The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 156: The Noble Assembly (11)

“Let us take a short break.”

Along with Blanton’s announcement, the meeting hall lost its quietness.

A general noble assembly went on for hours once it started. But the fact that they were taking a break already was evidence of how much Blanton was struggling.

Just why....

Rosemary, who’d been making and munching on virtual popcorn, scowled.

Eventually, her hands began shaking. Rosemary ran both pale hands down her face.

Soon, her gaze turned to one place.

Why on earth would sis....

Aether stood where she turned her head like a machine, chasing with her gaze.

Going to her right now wasn’t the best thing to do. Sis was looking a bit, no, very angry.

She was exuding killing intent with her whole being. Except, that killing intent wasn’t being directed at humans.

Rosemary began racking her brain to figure out what she did wrong.

Did I interfere with her research?

There was only one situation in which her gentle sis became angry–when her research was interrupted.

When Flare was banned, she hadn’t really said anything. This meant that Robespierre wasn’t the person helping with sis’ research. At least, that was what Rosemary had reasoned.

It can’t be....

Was it Count Saliere?

Rosemary turned her head and signaled to Blanton with her eyes. The two Beasts used the crowd as a cover and snuck into the waiting room without Aether knowing. Aether also  happened to have left somewhere and was gone.

As soon as Rosemary and Blanton came into the room, they let out a sigh.

“...Where did the maid go?”

“If she’s found I will deal with her.”

“It’s fine. Don’t waste your energy on useless things.”

Rosemary waved her hand.

Where the maid that she had assigned to watch sis went wasn’t really important. Right now, the priority was to review their plan.

“This is all because of the Emperor.”

Everything would have gone smoothly if the Emperor hadn’t collapsed. Seething, Rosemary paced around the room. The clicking of heels resounded faintly.

“What will you do now?”

“What do you mean what will I do. Didn’t you see that hand signal?”

The hand signal that the Demon Army used.

The hand signal of the Demon Army was expressed with the right or left hand raised. The right hand meant positive, and the left hand meant negative.

Aether had raised her left hand and signaled one and two, a sign language expressing that what Blanton had said a moment ago displeased the Primus and Secundus.

“If we mess with Saliere here, then it’s over for both of us.”

“But then the Lodestone would be....”

If they took over Saliere County, they could permanently get their hands on the Lodestone. This was information from the co-Secundus, Akasha.

“What can we do? We’ll just have to end it before winter break.”

“Then I will stop here for now.”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

Rosemary lightly pounded her chest as if in frustration. Clang, clang–she smacked hard enough that it sounded like a hollow can.

“By the way.”

“What?”

“What do you plan to do if something like this happens again?”

Blanton’s concern was reasonable.

It seemed that there was going to be a lot of friction with sis going forward. Unfortunately, Rosemary would have to relent every time that happened.

A plan failing was only temporary, but losing sis was permanent. Rosemary hated the idea of Aether crossing over completely to the side of humans more than lead topping on aluminum pizza.

But if something like this kept happening.

“There’s no choice.”

“What are you going to do?”

“What else could I do?”

Rosemary spread-eagled on the bed and muttered.

“Next time, we’ll quickly get it done before we’re interrupted.”

She already no longer cared about this current plan. Saliere? The beastkin? They could do whatever they wanted.

As she lay still in bed, memories of past failures flashed across her mind.

The disruption at the entrance ceremony was stopped. Extracting sis using the Prince failed. I couldn’t even kill that elf. Entero, that bastard, couldn’t spread a single plague properly....

Even the plan to take out Robespierre and Saliere this time failed.

“Wait, now that I think about it, what the heck?”

“What is the problem now?”

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“The plans that were made here at the Empire in the recent months all failed because of Aether.”

Starting to get increasingly angry, Rosemary rolled around on the bed with the turtle doll in her arms.

“It’s seriously unfair! Here I am working so hard...! But that giant lizard and big sis aren’t listening to me! They’re all ignoring me because I’m just Quartus, right? Hm? Aren’t they? It’s all because I’m low in rank!!”

“.......”

“Especially big sis. What, what did I do wrong? I’ve let her be on purpose so that she wouldn’t be disappointed. I’ve accommodated her plenty. Isn’t it about time that she came home already!”

“...Hmm.”

“Hey, why don’t you say something, too!”

“This is downward bullying1.”

“You son of a biiitch!!”

