Chapter 21: About the girl who appeared in the laboratory
“Stop it.”
After dinner, Erica spoke while looking out at the scenery from the Academy rooftop
As if Deus hadn't heard anything, he silently handed Erica the coffee he had brought.
"The view is nice."
It was the professors' exclusive spot, hidden from the students who weren't allowed access to the rooftop.
The night view surrounding the Robern Academy was different from usual, but splendid nonetheless.
It was a sight that Erica too usually enjoyed.
"It's not."
If Deus hadn't jumped off the rooftop yesterday morning, she would have continued to enjoy it. But right now, it failed to calm her the way it once did.
Thanks to the magic that was cast when she jumped after him, Deus wasn't hurt, and Erica's elbow was only slightly sore. However, the internal scars were much deeper than external factors.
The suicide attempt of her beloved fiancée was a shocking and terrifying scene.
Erica gnawed on the edge of the paper cup Deus had given her and turned to him.
"I'm not joking. Stop it. There are rumors about you going around. From students to professors, everyone is looking at you strangely now."
“Hmm.”
"I'm not telling you not to do anything at all. But why do you have to patrol at dawn? Stop it and leave it to the security guards."
At those words, Deus slowly turned and focused his earlier distant gaze on Erica. As he turned, his face came into her view.
Black hair and a sharp nose... Eyes that don’t show the internal thoughts and an expression that is cold yet strangely warm considering his usual face.
Erica, who had no tolerance for face-to-face conversation and eye contact like this, jerked her head away in momentary embarrassment.
“It has to be done.”
However, the moment she heard his response, Erica turned her head roughly again and argued with him.
"Are you kidding me? It's been a month now. The vacation is about to end, and if you go building this kind of image, your registration even after becoming a full fledged professor could be lower than that of other elective courses."
“Erica, do you think I care about that?”
“…I wish you would have.”
In the end, Erica uttered the words she had promised herself never to say.
"You'll die!"
"...”
Deus slowly looked at her. The cold air brushed against the bridge of her nose, and her reddened eyes stung his heart.
"I don't even know what you're doing this for! I don't even know why you fight every morning with something weird! But you're going to die!"
"...”
Erica rolled up her sleeves and showed him the band she had put on her elbow after getting a bruise saving him.
“Look at this. I got hurt while trying to save you. Look at this! Yesterday! You fell off this roof on purpose to kill yourself!"
"...I see."
Deus leaned and gently touched her wrist. Numerous scars were visible beyond the collar of his shirt.
“But Erica, that's not an issue related to the Academy.”
“… … What?”
“It’s true that I’m suppressing something in the academy, but they’re not the ones trying to kill me.”
Erica didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.
She just thought that he was being stubborn.
"I said, stop it. Unless you want to turn your fiancée into a widow."
"...”
"If not, then it's over. I can't stay with a man who takes such risks… who doesn't care about his death."
In reality, due to the family's involvement, Erica couldn't end things as easily even if she wanted to; it was just a bluff.
But even so, after hearing her words, she hoped he would promise not to do anything dangerous anymore.
However, Deus’s mouth was firmly closed.
Erica constantly stared at his lips with a nervous heart.
She had a feeling that time was passing too slowly.
Please.
Please, I beg you.
Choose me.
"-----."
"......!"
His lips opened eventually and an answer came out, but the voice spread as if babbling in the water and could not be heard properly.
At that moment, when she remembered what he said-
"Ugh!"
-Erica stood up abruptly and looked around.
The room was full of medical smells that stung her nose and white beds. Students were lying on top of the beds, groaning in pain.
It was Professor Keren’s infirmary.
"Ugh, ugh!"
Her sweat-drenched white shirt clung to her body. Ignoring the uncomfortable stickiness, Erica brushed herself off as she stood up.
This was an unwanted dream.
Memories with him were precious, yet they were like an album she didn't want to see.
But she felt that those memories were coming in front of her forcibly now.
"You're awake."
Gideon Zeronia, who had been sitting in a corner of the infirmary, noticed Erica and approached her.
He reached out to touch Erica's blonde hair which was in disarray, but Erica pushed him away.
“Don’t touch me.”
“…hahahaha, it’s already been a month since we decided to go out, isn’t it a bit harsh to not even hold hands?”
Gideon shrugged and joked. But Erica responded with a sigh.
"That was the condition. I agreed to go out on the condition that we have no physical contact."
"Heh, well, that's true. But you're a better woman than I thought, so I'm tempted."
