Imperial Palace, in the teaching room.
Sophien looked at the scattering of materials lying on her desk. All of them were Deculein files provided by the Intelligence Service.
"The Imperial Intelligence Service is indeed amazing…"
Ahan was surprised, but Sophien remained sullen.
"This is their basic job, to monitor and investigate the nobles of the Empire. To them, Deculein is an equal factor to Zeit."
"Aha. Is that so? If that's the case, this must be something you've been investigating before, right?"
"Yes."
"Oh, right. They said that the Professor is coming today with a present. Did you hear the news?"
"I heard…"
Sophien put a pipe in her mouth and set fire to the tobacco stuffed inside. She puffed out smoke, snorted, and coughed.
"…Ahem."
It was an attempt to get to know her father better.
"Why did the last Emperor enjoy such things?"
He was hailed as a sage who pursued harmony with the priesthood— of course, by his servants. However, his hobbies, such as fishing, smoking, and hunting, weren't very interesting. Was it because of the inertia due to the hundreds of years of regression, or had she never resembled him when it came to hobbies?
"It will be even more fun if you are with someone."
Sophien laughed at Ahan's words.
"You mean to put a smoker in front of me?"
"Oh… not for that. As for hunting or fishing-"
"Forget it. It is difficult to understand the principles of human beings. Even if it's my father."
Putting down the smoke pipe, she opened Deculein's file.
[…He was called a prodigy during his childhood, but his growth slowed down as time passed. When he was about to be reduced to that of only standard level, he began to show his theoretical prominence.]
A sentence summarizing all of Deculein's history and information. The keywords were a child prodigy, limited talent, tower's entrance, and theoretical prominence.
[He was appointed to a professorship based on that theory. However, there are also several claims that the Professor's thesis is not his work but robbed of other people's ideas. There were several reports from an insider of the tower, but they were all ignored.]
Professorship appointment. Thesis robbery. Insider reporting.
[Separated by death with his secret lover, it appears to be because of The Demon's Letter. He visits the cemetery every year on the anniversary of her death.]
And deaths and anniversaries. Sophien's eyes stayed on that paragraph for a moment. Events that didn't go well for Deculein, but that must have served to make the current Deculein.
[Re-engagement with the youngest daughter of Freyden. However, perhaps because of his previous lover's death, he tends to grow obsessed with his fiancée.]
When Sophien was about to turn the page-
Knock, knock-
Ahan stood and opened the door, and Sophien put the files away.
"Did you come? Professor."
Deculein stood beyond the threshold. He was calm as usual. Somehow, she was glad to meet him.
"Sit down."
"Yes."
Deculein came and sat down. His clothes and manners were no different from usual. Sophien asked bluntly.
"I heard you went to Rohakan's vineyard."
Deculein answered, placing a blank piece of paper on the desk.
"Yes."
"Did you jump to the conclusion that I would not reprove you?"
"No."
"Then that's good. What did you talk with Rohakan about when you killed him?"
There was no reaction. Only the sound of him putting out writing instruments and magic stones on the desk. Sophien, annoyed, continued.
"I heard your ex-fiancée's anniversary is soon."
"…"
Then Deculein raised his eyes and looked at her. Sophien didn't avoid his gaze.
"Your Majesty."
The air grew cold in an instant with a look she had never seen before.
"This is a topic that has nothing to do with the class."
"…"
This guy also possessed a king's wrath. Sophien held back a laugh.
"You're cheeky… but, what about Rohakan?"
"That doesn't have anything to do with the class either."
"Haha."
A smile alit her lips. Deculein, who was always cold, set a particularly strong precedent today. Far from being cheeky, he was rather cute like a hedgehog.
"I'll forgive you since it's the first time I've seen you like this. But, I don't think you'll be able to hide that for long."
She rested her right hand on her chin and stared at Deculein.
"Yes."
Deculein nodded calmly.
"Your Majesty's lessons are limited to a year. I will try not to go against that tradition, but many lessons have been delayed due to various incidents and your Majesty's laziness."
"Not laziness, but hard work."
"If your Majesty is faithful to the remaining lessons and handles all the lessons that have been delayed, then."
He paused for a moment and placed a long stick wrapped in dark cloth atop the desk.
"I will answer all your questions, Your Majesty."
"…"
Sophien glanced between Deculein and the stick with squinted eyes. Then she laughed and nodded.
"Fine. I'll do that. What is this?"
"It's something for today's lesson."
"Lesson."
"That's right."
Deculein took off the black cloth. The revealed object was…
"A fishing rod?"
Sophien's brow twitched.
* * *
We were fishing at a lake dedicated to it, set up by the last Emperor Crebaim himself. Sitting on a small chair, staring blankly at the surface of the water with a fishing line in my hand.
