Twenty minutes later, in the dim hallway above leading to the headmaster's office…

「That's kind of fucked up.」

Straf remarks, climbing up the last step into the dim hallway with his hands in his pockets. He takes a few steps ahead to its center, then stops, turning his head to the side towards the headmaster's first door.

《It is a sad, sad story… Not everyone gets a happy ending.》

Athea agrees with a sullen tone.

「Is that it then? The full story?」

He asks, slothfully turning towards the door, heading to it with slow, stroll-like steps.

《I omitted some small details… But that was everything pertinent, yes. In the end, he died guilt-ridden. He never shared the secret with anyone. Not even their children.》

「Just two people who could have been a lot nicer to each other, and a really nice girl stuck between them, huh?… Sounds almost like a romcom, if not for the murder.」

He shrugs, staring at the door ahead with a bored expression on his face.

《Can I ask why you wanted me to tell you about them? I am guessing you are interested in knowing how the curse came to be.》

「Nhhh… Meh. I don't really care… I wanted to know why the guy was so viciously angry. I figured I wasn't getting the full picture.」

Straf replies, glancing up at the dark ceiling. The runic automata continue running along the wall as if nothing happened in the past two months, and it is business as usual.

《…Thank you.》

Athea says after a long pause when he closes in on the door.

「What for?」

Straf asks, looking up with his brows lightly furrowed in confusion.

《For saving everyone.》

She replies in a calm, genuine voice strongly reminiscent of when he first saw her.

「Yeah… Saved you a lot of work, huh?」

Straf scoffs, grinning a little as he looks at the ceiling while holding onto the door handle in the ominous hallway.

《It's not about that… It would have been hard to watch, seeing so many lives cut short ahead of their time. You prevented a tragedy of an immense scale. Thank you.》

Athea explains, speaking softly.

「Hm… Now that I think about it…」

He hums, lowering his head, looking at the door handle with a thoughtful, vacant gaze.

「…This is the first time I've heard anyone thank me for this shit. I guess when a caped asshole shows up to save the day yet again everyone is like,「Oh Capeman, great timing!」but no one actually thanks him.」

Straf remarks, looking up at the ceiling, and pushes down on the handle. He walks into the narrow entryway, and heads for the headmaster's office.

「…I don't care if I don't get my ass kissed. That's not why I did it」

He adds, reaching for the office door proper. It opens, and Straf nonchalantly walks in. Corvus lifts his head up and adjusts his glasses, looking at him.

「Straf. I was waiting.」

「I know. I was keeping you waiting.」

Grinning, he walks up to the oaken desk with his hands in his pockets. When he reaches it, Corvus points his hand at the visitor's chair in silence with a light nod.

「…Great. It's one of the long ones, huh?」

Straf sucks the air through his teeth in frustration, then pulls the chair out and sits down with a large, exasperated sigh. His boots thud on the desk as he nonchalantly places them upon it.

「There have been some developments overnight… Some of them good, some of them not so… Some mixed. First, I will tell you about the ones most important to you and the queen…」

Corvus says, interlocking his fingers as he speaks with a serious face. Straf shrugs, crossing his arms and listening with his mouth aslant.

「…I had no choice but to call for the Federation's battlemages. They will arrive either tomorrow or the day after that, and search for the vampire. I suspect he fled, but we must be certain.」

The old mage continues, and explains.

「Yeah, he did.」

Straf chimes in, shrugging.

「I believe so as well… Straf, I had to explain the full circumstances of why and how things happened. I mentioned Queen Cycelia, as well as you in the message. The grimoire, too…」

Corvus says, apologetically spreading his hands as his bushy brows furrow.

「So you ratted on us? After all this?」

Straf says calmly, albeit with a hint of outraged disbelief in his voice.

「Please allow me to explain…」

The headmaster points his palms towards him, placating Straf.

「…I had to explain the situation regarding Diebin, the wraith, and the vampire. I had to mention you, and in extension, Queen Cycelia. Hiding her from the Federation any longer would've been a mistake.」

Corvus says, interlocking his fingers once more.

「If they try something funny-」

「No. I will not allow them. The Federation is also not so brash and perfidious as to try and extend their undue influence over the students. I may answer to the Federation, but the Academy answers to me alone.」

Cutting Straf off, he raises his hand again, lightly shaking his head before explaining.

