Chapter 94
*
Erika had been eliminated in the third written exam.
The reason was that she had exhausted all of her willpower in the second exam.
“Sorry, Teacher….”
“There’s no need to apologize. If anything, you must be the one who’s most upset.”
“But Teacher and the head of the household worried about me so much….”
“I’m really fine. I’ll bring it up with Father.”
It wasn’t as if she hadn’t studied, nor had she been lazy about making an effort.
Sleeping through the third exam was… a bit much, though.
But that was because she’d worked too hard on the second exam.
Still, she was top of the second exam, so wasn’t there room to make a case for her?
With that thought in mind, I delivered the news to my parents.
But their reaction went far beyond my expectations.
“Well done, Erica.”
“Huh?”
Father looked proud to hear that Erika had failed.
Both Erika and I had question marks floating above our heads.
“As expected, blood will tell.”
“Father. Erika is… uh….”
We haven’t adopted her.
Of course, Fried thinks of Erika as his older sister, and Freya practically follows her like a real older sister too.
But as far as the Nihirit family was concerned, Erika still hadn’t been adopted.
Remembering that, Father seemed to realize his mistake and corrected himself.
“Ah, that’s right. I’d forgotten.”
“Then what did you mean by ‘well done’?”
“Ah, I had a similar experience to Erika.”
“You did, Father?”
Father nodded.
“Yulian. How much do you know about battle aura?”
“I don’t know much.”
My specialty was magic and divine power, after all.
Battle aura wasn’t of any use to medicine at all, so I hadn’t looked into it much either.
The only thing I knew was that battle aura was something like internal energy.
“Then, Yulian, what do magic and divine power each use as resources?”
“Magic uses mana and knowledge, and divine power uses faith.”
“And battle aura?”
“I heard it uses willpower.”
Battle aura could be activated with nothing more than a strong will.
Thanks to that, the difficulty of learning it was far lower than that of other supernatural abilities, and it had become a power used by all kinds of lower-class people, adventurers included.
“Then do you know that the duration battle aura can be maintained is very short compared to mana?”
“I’m not really sure about that.”
I think I’ve heard that somewhere before.
I’d only heard it in passing, so I didn’t really know.
“So you don’t know the reason.”
“No, sir.”
“Then I’ll explain from there. Battle aura differs by rank, but for first-rank users, the average is about ten minutes a day. So users have to learn to use it only in short bursts, at the moment they need it.”
Erika nodded beside me.
Only after hearing that explanation did I understand how Erika and the ringleader fought.
The two of them fought by switching battle aura on and off in short bursts like that.
So that’s why.
“Unlike faith or mana, you can’t tell for yourself how much willpower you have left. There are days when, in a crisis, you can use battle aura longer than usual, and on bad days you can’t maintain it even as long as you think you can. You can only make a rough guess after years of experience.”
Apparently even Father, who was at the third rank, couldn’t detect it precisely.
“The problem is that once your willpower is exhausted, a person has no choice but to fall asleep, just like Erika.”
“Fatigue?”
“It’s a little different from fatigue. It’s hard to explain, but it’s like drawing on the will to do something else and using that too. When you spend your will to fight, it feels like you’re dragging other intentions along with it. And once even that is all used up, you can’t think of doing anything at all.”
I think I understand what that feels like.
“So the reason Erika couldn’t take the test was because, in her fight with the assistant, she used up even the will to take the exam?”
“Probably.”
Father nodded in satisfaction.
“Before entering the academy, students who can use battle aura are few and far between. Among those students, some exhaust their battle aura during the second exam and can’t properly take the third, just like me.”
“Father… too?”
“I did, too. Wanting to beat the assistant, I overdid it in the sparring match, and because of that I slept soundly at the third exam venue.”
Father turned his head toward Erika.
“Don’t worry too much. The academy won’t want to lose talent like you either. Didn’t the notice say you’d be exempted from next year’s second exam?”
“Yes. It did.”
“Then this year’s result will be carried over to next year. Just prepare for the third exam. Then you could still take first place.”
Erika’s expression brightened as she listened.
“Then… I…?”
“Yes. I’m proud of you. Doesn’t that mean you’re a genius? Even at the academy, something like this happens once every five years or so, so don’t be too discouraged. Out of an entire life, starting a year late doesn’t make much difference.”
Father casually tossed Erika’s failure notice onto the corner of the desk.
