Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 589

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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 41.
The Velvet Invitation (2)
Professor Hoiock nodded, then offered an awkward smile.
“We understand that Professor Kin never intended to conceal this indefinitely. He was simply trying to protect his student. But if we pool our thoughts, I believe we can devise a better countermeasure.”
Professor Loreldin rose from her chair and spoke.
“We’ve conducted defensive operations before, haven’t we, Jonap? We’ll handle this well too. Nenyaple is the finest, after all!”
With that, she approached Professor Kin and extended her hand. He weakly tapped her palm in return, though his expression remained grim. In that state, he asked.
“What is the condition of the Dormitory?”
“The initial cleanup is complete, but we won’t know how long the full restoration will take until we begin the serious work tomorrow.”
Now that I thought about it, the purple hue had obscured what I should have noticed immediately—the professors’ clothes bore scorch marks and soot-like residue in various places. Professor Kin asked again.
“The Vineyard has been sealed, I presume? And the Underground Vault?”
“Of course, everything is secure. While you protected the student, we did our part. Don’t worry. You made the right choice bringing that child here. Symbolion has already been frantically reaching out, demanding to know what happened. It seems they had planted informants within the Academy. Last time they denied doing any such thing so vehemently, I thought it was all nonsense. Did you really think they’d simply open their doors?”
Professor Loreldin clenched both fists as if ready to fight someone on the spot. Then a new voice emerged from deeper within the chamber.
“Then let us begin an emergency session.”
Maximian turned his head. And there, seated in the large armchair positioned at the far end of the room, was Professor Leomentiis. She wore an amethyst suit with a lustrous sheen like silk, so flamboyant it seemed fit for a stage, yet it matched her platinum blonde hair—similar to Tichiel’s—in an oddly harmonious way. But if one overlooked the purple, it was simply the jacket and trousers she habitually wore on days when important meetings were scheduled.
Only then did Maximian realize something and glanced down at himself. Naturally, he too was entirely purple. A hydrangea-colored shirt and eggplant-colored trousers… His sense of reality was progressively slipping away.
The three professors either sat in their chairs or leaned against the walls, observing Maximian. Serious deliberations should now commence, yet the purple magic had conjured an atmosphere more akin to a cocktail party with an unusual dress code, making it all the more necessary to maintain one’s composure.
Maximian should have played the role of a defendant summoned to their court, yet by virtue of his garments alone turning purple, he had already become perfectly one of them. All that was missing was a cocktail.
Professor Leomentiis was not the Headmaster of Nenyaple, but she was the Vineyard Keeper who represented Nenyaple’s magic. She also held final decision-making authority over Nenyaple’s academic administration. In other words, she was the architect behind the merciless production of failing students and the expulsion of dozens each year amid tremendous criticism. Hence her epithet: “the Witch of Nenyaple.” And… she was also the aunt of “the Angel of Nenyaple.”
Before my enrollment, I had once received this professor’s assistance regarding my friend Joshua’s matter. So when my classmates cursed her, I refrained from joining in out of courtesy. Yet my perspective wasn’t significantly different from theirs. Upon experience, she proved to be rational but genuinely ruthless. And my fate was destined to rest in the hands of this cold professor’s “emergency session.”
Maximian gathered his thoughts. Though Professor Leomentiis was a great archmage, her approach differed entirely from Juspian’s. Before her, obfuscation, empty rhetoric, or clever deflection held no sway. Sharp-minded and emotionally unmoved, she would not miss the truth of any matter—honesty was the only option.
Yet from what Maximian had observed over these two years, there were rare occasions when she appeared as a victim caught in some massive problem beyond her own capacity to solve, and she would unexpectedly extend mercy like a lifeline. In other words, she favored a reversal scenario.
It seemed the final scenario might work now. Since these Symbolion creatures wanted to snatch Maximian away, very well—from this moment forward, Maximian would allow himself to be driven into a dead-end alley and drenched like a drowned rat.
Professor Leomentiis opened her mouth.
“Now then, Maximian Lipkne. I mention this just in case, but Nenyaple has not closed its doors even once since its founding. Therefore, if that were to happen now, it would be a first. Your name would be etched into Nenyaple’s history. Not the sort of achievement one would engrave on a bronze plaque and affix to a wall, mind you.”
Professor Leomentiis rarely offered kind words to students, but neither was she the type to mock them in such a manner.
“If you wish to prevent such an occurrence, honest testimony is required. First, let us address how you left and returned before the Dormitory entrance yesterday. Speak carefully, leaving nothing out.”
Maximian was somewhat startled, though asking how she knew seemed as pointless a question as any. Whatever transpired within Nenyaple, if the professor wished to know, it was merely a matter of time. Maximian nodded obediently and spoke.
