EP.167 The Freshman Who Calls Forth a Storm (1)
As Ayla strolls through the chilly corridor, she becomes lost in thought. What comes to mind is a phrase she encountered in a book.
“Encounters are unexpected.”
“Incidents are also encounters.”
“They come unexpectedly.”
It was a line she cherished.
People live intertwined with each other. Like threads getting knotted and tangled, people become intertwined with others. It’s within those knots that incidents tend to occur.
“Oh, Master!”
“There you are, Lac.”
For instance, there’s the woman, trying too hard to feign calmness while hiding her emotions of delight, and the boy who easily forgets the trivial things.
“Master and Disciple.”
A bond created through serendipitous encounters.
It must not have been smooth sailing to establish the connection of master and disciple. There must have been many incidents for two mismatched individuals to call each other master and disciple.
“Thank you for accompanying me, Princess Ayla.”
“Don’t mention it. Have a good time.”
She waves goodbye as they walk away, bickering down the corridor. Ayla watch them for a while. The relationship of disciple and master is rather enviable.
“Serendipity”
All meetings in the world are coincidental.
From serendipitous encounters, coincidental relationships sprout. For some, a master, for others, a disciple; for some, a companion—all born from coincidence.
Relationships are built that way.
In unexpected places, suddenly and by coincidence.
“That’s just how it is.”
Most people live life like that.
But Ayla was different.
For the Fourth Princess, Ayla, there are no serendipitous encounters. She grew up in an environment where they could not exist. The place she occupies does not allow her variables.
“If luck comes from serendipitous encounters…”
Then there’s also misfortune that comes from them.
Those sitting in high positions—which means, those who consider themselves precious—tend to become conservative. Especially if they come from the bloodline of the most noble royal family in the land.
Ayla has lived under strict control.
Controlled, calculated, and meetings happen under rigorous verification. There’s no room for coincidence to interfere. A life without chance is tedious.
She walks down a predetermined path.
Just… walking.
A path lined with high walls on both sides. There’s no way to look around. Since she can’t see another path, she has no way to compare whether this path is right or wrong with another. Just following someone else’s orders.
But.
“Every now and then, there are exceptions.”
Ayla reaches out.
“People who break down the high walls and force their way onto the path.”
She grasps the doorknob and pulls.
Click, the door opens.
“So,”
Creek, the sound of wind blows in.
A breeze comes in, tousling her hair.
Swish.
Ayla’s platinum hair sparkled under the lazy afternoon sun. As she brushed her shining platinum locks, she whispered someone’s name.
“Hello.”
Her second coincidence.
“Professor Rania.”
The person who broke down the wall and unexpectedly appeared on her path. Looking at the ashen-haired professor, Ayla smiles.
“It feels like it’s been a while.”
Hiding her wavering emotions.
Feigning calmness, she smiled.
—
2.
I stared silently at the desk.
On the desk lay a letter. It was sealed with the crimson rose emblem dusted with gold powder. Tap, tap, I drummed my fingers on the table.
Tap, and again tap.
With that, I let out a short breath and leaned my head back.
“…What the hell is this?”
The letter Ayla had delivered to me moments ago in the infirmary. She had simply handed me the letter and left, looking rather rushed.
‘Well, I brought it over.’
Mana Trading Studies Professor’s Office.
I stared intently at the letter resting on my table. I couldn’t grasp its intent.
“This is a letter from the First Princess.”
I recognized that emblem.
And that was the problem. I took out the magical item linked to the First Princess from my belongings.
‘Why send a letter through Princess Ayla instead of using this?’
She had received a magical item that allowed for immediate responses. Why go through the trouble of sending a letter via Princess Ayla? This didn’t seem like something Princess Lruiel would bother with.
“…Huh?”
And then, at that moment.
I felt an odd discomfort again.
‘What’s going on?’
I squinted my eyes. The state of the magical item was strange. The flow of mana, which was supposed to connect us instantly, was shattered. But it wasn’t my end that was broken.
‘It’s the recipient side.’
That means, there’s something wrong with the magical item Lruiel would have.
“…”
My pupils narrowed slightly.
I shifted my gaze to the letter on the desk and reached for it. I needed to check the contents.
Rip.
I broke the seal on the letter. From within, a single slip of paper fell out. I unfolded it.
“Be wary.”
The letter began with a warning.
A classic start for Lruiel, who always gets straight to the point.
“I hope you understand that I have to deliver this in ‘this way’ as I am in a very tricky situation.”
