point — was pointed at me.
No — calling it mere killing intent was too crude.
Intent to kil.
I waited for the moment when that intent sharpened toward me.
'Now.'
Five points of intent to kill amplified and lunged at me.
A trajectory I could not see — should not have been able to see — was etched clearly before my eyes.
A single trajectory that blocked the paths along which those five lines flowed.
I let my sword flow along that trajectory.
Whoosh—.
The sword cut through the curses, and further, cut through the intent to kill itself.
Thud.
Five figures collapsed straight to the ground.
For the first time, a look of bewilderment appeared in their eyes.
Their expressions said they did not understand how they had been brought down.
Perhaps they were about to commit suicide.
Their bodies twitched as though trying to do something.
"Teacher Berlith."
"Yaaay~ New teaching assistants~!"
But it was already too late.
At my signal, shadow hands burst up from the ground.
The hands wrapped around the five figures like a cozy blanket.
And then, soon.
No one was there.