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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: You Idiot
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You idiot…
Why is that your fault! The fact that you couldn’t save me was the author’s doing, not your fault!
“It may be an inconvenience, but perhaps you would care to observe another class today. Swordsmanship, or… ah, there is also an architecture class shortly.”
[Rian, Luspell has sealed the inside with a barrier. I think I can break through with magic… but that old man will notice. What should I do?]
‘Is he really experimenting?’
Luspell had a habit of putting up a barrier before experiments to ensure a perfect environment.
‘…But I should still be able to hear something, right?’
Was it because I’d heard Luspell was tormented by guilt? My heart began to pound unpleasantly.
In the past, whenever I felt like this, someone always got hurt or something bad happened…
Just then, a directive appeared.
[Step 3: (With a disdainful air) Then I’ll go with architecture.]
The only reason I chose the magic class in the first place was because of the damned author’s directive.
The damned author was the one who led me to Luspell’s lab, too.
‘But now it’s telling me to change my mind?’
My ominous premonition grew uncontrollably.
I didn’t know why.
A thought just popped into my head: Would a character from Part 1 even be necessary for Part 2?
The directive appeared again, like a warning.
[Step 3: (With a disdainful air) Then I’ll go with architecture.]
I hastily grabbed the arm of Oswald, who was about to turn away.
The penalty began immediately.
The excruciating pain momentarily stole my breath.
“Ugh!”
I barely managed to hold on to my fading consciousness.
If I pass out here, Luspell will be in danger. It was no longer a premonition, but a certainty.
“Open… the door.”
“Pardon?”
“I said break this door down, now!!!”
Overwhelmed by my ferocity, Oswald hastily chanted a spell.
“Fireball!”
KABOOM!
With a deafening roar, the door exploded into smithereens.
I plunged inside, waving through the acrid smoke.
“…!”
Luspell was hanging from a rope.
He hadn't set up the barrier to control the experimental environment.
That crazy son of a bitch.
“Pel!”
Luspell’s tightly shut eyes fluttered open.
His dark, dead eyes drifted between me and Oswald.
“P-Professor Luspell! Why on earth would you do this…!”
Oswald scrambled over and lifted Luspell’s legs.
His wrinkled face quickly turned beet red, veins popping on his forehead.
I swallowed the glob of blood rising in my throat and screamed.
“What are you doing! Cut the rope!”
“Ah, r-right!”
Oswald belatedly chanted a spell.
The next moment, the rope Luspell was hanging from snapped.
CRASH!
“Oof!”
Luspell and Oswald fell to the floor in a tangled heap.
“*Gasp!* *Hack, hack!* *Cough!*”
“Y-You brat, you’ll burst my stomach… Get off…”
My legs felt weak, as if they would give out at any moment.
Biting the tip of my tongue, I forced myself to stand straight.
And I walked over to Luspell, who was sitting on Oswald’s stomach.
Luspell, breathing raggedly, looked up at me.
The moment our eyes met, I swung my hand with all my might.
SLAP!
Luspell’s pale cheek instantly swelled and turned red.
SLAP!
This time, a handprint appeared on his other cheek.
Oswald, caught in the middle, fidgeted anxiously.
“H-Heavens! Duchess, please calm yourself. Professor Luspell, are you all right?”
Luspell didn’t answer, slowly touching his cheek.
He wasn’t the type to tolerate being slapped.
He was more likely to hurl a string of curses and a Magic Missile at his opponent.
But now, his face showed no anger, not even a trace of his former brash self.
His sharp, chestnut eyes were dead, and his lips were covered in white, flaky skin.
His cheeks were hollow. His skin had lost its luster, dry as a sandy beach.
The wizard with looks that screamed ‘I have a temper’ and a personality far nastier than that was gone.
Only a lifeless corpse remained.
The depression radiating from him was suffocating.
He was like a thread stretched to its breaking point.
I bit the tip of my tongue.
Betrayal? Disappointment? Rage? I didn’t know what this feeling was.
I felt like I was about to explode, my insides were boiling so fiercely.
The heat rising within me was so intense that I managed to stay conscious despite the penalty.
I forced down another surge of blood and spoke.
“To do something like this in a place with children. Professor Luspell, are you in your right mind?”
“Duchess! Professor Luspell is not that kind of person! There must be some misunderstanding…”
“A misunderstanding? Are you saying I was hallucinating?”
When it became clear excuses wouldn’t fix the situation, Oswald began to press Luspell.
“Professor Luspell! Apologize to the Duchess! Now!”
