Vol 5. Chapter 73: A Season of Troubles

“Hey, where are Lame-Leg and One-Eye? You’re sure this is where we’re supposed to relieve them tonight?”

The combat instructor yawned as he stared at the deserted northern corner of the commercial street, then turned toward the armored man beside him.

“How should I know? Didn’t you check today’s shift-handover location?” Fecolin glanced at his colleague.

“Man, with the double-moon phenomenon hanging over us, I knew something strange was bound to happen. You don’t think those two wandered right into another dimension while they were making their rounds, do you?”

The combat instructor squatted down, joking idly.

“Look at us. We worked all day, and now they’ve dragged us out of bed to patrol in the middle of the night. We’re nothing but workhorses. I haven’t even graded my students’ assignments yet.”

Fecolin did not respond. He merely folded his arms and stood there in silence, his pipe clenched between his teeth.

“Oh, right.”

The combat instructor suddenly remembered something and looked at Fecolin.

“One of the missing students was in your class, wasn’t he?”

“Keep running your mouth and I’ll shut it for you,” Fecolin finally said.

“Hey, don’t be like that. I was only asking.” The combat instructor shook his head. “The world really hasn’t been peaceful lately. Still, I never thought the trouble would reach Carillian Academy itself.”

The two continued exchanging the occasional remark as they stood in the wind.

“Something’s wrong.”

The instructor squatting beside Fecolin frowned.

“This is wrong. Very wrong.”

“It’s been more than ten minutes. Why haven’t those two shown up yet? What the hell are they doing? They don’t want to finish their shift and get some rest?”

“Ah, forget it. If the people getting off work aren’t in a hurry, why should those of us coming on duty care so much?”

Another few minutes passed before Fecolin’s colleague finally began to sense that something was truly amiss.

“So did we get the time wrong? Or was it the location?”

Fecolin said nothing.

He silently took out a signal scroll and activated it.

“Hey! What are you doing? You scared me.”

“Half an hour has passed. We’ve reached the maximum permitted delay for a shift handover.”

Fecolin kept his pipe between his teeth, his voice utterly flat as he stared into the sky.

“Something may have happened to them.”

“What?!” His colleague stared at him in disbelief. “You’re saying Lame-Leg and One-Eye are in trouble? How is that possible? Missing students are one thing, but those two are combat instructors.”

“Who decided combat instructors were immune to trouble?”

Fecolin fell silent for a moment.

“Well...”

“The alert has been sent. Combat personnel like us won’t be much help searching for traces, so leave that to the specialists.” Fecolin remained calm. “This time, however, the list of missing people may have just grown by another two.”

“Fecolin, if Lame-Leg and One-Eye really disappeared the same way those students did, then honestly, I’m starting to get scared.”

His colleague shuddered.

“What the hell has set its sights on the Academy this time?”

Fecolin’s brows drew tightly together.

He remained where he was without a word, waiting for the other instructors to arrive.

*****

“What? The number of missing people went from two to four overnight?!”

The Dean stared at the report on his desk, the veins in his forehead bulging.

“Yes. It appears your decision to activate ‘Omnidirectional Detection’ was correct. The night before it was activated, two combat instructors arrived for a shift handover and discovered that the two instructors they were relieving had disappeared.”

The deputy dean rubbed his aching head.

“They vanished without a trace. Not a single one of their possessions remained, and there were no signs of a struggle.”

“What could possibly have done this?”

The Dean contemplated the question for a long moment.

“Did the personnel monitoring the mana-crystal display notice any suspicious person or object?”

“No. Someone has remained in front of the display at all times, but they haven’t seen anything unusual.”

“Whatever it is, it seems to have known that we were going to activate ‘Omnidirectional Detection.’ It stopped appearing entirely afterward.”

“How is that possible?” The Dean’s brows furrowed. “Mind-reading? From that distance? Something so absurd would be beyond even a Demon Pillar itself.”

“There is something else, Dean. Other strange phenomena have recently appeared around the island.”

“Something besides the disappearances?”

The Dean tightened his grip on his cup.

