“When did Hans end up like this?”
“Since this morning. He didn’t come to work as usual, so Lady Seridan went to wake him and found him like that.”
At that moment, the door opened and Seridan rushed in.
“Master! Hans! Hans won’t wake up!”
“I can see that.”
“I hit him really hard, but he still wouldn’t open his eyes!”
“So that’s why Hans’s cheeks were swollen.”
Ludger looked at Hans lying still in bed. Both sides of his face were puffy, probably from Seridan’s attempts to wake him by slapping him.
It was a comical sight, but Ludger stared at Hans with sunken eyes.
Standing beside him, Seridan asked in a worried voice.
“Master, what is happening here?”
“Looks like someone is playing a very interesting game.”
“Who? I’ll blow them up with a bomb right now—!”
“Calm yourself. That’s what we need to figure out from here on. Still, the situation doesn’t look good.”
At first he thought it was limited only to within Seorn.
But the fact that Hans had also been affected meant the phenomenon had reached Rederbelk as well.
And that meant—
It could easily spread beyond Rederbelk to other places.
“You.”
“Yes, Owner.”
Ludger spoke to the guide.
“Immediately check Royal Street for anyone who has fallen asleep.”
“People who have fallen asleep, sir?”
“Yes. This won’t be limited to Hans. Others will be the same. Find out as quickly as possible. This is an emergency.”
“Understood.”
The guide hurriedly rushed outside.
“Master, will he be all right?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean Hans. What if he never wakes up?”
“He’ll be fine. He isn’t dead. He’s just asleep.”
But how long could this go on?
Even if one fell into sleep, the human body still needed nutrients to survive.
Not eating might be tolerated for a while—but water?
And they couldn’t expect 21st-century medical care here.
An IV drip would prolong survival a little longer.
But even that was nothing more than a stopgap. Without solving the root problem, the body would eventually reach its limit.
And then death would follow.
The body would die, and the spirit would wander Dreamland forever.
How was that any different from ordinary death?
“Master, is there anything we can do?”
“We’ll have to find out now.”
Ludger began moving.
“Summon Owens.”
* * *
“Hmm. F-For now, there are no special biological abnormalities.”
Bellaruna pried open Hans’s eye and shone a small light into it.
“H-He’s literally just sleeping. There’s nothing particularly wrong with his body. If there’s an issue, it’s definitely...”
“The mind.”
“Y-Yes. No matter how many medicines we give, it won’t help. It could even make things worse if side effects arise.”
Bellaruna clicked her tongue in frustration.
She had considered trying out a rare herb medicine she had gathered from the Elven Forest, but there wasn’t even the chance to use it now.
“So, what do we do in this situation?”
Alex asked, sinking into the sofa cushions.
“The outlook isn’t good. After confirming the incident, I inquired around, and it seems quite a few people are falling into deep sleep just like Mr. Hans.”
Violetta had confirmed that many of Royal Street’s members were already asleep.
And it wasn’t stopping—more and more were still being added.
Phantos sat silently with arms crossed, and Arfa remained equally quiet.
“For now, this incident is also happening in Seorn. At first, I thought it was a random terrorist attack targeting Seorn, but now that the same thing is occurring in Rederbelk, it doesn’t look like that’s the case.”
Just who, and why, would commit such an act?
Ludger asked Violetta:
“Violetta. When did people start falling asleep?”
“Most cases appeared from this morning.”
“So effectively today.”
But in Seorn, it had started a day earlier.
Since magic typically activates around the caster first, it was certain that the caster was inside Seorn.
Then the question was: who was it?
“What about the list of people who passed through Rederbelk to enter Seorn?”
“I checked all of them. Because the semester just began, there were a lot of comings and goings—it took some time to narrow it down.”
Even so, the fact she had checked them all was impressive.
In the past few days, over 3,000 outsiders had entered Seorn.
Narrowing that list to those connected with magic left about 1,000.
“A thousand? That’s a damn lot. How long will it take to check them all?”
“We can reduce it further. To cast magic of this level, the caster must be highly skilled.”
That cut the number down to less than fifty.
“Exclude family members of enrolled students as well.”
“Ah, right. No one would stage a terror attack in the very academy their own children attend.”
“Liberation Army maybe, but not nobles or reputable houses.”
After narrowing further, only five remained.
And of those, only one had an entry record into Seorn but no exit.
“...This person.”
“Do you know him?”
It was not Violetta who answered, but Arfa.
“It’s Gregoryum. I saw him during Mystic Night. He’s from the Old Mage Tower, and I remember he was a very nasty old man.”
Just as Arfa said.
The final name left on the list was Gregoryum of the Old Mage Tower.
“I heard he was expelled from the Old Tower because of what happened at Mystic Night.”
“Could it be he holds a grudge against you, Owner?”
Violetta asked cautiously.
Gregoryum had indeed been cast out of the Old Mage Tower because of that incident.
And Ludger’s involvement there could not be denied.
“But even so, the Yuta Kingdom cannot be excluded either.”
Especially since Gregoryum had been humiliated in front of everyone by being punched by Yekaterina.
If he wanted revenge, going to the Yuta Kingdom would have been more reasonable than coming to Seorn.
“Maybe he thought Seorn was easier to attack than a kingdom?”
Ludger shook his head at Alex’s opinion.
“To commit something of this scale, the question of easy or difficult doesn’t matter. Anyone reckless enough to march into a powder keg with a torch wants to cause the biggest explosion possible.”
“Hm. That makes sense.”
“Besides, there’s another problem. Gregoryum is certainly a skilled mage, but as far as I know, he doesn’t have abilities on this level.”
