Nanomancer Rising: Divine Alchemist Reborn as Academy's Worst Teacher
Chapter 91: Abberant

Chapter 91: Abberant

"Password?"

Julius stood in a largely deserted, dirty alley, facing a huge, thick door with but a small window roughly at the level of his eyes. A window through which the thug working as a security of the place peeked out, giving Julius a dark stare while waiting for the man to reply.

"Cows fly low tonight, it’s going to rain tomorrow," without even a moment of hesitation, Julius replied, using all of his willpower to appear confident.

’What are the chances the password is still the same, I wonder...?’

For a moment, the thug on the other side of the doors remained silent... only to then back off a step and shut the cover of the peephole behind him, leaving Julius stranded in the alley.

In here, he didn’t dare to don his teacher’s robes, covering himself with some rags that he greatly overpaid for at a nearby stall.

This wasn’t the academy town. Heck, this wasn’t even anywhere near the academy compound!

It took Julius quite a lot of effort to get here.

First, he had to cash in some of the favors in the least efficient way — by asking those indebted to him for money. Then, he had to accept an expeditionary mission that granted him a leave from the academy grounds, allowing him to pass through the compound’s gates unobstructed.

After that, he still had to run for an entire day and night to arrive at his destination.

Given the timeframe of his mission, he couldn’t afford to just walk there. And while there was nothing stopping him from renting out a carriage with the money he managed to recover at great cost... doing so would leave a trail for the headmaster to follow.

A downside too massive for Julius to accept.

Thankfully, after waiting for a few tense moments, the back door to the inn swung open, revealing the three massive guys waiting in the corridor inside.

"Just how long were you guys going to..."

Before Julius could even finish his rant, the biggest of the three stepped out from the corridor and into the alley, reaching out and pushing at Julius’s chest to move him away as he looked left and right, checking for any kind of tail. Then, and only then, did he look down to Julius’s face.

"The boss is awaiting you inside."

With that said, rather than just retreating, the man grabbed Julius by his ragged shirt before throwing him into the building and then retreating only to close the doors and secure it with all four of its locks, locks ranging from a simple knob to something as solid as a bar of solid metal strewn across the door’s entire diagonal.

The insides were quite mind-boggling, with the aesthetic of the corridor strictly kept in the spirit of a run-down inn for the lowest of the low... while being constructed from the finest and most solid materials and exceptional craftsmanship that made it hard for any sound or visuals to escape from the building’s insides.

Julius walked down the entire length of the corridor, always under the escort of the three massive thugs, only to finally find himself at the top of the stairs that appeared to go deep enough to reach the abyss itself. At the very least, while standing at the top, Julius couldn’t see their bottoms.

"Move it," caring not for the man’s impression, the leader of the thugs pushed Julius ahead, only having Julius’s instincts and reaction time to thank for not effectively pushing him down those seemingly endless stairs.

The journey down, apparently to the center of the earth itself, took roughly three times as long as it took the group to pass the corridor.

"Stop right there," the thugs ordered again as Julius reached the first stair-crossroads, with two corridors turning left and right from the stairs while the stairs themselves continued down to levels not even Julius was approved to enter. "Now, go left."

Standing on the stairs, the thugs stopped, no longer following Julius.

"Okay, but... where to next?" Julius, upon the realization his escort no longer wanted to fulfill its role, turned round and gave the trio a look, only to see two of them shake their heads while the smallest of the three merely gave him an amused grin.

"You will know when you get there."

With those words, the guards simply turned around and left, starting their long journey back up the stairs.

’Thanks for nothing, I guess...’ Julius gritted his teeth before bracing himself for whatever might come next and continuing down the impossibly long, dark corridor.

This wasn’t his first time in a meeting place like this, but it’s been quite literally years since he last appeared in one.

Normally, he wouldn’t dare to visit uninvited, but with how things developed back at the academy, he was left with pretty much no other choice.

’It’s not my fault. I did everything as ordered. Who could’ve known that guy would turn out to be the headmaster’s favorite?!’

