Chapter 57 - Underground Vault (2)

Until the letter came from Norieum, Acel wasn't particularly expecting compensation from the Academy. It was a state where it would be nice if they gave something, but it didn't matter much if they didn't. However, after hearing about the Academy's underground vault from Irina, he instantly reversed his attitude.

— If you go down the Academy waterway, there's a shabby-looking prison door. Beyond that, all kinds of magic tools and scrolls remain in their original state. If I remember correctly, there's even a magic tool used by Cromwell, the first lightning mage.

Those words awakened all of Acel's senses.

Cromwell, the first lightning mage. A transcendent being who established a new myth of destruction formulas and a cruel grand master. Acel had read her autobiography written by herself, so he knew quite a bit about Cromwell.

She was born in a storage for sacrifices for devil worshippers. The place where her memory first began was not in her mother and father's arms, but inside a corpse with organs cleanly cut out, forming a pool of blood. There, she drank the blood of her own kind to become an excellent sacrifice.

It was a series of disgusting days. Fortunately, it didn't go as far as cannibalism, but starting with killing her parents with her own hands, she continued to commit murders repeatedly.

It was a process to corrupt the soul and make it a sacrifice to manifest the moon devil. Cromwell endured it all with a heart vomiting blood.

This continued for 5 years. The year she turned 7.

She accidentally saw magic used by one of the devil worshippers. And she immediately copied it and made it her own. It took about 1 second to construct the magic core, and the manifestation of magic occurred simultaneously with thinking about it. Moreover, she didn't stop there, but rose to the level of immediately understanding and applying the characteristics of the magic used.

That was how she shattered the devil worshippers' hideout. With a huge explosion, the cave collapsed, and she, the only survivor, came out through the broken rocks. After that, there was a description of how she wandered the continent.

Acel read that part carefully too, but he was more interested in the process of creating lightning magic.

[I was raised by the devil's minions. Through their oppression, I killed those who gave birth to me, and even gained unwanted negative magical power. That process was never smooth. Even before my self was formed, I wished for my death.]

[But I am here. I remain alive on this earth. Then what I could do was not to be comfortable with my death, but to directly grind and drink those damn devil worshippers. That is my given mission and my life. But with the magic I learned, it was impossible to kill those deeply assimilated with devils. Humans hadn't yet built such a great magic system.]

[So I helped them. With the knowledge and talent I gained, I completely overhauled the overall manifestation method and learning method of magic. Then by chance, I saw lightning flashing in the sky. And that changed my life.]

[Nature is great. No matter how great a superhuman is, if they put their body in a typhoon, they'll be torn apart alive, and they can't withstand the lava of a volcano and the flames that melt iron. And it's the same with lightning striking from the sky. God's spear that overwhelms all natural phenomena in instantaneous power. As I researched magic, I suddenly wanted to get my hands on it.]

[So I tried. I directly took lightning strikes with my body to explore its power and figured out how that power moves. I crossed the brink of death dozens of times, and when I first succeeded in converting magical power into lightning power, all the electrical signals in my body went wild and I repeatedly died and came back to life.]

[Yet I am here. In the end, I succeeded in making lightning my own. Although I haven't yet created a formula to handle the power of lightning, nevertheless, lightning now dwelled in my magical power. The first step of special magic that other mages can't even imitate, that one must be prepared to die just by imitating, dwelled in me.]

[I named this magic lightning magic. And after confirming that no mage except me could use it, I called magic that is extremely difficult to learn like this unique magic. Lightning magic was the first unique magic to appear in this world.]

The autobiography ended like that. There was no content written about what happened to her after that, what kind of life she lived, how she met her death. However, since all the lightning formulas she created were focused on killing, it seemed certain that her future was steeped in the thick smell of blood.

"It's been a while, Headmistress."

Anyway, that wasn't what was important. Although he was curious about the trajectory of Cromwell's life, Acel was more interested in the artifacts she wore.

Cromwell was a mage who had a knack for creating magic tools during her lifetime. Although she didn't make many, according to remaining records, each of the magic tools she used was of superior quality. Some of them were sleeping in the Academy's underground vault.

It was unknown how such great magic tools had flowed into a place like this, but honestly, that didn't matter. What was important was that an opportunity to obtain such magic tools had arisen.

As the Alliance leader said, I'll extract as much as I can.

Acel thought this as he took a seat on the sofa.

There was no pang of conscience. What conscience was there to be felt when he nearly died? It was right to suck everything to the bone as much as possible within the possible limit. Both a mage's reason and instinct were shouting so.

"Have you been well in the meantime? I've been doing alright. I've crossed a few critical moments, but I'm fine now."

"...I've been well too. More importantly, I'm glad you're fine. I was very worried."

"Haha. I'm deeply moved that the Headmistress was worried about me."

"...Haha."

Fride let out a dry laugh. While conversing with Acel, she glanced at Ena and Norieum sitting on either side of him.

They weren't saying anything, but they were staring intently at Fride with their characteristic expressions. Just from those gazes, Fride felt like her throat was being tightly constricted.

They were likely doing this to pounce immediately if she showed any attitude of refusal or hesitation  in the main point that was about to come out.

