༺ There Is A Reason For Everything ༻
It was a one-sided slaughter.
The skeleton Bushi’s hostility seemed to have materialized, continuously choking their throats.
Although the energy emanating from the skeleton wasn’t fear, but to the Dean and professors, it seemed a manifestation of such.
They couldn’t imagine what would have happened if this malice was directed at them.
The one-armed skeleton continued hacking at the Necromancer as if he had some kind of grudge against the man.
Even though a long time passed, the Bushi continued slashing the corpse without paying the audience any attention.
The Dean and professors didn’t run away, they stood still as if their bodies were frozen; it was an instinctual desire not to attract attention to oneself, just like encountering a bear on a mountain trail.
Finally, the Necromancer’s corpse was mangled down to its bones.
Everyone felt sick to their stomach at the brutally horrible sight, but they forcefully endured it.
This was the ultimate indignity that forced even Caren, who had seen countless tragedies as a mercenary, to frown for a moment.
But it didn’t end there.
The skeleton placed his sword on the ground and slowly reached out its hand—
Crunch
—And then it tore the corpse apart and started eating it.
“Eugh!”
In the end, the Dean couldn’t stand it anymore and turned his head to vomit. Caren and Erica also bit their lips and forced themselves to hold it in.
“…Crazy bastard.”
Gideon couldn’t stand the disgust and muttered, but the Bushi didn’t pay attention to his words at all.
It continued to eat, hurriedly devouring the corpse.
[….]
Then slowly getting up, the skeleton carefully picked up its sword.
It didn’t even look at the frozen professors, and just turned and descended the stairs.
Thud
Thud
Thud
“Haah!”
When the skeleton completely disappeared from their sight, Caren exhaled the breath she had been holding.
Erica quickly headed to check what remained of the Necromancer.
“It ate it all… even the bones.”
The skeleton had eaten all of the meat and bones, leaving only spilled flesh and a pool of blood on the ground.
If it weren’t for that, there wouldn’t have been anything left. It was to the point that they would have dismissed what they just saw as a hallucination.
“Eugh! Eugh!”
After vomiting in a corner of the hallway, the Dean wiped his mouth with a pale, disgusted expression.
“Deus…. Let’s call Professor Deus. He must know something about this.”
Caren immediately agreed.
“Yes, let’s contact him right away.”
Even though there seemed to be no way to solve the problem without Deus at the current state of affairs, Erica still intervened.
“Didn’t the Necromancer say this earlier? Deus is only exceptional in terms of sensing spirits, but fighting against such powerful evil spirits—”
“—Enough!”
The Dean interrupted, pointing his finger at Erica with a flushed face.
“Come to think of it, it’s because of you, Professor Erica! It was you who made Professor Deus resign! That’s why this incident happened!”
“…”
Erica tightened her fists and couldn’t say anything.
He was right.
Even though her intention was to save Deus’ life, to others, she was just a bitch who forced her fiancé to leave the academy.
Amidst the tense atmosphere, Gideon spoke up.
“We all know Professor Erica didn’t do it for personal reasons. Hasn’t Professor Deus been caught doing strange things multiple times?”
“…”
“Rather, I think we should pay attention as to ‘why’ these evil spirits suddenly appeared in the academy,” Gideon added.
It was indeed a valid point. Caren, who had been silently listening, and Erica, who had been investigating the incident, were both bothered about this the most.
“You’re right… until now, these were only ghost stories made by students in the academy. They were just rumors, pranks made by kids… But didn’t the situation change when Deus came?”
The Dean muttered incessantly until Gideon corrected him while shaking his head.
“No. I believe everything that’s happening right now is due to Deus’ manipulation. This phenomenon occurred right after he left.”
According to his words, due to being dismissed, Deus created a situation where his presence was a must for the academy.
The Dean felt as if all the puzzle pieces clicked together in his head. It turned his desperation into overwhelming anger and fury.
“How dare… How dare he! For his own greed, to threaten the lives of students and professors at Loberne Academy! Isn’t this blackmail?!”
When Erica tried to say something to defend Deus, Gideon shook his head with a frown, asking her not to intervene recklessly.
However, Erica dismissed it, trampling on his warning as if it wasn’t there in the first place.
“Wait! There’s no evidence of that! And didn’t he leave a note to help us?!”
“Shut up!”
The Dean, unable to suppress his anger, crumpled the handkerchief he used to wipe his mouth, and threw it away.
This indicated how intense his emotions had become for him to be so disrespectful.
“Professor Erica Bright, what the hell do you want from us?! You were the most aggressive in getting Professor Deus fired! But now you’re covering him?! Did you feel guilty for him or something?!”
“……”
Was there no choice but to reveal it? Erica contemplated.
Even if everyone thought of her as a selfish bitch, she couldn’t let Deus—the victim—take the blame.
It seemed like she had no choice but to reveal the truth.
Taking a deep breath and remembering the past, Erica clenched her fists.
After she saw Deus strangling his own neck, every day felt like hell.
Every dawn after that night, she secretly followed him. He was roaming the academy to deal with the evil spirits.
Then, whenever he was possessed and was about to commit suicide, she appeared and stopped him.
Strangling, seven times.
Dismemberment, six times.
Self-immolation, three times.
Beheadings, nine times.
