Chapter 67
I generally tended to change how I acted depending on the person.
If I liked someone or was acquainted with them, I was basically kind to them.
But if someone acted hostile toward me, things changed from that point on.
If it was nothing but unconditional hostility, I responded with the same hostility.
Up to this point, things were simple.
And if they took a different stance, if there was something I could gain, I often deliberately stalled while drawing out information.
This was a habit from my previous life.
The result of struggling to obtain as much useful information from my enemies as possible.
And what was the most difficult reaction to deal with among them?
"I can't tell you."
This was the most troublesome reaction of all: when someone treated me favorably but responded with an unconditional refusal.
Right. Just like the chairman of [Crocus Academy], the Sacred Sword Solaris, standing before me now.
***
[Ah, this train will arrive shortly in Crocus, the city where [Crocus Academy] was built.]
At the announcement, I slowly opened the train window and looked outside.
It was a city filled with bizarre buildings where advanced modernity, early modern styles, and the Middle Ages were all mixed together.
At the center of that city, in the place that should have served as a castle, stood an academy.
The largest academy on the continent, said to have been built by the nameless hero in preparation for the future.
I had arrived at [Crocus Academy], an academy that was itself a city.
"Wow..."
[Please disembark safely with the assistance of our attendants, making sure not to leave any belongings behind.]
"I'd only heard about it."
The surroundings began to grow noisy.
The excited voices of countless students were echoing through the door of the lounge where I had been resting.
[Then, if you have a moment, please lower your windows.]
At that moment, a voice full of laughter began ringing out from the announcement system.
[Because [Crocus Academy] is welcoming all of you right now.]
Crack!
As soon as the announcement ended, light, cheerful sounds of something breaking began ringing out from every direction.
It wasn't the unpleasant sound of shattering glass.
Right. It was a refreshing cracking sound, like a puddle breaking apart in the dead of winter.
"Whoa..."
When I opened the window and looked toward what seemed to be the source of the sound, an involuntary exclamation escaped me.
"The sky..."
It was splitting open.
The vast, colossal barrier spread over [Crocus Academy] was temporarily collapsing, and the sheer aftershock of its mana drove away the clouds in a spectacular sight.
Boom boom!
The fragments of the shattered barrier ruptured once more, then began exploding like fireworks.
As though welcoming the students entering the academy.
.
.
.
The city of Crocus, where we had arrived.
The students all headed straight to the academy as soon as they got off the special train.
Their journey did not end here; they had to go to the academy and apply for a department suited to their aptitudes, so they were all moving around quite busily.
"Wow, those are the days..."
Seeing the students through the window of the special train, which had stopped operating, I naturally muttered those words.
How should I put it?
Watching them move in groups of three or five with smiles on their faces naturally brought the word youth to mind.
"..."
I could feel Mist's incredulous gaze as she listened quietly to me, but I ignored it.
Ariel was probably among those groups of students, too.
She had said that she wanted to attend the meeting with the academy chairman herself, but she was still, fundamentally, a student entering [Crocus Academy].
If I hadn't been here, she would have been given special treatment, but that would have been impossible with me present.
"Ugh..."
After thinking about Ariel for a while, I immediately stood up and stretched my stiff body as I began taking off my attendant's uniform.
Rustle.
I removed my outer garment, leaving only a thin shirt on my upper body.
"Mist, the meeting with the chairman is properly scheduled, right?"
"Yes. However..."
"Hmm?"
"Although the chairman said he would be the only one attending the meeting, the principal of this academy has also expressed a desire to attend."
Over that outfit, I began putting on a black formal suit again.
"The principal too?"
"Yes."
Rustle.
Hmm. Well, it wasn't difficult to understand.
The ostensible reason I was going to see the chairman was to report on the recent train attack, so there was nothing strange about the academy principal expressing a desire to attend.
"He merely expressed his desire, right?"
It wasn't a notice that he would be attending.
