“Ugh...” In the dim room, Li Yue opened her eyes, which struggled to focus. Her somewhat dazed gaze stared straight at the bedroom ceiling.
The mirror in the room had already been replaced, and the entire space had been thoroughly cleaned. During the days Li Yue was away, Kelly had arranged for people to come and clean every day or two.
The familiar room and the warm bedding provided much needed solace to the mentally scattered and physically exhausted Li Yue.
She sat up, but as she tried to get out of bed, she tumbled onto the floor. Even the feedback of pain from her body had become sluggish. As she lay on the ground, she felt as if this scene was strangely familiar. She tried hard to remember, but the memories of these past few days had become a blur. She clearly knew she should remember, yet she simply couldn't recall anything.
It was as if her memories were in the deep sea, and she was unable to dive that deep no matter what.
Click— The bedroom door was gently pushed open.
“Oh, how did... Quick, get up. Did you hurt yourself in the fall?” A gentle voice reached her ears, like ripples on a lake.
“No...” Li Yue felt a force lift her up and place her gently back on the bed, fluffing the pillows to prop her up.
“The Captain said you encountered a quite terrifying incident,” Kelly said, sitting by the bed and peeling an apple with a fruit knife. The bright red peel was sliced off in spirals, revealing the snowy white flesh beneath.
“What happened inside even required the Captain to record it personally. All we know is that it was a crime committed by a large scale organization.”
“Mhm...” Li Yue responded faintly. She simply couldn't remember that segment of memory; she only recalled the carriage ride to the manor.
“I don't remember.”
“Is there anything you want?”
“Hungry...”
“Eat the apple first. I'll go get the porridge right away.”
Kelly walked out. Li Yue lay on the double bed, trying to recall her time since coming to this world. A blue silhouette appeared in her mind.
Strange. Thinking of that person should make me angry, so why does my mood improve instead?
...
In the south, on a plain where the climates of all four seasons mingled, stood a vast complex of buildings. It looked like a hybrid of European castles and cathedrals.
Any magic apprentice with even a bit of training would have heard this thunderous name.
Kalodia Academy, the end of magic.
Atop one of the five tallest spires, a blue haired girl in a white robe rested her chin on one hand, looking into the distance with utter boredom.
A woman wearing glasses and a form fitting black dress stood beside her, looking serious and somewhat respectful.
For Clo, returning here was an extremely tedious matter, yet as one of the Five Staves—the top students representing the academy's five major factions—she had no choice but to rush back.
“Can't those people from the Time Casket inherit my position?” Clo casually smoothed her ornate white and gold robe. Unlike the image Li Yue had of her, she was no longer flighty; she now carried an air of great authority.
“The steps they have taken are too small. They have yet to pass the trial of the Time Casket.”
“Is that so? Then I can only wait around for graduation.” Clo sighed, gazing at the azure sky. The bright sunlight reminded her of some of her previous days.
“During this time, have there been any letters for me?” Clo pinched her blue hair, pulled it straight, let go, and then pulled it straight again, looking truly bored to death.
“No professors or colleagues have written to you.”
“Don't look at theirs. Every day it's nothing but one mess after another.”
“There was one delivered on ordinary stationery, sent from Parvati.”
“Oh?” Clo seemed to pique her interest, her gaze falling upon the woman standing opposite her.
“Because the stationery format was incorrect and the address wasn't marked with specific symbols—it was simply addressed to you by name—the Student Council members in charge threw it away as a harassment letter.” The woman pushed up her glasses, her tone carrying a hint of surprise.
“What?” Clo sat up, her voice tinged with anger. “Why wasn't I notified? How long ago was this? I want to see that letter right now!”
“I'm afraid... it has already been disposed of.”
“Tell those guys from the Time Casket to go. Don't they always brag about being geniuses? Finding a letter from a few days ago should be simple for them!” Clo opened a light screen, wrote a brief and concise message, and sent it out. She crossed her arms over her chest, frowning with dissatisfaction.