“Ah, yes. Such an incident did occur. But it was entirely beyond my will. I simply opened my Dormitory chamber door thinking I might sleep, and suddenly I found myself falling into an unfamiliar place I’d never seen before instead of the Dormitory. It resembled a desert—a wasteland, so to speak…”
The moment those words left his lips, all the professors’ expressions grew grave.
“A desert?”
“A wasteland?”
Maximian furrowed his brow as if searching his memory, then continued.
“Yes. I’m not certain of the exact nature, but it had that sort of atmosphere. And there were these bizarre metal fragments flying about in swarms across the sky, you see? An enormous number of them, and they nearly killed me…”
Clearly alarmed eyes surrounded Maximian.
“Nearly killed you?”
“How could such a thing be possible?”
The reaction was somewhat unusual. In any case, Maximian continued.
“Of course, I understand how it sounds. Metal fragments flying at me with intent to kill—I wouldn’t believe it either, but…”
Professor Hoiock stepped closer and thrust his head forward, scrutinizing Maximian intently before speaking.
“You look perfectly fine. How on earth did you survive?”
Professor Loreldin asked as well.
“How could you escape from that situation? Perhaps you were hiding your strength while pretending to be a student… though that’s hardly likely.”
It seemed the professors knew exactly where in the Wasteland Maximian had been taken, and they understood what the metal fragments were. Apparently, they were extremely dangerous, difficult-to-handle monsters. Well, that much was certainly true.
“Of course, I didn’t survive on my own. The person who summoned me there had at least a shred of conscience. Though they arrived late, they disposed of the metal fragments using a bookshelf… well, they took care of it somehow and rescued me before returning. So I didn’t have the opportunity to examine that place in detail.”
Professor Kin, who had drawn near, sighed and spoke.
“That place is the Keep. Kipdusts must have been brought back from there.”
I had learned only one thing. Having visited the Keep, it made logical sense that Kipdusts were brought back.
“So who was it that took you there?”
“You probably can guess…”
Maximian glanced at Professor Leomentiis before answering.
“It was someone named Alberic Juspian.”
“…”
The professors reacted in their own ways—some pressing their foreheads, others sighing. Only Professor Leomentiis showed no reaction, as if she had truly anticipated this. After a moment’s thought, Maximian asked.
“So the school ended up in this state because of the Kipdusts that clung to my body from that place? Then shouldn’t you be asking Juspian about this rather than me? I didn’t know where that place was, and I didn’t know that I shouldn’t bring back such things. But Juspian would have known, wouldn’t he? Yet he took me there and sent me back to Nenyaple without taking any precautions whatsoever?”
Then Professor Loreldin spoke.
“Of course he knows what Kipdusts are. We’ve been carefully managing things so that those who visit the Keep from Nenyaple don’t carry back Kipdusts on their bodies. But a small amount that falls off would only require some cleaning—nothing serious would come of it.”
And I think I understand why he took you to the Keep. Juspian, he decided to put you in the alternative program. Wow, he’s really resourceful. He’s willing to go to any lengths to get you to graduate somehow.”
After speaking, Professor Loreldin let out a hollow laugh, as if finding it absurd. Maximian didn’t know what the “alternative program” was, but the name alone didn’t sit well with him. Still, he asked politely.
“What is that program?”
“I don’t think there’s any need to explain what the alternative program is to you. You won’t be going there, no matter what Juspian plans. You can’t go there. It exists for students who became research students too hastily, hit the limits of their abilities, and now can neither graduate nor give up. Or rather, it’s not exactly for them. It’s more a matter of mutual interests aligning. The Keep needs manpower, and they need graduation credits. But what would happen if we sent you—someone who’s done nothing but fail in the regular program—to the Keep? You’ve been there, so you know, don’t you? Could you survive even a single day there alone? No, mere survival isn’t enough. You’d have to pull your own weight.”
Professor Kin interjected.
“That part is uncertain, so let’s set it aside, Diana. Anyway, we need to investigate why a small amount of Kipdusts that shouldn’t have caused major harm triggered a fatal ‘metamorphosis’ and caused widespread ‘steiros.’ So, tell us about that fiery monster that burst forth from hellfire?”
“Pardon?”
Hellfire and a monster? Maximian was momentarily bewildered by what he was hearing. But Professor Kin’s expression was deadly serious.
“The one that came out of the Orange Tree Tavern yesterday. When I arrived, it had already vanished, leaving only ashes blowing about. I don’t think you had the ability to deal with it.”
“…”
Now I understood what he was talking about. A fiery monster bursting forth from hellfire… I had no idea how it acquired such a grandiose title, but thinking back, Orange Buck must have misinterpreted his mental shock as a hallucination when he said he’d call someone.
“Ah, it wasn’t anything that impressive. It was only about this big.”

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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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