Chapter 69 - St. Jansk University and the Chamber of Secrets (12)

Ivan sat on the sofa, glaring at the bed for a while. Then something stirred beneath the covers, and the blanket slid gently aside.

Blond hair spread like a field of wheat, with sharply pointed ears poking through it. It was Elpihera.

"Oh? You're awake? Did you sleep well?"

Ivan quickly scanned her body. She was properly dressed in silk pajamas. Inwardly relieved, he set down his dagger.

"Why am I here?"

"You don't remember?"

"Mm."

"Hmm... Hehe, reeeally? Is that so?"

Elpihera climbed out of bed, chuckling. She cast a playful glance at the scattered clothes and said,

"What do you think we did?"

"Nothing."

Ivan was a trained intelligence agent. That did not mean he trusted his self-restraint; it meant he could gather ample information simply by examining someone's clothing and body hair.

If he had done "something" in his sleep, Elpihera could not possibly look so immaculate.

Feeling his gaze, Elpihera pouted and grumbled.

"We didn't do anything, but that doesn't mean nothing happened."

"... What?"

"The Saint came by."

Still grumbling, she clapped her hands. Soon the door opened, and a servant entered and began laying out tea and refreshments on the table.

Dismissing the servant with a practiced gesture, she picked up a cup of black tea.

"Have something to eat. You must be starving."

"Where are my nutrition bars?"

"Pardon? What are those?"

"The things in my vest. In the slots."

"Uh... You mean the dog chews? I gave one to my Sir Mont Blanc, but he wouldn't eat it, so I thought they'd gone bad and threw them away... Th-those were for people?"

"Sir Mont Blanc...?"

"My dog. He's adorable. Want to meet him?"

Ivan struggled to suppress a sigh as he looked at the elaborate finger foods on the table. Such foods, composed entirely of sugar and carbohydrates, were pathetic things that supplied more calories than necessary and less nutrition than required.

He nearly reprimanded her for tossing his nutritionally complete bars to a dog, but instead picked up his teacup and collected his thoughts.

There were more important matters. He had all the nutrition bars he could want back in the director's office. What mattered now was his present situation.

That was how reasonable and magnanimous he was.

"You said the Saint came by."

"Oh, yes. She came to examine you. Oh, right! Good heavens, why did you say nothing had happened?!"

Elpihera angrily set her cup down with a clack.

Trying to keep up with a pubescent girl's (she was not) emotions was both difficult and foolish, so Ivan merely listened in silence.

"The curses! The Saint stayed up all night yesterday breaking them. Good heavens, what were all those?"

"Unhappiness."

Ivan shrugged as though it were nothing.

"Did the Saint say nothing?"

"Not in detail... She just came, cried for a long time, prayed through the night, and left. All she asked was that I tell you to visit her in the confessional three days a week."

"It was within expectations."

Ivan took a sip of tea and rose.

"It dealt in the concept of happiness, so the side effects of its death throes were predictable. The absence of happiness is unhappiness."

"Uh... Oh, then... As much as 'that trap'...?"

It had been a curse that poured out as much "unhappiness" as the overwhelming "happiness" that had seized her soul the instant she saw it?

Elpihera swallowed, recalling Ivan when he had first emerged from that room.

"I'd intended to visit her anyway. The Saint is at this university, and no one on the continent is more proficient at breaking curses."

"... You anticipated... all of it?"

"Mm."

"You really... You really must be insane!! Then you should have said something! What if I hadn't gone straight to the Saint and had waited until you woke up? What then?"

"What of it? If the curse had required urgent attention, I would have said so myself. A curse that merely instills unhappiness isn't life-threatening. There was no rush."

"You...!!"

Elpihera shouted, her eyes brimming with tears.

"You're strange. There's something really wrong with you. I thought it was just because you were human, but why have you changed so much? You weren't always like this!"

"I wasn't, was I?"

"No! You used to...!"

"You're overstepping."

Ivan dressed and gathered his things. After a quick inspection of expendable gear such as his utility vest and sling bag (homemade), he turned toward her.

"Elpihera. Worrying about me is not your job."

"What... did you say?"

"You're a student. Your role is to study hard and occasionally take these... field trips."

A child of the Hero's Party, a member of its next generation, and a future protagonist of the scenario needed nothing beyond experience and learning.

Therefore, everything else fell to Ivan.

These children reaching the ending. Progressing through the scenario safely and flawlessly until they finally faced the end credits.

That journey would be his "story." The last page he turned would probably—and must—lie there.

So his own safety, the safety of the Hero's Party's children, threats outside the scenario—none of those were matters this child needed to ponder or worry about.

Those were his responsibility. And since he was a selfish man, he disliked other people meddling in his assigned duties.

Ivan gave Elpihera, who was staring blankly at him, a brief nod of farewell and left the room.

The elves' residential district, then.

He walked through the glaring daylight, squinting. Right beside the university stood an extravagantly luxurious street. Commonly called the "elf dormitory block," this quarter housed nobles from Kallion.

Ignoring the elves who glanced his way, he headed straight for the university.

