Chapter 53

Glast Subjugation Battle (2)

This is the end of my magical travels in the Southern Continent.

As I looked around the world I realized that there were many magical truths that I had not yet realized. The title Grand Wizard is meaningless.

As expected the science of magic is as wide and deep as the ocean and it is difficult to even draw its outline with this old man’s blurry eyes.

I am once again reminded of Sylvania’s deep message not to be hasty in gauging the depth of learning.

I think this book will be the last one I write. Time is so meaningless.

The joints of his fingers which once seemed like they could crush steel are full of wrinkles.

If Great Sage Sylvania an incomparable gift and the idol of all academics sees it she won’t be able to stop laughing.

Sylvania who passed away at a young age still remains in my memory as a beautiful woman.

After seeing her death the young child who dreamed of pursuing an academic career is now entering his twilight years. Looking back on those timeless years I see that they were truly eventful.

The sadness that gnawed at my heart the day I lost my teacher has also been deposited over time and now only remains as an old portrait.

Still as you live a long life longing shows its face from time to time.

Whenever I look at the starlight at dawn or watch the sunset slowly go down the horizon that emotion comes without warning.

Longing is eventually accompanied by a crushing loneliness.

Sadness over what has been lost sometimes paralyzes reason.

There are certainly times when the desire to shatter providence twist the truth and see Sylvania’s face once again shows up.

But what is lost is lost.

Those who have lost must become strong. sadly.

So be strong.

I dedicate the last sentence of this book to you who marked the end of my life.

Lucy.

– Excerpt from 『Closing Text』 Southern Continent Magical Experience (by Glockt)

*

... There are times when an ominous feeling suddenly arises for no reason. In such cases you need to organize your thoughts carefully.

When your intuition cries out there’s usually a good reason.

The current case is the most representative example.

“Why are you here... .”

The girl who opened the door and entered the empty lab looked very familiar.

The short wavy chestnut hair and innocent face look infinitely familiar. It’s a face you can’t forget if you’ve played Sylvania’s Failed Sword Castle in the first place.

A girl who always sits next to the main character Tailly supports him and grows together. The main character among the main characters in the scenario. No matter what she does or what route she takes she is the de facto main heroine who never falls out and never loses her presence.

The moment I met Ayla Tris in the conference room of the faculty building all thoughts of arrogance passed through my head.

“Why are you waiting for me here... ? Don’t come any closer... ! Hehe... !”

As for me I came to Professor Glast’s personal laboratory at his summons but since no one was there I just sat quietly on the reception sofa. It is a misunderstanding that I was waiting for Ayla.

I just sat on the sofa without making any particular movement and turned my gaze toward Ayla but Ayla trembled and took a step backwards pushing her all the way to the wall in the corner of the lab.

“... ”

It’s a reaction as if you’ve met a monster. I’m really not doing anything but isn’t this being treated too much?

but... Recently I feel like the evaluation among students has gone up a notch but even so there is no way Ayla is showing a favorable attitude toward me.

The entrance exam incident which is the most fundamental cause of her hostility towards me was already ten months old so her anger may have subsided to some extent... . This is because there has been no contact at all so far.

Above all I am the one who persistently attacked Ayla who was weak in actual force during the Occupation of the Ofilis Building taking advantage of her weakness. There is a record of exploiting her as a weakness and even shooting her with a bow.

Don’t be weak if you pinch me... I can’t even say that. In any case Ayla would not be able to look at me favorably.

Well the reason why I fell into arrogance is not because of Ayla’s attitude.

It’s because of the timing.

The wise man’s seal acceptance ceremony is just around the corner. It is an event like a signal signaling the beginning of the final chapter of Act 2.

At the start of the induction ceremony Ayla had already been subdued by Glast.

I searched through my memories. What were Ayla’s movements before and after the induction ceremony?

Of course it’s quite difficult to remember such details... Roughly speaking I was able to recall the scene at the time of the induction ceremony without difficulty. This is something that will happen in the future.

The wise man’s seal acceptance ceremony will be held in the main lobby of Trix Hall the center of academic administration.

At a gathering of academic and business representatives the seal of the seal is released under the leadership of Professor Glast.

And Principal Obel the current responder relinquishes his authority as an responder and Lortel steps up to the podium to take over the authority as an responder.

Explosions occur before and after that time. All kinds of laws that had been engraved in advance around the Trix Hall and the Seongseo display stand radiate magical power turning the lobby into chaos.

Meanwhile Glast steals the seal containing the empty reactor authority and escapes toward the underground waterway with Ayla who is suppressed by ‘time prison’ magic in the Trix Building’s private laboratory.

hey.

After thinking about it that far a small question arises about Ayla’s movements.

Ayla had already been subdued by Professor Glast and sealed in the private laboratory of the Trix Building when the seal sensitization ceremony took place.

