SRS 47

“…Do we have a task we need to do?”

They had no choice but to completely surrender. The angel professor and Homern kept bringing up tasks and recommending shops, and the implication was obvious.

Whether first-years or not, someone other than the professors obviously needed to handle a job, so Yohan asked. The professors’ eyes sparkled, as if they had been waiting exactly for this moment.

“A good decision, Yohan Herse. Your body looks frail, but your head seems to work quite well.”

Professor Homern praised him and pulled something from his belt, then handed it over.

“Bring this back.”

Suhyeok stood up and took the paper the professor held out.

“Go there and resolve the incident of the Everflowing Spring that dried up. If you succeed, he said he’ll give every new student ten points.”

“…He’ll give ten points?”

“Who said that?”

Suhyeok had been leaning on his hand, bored with how slow and meaningless the conversation had become, but he lifted his head at the unexpectedly generous reward. Yohan also caught something strange in the professor’s words and raised his eyebrows as he dug for more information. Homern stroked his beard.

“The headmaster, of course.”

“……”

“……”

The table went silent. Yohan pictured the headmaster’s shining head and massaged his forehead with his palm to cool himself.

“So this… is a request that reached the headmaster? And the headmaster said he’s giving it to us?”

“Mm!”

“Mmhm!”

“The drinks taste quite nice.”

“Children sometimes need trials.”

“It’s not an impossible request.”

The professors suddenly dodged the subject or said pretty lines while pretending to be respectable professors.

So it’s true…!

Thanks to them, Yohan was now certain. He admired the headmaster’s skill. Only someone this shameless and irresponsible could beat a demon and become Fantasiademia’s headmaster.

It explained perfectly why the demon served as vice headmaster while some nameless holy being served as headmaster.

“In any case, give it a try. We have high expectations for you children.”

The professors, satisfied after pushing the headmaster’s work onto the new students, urged them to leave because they were getting annoyed.

“We’ll pay for the food this time. When you receive your points, pay us back.”

Kylus grabbed the sheath of his sword so tightly the veins bulged on the back of his hand. Yohan and Suhyeok both grabbed Kylus’s arm at the same time, then hurried everyone out of the restaurant.

“…We shouldn’t have eaten.”

Even after leaving the restaurant, and after putting plenty of distance between themselves and the professors, Yohan and his friends sat down in relief and regretted their terrible choice.

“We didn’t even eat anything. The meat was too big to get into my mouth. It didn’t cut well either.”

Suhyeok said he had never seen food like that before, and even Kylus, who liked meat, shook his head because it was too hard to eat.

Mikael barely touched it. Yohan thought he and Mikael must have eaten about the same amount, so he clutched his aching stomach. He wasn’t hungry because he couldn’t digest it. Instead, he felt pain. Out of habit he used his divine power.

“Ugh.”

“Yohan?”

“Yohan, are you alright?”

Yohan tried to get up but staggered and fell back down, so Suhyeok and Kylus panicked.

“You used your divine power.”

Mikael reached a hand to Yohan, who had landed on his backside, and figured out the cause.

“This is the commercial district, so it’s far from the first-year zone. It’s dangerous if you use your power carelessly.”

“…You’re right. I heard it from an upperclassman before, but I let my guard down.”

Yohan grabbed Mikael’s hand and stood up while holding his aching stomach. The pain felt twice as strong now.

“Ah, is it because of the illusions.”

“Illusions?”

“Kylus, you weren’t there then. The illusions in Fantasiademia have a negative effect on those who use their abilities through resources. Like mage, healers, priests, and other resource users. So… the circuits get tangled and it’s hard to use your abilities.”

Suhyeok passed the information he heard from Abel to Kylus. Kylus seemed to have trouble understanding it, but he nodded because Yohan’s face looked even paler.

“It does seem that way.”

“…Sorry. I was careless.”

Yohan apologized to his worried friends and sighed. Even though it was his second time experiencing it, he still couldn’t get used to the illusion invading his mind and showing hallucinations.

At least it wasn’t Cheplen this time. It was only the people Yohan failed to save when he had been a high priest.