These were the number of attempts that damn spirit tried to kill him.
That’s why, for Deus’ safety, she got him dismissed and made him resent her so that he would be far away from the academy.
It wasn’t like she didn’t try to have a conversation with him regarding this. She told Deus several times to stop, but…
‘Nevermind.’
She didn’t want to recall their conversation.
“Haah! Actually…”
In any case, Erica needed to reveal everything now—that in fact, Professor Deus was suppressing the spirits, and she was the one who abandoned the academy and its students because she couldn’t continue to see him suffer.
But when she tried to tell the truth—
[Shh.]
Her whole body suddenly shuddered and her vision went dark.
Erica felt a strange sense of weightlessness, and before she could realize what was going on, she hit the ground.
Thud
Erica fainted on the spot.
“Erica!”
Gideon hurriedly tried to hold her—
“Get out of the way.”
—but Caren intervened and examined Erica.
“She just fainted. It must be due to lack of sleep. She should be fine after getting a good night’s rest. I’ll bring her to the infirmary just in case.”
“…”
Though Erica’s words were cut off, the Dean seemed to have already decided their course of action.
“I’ll write a letter to Professor Deus! It will take some time for him to come from North Whedon; but if we delay any longer, he might not arrive before the start of the semester.”
Then, the Dean gritted his teeth and added,
“Once all the incidents are resolved, we will hold Professor Deus accountable. He won’t be returning back easily.”
Now, it was a race against time.
Student gossip was scarier than evil spirits after all.
After asking the professors to tidy things up, the Dean returned to his office with a throbbing headache.
The thought of writing a letter to Deus made his heart pound in frustration and his headache worse.
*
“Reject him.”
“…Are you serious?”
Deia came to my room for the daily 5 minutes. She asked with a bewildered face while fluttering the letter she held in her hand.
I didn’t know why she read my letter without asking me, but anyway…
Deia quickly continued,
“I’m not saying this out of self-interest, you know? It’s not that I want you to leave quickly because I don’t want to see you, or because I don’t want to waste five minutes of my day or anything like that.”
“It’s uncharacteristic of you to talk a lot, Deia.”
“Ahem… It’s just hard to get such an opportunity. The new semester is going to start soon, and this will probably be your last chance.”
I knew that if I missed this chance, it would be difficult to regain my position as a professor at Loberne Academy.
Originally, the plan was to delay as much as possible before returning. But—
“There is still work to be done.”
—I was not in a position to leave just yet.
‘Sigh, I feel sorry for not getting the position back, but it can’t be helped.’
I felt regretful looking at the letter.
The research materials and financial support was something I was really looking forward to. After all, the Dean’s unconventional proposal was one that made even Deia tempted.
Even if the Dean had not promised me such benefits, I still could have built a direct friendship with the golden generation of students at Loberne Academy, where the main characters and many key characters would be present. But in the end, I still decided to give up.
“Is it because of Emily?”
“Yes.”
I answered calmly even after recognizing the downcast expression on Deia’s face
The little girl’s resentment had not yet been fully resolved. Moreover, I had the intention of saving not only her but also all of the evil spirits surrounding the mansion. It was a necessary step for the future.
“…….”
When the topic of Emily came up, Deia opened her mouth as if she wanted to ask something, but closed it again.
Click
Five minutes were up.
Without hesitation, Deia turned around and left my room.
Simultaneously, Findenai’s approaching footsteps echoed.
As Findenai came in, I unfolded the previously folded map and raised my pen.
‘If I can’t help from within, then I’ll have to help from outside.’
In the end, the final goal was to prevent the destruction of the continent. There were still plenty of ways to help the protagonist besides being a professor.
I continued to mark locations on the map with my pen. These included major episodes or places from where important items could be obtained.
One might wonder about the evil spirits left in the academy.
Well, I decided to give up on that part.
‘Come to think of it, something’s strange.’
Even though there were episodes centered around ghosts or spirits in the game, they weren’t as excessive as this…
‘Is it because of me?’
Did things change because of my presence…?
‘It’s either because of me that things got to this point, or everything’s following the game’s plot point, and when the protagonist entered the academy, the evil spirits went into hibernation…’
Wasn’t that too far-fetched?
‘Even the protagonist can’t do that… right?’
Which meant…
“Sigh.”
If I hadn’t meddled with them, the evil spirits would have just continued sleeping on their own.
….
…………
………………
“Would that really have been the case?”
Thunk
As I put down my pen, I furrowed my brow and closed my eyes, leaning on the backrest.
Really.
‘Did the evil spirits, who were sleeping peacefully, wake up just because of my presence?‘
How many times did I think about this?
How many times did I come up with these hypotheses?
After continuing to think about it several times, I pondered the same question again.
My answer, which I had thought about since I was in the academy, eventually came back in full circle.
“It can’t be.”
There is a reason for everything.
Like how Deia hated me to the point of visible disgust whenever she saw me.
Like how Erica Bright got me fired because of my stubbornness.
Like how the Human-Bone Centipede awakened due to Maalkus’ presence.
Like the faint screams still coming from the basement of the mansion.
Or like the deep cut on my wrist.
This means that even the spirits of the academy must have their own reasons for behaving this way.
I exhaled.
Then, raising the pen again, I marked Loberne Academy’s location on the map.
