Chapter 89
Astrology (1)
“Ah. I feel stiff.”
I changed into my school uniform and stretched widely. Having done nothing but lie in bed, my body felt sluggish.
Watching loosen up so noisily, the healer frowned.
“Thank you for the care.”
Leaving a greeting behind, I stepped out of the infirmary. Students who looked far worse off than were steadily being brought in.
I gave them a brief glance before turning away.
“Vacation’s almost over.”
While I had been hospitalized for four days, it had already beco the final exam season. There were very few people wandering around the academy building.
“Was it called Astrology?”
Rather than heading straight back to the chapel, I decided to stop by sowhere else first. I made my way to the library Winter often visited.
What Anash had ntioned—Astrology—was bothering .
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
The library was crowded. Perhaps because it was exam period, many had co. A quiet bustle.
Even without a single bit of noise, the inside of the library was filled with heat. Just as I stepped through the door, a scream rang out in that silent space.
“Hmm?”
The red-brown-haired twins were pointing at with their fingers. Thanks to their scream, every gaze in the library turned toward .
“What are you staring at—”
“Senior!”
I was about to respond with a feral grin to the blatant stares when Regi, the older brother, stepped forward.
In a voice lowered as much as possible, he drew my attention and led to the seats they had been occupying. When I glared around, those who t my eyes hurriedly looked away.
“Senior, what brings you here?”
Rera, the younger sister, imdiately asked what she was curious about. I was about to answer honestly when a strange feeling ca over .
It was as if she were asking what reason I had to co to the library. When I tilted my head, Rera, belatedly catching on, waved her hands.
“N-no. You’re suspended, Senior, so you’re not taking the exams.”
“I’m looking for sothing.”
Rera broke into a cold sweat as she defended herself. I stared at her for a mont before speaking.
“Looking for sothing? What are you searching for?”
The easygoing Regi smoothly guided the conversation. I hesitated briefly. I needed to decide whether I could tell them this.
“Do you happen to know about Astrology?”
“Astrology?”
Since they were mages, I figured they might be of help. Upon hearing my answer, the twins looked at each other.
“We know of it. But why?”
“How much do you know?”
I didn’t answer Regi’s question directly. The perceptive twins quickly realized the limits of what they themselves knew.
Rera stroked her chin as she tried to recall from mory.
“It’s a discipline that reads the stars. It’s currently lost, and it was a field of study that was popular in the Far East relatively recently, right?”
“The Far East?”
Astrology also appeared in the ga. A character who used it did show up, but he was a figure from the past.
Since he was a disposable NPC who appeared briefly and then vanished, there wasn’t much information about Astrology. I brightened at Rera’s words.
“Yeah. In the Far East, the stars had been considered important since ancient tis, so related fields developed there. Of course, there are records of those who used Astrology in the Empire as well, but it can’t compare to the Far East.”
The Far East. The atmosphere was gradually becoming strange. Anash had treated as if we had t before.
Given that he had lived for such a long ti, I could have dismissed it as senility, but his eyes had been clear. He hadn’t seed to be lying either.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
My head began to ache. I wanted to avoid getting involved with the Far East if possible. I already had more than enough matters tied to the Empire as it was.
I didn’t want to get unnecessarily entangled and dragged into incidents. But it also felt uncomfortable to simply ignore Anash’s advice.
“Is there no choice? Is there anyone who’s learned Astrology now?”
“No. Even in the Far East, the lineage of Astrology was cut off 200 years ago.”
I had asked just in case, but it was a miss. Several thods ca to mind, but there were few worth trying.
“You’re mages, right?”
“Th-that’s right.”
I closed my eyes and pondered for a mont before asking the twins to confirm. Sensing sothing ominous, they answered awkwardly.
“You must have a lot of rare materials. Since you’re mages. You need them for research.”
“Th-that’s right.”
The twins broke into a cold sweat. Sohow, the way I was speaking made it seem like I was about to extort money from them.
I didn’t mind.
“You’ll have to sell so materials. Got paper?”
There were materials I needed, but they were difficult for to obtain. Every single one was sothing mages typically used.
With slight hesitation, Rera handed the paper she had been using.
“I’ve got so materials I need. If I go myself, I’ll probably get ripped off.”
A 10% middleman profit should be more than enough.
***
“Canis.”
“Mm~ congrats on being discharged~”
It was a talent that beca more fascinating the more I saw it. The mont I called Canis’s na as I left the library, I sensed her presence beside .
She matched her steps to mine with perfect naturalness, as if she had been there all along while hiding herself.
“Blood Magic. We’re going right away.”
“For ~ that’s great~”
There wasn’t much ti left until the pilgrimage. It was an event that I absolutely had to attend to develop religion-related characters.
Before that, I intended to learn Blood Magic and grow accustod to it.
“Who are we going to?”
“Well~ even if I told you, would you know~?”
Canis replied in an irritatingly playful voice. I reached out to flick her forehead, but she deftly slipped out of my grasp.
With her characteristic bouncy movents, Canis led the way. Our destination was the Magic Departnt building.
“Dabi, this is your first ti at the Magic Departnt~, right?”
“Probably.”
A student from the Combat Departnt had no reason to co to the Magic Departnt. The sa was true in reverse. Unless it was for first-year general education classes, there was no occasion to visit each other’s buildings.
Of course, having entered in the body of a second-year, I had no such mories to rely on.
