The Magic Academy's Physicist
Chapter 281: Locking The Door After The Horse Is Gone (3)

Chapter 281: Locking The Door After The Horse Is Gone (3)

0% Her best friend, and savior who saved her life twice.

Lotte could no longer give up on Aether.

Although she may be a Beast, she knew better than anyone that she had a kind heart. No matter how people pointed their fingers at her and called her a monster, Aether was her friend. A friend like no other.

That was why she had taken the hit for her from that unknown monster. Because she had faith in her friend.

And that faith bore fruit in the end, like a chrysanthemum that bloomed after enduring the late fall cold.

That was why.

When she heard that Aether, who had stopped the Demon Army’s attack, protected the World Tree...

...had been arrested by the country itself, Lotte couldn’t take it and gathered her friends together.

Thankfully, there were many of them who agreed with her. Unexpectedly, the whole class rallied to help their professor.

“...To be honest, there has never been a teacher who taught us that passionately.”

“Even if it was for infiltration purposes, I enjoyed it. She’s way better than the other professors.”

Lotte had been surprised at this point.

And had been relieved at the same time. They were all thinking the same thing as her.

“Alright. Let’s all go and apply for visitation.”

Although it was a confident attempt, the result wasn’t that great.

They said it was difficult to allow them visits unless they were family due to the sudden trials the country was going through.

“This is unreasonable.”

“Shh, just a moment.”

Instead when they harassed one of the officials, it yielded something, because that official relayed word-for-word what Aether had said.

“...Secure, a budget?”

“She said she was going to make an even stronger bomb than the last one.”

“Right, she did.”

Lotte and Freyr looked at each other and came to a realization. On the other hand, the other students who hadn’t been able to understand what the conversation was about could only quirk their heads.

Only Yufiel and Leninya who had at least been given a heads up by Aether were able to grasp the context.

“Wow, she’s something else.”

“Yeah. The country locked her up, but she’s still coming up with something for them.”

Leninya let out a big sigh and murmured quietly.

“If it were me, I would’ve already done away with this rotten society.”

Although she usually didn’t say things like this, her recent reading of a strange philosophy book made Leninya become increasingly dissatisfied with the society.

“Let’s head to where the administration is first.”

“Who knows the way?”

“I do.”

Yufiel raised her hand and volunteered to be their guide.

Like that, they abused the rights of the Vierbein family and somehow managed to get into the administration department.

But life wasn’t so easy.

“Ladies and gents, budgeting isn’t child’s play.”

The economic department official outright rejected Lotte and the group’s request.

“Ten billion ellans is not a small amount of money by any means. You all know this much, right? The country is in much turmoil right now and we cannot afford that big of an expense.”

“But....”

“If you’re just going to repeat yourself, please go back. And, our minister won’t take the advice of some Beast who’s in prison.”

Freyr snapped at those words and went off on him, but it only made them get kicked out of the building faster.

“We didn’t even get to see the minister.”

“It can’t be helped, this is the best we can do.”

They might have been able to catch a glimpse of the minister if they had been more sophisticated with their words, but being students, it was unlikely that they would have such negotiation skills.

Defeated, Lotte slumped her shoulders.

Aether does everything for me and the world, yet all I can do is toss myself.

–was what she thought, and it frustrated her.

“No, we can’t stop here.”

Akasha and Aether were both locked up.

Lotte couldn’t overcome this with what she knew, so she thought as far as using the Saliere name and the Empire’s power.

As a prestigious family of Fire Magic, the Saliere family had a high status within the Empire. As such, they had many supporters and were known for being generous people due to taking good care of their territory.

If a family of such repute in a great country like the Empire put in word to Kaurelia–

At the very least they should be able to influence the public opinion.

“Yufiel, could we use a hotline?”

“Huh? Yeah. We do have a large communicator at our home....”

In this world, it was difficult to access wireless telecommunication facilities unless the country lent it or one was rich.

Thankfully, one of her classmates was filthy rich.

“Who are you planning to call?”

“The Imperial court itself.”

There was no direct line to the Saliere manor so she needed to go through the Imperial court. They probably would let her though seeing as it was an emergency situation.

Lotte asked Yufiel’s permission and made the call.

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“It won’t connect.”

The hotline operated 24 hours, so there should always be someone on standby for the palace.

“──!!”

While she was thinking how strange this was, someone ran screaming past the Vierbein mansion.

‘What’s all the commotion?’ Lotte thought, and poked her head out the window. A newspaper deliveryman with a postal service armband was shouting his head off while throwing out articles.

“EXTRA, EXTRA! THEY SAY THE PHILIUT EMPIRE HAS FALLEN─!!”

With a fwshh, a newspaper was tossed through the window. Happening to catch it, Lotte opened it up.

[(BREAKING) PHILIUT EMPIRE CAPITAL BURNT DOWN, THE IMPERIAL PALACE GONE]“...Ah.”

Fwump.

Lotte collapsed on the spot.

“Now that the internal affairs seem to have stabilised, let us continue building up our army back to what it was with Kaurelia’s support.”

“As you command, Your Majesty.”

The Second Prince Klion Philiut, who had once been in the same class as Aether.

The older brother of that prince, First Prince Alion Philiut, had become the Emperor after the ‘Steam Rain’ incident and was overseeing state affairs.

Thanks to the efforts of Renawill Hasfeldt, who was one of the Grand Dukes, the Empire seemed to be returning to what it used to be.

“Your Majesty, they say that the Demon King has risen.”

Until they heard that news.

“What did you say?”

“Not long ago, there was an attack on the World Tree in Kaurelia. The Wind Lodestone was taken, and there were many casualties....... It is reported that the Beasts summoned their master while the elf country was in chaos.”