"…Is this a lesson?"
Had it been about 15 minutes? Sophien thought it absurd.
"Yes. Fishing and magic are quite similar. Especially to clear the mind and keep calm. To wait patiently."
"…"
"Your Majesty's runes are stagnant. It is not a matter of talent or skill."
I taught Sophien all the runes I knew. Perhaps, at least, the knowledge of runes was certainly shared. After having completely assembled the hardware, the next step was the software.
"Therefore, I would like to inform Your Majesty about calmness and tranquility. I want to show you the virtues of stillness."
"…"
Thud-
Sophien put down the fishing rod without a word. She got up and dusted off her clothes.
"Have we never been fishing together?"
For a moment, Sophien's footsteps stopped. She turned back. As if she felt what I meant, she looked down at me with wide eyes.
"…What does that mean?"
Soon the wind blew past. There was a ripple over the calm lake, and the fishing rod shook.
"I'm just asking."
"Your sentence structure is very strange for a question."
"…"
"No, there is no reason to ask. You…"
Sophien's words were cut off there. I looked over the lake.
"Your Majesty. In the vineyards of Rohakan, I saw fragments of memory. Memories that I do not have. Inside those memories, I was with you."
"…"
"Now I am trying to trace that memory."
Another world line shown by the vineyards. But if I couldn't remember it myself, it was of no value. So this was a lesson for Sophien, but it was also a lesson for me.
"I will need Your Majesty's help for that."
Sophien didn't say anything. I raised my eyes and looked at her. Her lips were trembling as I met her red eyes. It was a rare sign of agitation. No, was this the first time I'd seen her like this?
"I will get those memories back."
"…"
Then Sophien lowered her gaze. Now she looked completely different from an Emperor as she spoke softly and sat down again.
"…Do we just have to wait for the fish to be caught?"
"Yes. Let's set the quota to around thirty-three."
Sophien grabbed the fishing rod again. That was Murkan's staff. There was, of course, a reason why Sophien, who was more sensitive to magical energy than any other human on this continent, didn't recognize its identity. It was because it sealed itself as soon as it left Rohakan's hand.
"That fishing rod is a gift from me."
Now, Murkan's staff was just an ordinary stick, so I processed it like a fishing rod with my magic. This was the second purpose of this fishing lesson: Murkan's wand and Sophien's unconscious communion with each other, leading her to naturally become its third master.
"…It looks like there's something on this fishing rod-"
At that moment, the rod shook violently as a fish took the bait.
"This guy!"
Sophien hastily raised the rod, but the fish was clever. Using the lifting force against her, the bait and the line were cut off simultaneously.
"!"
Because of that, Sophien's chair leaned backward. I supported her as she was about to fall over completely.
"…Huh."
I reached out and embraced her shoulder and the chair at once. I was glad my arms were pretty long.
"…"
Sophien looked at me without a word. Her red eyes were once again dyed innocent. It was the first time I had met the Emperor's gaze so close. I asked her:
"Are you okay?"
Then, Sophien's eyes narrowed.
"…Why is a wizard using physical force and not magic?"
"How would I dare use magic on Your Majesty?"
"Tsk. Put me down."
Sophien pushed me away and adjusted her posture. She grabbed the fishing rod and glared at the water's surface.
"Damn fish. I figured out how to catch it. My hands are getting used to it. It won't be like this twice."
She didn't let the same situation happen twice. She mastered the whole thing with just one experience. Sophien was such a person.
"Yes."
I nodded but noticed something a little odd: Sophien's hand holding the fishing rod.
"…"
Her hand was trembling slightly. She was fiddling with the fishing rod with her thumb and forefinger as if she was nervous.
"What are you looking at?"
Of course, the tremors subsided quickly. Sophien leaned back in the chair while glaring at me, and a clear breeze blew past. Her red hair glowed like the setting sun.
"Nothing. Let's focus on teaching again."
* * *
In the afternoon after the lessons, Sophien was lying in her bed and looking up at the ceiling.
"…"
Without a word, she recalled the lesson she had just taken. Deculein said that fishing was a lesson. He threw his memories before the regression as bait to her, who was about to leave, thinking she was a moron. He said that he would bring back the memories of that time. And…
"…Were his eyes always that blue?"
"Hmm."
Sophien put her hand over her heart all of a sudden. Her heart rate was as low as usual, like a person on the verge of death.
—The future, you will fall in love with Deculein.
Rohakan's words suddenly came to mind. The future he delivered with confidence.
"…This is weird."
If it hadn't been for Rohakan, she wouldn't have thought like that. She wouldn't even wonder about what this feeling was. Rather, because Rohakan said such a thing, Sophien now considered her feelings.