As he walked, Julius wrestled with his own thoughts.

’Back then, it looked like just... a good business!’

’It wasn’t a trial I was ever supposed to lose!’

’If not for that bitch of a girl stepping out!’

’It’s all Theo’s fault! Theo’s and that piece of shit of a headmaster!’

Soon, the corridor grew even darker, as if its state somehow could reflect the state of Julius’s thoughts. And right as Julius started to believe he was doomed to walk its length for the rest of eternity, the corridor came to an end, putting the man face-to-face with another door.

A door made out of a single slab of solid iron, an expense even he, back during his heyday, couldn’t take lightly.

’Is this the place?’ Julius’s inner voice trembled.

In a place like this, all of his strength, all of his achievements, all of his might were worth nothing. The things he took pride in, the things he achieved, the stuff that made him believe in his own worth... when faced with this slab of metal of doors, they were all just empty words, empty feelings, empty notions.

And so, having no other choice, Julius raised his hand to knock. Yet, right as his fist was about to strike the doors, they suddenly opened up to the inside, revealing an extremely intense source of light that basked the dark corridor with enough brightness to light it up almost all the way back to where it connected to the stairs.

That’s, at the very least, how it appeared to Julius when his eyes flooded with light, only for the effect to quickly decrease as his eyes got used to the new brightness, revealing it all to come from just a single set of three candles, one of average size, the next one relatively high, and the last one with just a bit of wax left to burn through.

The three infinite candles, the symbol of the organization Julius originally came from... and an artifact that defied all the most basic laws Julius believed made the world spin the way it did.

First, the candles radiated absolutely no heat at all. Secondly, their fires constantly flickered despite the lack of any wind to make it happen. And thirdly... no matter how long those three candles burned, they would remain exactly as long as they were.

All three effects reflected the values and etoses of the organization.

Its members were to never harbor any real emotions at all. They were to always be on the move, always ready to further their goals, even if the circumstances of the world around them didn’t prompt it. And finally, no matter what, no matter the reason or logic... they were to never stop.

Right now, however, those three candles only achieved two things.

First, they provided just enough light for Julius to get his bearings while, secondly, they lit the room up just enough for Julius to see the rough shape of a masked, hooded figure sitting on the opposite end of the barely lit chamber.

"What is the reason for your premature return, son?" A voice reached Julius’s ears, even though the hooded figure didn’t move in the slightest, revealing no sight of opening or moving its mouth at all.

"It’s because of an unprecedented, catastrophic failure," Julius reported while falling down to his knees and then striking the floor with his forehead hard enough to slightly crack his skull. "A catastrophic failure that bore the fruit I was to be always on the lookout for."

All that Teacher Theo brought up regarding the truth of his past... it was a complete bollocks!

Julius wasn’t the kind of an idiot that would rush into putting the man on a tribune without investigating the ins and outs about him beforehand. Heck! Theo’s case was such an outlier, investigating his background became Julius’s pastime, rather than something he would do once and be done with.

That’s why he could tell — all that he said about his past, about his power, about his abilities... it was all a complete nonsense!

And yet, even though there was no doubt in Julius’s head about the validity of the claims Teacher Theo made... his power somehow became real, in a way that baffled Julius to this day.

That’s why losing all of his assets as a result of the tribune trial didn’t matter. That’s why getting humiliated back in his own home couldn’t matter less. That’s why, from the very moment Theo suppressed Julius, nothing else mattered, not even Julius’s original mission to weaken the academy from the inside.

"Speak," the shadowy figure leaned forward, closer to the light of the candles, "what is this fruit that you are talking about?"

Even with the fires of the candles now but an inch away from the figure’s hooded face, its shadows somehow remained in place, stopping Julius from ever peering underneath the figure’s hood — not that he was stupid enough to even try doing it.

"A fresh aberrant, sir," Julius reported in a hushed, respectful voice while striking the ground with his forehead again. "Once again, an entity that defies common sense has appeared in our world."