"What kind of obvious question is that? Of course, I heard from the Head of the Swordsmanship Departnt,"
Herote said with a sulky face. She seed really displeased about sothing. Luca replied nonchalantly, "Is there a problem?"
"A problem? There are lots!"
Striding up to Luca, Herote shouted, "Why didn't you tell first!"
"Are you talking about the Demonz, or about leaving class?"
"Both! Either way, you could have told directly!"
Luca covered one ear and replied, "I never intended to tell you in the first place."
"Why!"
"Let ask you back—why should I tell you? As headmaster, you must have many more things to care about than one student's minor rebelliousness."
Herote had many duties: running the academy, magic research, and research into the Great Soul Waypoint.
She wouldn't have ti to waste on what the Demonz were doing in a foreign country or on a single student skipping class to go sowhere else.
But Herote didn't seem to agree.
"We're partners!"
"Huh...?"
Herote puffed out her cheeks at Luca's look of obvious surprise.
"We've done so much together!"
"I don't think it's enough to call it a lot."
"We've helped each other out when needed!"
"Well... That's not wrong."
"And on top of that, we match well together!"
"......?"
At her last remark, Luca narrowed his eyes and checked his phone.
Milia Fille – Affection (8/10), friendship.
Archiond Robette – Affection (8/10), friendship.
Herote Marcato – Affection (8/10), curiosity.
'Affection of 8 out of curiosity, huh...'
It was fascinating in its own right.
It's hard to define human feelings with a single word, but for now, it ant that the strongest emotion Herote felt when she saw him was curiosity.
However, he was surprised that she had the sa affection level as Milia and Archiond.
'Maybe it's like being an interesting test subject?'
Thinking that, Luca said, "I don't really know what you're thinking, but I don't have ti right now, so get to the point."
"Why don't you have ti? I'm here,"
Herote giggled and wiggled her finger. At that, blue magic circles appeared one by one around her.
"No matter where you want to go, I can get you there in the blink of an eye."
"...... Huh."
She was one of only three tier 10 mages on the continent—a wielder of power that let her go wherever, whenever she pleased.
"It would be illegal to go to another country using unauthorized spatial magic. Their tier 10 mage wouldn't just sit back, either."
"Their tier 10 mage? Where are you off to?"
"The Duchy of Thier, Lamata Empire."
Herote frowned slightly at the ntion of the Duchy of Thier.
"Why there, of all places? I haven't even begun research on heteromorphic alchemy yet."
"So, you an you could go anywhere but the Duchy of Thier?"
"It's a bit restricted... but there's a way."
Herote grinned wickedly. She seed to be plotting sothing illegal. Luca clicked his tongue.
"We're not going to commit a cri. We need to get proper entry permits and act legally. There's no point in just zipping there by magic."
Inside the Hernan Empire, maybe, but for foreign travel, an entry permit was required.
As soone from the Traverse family, getting the permit wouldn't be difficult, and while ti was tight, it wasn't dire enough to need illegal ans.
"That's too bad. I thought you'd cause so kind of trouble."
"So, you think I'm a troublemaker."
"There's always trouble around you. And the one you brought with you isn't ordinary, either."
At the ntion of the one he brought, Luca narrowed his eyes.
"How much progress have you made on researching Ravinia and Waypoint?"
"Quite a bit. Want to know?"
As Herote asked slyly, Luca held up a hand to stop her and looked at Bella.
"Wait. Before that, Bella."
"Yes, master."
"Go bring Ottbo."
Bella nodded imdiately and went to fetch Ottbo. Herote looked puzzled.
"Why him?"
"You can take us anywhere within the Hernan Empire with your magic, right?"
"That's right."
Luca shrugged.
"It's best if we can save ti."
Soon, Ottbo arrived.
"Ottbo, which border crossing to the Thier territory is the fastest from here? Don't worry about the distance from here."
"Eh? W-wait."
Holding a map—probably interrupted while planning the trip—Ottbo spread out the map to answer Luca's question.
After thinking for a few seconds, he pointed sowhere.
"Here. It takes a bit longer this way, but if you get entry permit at the Evod border, you can take flight from the Count Michichi's territory directly into the Duchy of Thier."
"You can get us as far as there?"
At Luca's question, Herote flicked her finger.
"Of course. I can send you right now if you want."
"I just have to get there within three days anyway. Good, now that we have more prep ti."
"Uh... Uh?!"
Finally noticing Herote, Ottbo leapt back in shock.
Herote didn't seem to care, only expressing her lingering disappointnt to Luca.
"Anyway, if you'd told first, I could have helped so much! Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because I prefer to handle everything myself. If I rely on you every ti, I'll beco dependent on you. I don't want that."
Luca spoke coolly.
Strangely, that answer seed to please Herote, who humd.
"Hmmm~ Is that so? You've certainly got a good mindset for soone your age these days."
Luca sighed inwardly and looked at Ottbo.
"In that case, reserve the flight from the Count Michichi's territory to the Duchy of Thier for tomorrow morning."
"Yes, understood!"
Ottbo answered right away and hurried out of the room, as if wanting to escape Herote's gaze.
Watching him go, Luca clicked his tongue, then turned back to Herote.
