The Extra’s Academy Survival Guide - Chapter 63

“We have to go straight in this direction. It will probably be there if we walk just a bit more, right?”

“Hmm~ As we go further and further, it’s starting to turn into a dark and remote path.”

Lortel had done all in her power to tie down Elte, keeping him in check.

I had told her that she could go back to the store and take care of any business she had left, but… she ended up following right behind us.

As usual, for some reason she seemed a bit uneasy, but… this time it was directed at someone else.

Unlike her usually fiery glare at Yennekar, right now Lortel was staring at Lucy strangely.

I didn’t know why, but she seemed very uneasy about Lucy sticking right next to me and holding onto my sleeve… Lortel was even making every effort she could to not go back to the store. Well, even if Elte were to escape now, he wouldn’t have any of his mercenaries to assist him. There was no need to be overly anxious, as he wouldn’t even manage to make it off the island because he would just end up getting caught again.

Yennekar kept guiding us through the path with a face that, for some reason, was in nirvana.

A high-ranking spirit found a Celestial Magic Circle in the northern forest. Right then, we didn’t know of a way to get rid of it and we didn’t even know its use in the first place. First, we were just heading on over to the magic circle to inspect it. Even after monitoring it for a few days, there wasn’t any sort of reaction, so the spirits decided that it wasn’t too dangerous.

In the first place, to build up ten or so of those towers of magic power, you would need to draw those Celestial Magic Circles all across the academy grounds. I didn’t really care about the fact that it was a magic circle that was clearly pre-arranged by Professor Glast, but… The problem was, not a single tower of magic power rose from inside of the northern forest.

If it was a magic circle with a purpose other than constructing a tower of magic power… I started to think that Professor Glast might have had other intentions.

Looking up at the sky, the towers of magic power were full of cracks as they collapsed.

Now that the Glast Subjugation was over, Taylee and his party should have been in the final scene, rescuing Ayla and escaping from the tower of magic power.

There was no need for me to try and dig up whatever else Glast might have been hiding, but being thorough about such things never hurt…

I continued to follow Yennekar, leading the way into the northern forest until we reached the spot… It wasn’t that big but, judging by its shape and the way it was drawn, it was definitely a Celestial Magic Circle.

“There are signs that it was activated recently. I guess the spirits were so distracted with the commotion going on within the academy that they didn’t have time to check on it.”

Yennekar said that while she started looking around the vicinity of the magic circle. But no matter how hard she tried, there were too many incomprehensible parts of the Celestial Magic Circle that weren’t easy to figure out.

“This… It’s movement-related magic. By using Celestial Magic Power, this greatly maximizes one’s magic power efficiency. With this much, using one’s magic power is even more efficient than using a spirit’s. It’s particularly beneficial to activate when escaping a crisis.”

Surprisingly, Lucy was the one that explained it all in a calm tone.

Looking at Lucy, who was still holding onto my sleeve, I tilted my head.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

She then started to groan, yawning loudly.

While she did that… I was going to ask her to let go of my collar so I could slowly ask her what she was so upset about, when suddenly—

“There’s a bloodstain.”

Yennekar found a strange trace.

The thick bloodstains that came from the center of the magic circle stretched out towards the outskirts of the forest.

Those were the traces of someone seriously injured walking away from the movement-related magic circle and heading further into the forest.

We looked at each other as we all nodded in unison.

As for who was responsible for the magic circle with Celestial Magic engraved into it, there was no need to say it.

Closing my eyes, I thought of the final scene in the final chapter of Act 2.

Professor Glast’s final attempt at doing what he should never do, reviving an extraordinary person that could fulfill his ideals regarding the advancement of the world.

Being covered in wounds and leaving an unknown will that no one knew, even at the very end, that was his last appearance in the storyline. I thought that was the end of Professor Glast, but he actually ended up finding a way to escape using such a method.

While pretending to jump, did he actually escape using Celestial Magic with the last bit of magic power that remained in the air? It was a smart decision, considering that if he had just run away, they would just chase after him until they caught up.

I wondered if he was really going to try and run away to cause more chaos, but… considering that he didn’t do much after the fact in the original storyline, there shouldn’t have been much of a reason for me to get personally involved and do something about it… But either way, at the very least I thought I should check it out…

Worrying about such things, I followed the blood trail. And at the very end there was Professor Glast. I also thought I knew the reason that he didn’t do anything major after the battle.

Under the bright moon, late into the night, Professor Glast sat under an old tree and quietly exhaled… He was already on the verge of death.

***

A torn faculty robe. Blood-stained hair. A haggard impression. His dark red blood seeping into the dirt around him.

The injuries on his body… The level of it was more than a simple cut, he had been stabbed. Even if we acted in a hurry to try and escort him away, his fate was already sealed. Although he is stopping the bleeding somewhat with the little magic power he had left, no one couldn’t honestly expect it to do anything other than extend his life just a little bit more.

