CH 283.2

Sage-san’s cheeks twitch as she begins to *gongon* tap the floor in front of her with her staff as if she sensed something in my expression.

“!? Oi, hey, what do you think you are doing! Listen to me! To begin with, Anna said that you wanted the Academy’s precious artifacts, but that was just a rumor! There is no way one of our fellow professors would divulge information about their precious artifact! Everyone is dancing around because of this nonsense――Right now, we are assessing the damage caused by this magical creature. You are to be imprisoned here until formal action is taken! If words get out, Lucia will also be in trouble, reflect on what you did!” (Sage)

………… Could it be that Lucia’s gestures are inherited from her “Teacher (Sensei)”? Or is her “Teacher (Sensei)” the one who has been influenced by her?*

That is when I spoke up for the first time. On second thought, it would be bad if they don’t let me go back home.

“Ermmm…… I will be in trouble if you don’t let me out tho’……” (Cry)

The refrigerator in my room is full of cakes that are close to their expiry date.

“You can get in trouble as much as you want. We are the ones in trouble.” (Sage)

Such cold words. I know you are in trouble――But I shouldn’t have come if I knew it was going to end like this. It is one of my bad points to move when I am pushed around even though I don’t have the ability to solve the problem.

“Seriously, even though I am already full with inquiries about curses from the Divination Institute…… It is one hell of an outrageous harassment to cause a problem at this timing.” (Sage)

“Heee, so it is the same for “Teacher (Sensei)”. What a coincidence.” (Cry)

“………… Shut up. I am Lucia’s “Teacher (Sensei)”, not yours! As you know, “Spirit People (Noble)” are not only powerful in Magic, but also in curses. The strength of our mind is different. Most of the curses that have been called disasters so far have been caused by Spirit People. That said, I don’t want people to keep making strange inquiries on my part.” (Sage)

Sage-san brushes her bangs and sighs with a slightly over-the-top gesture. She looks tired.

It seems that even a Magi who was recruited by the Emperor himself and earned the Alias of 《Immortal (Fumetsu)》 has endless troubles. I can’t help but feel a little bit of camaraderie here.

Sage-san starts walking towards the door while shrugging her shoulders. I tried to stand up for the first time in order to stop her――But I couldn’t even move a little bit.

It is not so much that I can’t move, it is more that it is a strange feeling where it feels like the commands from my brain are not being transmitted to my body. Even though I could talk and even pinch my cheeks…… Is this the power of this latest type of her so-called barrier?

It is bad, at this rate――――Hey, Sytry… How long are you going to keep *gugu* snoring? Aren’t you moving?

There seemed to be nothing I could do about it. When I gave up and sighed heavily, the door opened vigorously.

To my disappointment, the one who came in wasn’t Lucia. Sage-san frowned at the student Magi in his chic robes.

“What is with you?” (Sage)

“We’ve finished our assessment of the damage. I have a few things I’d like to bring to your attention.” (Student)

When the Magi *chirari* glanced at me once, the Magi quickly approached Sage-san and whispered in her ear.

Sage-san was glaring at me as if I was her parents’ killer, but…

“………… Fumu, that’s…… I see――” (Sage)

“That’s――No, but, this is only the consequence――” (Sage)

It seems that something quite unexpected happened. The way she looks at me changes.

When Sage opened her eyes widely, her expression distorted violently.

“………… It originally belonged to the 《Sword Saint (Kensei)》 ? Tsk………… What is that child thinking――” (Sage)

“Tsk………… Sure, yeah. I would hate to lose this, but――” (Sage)

“………… No, no, no, it is obviously strange. How does it come to this?” (Sage)

“…………………………” (Sage)

A voice full of passion.  What on earth is going on?

When I was waiting blankly for the story to end, the Magi who had been whispering in her ear moved away and Sage-san approached me with a sour look on her face.

She looked down at us from a close distance for a while, but before long she made the biggest click of her tongue and poked the magic circle with her staff.

The light of the shining magic circle disappears as if it has lost its power.

As I blinked my eyes while Sytry was *gugu* snoring and clinging to me, Sage-san said to me as if she was spitting out.

“Shit. Release them… Lucia’s brother, the situation has changed.” (Sage)

“Release? What happened?” (Professor 1)

When Sage-san looked at the other professors around her with great disgust, she said with a really reluctant look.

“I am, definitely, not convinced, but………………. The ashes of that monster――Could be, potentially, a very, valuable, catalyst. I am, definitely not convinced, but――Most will agree with it and it is the dean’s decision. Punishing you would make it harder for us to claim ownership of the ashes. The scales don’t balance out. According to humans rules, it shouldn’t――” (Sage)

“Can you share some of it with me?” (Sytry)

Sytry is now back to normal. Sage-san looks at Sytry for a moment as if she is questioning her sanity but I feel the same way.

In the past, you used to be timider than me, so how did you become like this……?

""

Sage-san completely ignored her request and said in a cold voice.

