Ch. 26
Chapter 26: Checkmate
Milé looked at her senior blocking the exit of the Dungeon.
A monstrous face that hadn't aged a single day in four years.
Yet somehow, how powerful a Mage that person was seemed even more palpable now than it had back then.
If I can just get past that person, I can leave through the Dungeon exit and make my report to Master.
But there was no way to get past that person that she could see.
In the end, Milé raised both hands lightly.
If I can't win, let's at least start with a conversation.
Even if she were to die by that senior's magic right now, it was simply in her nature that she had to get her questions answered first.
"Senior. There's something I want to ask before I die. How were you so certain I'd come here alone?"
"Certainty is a stretch. I figured the odds were roughly around 70%."
"A 70% chance in a Mage's duel is as good as certain death…. The world calls that certainty. So how did you do it?"
Yujin went hmm, then told her.
Like the blunt-mannered senior he'd always been, with warmth quietly packed inside. Or perhaps like a god of death saying, You're going to die anyway, so I'll tell you everything.
"First. When equipment was taken from my personal storage and sold, I figured you'd be able to deduce it was heading east. This was the opening move between you and me. You held the first move, and I held the second."
First move, second move—he speaks as though replaying a game of chess. Yet this kind of analogy was something Milé was very fond of.
Just like the old days. It was enough to make her think of the senior who had led her, who had exchanged ideas with her over mock magical duels and analyzed situations together.
"Right. And I thought Demeter was a Paper Academy that couldn't afford your equipment, so I opened a shop in Rudra."
"Correct. But I had already anticipated you'd open a shop in Rudra once you were at Demeter. So I sent Professor Daisy. You must have seen her, didn't you? A refined Swordsmanship Professor who seemed far too polished to be in a city like this."
"Ah, that person…. I see. So that's where the failure in the opening move was…."
Come to think of it, there was no reason for a woman like that to be wandering around a city like this, and she did recall seeing her at the Academy Cultural Exchange.
I had simply assumed she was a Rudra Academy professor, but she was on the opposite side…. I made a mistake the moment I failed to look into it.
"And from the Scrolls and Potions she brought back, I realized you'd come to Rudra—and after that, I set a trap."
"A trap? Was I caught in a trap?"
"Yes. Milé. Was there nothing that felt off as you were making your way toward the Demeter Grand Dungeon?"
"Not a thing. Ah…. If there was something, then…. I'd say the concentration of Mana being collected was thick. That's about it."
"That is the trap."
"What? The density of Mana… is the trap…?"
The moment Milé tilted her head, Yujin snapped his fingers—and behind him, hundreds of Magic Scrolls floated into the air.
The Scrolls that had been left over from teaching Yuna and Silen over the past month. On the first day, about twenty had been his limit, but by now he had grown accustomed to it, and he could draw a hundred in a single day and still have capacity to spare.
And Milé noticed.
That every single Mana Pattern inscribed on those Scrolls was identical to her own.
"What… is that?"
"These are Scrolls I replicated. Copied exactly from your Pattern. I made hundreds of them, then activated them all in places where my Mana's residue was likely to linger."
"So what you're saying, that… what does that even….?"
"They say it's hard for a person to smell their own breath. Mages are the same. When one's own Mana is spread through the air in overwhelming quantities, one tends to misjudge it as 'the natural Mana concentration in the atmosphere is just high.' What did you think to yourself while you were collecting Mana?"
"Ah, ah…."
Milé was aghast.
Not aghast at the trap her senior had laid.
She was aghast at the unbelievable thing he had done.
Mana carries a disposition. That is true of everyone.
Which is why one trains their own magic by reinforcing their own Pattern—no sane person would create hundreds, no, thousands upon thousands of Scrolls using someone else's Pattern.
Doing so would ultimately contaminate one's own Mana Pattern, or allow the ideology inscribed in that Pattern to corrupt one's own Transcendence. It was something no one would do unless they were out of their mind.
And yet, he had done it?
Then by all logic, that person should have become something horrifyingly mixed—no longer Yujin Mastermage, but some grotesque hybrid of Yujin and Milé.
And yet. That was not the case.
Her senior was still her senior.
Come to think of it, she had once eavesdropped on a conversation between Master and her senior from long ago.
