Mid-December.
Starting today, the academy will have a week-long festival before entering the vacation period.
To call it a festival was a far cry from my reality. Most of the students who participated in club activities had prepared various experiential booths, shops, and exhibitions for the festival. As someone who didn't belong to any club, I could only watch from the sidelines.
Not only the Department of Magic but also the Department of Knights made preparations for the festival. As a result, whenever I played a character from the Department of Knights, events and happenings always occurred.
"The location where the terror will happen this time is the Small Arena. It's the end-of-year event tournament."
The Rodren Academy originally held two tournaments. The official spring tournament and the end-of-year event tournament. However, the end-of-year tournament disappeared after the terror incident.
"At least from the point when I started playing the game, there was no end-of-year tournament."
It was an annual event, but I knew it was discontinued after the terror incident.
If the spring tournament had a strong sense of real competition reflected in actual grades, the end-of-year tournament was a traditional-like event in which only graduating students participated.
Since it was an event tournament, participation was free for graduating students. Knights department students generally made up the majority, and some magic department students participated as well.
"Mom! Look at that!"
"Wow, it's really fascinating. Should we go and see?"
During the festival period, entry was permitted for the general public, so there were bustling crowds. Prospective students, families of students, and those who simply admired the academy for various reasons—there were always such atmospheres during the end of the year.
Avoiding the crowds, I reached my destination.
The building was the Small Arena where the event tournament was held. Unlike the Grand Arena in the Knights Department, it was a bit smaller in scale, but the end-of-year tournament was always held here.
"Oh, there are quite a few participants from the Department of Magic this year?"
"Yeah, it's good that there are more things to see."
Passing by people engaged in conversations, I entered the building, where I saw stalls selling snacks to enjoy while watching the tournament and a passage leading to the spectator seats.
"I can enter freely."
Although there were personnel in various places to prevent accidents, it was meaningless. The academy itself was confident that there was no one capable of attacking Rodren Academy.
Even though they had been attacked just recently.
"Damn bastards."
The empire was arrogant. Their arrogance had grown to the point where it couldn't be undone.
"So they are collecting sins for that reason."
To open the world of the gods and become a god themselves.
I couldn't think of anything else.
First, I decided to find Carlos Alven or Dienne Alven.
Since the festival period lasted a week, it was difficult to determine the exact time of the terror incident.
If I stayed close to Carlos, I could somehow prevent it.
That's when it happened.
As I emerged into the spectator seats, I unexpectedly found a clue.
"Harzal?"
Harzal, who had escaped from Balloric, stood in the spectator seats, looking around.
He seemed to be surrounded by students from the Knights Department who greeted him warmly, but he didn't pay much attention to them.
The culprit of this terror was a fanatic of the Zephyr Sect. There had to be a connection to his presence here.
I approached him straight away.
"Harzal. You're safe."
Everyone present in that place turned their gaze toward me as I suddenly appeared.
And Harzal stiffened slightly and returned my greeting.
Adrius, it has been a while. Fortunately, I managed to escape the trap set by the black mage without any harm. You mean I escaped from the fugitive's trap, right? In the public's eyes, the head has been treated as missing after being attacked by the black mage. But only I knew the truth.
As Harzal pretended to recognize me, the students from the Knights Department around us pretended to know as well, saying, "Ah, the mage who defeated that black mage!" None of them showed any suspicion towards Harzal.
"I'm glad you're safe. Are you alright physically?"
"Yes, as you can see, I'm fine. I've been recovering for the past few months."
After saying that, Harzal excused himself, saying he had other matters to attend to.
The students from the Knights Department bid him farewell with regret.
"The future has changed."
I couldn't be certain yet, but if it wasn't for the Balloric incident, Harzal would have become the villain I fought against as the first playable character.
If he got involved in the terror, the original future would disappear.
Seeing Harzal head somewhere, I cautiously followed behind him.
He carefully looked around as if someone was following him, but he seemed inexperienced to notice my pursuit.
The place Harzal arrived at was a shop not far from the Small Arena, meant for the festival.
However, it was a rather secluded place, with few people around, and no one paid attention to it, as it had a sign saying "Swordsmanship Discourse."
"Could this be the hideout of Zephyr fanatics?"
Just in case, I entered the shop. One student who was inside the shop greeted me warmly.
"Welcome. We are a shop that discusses swordsmanship."
Discussing swordsmanship within the grounds of the Department of Magic. It was clear that they didn't want to openly receive customers.