"Then decline. Tell him I'll visit him separately later."
"Understood. Then I'll go ahead and convey your wishes to Abel."
"All right."
Whoosh.
No sooner had I finished speaking than Mist vanished from the spot.
"..."
After staring for a moment at the place where Mist had been, I finished changing clothes, left the train, and began making my way to [Crocus Academy] at the center of the city.
"Wow..."
As I walked along and looked around, I let out another quiet exclamation of admiration.
Honestly, because of my memories from my previous life, I wasn't particularly moved or impressed by most buildings, but this city was different.
Medieval, modern, Victorian, or Roman-style buildings.
To be honest, I only mentioned the most representative examples because my knowledge wasn't connected to this sort of thing; the city was truly a collection of all kinds of discordant architectural styles.
A city this lacking in uniformity should naturally have seemed disorderly or chaotic, but this city was different.
Right. Should I say it was like a master deliberately painting a chaotic masterpiece?
Although its buildings were constructed in various styles, the city possessed a strange unity and could be called a work of art in its own right.
...
After looking around at my surroundings, I arrived at [Crocus Academy], at the center of the city.
Following the directions of the guide prepared by the chairman, I went straight to the room where the chairman was waiting.
***
[Crocus Academy] Chairman's Office.
"Welcome."
As I entered the chairman's office, a beautiful young woman with radiant blonde hair greeted me while wearing a peculiar mask that revealed only her lower face.
'So that's her.'
The Sacred Sword Solaris.
Honestly, I had known from her voice that she was a woman, but I hadn't expected her to really be one.
"Abel. Abel de Nebula."
As I looked over the chairman, she spoke in a faintly amused voice and casually gestured toward the sofa in front of her.
"Have a seat. After all, you're the hero who stopped the attack on our [Crocus Academy] train."
"What hero?"
When I sat on the sofa indicated by the chairman, she gave a small laugh, rummaged around inside a drawer, and handed me a box.
"What's this?"
I accepted it because she had offered it, but the box seemed strangely familiar.
It was light, and its shape was the sort of thing I had seen quite often. The faint scent tickling my nose made it even more familiar.
At my puzzled reaction, the chairman said casually, as though it were nothing special,
"The information I obtained says that you smoke cigars often. Go ahead and open it."
Click.
"..."
When I opened the box, the complex aroma unique to cigars began to burst forth.
Various magic circles had been engraved inside the box to amplify the cigar's aroma and suppress unpleasant scents.
All for the sake of the single cigar contained within.
If a cigar were stored in this manner, there was only one possibility according to what I knew.
"An Artus cigar?"
I unconsciously murmured in a trembling voice.
"Oh, you recognize it."
An Artus cigar.
An extraordinarily rare masterpiece made solely by craftsmen armed with nothing but their dedication to the craft.
It was sold exclusively by reservation, and it was said that reservations were completely filled for the next fifty years.
Among nobles, its scarcity made it even more expensive, to the point that some wished to place an Artus cigar between their lips on their deathbeds or in their old age.
Gulp.
My throat made an involuntary sound.
As though my reaction amused her, the chairman smiled alluringly for a moment before speaking.
"This is a small token of my gratitude."
A token of gratitude?
"When I heard that you enjoyed cigars, I wondered if I ought to repay you somehow, so I gave you the cigar I treasured most among those I possessed."
"..."
"Well, do you like it?"
Did I like it?
'Ugh...'
Oh, damn it.
Why did this situation have to be so close to an official one?
"Yes. I really like it."
This was far too dry an answer. I should have spent at least three hours describing my impressions upon receiving the cigar, its explosive aroma, and my boundless gratitude for being given such a cigar. I almost felt sorry that I couldn't do so.
Click.
When I closed the cigar box, the aroma gradually subsided.
As I breathed in the lingering scent, I had this thought.
Shouldn't I at least show her the crown of my head as a gesture of gratitude?
