[642] A Dead End (2)
Everyone fell silent, the air suddenly heavy as if a thought had dropped into it.
Refusing a royal order when the matter was already known was a direct challenge to state authority, and Raiman's shoulders trembled with barely contained fury.
"How dare you! Do you know what the crime of insulting the royal family means? You deserve the death penalty!"
Now that approval for Amy had been granted, Shirone had nothing to lose.
"This isn't insolence, and it isn't rebellion against the kingdom. I'm simply saying I did nothing wrong."
"You—!"
Just as Raiman was about to explode, Poni could no longer bear it and turned to leave.
"Poni-nim!"
With the person who should have been apologizing gone, Raiman lost his footing entirely.
All he felt was resentment toward Shirone, who'd caused this mess.
"You will pay dearly for your choice! Keep your neck out and wait—you'll see!"
He wanted nothing more than to have Shirone torn limb from limb, but the palace expected restraint, so there was nothing he could do.
After Raiman left, the students surged forward.
"Senior Shirone! Are you really all right?"
Shirone only looked back at Amy, grateful for the smile she gave him.
'Amy.'
Could she think beyond the body, think of the spirit?
Whatever the outcome, the distance between the two of them had just grown a little.
* * *
In the Alpheas School of Magic conference room, teachers exchanged glances until Sade suddenly stood.
"I'll take the heat for saying it. I think we should pass a motion to postpone Shirone's graduation by one year."
It was the most pragmatic option, but Siina's emotions would not allow it.
"Shirone posted grades that will go down in the kingdom's history. If we cancel his graduation now, Alpheas itself will become a byword for ridicule."
"But it's a royal order. This could do serious damage to Alpheas."
"You can't make a student a political scapegoat! Teachers have a duty to protect their students!"
Siina slammed her desk, and Sade's voice rose in reply.
"He can graduate next year anyway! If a storm is coming, you steer the ship aside. Trying to barrel through will sink us all!"
Alpheas let out a long, weary sigh.
'How did it come to this?'
His record-breaking achievement had become a poison simply because it was too exceptional.
Olivia spoke up.
"Commoners are easily shaken because their foundations are weak, and they don't always have the same sense of belonging to the state as nobles do. That's what made the palace uneasy. If he'd been noble, they would've gone through normal negotiations."
"So you're saying we watch and wait?"
"What choice do we have? Reason and order are produced by the system. With a royal order issued, there's nothing more we can do."
Alpheas could unilaterally graduate Shirone, but the backlash would be enormous.
"My head hurts."
Exhaling, Alpheas quietly left the heated chamber as the discussion continued without him.
* * *
"Where's Shirone?"
Nade opened the dorm door to find only Amy and Iruki inside.
"He went out for some air for a bit."
"Please tell me he isn't planning anything stupid—like leaving school."
"He's not that foolish. Nothing's decided yet. Let's wait to see what stance the palace takes. They might offer a better negotiation."
As a day filled with talk of Shirone wound down, Poni sat lost in thought, not even touching her water.
'I only wanted to become a mage.'
From the moment she realized that the qualification could be taken away at any time, she felt she had lost everything.
Sitting at her desk with a pen, Poni wrote a will and added, at the end, a plea to allow Shirone's graduation.
She climbed onto a chair, looped a rope around a ceiling beam, made a noose, and pushed her face into it like putting on a necklace.
She paused once to ask herself whether this was truly the best way.
"I'm sorry, Mother."
Without a second thought she kicked the chair away; all her weight focused on her fragile neck.
'What—?'
Poni's tightly shut eyelids slowly opened.
Her heart hammered in response to the brain's death signal, and only after a moment did she realize someone was holding her legs.
Dropping her gaze, her eyes went wide.
"Shirone?"
Shirone looked down at her with a smile.
"You shouldn't do things like this, Poni."
Could it really be Shirone?
Thinking she might be dead and hallucinating, she twisted slightly—and the pain in her neck was very real.
"Ugh!"
Just before the weight crushed her, Wind Cutter sliced the rope, and Poni's body collapsed to the floor like a puppet.
"You all right?"
She put her hands on the ground and turned away from Shirone.
"Why did you come?"
"I was worried you might do something like this."
"So why did you come? I tried to kill myself. If I'd died, you could've graduated. Why save me?"
Shirone didn't answer.
"Go back. You probably still have another life to live. If you miss this chance, your life is finished."
"It's not your fault, Poni."
Poni's face hardened.
"Not my fault? Do you think I'll believe that lie? Be honest. Tell me you wished I'd die, that if I died everything would go back to the way it was!"
"I didn't say I wasn't angry."
Shirone crouched beside her.
"I want things to work out too. But it's not your fault. So you don't have to die."
It was miserable—both that he'd shown her the last moment of life and that she was now being comforted by him.
"What do you want?"
Poni snapped her head around.