But the problem was that Harzal, who had entered before me, was nowhere to be seen.
"Is there another passage inside the shop?"
I wanted to look around inside the shop, but the person blocking my way bothered me.
Could this person also be a fanatic?
One of the frightening aspects of the Zephyr sect was that their ideological issues didn't show on the surface.
That's why there were probably many fanatics that the game couldn't reveal.
After a moment of hesitation, I asked, "There was a student who just entered. Where did he go?"
"What are you talking about? No one has come."
I could confirm from the slight reaction of the person that they were lying.
I immediately released mana around my body and shot it forward.
Perhaps due to the unexpected reaction and speed, the person just stared blankly before being hit on the chin by the hilt of my sword and passed out.
I hid the unconscious person in a place where they wouldn't be seen and searched the surroundings.
Then, I discovered a passage leading underground from inside the shop.
"I have to finish this quietly on my own."
I couldn't use black magic.
During the festival period, alarm spells were placed everywhere to prevent accidents. If I summoned Nickel and Tymur, it would be obvious that black magic was being used. However, I only needed to be cautious of the higher-ups in the Zephyr Sect. Someone of that rank wouldn't consider me a threat, so I didn't need black magic to handle them. As I descended underground, I saw a long tunnel dug into the ground with uniform traces indicating it was created using magic. I wondered if it led to the Small Arena and if the plan was to explode it and launch an attack. Although I couldn't know how the actual terror would take place, at least this seemed to be the plan. As I went further inside, I began to sense some activity.
The tunnel was straight, with no cover, and when I could see two figures resembling fanatics in the distance, I knew I couldn't remain hidden.
"Who's there?"
"How did you get in here?"
No use in exchanging words.
I immediately charged at them, pushing forward with force.
But they were not easy opponents and easily blocked my sword.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"You're not a mage?"
They must have been surprised since they expected me to swing my sword due to wearing a robe.
But what should I do? I am a real mage.
"Greece."
Caught off guard by an unexpected spell, the opponent's throat was slashed.
"You're crazy!"
The remaining one started running inside after seeing their comrade die.
But I wasn't going to let them escape.
I erected an Earth Shield in front of them, blocking their escape route, and threw a Rock Sphere while running towards them.
The opponent tried to block the Rock Sphere and surpass the Earth Shield, but it was too late as I caught up to them.
Thud!
"Ah!"
I sliced their back long and stepped on their body as they fell to the ground.
"Are you from the Zephyr Sect?"
"What the fuck! Who are you?"
They need some education.
I promptly pierced their shoulder with my sword.
"Ahh!"
"Answer my question. Are you from the Zephyr Sect?"
"Yes! Yes, I am!"
"What is the purpose of this tunnel?"
"I don't know, you son of a bitch!"
Thud.
I killed the screaming opponent and wiped off the blood on my sword.
Since it was certain that they were from the Zephyr Sect, I didn't care about their purpose.
I just had to stop them.
"It might have been loud enough to attract attention, but it's actually better this way."
It's time to disrupt their operation.
As soon as the day broke for the festival, Vivian Velocan headed straight to the Department of Magic.
She had been contemplating whether to go and see Adrius several times, and she finally made up her mind to gather the courage under the pretext of the festival.
"It's natural to have fun together at the festival..."
That's how things should be.
Arriving at the Department of Magic in the morning, she wandered the streets alone, searching for Adrius.
If they happened to meet by chance, it would be destiny. If not, there was nothing she could do about it.
While trying to think positively, she noticed the Small Arena.
One of the most popular events at the festival was undoubtedly the end-of-year tournament.
Moreover, since the Small Arena was located in the Department of Magic, it seemed likely that Adrius would go there.
She immediately entered the Small Arena and looked around. Finally, she spotted Adrius, whom she had been searching for.
"But that person..."
The man who was talking to Adrius looked familiar.
Upon closer inspection, it was the missing Haru, as rumored in Bororic.
"So, he's alive."
Although Vivian had finally spotted Adrius, approaching him wasn't as easy as she thought.
She had no idea what expression to make or what to say when facing him.
Just thinking about standing in front of him made her face blush.
While she was contemplating alone, Haru got up and Adrius secretly followed him.
"What are they up to?"
She didn't know what they talked about to make Adrius secretly follow him, but she felt like she should follow as well.
Keeping a safe distance, she followed them, not knowing what was happening.
They gradually headed to a secluded place where there were fewer people.
Then, Haru entered a certain store, and Adrius followed after a short wait.