Seeing Gideon licking his lips, Erica annoyedly passed him by.
Gideon continued to poke at her.
“Earlier, I was wondering why you needed a list of people buried in the cemetery… the one that existed before the Academy.”
Tap.
Erica stopped in her tracks and glared at him.
“But now that it's like this, I finally understand. It's because of the bastard spirits roaming around the Academy, right?"
Zeronia family…
It was the landowner of the Robern Academy, which was once a common cemetery.
Therefore, Erica asked them for old documents and related information, and Gideon had used that as an excuse to have a relationship with Erica.
To be honest, Erica didn't know why he wanted her. He never explained it and just smirked.
“So, did you find the evil spirit you were looking for?”
The evil spirit Erica wanted…
It was the one that had possessed Deus…
An existence that spewed out a bizarrely thick murderous intent towards her fiance.
“I found the clue.”
With those words, Erica left the ward.
Yeah, everything was coming together.
Erica had seen that girl's face the most.
She was powerful enough to kill a necromancer in one blow.
And she had first appeared in Deus' laboratory.
'The black-haired girl.'
Erica was thinking that maybe she was the evil spirit that had possessed Deus.
‘I have to catch that spirit before Deus returns.’
And she would do so, even if she had to pay a high price to a priest or learn necromancy herself.
Erica intended to fight her no matter what.
"Um, excuse me! Professor Erica!"
At that moment, a pink-haired professor called out from the end of the corridor.
It was Perr Petra, an instructor specializing in physical magic who had replaced Deus.
She looked around cautiously before approaching Erica and whispered.
"Um, excuse me. I called you… Professor Erica… See, I'm researching the regeneration of severed bodies..."
She adjusted her glasses and looked down, a typical example of a timid and introverted person.
Erica thought it was an impressive topic to research, but she didn't have time to listen.
"I'm sorry, I'm a little busy right now."
She passed by Perr, but Perr yelled back in frustration.
"But! I discovered a magic that can restore broken objects while doing a clinical experiment on regeneration! Well, it's only a little bit..."
“… … What does that mean?”
Erica stopped walking, thinking that there must be a reason Perr was saying this.
Perr took a deep breath and declared while clenching her fists tightly,
“The other day…! I think… I can restore the note left by my predecessor, Professor Deus!”
"......!"
"W-well, of course! It's impossible to recover it all, but maybe just a little bit...."
"Right now!"
Erica grabbed Perr's thin wrist and pulled her along,
"Let's do it right now!"
Remnants of that note still remained in Professor Deus’ room. Because they didn’t even think to clean it up.
"Ah! P-please slow down!"
"We don't have time."
Perr, who was led by Erica, arrived at Deus' room. It was still dark, bleak, and had no features.
And the remnants of the burned note still remained on the floor.
"I'll try it then."
Professor Perr, who knelt in front of it, took out a piece of chalk from her case and began drawing a magic circle on the floor.
‘The first chapter was obviously about that black-haired girl.’
If the first page was restored, Erica could find out Deus's opinion about that girl, and the possibility of capturing her before Deus’ arrival would increase even more.
Erica clenched her fists tightly, trying to calm her pounding heart.
"I-I'm starting now."
After completing the magic circle, Perr slowly began to infuse mana.
The formula she used to reach that step and the use of mana were indeed amazing.
It was at this point Erica realized that Perr Petra was not called an unrivaled genius whom no one could catch up to in her field for nothing.
Compared to such vast formulas and mana, the result was a pitifully small note though.
Perr collapsed, out of breath, with the piece of scorched note in her hands.
"I'm sorry! Huff! I didn't expect it to recover only this small part!"
However, Perr’s voice could no longer reach Erica’s brain.
[1. About the girl who appeared in the lab]
Because she restored exactly what Erica wanted.
“You did a great job, Professor Perr!”
"Huh!?"
Leaving the flustered Perr alone, Erica hurriedly picked up the note.
And she read it right away, fearing that the girl would appear and destroy it again.
“……Uh?”
Reading Deus' words, Erica couldn't help but make a weird sound.
“This, what the hell… …?”
What does this even mean?
No, something must be off.
Erica felt like her head was getting all tangled up, her thoughts being a mess.
She thought Deus’ note would unravel the thread of mystery. Rather, it twisted it even more - to the point where she wondered if this note was actually that evil spirit’s trick.
But Deus’ elegant cursive resolutely forced Erica to accept the harsh truth:
[Firstly, that girl is not dead.]
