Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 590

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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 42.
The Velvet-Lined Invitation (3)
Maximian cupped his hands to convey the approximate size, then continued.
“It was screeching and thrashing about wildly—to me, it just looked like a burning circus monkey?”
“A monkey?”
“Burning?”
Given that these were great Mages, the story should have sounded childish, yet the four professors’ faces were deadly serious. Meanwhile, Maximian’s expression had grown grave as he tried to figure out how to convey that it was nothing remarkable.
“Well, mostly harmless… though I can’t say entirely so…”
Professor Hoiock asked.
“It didn’t speak, did it?”
“Of course not! Anyway, Orange Buck is a coward, so he ran away. I roughed him up and ash scattered everywhere…”
Professor Loreldin looked startled.
“You beat it up? How? You don’t know any spells, do you? You failed every subject.”
Well, that was true, but being reminded of it here didn’t sit well with me.
“I hit it with a frying pan and threw it into the fireplace?”
The professors exchanged glances. ‘Is Nenyaple’s future really going to be all right with a student like this…?’
Professor Kin sighed and spoke.
“Maximian, that thing is definitely Psyche. Psyche is… well, you wouldn’t have heard of it before, but understand this—it’s not something that can be dealt with by hitting it with a frying pan.”
Psyche? Something suddenly clicked in Maximian’s mind, and his face brightened.
“Ah, Psyche—isn’t that an energy lifeform observed irregularly in places where energy concentrates? Small, doesn’t communicate, leaves dust when eliminated by magic, and that dust can be used to create various magical energy sources, right?”
“…”
Maximian had only wanted to reassure the professors who worried about Nenyaple’s standards by sharing what his roommate had tutored him on last evening, but instead the professors fell into confusion and wore uncomfortable expressions. Especially Professor Hoiock. Here was this student who’d written something like ‘A Discourse on the Inevitability of Drinking Last Night’ on his elementary magic exam and left, yet…
Professor Kin continued.
“Hmm, so you know exactly what it is. But how did that Psyche end up appearing that day?”
“Well, of course, in a place where energy concentrates…”
“No, not that—there must have been a direct trigger. Did you summon it?”
“That’s impossible! There was someone I met for the first time at the Tavern that day… they kept insisting they’d definitely enroll next year… and then they got upset and threw a lamp on the ground, and suddenly it burst out.”
Maximian had omitted some details. He had a strong premonition that if he mentioned the gun here, it would somehow be confiscated as reference material without any context.
“Who was that person? What’s their name?”
“They said their name was Ispin Charles…”
As he said this, Maximian remembered his appointment to meet Ispin at three o’clock today. One might think he recalled it early, but given the extraordinary incidents he’d dealt with from last evening until now, it was actually quite fast. The time seemed to be running out.
“Ispin Charles? Have you heard of a name like that?”
Professor Kin looked around at the other professors, but no one answered. Professor Kin looked back at Maximian.
“Are you sure they were really your age?”
“They claimed to be the same age as me, so around nineteen, I’d say?”
The professors’ expressions became uncertain.
“If someone that young has been recognized as a Mage… there are only two or three like that, aren’t there?”
“And to be able to summon Psyche—that’s no trivial level of power.”
The professors seemed not to consider at all that Psyche had appeared by chance. Indeed, what was taught at the Academy wasn’t everything. The phrase “observed irregularly” concealed much context.
And in fact, Maximian’s thoughts were the same. From what he remembered, Ispin had clearly known beforehand what would come out when the lamp was thrown. So that person was a Mage? And a very skilled one at that?
At that moment, Professor Leomentiis’s lips twisted with suspicion.
“I have the distinct feeling that your account is missing certain details.”
Maximian flinched. Could she have noticed that I omitted the pistol?
“I’m willing to accept that you quarreled with a peer you’d just met, angered that student, and as a result they summoned Psyche. You’re certainly talented enough for that.”
She made even a compliment sound unsettling.
“But striking Psyche with a frying pan and tossing them into the oven wouldn’t cause them to vanish.”
Ah? Maximian quickly interjected.
“That’s the part I left out, isn’t it? Actually, Psyche broke through the oven door and escaped! That’s when that boy Ispin Charles eliminated them again. I have no idea how he managed it, but from what I could see, he created a round ball of light, and then it flashed and burst, causing fireworks-like explosions all around, and then everything was sucked inward and vanished.”
The professors’ expressions turned genuinely astonished. Professor Loreldin blinked her wide eyes and glanced toward the other professors.
“That’s completely different from the process of eliminating Psyche. Have any of you heard of such a thing? This is my first time hearing it.”
Professor Kin tilted his head and spoke.
