Yujin threw a questioning “Why?” at Tiamat, but no answer came back. She just remained silent with an oddly sorrowful gaze.
There was probably some circumstance behind it, but that was all he could guess. Thus, Yujin couldn’t easily respond to Tiamat’s request for a promise.
“Let’s talk about this again next time.”
『Yujin…』
“I’m not trying to ignore what Tia said. It’s just… I don’t want to blurt out a promise when I understand nothing about the situation.”
『……』
“When you’re able to tell me the reason, I’ll give you my answer too.”
At that statement, Tiamat fell silent for a moment before nodding and spoke.
『…Yeah, that’s right. Sorry, I guess I was being too pushy with my own perspective.』
“That’s not true. I know Tia had me in mind when saying that.”
『…Thank you.』
Though Tiamat hadn’t revealed everything to Yujin, neither of them let it cause any distrust or rifts between them. Their bond had deepened enough that such trivial matters wouldn’t break it.
Tiamat added one last thing.
『Yujin, this is just advice so… keep it in mind, but don’t get overly hung up on it.』
“…Is this advice?”
『Yeah, advice. If, by chance, you end up having a child with anyone—be it a demon or whatever—promise to take responsibility for it.』
After hearing this, Yujin stayed silent for a moment before letting out a small laugh and replied.
“That’s simply the natural duty as a living being. Taking responsibility for life born from oneself is something even beasts naturally do.”
『That’s true. It’s just… there are those who can’t do even that.』
From her words, an unusual anger and disgust could be felt, something never present in her usual demeanor.
『Even insignificant beasts know right from wrong, yet there are those who cannot.』
“…”
Instinctively, Yujin understood that ‘those who cannot’ referred to demons.
What kind of event had Tiamat experienced in the past? Given her warning against having children with demons, it wasn’t hard to infer there had been some sort of mating between demons and dragons.
It couldn’t possibly be Tiamat herself; she was clearly still a maiden based on what he’d observed.
Most likely, it was an incident involving one of the subordinate dragons under her command, tied to some tragedy.
This was all Yujin could deduce. Beyond this, without actual knowledge, it would be entering the realm of pure imagination.
“…I understand. I’ll keep it in mind.”
Thus, Yujin chose to merely keep her advice in mind and continued walking.
*
Meanwhile, rewinding a bit in time…
“…Where on earth did he go?”
Professor Reina Sahart, after finishing her lecture, was busy wandering around campus searching for Yujin.
It was only natural for her. In the situation where she suspected Yujin to be a Dark Sorcerer, failing to properly monitor him made her reluctant to even imagine what might happen.
‘Damn… Could he really have gone to the princess’s dormitory…’
No matter how much she searched around campus, she couldn’t find him. The only place she could think of where Yujin might have gone was the princess’s dormitory.
“But there’s no way Her Highness would just let a male professor into the dorm like that.”
Princess Elysia, due to an incident in her childhood, didn’t easily trust others or let them get close.
Would she suddenly allow a male professor who randomly showed up into the dormitory? Even if he was the one who sealed her mana, it seemed unlikely.
In her opinion, the answer was no. After all, Yujin himself gave off a suspicious vibe. There was no way the princess wouldn’t be on guard.
Moreover, the princess was known to be quite powerful, so the thought that Yujin could quietly handle things using force without causing any commotion didn’t seem plausible.
Of course, reality was different, but Reina’s assumptions were reasonable from a general perspective. For that reason, she excluded the princess’s dormitory from her list of possibilities.
“…He’ll probably come back before the afternoon lecture…”
As she frowned and resumed her steps, something caught her attention.
“…Hm?”
She stopped her pace. Two female students sitting on a bench near the café caught her eye.
“Eri~ So what exactly happened between you and Professor Yujin that has you so scared?”
“W-Wh-What?! I’m not scared or anything!”
“Come on, your reaction says otherwise! I heard you met the professor inside the maze during the maze exam, right? Did something happen there?”
A black-haired girl and a brown-haired girl were chatting. Reina’s eyes lit up.
‘Eri, the student.’
The student who encountered Yujin during the maze trial. Though momentarily forgotten due to Yujin’s sudden disappearance, Reina had intended to ask her about what happened in the maze with him, so she quickly recalled her.
She approached them.
“…Eri student.”
“Kyaaah?!”
“Whoa!”
Startled by Reina’s sudden voice, they turned around quickly. Then they hastily stood up straight.
“Pro-Professor Reina! Um, may I ask why you called us?”
Eri asked with a trembling voice. Aside from Yujin, Reina was known as an extremely strict professor in the field of magic studies, so there was no reason not to tremble.
Indeed, she was the one who could drastically cut their scores, so Eri’s fear was justified.
Actually, the scores themselves weren’t the issue. As long as they passed, it was fine, but…
“Eri student, I need to ask you something. Sera student.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Reina spoke.
“Eri student and I need to have a private conversation, so could you step aside for a moment? It won’t take long.”
“Yes, understood!”
With that, Sera quickly stepped away. Left alone in the spot almost instantly, Eri silently cursed Sera as a ‘traitor!’ while shedding tears.
“Eri student.”
“Yes, yes!”