“Yes. We don’t know whether it is related to the disappearances, but we have detected some extremely unusual formations in the waters surrounding the island.”

The deputy dean handed him another report.

“Impassable gray-black walls composed of some form of chaos?”

The Dean’s expression turned peculiar as he read the report.

“Yes. Recently, large numbers of these unidentified gray-black, wall-like formations have appeared in the sea around the island. They resemble flowing crystal, yet they also look like miniature gray-black rivers. Their internal structure is chaotic and extraordinarily complex.”

“We attempted to examine them with detection magic, but learned nothing. We then attacked them with destructive magic, only to discover that anything touching them—whether magical or physical—is immediately hurled back.”

“They are like walls that nothing can cross.”

“And their source is in the sky.”

“The sky?” the Dean repeated uncertainly.

“Yes. Our observations indicate that these gray-black fluid walls did not form out of nowhere. They are pouring down from a chaotic black cloud in the sky.”

“The cloud is not yet visible from the Academy, but it is consuming the surrounding cloud cover and expanding at a rate visible to the naked eye. These gray-black crystalline walls are flowing out of it.”

“Calling them walls may not be entirely accurate. They behave more like waterfalls.”

“You’re saying the chaotic black cloud is still spreading outward?”

“Yes. It is expanding without pause.”

The deputy dean’s expression was grave.

“And it is spreading in the direction of the Academy.”

“It seems that, after the Demon Pillars, yet another major disaster is heading our way.”

The Dean rose and paced back and forth across the room. Eventually, he stopped by the window and released a long sigh.

“In recent years, it seems the Goddess of Fate has thoroughly forsaken our Academy.”

One strange incident after another had occurred, and none of them had been preventable.

First, Demon Pillar cultists had laid an ambush. Then a Demon Pillar itself had invaded. Now students were disappearing without reason, while an unidentified chaotic black cloud was closing in on the Academy.

The Dean was beginning to wonder what terrible crime Carillian Academy had committed to be singled out, one after another, by so many mysterious and irresistible forces.

“Have you identified the composition of the chaotic black cloud?”

The Dean gathered his complicated emotions and returned to the matter at hand.

“We tried to take samples, but it was impossible,” the deputy dean replied helplessly. “The cloud appears to be liquid, yet we cannot collect any of it. We tried catching it in a sample cup, but it passed straight through the container.”

“Its weight may be far greater than we can imagine.”

“We tried numerous methods, but we cannot even approach it. Any magic we use is repelled, let alone anything intended to collect a sample.”

“Can we at least determine whether it is corrosive or harmful to the human body?” the Dean asked wearily.

“I don’t believe it is. We cannot make contact with it in the first place. Anyone who approaches is thrown back by a powerful repulsive force.”

“Strange.”

The Dean shook his head.

“What exactly is it? And what could have created such a thing?”

“At present, everything about the chaotic black cloud remains a mystery. Detection magic returns nothing but question marks. We cannot examine or analyze it in any way.”

“All we can do is wait for the vice principal to return,” the Dean said heavily. “If only the principal were here. With her knowledge and experience, she would surely have some idea what to do.”

“Unfortunately, the old principal comes and goes without a trace. No one can get in touch with her.”

“Then what should we do now?”

“Since we cannot prevent the chaotic black cloud from spreading, we will focus on the problems already in front of us. Continue monitoring the mana-crystal display. Do not overlook even the smallest irregularity.”

“I intend to find out which bastard dares cause trouble on Carillian Academy’s territory.”

Several more days passed in the blink of an eye.

That morning, Shicodale climbed out of bed and washed up. As usual, he found a slice of bread in the kitchen, stuffed it into his mouth, and left his dorm.

After Aesphyra’s encouragement that day, his mental state had improved somewhat. He understood that he needed to believe in Vinny and remain ready to act at any moment.

WHAP!

Before Shicodale had taken more than two steps, a sheet of yellow paper flew into his face.

He instinctively flailed both hands through the air. Several seconds passed before he realized that waving his arms around would not remove the thing covering his face.

He reached up and pulled the sheet away.