"He…"
The more she doubted whether she would ever fall in love with Deculein, the more she felt entangled in that bondage. It looked like she was going to fall in love with him someday in the future.
"Perhaps."
Rohakan, that Black Beast, was aiming for this…
"Your Majesty."
Ahan called her at that moment. Sophien turned to look at her.
"The knights you have called are arriving one after another."
The candidates for the Imperial Guardian Knights, directly selected by Sophien. Of course, she didn't say from the beginning that they were wanted as guardian knights. They would only know they were invited to a banquet.
"What should I do?"
Among them was Julie. She was also a woman that Deculein loved dearly. Sophien's lips twisted upward.
"Tell them to take a rest. I will meet them in turns from tomorrow."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Ahan left the bedroom without showing her back. Sophien looked up at the ceiling again and lost herself in thought. A whole new kind of conundrum she had never wondered about in her life filled her head, one which had nothing to do with the monarch's virtues like politics or government…
* * *
…Meanwhile, during the evening, when the stars entered the sky above the islands. The admission briefing session was in full swing at the Roteo Pavilion of the Imperial University. Briefing sessions for entrance examination guidelines for the various departments were held in this building.
"Wow! I also want to take the business administration and medical department entrance exam guidelines."
Maho looked around, her eyes twinkling, and Charlotte sighed.
'If you're that curious, you never know when you'll encounter another danger.'
Charlotte thought.
"It'll be fine~. We're the escorts!"
Then, a pair of children chimed up, reassuring Charlotte. Lia and Leo beamed up at her.
"…Okay."
Charlotte hired these two young adventurers and Dozmura as escorts.
"The Red Garnet is reliable."
Although they were much younger than she expected, they were members of the Red Garnet Adventure Team, so their skills were certain.
"But. You told me you came down from the north, right?"
"Yes. We went to Annihilation."
Lia answered.
"…Annihilation? What were you doing in that dangerous place?"
"Well… working? There were a lot of people looking for adventurers there too."
"…"
Charlotte thought for a moment, then nodded.
"That's understandable. Rumors abound that the Empire will soon mount an expedition to Annihilation."
"Charle~! Come here~. They'll start explaining the Magic Tower entrance exam guide soon~."
"Yes. I'm going."
Just then, Maho called them. Charlotte, Leo, and Lia followed her.
[Magic Tower Entrance Examination Guideline — Head Professor Deculein]
The name written on the podium of the expansive briefing hall was that of Head Professor Deculein.
"Charle, it's Professor Deculein. Professor, Professor~."
"Yes. I know."
"Let's sit down quickly!"
Leo and Lia were nervous, but Maho sat down with a bright smile.
—Ah, ah. We will start the briefing session for the entrance examination guidelines soon. Everyone, please take a seat.
The voice of the moderator sank low. Subsequently, the lights dimmed. In that heavy atmosphere reminiscent of a classical concert hall, Deculein appeared.
Stomp- Stomp-
Approaching with a perfect stride and gait, he glanced at the prospective wizards in the briefing hall before addressing them.
—Nice to meet you. I'm the head professor at the Imperial University Magic Tower and the general manager of the entrance examination. I'm Deculein of the Yukline family.
Maho watched Deculein with sparkling eyes.
—All of you gathered here have achieved the best grades in the academies of each country.
Leo and Lia pricked their ears and looked around for any possible dangers.
—However, that alone is not enough to become the talent that the Magic Tower wants. In this entrance exam, I will evaluate not only theory and writing but also practical skills and improvisation of magic. Thus…
Then, he stopped for a moment. His brow furrowed sranobes.netething.
"…Oh."
The target of that gaze, Lia, shook. Deculein clicked his tongue and continued.
—Therefore, a more functional test awaits you.
Then-
Thud-!
A loud noise resounded throughout the hall. Deculein also stopped speaking, and everyone in the briefing room looked around blankly.
"…Huh? What is it?"
Most of them had bewildered expressions, but Lia, sensitive to energy, definitely felt it. She jumped up from her seat and ran to the exit of the briefing room, grabbing the doorknob and swinging it open. She put her little foot out, but she couldn't touch the ground. She quickly stepped back before she fell.
"Ugh!"
When they came in, they were in the briefing hall of the university's hall. Outside the door now, however, was space.
No, it was an expanse.
No, it was dark.
No, it could be some kind of barrier.
"What… what is this!"
Anyway. It was as if this briefing hall had been separated from the university and embraced by the darkness.
"…This… no."
"What is this?"
"Why, why is the outside gone?"
Many of the students stood in amazement. They clung to the door and looked out, murmuring.
—Quiet.
A word from Deculein calmed them down.
—It's a sudden magic terrorist attack. First, sit still and think calmly.
At Deculein's words to calm down, saying it was magical terrorism, the briefing hall fell into panic.