SRS 121

“What should I give you, Headmaster?”

The longer the meeting lasted, the more Yohan had to lose. He chose a quick negotiation. He only needed to find out when the professor started teaching at Fantasiademia. He didn’t think the cost would be that high….

“The divine beast should wake up soon. I want you to go to the barrier with it. It’s hard to take them alone because divine beasts won’t leave their guardian saint’s side until their third growth phase ends.”

He was asking for a lot.

Yohan had underestimated the headmaster. He felt his head aching like he had eaten something too cold, so he took a breath to calm himself. He needed to address the confusing part of the headmaster’s words first.

“…What do you mean by me being a guardian saint?”

“It’s the official title for a protector chosen by a divine beast. The beasts hate words like owner or guardian.”

The headmaster explained and asked for Yohan’s decision again. Yohan lowered his hand in thought. Since the request came from the headmaster, it wouldn’t be an ordinary place. It most likely referred to the dimensional barrier where rifts were causing trouble. Was it right for a mere first-year student to go there?

He couldn’t not hesitate. Even in this school, Yohan had faced several death crises….

…Actually, he hadn’t faced many crises.

Now that he thought about it, his friends might be different, but Yohan himself hadn’t been in much danger except during the entrance exam. Feeling unnecessarily embarrassed, he touched his neck and tried to verify the location.

“Is it really alright for me to go there?”

“I don’t suggest places to students if they aren’t safe. I might look like this, but I’m a headmaster who treasures students’ lives.”

“…Aha. I see.”

Yohan played along out of politeness, but he looked the headmaster with the eyes of someone watching a cat sit where a fish just vanished. The headmaster shook a book.

“You can refuse if you don’t want to. However, you won’t get information on Professor Ariel.”

“…….”

It was a proposal that felt like an order.

“I think the price is too high.”

“Is that so? Then I’ll change the offer. Visit the barrier with the divine beast. If you do, I’ll tell you Professor Ariel’s arrival date and grant you one thing you want. I’d like to hear your request now, is that alright?”

“…I need time.”

“Take as much as you need.”

The headmaster gestured toward the sofa and told him to sit and think. Yohan leaned back on the soft cushions and racked his brain.

Since he received a request from the headmaster based on compensation, Yohan found a way to get items through him without ordering a flowerpot from the commercial district. But he couldn’t ignore Gerog’s curse. Hadn’t he already told the goblin he’d find a way to break it?

Even if he hadn’t known the circumstances, he had listened and made a promise. Yohan was responsible to resolve Gerog’s curse whether he wanted to or not.

If so, since this was already a task he had to do, he should discard the idea of getting a pot through the headmaster.

Then what could he ask for now?

He shouldn’t ask for something completely absurd. He knew there was room for negotiation only if he suggested something plausible. Then, while waiting for Tohan’s silence to end, the headmaster suddenly leaned back in his chair, half-lying down. It was a posture that lacked any sense of dignity.

Yohan wondered how long he had been thinking and clicked his tongue inwardly. When he checked the time, he was shocked. Thirty minutes had already passed.

He’d be late for his general class at this rate.

Furthermore, if he stayed longer, his friends in Room 304 might think something happened and storm the headmaster’s office. Mikael and Kylus might hold back, but Suhyeok was with them. The possibility was high, Yohan felt rushed.

“Then, please give me the right to ask three questions.”

When he finally stated the condition he’d agonized over, the headmaster, who had been draped over the chair like laundry, slowly sat up.

“The right to ask questions?”

“Yes.”

This was what Yohan had chosen after filtering through many requirements.

He couldn’t ask for something that would look like special treatment. He was already under the other students’ scrutinizing gazes. In this situation, asking for something related to school life would just reignite the controversy that had finally died down.

Similarly, he couldn’t ask for things related to the commercial district. He rejected the idea of getting exam information because it was unfair.

So, only the right to ask questions remained.

“Hmm…. That’s interesting. I’ll listen to what you want to ask and then decide.”