The woman looked at the pouting Clo with a bit of helplessness. She guessed the latter probably wanted to vent some frustration. As for the letter, it was likely from an important companion she met during her travels.
Who could it be? She couldn't help but wonder.
Several figures in black robes embroidered with golden clocks entered the somewhat messy waste disposal area. Leading a group of Student Council members, they racked their brains to search through tens of thousands of discarded items from the past few days for a letter they had never seen.
No matter how humiliating it was, they had to accept the order of the youngest of the Five Staves. At the same time, they firmly memorized the keywords for the letter: Parvati, ordinary, and the name Li Yue.
...
Inside the dim bedroom, Kelly held a bowl of meat porridge, feeding Li Yue one spoonful at a time.
As she felt the warm food being swallowed mouthful by mouthful, Li Yue found herself completely unable to feel the sensation of becoming full. This food could hardly satisfy her increasingly intense hunger.
Even though she had forgotten much, she still knew at this moment what this hunger was craving.
Flesh and blood. Fresh flesh and blood containing a hint of magic. Whether it was from humans, blood demons, or the magic beasts from the deepest parts of the forest beyond the limits of human activity.
I can't. No matter how miserable I feel, I cannot eat the first two. Once I cross that taboo, I can no longer consider myself human.
Should I look for some substitutes? How did I solve this before? I can't remember.
Her hand involuntarily reached for the blood crystal at her chest. She remembered the hearts of the dead blood demons. These things were either carved as decorations or used as materials for certain potions and rituals.
She walked out of the room with trembling steps, dragging her exhausted body with difficulty toward the dissection room. Some blood crystals that hadn't been destroyed were kept here to be used as magic materials, though their quality was average and they seemed full of impurities.
It was currently twilight, and since Roland had increased the intensity of patrols, many of the team members were carrying out their respective investigation tasks on the bustling East Court Cross Street at this time.
The remaining members of the team inside the villa were mostly resting in the first floor drawing room or playing cards on the second floor.
Li Yue easily obtained a blood crystal. She tried to bite into it and found her teeth were unusually sharp, easily crunching through the entire hard crystal.
She carefully tucked a piece into her pocket, planning to go back and look up magic that required blood crystals. As long as she made a reasonable request, the team was still very lenient with its members.
Li Yue was busy with her own little schemes, completely unaware of a pair of fair little hands resting on her waist and a head leaning against her shoulder.
The moment she felt the weight on her shoulder, her heart skipped a beat. She felt that if her heart were still vibrantly beating, it would have surely stopped out of sheer terror.
She turned her head with difficulty, looking toward a nearby blood stained mirror. It reflected a scene that made Li Yue's skin crawl: she saw another version of herself.
The other her wore a faint smile and slowly opened her mouth, a very long tongue darting out to lick the residue of the blood crystal from the corner of Li Yue's mouth.
Li Yue recoiled violently, only to find that it had just been a hallucination. Everything was as usual; there was no one else there.
Waves of dizziness forced her to support herself against the wall. Reality seemed to overlap with the illusions of her memories. As she stood there, a vast sea of blood appeared before her eyes, but when she regained her senses, she realized it was just a hallucination.
She saw scene after scene of despair: a man in a black velvet coat injecting liquid medicine into her body; her tearing apart one innocent person after another; and finally, a strain of blues music accompanying a mithril longsword as it pierced through her.
What was this? Memories within the blood crystal?
She gasped for breath, her heart still racing with lingering fear as she dragged her exhausted spirit back toward the bedroom.
...
Inside the tower, Clo sat on a chair by the railing, reading the letter with great interest. It was unclear if she had intentionally forgotten to let the kneeling geniuses stand up.
With a smile on her lips, she looked at the distant sky, though her eyes held a hint of complexity.
Is this destiny? Always advancing along a fixed course, with every item along the way already marked with a price. It is truly both loathsome and awe inspiring.
Rate on N.U.