Considering that there wasn’t much time left for the induction ceremony Ayla had to be subdued soon. It’s unnatural to see a student casually playing around with a bachelor’s degree like that.

“Why did you come here?”

I am... just... Professor Glast called... “No it’s none of your business.”

I felt as if my ominous premonition was slowly becoming a reality.

My brain started spinning.

The appointment time has come. Professor Glast will soon return to his personal laboratory.

As I concentrate on my ears I hear the sound of weak footsteps coming from the end of the hallway. There was a high possibility that it was Professor Glast who had completed his undergraduate work. Now running out into the hallway and meeting him one-on-one was most likely going to be a handshake. There would be no one who could be a witness in the hallway near this lab which is located in a corner.

I quickly stood up. I walked towards the entrance where Ayla was. Ayla rolled her body in surprise as she pulled her dagger from her thigh.

“Aaaah! “What are you doing!”

I didn’t care about Ayla’s reaction. I stuck the dagger into the edge of the entrance wall and quickly turned around to look toward the empty lab.

Professor Glast’s personal laboratory which is about 4 pyeong in size is a graveyard of books and documents.

All kinds of academic administrative documents academic books personal research journals and popular magic books filled the spacious lab.

I looked through each and every display case in the lab and quickly glanced at the documents on Professor Glast’s desk.

He quickly looked through the personal research journal in one of the drawers and quickly read the books he was referring to and the personally written notes.

Since it was something most people knew to begin with reading it itself was an instant. The situation was already more than 90% complete. The habit of checking to see if there have been any changes in the future I know is already a habit.

Nevertheless no significant variables are visible.

Why on earth did Professor Glast summon me to his private lab? I decided that finding out the cause was the most important thing right now but no matter how I looked at it the scenario was going as planned.

It goes smoothly like this and the future itself in which Glast is subjugated by Tailly is not difficult to picture.

However if there is even a small crack it must be checked and overlooked.

If we quickly think through the circumstances and judge the reason Professor Glast summoned Ayla to his personal laboratory was to kidnap her.

It is not difficult to predict. Considering that there is not much time left until the Seongseo Sensitivity Ceremony we need to take action quickly.

The problem is why they called me to that scene.

I am extremely familiar with the list of magics used by Professor Glast and how to deal with them.

This is even a laboratory in the middle of the Trix building. There’s nothing good about making things bigger so they’ll try to subdue me with magic that has as little repercussions as possible and is small in scale.

In that case you might think of a way to beat Professor Glast and escape from the Trix Building. As I was thinking about ways to completely destroy the wall a new possibility suddenly popped into my head.

... Wouldn’t it be okay if I just got kidnapped? doing... It was a kind of contrarian idea.

The ‘Time Prison’ spell has a clear time limit because it consumes a lot of magical energy. Additionally if two of them are suppressed their magic power will run out within a few days.

After stealing the wise man’s seal like they did in the affair Ayla and I will be locked in a room in the secret laboratory. Even the time prison magic has been lifted.

So isn’t this a direct bus service to Professor Glast’s secret laboratory without any compensation? ?

Even if things don’t go well Tailley and his group plan to invade the secret lab and cause havoc. Wouldn’t it be best to take advantage of that moment grab everything you need and run away?

I know the secret lab structure damn well. There is no need to make Yenika suffer by going into the waterway and secretly following the punitive force.

Tailie’s specs are already strong enough and the subjugation team itself will not be weak at all.

This is just... Will I get kidnapped?

“Hmm... ”

My brain started spinning again.

Even if I succeed in escaping here there is no way Professor Glast will stay still. Rather it is more likely that Professor Glast’s schedule will only be disrupted by running around trying to subdue me who has seen his true colors.

Conversely being intentionally kidnapped is not without risk. If something goes wrong while I’m away and the scenario gets weird there’s no one who can actually take action.

I’m checking the flow of the story so thoroughly that I wonder if it really needs to go this far but no one knows how things will turn out.

You have no choice but to carefully weigh which side is more risky and ultimately choose one.

“It would be better not to put up any unnecessary resistance. I don’t have time to explain it at length so I’ll skip it but it won’t be such a bad story for you either. Ed Rosstaylor.”

After saying that my eyes caught sight of Professor Glast who was once again drawing out dark red magic power.

I carefully took cover stepped away from the desk and looked straight at Professor Glast.

“Ho-oh did you feel like confronting me? Or did you come up with some kind of plan?”

Facing Professor Glast I stood still with my eyes wide open.

The blooming magic power begins to fire towards me.

*

– Whieeeeeeee!

Thanks to Professor Glast’s telekinetic magic all kinds of documents and grimoires are restored to their proper places.

In a private laboratory that had been somewhat neatly organized there were two people who had completely frozen.