The headmaster didn’t think long, perhaps because he hated boredom. Yohan brought out the questions he had prepared in advance.

“I’m curious about the purpose of the school’s founding.”

The headmaster’s hand slipped from his chin. He blinked, his light flickering, and then he laughed.

“Haha. I didn’t expect you to ask that. Among the students who received the right to ask questions, you’re the second one to ask that. Well, fine. What’s the next question?”

“I want to know if I can really be resurrected after I receive my diploma.”

“Don’t you trust the school?”

The response sounded like the answer was already decided. Yohan narrowed his eyes and glared at the headmaster.

If he had a conscience, he shouldn’t say such things, right?

“Yes.”

“I’ll reject this question. It’s the truth that you’ll be resurrected.”

“Then I’ll change the question. I’m curious if there are other conditions for resurrection in my original world besides the diploma.”

“Hmm…. I’ll reject this one too. You’ve already gained something, haven’t you?”

He was right. Through the rejection of that question, Yohan became certain that other conditions for resurrection existed.

“I entered the Spirit Realm during Spirit Studies. Also, I recently stepped into another dimension briefly through the lake in the training hall. If so, can I enter the dimension where I belong without being resurrected?”

“I can give you an answer to that question. Let’s hear the next one.”

It was the last question.

Yohan hesitated a bit, unlike with the previous questions. He felt his tongue go stiff. He wasn’t sure until the end if asking this would be a gain or a loss. Finally, he decided to put his curiosity above the calculation of profit.

“…I want to know if a certain being I want is alive.”

Two people came to Yohan’s mind when he said that. It was definitely one person when he planned the question, but another face appeared once the question was finished. Yohan was surprised himself. As he stood at the crossroads with his head slightly bowed, the headmaster laughed.

“Shall we put that question on hold for a moment? You might have more things to ask after you hear the answers to the first two.”

The headmaster postponed the selection. Yohan was a bit flustered because he hadn’t expected this, but he realized it was the headmaster’s consideration and nodded with a complicated feeling. The headmaster clasped his hands, rested his chin on them and began the Q&A.

“Then I’ll give the answer to the first question. Fantasiademia’s first purpose is to provide excellent good people with a chance to correct their mistakes. The second is to grant a hero as a reward to the world that produced a student with the potential to be an excellent good person.”

“…What?”

Yohan asked back with wide eyes.

He understood the first purpose, but the second one was the problem.

Granting a hero to a world.

It sounded like a normal story at first, but there’s a reason people say heroes are born in troubled times.

In other words, it meant something requiring a hero was about to happen or had already happened in the world.

“And the answer to the second question is ‘yes.’ If you want a more detailed explanation, you should use your third question.”

“…….”

If he could see the headmaster’s expression right now, the man would have a sly smile. The answers to the two questions confused Yohan. His mind became a mess, and he couldn’t think of anything for a while. His overloaded brain refused to work.

“Uh….”

The headmaster waited patiently as Yohan let out dumb sounds. He slowly organized the thoughts in his head and picked what was most important and curious.

He had three choices.

Keep the original last question, find out what disaster hit the Yuphir Continent, or ask how to go to the Yuphir Continent without being resurrected.

And he could figure out the first two if he got the answer to the third one.

“…Then, what must I do to return to the dimension I was in without being resurrected?”

“Your question is wrong.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s not returning; it’s just entering ‘temporarily.’ There’s no way to stay in that dimension completely without resurrection.”

“Ah.”

That meant even if he visited the dimension, it would only be for a moment, just like at the lake. When Yohan looked disappointed, the headmaster laughed and declared that he couldn’t change the question now. It felt cold, but it was a fair point.

The headmaster had already provided a piece of information by correcting the question. Eventually, Yohan accepted his mistake.

“…What must I do to enter the dimension where I am from?”

To the question modified according to the headmaster’s advice, the Nameless Obe answered.

“The final evaluation involves visiting another dimension to solve a given incident. Aim for that time. The dimension you visit is random, but who knows? If you pray earnestly, a miracle might happen.”