It had been a conversation about the disposition of Mana. Her senior had strongly insisted that Mana is nothing more than a force drifting through the atmosphere, and how it is used is entirely up to the caster. A shockingly bold claim to come from the senior who had always followed only Master's teachings to the letter.
In the end, Master and her senior had gone off to the Verification Chamber, and she didn't know what kind of verification had taken place—but the Master who emerged from that room hadn't been able to hold back her laughter for a full week.
At the time, Master had said this: What a genius madman. Truly, isn't he too dear. It had slipped out like an aside, but it must have been her true feelings.
Then how was such madness possible?
She felt like she could understand it now.
That person was simply loved.
As though he were the sole creation sculpted by a god—loved by Mana, blessed by talent, and that was simply that. The minuscule flicker of Mana's attention that others would beg and beg and beg to so much as graze, he received in hundreds of millions, quadrillions—no, beyond even that, simply as a matter of course.
There was a novel popular recently.
Like the youngest daughter of the Northern Grand Duke. Where a northern blizzard raged for everyone else, for him alone, Mana shone like a flower garden, an open meadow, a ray of sunlight.
"Monster…."
That was all Milé could say.
There was no other way to express it.
Her senior flung hundreds of Scrolls into the air. Using his unique magic, Spatial Control, all the Scrolls took flight simultaneously.
"These are Spatial Fixation spells made from your Mana Pattern—Milé. If you resist, I will have no choice but to tear all these Scrolls at once and attack you."
"If you're going to kill me…. At least kill me in one hit…. Dying to my own magic would be absurd…."
"I have no particular intention of killing you. However, I have a proposal."
"A proposal…?"
"Would you not become a traitor as well?"
"What is that supposed to mean all of a sudden?"
"To break free from Master's oppression. All you want is to do your research, eat sweets, and read novels when you're bored—isn't that all you want from life?"
Milé swallowed hard.
"How did you….?"
"I am your senior and your Martial Brother. I am also the one who exchanged the most opinions with you. Now. Become a traitor. Milé."
At last, Milé squeezed her eyes shut and gave a small nod.
"Understood…. I will betray. Master…."
Only then did Yujin smile faintly, approach Milé, and place a hand on her shoulder.
And he said quietly.
"You're planning to say that and then go report to Master, aren't you?"
"Ah, you caught me."
【Spatial Control】 【Forced】 【Subspace Transfer】 【Subspace Number 283】
Immediately after.
Milé's body vanished without a trace, and the hundreds of Scrolls that had been drifting in the air tumbled to the floor.
.
.
.
.
Yuna's group came to find me the following day.
From what I heard, the battle had moved them so deeply that they'd taken the kids out for a meal afterward and were late because of it.
Since it wasn't ideal to talk in the middle of the night, they had everyone stay over as-is, and came today.
"I'll cover the kids' meal costs."
"No! I'm a professor too! I have that much money!"
"I know very well what a provincial Academy professor's salary looks like. You overextended yourself, didn't you?"
"……."
"Let's split it."
"Thank you so much…."
Daisy, face flushed, accepted my offer to split the bill.
Anyway—three had gone but four had returned.
A rearguard named Hyacinth had been added to the group, and she was wearing the Demeter Academy uniform that Yuna and Silen had prepared in advance.
"Master! We won!"
"Yes. Good work."
"Ah…. It really was tough. It's been a while since I've felt genuinely taxed."
Saying that, she walked up in front of me and lightly held out her head.
I chuckled and ruffled her hair.
"Silen… Artre. That side of her is…."
"Mm…. Well. She only shows that side of herself in front of this guy, so you'll just have to endure it."
"Ugh…. Mmm…. Alright…."
And looking at the two of us was Silen, and…. Hyacinth.
"First, Silen. Good work. I heard about the fight. Playing the villain is hard."
"Nah. Rogues thrive on infamy as a kind of prestige…."
"High prestige doesn't heal what's hurting inside a person. Going forward, if something like this comes up, consult me first. You don't need to shoulder the pain alone."
"Yeah…."
Watching Silen's cheeks color faintly, Hyacinth wore an expression as though she trusted no one in this world. What was that about?
Regardless. A new companion had joined us.
"You're Hyacinth, I take it. I've never caught your full name. I'm Yujin Kalintz."
"H-Hyacinth Anemone…."
