CHAPTER 252: DÉJÀ VU (3)

0% Sea Dragon Leviathan. It was a tricky opponent.

Causing waves was only a small part of its capabilities. The bastard could breathe fire and slice through the earth with its scales. If it wanted to, it could even come onto land and raze the academy to the ground.

At this rate, it would be a repeat of the nightmare from a few months ago. They had to do something before it was too late.

Cecil chewed on her lips and ran.

She looked up. The mysterious source of light was beaming from the northern sky.

“Just what in the world is that....”

The flickering yellow light like a variable star appeared to be some kind of signal. A signal to move Leviathan.

It was only that no one had caught it because it had been buried in the rain; for all she knew, it could’ve been in the sky since dawn.

If so, that was bad. Because it meant that the Sea Dragon had been moving on someone’s orders in the first place.

Ta-ta-tap!

Cecil dashed. Each step had her shooting forward like a bullet. Before long, her form had arrived at the northernmost part of the academy.

“Ah....”

A low exclamation spilled from her mouth.

The dorm entrance was caved in.

Had it simply collapsed under the weight of the water?

No.

There’s a Beast on the roof...!

The superior controlling Leviathan was up there.

It had settled here because this dormitory was the tallest building of the academy. It would’ve taken over this dorm and the students hostage in order to communicate with Leviathan. That also must be why the entrance was sealed off.

She didn’t need to think far. If the way in was blocked, she just had to go up another way.

Cecil recited a quick spell. Her body became as light as a feather and floated into the sky.

And what Cecil saw when she reached the rooftop in one go was....

“Will this really stop the rain, Miss?”

“The rain’s getting lighter, isn’t it. Let’s try a bit more.”

Two people having a conversation while flashing the beacon.

And one of them was someone Cecil knew.

Asteya Heisenberg–the new professor she had just hired.

The other seemed to be a child of the Vierbein family....

But that wasn’t the immediate problem.

Cecil leapt over the railing like she was doing parkour. The gazes of Professor Heisenberg and the female student shifted her way.

“What are you two doing here?”

There was anger in Cecil’s words.

“Did you not hear the disaster broadcast? It’s dangerous to be outside the building!”

“My apologies, President.”

Professor Heisenberg directed the light upwards and came over by herself. Her clothes were completely soaked because of the rain. Ahem–Cecil cleared her throat at seeing the dress shirt sticking quite heavily to her body, and snapped her fingers.

She then asked with the vacuum barrier covering Professor Heisenberg and the student.

“What were you doing with one of the students?”

“We were performing a ritual.”

“A ritual?”

Cecil laughed in disbelief.

“The ritual that I’m thinking of?”

“Yes, we were pleading the heavens to stop raining.”

Cecil’s gaze shifted to the beacon.

It looked like a canon. The body seemed to be made of iron, and in the front a yellow light was shining through the glass panel.

“Did you make it using transmutation?”

“Yes, it was a quick improvisation.”

“What a strange object. I’ve never seen this kind of transmutation work in my whole magic life.”

Cecil looked at Professor Heisenberg with a significant expression.

Her eyes were soft yet deep like a campfire, so much so that she wondered how she could maintain composure in this kind of downpour.

“What happened to the students in the dorm?”

“They’re all safe inside the building.”

“Anybody who was injured or had an incident?”

“None.”

Indeed when Cecil looked to the lower floors, the people were packed together like peas in a pod.

Cecil glanced at Heisenberg again who was shooting the light towards the sky.

“Why are you doing this, Professor Heisenberg?”

“I just told you.”

Blink, blink, blink.

Heisenberg was sending out long beams at times, other times short ones. Cecil’s head tilted curiously. There was still someone who had the thinking from a thousand years ago in a day and age when superstitions had all but disappeared and magic was the only truth left?

Cecil first asked the student beside her. Her name was Yufiel, she had said. Yufiel shook her head and replied.

“I don’t know either, but it’s Miss Heisenberg so there must be a way.”

Cecil didn’t get it. She walked over to Heisenberg who was operating the beacon and spoke to her almost accusingly.

“It’s not even a rainmaking ceremony so what is this? You’re doing something that won’t yield anything!”

“President.”

Heisenberg spoke in a low voice.

“The heavens must have listened to my prayers.”

The beacon dropped with a clunk. At the same time, the light shut off and the rain started to lighten up.

Heisenberg stuck out her hand and looked up at the sky.

“The rain is dying down.”

“.......”

Cecil’s mouth dropped open.

“What incredible timing.”

“It’s because of my prayers.”

Heisenberg shrugged her shoulders and put the light away. Cecil still couldn’t get rid of her doubts.

“Speaking of rituals, by the way, do you believe in the superstitions of old, Professor?”

“I’m free to believe what I wish.”

Free.

