༺ Noisy Screams ༻
“…….”
Thump, thump.
As Aria thrust her hands into her pockets, she opted to bite her lips instead of her fingernails, revealing her resilience even in distress.
Not wanting to appear unattractive, she had managed to diligently hide any signs of distress. But eventually, her emotions got the better of her, and she couldn’t hold them back any longer.
‘So, they finally broke up.’
Aria let out a sigh. She just saw Deus and Erica break up a few moments ago.
It was a relationship that had to end, one way or the other.
Aria had tried to remain calm, but when she saw Deus gently patting Erica’s head, her suppressed emotions began to surface.
She felt her eyes roll back as she saw the corners of his lips curling up.
“Huuuu!”
Making an effort to suppress her emotions once more, she took a deep breath. She shut her eyes tightly and directed her jealousy and rage towards Erica, who was receiving Deus’ touch.
‘It doesn’t matter. Yes, it’s fine.’
After all, the professor belonged to her.
She would never be defeated as she was someone who knew the future.
‘Don’t worry professor. I’ll take the lead.’
And after saving the world together, they could live happily ever after.
Feeling embarrassed at her own fantasies, she saw Deus quickly turning away and heading towards the academy, leaving Erica behind.
Aria arrived at the academy before Deus as she had already mastered the footwork technique known only to the Royal family.
Just as leisurely as when she arrived, she gracefully jumped over the high wall.
“Phew!”
She hurriedly fixed her appearance upon landing. She then took out a mirror to check if her hair was untidy or if there was anything on her face.
‘Great.’
Aria often received compliments about her beauty wherever she went. In the past, she would have humbly declined such flattery, but now she was sure that her appearance was not inferior to that of anyone else’s.
She closed her eyes and felt for the mana.
She then calmly walked towards the academy’s entrance.
Just as she came closer, Deus greeted the surveillance guard and entered the academy.
“Hello, Professor!”
Aria went near him with a bright smile. Deus gazed at her for a moment before nodding his head.
“Aria Rias. Yes, I remember you.”
He remembered! Even though they only briefly exchanged greetings once! As expected of the professor!
“Yes! That’s right! Are you okay? I heard you got hurt.”
She smiled tenderly as she approached him.
‘Oh no… Did I feign excessive friendliness?’
She had unconsciously disregarded the distance and approached him, even though this was only their second encounter in this lifetime.
The Deus she had known would surely be annoyed.
Seemingly indifferent, Deus calmly gazed at her.
“Yes, I am fine.”
However, Deus didn’t push her away. Aria’s heart fluttered a little at his slight acceptance.
Maybe her first impression was good?
Or could it be that he knew she was admitted as the top student?
Probably.
He seemed to have a liking for high-achieving students.
“Well, now there won’t be any strange incidents occurring again, right? My friends were really scared.”
A student who was afraid due to the current situation would naturally try to cling to the professor.
As a professor, he couldn’t simply push her away, and she guessed correctly.
Deus walked with her, responding nonchalantly.
“Yeah, the strange incidents will cease from now.”
“That’s a relief! Any idea why such a thing occurred in the first place?”
She tilted her head with curiosity, and Deus shared his thoughts while glancing at the academy building.
“Even though the academy was constructed over a burial ground, there was an unusually high number of evil spirits, and their power was overwhelming. To begin with, the souls that were resting in the burial ground were not evil spirits.”
“Is that so?”
“That is why I believe that someone intentionally summoned these evil spirits to the academy and worsened the situation.”
“I-I see!”
Aria felt a stinging sensation throughout her body.
‘As expected of the professor!’
His keen discernment had always surprised her, and it was the same this time as well.
How did he figure it out so quickly?
She had tried her best to make it look as natural as possible and had a tough time awakening Angel, but the professor saw through it immediately!
‘Finding the Necromancy Stone was also quite arduous. However, since I’d already done it once, it was doable.’
She spent the first three months after regressing traveling all over the continent. After that, she came to the academy and awakened the evil spirits resting there.
It was quite a complex task, but due to her previous memories, she was able to get it done easily.
‘Still, it’s good that you struggled. The professor grew a lot in such a short time and even dealt with his original personality quite early!’
Feeling the chill of the night breeze, Aria shivered. She felt a sense of relief, knowing that her efforts had not been in vain.
“What are your thoughts?”
In that instant, Aria snapped back to reality, her attention now on Deius.
“Yes? What are you talking about?”