“Why… *cough!* *Cough!* *Gack!*”
Luspell broke into a coughing fit mid-sentence. After what had just happened, it was no wonder his voice wouldn’t work properly.
“*Gasp!* My boy! Are you okay? Let me see. Huh?”
Oswald's expression suddenly changed, and he began to make a fuss.
All his earlier anger was gone, replaced by a look of deep concern.
Luspell pushed Oswald’s hand away with a raspy voice.
“Get it off me, Master.”
“Why, you little brat, I’m just… *Ahem!* Professor Luspell, you don’t seem to be in good condition, so the Headmaster will personally take a look. Now, lift your head.”
So they were master and student.
No wonder Oswald seemed unusually protective of Luspell.
“Let me see how badly you’re hurt, you rascal!”
“Just stop.”
Luspell moved his lips, avoiding Oswald’s gaze.
A normal person wouldn’t have noticed, but I knew what he had just done.
If you looked closely, the rope mark on his neck was gone.
He hadn’t healed it; he had used magic to move the injury somewhere else on his body.
‘He must have moved it to his forearm.’
Luspell, who was rubbing his uninjured arm, suddenly inhaled sharply.
“Don’t you smell blood?”
“…!”
Did he smell the blood on me? I pursed my lips and subtly turned away.
“Hm? The smell of blood? Are you hurt somewhere?”
“No.”
“What do you mean? You’re the only one here who could be bleeding.”
“There’s also that woman.”
“W-Woman! Watch your mouth. This is Duchess Adrian Ivrante!”
“Adrian?”
“*Gasp!* You can’t just say the Duchess’s name so casually!”
“…”
I had expected Luspell wouldn’t recognize Adrian.
He was the type of person who paid no mind to anything outside his own interests.
‘I guess that part of him hasn’t changed.’
As I smiled bitterly to myself, Oswald suddenly roared.
“Professor Luspell! What is with your attitude! How startled the Duchess must have been because of you! Are you going to continue being so rude?”
Even so, he was busy winking at Luspell.
It seemed he was trying to defuse the situation by acting more outraged than I was, before I could do something to Luspell in my anger.
“As Headmaster, I order you. Apologize to the Duchess at once!”
Contrary to his stern voice, Oswald’s eyes were filled with thick affection and worry for Luspell.
It made sense he would cherish the student who had grown to become a master-class wizard and a hero who defeated the Demon King.
So naturally, he would worry when that same student fell into a depression and threw his life away.
That seemed to be why he had brought Luspell to the Academy.
To keep him close and watch over him.
‘Why would you do this when you have a master like him, Luspell?’
I could understand him grieving my death.
I could even tolerate him feeling guilty. Though it made my blood boil.
‘But not this! Who am I that you’d throw your life away for me! You stupid bastard!’
The guy who acted like he was the smartest person in the world!
I was about to snap at him, but I thought it would only release more of the scent of blood, so I whipped my head away.
My fingertips trembled. It was the first time I had ever hit a friend.
But if this was what it took to snap Luspell out of it, I was willing to beat him to a pulp.
‘Hoo…’
As my agitated heart slowly calmed, a question arose.
‘Damned author, what the hell are you thinking?’
I couldn’t tell if you were trying to save Luspell or kill him.
Or did you just want to see if I would follow your directives even in an emergency?
‘Well, I saved him, so that’s what matters. Now I just have to help him get his act together.’
I clenched my still-trembling fingertips into a fist and looked around.
‘What a sight.’
Luspell, a neat freak, did not tolerate disorder.
Especially with magic experiments, where a single speck of dust could alter the results, he was obsessive about maintaining cleanliness.
But this place was a complete mess.
Papers were strewn all over the floor, and not a single book was properly placed on the shelves.
It wasn't dirty, likely because someone cleaned for him, but it was so jumbled there was barely room to stand.
‘Why is it so dark?’
The large window was covered by a blackout curtain, letting in not a single ray of light.
The lighting wasn’t bright, either.
It wasn’t cozy and dim, but stuffy and dreary.
‘Even a perfectly healthy person would get depressed staying in a place like this.’
I was so upset.
The fact that Luspell had let his lab fall into this state.
The fact that he had let himself go so much that he could calmly accept this environment…
But most of all, the fact that this was all because of me was what upset me the most.
[Step 3: (Covering her nose with a handkerchief) Is this how Professor Luspell keeps his laboratory?]
Perfect. I had been worried about the smell of blood. I took a handkerchief from my clutch and covered my nose and mouth.
“Is this how Professor Luspell keeps his laboratory?”
