The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 197: Awakening (1)

Heerlein cried for a while in front of Renawill, only able to calm down after dawn.

Renawill waited quietly in the meantime. Her eyes which she was dabbing at with a handkerchief were very swollen.

“Are you feeling calmer now?”

“......I apologize for this poor display.”

“Not at all.”

He gestured, indicating that she should go on with what had happened.

“...And so I lost consciousness after that. When I woke up, everything was over. So all I can say is.......”

Heerlein shook her head. Knowing what it meant, Renawill thought for a moment while stroking his chin.

“You heard the rest from your student.”

“...Yes.”

Her student. Heerlein heard about what happened after she fainted from the child named Freyr Shelkany.

“How is she doing...?”

“To be frank, she isn’t doing so well.”

“Please let me see her.”

Renawill nodded.

Heerlein was a teacher, a true teacher who knew how to sympathize with her student’s grief. He knew from rumors at least that she was different from any other faculty member at Tilette.

Normally, these checks were done one person at a time, but Renawill took the girl Freyr’s mental state into consideration and allowed her to be with Heerlein.

“M-Miss.......”

Freyr came over with a trembling voice, her steps growing faster and faster. She then clung to Heerlein and began sobbing.

“What should I do, my friend.... What do I do now......! Uwaaaah....”

Freyr had long since taken her hat off. Pointy fox ears were visible amongst her purple hair. Unconcerned, Heerlein patted Freyr’s head as she cried.

A true teacher.

To be honest, Renawill had never had a good view of the beastkin, but he didn’t show it. The Empire and the beastkin had lost too much to be racially discriminatory at a time like this.

Moreover, Renawill had lived his whole life in the northern regions, whereas the beastkin lived in the south. His impression of the beastkin didn’t go beyond what he’d seen in the books or newspapers.

If he had to say, he was neutral. He didn’t even have time to be concerned whether this girl was a Youko or not right now.

I’m tired. I have not been sleeping enough.

Renawill dozed off a little, then snapped out of it.

“What’ll to happen to us now, Sir...? Am I going to be taken away, too...? Do I have to be in prison for the rest of my life...?”

Renawill huffed a laugh at Freyr’s rather cute question. It looked like a child shaking and asking for forgiveness after they got caught stealing candy from a corner store.

Renawill shook his head.

“Not at all, there is no reason to lock you away when you haven’t done anything wrong.”

“But, you go to jail in this country if you are friendly with Beasts....”

“Miss Shelkany.”

Renawill spoke in a calm tone.

“Did your friend seem like a Beast to you?”

Freyr closed her mouth. Her mind was scrambled.

Aether had cut her own wrist, had shown her the color of her blood. Black.... She recalled the scene clearly. And Freyr already told Renawill about it.

“B-but her blood.......”

“It seems you think so.”

Quiet, Freyr dropped her head. She remembered what Aether said yesterday–I apologize for having lied to you all this time. Tears burst again like a broken dam at the thought of it.

No ordinary Beast would have said that. Renawill had found that point suspicious and approached this case.

What if, even if she is Beast, is she on the Demon Army’s side?

Everything was strange if he thought about it.

The reactions of the people at the time, the way Aether hadn’t tried to defend herself at all. The struggle she had only revealed to her friend at the end, and the series of actions that had seemed intentional.

─ Please vouch for my identity.

Renawill remembered something from a while ago.

─ In the case that something bad happens to me, you only need to come to my defense somehow. That’s all.

He didn’t think it was an elaborate scheme. If it had been a ploy to confuse him, she shouldn’t have revealed her identity to Freyr at the end.

Most of all, Flare.

Aether developed Flare before the Hasfeldt family did, and several mishaps occurred in the process. Even then, the girl gave up the patent so everyone could use it.

After Marquis Robespierre’s death, Renawill put together an investigation team and had them search his home. And a few hours ago, a blood pledge was discovered there.

[We will raid the palace as soon as the new weapon is finished. We are of one mind, one accord. Here we sign a blood pact and divide it amongst us, for the glory of the Philiut Empire. We pledge here and now with our lives that when the time is right, we will uproot Duke Blanton and his minions who are eating away at our country, and exterminate the Beasts from the Empire.]

If it’s a new weapon, it would mean the next phase of Flare.

The scholarship and the material support that Robespierre had given Aether were inferred from the statement that was left behind. This much was confirmed.

“Yes, that was what you testified so I suppose there is a possibility that she is a Beast. But why don’t you decide after hearing what I have to say.”

Renawill pulled out a few official papers from his briefcase. They were all raw materials that hadn’t been manipulated. He put these on the desk and began explaining the process he had been deducing.

“Ah.......”