“About this situation. As a student, it is not possible for you to simply ignore it.”
“Ah, I see. The wariness towards the academy is understandable. Some students received a notice that their permission for withdrawal could be canceled, but a few decided not to due to the broken trust.”
“That is correct.”
“But I won’t give up! There’s so much I still want to learn from here!”
Aria believed it was for the best.
Now, the professor wouldn’t have to waste his precious time worrying about others.
Deus remained silent, looking troubled. Aria smiled reassuringly and said,
“You have nothing to worry about! There are still plenty of other students to watch over! In fact, only the cream of the crop will remain!”
‘The professor has nothing to worry about.’
‘After all, I will lay out all the tiles without the professor being aware.’
‘Would the professor know?’
In fact, Deus was able to start learning necromancy because of Aria.
The basic textbook for such complex necromancy was something that even a black-market dealer could not obtain easily.
Due to the recent incident at the academy, she believed that he must have become quite proficient with the basic necromancy spells.
‘Just keep getting stronger like this. This time, you must not die.’
Suppressing her laughter inside, Aria suddenly realized that she had followed Deus all the way to the faculty dormitory.
“Oh my, I had so much fun talking with the professor that I ended up following you all the way here. I’m sorry.”
“It is fine.”
‘Aah! The professor is so kind! I must have made a really good first impression! ’
She would probably return to her room and replay today’s events in her head, over and over again.
“If it is fine with you, there is one thing I would like to ask you.”
As she was about to turn away with a sense of regret, Deus’ voice stopped her.
“Yes? Anything.”
Aria looked at Deus with anticipation, smiling brightly.
A question?
What could he possibly ask her?
As she waited with a cheerful smile, Deus’ question shattered her expectations.
“Do you not feel any guilt after terrorizing the academy?”
* * *
“Do you not feel any guilt after terrorizing the academy?”
Aria’s smile, which was as bright as a lantern, began to fade at my words.
She continued to smile awkwardly, unable to properly control her expression.
“W-What are you talking about?”
“Hmm, do I need to go into more details?”
As she pretended not to understand even though she already did, I decided to press her a little more aggressively.
“I am talking about how you disturbed the innocent souls who were resting peacefully in their eternal slumber and turned them into transgressors.”
“…….”
Aria stared at me blankly with unfocused eyes, keeping her mouth shut.
I, on the other hand, continued to condemn her without any change in my expression.
“An old woman who just wanted to give her grandchildren candies turned into a bizarre evil spirit, feeding her eyes to the students of the academy.”
“…….”
“The orphanage director who loved the children distorted his methods of protecting them and put all the students in the second-floor dormitory for girls in coma.”
“…….”
“The child who enjoyed playing tag, would climb onto beds of other people at night, scaring them and asking them to play.”
Aria’s head gradually dropped with each word.
“Even if you did not know how they would react, in the end, it was you who awakened the sleeping souls.”
“Do you have any evidence?”
Aria’s voice was soft. Instead of hostility, it was filled with a sense of fear.
“If you have any evidence that I was the one who did it, then show it.”
Aria began to regain her confidence as I remained, slightly raising her head every time she spoke.
“Accusing me all of a sudden, you must have a reason, right? Or do you just pick me randomly?”
The Aria I had seen in the game was a pretty clever girl.
The original Aria wouldn’t have left any traces behind.
But now, she seemed to be emotionally different and didn’t notice she had overlooked quite a significant fact.
“Professor, you shouldn’t be accusing a student out of the blue without any evidence. You gave me quite the scare.”
Seemingly relieved as I maintained my silence, Aria laughed playfully as she regained her composure.
“It is noisy.”
I closed my eyes for a moment, ignoring her. It was so loud, that my ears began to ring.
“What? Did I speak too loudly?”
Aria gazed at me cautiously, looking slightly flustered.
“No, it is not your voice.”
It wasn’t just a young girl’s high-pitched voice. The frenzied, overlapping voices were echoing in my ears.
[It’s her! That crazy girl who came here a few months ago and disturbed us!]
[Let’s kill her! Let’s kill her! Let’s kill her!]
[I will tear her apart and devour her tender flesh!]
They were the weak spirits that were still lingering about in the academy, trailing Aria.
Their voices, louder than a girl’s shrieks, were chaotic.
“The spirits who are screaming and telling me that you are the culprit… They are too noisy.”
Upon hearing my words, Aria’s expression tensed once again.