“…………. Lucia is waiting for you downstairs. Don’t worry your Imouto too much.” (Sage)

§

We left the room at the top of the tower and descended the spiral staircase.

The sudden abduction and denunciation had left me physically exhausted. The day was too dense. Give me a break.

Sytry, who had completely recovered, said with a victim-like expression while walking next to me.

“Really, it was a terrible mess, right Cry-san?” (Sytry)

Sytry, you were just *gugu* snoring, weren’t you. It was one of your most useless times in recent years. Well, it is not like you lost that much point in my mind tho’.

I looked at her accusingly, but Sytry only looked at me strangely. Her mental strength is too different from mine.

By the way, why were we going to Sage-san’s place? We had nothing to do there――That’s right. It was because Sytry told me to. Lucia didn’t come with us because of Sytry encouraging Kilkill-kun to stall her, and if I’m not mistaken, it is all Sytry’s fault that we got into this mess, isn’t it?

“In the end, they didn’t give us anything…… Professor Sage is really stingy. You would think that a long-lived Spirit People would usually become less materialistic. I wanted some ashes, too………… I should have secretly taken some. After hearing Lucia’s story, I was too focused on the preconceived notion that the other party would pay us a tribute. If only Cry-san had told me first――” (Sytry)

I can’t tell if what Sytry said is a joke or not.

But in the end, I never did figure out why Sage-san and the others thought I did something bad.

“………… Even though they should have investigated people around them before accusing me.” (Cry)

I am sure that it was because some Magi in a lab somewhere were conducting dangerous experiments.

“Absolutely!” (Sytry)

Sytry very happily agreed with me.

………… Well, all’s well that ends well. Let’s go back to my room and eat some cake.

When I was thinking about that while going down the stairs, the door next to me suddenly opened.

Something with a brown robe covering its whole body jumped out in front of me.

“I’m sorry. I really regret it. I never expected such a monster would come at me like that――I regretted it, so please forgive meeee!” (Magi)

Something suddenly stopped me, shoved a metal canteen to me, climbed over the spiral staircase, and jumped from it.

I froze for a few seconds and rushed to check downstairs, but there was already no one………… Was it a Youkai1 or something?

This school is seriously scary. I will never come here again.

“What is that……?” (Sytry)

“………… Who knows…” (Cry)

Sytry’s eyes sparkle and she looks at the canteen I was forcibly handed over.

If it had been Liz, she would have definitely caught her…… Whether it would have been a good thing or not is another story.

When I hand it to her, Sytry opens the canteen lid with careful movement.

I waited for a while, but there was no comment from Sytry, and it didn’t seem to be a hazardous material, so I peeked inside.

――What was inside the canteen was a liquid moving around that was not transparent and had the color of strawberry milk.

Or rather, it smelled like strawberry milk. I like strawberry milk, I drink it fairly often and have a stock of it in the fridge.

However, to suddenly jump out, push a canteen containing strawberry milk and run away…… Isn’t that person really a Youkai?

As expected, even I have a sense of crisis to not drink strawberry milk given to me by a stranger. As I was getting dismayed, I noticed that Sytry was silent while holding the canteen.

She *tsuntsun* pokes my shoulder and says as if she has come to her senses. Her cheeks were flushed and her voice was filled with passion.

“…… This color, this smell――Could this possibly be the legendary Magic Potion that had been buried in the darkness because of its powerful effects and its danger, the 『Strawberry Blaze』? No way――All traces of it were supposed to have been erased, but to think that it still exists.” (Sytry)

“…… Heeeh…… Is it something that amazing?” (Cry)

You said strawberry, so isn’t it totally strawberry milk?

It is surprising but I don’t think she, a brilliant Alchemist, would joke about anything Potion-related. Sytry closes the lid with more care than usual.

Well, I am glad you are in a better mood.

While I was thinking about this in a carefree manner, Sytry told me some outragious information in a trembling voice.

“Yes! It is a subordination drug that mesmerizes both the body and the mind of any human being with a single drop. It was created by a genius Alchemist――Three countries were destroyed, and the surrounding countries should have cooperated to completely erase the manufacturing method, the product, and the family of the Alchemist who created it, but I never thought that the actual product would still exist……” (Sytry)

“………… Is it that amazing?” (Cry)

“If it is the real thing…… We might be able to revive the manufacturing method and we may be able to take over the world. No one has ever been able to replicate it, but if we have the real thing we can reverse engineer it――” (Sytry)

“Un, un, that’s right.” (Cry)

Maybe because of her excitement, I quietly picked up the canteen she was holding with much more glee than usual.

Sytry looked at me with blank eyes for a moment, but then said in a sweet voice.

“Cry-san…… Well…… You will give it to me this time, won’t you?” (Sytry)

“Un, un, that’s right. Later, okay?” (Cry)

“Yattaaa2!” (Sytry)

Sytry clung to my arm and *surisuri* rubbed her cheek against it. I *unun* nodded and patted her head.

So… This is definitely something I shouldn’t give to Sytry. I will secretly throw it away later.