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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: A Name from the Past
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Instead of Luspell, it was Oswald who broke out in a cold sweat and made excuses.
“Th-that is… I believe Professor Luspell has been so busy lately that he hasn’t had time to tidy up.”
“Busy with experiments?”
“Ah, I suppose so. He is a sorcerer, after all…”
“I was under the impression that a clean environment was fundamental to magical experiments. It seems I was mistaken.”
“…”
Oswald, caught in his lie, flinched.
I had no intention of reprimanding him.
Like most ordinary people, he must have assumed I knew nothing about magic.
“Headmaster, when did Professor Luspell begin teaching?”
“A little over a year ago.”
“In all that time, has Professor Luspell ever succeeded in an experiment? No, has he even conducted any research?”
“…”
Oswald fell silent.
Of course not.
Unless he had a death wish, no sorcerer would attempt to conduct experiments in a place like this.
Well, from the looks of it, Luspell seemed to have given up on experiments altogether.
“Why do you research so relentlessly? Are you still not satisfied?”
“It’s not a matter of satisfaction. The moment a sorcerer stops researching, they begin to regress. And a sorcerer who doesn’t advance is as good as dead.”
And yet he was the one who had said that…
“I don’t understand why this lab is kept so dark. Does he avoid the sun? A corpse would have more life in it than the professor.”
“P-Professor Luspell is only like this today. He’s usually perfectly fine.”
“When did he last bathe? Does he eat? Does he even sleep?”
“He eats and sleeps, I’m sure…”
“He looks like he barely has the strength to stand. How is he supposed to teach children?”
“Ah! Please don’t worry about that. When Professor Luspell teaches, he does it quite well.”
“Is the Headmaster Professor Luspell’s spokesman?”
“W-well, it’s just that Professor Luspell is a man of few words… My apologies.”
Luspell, a man of few words?
What was he talking about? This was the guy who complained from the moment he woke up until he closed his eyes at night.
If I had pushed him like this in the past, Luspell would have already been flinging spells around.
He would have raged about who I thought I was to give him advice.
But now, Luspell just stood there quietly.
*What is he thinking? Is he even listening to me?*
His eyes were hidden by his hair, making it impossible to read his expression.
*Talking to a wall would be less frustrating than this.*
Just then, a gloomy, slow voice escaped Luspell’s lips.
“The experiment… I was just conducting it.”
“…”
“Ma’am.”
His speech was so slow, as if he were forcing himself to talk out of sheer annoyance.
*Someone with no patience would keel over listening to this.*
Oswald’s face lit up, and he eagerly gripped Luspell’s shoulder.
“Professor Luspell! Is that true? Well done, well done! So, what were you experimenting on?”
“On the success rate of spells and the delay in magic activation when one’s life is on the line.”
“…”
“That was the experiment.”
“W-was it now?”
“I was doing it until the Duchess interrupted.”
To think he could come up with such a ridiculous excuse, one that not even a dog would believe, in this situation.
His demeanor had changed drastically from the past, but his mind was still as sharp as ever.
I let out a sigh for all to see.
“Headmaster, how much longer must I listen to this nonsense? It’s growing rather unpleasant.”
Oswald, who had been wavering at Luspell’s excuse, cleared his throat and admonished him with a stern voice.
“Professor Luspell, this is your final warning. Apologize properly to the Duchess with due respect. If you do not, you will be expelled from the Academy… no, something very unpleasant may… happen.”
Luspell seemed completely uninterested in Oswald’s warning.
His hazel eyes watched me from beneath his disheveled hair.
“Have we… met before?”
[Step 1: (Scoff as if it’s absurd) Hmph! Are you trying to flirt with me? You have good taste, I’ll give you that.]
…You crappy author, this is not the time for that.
How can you write anything when you can’t even read the room?
Just quit now. A cliffhanger ending is fine.
I ignored the prompt.
“Did you not just say yourself that today was the first time you’ve seen me?”
“I did. I never forget a face I’ve seen once. But…”
Luspell tilted his head, murmuring as if to himself.
“Then why did you call me that?”
Hadn’t I been calling him Professor Luspell this whole time?
Confused, I remained silent.
Then, his hazel eyes, glinting sharply, fixed on my face.
“You called me ‘Pel.’”
“…!”
Did I? Did I really do that? That can’t be right.
Not only did I have no memory of it, but it also made no sense.
After all, throughout the entire expedition, I was the only one with enough nerve to call Luspell ‘Pel.’
Everyone else, weary of his god-awful temper, tiptoed around him.
There was no way I would have called him that.