There was no greater word in a liberal democratic country like Kaurelia.

“Th-that’s true.”

She nodded for now, but there were too many things that bothered her.

The timing of the rain stopping was too perfect.

Cecil believed that the light from the beacon was controlling Leviathan, which was a reasonable assumption. When Heisenberg flashed the beacon a few times, the rain had stopped immediately. The torrent that just didn’t seem like it would ease up. No matter how much she thought about it, it was hard to believe.

“...Um, Professor. Let’s head inside now that the rain’s stopped. You’ll catch a cold like this.”

“Yes, let’s. Yufiel, come with me.”

Yufiel nodded and trotted after the professor.

The two people got changed and came back. Professor Heisenberg wrapped a blanket around Yufiel and made her a cup of instant coffee. For some reason, Cecil got a chill seeing them like this.

“I have a question, Miss.”

Yufiel asked as she sipped on her coffee in the paper cup.

“Did the ritual you performed really have an effect?”

“I would think so.”

“I’m not sure. The rain stopping because of flashing a light into the sky a few times is.......”

Cecil narrowed her eyes while listening to the conversation.

Asteya Heisenberg was a professor who was just hired.

What if she was a humanoid Beast? And so she was a being who could control Leviathan as she wished?

[.......]

The Elementals stayed silent on Professor Heisenberg. None of them had sensed malice from her.

Had the professor... really just been holding a ritual?

Was she unnecessarily suspecting her?

It was hard to tell just yet. Not all judgments by Elementals could be trusted either. Cecil carefully spoke up.

“This is unfortunate.”

“What is?”

“We were planning to take the students on a field trip to the World Tree in a couple weeks. We’ll have to postpone it because of this unexpected rainfall.”

“Is that so.”

Heisenberg nodded with her eyes half-mast, her expression seemingly uninterested.

“Isn’t the World Tree off limits in the first place?”

“The plan was to have the students baptized once before then.”

“You mean a visit to the Elemental Realm.”

In a few months, the way to get into the World Tree was going to be completely blocked. Cecil wanted to have the academy students tour around the Elemental Realm before that happened.

If Heisenberg showed great interest in this....

“I recommend cancelling.”

“Why do you say so?”

Cecil was surprised at the unexpected response, and asked while staying as calm as possible.

“How do you intend to protect the Lodestone if a humanoid Beast happens to blend in with them?”

“That’s also true.”

“You may have to take all the blame if things go wrong.”

Cecil let out a sigh; even she herself didn’t know if it was out of relief or anxiety.

“Walk with me for a bit.”

Professor Heisenberg sent Yufiel back to her room. Afterwards, the two walked the hallways. It was dead silent now that all the commotion in the dorms had been dealt with.

It was the perfect atmosphere for a quiet conversation.

“Professor Heisenberg, I was greatly impressed with the paper you submitted at the time of your hiring.”

“.......”

“How on earth did you come up with that?”

The theorem that if there was Elemental symmetry, there was conservation of the magic elements. It was a simple idea yet one that no one had thought of.

And it was that important, too. Cecil had done a lot of thinking by herself after seeing that theorem. After a while, she surprised herself by coming up with a hypothesis that there was also a magic element and Elemental corresponding to Golden-Eyeds.

If that hypothesis was true, then....

Glance. Cecil glanced at Professor Heisenberg.

“It was luck.”

“Luck?”

“I found out by coincidence while studying. All I did was write a paper on it and got lucky so I was able to receive tenure at a prestigious academy at this age.”

Heisenberg bowed her head in an expression of gratitude.

“If it weren’t for you, I still wouldn’t have a job.”

“No, I think it’s an honor for Iliad to have such an amazing professor.”

Chuckling, Cecil kept up this pretence.

This woman had no cracks.

She was trying to feel her out by changing the subject, but there was nowhere to dig because of her basic answers.

Halt.

“...Wait.”

Heisenberg asked with trembling hands.

“I saw a big wave coming earlier.”

“There was.”

“I heard that there was a slum near there where the Golden-Eyeds live, is that true?”

“It is.... Ah.”

Cecil was extremely startled.

There were two reasons.

The first was because of Leninya.

Cecil was keeping an eye on Leninya because of her talent. She didn’t know about the others but that child was physically and academically proficient so she had hopes that she would do great things in the future. As such, she had given her a scholarship and supported her.

But if the shores where she made her home had been swept away by the wave....

That was a huge problem.

“I’m worried about the safety of that Golden-Eyed child who you asked me to take care of.”

“Me, too.”

Heisenberg shifted her eyes. Here was the second reason for Cecil being startled.

[This professor... she’s dangerous.]

[I thought she was a normal human up until a moment ago....]

[She’s dangerous. Dangerous. Dangerous!]

[I can sense malice!]

The four Elite Elementals residing in Cecil shouted these in one voice.