Chapter 68
Human speech often contains multiple layers of meaning.
[Shall we hang out today?]
Although this simply says that we should go out and have fun, depending on when, where, and with whom we assume we're going to have fun, this simple sentence can take on several meanings.
In other words, it can be interpreted in various ways depending on the relationship between the speaker and me, the time, the nature of our relationship, and the speaker's tone.
What the chairman had just said.
[I can't tell you.]
[Especially not you.]
It was a sentence that could be taken as a simple, absolute refusal, but the chairman had continually shown me favor.
She had repeatedly made her point by giving me an Artus cigar, a legend among cigar enthusiasts.
That she had no intention of building a hostile relationship with me.
Rather, she had been so obvious that there was hardly any reason to suspect she had some strange ulterior motive.
In fact, I had revealed what the dragon had said partly to see how the chairman would react.
If she heard the story and brushed it aside vaguely, I would consider her neutral.
If she completely ignored the story, I would consider her an enemy.
And if she became enraged or responded positively, I would consider her an ally.
But the chairman's answer was different.
Along with responding positively, she had readily told me why she had created this academy.
In other words, she was an ally—an ally who was showing me favor to a bizarre degree.
"Hmm..."
"..."
"Does that mean I can't even ask questions?"
"That's right."
Tap. Tap.
I tapped my fingers against the table in front of the sofa where I was sitting and looked at the chairman.
Perhaps because she was wearing a mask, it was impossible to obtain information from her expressions or reactions.
"Do you say the same thing to other people?"
"..."
Tap.
No answer.
There were many ways to obtain information during a conversation with someone.
Not just through their words, but also through their eyes, their actions, and the pitch of their voice.
Even when someone simply denied something, one could still obtain a considerable amount of information.
"Is it only impossible for you to talk about the nameless hero?"
"..."
"Then why is there a condition that makes it especially impossible for you to tell me?"
"..."
"So even if you wanted to tell me about this in return for resolving the incident, you still wouldn't be able to, right?"
"That's right."
Tap. Tap.
Hmm.
She was maintaining her silence throughout.
Only when it came to anything related to the hero.
In other words.
There was some kind of restriction in place. It was right to conclude that much.
"All right. You said this before, didn't you? That if I performed the duties of an attendant, you'd grant me one request."
"..."
"Then use it now."
"Yes, I understand."
At the chairman's affirmative answer, I began asking her questions, gradually tightening the net around her.
***
"Ugh..."
After roughly applying for the courses she would need to take over the next six months at the academy, Ariel sat on a bench in one of [Crocus Academy]'s parks, stretched, and groaned.
A little while later.
After taking a brief rest, Ariel slowly began recalling the courses she had applied for.
"Hmm."
So, she had taken the history of the holy arts and most of the courses on holy arts, as well as liberal arts courses such as the history of the continent, an understanding of monsters, and mana.
She had fulfilled all her credit requirements.
Then all she had to do now was wait for Abel.
As soon as her thoughts reached that point, Ariel began swinging her legs alternately while sitting on the bench, her heart filled with excitement.
She had never known that waiting for someone else could be so thrilling and exciting.
"Hehehe."
How long had she been waiting, humming in a voice as clear as a ringing bell?
When the warm sunlight unique to spring, the cool breeze, and the natural sound of leaves swaying in the trees that cast shade heightened Ariel's excitement, the tip of her nose twitched.
This smell.
A slightly unusual scent of almonds and earth.
She hadn't known before, but now she knew who this scent belonged to.
Realizing that, Ariel closed her eyes, smiled broadly, and spoke in a slightly excited voice.
"You're here, Abel."
"...I came secretly. How did you know?"
Whoosh.
As the vision distorted by smoke cleared, Abel appeared and sat on the bench where Ariel was sitting before asking her that.
"Well, I have my ways."
Saying that, Ariel slightly lifted her hips and shifted a little closer to the side where Abel was sitting.
"So, how did your meeting with the chairman go?"
"You could call it a bust, or you could say it wasn't."
Whum.
At the same time, the smoke billowing from Abel began distorting the surroundings.
"Yes, good."
After spreading the smoke and checking how this place appeared from outside, Abel gave a small smile at the way it had been distorted into the appearance of an ordinary bench and looked at Ariel.