Just imagining it made her fingertips tingle.

Fride deliberately cleared her throat, ahem, then opened her mouth looking at Acel, "This incident. I'm truly sorry. I want to sincerely apologize on behalf of the Academy."

"Ah, it's fine. I was seriously injured, but I'm still alive."

"That's not important. What's important is that you were put in a dangerous situation due to the Academy's mistake. On behalf of the Academy, I'm sincerely sorry. I'll make sure this never happens again," Fride said in a sincere voice while slightly bowing her head. 

Whether Norieum and Ena were firmly standing there or not, apologizing to Acel was a natural duty as a human being. Her head wasn't so heavy in matters like this.

Acel accepted her apology with a smile, then began his conversation with her in earnest.

"I heard you've already read the letter."

"That's right. You want to go to the underground vault?"

"Yes. I understand you've already given permission."

"Right. Honestly, it's not a difficult thing. I'll immediately deliver one of the magic tools in the vault."

"One, you say? I didn't say one."

"...?"

Fride tilted her head. Acel grinned and leaned his upper body slightly forward.

It was a clear transaction between superior and subordinate. There was no need to engage in the transaction from an equal position.

"One magic tool for the damage to my body. And another as compensation to soothe my disappointment in the Academy. Lastly, one magic tool to appease my master's anger. I'd like to take these three."

"Are you a robber?" Fride reflexively retorted, but immediately nodded when she saw Ena's face turning grim.

"I shouldn't say such bad words. Three. I've clearly acknowledged it. Take them."

"Thank you. As expected, there's no one but you, Headmistress," Acel said with a broad smile. 

Fride shed tears of blood inwardly.

The magic tools, scrolls, and potions in the Academy's underground vault were astronomical in price. A vault mainly consisting of relics discovered in ruins or items gifted by renowned strong individuals just before their deaths. As such, tools with powerful and rare effects were lined up.

Selling just one would be enough to provide tremendous help to the Academy's finances. And three of these amazing items were completely taken by Acel.

With holes already punched in the Academy's finances and her wallet, now even the vault was being robbed, Fride's glass-like heart shook as if it would shatter at any moment. But she quickly pulled herself together.

Yes, it was compensation for a student who nearly died because of her fault. It wasn’t right to show off or show displeasure over this. It was clearly not right as an educator or as a person in charge.

Thinking like that made her feel better.

She smiled warmly and opened her mouth towards Acel.

"Is there anything else you need?"

"I don't. This seems sufficient."

"Good. Then let's depart for the underground vault immediately. I'll just make some preparations."

The moment Fride said this and stood up, Norieum quickly opened his mouth, "My, why so hasty, Headmistress? Even if the conversation with Acel is over, we haven't even started talking about compensation for 'Wyheim'. Please sit down again."

"...Norieum."

"It won't do even if you call me in such a pitiful voice. Come now, I have a contract I brought in advance. Read it, and just sign here and here."

"...Heeeng."

"Oh my, it's hard to hear the whining of an elf aged several hundred years. Senior, be careful in front of Acel too."

"Shut up."

Ena shot lightning towards Norieum. 

Norieum lightly caught her attack by opening a subspace, then said to Fride, "There's not much content that's particularly detrimental to the Academy, anyway. And to maintain a friendly relationship with the Alliance, it would be much more helpful to put your seal here. Don't forget that my term still has a long way to go."

"...Hmph," Fride whispered while puffing her cheeks, then started signing the contract.

Norieum immediately frowned as if he had seen something he shouldn't have.

"Argh!"

***

The path to the Academy's underground vault was located in a waterway connected to the basement of the main building. Going down moisture-filled stairs, a wide waterway with clear water flowing appeared, and going further inside from there, another set of stairs going down appeared.

At the end of the stairs was a shabby-looking metal door. It looked similar to a prison door for holding prisoners. But unlike its appearance, the magic bestowed on the door was easily over several dozens in number.

Its power was not to be ignored either. Acel stood right behind Fride, who started opening the door, and quietly examined the bestowed magic. Then he exclaimed in admiration.

The method of opening the door in front of him was not using a key or saying a specific phrase. One must draw the mana circuit used when first creating and installing the door in reverse order from the beginning without error, then the magic bestowed on the door didn’t activate and it opens obediently.

Moreover, one couldn't know the circuit just by approaching the door. Only a very small number of individuals allowed entry in the Academy were given the opportunity to remember the circuit in their minds.

It was an extremely tricky method. Even if the person trying to open the door was a staff member allowed entry, if they made just one mistake, all kinds of magic would activate and mercilessly turn the staff member into a disabled state.

Still, having secure security was better than being lax. Acel quietly waited until Fride opened the door.

"It's open."

Not long after, Fride opened the vault door.

With a creaking sound, the door opened.

Whoosh!!

An overwhelming magical wind blew from beyond. A powerful magical wave that even Acel was momentarily overwhelmed by.

Light rose in Norieum and Irina's eyes, and Ena stood with an indifferent expression, slightly distancing herself from Acel.

"Let's go," Fride said. 

Acel's mouth corners twitched as he stepped beyond the metal door.

The treasure hunt began.