「Rest assured, Queen Cycelia has no need to worry while on the Academy's grounds. Of course, I have also mentioned your efforts, and that she personally saved a fellow student.」

With a nod of his head, the headmaster asserts.

「They better. Show them the dead guy as a sample.」

Straf scoffs, looking at the old mage with a mildly displeased face.

「They will, in fact, take a look at Diebin to confirm his identity. I know it was him, but there must be certainty…」

Corvus says, and adjusts his glases as he clears his throat.

「…May I ask what happened to the queen's grimoire?」

He asks, interlocking his hands with his brows furrowed. Straf's gaze drifts upwards…

…

Earlier today, in the morning, in Cycelia's room…

Cycelia swings the top of her baggage open. A dark, leather-bound tome with a blank cover has joined the rest within the pile. She takes the book for Professor Aria's class in hand, sets it down on her bed, then glances at Straf's contemplative face as he's lying on his bed with his arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling blankly. She looks back at the grimoire, and reluctantly pulls it out.

「Straf…」

She meekly calls out, hugging the dark tome.

「Yeah?…」

He asks, his attention now turned to her nervous, tight-lipped grimace. She's staring at the grimoire with her emerald eyes.

「…Could I ask you to do a little favor for me, if it's not a problem?」

Cycelia says, and lifts her gaze up to meet his. With a grunt, Straf sits up and scoots over to the edge of his bed.

「Hnpf!… I do favors for everyone all the time… What do you need?」

He spreads his hands, and they return to his knees with a loud pat. She glances at her grimoire again, then reluctantly pulls it away from her chest.

「…Can you hold onto this for me? In your whirly thing, so no one else can see it?」

Cycelia asks, holding out the thick grimoire with its blank cover towards Straf.

「Sure-」

「Will you return it when we're back?」

She quickly pulls the tome away before Straf's reaching hand can grasp it, staring at him with big green eyes, her brows furrowed, and her lips tightly pressed together in a very anxious expression.

「Yeah.」

He nonchalantly shrugs.

「Promise?…」

「Lia, I don't need your evil book. What do you think I'll do with it? Summon an army of demons?…」

Straf sighs, looking at her pretty face with his mouth scrunched to the side.

「…A half of one is already too much for me to handle.」

He grumbles under his breath, looking aside at the leaky window. She lets out a troubled sigh, turning her eyes back to the grimoire.

「Then…」

Cycelia meekly utters out, then hesitantly holds her family's demon summoning tone out for Straf again. He looks at her in silence for a moment, then glances at the tome before looking at her some more.

He slowly takes the heavy tome into his hand and throws it into [Portable Storage] without any fanfare, then spreads his arms.

「There. It's probably in the safest place in the world right now.」

Straf announces, and drops his hands back down to his thighs with his mouth aslant.

「Yes… Thank you, Straf. That's a large load off my mind, at least for now.」

Cycelia nods her chestnut head a little as her nervous grimace turns into a faint smile.

「That's what I do, Lia, I like to large loads upon myself… If we spend enough time together, maybe you'll like to take large loads as well.」

「I wish… I wish I had the fraction of the force of will you have, Straf… But one day, even if I'd struggle, I want to take on any load you might have, Straf.」

She replies with an earnest, determined gaze and places her loose fist on her large chest.

「…I will keep that in mind.」

《…For a long time.》

Straf says, nodding his head as Cycelia begins to slip her boots on…

…

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Straf lowers his gaze and meets it with Corvus.

「…None of your business.」

Straf replies, scrunching his mouth to the side

「No, of course, I understand… But…」

Corvus nods, adjusting his glasses, then lets out a troubled groan.

「…The Mage Federation is upset about the queen's actions against it, however, given that she is in possession of the legendary Redwing grimoire… There may be a way to pacify the Federation.」

「And that is? Summon a demon and sic it at them?」

Straf asks, scoffing. Corvus clicks his tongue, and summons all remaining strength in his body to avoid rolling his eyes. He only partially succeeds.

「A trade, Straf. The Federation took it upon itself to remove dangerous items and knowledge from circulation. The grimoire definitely counts, and I am certain they'd be willing to forgive her in return.」

「Hold on, you want Lia to give up her fucking grimoire so a bunch of old uppity bearded fuckers who can only send angry letters will stop being upset at her?」

Straf raises his index finger, narrowing his eye at Corvus. He shakes his head in response with his hand raised.