Rest could wait. His report came first.

He cast one last glance at Elpihera's mansion and felt a moment of regret.

There had been no need to snap at her. His words might have been rather too aggressive to use with a child.

But it had not been easy. The curses would all have been lifted, yet even the Saint's blessing could not erase "memories."

The memories the curse of unhappiness had summoned had meticulously restored even the smallest details lost to time, forcing their raw emotions upon him.

The North Wind and the Sun.

Ivan smiled bitterly. Apparently, he was a traveler more vulnerable to the North Wind than to the Sun.

As he had reflected, all happiness had run its course over his years in this world. Duty was all that remained for him here.

To put it another way, the absence of "happiness" was "unhappiness."

Which meant that almost all the past he could recall was unhappy.

Alone in that room, he had only managed to escape after enduring and reliving thirty years of unhappiness.

The memories, briefly forgotten while he was unconscious, had resurfaced during their conversation and were gnawing away at his emotions.

He was not acting like an adult.

Ivan resolved to apologize to Elpihera someday and turned away.

* * *

CLICK.

Elpihera sniffled, staring for a long time at the door that had shut with that dry sound.

The human from back then, changed beyond recognition.

The swift, short lives of humans.

The temptation of happiness and the curse of unhappiness.

Kindness and wounds.

The words tangling her thoughts gradually became distinct pieces and began fitting together.

She was a mage. A mage's profession demanded that one view events with reason rather than emotion.

Thus, half from professional duty and half from long-ingrained habit, she regained her composure.

CLINK.

She narrowed her eyes as she drank her cold tea.

'A trap that tempts its targets with what they desire most.'

The trap she had encountered in the ruins had offered gold and jewels, all manner of rare grimoires, and reagents difficult to obtain even with a fortune.

And what that man had seen was...

'Combs.'

She considered how that could be. The conclusion was simple. It meant that those were all the man had wanted at that moment.

Rather than an abnormal fondness for combs (true to some extent), it must have meant he simply had nothing else to wish for.

'He has no desires.'

Elpihera's eyes gleamed sharply.

The greatest beauty in Kallion had been right beside him. An elf of what a human would consider "mythical beauty" had stood there in the flesh, yet he had thought of combs rather than an aphrodisiac. That proved it.

Elpihera nodded at this sound conclusion.

'He's broken.'

Here was proof that faulty reasoning was no problem so long as the conclusion was correct.

Did the Saint know? Did her father? If his former comrades had failed to notice, and she alone in the world knew...

'I have to do it.'

Elves were fundamentally true to their desires. That did not mean indulging in base pleasures. It was the result of the perfectly obvious logic that anything precious ought to belong to an elf.

One could hardly entrust precious things to an impetuous, short-lived race and let them be ruined.

And so, as an exemplary elf, Elpihera reached her conclusion.

'I'm the only one who can.'

Teaching happiness to a man who knew none would be quite an exciting undertaking.

Just as dogs' lifespans varied by breed, this man seemed to have been born with an exceedingly short lifespan even for a human.

First, she would restore his lifespan and make him look a little younger, improve his constitution regularly, and feed him something better than those dog chews. Yes. If she took him in and cared for him like that, he would naturally feel "happiness."

She smiled as she gently picked up the little poodle panting at her feet and stroked it.

* * *

"You encountered what in the ruins?"

"Something claiming to be a god. Conditions in the field made identifying it impossible, but I will consult the Saint and append the findings to my report."

"No, no, no. I don't understa... A trap? Magic? A seal from two thousand years ago?"

"Yes."

Elizaveta held her forehead and muttered.

"Why the hell was something like that beneath the university...? Why was there not even a mention of it in the court histories? If such a thing lay dormant beneath the capital, I... This country should have known..."

"..."

Ivan felt no particular need to explain "common sense" to the people of this medieval world.

An ancient evil sealed beneath the capital was a matter of common sense.

"Right. So... How did you destroy it, again?"

"All it could do was toy with human desires."

"Oh, that's rather... like an epic poem. To hear such a tale in an age when the Demon King is dead... Are you all right? You weren't hurt?"

"I am unharmed, Your Highness."

Still kneeling on one knee, Ivan continued.

"It had no ability to exert physical force."

"Yes. Then would you tell me how you destroyed it?"

"I smashed its head."

"...???"

* * *

Isabelle and Esidisi sat side by side on a bench in companionable bewilderment.

"Why on earth...?"

"Why is Uncle...?"

Coming out of an elf's house—and "that girl's" house, at that?

In the morning, with his hair sticking up and his clothes a mess. Looking for all the world as though he had spent the night...?

As befitted old friends, they reached the same conclusion at the same moment.

"Cheating...?"

The fact that neither had a relationship with him in which cheating was even possible meant nothing to them.

What mattered more was simply that Ivan had emerged from "that girl's" house.

Again, as befitted old friends, after reaching the same conclusion, they agreed on their next course of action without a word.

This once, they were "allies."

Ah, of course.

A Hero's Party, formed to stand against the wicked elven witch!