“……”

“Are you alright?”

Mikael stayed by his side and watched him, worried because Yohan’s complexion didn’t improve. He asked if Yohan would be able to reach the place marked on the paper the professors gave them, and Yohan nodded.

“There’s no need to push yourself.”

“Yes, and it’s not like all the new students need to handle it. We’ll try it ourselves, so let us carry you. Sometimes a day like this has to happen.”

Mikael and Suhyeok tried to make him rest. Yohan stubbornly shook his head.

Doing nothing in a situation like this would only make him feel worse. If he stayed still, his thoughts might slip into a darker place.

“I’m fine. I’ll move with everyone. And… since this request went all the way to the headmaster, it won’t be easy to resolve. Every person will matter, so I’d feel bad sitting out.”

He forced his face to relax and pretended he was alright. The three men didn’t like it, but they gave up on trying to change his mind and unfolded the paper. They followed the rough map, and at a crossroads, they ran into other students walking while checking the same paper.

“Huh? Kylus.”

“…That paper…you also got the spring assignment?”

“…Yes. A professor gave us candy, then suddenly asked for money.”

“Wow…”

The professors’ cruelty made Suhyeok frown in disgust. They met several more groups afterward, and each group had nearly the same story as Yohan’s.

“I accidentally broke a bowl at a shop, and a professor covered it for me. Then he suddenly made me take this assignment…”

“He shoved something into my mouth then asked for money. When I said I didn’t have any, he told me to work it off and sent me here.”

“Professor Menoua fainted on the street, so I tried to help, but when I came to my senses, I was holding this paper and walking. He probably used a spell.”

Yohan wanted to ignore reality when he heard his friends’ stories. The more they heard, the more horrifying it became. The students cursed the professors and sighed together.

“…Why did we even enroll here?”

As they mumbled, Suhyeok answered.

“We enrolled to resurrect ourselves.”

“You heartless idiot.”

“You think we don’t know that? Read the mood, idiot!”

Yohan shook his head as he watched the rare sight of Suhyeok getting scolded. As one or two groups gathered, more than forty students stood near Yohan before they knew it.

He wondered where the rest were, but once they reached the marked place on the map, they found them too.

“Yohan!”

Melek, who had been discussing something with the others, turned around and smiled brightly.

“You came to help! I believed in your honor!”

“…No, it’s not really like that.”

“We also got tricked into coming.”

When Suhyeok waved the paper, Melek’s group’s faces darkened. Yohan turned and counted their numbers.

“Hmm… everyone’s here.”

All the first years finally reached the place marked.

That’s the spring?

Yohan looked where Melek’s group had been watching. A giant, wide pit sank into the ground. Calling it a spring was wrong. Not a single trace of moisture remained. Even the soil wasn’t damp. It seemed the spring had dried up long ago.

How many times has the headmaster procrastinated this?

The situation was worse than expected.

“But there’s a problem, Yohan. If you look at Isaac lying there…”

“People with resources abilities will struggle to use their power. They’ll get mentally hit by the illusions, reducing their control on their abilities.”

“That’s right! How did you know? Wait, Yohan, did you also…”

“Yes.”

Saying he heard it from Abel would take too long, so Yohan gave a vague answer and pushed through the crowd to check Isaac. Some students escaped the illusions quickly, but others couldn’t and took heavy damage, losing their mental strength altogether. Isaac had always been weak-minded, so after Yohan realized this wasn’t the first-year zone, he had expected something like this.

The priests and healers surrounding Isaac were on the verge of tears.

“We tried to help him…”

“You also can’t use your abilities?”

“…yes. What do we do.”

Isaac’s face was as pale as a corpse. He frowned in pain every second, he must have been suffering. Yohan swallowed and pressed his aching stomach.

“What do we do?”

Can I do it?

He wasn’t confident. But fear didn’t give him the right to abandon Isaac.

If they couldn’t even wake Isaac from the illusion, they won’t be able to complete the spring task. They had to get past this, so as Yohan braced himself…

“I’ll take a look.”

A breeze-like voice came from behind him, and Mikael stepped forward.