NOVEL WEB Ch. 9
Chapter 9: Special Scholarship Student of the Academy (3)
The deep toll of a bell scattered.
“Sold! Sold!”
While the troll was shouting to announce the winning bid for the Porginay,
Monika wiped the ginger ale from her lips with the back of her hand.
“Why.”
She asked, parting her wet lips. Ten thousand gold coins. It felt as distant and numerous as the stars scattered across the night sky. To readily offer such money to make her a prosthetic arm? Monika couldn't understand Abel's intentions at all.
“It's not that I don't understand your intention. Even if I become a student at CIAR, it would be impossible to keep up with the classes with only one arm. But……”
Monika's gaze shifted cautiously.
“Ten thousand gold coins. Why are you bestowing so much upon me. When I have nothing to give you……”
“You will soon become the Hero. How could an investment in you be a waste.”
“You're speaking nonsense again. Why don't you just prophesize that I'll ascend and become a main god instead?”
“A human cannot become a god.”
“As if I wouldn't know that.”
Though Abel spoke the truth without hesitation, to Monika, it just sounded like utter nonsense. Monika's lower lip began to tremble. Monika bit down on it hard.
“I……, am scared.”
What's this about being destined to be the Hero. It's ridiculous. Just giving and giving without even telling me the reason. Such grace felt frightening before it felt grateful.
“I'll be heading back first.”
Monika quickly exited the auction house.
‘She must be scared.’
Abel thought with his arms crossed.
Beyond the railing, about a dozen mercenaries began to carry the iron cage containing the Porginay. The mercenaries were visibly nervous. Monika would soon have to face monsters like the Porginay alone. Fear was unavoidable, but destiny was not something that could be escaped.
[Professor?]
Suddenly, Fabien opened his mouth.
[I cannot be certain, but I believe you are gravely mistaken about something, Professor.]
That's the feeling I get.
Fabien muttered so.
* * *
The next day, at the CIAR faculty dormitory.
Abel, who had finished moving in, stood facing the round table.
[I will inspect it, Professor.]
Fabien said, looking around.
[Currently, your residence is equipped with one round table, one chair, and one wardrobe. Also, I have prepared ten sets of the formal attire you mentioned in advance. Will this be sufficient?]
“Yes.”
After replying curtly, Abel took off his leather Harness.
He placed his beloved sword on the round table. He also took out the weapons stored in the subspace. Leon Baibars's magic staff, Vanessa Spencer's crossbow, Maurice de Olfrange's Sword Breaker. And finally, Ion Blanche's bastard sword. That was enough.
Abel wore a faint smile.
‘It's nice that the sun is clearly visible.’
Sunlight poured in from beyond the large window.
The mementos of his old comrades held a gloomy radiance.
Abel picked up the weapons and began to wipe them with a towel.
Even though there was nothing to be wiped.
“What's the production status of the prosthetic arm?”
[A craftsman from the House of Orléans has sent a letter. They said they would deliver it in person within the day.]
Abel had entrusted the Porginay he had purchased at the auction house to the House of Orléans. Since the Porginay was a difficult monster to process, he had to entrust it to a reliable craftsman. It was believed that the House of Orléans, which sponsored Abel, would handle it without a problem.
‘Is only the final step left now?’
Monika's admission process was nearing its end.
Today, Monika would be chosen for a dormitory.
A meeting with the chairpersons for that purpose was scheduled.
CIAR was divided into four dormitories.
Each dormitory originated from the family of its founder. The chairpersons, who were descendants of the founders, were all a pillar of the empire, and were deeply involved in the career paths of the students belonging to each dormitory. In other words, the process of deciding on a dormitory at CIAR was, in the end, an under-the-table struggle among the chairpersons to scout promising talents who would contribute to their power.
“Fabien, I have a place to go to alone.”
Abel stood up from his chair and picked up his beloved sword.
[Are you going to see Lady Monika?]
“It's a secret.”
Kkiiik, and.
While the sound of the hinge echoed,
[Why is it a secret?]
How truly strange.
It's obvious that you're going to see Lady Monika……
Fabien, who had been tilting his head, gave a slight nod.
.
.
.
“We've arrived, Miss Lohengrin.”
Konstanze said, looking back at Monika.
Konstanze's crimson hair fluttered in the autumn wind.
“Here, you will be chosen for a dormitory, Miss Lohengrin.”
Monika nodded her head.
‘……So this is Heaven's Altar.’
Then she looked around.
Heaven's Altar was a place where janitors were forbidden to enter.
It looked like a precious space even at a glance. While withered vines wrapped around the ruins of a temple, only the central altar was as fresh as if it had been completed at dawn.
Above all, four sheets of Stained Glass that transmitted the sunlight in five colors caught her eye. The four beasts seated within the stained glass were staring at Monika.
Blinking their eyes, and flaring their nostrils.
“They are the animals that symbolize the founders' families.”
Konstanze said, noticing Monika's gaze.
The two-tailed lizard for Mystriel, the Witch of the Sunset.