“Forget this. Before you enroll, while you’re studying for the exam, let’s practice together from time to time how I use battle aura.”
“Yes! Head of the household!”
Father roughly ruffled Erika’s hair.
Erika accepted the touch as if it were only natural.
A pleased smile spread across Father’s face.
“Freya will be happy too, since she’ll get to go around with her older sister.”
That was unexpected.
Though he was such a sensitive noble when it came to marriage age,
he was so lenient when it came to education.
Maybe I was thinking too much like twenty-first-century Korea.
Come to think of it, retaking an exam isn’t such a big deal.
The world doesn’t end just because you start one year late in life.
“Then, to celebrate Erika getting first place in sparring, let’s eat something delicious today.”
Saying that, Father gave me a glance.
Meaning he wanted me to make it, leaving the chef out of it.
He seemed to really like my cooking.
Then all of a sudden, Father, as if remembering something, called out to me.
“Come to think of it, Yulian. Didn’t your fiancée say she was entering the academy this year too?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Charlotte had also applied to the academy this year.
Originally, she had no intention of going, saying there was nothing the academy could teach her.
But the moment she heard I was teaching a black magic class, she became interested.
She even applied to the Hero Department, saying she had no intention of becoming a hero, just wanted to take the black magic class.
‘I guess a marquis’s daughter doesn’t have to worry about her career path. Or maybe it doesn’t matter what department she graduates from.’
Considering her talent, I did wonder whether the department mattered much at all.
“I heard she placed fourth in sparring and eighth on the written exam.”
What was surprising was that she did well in sparring, but didn’t take first in the written exam.
When I asked why,
— “I learned some basic self-defense. Thanks to that, I was able to get good results in sparring.”
— “And the written exam?”
— “I got a lot wrong on questions related to astronomy. They were about the arrangement and cycles of the sun and stars, but what am I supposed to use knowledge like that for?”
— “...”
Well, that was why.
Rather, even after throwing out all those questions, I should probably admire her for still placing eighth.
“Well, that does sound like her.”
Father nodded reluctantly.
Maybe because he often asked Charlotte for advice on unsolved cases.
Father seemed to have gotten used to that girl’s personality by now.
“Then starting next year, you’ll be standing at the lectern and she’ll be attending your classes.”
“There are only a few months left already.”
It’s late autumn now.
Soon the heavy snow will fall, the subjugation season will end, and the academy will reopen.
I’ll be teaching aspiring heroes about black magic.
Less than six months left.
“Have you finished arranging everything around you?”
“Yes. I’ve also informed the Limbus Pit clinic and the merchant caravan.”
I’d told my mentor as well.
My mentor didn’t seem to care much.
After all, the whole empire was basically their turf.
They said they could come see me anytime if they wanted.
“Freya and Erika will be disappointed.”
“I’ll come on weekends.”
I can travel back and forth by airship.
Of course, airships are a bit expensive.
But worrying about that was pointless, since I had far too much money.
Besides, if I wanted to build an alibi for Shun Isa, I’d have to come to the capital on weekends anyway.
Shun Isa wouldn’t show up at the academy until two years later, after the healing center was completed.
Until then, I’d need to come to the capital every weekend.
“I’ll miss your cooking.”
“You’ll be able to have it at least once a week.”
“That would only be once, wouldn’t it.”
Father looked at me with eyes full of pity.
“Yulian.”
“Yes.”
“Could you cook more often before you leave?”
He was indirectly asking me to spend more time with the family.
I readily agreed.
“Of course. It would be good to drink tea often too.”
“Thank you.”
“Since the subject came up, may I have some tea before I go?”
“Wait just a little. I’ll take care of it quickly.”
Father gave the head butler a glance.
With a word that he would prepare pumpkin tea, Wilhelm left the room.
That day.
I set my research aside for a while and talked with Father until the tea cooled.
***
After Erika’s admissions result came out.
To spend even a little more time with my family, and to prepare for leaving the capital,
I drastically cut back on my public appearances as Yulian.
“Spread it out and switch it on all at once.”
“Like this?”
“Too risky. If the opponent deliberately comes closer, they’ll touch you before your battle aura even forms.”
“Yep.”
Erika learned battle aura from Father in the training grounds.
Freya also occasionally trained under Erika as she prepared for the entrance exam.
In the meantime, the leaves fell,
and the white natural disaster inevitably came to the capital.