"First, there's one thing I'd like to ask you. Will you do it?"
At Abel's words, Ariel lightly nodded.
In response to her affirmative answer, Abel pointed with a finger toward the area around her neck.
"I'd like to touch the holy relic that served as the medium for your regression."
"???"
"It's necessary. Is that possible?"
"Yes... All right. Here."
Ariel unexpectedly handed him the rosary hanging around her neck without hesitation.
She would have refused if it were anyone else, but things were different when it came to Abel.
Clink.
The holy relic of regression landed in Abel's hand with a clear sound.
Holding the rosary, Abel began conducting various experiments, such as infusing it with his mana and enveloping it in smoke.
But the rosary showed no reaction whatsoever. Seeing that, Abel looked slightly disappointed and handed it back to Ariel.
"Why did you suddenly borrow my rosary?"
"Ah, sorry. I should have explained."
Abel slowly began telling Ariel about his conversation with the chairman.
He told her why this academy had been founded, as well as how the chairman had reacted when he asked about the nameless hero who represented the turning point of the current world.
"So the chairman flat-out said that she especially couldn't tell me?"
After several questions and answers passed between them, Abel presented a hypothesis.
The chairman's unusual reaction and the way she knew his preferences with uncanny accuracy.
She had been so blatant that it was enough to bring several hypotheses to mind.
And among them was the most far-fetched hypothesis, yet one that surprisingly made sense.
"Could I be the hero?"
"..."
"I know this hypothesis is strange. But if regression and reincarnation exist, why wouldn't time reversal exist too?"
That was why, just in case, he had touched the rosary, the only holy relic related to time.
"But there was no reaction at all."
Yet the rosary he had held showed no reaction whatsoever, to an astonishing degree.
If Ariel hadn't told him otherwise, he would have thought it was simply an ordinary cross-shaped necklace.
There had been no sign of it absorbing mana, and even when he tried infusing it with smoke in case it operated through some supernatural power, it was no different from infusing mana into an ordinary object.
"..."
At Abel's explanation, Ariel gave a bitter smile and cautiously began drawing up her holy power.
After awakening her holy power following her regression, this had become a habit she practiced almost every day.
"I've done the same thing as you, Abel, so I can't really say anything."
When she poured the holy power she had raised into the rosary in her hand, it showed no reaction whatsoever.
Only the lingering traces of holy power drifted gently around them.
"Hmm."
Seeing that, Abel set aside the possibility that he himself was the hero, at least for the time being.
It had been a half-hearted what-if hypothesis from the beginning, so he wasn't disappointed.
"Shall we decide what we need to do for now?"
"Sounds good."
There was nothing more to be gained from his meeting with the chairman.
Of course, she had given him a huge number of high-grade cigars as he was leaving, which he had carefully stored in his subspace ring, but for now, he had gained nothing else.
That meant there was nothing he needed to do immediately.
"First, their objective is clear."
After hearing Ariel's account, he was even more certain.
They wanted to create chaos in the world, eventually provoke a world war, and return the damaged cycle to its original state.
As expected of a dragon, it had pursued efficiency alone without considering the civilizations or circumstances of humans and other races.
"In that sense, this academy is the optimal target."
"Yes, I agree."
It was a place where the sons and daughters of important figures from every country gathered.
No matter how rational a person was, if their child died, the resulting chaos would undoubtedly be doubled.
"At the very least, that organization will target this academy."
Therefore.
"I'll investigate that organization from the outside, and since you've enrolled in the academy, Ariel, you can investigate anything unpleasant happening inside it. How about we work that way?"
At Abel's question, Ariel gave a slightly bitter smile and nodded.
To be honest, she had come to this academy because the people around her had sent her somewhere to get some rest, but now that possibility had gone out the window, so her reaction was only natural.
"So there's something I'd like to ask."
"?"
"You said this before, didn't you? That the [Red Dawn Society] hijacked an airship and carried out the first large-scale terrorist attack in this world."
"Yes, I did."
Abel looked at Ariel with a serious expression.
"If we go by that, it seems that the major events do happen, at least."
"Yes, I suppose so?"
"Then let me ask you. Have there been any large-scale terrorist attacks carried out by the [Red Dawn Society] or another terrorist organization?"
"Just a moment..."
At Abel's question, Ariel quietly closed her eyes and fell into thought.
