Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 579

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 31.
The Princess and the Detective (31)
Maximian nodded vaguely and spoke.
“If I’m quick about it, at least I can curse it properly, right? Anyway, this much feels like a full day’s worth of suffering, and now I’d like nothing more than to get back to my chamber in a minute—is there any way that could happen?”
“No, you need to get used to this place. You might come back here again.”
Maximian’s eyes widened.
“Why would I come back?”
“Don’t you remember when I told you to look carefully at whether you liked this place?”
“Did you come to inspect the land? Are you planning to build a summer villa here or something?”
“You got it exactly right!”
At this point, Maximian also let out a shout in character.
“That’s enough!”
“Shut up! Do you think it’s a real villa? I’m saying I’ll send you here! If you get expelled from Nenyaple!”
Maximian’s eyes bulged as if they might pop out, then he let out a hollow laugh.
“What? Wait, you don’t need such a complicated method to kill me.”
Regardless of where this place was, I understood well enough that this wasn’t about building a villa and sending me off to happily tend watermelon fields among metal scraps. Besides, I couldn’t even tend a watermelon field. I wasn’t Juspian. I was a man who knew nothing of magical incantations except how to light a candle with “Anabo”—and they were sending me to a place like this?
“If you don’t like it, then don’t get expelled! It’s obvious!”
“I’ve already been expelled!”
“How could you already be expelled! The test results haven’t even come out yet!”
“You saw all the answer sheets with a Grade 5 mark just a moment ago, so why are you spouting nonsense!”
Looking back, their relationship had been twisted from the very first meeting, and their worldviews simply didn’t align—their conversations had always been eighty percent shouting. But today was worse than usual. Juspian glared at Maximian. Maximian glared back at Juspian. For someone who had lived as long as Juspian, only this fellow could make him wear such a primal expression. Juspian bit his lip and spat out his words.
“I only saw it—it hasn’t been announced!”
“That means! Wait, surely you’re not trying to manipulate the test scores, are you? The great and moral Grand Mage? Just to save a wretch like me?”
Maximian’s words struck too close to the truth, and Juspian couldn’t immediately refute him. Juspian blinked rapidly several times before shouting.
“There’s no way I’d do that! That’s why I’m just… aware of the Headmaster of Nenyaple’s plans for next year!”
“Ah, I see? So the Headmaster has decided to revise some school regulations next year to save failures like me, is that it? Grade 5 students will get another year, or something like that? Thanks to your special connection, you found out about this in advance, Juspian, and you wanted to scare this lazy fellow, so you showed him a place like this first, and then you plan to happily pay next year’s tuition…”
Juspian snorted.
“Hmph, do you think things would resolve so easily? Nenyaple’s academic management regulations haven’t been revised in at least a hundred years.”
“Then what is it? Next year is Nenyaple going to sell premium new dormitory units here or something!”
He’d said something absurd, but unexpectedly Juspian chuckled and spoke.
“That was the most insightful thing you’ve said so far.”
What does that mean? Maximian stared intently at Juspian and reconsidered what he’d just said. Nenyaple… new dormitory… in a place like this?
That couldn’t possibly be right, could it?
“Wait, if insight means the ability to see through the truth… then you’re saying they’re not building a dormitory here, but somewhere else, and it’s premium quality, something like that?”
Juspian loved riddles, so he clearly found amusement in Maximian’s flawed deduction. Around that time, as the light Maximian had created reached the end of its life, Juspian casually created light ten times brighter and set it floating, then turned and pointed behind him at the plain.
“So, where is this place? See that sand? It continues endlessly like this. The ground here is relatively firm, but further on it becomes deep sand drifts where you sink. Among those who live in places like this, none have sound minds. Whatever you encounter, it’s all an enemy. The ones we saw earlier are recent forces, but it’s been like that for hundreds of years anyway. So, where is this?”
“…The Land of Mortals?”
“That’s right, you got it.”
The Land of Mortals was a vast desert located in the central part of the Continent. If it were merely a desert, one might accept it as such, but because its origins were special, instead of ordinary desert creatures, mad Spirits swarmed throughout. Therefore, no sane person would ever set foot here, and only reckless hunters seeking treasure would linger—with an average survival period of about half a year. Considering that some ventured in and out for over a decade, one could easily imagine the lifespans of those who lowered the average. It was that kind of place.
Of course, Maximian had never been to the Land of Mortals. He had been sane.
“A dormitory in the Land of Mortals? That sounds like a failed metaphor. When your words come out wrong, just admit it quickly. Don’t keep pushing and make things worse.”