“Perhaps because I’m a Summoning Magic Master, I’m thinking this way, but that explanation bears a striking resemblance to canceling summoning magic. Reverse summoning, that is. However, Psyche is not a summoned creature. They exist ordinarily in this world. Could it be that what Maximian witnessed wasn’t Psyche at all?”
Professor Hoiock shook his head.
“If it weren’t Psyche, we couldn’t explain the metamorphosis that occurred. That only happens when the dust released when Psyche vanishes combines with Keep dust.
In any case, I also don’t know what that boy Maximian encountered did, but as you know, since the fall of Ganapoli, so much magic has disappeared and gone into hiding among the common people. Unknown magic could be discovered at any time—I recall the Headmaster saying as much. Regardless, that tavern appears to need closure as well.”
As a professor of fundamental magical theory, Professor Hoiock possessed broad knowledge across diverse fields of magic. If even he claimed ignorance, it truly meant this was unknown magic in the world.
Upon hearing Professor Hoiock’s final words, Professor Kin exhaled a sigh and spoke.
“Please don’t worry about that. I’ve already issued orders for it to be closed. Though it’s rather late.
Yesterday afternoon, I received a report of an incident at that tavern and went to investigate, but since there were almost no traces remaining, I mistakenly thought it was nothing serious and overlooked it. Had I found Maximian then and confirmed what had occurred, today’s crisis would not have happened. This is entirely my fault.”
Professor Leomentiis opened her mouth.
“So you were trying to hide Maximian personally. However, my opinion differs. This is not a problem that can be resolved in such a manner.”
Professor Kin could not respond and merely looked down at the floor. Even Maximian, who had never attempted to flee, found himself gazing toward the corner like someone caught plotting an escape.
Professor Leomentiis continued.
“Summarizing Maximian’s statement: the Keep dust acquired from visiting the Keep, combined with the dust released when Psyche vanished, clung to one person’s body and scattered throughout the academy, resulting in metamorphosis. By this account, Maximian should be considered a victim caught up in Juspian’s whim and the actions of a boy named Ispin Charles.”
That was precisely what Maximian wanted to say. As I nodded earnestly, Professor Leomentiis glanced toward me and spoke again.
“The victim is thus clear. However, the perpetrator is not. It does not appear that Juspian and that boy conspired to cause this incident. Moreover, their actions, considered separately, amount to nothing more than somewhat dangerous pranks. The boy summoned Psyche in a public place but possessed the ability to resolve it himself, and Juspian disregarded Nenyaple’s security magic, but that’s hardly a new occurrence.”
As Professor Leomentiis spoke, her eyebrows twitched slightly, as if from some ancient grudge.
“It’s likely that neither of them knows what the other did, much less each other’s existence, and consequently they’re unaware that such an incident occurred at Nenyaple. In other words, this is a case where responsibility is extraordinarily difficult to assign. Furthermore, both of them are absent from this place, leaving only Maximian. If Symbolion becomes aware of this incident, Maximian would be the only one they could summon.”
“….”
I forced my expression to appear as bewildered and despairing as possible. That was hardly difficult—my actual feelings matched it perfectly. So the implication was that I, the victim, must bear all responsibility? Surely not….
“However, there is no precedent for a victim bearing responsibility for a problem. Such an unreasonable outcome must be prevented.”
Upon hearing this, the professors exchanged glances, rose, and approached Professor Leomentiis. Professor Kin was the first to speak, wearing an awkward smile.
“Until just now, I….”
“This is not a problem for Professor Kin to solve alone.”
I watched Professor Leomentiis’s lips move ever so slightly. Like a smile. Though it vanished at once. The ensuing conversation didn’t reach my ears clearly, but I caught fragments: acting alone on impulse… other children would…dangerous, but… still, since it’s Maximian….
Soon everyone nodded, and Professor Leomentiis suddenly rose and extended her hand toward me. A circular light descended, enveloped me, then passed behind my back and condensed into white marks on the opposite wall. I turned to look. A circle drawn as if in flames breathed like a living thing upon the purple wall.
“What is that…?”
Professor Hoiock answered instead.
“It’s called ‘Shadow Separation.’ Just understand it as something to evade tracking. It should last about three days.”
Professor Loreldin continued.
“So you need to get as far away from Nenyaple as possible in the meantime. Using the rivers would be best. You’ll need to take the Noajilbert waterway, but if you go through the Yaplia River, you’ll be easily tracked. Cross over the Mountain instead, slip into a transport caravan departing from Amochia, and enter the Noajilbert River from there. Four days should be enough to reach that point. You’ve traveled extensively, so you know well enough, don’t you? You’ve even used that waterway before.”
Maximian merely blinked several times without responding. Since there had been little contact between them in the interim, he hadn’t realized that Professor Loreldin knew about the things he’d done before his enrollment. But there was something he needed to ask before addressing that.
“Where exactly are you telling me to go?”
“Keltika.”

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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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