「…The Federation can do much worse than send strongly worded letters, Straf. In fact, being unwilling to cooperate with them may only exacerbate the matter. It could be seen as shirking the Federation.」

The headmaster says as he interlocks his fingers again.

「Well, if they send a whole pile of them, I have just the thing ready. Let them come.」

Straf scoffs with a grin on his face. Corvus lets out a large, exasperated sigh.

「…Now, the developments following… Straf, after the fires were extinguished, the professors discovered a magic circle concealed beneath a pile of tomes… The few surviving ones, at least…」

The old man continues, looking at Straf's face as the grin slowly fades back into an expression of boredom.

「It-」

「One that does some mana shit to the air?」

Straf cuts in, raising his brow.

「…Yes. How did you know?」

Corvus narrows his eyes in surprise, and adjusts his glasses.

「A little dyslexiac bird told me.」

Straf nonchalantly replies, shrugging with his hands before crossing his arms again. Further confused, the old mage shakes his head a little.

「…In any case, that was the first discovery. Next, when another group of professors were verifying that the Academy grounds can now be safely departed from, they discovered an enormous magic circle.」

He continues, interlocking his fingers once more.

「For demon summoning?」

Straf casually blurts out. The headmaster's face turns lightly angered, and very concerned.

「Straf, did you know about the circle and were hiding it from me?」

「Nope. But you were hiding things from me too, so that would be fair play, wouldn't it?」

Straf asks, shrugging his shoulders. The old man's anger quickly dissipates, and his concern turns into a guilty, apologetic look on his face instead.

「…Indeed, I did not share everything I should have had.」

Corvus nods, staring blankly at his desk in silence for a few seconds, before snapping out of his sullen daze. He turns his eyes back to Straf.

「The circle was extremely well hidden. They found it by pure accident, when one of them tripped and ruined its masking. It's entirely possible we would have never found it otherwise…」

The headmaster continues explaining after a quick sigh.

「…It was laid just outside the barrier. There is no chance this was done during the daytime, and no chance it was done before the barrier was subverted. This must mean the vampire did the work setting it up.」

「What makes you think that?」

「This was far too much work for one man to do in a span of maybe three nights, Straf, but a vampire could do this with ease. A massive circle spanning the entire Academy grounds…」

Corvus replies, brushing his beard in deep thought as his gaze drifts down.

「…I shudder to think what would happen if he were to succeed in his plan. An archmage, a wraith, a vampire, and nearly a demon… Truly the demon lord's roundtable.」

He adds, and lets out a troubled sigh as he places his hands back down on the heavy oaken desk.

「Wait, that asshole was an archmage?」

Straf asks, furrowing his brows.

「Indeed. Not only was he an archmage, it was I who gave him that rank some decades ago. I was still just a professor. It was over a scholarly argument, Diebin insisted there are small objects in the aether…」

Corvus nods and stands up, heading up to his window as he speaks.

「…Naturally, that sounded like nonsense. If there were, I surely would have seen them by then. Largely aided by his studies, Diebin created an entirely new spell to summon one of these objects.」

He continues, looking at the sky above the city with a pensive gaze.

「Aetherstone, was it?」

Straf says, looking at him with his mouth aslant.

「Yes… It works almost like a teleportation spell, but it retains momentum. It opens a tunnel between two points in space. Due to the large speeds involved, it only has to be open for an instant…」

Corvus looks over his shoulder at Straf, nodding. He turns around, and slowly, gingerly begins descending.

「…Of course, that is a tremendous distance for mana to cross. Diebin handled that by having the spell heavily limited in what it seeks out in the aether…」

He says, and sits back down, swiveling to Straf.

「…Everyone was stunned when he proved his theory. Myself included. An immensely difficult, but demonstrably replicable spell. I became the headmaster, and declared him an archmage soon after that.」

「So he summoned a fucking rock from space, and he didn't become the headmaster right away?」

Straf asks, scoffing with amused disbelief on his face.

「No. Everyone was stunned, but no one except me was willing to acknowledge the magnitude of his discovery. I think this frustrated Diebin more than anything else…」

The headmaster shakes his head as he replies, then turns his eyes aside, thinking again.