It was sudden, staggering news.

“If the Demon King has risen, then surely he will come over the Elankayas immediately, no?”

“I would say so.”

At the meeting, Duchess Totzfel calmly stated the truth.

“We will need an army much greater than before, Sire.”

“I was also thinking that when I heard what they said a moment ago.”

For six days since then...

All reserve forces and supplementaries were summoned as wartime mages.

Man, woman, young, old–it didn’t matter; anyone who could wield a staff was recruited to the army, which of course included Renawill and his two daughters.

“Klais, Klara. I’m sorry to force you back into war.”

“Not at all, Father.”

“If we die, we die together, and if we live, we live together.”

Saying that, the two daughters teared up.

Actually, Klara and Klais, having suffered a bitter defeat at the hands of the Beasts, didn’t want to return to the battlefield ever again.

But because there was a country and family to protect, they were heading north once more with their staff in hand.

“You’ve all gone mad.”

Right before leaving for the Elankayas, a Beast who was living with the Hasfeldt sisters said this while clicking her tongue.

A pitch black dress, and flowing grape-colored hair.

This girl with a coarse mouth, unlike her round and soft appearance that gained her the nickname ‘Blueberry’, was called Rosemary.

She was the last royalty of the kingdom of Tarkenil that had fallen to the Empire in the past, and a Golden-Eyed who had served as one of the core executives of the Demon Army for hundreds of years afterwards.

“With His Majesty–no. The Demon King having risen, it doesn’t matter how many of you go. You’ll only get slaughtered.”

“......You.”

“Why don’t you just run to Kaurelia? That would be the smartest thing to do.”

At Rosemary’s words, the already troubled hearts of the Hasfeldt sisters became even more perturbed.

It was such serious wording that it was hard to tell whether she was saying this out of genuine concern for them or trying to disrupt the military spirit from within under the pretense of surrender.

But the Hasfeldts weren’t ones to be deterred by that.

The first to shake his head was Renawill.

“Nobles have a duty to protect their people. Even if we run away, we will not retreat until the last civilian has been evacuated.”

His two daughters also pulled themselves together and nodded.

“That’s right. This is our country, so we need to defend it.”

“If we as mages run away, who will fight against the Beasts?”

Even Heerlein had already evacuated all the Tilette students and left for the west, because it wasn’t just the northern front that was showing signs of disturbance.

A commoner-turned-noble was trying to carry out noblesse oblige, so as traditional nobles, the Hasfeldts showing their backs would be a disgrace.

“Even if we die, we will die with honor.”

The Hasfeldts had to protect their honor.

Even if it was a diminished name now.

“What a joke.”

Rosemary snorted. Having once experienced hitting rock bottom from royalty, honor was basically a façade for her.

“Do whatever you want. Let’s see, I’ll....”

Rosemary hesitated a moment before letting out a sigh.

“Can I run away?”

“As you wish.”

Was it because death was at their doorstep? No one seemed to be concerned about Rosemary.

Are they actual idiots.

There was a Cataclysm right in front of them, yet they had withdrawn their suspicion because they’d been getting along for a few months.

Did they have the memory of a goldfish or did they know and still trusted her?

I won’t betray you for the sake of my sisters, seriously.

If she looked for an opportunity and joined in the attack, they’d win. The Empire would be annihilated, and the Hasfeldts would become extinct. And Rosemary might be able to return to the Demon Army for her efforts.

But, for Aether.

She gave up because she didn’t think it was appropriate to stab them in the back like this.

Yet it’d be weird to fight alongside them, too, so she had just decided to beg their pardon and run away.

“.......”

Step, step, step.

And so the mages marched north with their elite forces.

Looking at the completely empty campus of Tilette, Rosemary let out a small sigh.

“Not even a single ant.”

There really was no one.

With the exception of minimal personnel including the Emperor, the capital had become a complete ghost town.

Rosemary, who had had to be followed around by a few mages of the Imperial guard, stepped up on the school fountain and giggled.

“Kyahahaha! Fools! This country is now completely under my control!”

- Fools...! Now......! My control......!

Her voice echoed.

“......Haa.”

Hit by a sudden reality check, Rosemary plopped down on the fountain and lit a cigarette.

How long had she stayed like that?

“Let’s go....”

Rosemary really, really, really, didn’t do anything, just packed her bag and set off.

Once when she left the Academy.

Again when she left the capital’s center.

And one last time when she left the capital altogether....

After looking back a few times, Rosemary headed south while sighing and sighing again.

It’d be nice if she could see her sister again, but for some reason, something kept tugging at her.

“Maybe a break.”

In the end, it got dark by the time she got to where the capital was just visible, so she had to camp.

Because it was dangerous to move around at night, after all.

If I come across a bandit or a Beast, things aren’t going to be pretty.

Before she knew it, Blueberry had forgotten the fact that she was a Cataclysm.

Crackle, crackle.

Rosemary lit another stick of mana grass as she gazed absentmindedly at the fire.

Watching the stars embroidered in the night sky, she got sentimental.

Not that it was much of a sentiment, actually.

Just looks like salt sprinkled on seaweed.

How could humans look at the stars and say they were beautiful?

Snickering to herself, she tilted her head further back.

But just then–

“......?”

Something black was going shwoooom and falling from the sky.

Although it wasn’t visible with the naked eye because of the darkness of night, Rosemary was a Beast with several observation equipment including infrared radar.

And with her Innate Magic ‘Scope’ as well, her detection abilities could be seen as the best amongst the Cataclysms.

And as soon as that Rosemary confirmed the black falling object, she freaked out.

“Th-that’s...!”

A few seconds later–

The sky flashed and turned bright in an instant.