“Oh?”

Professor Glast raised his lips with interest as his voice left his blood-filled throat.

“It should already be curfew at the dorms. What are you students doing here?”

“How can you say something like that in this situation?”

Yennekar’s eyes were trembling as she covered her mouth with her hands. Lortel looked calm at first glance, but even her eyes were also looking away. Of course, Lucy didn’t seem to have any particular thoughts at all. Though, she never once let go of my sleeve.

Yennekar asked in a trembling voice.

“Here… What…?”

“I was just looking up at the moon.”

The shade of the large tree kept the surrounding greenery out of the sunlight.

Around that large tree, it was completely empty, with no other trees or bushes at all.

Maybe that was why you could see the sky clearly when you looked up through the leaves.

“You set up this escape route beforehand, but you still fought until this point?”

“Hmm… I tried to do as much as I could and only escape if it didn’t work out, but it didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. That was why I ended up fighting until I ultimately ended up like this… As expected, it’s impossible to fully know what another person can do.”

Professor Glast’s body had become a complete wreck as he quietly lowered his gaze and smirked.

“What? What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. There’s nothing funny.”

“That’s strange. I think my appearance would be quite funny, though.”

Professor Glast looked back up at the night sky and continued to speak in a self-deprecating tone.

“That man… He must have already known about my plan, in some way or another. He must have known that it was all going to end up like this. I guess, no matter how you looked at it, this was all too reckless. I never thought that I would be defeated by a group of students…”

“You say he knew. Who are you talking about?”

“I wonder.”

Professor Glast’s answer was rather vague, but it was enough for me to fully understand.

At Trix Hall, looking over the entire education district, the academy’s highest executive—Headmaster Obel Forsyth. It was like he saw his back right in front of him.

Professor Glast sighed a little, seeing my expression. He seemed to have realized that I was able to figure out at least a little of it as he spoke in a candid tone.

“I’ve spent decades working here at Silvenia, but in the end I won’t be able to get a bit of my severance pay… Maybe I could have used it to have him turn a blind eye and forget what happened.”

“I don’t think that’s the right thing to do. I’m not in a position to argue about what others do, but…”

“Well, Principal Obel and I have known each other for a long time… This is a matter that is strictly between the two of us. Even if that were the case, if I ended up crossing the line, he would have personally come to stop me. He’s a man filled with useless compassion. He’s not cut out to be the academy’s headmaster.”

Obel, who had been the headmaster since Glast was a new professor… If he had seen Glast coming to his end just like this, what would he think…? I hadn’t a clue.

Nor did I feel inclined to question him anymore, seeing Glast covered in a pool of his own blood.

“Even though I took advantage of Headmaster Obel’s hesitation, strangely enough I don’t feel a sense of guilt.”

“Isn’t it because the situation has ended up like this?”

“You’re right. That’s an accurate point, Ed Rothstaylor.”

Glast continued to speak in his mischievous tone, as he always did when answering questions from the students in his class.

“As expected, you’re more of an outstanding student than I had originally thought. I discovered you too late, which is unlike me.”

“…Why did you kidnap me in the first place? I didn’t really fit into your plan, did I?”

There may have been both big and small variables, but ultimately the story’s progression went as expected.

I mean, if he didn’t kidnap me in the first place, would his plans have changed in any way at all?

“There wasn’t any time. Because the Resonance Transferal was taking place soon and I had piles of work to take care of, there wasn’t enough time to win you over to my side. That’s why I didn’t have much of a choice besides taking a more violent approach to it.”

“…What do you mean?”

“I sent you a letter once, but I believe you didn’t respond to it because you had overworked yourself?”

On the day I received the letters from Princess Penia and Lortel, there was definitely a letter that came from the academy. Specifically, from Professor Glast.

In the end, because I fainted due to my ridiculously rigorous lifestyle there wasn’t a chance for me to make any time to talk with Professor Glast.

“I also had a hunch… Once this is finished, whether or not I succeeded or failed, I wouldn’t be able to step foot back into this academy anymore.”

He raised up his blood-stained hand and struggled putting it close to his chest.

And then, with that hand that was about to lose all of its strength… He took out a key that was covered in blood.

“I’m afraid that, no matter what, I can’t give the Seal’s resonance over to you. I left the seal back there, so it’ll probably end up back in the hands of the academy. Well, I guess that is something that can’t be helped. In the first place, you were the one who escaped first.”

“So that key is…”

“It looks like you did something useless, grabbing all those fancy things from the Soul Library that I built.”

Professor Glast gathered his last bit of strength, flicking the key into the patch of grass in front of him.

“Did you really think that those few Legendary Grade production formulas were the most valuable items in the library?”

“Are you telling me that there was something else?”