If it had been an ordinary cigar, I would have simply been grateful, but this was different.
The first cigar I had reserved after becoming the heir to the Nebula Duchy.
The cigar whose waiting number had five digits and which I had expected to receive about fifty-five years from now was in my hands.
'Phew...'
Calm down.
I had a cigar in my hands that I couldn't have bought even if I piled up gold or high-purity mana stones into a mountain, but I had to calm down.
Phew. Phew.
When I steadied my trembling hands and looked straight ahead, I saw the chairman resting her chin on her hand and quietly observing me.
"Hahaha. How fortunate. I'm glad you like it so much."
"..."
"Ah, I enjoy cigars myself. Would you tell me about this incident while smoking one?"
What?
"Is there a cigar you particularly like? I'll give you as many as you want. It's payment for saving my adorable students."
Was she trying to lure me in?
Otherwise, there was no reason she would say something so perfectly suited to my tastes.
.
.
.
At the chairman's invitation, the chairman and I sat on the sofa and began smoking cigars.
Leisurely smoking a cigar, I told her the full story of the train attack.
The fact that wooden pieces imbued with heretical power—specifically possession magic—had been distributed to each compartment of the train.
That four people had been possessed.
Finally, I told her about the entity who appeared to be the organization's boss, whom I encountered while selecting the possessed people and teleporting to defeat them one by one.
Lastly, I told her about the truth of this world that the boss—that is, the dragon—had revealed to me.
"Hmm."
It was a fairly shocking truth, but the chairman maintained a strangely calm demeanor.
"I see."
"..."
"Thank you for telling me this information."
"Don't mention it. It was nothing."
I shrugged and looked at the chairman with slightly sharp eyes.
It was a truth that would shock anyone who heard it.
Mist, Bellias, and even Ariel, who had experienced the miracle of regression, had been unable to hide their bewilderment, yet the chairman remained this calm.
She knew?
The truth of the world we were in now.
"Heh heh. You seem to have guessed from my reaction, but I'll tell you now. Yes, I knew this fact."
As though she had guessed what I was thinking, the chairman slowly spoke while lighting a cigar and savoring the aroma of one she had not yet smoked.
"And that is also why I created the academy."
The chairman began explaining methodically.
The enormous barrier needed to maintain this [Crocus Academy].
That barrier had actually been made from mana stones supplied by every country in the surrounding area.
The funding had been obtained on the grounds that, as the finest academy on the continent, its security had to be impeccable.
In truth, all of it had been done to consume mana under the name of a barrier.
"Without this, the dimensional defensive wall would have collapsed much sooner."
The enormous consumption of mana carried out under the name of educating students.
It had created an unexpected cycle.
We need to consume mana → Therefore, let's use the most inefficient machines that consume the most mana → As a result, the standard of education rose and the academy's reputation grew → Since these were their own children, funding naturally increased—a miraculous cycle.
"Wow..."
After hearing that, I couldn't help but let out a quiet exclamation of admiration.
"Your business sense is incredible."
"It's nothing."
"All right. Then, Chairman, may I ask you something?"
"Of course."
It should be all right to bring it up now.
After all, my question seemed like nothing special on the surface.
"Can you tell me about the hero? I mean the hero's true life story, not legends or folklore."
"..."
"I've become interested in the hero."
"..."
"What do you think?"
Honestly, there was nothing strange about what I had said.
Any man would naturally be interested in the existence of a hero, and I had acted the part of such a man as well.
If there was a problem, it was this.
"I can't tell you."
I hadn't expected the chairman to cut me off so decisively, as though she had no intention of hearing another word from me.
"Especially not you."
"You mean you can't tell me?"
"Yes. I'm sorry."
As though to prove that her words were sincere, the chairman looked at me with a bitter smile and spoke once more.
“I'm truly sorry.”
The chairman's voice as she said that was filled with deep, heartfelt emotion.