「Huh?」

Straf utters out, looking at the amazed old mage.

「That vortex! It was, wasn't it!?」

Corvus exclaims, standing up.

「Maybe? I didn't think much about how it works, I just use it to store stuff, like ice cream.」

「As I thought!…」

The headmaster says, looking wide-eyed at Straf, and pointing his wrinkly finger at him.

「…You guessed I'd put ice cream into it? Okay, I'm calling bullshit on that one.」

Straf replies while Corvus turns around and heads for his bookshelf in a hurried step. He searches for the right title for a few seconds, seemingly knowing where to look already, and pulls a thick tome out.

「…Unmistakable, the dimensional pocket may appear as a hole in space, or a vortex. Each dimension will be unique to the user, and hostile to all possible life…」

The headmaster reads out loud from the tome, focused on the text while returning back to Straf.

「…This tome is older than the Academy of Magic itself, Straf. Grand Magus Nerom theorized the existence of other planes, parallel with ours.」

Corvus adds, and adjusts his glasses by pinching them from the side, keeping his tome cradled in his arm.

「…So?」

Straf asks with his mouth scrunched, spreading his hands.

「He died mocked and ridiculed, but the naysayers choked on their words when he was proven right. Do you want to hear about the mana disparity theory?-」

Corvus asks, looking at Straf's tight-lipped grimace.

「No. Don't even think about boring me with that shit.」

Straf firmly rejects the offer, pointing at his thick spectacles.

「Erm, well… To greatly water things down… We estimated the total mana content in the world, and all the measurements were off. By just a little, but they were… This resulted in another theory.」

The headmaster closes the tome, and gently sets it down on his desk.

「This was the theoretical field of demonology. Of course, we were already studying demons, but his theory being proven right added a new facet to it. He essentially solved the mystery of the missing mana.」

Corvus says, and Straf rolls his eyes, silently spreading his arms in displeasure.

「I did not ask-」

「Since you are the Minister of Security and an incredible mage… Has Ms. Redwing told you about her family's magic?」

Corvus asks, disregarding his comment.

「…Yeah, she told me about the evil grimoire. What about it?」

Straf replies, after first letting out a large, frustrated sigh.

「Then you must know about its knowledge to summon demons within… At this point in time, it's an open secret. Only bits and pieces leaked through, in casual discussions with the king.」

「Can you get to the point?」

「What I am trying to say is, demons are highly energetic beings- Ah, I should first explain the difference between summoned-」

「I know, okay? There's demons like fiends and whatever that are native to this world, and then there's summoned demons that are a big deal, and big trouble.」

Straf interrupts Corvus, rolling his eyes with his arms spread again.

「Ahem… Yes, that is correct. In any case, demons are very reluctant to come to our world. Their plane is deadly to our life, but so is ours to theirs… They can be tempted with soul sacrifice. The grimoire covers that.」

The headmaster pinches his glasses again, and awkwardly adjusts them.

「The point being?…」

Straf asks, looking at him with a very exaggerated tight-lipped grimace.

「Well, my point was… Pocket dimensions were never truly confirmed. There were rumors of a ring that allowed the user to open one, some 200 years ago, but nobody knows what happened to it…」

Corvus explains, and Straf begins to intently rub his chin when he mentions a ring.

「Ah. It must be the one I gave to Lily. It was pretty worthless to me.」

Straf replies, shrugging his chin-rubbing hand, and places them in his pockets.

「What?- Lily? Who?…」

The headmaster furrows his bushy brows at Straf, and his mouth opens a little in confusion.

「Lily. My honorary harem member. The night baroness of the capital, or whatever…」

He explains, with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.

「The night baroness?… Ah. I've heard the capital has become a den of vampires, and it's all supposedly working out… But I did not expect you to be on first name basis with her. You found the ring?」

The old mage looks up and aside in heavy thought for a few seconds, before slowly piecing old information together. He turns his old eyes back to Straf as he asks.

「Think so. I gave it to her, since I was a little behind on gifts.」

Straf casually shrugs in response, looking up at the dark ceiling.

「Ahh… I should have expected someone like you to just give away an incredibly powerful artifact like that, like it's nothing… Recently, there was a large surge of them, but it stopped as soon it started.」

Corvus remarks with a dismissive wave of his wrinkly, bony hand.

「The point?」

Straf insistently asks.

「…Straf, you have quite casually verified a 200 years old theory. With your very own hands- Well… You understand what I mean.」

Corvus shrugs his hands, and adjusts his glasses.

「Okay. Cool. Not really, but alright. Can you show me the magic thing yet? And tell me where I am supposed to deliver the letter, or is that something I'm supposed to figure out on my own?」

Straf shrugs dismissively, and points his hand at the headmaster's door behind himself.