Juspian, drawing on experience, infused a touch of magic into his strike and smacked Maximian on the back of the head. Then he continued speaking.
“Quiet. Figure out the interpretation yourself. In any case, if you can’t seize this last chance the Headmaster of Nenyaple is giving you and end up expelled, you’ll be living here. This place has its merits too. Once you settle in, you’ll naturally start wanting to learn magic, won’t you?”
“Ah, of course. I suppose I’ll become a corpse with a newfound desire to learn magic.”
Juspian’s eyes widened, then he clicked his tongue as if giving up.
“I’m too tired to even get angry. You really are hopeless, you know that? Maybe that’s why I can’t give up on you either. Anyway, you should understand everything I’m trying to say by now, right? Shall we head back? There happens to be a vacant room.”
Though I didn’t understand what he meant, Juspian reached into empty air and made a motion as if touching something—like a doorknob, for instance. Watching this, Maximian suddenly recalled something and asked.
“But what was all that nonsense those guys were saying earlier?”
For some reason, instead of scoffing, Juspian asked back.
“Talk? What talk?”
“You know, something about how they don’t die, or they’ve never died before.”
Juspian continued moving his hand while tilting his head in confusion.
“What? Who said that? Those metal scraps? Are you sure you’re in your right mind?”
Just as Maximian was about to say “My mind is perfectly sound,” Juspian kicked him with his foot. Maximian stumbled forward and fell. When he landed, he found himself on a sofa.
A warm fireplace flickered before his eyes. On the table across from him sat a plate with half-eaten pastries and cheese pieces, and beside it was a half-empty wine bottle. Looking up, the window was beautifully decorated with pinecones, dried twigs, ribbons, and yarn. The desert had vanished without a trace.
It was fortunate, but that wasn’t the problem. This damned mage! Where the hell was I now?
The sight of four bedroom doors facing each other around a living room was familiar. In other words, this was also one of Nenyaple’s villas. But it was a room I had never seen before. Which meant it wasn’t the room of anyone I knew. It seemed like the problem would be solved if I just ran out and returned to my own villa, but that wasn’t how things worked. It was a more troublesome issue than it appeared.
Nenyaple students placed great importance on the villas they belonged to, and they had a tendency to become excessively emotionally invested, leading to a tradition—or rather, a bad habit—of engaging in petty fights over trivial reasons. A single minor mistake by one person often escalated into a matter of honor for the entire villa, resulting in conflicts that lasted weeks or sometimes entire semesters. This was called the “Villa War.”
In a Villa War, every action except physical violence was implicitly permitted. Professors generally didn’t interfere. As a result, all manner of extraordinary attacks and counterattacks occurred. This was a Magic School, after all. Consequently, creatively absurd attacks happened with regularity. As a result, there had never been a year when fewer than four students received disciplinary action because of Villa Wars. Yet this strange tradition persisted.
Therefore, arbitrarily entering the villa of an unfamiliar student was extremely dangerous. In other words, it easily became the seed of a Villa War. If the relationship had been poor beforehand, it could serve as an excuse to immediately declare war.
Fortunately, there was no one inside the villa. Realizing this fact, Maximian hurried to escape. However, when he reached the door, he heard footsteps in the corridor and couldn’t leave.
“Damn it.”
Looking around, my eyes fell on something covered with a white cloth that looked like a piano in the corner. Maximian quickly lifted the cloth and crawled under the piano just as the door opened.
There were two sets of footsteps. The person who entered first flopped onto the sofa and spoke.
“Damn, I think I need to go back out.”
At the same time, Maximian silently cursed, “Damn!” A woman’s voice! Of all places, he’d been sent to the female dormitory! This… this twisted, deranged lunatic!
If discovered here, it would be one hundred percent war. No doubt about it. Moreover, my friends in the same villa would be equally bewildered. “Hey, what were you doing in the female dormitory?”
What was I doing? I was thrown in here against my will!
I absolutely must not be discovered, but if I were found out, could I somehow smooth things over by explaining the antics of Tichiel Juspian’s father, the world’s greatest insane mage? It didn’t seem likely.
Tichiel was vastly different from her father. She was a model student whom everyone acknowledged, a student so kind she was called “the angel of Nenyaple.” Though truth be told, her kindness was perhaps a bit excessive.
Maximian thought there was something in Tichiel’s “excessive” kindness that resembled her father, but that was merely his perspective from having dealt with both of them for so long. To other students, Tichiel was simply the altruistic angel of Nenyaple. Any student at Nenyaple would trust Tichiel’s words five thousand times more than mine. Above all, if I claimed to Tichiel that “your father deliberately threw me into the female dormitory”…

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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