His words were clean and straightford to anyone who heard it. It was logistically sound, with several documents to justify the reasoning. Heerlein and Freyr let out a series of small exclamations.

This was how a person changed when they spent a long time in politics–they became proficient at investigating. They became good at propagating as well, but also became good at listening to others’ propaganda and sorting out the truth.

“Do you get the idea now?”

“...I think so.”

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Heerlein said, her shoulders shaking. She seemed strangely relieved. Then cautiously, she asked.

“Um, My Lord.... About my pupil having been a slave of your daughter.......”

“I also considered that.”

Renawill paused for a moment, needing to organize his thoughts.

“If your pupil is a Beast, then she’d at least be a Cataclysm. A Calamity isn’t that powerful.”

“A Great Mecha, or.......”

“If she was unharmed after an attack from the black turtle that appeared at the scene, she may be at the level of the Four Heavens.”

“But aren’t the Four Heavens only something of the myths?”

“...I do not know much about that either. Anyway, I digress. All I mean to say is that someone that significant didn’t start out as a slave.”

It wasn’t effective to infiltrate the Philiut Empire as a slave. Slaves. Those who were treated as that status weren’t even called humans.

One couldn’t expect a slave to have any social influence, so even the Beasts didn’t come in as lower class when they infiltrated. They tended to hide away by targeting one of the upper classes somehow.

“Then why did she stay a slave...? For three years, at that....”

“Based on her actions, she wouldn’t have been a deviant.”

“Was she trying to confirm something...?”

“I would think so.”

Renawill nodded, his eyes looking like he figured out something.

“We can talk about the rest after there has been progress in the investigation, since speculating here won’t change the truth.”

“......Understood.”

“If all goes well, then the two of you will be released. I will do my best so that a criminal record does not happen.”

“Thank you for taking care of us.”

“Ah, and Heerlein. There is a sore lack of capable people in the Empire.”

Renawill said out of the blue. Having almost finished wiping her tears, Heerlein opened her narrow eyes wide and stared at Renawill. In that time, Renawill placed something on the table.

“This is....”

It was a letter of appointment with the Emperor’s seal.

[I appoint Marquis Meriga Heerlein the 758th Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport of the Philiut Empire. ─ Emperor Alion Philiut]“I, my title.......”

“Because it wasn’t enough for you to be a minister. You have played a significant part in this incident so I prodded His Majesty a little.”

“Ah, ah.......”

“It looks like you will be in for 110 hours of labor along with your job as a professor.”

This devil! Heerlein sobbed uncontrollably, yet the corners of her lips were subtly upturned.

Leaving Heerlein to her crying, he turned to look at Freyr. Renawill spoke to Freyr who was just staring at him.

“I heard that you can transmute objects without using a circle.”

“Huh? Yes, Sir....”

A curve painted Renawill’s lips.

“You have quite the talent.”

Now, Renawill had a simple criteria for choosing people.

Ability. The Empire currently was in great need of good mages. They weren’t in a place to be discriminating because of race or whatnot.

Furthermore, she is capable of instantaneous transmutation. She’s a great one who will surpass Heerlein.

They had to make her into a citizen no matter what. Hiding such intentions, Renawill threw out words that would be interesting to Freyr.

“If you wish, we will allow you to keep attending school. I will do what’s in my power so that you will not be discriminated against for being a Youko. If there is anyone who speaks or acts foolishly, then this one will send the guards to punish them.”

At that, Freyr, too, burst into tears. The fox tail behind her wagged incessantly.

With that, the investigation of the two was over. Yawning, Renawill sat in the temporary waiting room and ordered a servant to bring him some black coffee.

That seems to be it for the pruning.

Imperial politics was rough. If he didn’t procure his side through ‘pruning’, then he could be surrounded at any moment. Heerlein and that child called Freyr were both talented people so helping them in this way would make the future bright.

It didn’t matter if his intentions weren’t pure. This was how the Hasfeldts lived. High nobles were politicians; one had to be a little shrewd to survive.

Renawill smirked.

“What will you do about the rest of the inspections?”

As he sipped on his coffee, his attendant came over and asked.

“...I will continue after some sleep.”

“Yes, My Lord.”

Renawill dozed off with his chin in hand. He would at least have to get two hours of sleep to have the energy. It was just as he was about to head to dreamland..

- Huuu, uwahhhhhhh!

A cry sounded from somewhere ‘again’.

“......So much for sleeping.”

Renawill stood up.

“How many hours has it been?”

“They’ve been like this since getting here.”

“I heard there were many ill ones amongst elves.”

It couldn’t be helped. Renawill picked up his briefcase with a sigh.

Thud, thud, thud!

As he neared the room, he heard the continuous sound of pounding the floor.

You would think that the world was ending.

Creak.

With a hollow chuckle, Renawill opened the door.