There was a suspicious atmosphere, but Vivian didn't particularly mind.
Instead, her heart raced, thinking that something might happen where she could help Adrius.
"I need to repay the favor."
As she let her imagination run wild, she suddenly realized that quite some time had passed and hurriedly entered the store, startled.
Sensing something strange in the empty store, she carefully looked around and discovered a passage leading underground.
"Adrius!"
Feeling an imminent danger for Adrius, her heart raced.
Could he have been kidnapped? Was he being tortured inside?
Various thoughts raced through Vivian's mind, and she quickly descended underground.
As she went underground, she saw a long tunnel and followed it without hesitation.
Then, in the distance, she felt that someone was fighting in a small space that seemed like a hideout.
Thud!
With a loud noise, someone was thrown out, and Vivian's expression froze as she saw who it was.
"Adrius!"
The tunnel was deeper than expected.
And finally, the tunnel ended, revealing a hideout.
In the hideout, not only Haru but also six other fanatics were installing something in various places on the walls.
They are really busy even though they must have heard the commotion outside.
Targeting the distracted enemies, I immediately threw a Rock Sphere.
Splat! Thud!
"An intruder!"
Only after one person died did the others hurriedly rush towards me, which felt strange, but I swung my sword regardless.
Even knight department students were here, and their swordsmanship was sharp.
They were definitely more skilled than me if we just compared swordsmanship.
But I had an auxiliary ability for combat.
Slash!
"Ah!"
The opponent screamed as their wrist was severed, and the other one died with their throat pierced, unable to make a sound.
And the irritating Haru, who had a connection with me, also ended up with a stab in his abdomen.
"You... Who are you?"
As expected, the fanatics were all useless except for the higher-ups.
If they weren't a high-ranking member, I could handle them all...
Swish.
The sense of my combat ability came alive and warned me.
But before my body could react, the enemy's attack that came flying was fast and powerful.
Kwang!
"Cough."
Blood trickled from my mouth.
It felt like my ribs were broken, and my internal organs were injured.
I couldn't even react to their overwhelming speed and strength.
As I lay on the ground, struggling, I noticed that one of the higher-ups of the Zephyr Sect, Payat, who had a muscular build, was smiling and approaching me.
"Wow. You're quite a pretty little thing. I'll have some fun with you."
Unexpectedly, among the many higher-ups, it was Payat, someone with top combat abilities, who appeared.
This was an unexpected turn of events.
He may not be able to match an Oracle Master, but he was a formidable opponent, surpassing Ivy Claire.
Even with my hidden cards, Nickel and Tymur, I couldn't stop him.
As he approached, and I was preparing to summon the Undead to buy some time...
Suddenly, someone appeared in front of me, blocking my way.
"Oh my, who are you? Are you another one of the brats who came with that little rat?"
"..."
Vivian?
How did she come all the way here?
She stood in front of Payat, not saying a word, but holding a sword.
I was grateful that she was protecting me, but Vivian alone couldn't be a match for Payat.
"For now, I bought some time."
Now, I had to come up with a solution using the time I gained.
"If I can detonate the bombs they installed..."
Many people will surely die.
Moreover, Vivian would be in danger as well.
But if I wanted to survive, I needed to provoke a full-scale battle...
"I will protect Adrius."
While lost in thought, Vivian began swinging her sword at the enemy before I expected.
Vivian, demonstrating much faster speed and excellent swordsmanship than I anticipated, engaged in an intense battle with Payat.
Clang! Swish!
At first glance, it seemed like a back-and-forth fight, but Payat's smile showed signs of danger.
And as always with ominous expectations, it turned out to be true.
Boom!
"Ugh."
Vivian, who kicked forcefully, was thrown far away.
Gradually, Payat approached Vivian and grabbed her by the hair with his muscular arm.
"I always hated pretty girls like you."
Soon, he showed an intention to kill Vivian.
I calmly composed myself and realized that it was time to make a decision.
"Thanks to Vivian, I've had time to organize my thoughts. The best course of action I can take here is..."
Vivian must have followed me here, chasing after me.
I couldn't let her die.
"Vivian."
When I saw her blood-stained face, the face of the young Vivian who suffered abuse overlapped with hers.
Then, memories of the month we spent together in the bond gradually flashed through my mind.
Someone was willing to die to protect me, especially Vivian, and I couldn't bear it.
I'd rather burn everything...
["The Pure Original Sin" responds to the host's call.]
"Do you want to use the special skill 'Indolence'?"