A large-scale terrorist attack comparable to the airship attack.
Even while confined to the count's estate, there had definitely been a major terrorist attack that she had known about.
"About five years from now, there will be a massive bombing in one city."
"An explosion?"
"Yes."
It was a series of bombings that would occur at eight locations, primarily churches and hotels.
It was a terrorist attack involving mana bombs that would leave more than five hundred people dead or injured.
The reason for the attack was simple.
"The incompetence of the royal palace ruling that city. And because of that, the people fell even deeper into their faith, so it was a terrorist attack carried out by heretics who hated that faith."
Perhaps because it was the weakest of the weak nations, it received no international attention.
But it was by no means an unimportant terrorist attack, as it would later become the decisive trigger for the entire country to fall into heresy.
"There were a lot of terrorist attacks like that, weren't there?"
"Yes. Looking back now, I think they were the result of that organization operating behind the scenes."
Ariel had already traveled around the world using her memories from before her regression in an attempt to suppress those terrorist attacks, but even so, the major incidents would ultimately still occur.
It wasn't fate or anything like that. It was a tragedy caused by the fact that, no matter how many orders she gave, one person couldn't completely control everything.
Moreover, the enemies' objective was none other than a world war, so they needed to raise tensions throughout the world. Terrorism was the perfect strategy for them.
"Given their objective, we can probably exclude the terrorist attack I remember happening several years from now."
This was probably what Ariel was worried about.
"You mean there's a chance that terrorist attacks could break out simultaneously all over the world?"
"Yes..."
"Hmm. Well, that won't happen right away."
Abel understood Ariel's concern, but he directly contradicted her thoughts and began explaining his own.
"Their objective is a world war, right? But if massive terrorist attacks happened simultaneously, wouldn't people try to join forces instead?"
If a common enemy in the form of terrorists appeared, people would have no choice but to unite.
"In any case, I'm telling you not to worry too much."
"..."
"Isn't that why you came here too—to station people all over the world?"
"Yes, that's right."
"If something happens, they'll stop it first. We just need to use the time that buys us to respond."
"..."
Abel spoke in a voice that suggested it was nothing important.
"So rest for now."
"Yes."
"Yeah, yeah... Huh?"
Just as the conversation was drawing to a close, a presence suddenly entered Abel's awareness.
Recognizing the very familiar presence, Abel lightly waved his hand and invited its owner into the space.
Swoosh.
A beautiful dark-skinned woman in a neat maid uniform.
Mist walked toward the bench where her master and Ariel were sitting, her expression as emotionless as ever.
"..."
As Mist walked over, her eyes suddenly began to gleam sharply.
They were close.
The distance between Abel and Ariel.
They were close enough that if one of them reached out a hand, their bodies would immediately touch.
'Hmm...'
Abel probably hadn't moved.
Abel was sitting near the end of the bench, so if he had moved, he naturally should have ended up farther from the armrest.
But that wasn't what had happened.
"You're here?"
"Yes... I spoke with the principal. You should be able to greet him shortly."
"Right, thanks."
At Mist's answer, Abel immediately rose from the bench and slowly began dismantling the barrier around them.
"Shall we get going soon?"
The barrier was completely dismantled.
"We've been here too long."
Abel lightly stretched as he muttered that.
"Ariel, then we'll be going."
"You're leaving now?"
"Right?"
There was nothing left for him to do inside the academy.
He had intervened to understand his connection with Ariel and uncover the identity of the mysterious organization, but there was nothing more for him to do here.
"That's a shame..."
Ariel muttered softly without realizing it.
The city of Crocus was protected by a massive barrier, so entry and exit were strictly controlled except for the trains that transported supplies on a regular basis.
If he left now, she would probably only be able to see Abel during vacation, unless some major incident occurred.
That fact disappointed her deeply.
But Ariel immediately brushed those feelings aside.
Even if she desperately tried to hold Abel back here, judging from his personality, he would probably shake her off unless she had a valid reason.
It was an instinctive choice born from her desire not to be remembered as an annoying woman.
"Then, Abel, thank you for your hard work."
"Right. Ah, if anything special happens, tell me by typewriter. You brought it, right?"
"Yes, of course."
After hearing Ariel's firm answer, Abel waved and began moving away with Mist.
And so, a month passed.