After examining the yellow parchment, Shicodale discovered that it was a missing-person poster.

An unrecognizable portrait had been drawn on it. The artist’s skill was comparable to that of a child scribbling at random. The only identifiable details were that the person was supposedly male and had blue hair.

“What is this?”

Shicodale stared at the poster in utter confusion.

Only after his gaze reached the name field did he finally understand.

Sure enough, the missing person was Vinny.

What was this supposed to be?

Shicodale stared at the poster in speechless exasperation. Other than depicting a blue-haired boy, what part of the drawing looked anything like Vinny?

Anyone who did not already know him would never recognize him from this.

Calling the drawing low-detail would have been generous. There was not a single recognizable feature on the entire page.

Strangely, the picture also gave Shicodale a faint sense of nostalgia. It reminded him of the walls of his childhood bedroom, which had once been covered in his own doodles.

His drawings had been around this level.

Perhaps slightly better.

“Hmm? Hey, isn’t that Dale? What are you doing here?”

A familiar voice called out to Shicodale.

“Huh?”

Shicodale turned and found a group led by Ferdi.

He recognized most of them. They were the friends who usually gathered around Vinny to play cards.

“Brother Ferdi?”

Shicodale blinked his large, agate-colored eyes.

“This is where I live. I just stepped outside.”

“Oh. Right. I guess it is.”

Ferdi glanced toward Shicodale’s dorm and scratched his head.

“Brother Ferdi, what are all of you doing? Did you make these?”

Shicodale held up the poster in his hand.

Ferdi and his brothers were each carrying drawings that looked more or less identical, complete with the same equally terrible artistic style.

“Ah, as you can see, we’re mobilizing the entire Academy to search for Brother Vinny.”

Ferdi slapped the poster in his hand.

“Brother Vinny was officially declared missing a few days ago, right? I agonized over it all night. Our card-player-soul club cannot simply sit around doing nothing. We have to find him!”

“So I rounded everyone up that very night. After putting our heads together, we all agreed that there is strength in numbers. Naturally, we decided to mobilize the entire Academy and search for Brother Vinny together!”

“Card players stand with Brother Vinny, now and always!”

Ferdi thumped his chest.

“But...”

Shicodale stared at them in exasperation.

He was grateful that Ferdi and the others were trying so hard to find Vinny.

But...

It was difficult to imagine this accomplishing anything. It felt more like children playing detective.

“Brother Ferdi, Vinny was declared missing precisely because the entire Academy already searched for him and couldn’t find him,” Shicodale said helplessly. “Mobilizing even more people won’t help them find someone the Academy itself cannot locate.”

“Huh? I guess you’re right.”

Ferdi scratched his head like an absentminded fool, apparently having only just realized the flaw in his plan.

“Exactly, Brother Ferdi. I told you this plan had way too many problems,” Andre chimed in from behind him. “I thought it was unworkable from the start.”

“Shut up. Don’t start acting wise after the fact.” Ferdi lightly knocked Andre on the head. “Why didn’t you say a word back then? You were cheering along with everyone else.”

“I didn’t want to dampen everyone’s spirits,” Andre protested.

“Fine, fine. So you’re the one loyal, righteous, wise man in the entire card-player-soul club, is that it?”

“All right, Brother Ferdi. There’s no need to argue.”

Shicodale stepped forward.

“I understand how badly you want to find Vinny, but this really is unlikely to work.”

“Even you think so, Dale?”

Ferdi immediately deflated like a punctured balloon.

“Damn it. Brother Vinny... Who knows what happened to that guy? Where is he now? How could he just disappear without telling anyone?”

“Vinny will be all right,” Shicodale said firmly.

“Dale...”

Ferdi looked at him, then nodded.

“You’re right. That bastard Brother Vinny is probably hiding somewhere right now, watching all of us worry about him. He must be fine!”

He turned toward the others.

“Right, everyone?”

“That’s right!”

Every member of the card-player-soul club answered as one.

“Just wait. Once he comes back, he’s not getting out of the beating we owe him. Making this many people worry about him is completely unacceptable!”