As the blizzard passed and the year turned,
the new year’s subjugation season took on a somewhat subdued tone because of the mutant demonic beast that had appeared last year.
And then, when the river thawed, the mud cleared from the carriage wheel ruts on the roads, and notices announcing that the subjugation season had ended were scattered across the capital,
“Have a safe trip.”
“Take care, dear.”
“Brother, have a good trip.”
“Teacher, keep in touch often.”
“I’ll be going now, everyone.”
Without even getting to see the fresh shoots sprouting on the linden tree in the garden, I boarded the airship as the Nihirit family saw me off.
Before the airship took off,
I found the first-class cabin with the elf escort, Felicia.
“There’s no need to prepare a first-class seat for me….”
“An escort should be by your side. What if something happens and you have to run from the regular cabin?”
“If it’s inside the airship, I can manage….”
“Then please just relax.”
“Even so, my monthly salary….”
“I’m paying with my own money, so it’s fine.”
I found my seat while bickering with Felicia, who kept being uncomfortable about it.
Right beside my seat,
there was a fellow passenger reading a book spread open on her lap.
“Charlotte.”
“You came, Yulian?”
My fiancée closed the forensic medicine book I’d written for her and smiled softly.
Looking at Felicia, who was sitting awkwardly a little away, she said,
“Your escort has changed.”
“Didn’t I tell you about Erika?”
“I took that to mean you had no escort.”
“Is it bothering you?”
Charlotte’s gaze lingered on Felicia for a moment.
“...No, it’s fine.”
Whoosh—!
At that moment, the airship lifted off, and a light gravity pressed down on our bodies.
Watching the scenery rise little by little, Charlotte said,
“Could you maybe give me a quiz on the way?”
“Of course.”
I had prepared a quiz for her last night.
They were quizzes whose clues were woven together a little intricately, based on patient cases and my forensic medicine knowledge.
Charlotte and I played like this whenever we had nothing else to do.
I would pose the question, and Charlotte would solve it.
“Let’s roll dice for the observation check.”
Of course, I added a bit of a trick.
If I gave her every clue, she’d blurt out the answer in a few seconds.
So I used dice to add an observation check.
A sort of TRPG just for the two of us.
“Very well. Then let’s begin. This morning, you received a call. The stage is a small clockmaker’s workshop tucked away in an alley on Bergen Street, southeast of the imperial capital. The shop’s name is ‘Schwarz Clock Shop.’”
“That’s a very typical dwarven shop name.”
“A man is lying on the workbench, collapsed as if asleep. He isn’t breathing. There are no visible external injuries. What would you observe?”
“Since poisoning is possible, I’d smell him.”
“Roll the dice.”
Clack, clack, rattle...
17
“The body gives off a ripe apricot smell. However, there are no apricots anywhere.”
“Is the smell coming from around his mouth?”
“No?”
“Then the chance of poisoning is low….”
Charlotte rolled the dice a few more times after that.
“I suspected poison because of the apricot smell, but it wasn’t ingestion poisoning after all. By any chance, can cyanide still be effective if you’re pricked by a clock hand?”
“No. Cyanide is highly effective only when ingested; it’s almost ineffective when injected through a wound. Unless it’s syringe-sized, it’d be hard to kill someone with a clock hand.”
“Then maybe it’s a drug I don’t know?”
“Who knows?”
Charlotte pondered.
Then, all of a sudden, her face brightened.
“Nitrobenzene! It was dye! It’s a dye used a lot by leatherworkers, so the culprit is a leatherworker or someone who can access that dye! In other words, the culprit is the victim’s younger brother!”
“That’s right, Charlotte.”
Well, it was something like that.
At least, since it wasn’t an actual real-life case, there were sometimes gaps in the middle.
Still, this was enough to ease Charlotte’s boredom.
And so we spent the whole flight enjoying our little TRPG.
“...Yulian.”
“Yes, Charlotte?”
“Are you going to give questions like this in class too?”
“I’ve prepared even more interesting ones.”
“I knew it….”
Charlotte smiled brightly.
“I’m glad I followed you.”
“Then I’d better prepare a wider variety of incidents at the academy so Charlotte won’t be disappointed.”
I smiled back at her too.
Clunk.
It seemed like Felicia’s chair in the seat ahead had rattled.
But I decided it was probably just talking in her sleep.