「…It was a silly argument in the cafeteria with low stakes, and he proved me wrong in the most spectacular manner possible… And yet, no one recognized him for it, except his rival who rose in rank before him.」

「Little arguments that don't really matter is what gets people to write entire dissertations on the internet…」

Straf scoffs, smirking aside at the bookshelves.

「Hm?…」

Corvus tilts his head a little, furrowing his brows.

「…Diebin has always created spells on a whim. Some were more impressive and useful than others, but I was always amazed by the pace. I've heard the door to the earthen room was locked, did you find a key?」

「Nope. The key isn't here.」

Shrugging his shoulders and grimacing a little, Straf replies.

「I see… The door was locked, yet he placed Professor Arkeis there after he murdered him. The door was undamaged…」

The headmaster nods, brushing through his beard again as he thinks while staring at his desk.

「…Diebin was also not the type of person to learn lockpicking. It would not be beyond him at all to create a spell to lock and unlock doors. He also somehow came up with a way to subvert our barrier…」

Corvus says, and pulls his hand away from his beard, interlocking his fingers with a troubled face.

「…A knowledge he'll likely take to his grave. That being mentioned… Straf, there will be a funeral tomorrow. I'd like you to come. You don't have to, of course, but…」

He adds, and looks up at Straf's bored face with a slanted mouth upon it.

「A funeral?」

Straf says, slowly raising his brows.

「Yes… Funerals, I should say… For Professor Arkeis, since he has no known living family, for Diebin after we verify his identity, since that's the case with him too… And for the mystery skeleton.」

Corvus explains with a sigh.

「Uh, yeah, about that… The skeleton is the guy who took the key.」

Straf replies, spreading his hands with a tight-lipped grimace.

「Hm?… You think?… I believe his name was…」

The old man asks, looking aside as he tries to recall the name from the records.

「Lawrence.」

Straf says with his arms crossed, looking at Corvus with a serious expression.

「Hm?- That's right…」

The headmaster's eyes snap to him, and his brows furrow in a moment of realization.

「…But how do you know for sure it's him? He could have locked someone in there.」

Corvus asks, looking at Straf with wary, narrowed eyes.

「His buddy murdered him after a duel. Threw him right down the stairs and locked him to die there with his own key.」

Straf nonchalantly replies with a shrug of his shoulders. The old man's face grows deeply troubled, and his eyes dart intermittently from Straf to the desk while in deep thought.

「I think I've read something about a spat with his friend in his records… But I've never mentioned that… Or shown you the archival student records…」

Corvus says, straightening out from his hunchbacked slouch as he places his interlocked hands on his lap, staring at Straf with an extremely confounded and concerned expression.

「…How do you know this, Straf? That would explain why his spine was shattered, why the key is missing, and why he was there to begin with… But how?」

He asks while they maintain eye contact.

「I deduced it from the subtle hints in the expression of an old headmaster's portrait.」

Straf replies with a smug smirk.

「What? Really?-」

Corvus shoots forward, leaning onto the desk in stunned disbelief.

「No, I'm obviously fucking with you. How would that even work?…」

Scoffing with his hands spread, Straf replies with an incredulous expression on his face. The old man's shoulders slump, and he leans back in his chair.

「How, then?」

「The answer is somewhere in between it was revealed to me in a dream and the voices in my head told me, so I'm not going to tell you shit. I don't really care if you believe me or not.」

Straf says grinning a little with his arms crossed.

「Hmff… So it's a well-educated guess?…」

Corvus asks, looking almost disappointed, and his tone matching his face.

Donnnggggggggggggg… Gonnnnnnnngggggg… Donnnnnnnnnggggggg…

The heavy bell tolls, signaling the end of the free period.

「Great. I've spent here long enough-」

「Straf, wait!…」

Corvus says, stopping Straf as he drops his boots back to the ground and prepares to stand up. He turns his eyes to the old man, raising his brows inquisitively.

「…Before you go, would you listen to my theory about how all of this happened, then tell me if it sounds reasonable?」

The headmaster asks, leaning forward with his fingers interlocked. Straf looks at the door over his shoulder and wriggles in his chair, visibly hesitating, but then throws his hands up and remains seated…