“Here~ is the pride of the Magic Departnt~ Olivia Hall~”
With exaggerated gestures, Canis introduced Olivia Hall. It certainly had a completely different atmosphere from Victoria Hall of the Combat Departnt.
Though she presented it like a grand introduction, in reality, we were simply walking. I looked around as if fascinated.
“The atmosphere is definitely unique.”
Unlike Victoria Hall, which had a lot of red and brown tones, Olivia Hall was predominantly blue.
It was a building that exuded a calm and intellectual ambiance.
“Unlike Combat Departnt students, Magic Departnt students have their own personal research labs~!”
Canis, looking unusually cheerful like a fish in water, continued her explanation.
The size of the Combat Departnt building and the Magic Departnt building wasn’t all that different. The forr was mostly focused on training facilities, whereas the latter was centered entirely on personal spaces.
“So that ans you have your own lab too.”
“Of course~ I do.”
The mages here also resembled mad scientists. Those who were passionate about the academic pursuit of magic beca mages.
As a result, most of them spent the majority of their ti in their own laboratories.
“I see you at the chapel pretty often, though.”
“That’s~ because I’m so talented~ I don’t need to stay in my lab very long?”
The mages I had seen in the ga were quite different from Canis. In so ways, she was closer to Worden. She was a deeply rooted mage, but her disposition differed from that of a typical mage.
“The Head of the Ulbushis Family must be disappointed.”
“Father~ supports whatever I choose to do~”
At my sarcasm, Canis responded without a care. For her, devotion to academic advancent wasn’t particularly important.
What mattered most was her condition—her inability to feel the emotion of Anger.
“We’re~ all here!”
Chatting along the way, we had arrived at our destination before I realized it. A secluded laboratory tucked away in a corner of the building.
The mont I saw the place Canis pointed to, my body stiffened.
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
Canis tilted her head at my sudden stop.
You damned Canis. I had hoped otherwise, but as the situation unfolded in an unexpected direction, I frowned.
“I had a bad feeling.”
The area around the lab door was covered in talismans. There weren’t many who used Blood Magic, but it wasn’t nonexistent either.
Even within the Academy, there were roughly three who used it. Among them, there was one in particular I had hoped to avoid.
“Oh~? Dabi, do you know the friend beyond this door~?”
“……”
With a playful grin, Canis asked teasingly. It was no different from tossing raw at after catching the scent of blood.
I quietly took a deep breath. Nurous characters appeared in Difficult Dungeon. With such variety ca equally varied personalities.
“Is this really the best option?”
“Of course~ At my level, this is the best option~”
Among them, there were quite a few characters with troubleso personalities—ones you absolutely did not want to get entangled with. One of them was the Canis standing before .
But the one beyond this door possessed a level of nuisance that far surpassed even Canis.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
I would just learn Blood Magic and leave. There would be no reason to get involved afterward. Thinking that way made feel a little better.
At my sigh-laden reply, Canis snickered and knocked.
—Co in.
A calm yet high voice answered. The faint rasp in it made it sound almost like a cat’s ow.
After receiving permission, Canis slowly opened the door. As the space parted, a thick stench of dicinal herbs poured out.
“Hm? Oh, it’s you, Canis?”
The owner of the laboratory seed quite pleased to see her. And only then did I finally recognize the familiar voice.
“And the person behind you… is… who.”
As she watched slowly step out from behind Canis, the lab’s owner gradually trailed off.
I, too, took her in fully.
Dark brown hair caught my eye first. It was so voluminous it bordered on excessive, loosely twisted up and pinned with a long ornantal hairpin.
“Mm~ the atmosphere’s getting interesting~”
Below that, only her eyes were visible. Everything beneath them was covered by a mask. An Easterner with an unusual appearance.
Instead of the academy uniform everyone else wore, she was dressed in flowing traditional attire from the Far East.
A character commonly referred to as ‘RMP.’ ‘the Shaman of the Far East’ spouted nonsense the mont we t.
“Husband?”
“…?”
Thanks to that, Canis shot a rather inappropriate look. I quietly shook my head. We were absolutely strangers.
“Mm~ is this so~ kind of~ relationship~ I don’t know about~?”
“Of course not.”
“Oh my. Who might this handso young man be?”
I hurriedly cut off Canis’s misunderstanding. Aro had hearts practically floating in her eyes as she stared at my face.
“Erase every thought forming in that head of yours.”
Watching Canis’s expression change by the second, I issued a stern warning. I feared what bizarre fantasies her unnecessarily vivid imagination might conjure.
I let out a deep sigh. Aro was severely obsessed with good looks and had a personality that blurted out whatever she thought without any filter.
“Oh my, oh my. Just look at that nose bridge.”
“Husband~”
“Have you lost your mind? Seriously.”
Resting her cheek in her palm, Aro continued praising my looks, while Canis seized the opportunity to tease .
“How many children will you—ack!”
“Oh my. How bold.”
I shot my hand out in an instant toward Canis, who showed no signs of stopping. Grabbing the back of her neck, I flicked her hard on the forehead.
She scread and toppled over, while Aro squealed, claiming even that was cool.
“We’re eting for the first ti.”
“Yes, I know. I’ve just never seen soone this handso before.”
“…You don’t seem interested in having an actual conversation.”
It didn’t seem like Aro had any intention of speaking sensibly. I squeezed my eyes shut.
Trying to have a conversation with soone even more self-willed than Canis.
It was a hopeless endeavor.
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