Chapter 104 : Chapter 104
Volume 2
Chapter 28 : Vote
“It seems we have been hiding in this sunless underground for far too long. A great many developments in the outside world have already passed us by.”
The stern-faced old man sighed. “Something major must have happened—something we do not know about.”
“That old man Prang seems to know something, but he will not tell me. From the looks of it, it is because of some kind of silence pact again.” Professor Gran shrugged.
“If Prang knows, then it does not matter. He has his own sense of measure, and as for us old fossils with one foot already in the coffin, even if we did know, there is nothing we could do about it.”
“How carefree.” Professor Gran let out a habitual whistle.
“Hmph. I have no desire to make myself even more miserable right before I settle down for my eternal sleep.”
With a cold laugh, the old man turned to Professor Gran and asked:
“So, you dragged all of us out here. Do not tell me it was just to catch up with a bunch of old men about to be buried.”
“I would like to catch up, but now does not seem to be the time.”
Professor Gran rarely looked this serious.
“I called all of you here for one matter only.
—Should we wake that one up?”
“...”
As Professor Gran’s words fell, the dim room sank into silence.
The only sound that remained was the wheezing, bellows-like breathing of a certain old man.
It seemed that everyone was seriously considering the weight contained in those four light-sounding words: wake that one up.
After a long while, it was the stern-faced old man who finally broke the silence with a sigh.
“Has the academy truly reached this point?”
“Who says it has not?”
Professor Gran looked out the window.
At that moment, the twelve high towers had only just risen, driving the entire academy firmly back into the earth.
“With the protection of the second layer of the grand ritual, combined with Prang’s own strength, one could say that unless His Holiness the Pontiff personally arrived bearing the scepter, probably no one could match him. But in the end, the enemy is not human.”
Professor Gran could not help sighing as well.
“Two evil gods have joined forces to launch an assault on the academy, and one of them has even descended with part of its true body. Nothing like this has ever been recorded in the academy’s thousand-year history. So leaving aside whether Prang can win over there, we must prepare a second plan—or rather, prepare for the worst.”
“What about calling for help?”
Someone suddenly spoke up.
“This is Belland, after all. There are quite a few powerful figures here, and the imperial palace cannot possibly sit by and do nothing.”
“A good thought.”
Professor Gran snapped his fingers. “But, Professor, have you noticed one problem?”
“What problem?”
“They are too slow. If reinforcements were really coming, they would take far too long.”
Professor Gran said:
“How far is this place from Belland? How far is it from the imperial palace? And how fast can a Crowned One travel? Or do you think all those powerful figures are blind to a disturbance of this scale? I did a rough calculation. From the moment Belland’s top experts noticed something strange here to the moment they arrived to investigate, it should take at most three to five minutes. But how much time has already passed now? The fact that there is still no movement at all can only mean...”
Professor Gran raised his head and stared at the blue moon slowly drawing nearer in the heavens above.
“The entire academy has likely been sealed off by that one. In other words, asking for help was never an option from the very beginning.”
“That sounds rather hopeless.”
After a brief silence, the stern-faced old man lowered his eyes, as though he had reached a decision.
“Then there is nothing left to hesitate over. The usual rule—let us vote. Those in favor of waking that one up... raise your hand.”
The stern-faced old man was the first to raise his hand.
Then Professor Gran.
After that, one withered arm after another slowly rose into the air.
“Then the number in favor... is sixteen.”
Professor Gran gave the room a rough glance and immediately saw that aside from the professor who had just spoken, everyone had raised a hand.
“I still think this is inappropriate.”
That professor sighed.
“It is too cruel for that one.”
“But if we do not wake that one at a time like this, then when that one wakes up later and finds that the academy has already been destroyed, that one will definitely be furious, will they not?”
A bitter smile appeared on the stern-faced old man’s face, as if he had recalled some rather unpleasant scenes from the distant past.
“I have no desire to be scolded bloody by that one ever again.”
“In that case, it is settled. There is no point agonizing over it.”
Professor Gran clapped his hands, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Then the second question—who is going to wake that one up?”
“...”
The moment Professor Gran finished speaking, the room fell silent once more.
But this time, it was different. In the midst of everyone’s silence, Professor Gran felt more than a dozen gazes land on him in perfect unison.
“...You are not seriously planning to make me do it, are you?” Professor Gran’s cheek twitched.
“Who else?”
The stern-faced old man raised a brow.
“You are the only one here whose legs still work halfway properly.”
“There is a lift that goes straight to that room, damn it! I am asking you to go wake someone up, not run a marathon!”
Professor Gran roared, “I only just finished evacuating all the students, and I even risked my life to rescue some perverted naked man, and now you want me to do something this dangerous too? Where is your conscience?”
“Ah, well, about that, ahem...”
The stern-faced old man coughed twice as his gaze wandered, then suddenly clutched his leg and cried out:
“No good, my old rheumatism is acting up. I cannot move.”
“But has your rheumatism not always been in your left leg? Why are you holding your right leg?”
“...It... spread recently?”
“Rheumatism is not an athlete's foot, you bastard!”
Professor Gran turned to the others. “And what about you? Is all your rheumatism acting up too?”
“...Ah, my back just gave out.”
“My hemorrhoids are flaring up...”
“A slipped disc...”
“My granddaughter is being too naughty. I need to go teach her a lesson...”
Under Professor Gran’s stunned gaze, a group of old professors who normally could barely even walk all began scattering like frightened birds, each shouting out some ailment of his own as he fled.
Yet Professor Gran had never even heard of half those ailments before, especially the one who claimed his granddaughter was being naughty.
Your granddaughter is already well over sixty, all right?
The professors dispersed with astonishing speed.
A few professors who truly could not move much quietly pulled coffins out of their storage spaces, quietly lay down inside them, and then, under Professor Gran’s speechless gaze, quietly closed the lids over themselves.
“...”
At last, in the cold and silent room, only Professor Gran remained, caught between grief and fury.
“So now that Prang is not here, I am the unlucky bastard who has to do everything, is that it?”
“No. I cannot be that unlucky bastard. With that one’s terrible temper right after waking up, who knows what will happen to me if I go wake them? I need to find some other unlucky bastard to take my place.”
“Hm? Speaking of unlucky bastards...”
Professor Gran stroked his chin as though he had just thought of something, and his expression gradually brightened.
“I think I may have an excellent choice.”
...
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