Rosemary, who’d been bouncing on the bed like a spring, was soon taken over by inertia and fell to the ground.

I quickly stepped out of the main hall so that I didn’t get surrounded by nobles. The priority right now was to catch up on the backlog of research.

But that thought didn’t last.

“Do you have a moment?”

Miss Heerlein was there before me. She was wearing a dress revealing her collarbones, which took me aback since it was quite bold according to this world’s standards.

“I do.”

Before I knew it, I was nodding my head.

It wasn’t for any other reason, just that she was my mentor who pulled me from my slave status. Because I thought that she should come before research like Lotte and Freyr.

As well, Heerlein was on the same side as the chairman. Talking to her wasn’t going to seriously disrupt my research.

“I’m glad. Then would you come this way?”

I followed her out of the main building. As I walked after Heerlein, some garden enclosed by glass appeared.

“No one should be coming here at this time.”

We sat next to each other in a corner of the garden. Here, I had a hunch that Heerlein was going to bring up a sensitive topic.

Bracing myself, I waited for her mouth to open. She started off with a simple greeting.

“I didn’t expect you to be here.”

“Um, I had something.”

I spent some time explaining the situation. The interactions and research I’d been having with Professor Cai-Lussac, how I was developing and procuring a new magic instead of Flare, and even how I ended up doing a swordplay with Renawill Hasfeldt.

After hearing everything, Heerlein nodded.

“You’re working hard on the research.”

“No, there still needs to be improvement.”

“You don’t need to be so formal with me; I’m your homeroom teacher.”

“It’s just.... It’s more comfortable to speak this way.”

The two of us looked at each other and smiled sheepishly. It was a smile understanding that it was time to get to the point.

“I was quite shocked when you did something like that with Duke Hasfeldt.”

“I was, too.”

Because I hadn’t expected that that person would request something like that from me.

“It was because of Flare, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Heerlein let out a sigh, her face having an ‘I knew it’ look.

She was trying not to show it, but I could guess what she was feeling. Traces of regret and guilt were bubbling up on her gloomy face.

Renawill Hasfeldt was Klais’ father. He undoubtedly would have started something with this teacher.

I didn’t know she appeared in Duke Hasfeldt’s eyes, but to me at least, Heerlein was a good-hearted person. She loved her students and valued humanity and justice over trivial things.

Either way, she was a figure who was the antithesis of Klais Hasfeldt. How someone like her had been able to stay good friends with Klais, I didn’t know.

Though I suppose that wasn’t what was important right now. As I shook off my thoughts, Heerlein spoke like she was venting to me.

“Actually, I wasn’t really thrilled about coming here, because Klais’ father was here. I felt like I shouldn’t be here for some reason. But all the nobles had to attend, so....”

“...Miss.”

“To be honest, my heart dropped when I discovered that you were here. It was already hard for me so how would it be for you? Wondering if you’d make an upset face if you met him....”

In any case, Heerlein betrayed her close friend, and caused her to die on the battlefield, albeit indirectly.

...Well, not that she actually died.

Anyway, that was what made Heerlein hang her head.

This was particuarly unfortunate. Someone else had wronged me in the first place, but the one who had protected me was suffering.

Watching Heerlein purse her dry lips, I spoke in a soft voice.

“...Mentor. 은사님.”

That one word had the power to lift her head.

“Thank you.”

Heerlein’s eyes opened wide. I just learned today that her eyes, which were usually squinted, were hazelnut in color.

Heerlein was gazing at me with a face like she was saying ‘What?’. I continued speaking to her.

“Your decision wasn’t wrong. If you hadn’t saved me that day, I would’ve been in an awful situation.”

They were sudden, embarrassing words. But if I didn’t say these things on time, it felt like something bad would happen later.

When was the last time I had been genuine towards someone? I searched my mind for a time that I didn’t remember.

Yeah, I couldn’t recall. There had only been a few times since I was born. So I decided to increase the number of times from now on.

“I made good friends thanks to you. I’m able to study where I always wanted to study. I’m finally able to live like a person.”

“...Aether.”

“So for me at least, your decision wasn’t wrong.”

I stood up, dusting my pants. Heerlein’s gaze followed me up.

After staring for a moment, Heerlein followed suit. She hugged me without a word.

“...Thank you.”

Today’s research was going to end a bit late, it seemed.

1. Bullying someone who is junior to you