*Not unless I wanted him to suspect I was Adela…*
Could it be that Luspell had lost his mind and was hearing things? Just as I was starting to worry, a voice spoke in my head.
[Rian, Luspell’s right. I heard you call him ‘Pel’ too.]
…So I was the one who had lost my mind.
I forced my frozen lips to move.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re not denying it…”
“And if I did, would you believe me? It seems you’ve already made up your mind, Professor Luspell.”
“It’s not a conviction, it’s a fact. I heard it clearly.”
“In that case, no answer is needed. Think what you will. It has nothing to do with me.”
His hazel eyes gleamed sharply from under his hair.
He clearly didn’t believe me.
*Seriously, why does he have to remember something he heard while he was hanging himself?!*
I thought an indifferent attitude would be better than a strong denial, but it didn’t work on Luspell.
My heart pounded like a drum.
The longer I stayed with Luspell, the more disadvantaged I would become.
Luspell was a genius capable of deducing the right answer from the most trivial clues… and I was a fool who made critical mistakes at the slightest surprise!
The plan to beat some sense into Luspell and make him stop this nonsense would have to be put on hold for now.
Besides, he was on the verge of collapsing anyway.
*I need to get back quickly.*
I swiftly erased any trace of panic from my face.
“Headmaster, that will be all for today.”
“I-is that so? But there are other classes…”
“I had high expectations, but I am greatly disappointed. The standards of an Academy with such a professor are obvious. I will be withholding my donation.”
“D-Duchess! This man has nothing to do with the Academy’s standards…”
“Are you saying there’s no connection?”
“Of course there’s a connection, which is why I am trying to apologize on his behalf! Hahaha, so if you would just give us one more chance… D-Duchess? Duchess!”
I turned my back on him as if his words weren’t worth hearing and walked out.
I couldn’t tell if the cold sweat running down my spine was from the pain or from Luspell’s piercing gaze.
***
The inside of the carriage was suffocatingly quiet.
That was to be expected, as I hadn’t said a word.
Luna looked like she wanted to talk about what had happened in the classroom.
But crushed by the aura I was emitting, she couldn’t even open her mouth.
*Was my death really that much of a shock to Luspell?*
I had no regrets about my own death.
I had simply followed the predetermined ending.
Naturally, the memory of my death wasn’t frightening or painful.
In fact, I had struggled to hold back a wide grin at the thought of returning to my original world.
Because I treated my own death so lightly, I assumed others would feel similarly.
Even Undine, though she had cried her eyes out when we reunited, was fine soon after.
But perhaps that was because Undine was a spirit.
Spirits, after all, aren’t greatly affected by human death.
For Luspell, however, my death was not a light matter.
The weight of his guilt was so heavy that he was willing to throw his life away.
Suddenly, the image of a desolate Leonhart came to mind.
*Did Leonhart change because of me, too? What about Owen? Is Owen okay?*
“D-Duchess…”
Instead of Luna, it was Piache who called out to me in her cute voice.
*I’m sorry, Piache. Your sister isn’t in the mood to talk today…*
“I-I ma-made a f-friend.”
What! You already made a friend?
How many? Did you get along with the other children? No one bullied you, right?
“R-Ry, Ryan and Ta-Tan and Zana, Zanakiel.”
Luna glanced at me cautiously before timidly adding.
“They are all young lords.”
Oh, my dear Piache. A true protagonist.
One girl and three boys. Such a familiar setup.
I had an inkling when the title of Chapter 1 was ‘The Mismatched Dreams of Three Men and One Woman,’ but still…
*How have you not developed at all since Part 1?*
Piache continued excitedly.
“R-Ryan is re-really, really tall and p-pretty. He wa-wants to be a S-Sword Master.”
So the tall and pretty Ryan is the warrior.
“Ta-Tan is so, so n-nice. When I first saw him, I th-thought he was an an-angel, I was so surprised. When I get close to Tan, I get a little, a li-little sleepy. I think it’s because he’s so c-comforting.”
The angelically kind Tan is the priest, then. The sleepy, comforting feeling must be due to his divine power.
“Zanakiel… um, he d-doesn’t talk much. B-but he was the first one to g-give me his ch-chair. He has ma-magic? Manic? H-he said he has that.”
Oh, so the gentlemanly Zanakiel has already manifested his magic. He must be a promising apprentice sorcerer.
*How are the character classes exactly the same as in Part 1?*
The only difference was that the protagonist was a saintess.
*To think you’d copy-paste the disastrous Part 1 when you had nothing else to recycle. Truly impressive.*