A brief situational explanation.
“I have something to convey to you, Professor, thus I left this letter.”
I lowered my gaze.
My eyes quickly moved along as I pursued the next sentence.
“The First Prince, Izak, has made a move.”
“My brother has taken an interest in Apuria Academy. More precisely, he’s probably focused on the newly emerged Hero candidate and… Ayla, who is enrolled there.”
The First Prince, Izak.
I had heard quite a bit about that prince through Lruiel. A twisted character, paranoid.
‘…The prince is targeting Apuria?’
I tilted my head.
It seemed like Lruiel had written a weighty letter, but… It didn’t feel that serious to me.
‘What does he intend to do with that interest?’
A serious question.
Was he planning to engage in some royal family political drama at Apuria? Hmm, that wasn’t particularly pleasant. This place isn’t a stage for power struggles; it’s where students are honed.
“My brother will use various means.”
“He’ll gladly invest whatever forces he can, and while I can’t really guess what his objective is… it seems futile to suppose that it’s for a normal purpose.”
Various means; I mentally calculated the forces the First Prince could command.
‘At best, the royal knight order and the Hound, maybe?’
Still, nothing troublesome.
“Of course, I trust your skills.”
And Lruiel had to know that. She had seen me rummaging through the royal quarters up close.
“My brother might churn out all sorts of plans, but he also knows it’s meaningless in front of you. Yet, I still warn you.”
Yet, she warned me.
“My brother has called a certain individual to the royal capital.”
Who could that individual be?
It was right there in the next sentence. I shifted my gaze to it. My eyes were locked onto a sentence.
“Madman, Kelharlem.”
A name of a superhuman appeared on the letter.
—
3.
“Madman, Kelharlem.”
The last mage of a fallen nation.
Once a sage, but having reached for something he could not handle, he became the “Madman.”
Madman, Kelharlem.
A mage who reached the level of superhuman.
“I dislike Heroes.”
“I dislike not just Heroes. I loathe everything related to the stars.”
“Stars, Heroes, the Demon Lord, the calamity of the four; they all disgust me. I detest every existence that is not human. It nauseates me to the point of madness.”
And.
“Non-human beings should not exist in this land.”
The one who loathes the stars more than anyone.
“He is heading towards Apuria.”
He is coming here.
I slowly raised my hand to cover my mouth. I tapped my chin lightly, opening my mouth. What slipped out was merely a question. A simple question.
“How?”
What caught my attention wasn’t the name Madman Kelharlem; it was the part about the First Prince summoning Kelharlem to the royal capital. I couldn’t comprehend that sentence.
‘Why would someone like him come when called?’
Madman, Kelharlem.
Why would he be called a madman?
He had placed various constraints upon himself to control the madness he gained. He acted according to the behavioral patterns he had imposed upon himself.
‘And as far as I know…’
One of those patterns was not to step off the battlefield. He had bound himself to war. He was aware of himself being a madman.
‘What could the First Prince have done?’
I had no idea what means the First Prince used. I also didn’t know why he would summon Kelharlem to the royal capital and send him to Apuria.
All I knew was one thing.
“…This is not good.”
The arrival of Madman Kelharlem in Apuria was definitely not a good thing. Given my knowledge of his behavioral patterns, the situation felt alarmingly serious.
“I hate Heroes.”
“If I could kill the Gletus, the next to die would be you, Kyle. You Heroes.”
“There’s no need for beings that aren’t human in this world. All things related to the loathsome stars should perish.”
Just before he let go of all constraints and fell into madness.
At that fleeting moment, Kelharlem had said to Kyle.
That was the primary principle behind all of Kelharlem’s actions.
‘Kelharlem hates the stars and the Gletus.’
And there are many individuals in Apuria related to those two. Just the people I know alone number three. There was even someone who satisfies both of the two things Kelharlem despises.
Knock, knock.
Just then, someone knocked on the door of the professor’s office.
A girl entered after I opened the door. She was the girl I had summoned to the professor’s office to distribute course materials.
“I heard you called for me, Professor Rania.”
The girl giggled as she twirled her hair around her finger; she was the student I would be taking care of this semester.
“Chloe.”
“Yes, Professor Rania?”
With her white hair and green eyes.
A girl resembling the Gletus far too much, who was chosen by the star to become a Hero. Looking at her, I opened my mouth.
“I’m sorry to say this right after you’ve enrolled.”
“Yes?”
“Would you like to take a leave of absence for this semester?”
“…Huh? What do you mean by that?”