"What do you want me to give you? Money? Power? A title? Take it all. Take everything if you must, but please end this!"
"There's nothing I want from you. What I want isn't something anyone can give. And I already have it. Right now I can think and act like this."
When Shirone put a hand on her shoulder, Poni's lips trembled into a small pout.
"So don't feel guilty. I'm a mage now whether anyone grants me the title or not."
"Mi—"
The words she had really wanted to say slipped out, and she flung herself into Shirone's arms.
"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry, Shirone! I… I—!"
Shirone stroked her back and whispered, "It's okay. It's not your fault."
"I don't know what came over me. I'm sorry!"
Becoming a mage wasn't something you could do whenever you wanted.
'If I can't accept it, then I really haven't gained it.'
At that moment, a Mage Association staff member who had heard Poni opened the door and stepped in.
"What the—how did you get in here?"
Seeing the open window, the staff took a combat stance.
"Damn it! What were the outer guards doing?"
"Stop."
Poni, now free of Shirone's arms, walked toward them.
"But Poni-nim! The Association has issued a strict ban on Shirone—"
"Are you trying to wave the Association's name in front of me now?"
"Ugh!"
The shift in atmosphere made the Association staff shrink back.
The aura radiating from the kingdom's most noble blood was not something earned by training or study.
Poni turned her head and spoke gently.
"Shirone, go back."
"But you—"
"I'll be fine. I won't waver anymore. I'll stay at school. And I will become a mage."
Realizing Poni's resolve, Shirone finally smiled with relief and moved toward the window.
"Good luck, Poni."
"You too."
The moment the words ended, Shirone leapt.
The Association staff reflexively rushed out, but no one could find him—he had cast Sibulsangpokmae and vanished.
* * *
"Graduate Shirone Arian! The students will not tolerate the kingdom's unfair action!"
Members of an emergency committee formed around the student council gathered at the faculty building to protest.
With Poni—the subject of the controversy—standing with the committee, their force was considerable, and the teachers subtly hoped to follow the students' lead.
"We understand your position. We are preparing the necessary documents now, so—"
Olivia, the faculty auditor, appeared with other teachers to convey the school's stance, when—
"What's all this racket!"
Raiman charged in with soldiers.
"Please graduate Shirone Arian!"
"It's a royal order! Do you want to be arrested for treason?"
When a few students flinched, Poni lifted her head and stepped forward.
"If you're going to arrest anyone, start with me."
"Miss Poni! Why are you doing this?"
Raiman couldn't understand at all.
If they stayed silent, Shirone's graduation would be canceled, and perhaps she might even take Tio's position.
—What I want cannot be given by others.
Recalling Shirone's words, Poni crossed her arms.
"Stand down. I will demand that the palace invoke a special prosecutor system under the royal prerogative. I will thoroughly investigate who is involved in this case and how many slush funds were exchanged."
"Waaah!"
Students cheered in response to Poni's declaration.
'Still young.'
As the blade of judgment threatened to fall, Raiman grew strangely composed.
"Demand whatever you like. But until the trial ends, Shirone's graduation will be put on hold."
There was nothing left but to drag this into the mud and stall for time.
If Shirone couldn't graduate, the backlash would eventually die down.
"Miss Poni. Regardless, the royal order is still valid. If you do not disperse the students, we will have no choice but to detain you all."
Olivia stepped forward because the threat was real.
"Everyone, please return—"
"Excuse me."
A voice came from behind the teachers. When they turned, the speaker was already walking toward the committee.
'An incredible expert.'
Not even Olivia, a certified second-ranker, had sensed this person's movement.
The man's pure-white robe gave him a kindly air, but his eyes were sharp and his long black hair was wound atop his crown. With his left hand clasped behind his back, he flicked a fan with a small charm as he spoke.
"Um… so. What was your name again? It started with Shi—"
"Shirone. How many times must I say it?" Shirone snapped.
From inside the man's robe emerged a tiny creature like a newborn: crimson-skinned, dark circles around its eyes like a panda's, with a spear-like long tail.
"Is Arian Shirone here by any chance?"
There was a brief moment of puzzlement at the odd phrasing, then the name Shirone snapped everyone to attention.
"I am Shirone Arian. Who are you?"
The man watching Shirone hurriedly felt himself over as if checking something.
"Uh, well I'm… where did I put it?"
The crimson creature sighed and produced a talisman with three overlapping five-pointed stars.
'Stars. Three of them.'
Everyone who knew the significance of three stars trembled in shock.
"We are from the Ivory Tower's Balance Department. We have a message for Shirone Arian."
"Ivory Tower?"
While students murmured, the man with the fan extended his hand to Shirone.
"Pleased to meet you. I am Arte."
A three-star resident of the Ivory Tower's Balance Department—the spirit goblin lord Arte.
"And I am the satellite Tokei," Tokei added with an impish grin, placing a disc showing an orbital path beside Arte's talisman.