"A fine name. I've heard you're a lower-tier Wind Spirit Master. Remarkable achievement for your age."
"Th-thank you…. But, um, I don't quite know who Yujin Professor is…."
"I've been remiss in introductions. I am the Instructor of the Demeter Dungeon Special Conquest Unit, and simultaneously the proprietor of Yujin Snack Bar."
"Yujin Snack Bar…?"
Hyacinth, refusing to drop her guard to the very end.
Come to think of it, she was in the middle of enemy territory, and there was an adult man in the mix—it made sense she'd feel uneasy.
"Think of me as someone in the food business. Let's do some cooking today to celebrate your arrival as well. Is there a type of food you tend to prefer?"
"Y-yes…? Cooking…?"
"If you want it, I'll make anything. Within the ingredients I have on hand, of course."
"Th-then…. I'd like a dish made with bird meat….?"
“Well, that. That's the easiest order in the world.”
.
.
.
.
Hyacinth thought to herself.
Yujin Kalintz. What on earth is this person?
A food-person. A Snack Bar proprietor? She wasn't foolish enough to take that at face value.
"Master! Today's is really delicious again! What is this sweet syrup?"
"I took the peaches I got last time, reduced them down into jam, then crystallized it into something resembling sugar. Nice flavor, isn't it?"
"Yes!"
Yuna Linforce, who had worn the face of a Student Council President in yesterday's battle, was now wearing the face of a perfectly ordinary girl.
"Hey, Mister. I'm worn out from yesterday—rather than something chewy, I want something that goes down soft."
"How about Sujebi?"
"I think I'd rather have that than stew. Can I ask you to make it?"
"Easy enough. I've got broth already prepared."
"Thanks. I'm gonna rest for a bit…."
Silen Artre—the one who had stepped in to hold her back and said she would take on the infamy—even she was fully indulging in a childish sulk. In her girl mode, no less!
That was when Hyacinth understood.
This place was a pit trap. A swamp that swallowed women whole.
And that man…. He must be a very bad man, the sort who won over and swept up every woman he encountered through the medium of food.
She would not be fooled.
I, Hyacinth Anemone—I am not the kind of easy woman to be reeled in by food made by a man who just happens to have a somewhat decent face, and is kind of tall, and seems to be fairly well-built, and is good at cooking, and seems to run deep on the inside.
I came here as a transfer student, not to be toyed with!
"Hyacinth Anemone. Here's a chicken tenderloin steak. Will this do?"
"Hm? Y-yes…. Thank you for the meal."
Amid her resolution to absolutely not be swayed, she picked up her knife, took a bite—and the rich, full flavor that bloomed inside her mouth made her eyes go wide.
Top-tier…. was a word that didn't come close to covering it.
Her family was nouveau riche, so they occasionally dined on fine cuisine, but compared to this, even those meals amounted to street-stall food.
More than anything else—with every bite, a feeling like her body was asking for more, which could have been a delusion but wasn't. Her mind and soul were telling her: bring more.
"Just as I suspected. I was right, wasn't I? It's going down deliciously, isn't it?"
"W-what?!"
She yanked her knife back in an instant, and Hyacinth looked up at Yujin with trembling eyes. He was smiling.
What is this? Did he mix something into the steak? Something dangerous? Something that can't be put into letters?
"I heard you fought yesterday while prepared for a Mana Backdraft. I mixed a bit of Tranquil Herb into the steak sauce to help stabilize your Mana. I put in just enough not to ruin the taste—has your stomach settled a bit?"
"Ah, a-ah…. I-I see. Th-that makes sense. It has settled a great deal…."
"I'm glad. As Yuna said yesterday—don't get hurt. If things get hard, just fall. That is the privilege of children. Until you become an adult and learn to take responsibility for your own actions, being able to say it's hard when it's hard is a skill in itself. An adult who cares for you will catch you."
"What? Ah…. Y-yes. Th-thank you."
"That was a preachy thing for an adult to say. I'm sorry for saying it over your meal."
I would absolutely not be swayed.
That is the speech of a bad man who deceives women.
I am not a butterfly of a woman who would be caught by a man like that.
"Um…. Is there more steak…?"
"There is. Would you like more?"
"Y-yes…. Just half. Just half please…."
She was absolutely not that kind of easy woman—but the steak was delicious.