"Now, let's talk about Ravinia and Waypoint."
Now that he'd prevented Ottbo from wasting his efforts, it was ti to get to the main topic.
As Luca began, Herote shrugged.
Shwing! Shwing! Shwing!
"!"
Just like when they first t, Luca suddenly found himself seated on a sofa.
On the table in front of him was tea, and Herote appeared opposite him. She lifted her teacup, sipped, and said, "First off, Waypoint is amazing. I'm once again amazed at the level of ancient magic."
Even Herote, a tier 10 mage, could only admire the Great Soul called Waypoint for its incredible power.
"I doubt I could fully analyze it, even at my level. It's outright impossible to recreate sothing even remotely similar."
"I figured as much."
After all, the ancient people were only able to make five Great Souls.
At Luca's disinterested reaction, Herote sipped her tea and continued, "But the more I analyze it, the more questions arise. If sothing like this existed, why did the ancient people disappear? I just don't understand the appearance of the darkness of civilization."
The darkness of civilization. That was the gap in history between the ancient and modern eras.
No matter how they tried, they couldn't uncover anything about the tis before recorded history.
They could only trace remnants of the past—ancient magic or mysterious artifacts.
And even those were tough to interpret.
"Well, that sort of thing is a job for historians—I don't have to care."
"You're rambling."
Bored with her chatter, Luca spoke bluntly, and Herote chuckled.
"Sorry. Normally, I don't make small talk like this, but it just happens when I'm with you."
"......."
"Anyway, Waypoint has three main abilities: creating clones, redistributing life force, and recording information."
Luca looked unimpressed.
"Nothing different from during White Noise."
"I actually spoke with Ravinia Way about that—and there's a key difference."
"There is?"
At Luca's curious look, Herote nodded.
"Yes. Besides the difference in form, Waypoint can't interfere with the maximum life force."
"Maximum life force... so it can't boost soone's life force the way White Noise did?"
"Ravinia said the sa."
Back in the White Noise days, they strengthened their officers by giving them additional clones.
But apparently, Waypoint couldn't do that.
"According to Waypoint herself, she said, 'I can let warriors keep fighting, but I can't violate their achievents.'"
"...... I see."
He got the gist.
She could help a wounded warrior return to the fight, but could not further strengthen soone and thereby diminish the value of their personal efforts.
"And when we compared Waypoint and White Noise's characteristics, Eltima Cross said it resembled a devil she'd once fought."
"A devil?"
Luca's gaze sharpened.
Waypoint had been corrupted by demonic power and turned into White Noise.
He'd always wondered which devil's influence it was.
"The Devil of Plroliferation."
"The Devil of Plroliferation...?"
He had never heard the na in the original story.
Still, from the na alone, it sounded both disgusting and troubleso.
"It's a devil that sows seeds in living beings and spawns special beasts from those seeds. The beasts can't generate life force on their own and spread their seeds to other beings to steal life force and multiply, which matches the behavior of White Noise."
"Huh."
It definitely matched. Luca shivered at the horror of it as Herote shrugged.
"Well, in any case, the Devil of Plroliferation has perished. Apparently, it was always very weak."
"Weak?"
"Yeah, weaker than the other devils. Probably because it implanted a part of itself in Waypoint."
That made a strange sort of sense.
'Maybe... White Noise was ultimately ant to beco a devil.'
There'd never been such a developnt in the original, but judging by paradise and Albino's real form, it would have fit just fine.
'So, even Albino was influenced by the Demonz.'
If so, maybe every villain in the original story was influenced by the Demonz.
Even Albino, who'd seed pure evil, was actually under the influence of Demonz.
It was astonishing.
"In any case, that's all I know so far. For more details, I'd need to do deeper research."
"I see."
As Luca replied flatly, Herote puffed out her cheeks again. "Aren't you curious about anything else?"
"Do you just want to keep talking?"
"Well~ I an... There's really no one else to talk with..."
Herote's voice trailed off, seeming to get shy at Luca's blunt honesty.
Sighing, Luca turned to Bella.
"Bella. Prepare so late-night snacks."
"Yes!"
"Uh... Late-night snacks?"
At that, Herote looked displeased, but Luca said coolly, "I'll keep you company until you finish eating."
"... Okay!"
He found her troubleso, but he felt he should at least offer this much, given how much ti she'd saved him.
'Plus, it seems like sothing happens if you raise affection levels.'
Given the mission called "Affection MAX", it seed like howork he couldn't ignore.
― Yes. Please get more deeply involved in the story.
"?"
At that mont, soone's voice brushed his ear. Luca looked puzzled and glanced around.
But only Bella and Herote were nearby.
'That voice... I feel like I've heard it sowhere before...?'
Luca wore a strange expression.
― Goodbye... I am... of the world...!
― You... are... a new... opportunity...
― Please... story... ...sir
"......."
Luca mulled it over for a mont but soon dismissed it, as Herote urged him for attention.
"Luca, are you listening?"
"Yeah, I'm listening. What did the vice-headmaster say?"
"That old fogey said..."
"Aren't you the sa age?"
"No, I'm not!"
Night grew deep.
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