Magic that could plunge countless people into sleep?
No one had ever heard of such a thing, and even if one tried to learn it, it wouldn’t be mastered so easily.
Everyone present came to the same conclusion.
“Gregoryum is just a tail. Something bigger is hiding behind him.”
Ludger issued his command.
“Spread out across Rederbelk and gather information on suspicious people. Do it quietly and discreetly. I will pursue Gregoryum in Seorn. Even if I can only catch the tail, it will give me a glimpse of the body.”
“Understood.”
Everyone responded in their own way.
It was then—
Yaaawn.
Seridan opened her mouth wide and yawned.
It was a natural sign of fatigue, but in this situation Ludger’s eyes caught on it sharply.
“Seridan. Are you tired?”
“Yeah. Something feels strange.”
“Did you stay up all night yesterday?”
Seridan shook her head from side to side.
“No. I slept soundly last night. But why am I so sleepy-y-y~.”
Her voice gradually stretched out.
Her eyelids drooped halfway shut, and her head bobbed up and down.
“Seridan? Seridan.”
“Ah... uhh.”
She could no longer answer properly.
At last, her head slumped sideways.
If Phantos hadn’t caught her, she would have struck the ground.
“......”
Seeing Seridan sink into quiet sleep, the expressions of Owens’s members grew grim.
To suddenly collapse into slumber simply from “being tired” was anything but ordinary.
It was the same phenomenon that had afflicted Hans.
And at the same time, it hammered into everyone present a grave awareness—
No one here was safe from this strange occurrence.
* * *
“Master. It’s me.”
Ludger stood before the door of Grander’s quarters.
He hesitated over what to say.
Should he ask for help regarding the bizarre phenomenon unfolding lately?
Should he ask about the meeting with the Lumenis Church priestess?
Or should he apologize for neglecting to visit often enough?
Perhaps because there was a mountain of urgent matters weighing on him, his head felt tangled about where to begin.
In the end, the words he finally chose were something else.
“...I’ll come again another time. Please rest well.”
As he turned to leave, a voice came from within the room.
“Remember this. Even within dreams, there always exists a path.”
Ludger stopped in his tracks and looked back.
But Grander said nothing more.
A path within dreams?
It was as though she already knew everything he was going through.
‘No. If it’s my master, then of course she would know.’
He thought of asking further advice, but quickly realized it was pointless.
That one line she had given—those words were the first and last counsel he would receive.
Though it might sound like empty riddles, it was her way of offering consideration.
In uncertain times, that single phrase was worth more than gold.
“Thank you.”
Ludger spoke with genuine sincerity.
There was still no reply.
“Do not worry. I’ll resolve this soon.”
With a flick of his frock coat, Ludger departed.
* * *
Time passed since the incident began.
The phenomenon of people falling into sleep began quietly spreading throughout Rederbelk.
An article about it appeared on page two of the morning paper.
But everyone knew by the next day it would dominate the front page.
Day by day, the number of people who would not wake from slumber was increasing.
Even at Seorn, classes were suspended.
“This is troublesome. For it to spread enough to affect even the neighboring city.”
Even Elisa, who usually wore composure, could not take it lightly this time.
This incident had not remained confined within Seorn.
The shockwave reaching Rederbelk meant its scale was beyond imagination.
“Is Gregoryum truly the culprit?”
Elisa asked Ludger as they searched together.
“Even if he isn’t the true mastermind, he has certainly played a role akin to one. At the very least, he is the focal point of this mysterious spell.”
“We mobilized people and scoured every inch of Seorn. Yet we still haven’t found him—that means he’s hidden himself well.”
The vast grounds of Seorn became a disadvantage in such times.
But with most places already searched, only a handful of locations remained.
“That leaves the forest.”
“It’s rich in mana, so there’d be no risk of immediate detection. Still, it won’t be the places where spirits dwell—otherwise they would have sensed it.”
“Then we’ll find him soon enough.”
Ludger and Elisa made their way to the Silent Forest.
It was a place both had memories of.
For Ludger, it was where he nearly died under Elisa’s assault because of the Philosopher’s Stone.
For Elisa, it was where annoying pests had fled.
But now—
Pursuing the same goal side by side, the Silent Forest gave them both a different, newer feeling.
“It is very quiet.”
Ludger gave his impression of the eerie woods.
The name “Silent Forest” suited it, but in truth the name came from the idea that those who entered would themselves fall silent.
Now there was no trace of eerie laughter or malevolent spirits.
“For it to be this unnaturally quiet... it does seem this must be the place.”
“Be careful. You never know when you might suddenly fall asleep.”
“Oh my, is that concern for me? I do have some defenses against mental attacks, you know?”
Still, pleased by his concern, Elisa hummed a little tune.
The Silent Forest was vast.
Finding Gregoryum, who was hiding within, would take considerable time.
Even without spirit interference, locating someone concealing himself was no easy task—
“Professor Ludger.”
“Yes. I /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ saw it too.”
They both spotted it at the same time.
Beyond the thicket of bare branches, a human figure stood.
Though only the back was visible, who else could it be in the Silent Forest at this moment?
Slowly, they approached the man facing away from them—Gregoryum.
Despite the closing distance, he showed no sign of noticing them.
Just as they prepared to strike together—
Ludger noticed something strange.
“Headmaster.”
“What is it?”
“Gregoryum isn’t moving.”
His sharp gaze scrutinized the figure.
Even the faintest signs of life, the subtle traces of breathing that ordinary men revealed—
Gregoryum had none.
“That is a corpse.”