「Ah, yes. Please.」

The headmaster nods, and gestures his hand for Straf to follow while he heads to the door in a hurried step. They exit the office, and the headmaster shuts the door behind Straf…

…

Roughly twenty minutes later, in the entry foyer, at the bottom of the stairs…

「Good morning, headmaster.」「Headmaster.」「Good morning.」

The passing students greet Corvus, and he acknowledges them with a polite nod of his head. He leads Straf to the side of the stairs, through a narrow, dim passage. They exit at a seemingly rarely used hallway behind the stairs, and Corvus gestures Straf to continue following. They reach nearby spiral staircase, almost like the one in the dormitories, but this one only heads down. Corvus begins climbing down the stairs, with Straf following closely.

The sounds of Academy life fade as they descend further and further. Loud chatter, laughter and footsteps become mere indistinct background rustling. The two seemingly descend into a depth far greater than the Academy's height, but it's hard to tell with no point of relation, as they have not reached a single exit out of the stairwell despite Straf being quite sure they have made their way multiple floors down already.

「Ah… Finally…」

Corvus says with an out of breath voice, as he sees blue light flood through an arched doorway at the bottom. He walks through, leading Straf into a very dim, very long, and very raw-looking hallway. While the blue tiled floor has an interesting, colorful, decorative pattern upon it, it's very apparent that this is not the part of the Academy that the students are meant to see.

「…You can probably guess… Why I was reluctant to take you here…」

The headmaster breathes heavily, keeping one hand behind his back, and gesturing with the other.

「'Cause you're lazy?…」

Straf casually asks with a bored expression.

「Ahahahah… Please, Straf, have mercy… I am an old man, after all…」

Corvus laughs with a toothy grin and returns his other hand behind his back, refreshed by Straf's blunt lack of tact. They continue down the sparsely lit, almost industrial-looking hall.

「So, are you spending the self-study days with Ms. Lia?」

He asks, looking at Straf's shadow-wrapped face.

「Nope.」

「Hm? Straf, I thought I cautioned you-」

「Mind your own business, old man. I'm busy, and I'll have plenty of time to spend with her later.」

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He briefly glares at Corvus, before returning his bored eyes forward, though now tinged with frustration. An awkward silence begins, only interrupted by their footsteps.

「…Straf, there is no such thing as tempting fate. There are only consequences of things that you choose to do, and choose not to do. If you believe that by spending time with her-」

「Old man, I am cautioning you. Mind your own business.」

Straf glares at the headmaster, and stares. The two maintain eye contact while finally drawing near a large stone door at the end of the hallway.

「…Very well, Straf. But I, too, was reluctant to spend time with the people who were important to me, because I was too focused on work. I only realized that it was a mistake after I had made it.」

Corvus replies, likewise staring at Straf with a deathly serious expression on his face, unfazed by Straf's cold glare.

「Headmaster?… Is there a problem?」

A young mage standing by the stone door asks, lifting the brim of his hat slightly. The two break eye contact, and turn their gazes to him.

「No… No, there is no problem. Straf just wanted to inspect the barrier crystal.」

The headmaster explains, presenting Straf with his old hand.

「Uhhh-huuh…」

The mage nods his head, looking at Straf's bored face with eyes full of suspicion.

Krrrruunnnnnkkkkk…

He hesitantly turns around, and swipes his hand down a set of runes along the center of the door. Roughly half of them activate, and the stone splits, slowly moving aside like the Academy's main gate, but with a loud noise of stone scraping against stone. The mage then steps aside, and invites Straf and Corvus inside, bowing lightly.

「This… Is the Academy's barrier crystal. I'm sure you can tell by the size alone, that it is capable of withstanding quite a lot.」

Corvus says, pointing his hand at the large, wide crystal in the center of the room, at least twice the size of the old man in all dimensions. It's as white as milk, and very, very faintly translucent, only transparent enough to see the glowing channels running along the walls and the floor towards its base. In the center of the crystal, there is a very faint red glow. Almost invisible, very easy to miss, but it is definitely there, if only the viewer knows where to look. Straf walks up, and with his fists on his hips, sizes the crystal up along its height.

「What are all these channels? Something to do with mana, right?」

Straf asks, looking around the room. Shaped like a cylinder, many channels branch out of the crystal's stone base… Or perhaps they converge onto it, depending on the viewer. Each channel glows gold, some of them appear to pulse, and the pulsing appears to be at different frequencies. Up on the ceiling, there is also a round hole for the runic automata to traverse through, but it remains unused at the moment.

「Correct. They are all connected to mana transfer crystals, so that the crystal can be continuously filled without the need to descend all the way here.」

Corvus nods, gesturing with his hand as he explains, pointing his hand at one of the channels, and leading it all the way to the base of the crystal.

