On a night when the crescent moon was shining brightly, Landgar found this time of year to be his absolute favorite. It was that special period when the night truly felt like night, shrouded in darkness. The weather could have been perfect with a gloomy sky, but the absence of clouds left him feeling a little disappointed. After all, the faint moonlight was casting its glow over the world.
Hoo-woo—
As he spaced out, staring at the crescent moon, Landgar instinctively bowed his head at the sudden, immense presence that enveloped him. He knelt on one knee, much like one of his subordinate’s paying respect during their visits to his office.
“It’s been a while.”
“…”
Although he couldn’t see because of his bowed head, Landgar instinctively knew that ‘that person’ was looking directly at him. The leader of the Nameless, the one who was the seed of all plans—that person who lent him strength and granted him the title of Elder One. The one and only, the Founder.
“Is everything proceeding well?”
The low voice sent shivers down his spine, echoing like fading sounds in a cave. The kind of voice you could never quite get used to, and it made Landgar involuntarily shudder, thinking that only the Founder could exert such pressure just with their voice.
“Yes, everything is on track.”
“Report.”
“Yes. We have successfully summoned an Undead stronger than the Knight of Green Maelstrom. The taming is also going smoothly, so we should be able to proceed according to our timeline.”
“…”
Though he didn’t receive an audible response, Landgar pressed on.
“I have pinpointed the target’s location as well. This time, we won’t miss.”
“Prioritize securing the target.”
“Of course. I won’t forget.”
“…Do not let your guard down.”
“Yes.”
Landgar replied with a surge of confidence. He was sure this operation wouldn’t fail.
“I’ll pass this on to you.”
Hoo-woo—
Landgar almost raised his head instinctively but held back just in time. Something was slowly flying towards him while he still looked down at the ground. It resembled a pill he had recently developed.
“What is this…?”
“It’s an elixir containing a part of my power. Use it in case of emergency.”
“Ooh. What an honor, Founder!”
Landgar accepted the precious pill with a hint of excitement in his voice. The fact that it contained a portion of the Founder’s strength made it an invaluable treasure.
“I hope to see you again soon.”
“Yes.”
While Landgar made a determined vow, the heavy air around him suddenly lifted.
Swish—
Only then did Landgar raise his head. There was no one around.
“Phew.”
Letting out a long breath of relief, Landgar slowly straightened his kneeling posture.
“This plan is a must!”
He tightened his grip around the round pill, feeling its presence in his palm. The Founder had even provided him with a potion infused with their power for emergencies; failure was simply not an option. With the success of this operation, the Nameless would finally reveal themselves to the world. Alongside this, the long-awaited resurrection of that person would be just around the corner.
“A revolution shall begin.”
With a confident smile, Landgar murmured to himself.
“So, why am I here again?”
“I told you, our plan.”
“No, I was thinking of sneaking in….”
“I mentioned, didn’t I? The security barriers at the Academy get much stricter during the festival. Maybe you wouldn’t have a problem, but Erica can’t just come and go as she pleases right now.”
“I won’t know unless I try…!”
“Nope, I know. Yuria tested it out.”
“How can I trust anything that woman says!”
Predictably, Erica was pushing back with all her might. As expected, but even more than he anticipated. After discussing with Eddi and Yuria last time, we had decided to prepare for incidents inside the Academy on the second day of the festival, but of course, this was the first time I was letting Erica in on it.
“Ah, that’s right. You don’t move between spaces like I do. You have to hide your presence, right? It’s just not enough at that level.”
“Ugh!”
Erica was visibly frowning, trying to think of some way out. Still, she couldn’t come up with anything better than this.
“So, got it?”
“Haah. You want me to stick to that woman all the time?”
“You probably won’t have to be glued to her all the time, I hope.”
Our plan, excluding Erica, was to make Erica Yuria’s servant. Normally, students and staff of the Academy weren’t allowed to bring in bodyguards or servants of any rank during their time at the Academy, but graduates invited specially for the festival were different. Since outsiders were coming in, usually they’d turn a blind eye to a servant.
And it was said directly by Professor Amillion, so it had to be true.
“Still, working under that woman…?”
“It’s just a formality. Hmmm.”
Erica grimaced as if she genuinely despised the idea. Given that she’d pulled off disguises countless times before, she should’ve known what it felt like.
‘But judging from this reaction, she really doesn’t like it.’
“Haah.”