But only for a moment. At Reina’s call, she maintained her posture and responded. Watching her, Reina spoke.
“You can relax a little.”
“U-Uh… Yes!”
Relaxing slightly at her words, Eri sat more comfortably. Watching her, Reina began.
“As I mentioned earlier, I called you because I have something to ask you.”
“B-B-But Professor, asking me…?”
“Yes, it concerns Professor Yujin.”
“…Gulp!”
At the mention of Yujin’s name, Eri’s complexion turned pale, and simultaneously, she let out a hiccup.
Seeing her reaction, Reina was convinced that Eri definitely knew something.
“B-But, why… why about Professor Yujin…”
“That’s…”
At that question, Reina hesitated for a moment.
Should she say it? She still didn’t know whether Eri was aware that Yujin was a dark sorcerer. If she told Eri that Yujin was a dark sorcerer and it put Eri in danger, would that not make things worse?
Still, it was probably too early to bring up suspicions of dark sorcery. Making that judgment, she first asked Eri a probing question.
“Eri, you seem particularly uneasy around Professor Yujin.”
“B-But that’s…”
“There’s no need to deny it. I believe you yourself realize it. It’s obvious that you treat Professor Yujin differently.”
“…”
“My memory tells me that the first time Eri student met Professor Yujin was during the maze trial when you reached the third level of the maze. Is that correct?”
“Y-Yes… That’s right.”
“After meeting Professor Yujin there, did anything happen between you two?”
“…”
At Reina’s question, Eri’s face paled again. Narrowing her eyes upon seeing this, Reina asked.
“Did something happen?”
“W-Was there…”
“You can speak honestly. Even if something happened that might harm Professor Yujin, I will do my best to protect you.”
“…”
At those words, Eri fell silent for a moment before timidly asking Reina.
“…W-Why does Professor ask about such things?”
“That’s…”
Reina pondered for a moment. This was the turning point.
If she directly told Eri about the dark sorcerer suspicions, she might get accurate information from her. However, doing so would increase the likelihood of putting Eri in danger.
On the other hand, if she beat around the bush, Eri might also dodge the questions ambiguously. Thinking about it, perhaps asking directly would be better.
Nevertheless, considering the safety of the students, Reina decided to phrase her inquiry tactfully.
“Eri student, I don’t know what happened between you and Professor Yujin, but I do know that you seem particularly afraid of him. If Professor Yujin harmed you in any way, it’s my duty as a professor to hold him accountable. For Eri student’s sake.”
“Ahh…”
Upon hearing those words, Eri looked at Reina with a slightly moved expression. Seeing this, Reina inwardly believed she had succeeded.
“…T-Thank you, Professor Reina. But… there was no harm done. It’s just… how should I put it… strictly speaking, it’s more like I’m just scared and embarrassed by myself…”
However, the words coming out of Eri’s mouth were entirely different from what Reina had expected.
Eri’s own reckless actions during the test. And how Yujin guided her through her first act of killing, which left her shaken by the shock of taking a life and subsequently made her wary of Yujin… It was really just a trivial story.
In fact, Reina had already heard this account from Hugo, who had led the party during the test. Narrowing her eyes, she wondered.
‘Is she still hiding something?’
Judging by Eri’s reactions, there didn’t seem to be any lies, but recalling that she had witnessed Yujin revealing his true identity, Reina couldn’t accept that she had misjudged the situation.
“Eri, is that truly all?”
Therefore, she decided to confirm with Eri using a lie-detection spell. Though startled upon sensing the lie-detection magic, Eri soon sincerely told Reina.
“No, this is truly all.”
“…”
The answer was truthful.
Reina thought she might have jumped to conclusions after all…
‘…Even so, can something so trivial make someone this afraid?’
She still couldn’t fully grasp it and scratched her head.
‘Black magic often interferes with the mind or life of its target.’
Perhaps Eri’s memories had been tampered with. What if she had experienced something truly terrifying, but her spirit remembered it while her conscious mind had been altered to believe she was just frightened by the shock of killing and thus wary of Yujin?
Although this was an unfounded assumption, ever since witnessing (or believing she had witnessed) Yujin’s true nature, Reina had long entered a stage where she doubted everything. She was practically paranoid.
‘Memory manipulation is a highly advanced form of black magic, but Han Yujin might very well be capable of it.’
If this were true, it would be somewhat problematic. While most magic that interferes with the mind is indeed black magic, there are also forms of pure magic that are considered dangerous and thus prohibited from research despite not being inherently evil. Still, the prohibition remains the same.
Of course, there are basic countermeasures like spells to undo light brainwashing or hypnosis, but there is no known method to reverse high-level memory manipulation.
‘Then I have no choice but to retrieve related memories…’
This was risky. To retrieve those memories, it would ultimately require exposing the fact that Yujin was a dark sorcerer.
If Yujin had manipulated Eri’s memories as a precaution, revealing his status as a dark sorcerer could be dangerous.
However, without catching some evidence, the situation couldn’t move forward. Grasping Eri’s shoulder, she said,
“Eri student, listen carefully to what I say.”
“Y-Yes, yes?”
There was no other choice. Hoping Eri would handle it well, Reina decided to protect her as much as possible.
With that in mind, she revealed the truth (as she saw it)…