The red-eyed whale for Sharma, who walks along the waves.
The bear shouldering a shield for Zylon, the Prince of the Snowy Mountains.
The black swan for Orléans, the Wings of the Monarch.
The four founders gathered here and planned for the education of future generations. They sat around the platinum round table set up at the altar and resolved to protect the possibilities of the future according to the ideology of the main gods. Konstanze explained so.
“Thanks to them, Cia-Harphe Academy was born, and I am living such a busy life.”
It's a situation where even a hundred bodies wouldn't be enough, and.
Konstanze laughed, muttering softly.
“Why are the pictures moving?”
……It's creepy.
Monika groaned, covering her mouth with her palm.
“It's because they are connected to the gazes of the chairpersons scattered in various places. Through communication magic.”
So, make sure they don't hear any rude remarks. Do you understand?
They look creepy to me too.
Konstanze winked one eye, then turned her back to Monika and paid her respects to the stained glass.
“I have come to see the Chairpersons.”
Konstanze said in a business-like tone.
“I am Konstanze von Theresia, the Vice President of Cia-Harphe Academy. I would like to introduce Miss Monika Lohengrin, who is scheduled to be admitted through the special scholarship student selection system.”
Greet the Chairpersons.
Konstanze whispered, gesturing to Monika.
“……I am Monika Lohengrin.”
Monika, speaking bluntly and bowing her head.
‘She'll need education on etiquette as well.’
Abel thought, looking down at such a Monika.
At the top of the old tree surrounding the altar,
Abel was perched on a thick branch.
Meanwhile, a part of the stained glass.
The mouth of the bear shouldering a shield opened,
and soon, a firm male voice was heard.
Warriors face the hardships of this world with mere weapons.
If your right arm is absent, with what do you intend to endure your weapon.
The head of the Zylon family asked Monika.
‘She must have been relentlessly faced with such a question.’
Thinking so, Abel opened his journal.
『──I, the God of Oblivion ‘Fichte’, look upon the world,』
『And you shall reach beneath the waters of memory.』
An oracle began to be written in the old journal.
There was something he wanted to ascertain for sure.
『 Table of Contents for ‘Monika Lohengrin’ 』
What kind of being was the Monika before the regression?
The head of the Zylon family asked again.
Monika did not answer, with her head bowed.
The answer was written in Abel's journal.
『 Traits of ‘Monika Lohengrin’ 』
The souls of the martyrs who had died for her.
‘A sacrifice completed in the form of a right arm.’
Monika's right sleeve, hanging limply.
‘A giant sacrifice floating above her head.’
Monika fought while shouldering that.
With a one-armed body, forever.
Meanwhile, the mouth of the red-eyed whale opened.
A sweet old man's voice was heard.
You couldn't cut the scarecrow, could you?
Because it looked like a person.
The head of the Sharma family asked, and Monika nodded her head.
The head of the Sharma family seemed to have seen right through Monika's heart.
The head of the Sharma family laughed heartily.
It was not a sneer. It was clear admiration.
But Monika's expression distorted, and an oracle began to be written in Abel's journal.
『 Traits of ‘Monika Lohengrin’ 』
‘The Eternally Blooming Spider Lily’:
─ Divine power emitted by burning oneself.
The Hero's body burned faster than any sinner's.
A flame that flared up in an instant decorated the capital's square.
Monika Lohengrin turned her back, alone and scorched.
‘A power manifested by burning her body with divine power?’
Monika's back, hunched over, crushed by the pressure.
‘A flame that flared up from self-reproach.’
Monika moved forward, scorched by it.
With her back turned, forever.
Meanwhile, the mouth of the two-tailed lizard opened.
A woman's voice, drenched in sleepiness, was heard.
A question……, right. I was going to ask a question.
The head of the Mystriel family asked, and Monika let out a sigh.
“It is my hometown. It disappeared due to the Mirror War.”
Sarrifis was Monika's hometown.
A remote place without a single resident knight.
It might not be visible from the top of the status system, but to Monika, it was a special place.
『 Traits of ‘Monika Lohengrin’ 』
‘The Endlessly Falling Blade’:
The Holy Knights collectively called this ‘The Endlessly Falling Blade’.
‘So the green Aura was completed in this form.’
The initial form must have been the same even before the regression.
A fresh green light. An Aura like lush and tough vines.
‘You will be completed in a different way.’
Abel thought as he jumped down from the old tree.
Shouldering a giant sacrifice, and pushing herself by burning herself.
Like an endlessly falling leaf.
He vowed that he would not let her become such a Hero.
“I would like to say a word to the Chairpersons.”
At the same time, Monika spoke.
Strength entered Monika's amber eyes.
After thinking for a moment, she opened her mouth with a bright expression.
At that moment, a woman's voice covered Monika's.
It was as cold as a suddenly fallen raindrop.
Konstanze muttered, pressing her forehead.
The current head of the House of Orléans,
Iris René von Orléans's voice echoed.
The wings of the black swan flapped.