Erica let out a long, drawn-out sigh. At this moment, a sigh felt like a signal of acceptance.
Exchanging a glance with Eddi, I began to speak again.
“Well, should we get ready for that? Eddi will deliver the ID soon.”
“Right. Is there a name you’d prefer?”
“…Just use my name.”
“Understood.”
Erica spoke in a defeated tone with resign. Success!
“Before that, can we gather any intel to ambush them? I mean, don’t stress too much about it.”
“Can we even do that?”
“…Well, who knows.”
Even though I said “who knows,” I knew it was a long shot. Even though we had captured the culprit behind the candy given to Cynthia, we had barely managed to gather any information about the Vice Chancellor’s backing forces. The only clue Yuria managed to uncover was about the execution date of their plan.
Ever since that day, it felt like we were digging into the Academy, but nothing was coming up. I tried to make a move in the office at night with others present, just like last time, but that didn’t happen either.
I couldn’t tell if they were deliberately staying low-key or what.
In conclusion, we had discovered no traces outside or inside the Academy.
If only I could just storm the Vice Chancellor without thinking.
“Right. So it was the second day?”
“Yeah. But I guess we’ll go in on the first day.”
“…Why?”
“There’s a meeting program with the graduates on the first day. We’ll go in that day, spend the night inside the Academy, and come out the next day.”
“Wow.”
Erica let out a sound that could be an astonished exclamation or just a sigh as she hung her head low.
“Well, I’ll head out first. I need to prepare your ID.”
“Yeah, yeah. Thanks for your hard work.”
Eddi left my office right on cue. Erica waved at Eddi dismissively and then flopped down onto the sofa.
“Surely we’re not sleeping in the same room?”
“…If it comes to it, I’ll just sleep in my dorm.”
“Phew. Well, that’s a relief.”
“Is Yuria that unbearable?”
“…I’d say it’s more uncomfortable.”
Erica wore an uneasy expression as she covered her face with her silver hair.
“What’s so uncomfortable about her? She’s kind to a fault.”
“Ah, just got that vibe. Hard to read her, and it’s kind of…”
“Aren’t I the same way?”
“You… just don’t.”
Erica mumbled as she buried her head in her hair.
I, too, kept my poker face to hide my feelings and thoughts.
“Anyway, please take care of it. It’s really important.”
Just like the last main quest and this one, if things go wrong, it’s game over.
I don’t know what happens when it’s game over and we reset, but “game over” and “reset” are words that send chills down the spine.
“If we mess up, everything we’ve done until now will go to waste.”
“Sounds a bit overdramatic.”
Erica scoffed and rose from the sofa.
Yeah, someone who doesn’t know what a quest is would have no idea what I’m feeling.
“Well, it’s that important.”
“Yeah, well, what can you do?”
With a sigh of resignation, Erica continued.
Having shared the plan with her, the preparations were complete. Now, all that was left was to do our best to figure out what would happen on that day.
Zzzzzt—
“Huh?”
“What’s up?”
Suddenly, I felt an electric tingle. The source of the sensation was my dorm.
It was the direct impact when someone touched my dorm door.
“Oh man, I need to go.”
“Suddenly?”
“Someone’s at my dorm.”
“Wow, you can tell that now?”
“With Yuria’s help… Ah, anyway, no time to explain, I’ll head out.”
I started to move towards my dorm, cutting off my explanation to Erica.
If I were to explain, it would take a while.
After the last encounter when Cynthia rummaged through the Black Shadow Guild’s uniforms, I had taken steps to enhance the security of my dorm.
Thanks to Yuria’s item, 99% of it was possible.
Woom—
As soon as I returned to the bare dorm with a single bed, I heard a sound.
Someone knocked on my door.
Knock, knock—
“Ryu, are you asleep?”
“Yeah! Who is it?”
“Oh, you’re awake. Someone’s looking for you—a girl.”
“What? Right now?”
Fortunately, the one knocking on my door wasn’t the Vice Chancellor or one of her minions. It was the dormitory manager.
By the way, a girl was looking for me at this hour?
“Yeah. She was begging to be called immediately… Ugh. She said she’d be waiting on the first floor.”
“Got it. Thanks!”
“Alright, I’ll let her know you’re on your way.”
Listening to the sound of the manager’s footsteps fading away, I looked out the window.
It was too dark to see clearly, but it seemed like someone was standing outside.
‘Who could it be?’
A girl pleading for a male student at this hour.
Curiosity bubbled up.