“There’s a secret safe underneath the desk that the Banshee Reina is guarding. Take your time and open it up later. The library is now yours, anyway. Even though you went on that rampage, it should still be fine. Though, you’ll have to clean it up with your own hands since it was your own fault.”

I looked at Professor Glast with wide eyes.

Professor Glast’s secret laboratory was an unofficial facility that wasn’t known even amongst the academy faculty. Well, it was mostly made up of monster labs in the first place, so there wasn’t much research there that would benefit me… But it was a completely different story if we were talking about the Soul Library.

Lucy even made a hole in the forest that went directly inside. If I set up a ladder and kept the hole well hidden, then it could become a secret hideout or storage space that I could enter whenever I wanted.

Wait, it was a facility with a large number of magically engineered items and production formulas. If I slowly started to restore the place, did that mean I could make it completely my own?

“Once the academy finishes their investigation, it’s yours.”

Lucy’s explosive behavior ended up becoming a benefit. As for what was buried in that semi-destroyed library… the academy’s faculty wouldn’t have any idea.

Slowly stepping in front of Professor Glast… I carefully picked up the key.

“Why… are you giving this to me…?”

“Are you unhappy that I’m giving it to you?”

“Aren’t you the type to put more value on students with talent?”

Professor Glast smiled bitterly at my response.

“Here in Silvenia, the number of students with talent is overflowing.”

He ended up saying something that I thought would never come out of his mouth.

“At this rate, I thought I might get in trouble because of my dead daughter.”

“……”

“Yeah. After all, I did live a life where I ended up changing quite a bit. When I was young, I preached to others about my romantic beliefs, telling them not to judge the value of a student by their talent or abilities. Even though it happened a long time ago, I still get goosebumps thinking back on it now.”

Wiping away the blood pouring from him, Professor Glast started to deprecate himself again.

“However, I wasn’t wrong. At least, I was sure of that when my daughter was alive.”

I thought he would be cold bleeding out, but instead he was rather warm.

Having uttered such a snarky remake, Professor Glast relaxed his body.

“But even then… The seventeen years I spent with my daughter weren’t all that bad…”

“She was seventeen years old?”

“Yeah. Seventeen years… If you think that’s long, then it is… but if you think that’s short, it’s short…”

After saying that, Professor Glast started to cough up blood. Yennekar trembled in shock, but… she couldn’t say anything.

Even his magic power, which was stopping him from coughing up blood, had run out. In the first place, his physical condition wasn’t one that would just get better if that was all he did. He completely overused Celestial Magic Power, and his body was at its limit.

I was sure that he didn’t have much energy left to continue talking. While all of that was happening, the sight of the corner of his lips moving down was getting more noticeable.

He coughed up blood a few more times before forcing a grin on his face.

“If you think it’s a sin for me to die lonely like this, then it’s not a bad exchange for the crime I’ve committed.”

Professor Glast gently closed his eyes.

Sitting under the zelkova tree, with no one around him, he slowly reflected on his life.

No matter what, the fact remained that he was the one who took a student’s life as collateral. No one could deny the fact that he had gone off the rails, after all.

“I met with Assistant Professor Cleoh. She grumbled about things, but she finally acknowledged you, Professor Glast. I was surprised to see her crying, claiming that you were the most scholarly person there was.”

Maybe because he no longer had the energy left to answer, Professor Glast didn’t respond.

“Don’t you have a long relationship with Assistant Professor Cleoh? Four years while she attended this academy. Five years while she studied teaching. Professor, if you had been here until you retired, then you would have also known her for seventeen years.”

“……”

The moon shone down through the leaves of the zelkova tree.

“Seventeen years… If you think that’s long, then it’s long… but if you think that’s short, then it’s short…”

Professor Glast opened his eyes when he heard those words.

He tried to raise his voice to say something else, but… he no longer had the energy left to do so.

He mocked himself as he died in solitude, but that was only the case because his vision was so narrow.

Glast didn’t have to think that he was lonely. His death… it wouldn’t be a cold one, where no one would grieve.

In the first place, a human’s field of view wasn’t very wide. If you kept walking ahead while looking back, you’d never know what was right next to you.

Even a prestigious scholar that had read numerous books regarding the field of magic still didn’t know the inside of a person. That remained the same, even if it was about his own heart.

Barely holding up the weight of his increasingly heavy eyelids, the last person that entered his line of sight was Lucy.

Just what kind of expression did Lucy have as she looked at him, holding my arm so tightly?

Unfortunately, I couldn’t see it.

“Alright… that’s wise…”

Saying that, Glast closed his eyes, as if he was falling asleep. I could infer what had happened just from that.

The curtain of Act 2 had fallen.

The world was slowly falling asleep.

Seeing the moonlight fall through the zelkova tree where he was peacefully lying…

At first glance, it looked as if he were sleeping soundly.

For a while all of us stood there staring.