There is one image of Ayla rolling on the floor with a face full of fear.

And there was one image of Ed standing upright and receiving Professor Glast’s magic head-on without avoiding it.

Professor Glast sat down at his desk and looked at Ed’s research log again.

The conversation I had with Assistant Professor Claire who was organizing the records came to mind.

– ‘Magic History Introduction to Elemental Science Elemental Science Writing Monster Ecology Common Magic Sensitivity Principle Analysis Magic Introduction to Magic Engineering Herbalism Introduction to Beopjin Different Elemental Science... . I received close to perfect scores in all areas of writing.’

– ‘that’s right! And their grades have risen sharply since they entered their second year! The grades in practical classes are a bit ambiguous but they are still on a steady rise. The overall magical power itself is still slightly below the average level of a second grader but the speed at which it is growing is unbelievable. It looks like he made a spirit contract so I understand why he collapsed from overwork.’

Assistant Professor Claire spoke excitedly thumping papers.

– ‘I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first saw the change in grades. How can you achieve this level of academic success while living such a wild life? I wondered if I was living alone in a 48-hour day! really!’

Assistant Professor Claire was looking through Ed’s academic records provided by the academic affairs office.

In the first place it was not the grade I was in charge of and the number of students was not the same so it was impossible to keep track of all the changes in grades.

However after my eyes were drawn to Ed and I checked his personal information I had no choice but to hold my tongue.

Assistant Professor Claire is also quite expert in self-management.

He may seem like a screw-up but the fact that he holds the title of professor at this young age is true.

Because she was like that I was able to clearly see how much Ed’s routine and lifestyle was the product of ridiculous effort.

– ‘This... This is proof that you really worked hard. As Professor Glast knows very well Ed’s talent is at a level that cannot be called outstanding even with empty words.’

Claire’s tone was gradually quieting down.

– ‘I wonder how much effort it took to vomit blood... I don’t dare to guess.’

– ‘It’s a different story from when you’re excitedly talking about the darkness and all. Assistant Professor Claire.’

– ‘Oh no that’s true but...’ ! I didn’t know the record would be like this... !’

Professor Glast covered the documents and threw them on the desk.

I stared at Ed who was completely frozen by the time prison still buried in the chair.

It was at that moment when an ominous magical power overtook my body but I did not blink an eye. There is no trace of anxiety on his face. The sight of the subject feeling some kind of confidence in the moment of falling under Glast’s magic makes me hold my tongue.

As a descendant of the Rosstaylor family who received all kinds of noble treatment he must have lived a life worthy of a king’s envy until he was excommunicated.

However even though less than a year has passed my hands are full of calluses and my body has all kinds of scratches.

The body that looked slim and fragile was already full of fine muscles so much so that their shape could be vaguely seen even above the collar.

His fighting sense seen through the crystal ball cannot be easily overlooked.

The method of coordinating the battlefield thoroughly analyzing the opponent and using all available means to win is an ability that can never be possessed by someone who overwhelms the opponent with only natural talent.

That is the way the underdog fights.

This is an area that can only be reached if you humbly admit that you are weaker than your opponent and do not give up the fight. The mind must be stronger than the body.

What comes to mind is ‘something lost’.

It’s a wound that I thought was healed now.

The memory of the daughter shouting that she would honor her father’s name by becoming a major and setting out to subdue the monster tribe comes to mind again.

“... ”

Glast who sits still and organizes his thoughts never notices.

─The image of a small bat popping out from under Ed’s collar and quickly flying out the door.

Even Professor Glast who possessed basic spirit sensitivity was not enough to catch that brief moment. He had too much to think about.

The original plan was to kidnap Ayla but suddenly subduing Ed was a bit of an impromptu act.

Still Ed’s personal relationships are not that wide and he has a complex reputation so if he disappears right away there won’t be a big uproar. There will be no problem for a few days.

It’s not a whim that could cause a major setback in your plans.

Thinking like that Professor Glast quietly relaxed his body.

Bonfire smoke rises.

Camp in the northern forest. Chicken soup is boiling over the campfire waiting for someone to taste it.

A girl spiritist who stirs soup while humming a song and a dwarf wizard who sleeps snoring on the edge of the roof of a cabin.

The appearance of the two looks natural as if it were everyday life... In fact the owner of the camp does not show up.

As the exam period approaches and the end of the semester approaches there is a lot to do so it is natural to be late in coming home.

I guess it can’t be helped since I’m always a busy person. While giving such a monologue the spirit girl stares blankly at the night sky.

As she was doing so a burning bat hurriedly flew through the grass and landed on the girl’s shoulder.

In desperation he whispers something into the girl’s ear and little by little the girl’s movements slow down.

The wind blows and the trees in the forest shake their bodies.

The autumn night was deepening.