「Say, why is it all the way down here? Wouldn't it be more convenient to have it in your office, or something?」

Straf rubs his chin, furrowing his brows at the crystal.

「Hohoho… Of course it would be.」

「So why not?」

「Because one mishap would vaporize the entire Academy along with everyone inside.」

Corvus calmly explains, shrugging his shoulder.

「What the fuck!? Are you sure the juice is worth the squeeze? Do you really feel comfortable sitting on something like this?」

Straf's gaze snaps to Corvus, and he points his hand to the crystal in surprise.

「Well, you asked why it's underground… The Academy needs a barrier to be defensible, but as you know, the crystal of this size is dangerous, resistor crystal or not…」

The headmaster continues his nonchalant explanation, gesturing with his hand once again.

「…And so, we thought that the safest solution would be to place it deep underground. If something were to happen, we are hoping that the casualties would be minimal.」

He shrugs, and spreads his hands.

「Minimal!? Not zero!?」

Straf asks with an outraged, lightly amused grin.

「Zero… Is the extremely unlikely, and best case scenario. There is no elegant solution to this, Straf. It is simply a risk we have to live with. Being a mage, and the risk of sudden death goes hand in hand.」

Corvus casually explains, glancing at Straf before he looks at the crystal with him. Straf sighs, and briefly looks over the crystal again.

「…So I am guessing the ominous red glow is not normal?」

「Hm. Very perceptive, Straf… You are correct. Normally, there is a faint white shine within. Sometimes it may even appear as lightly blue… Those are normal fluctuations. Red is not.」

The headmaster nods in reply, and shrugs his shoulders.

「Say, what would happen if the crystal would just disappear?」

Straf asks, glancing at the old mage.

「Disappear? Like into a dimensional pocket?… Well… For a few seconds, nothing. And then we'd die.」

Corvus explains, once again completely unfazed by the presented scenario.

「Tsk… Man, all the easy solutions are off the table, huh?」

Frustrated, Straf clicks his tongue at the crystal.

「Believe me, Straf… If it were easy, we would have already solved the problem.」

「So, summing up… If it gets destroyed, everyone dies. If it runs out of mana, everyone dies. If it disappears, everyone dies… If I kill the guy responsible, everyone dies too, huh?」

He says as he enumerates on his fingers, and lets out a large, tired sigh.

「Well… Not if he'd unlink the barrier. Right now, the crystal acts to support the caster, but if he were to unlink it, the crystal would take over entirely.」

Corvus shrugs, waving small circles with his hand as he explains.

「Hey, could you not kill everyone in the Academy? Pretty please.」

Straf says with an overdone, sarcastic tone, and lets out another sigh. The two stare at the crystal in a moment of contemplative silence.

「Hey, I've been thinking…」

Straf says, after a lengthy period of staring at the crystal deep in thought.

「Yes?」

「I am the only one unaffected by the curse, right?…」

「Correct.」

Corvus nods his head, glancing at him.

「…And that's because I'm not a student, not a professor, and not otherwise a worker in the Academy… Right?」

「Correct, Straf.」

「Right… Is it possible that whoever messed with the crystal then bolted to the city?」

He asks, looking at the old mage.

「No, definitely not. If it is of any consolation, the perpetrator must be still on the premises. The barrier would not make an exception for him.」

The headmaster shakes his head, brushing through his beard with his fingers.

「I figured… So, my question is…」

Straf nods while looking at the crystal.

「…Are we just assuming that whoever did it wants to kill himself as well?」

He asks, looking at Corvus. The old mage gently furrows his bushy brows, and turns his gaze back to the crystal.

「Hmm… Indeed… That is a logical leap we assumed…」

The headmaster nods slowly, grimacing a little.

「So, what I am thinking is… And don't point fingers at me for it…」

Straf says, pointing his finger at the old man's face, before returning his hand back to his hip.

「…What if he's like me?」

He asks while staring at the crystal, and glances at Corvus once again.

「Not a student, not a professor, and not a simple laborer?…」

Corvus asks, slowly stroking his beard in deep thought.

「Yup. That'd make him immune to the curse, right? He could take his sweet time waiting for everyone to croak.」

Straf nods, and Corvus lowers his head, briefly pausing his beard-brushing.

「Hm… Hm.」

「You sound like you haven't thought about that.」

「The thought did cross my mind, but that was when I was thinking about you… I have to admit, I did not think about it while taking you out of the equation…」

The headmaster resumes his beard-stroking, while slowly and gently nodding his head over and over.

「Food for thought. Are you satisfied now, Straf? Can we return?」

He adds, shrugging his wrinkly hand, and turns his gaze to Straf's bored face.

「Yeah… If we can't break it, can't take it, and can't shake it… Guess there's nothing for me here.」

Straf shrugs, and turns for the door, walking out first. With his hands behind his back, Corvus leisurely follows him out…