There were no signs of life from Gregoryum.
Ludger approached slowly without lowering his guard.
Even when he closed the distance to a stone’s throw, Gregoryum merely sat there, unmoving.
Only then could Ludger see Gregoryum from the front.
“...What.”
Gregoryum’s face had rotted away like that of someone who had died a very long time ago.
There was not a drop of moisture left in his body—quite literally the shriveled visage of a dried mummy.
It had not even been a week since Gregoryum entered Seorn.
Yet judging by the condition of the corpse now, did it not look as if nearly thirty years had passed?
It was not bare bone, but at a touch, skin and hide alike seemed ready to crumble away into powder.
‘Did he come in already dead?’
That made no sense either.
If it were this severe, they would have noticed at the entrance.
If he were a black mage—especially one who used summoning of the dead and necromancy—the alarm magic installed at the gate would have reacted.
‘If so, that means Gregoryum walked in alive—and in his right mind.’
Even the cause of death was unknown, and the condition of the corpse itself was a mystery.
“What do you think?”
At Elisa’s question, Ludger shook his head.
“Something is off. Going by the state of the body alone, you could say he died ages ago.”
“And what’s happening right now is not something a dead man could possibly unfold.”
“If he burned up his own life to set this up...”
“The duration is far too long, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Exactly. The first shockwave would certainly be powerful, but as time passed the effect would inevitably weaken. Yet what we are seeing is growing stronger the longer it goes on.”
Elisa’s expression grew equally grave.
Which meant Gregoryum might not be the real culprit.
From the outset, it hardly made sense that he could pull off something of this scale with his level of magic.
They had suspected someone in the background, but for the tail they finally managed to seize to be cut clean with no trace like this—
“Is there no one you suspect? I mean the place you’re affiliated with, Mr. Ludger.”
Ludger shook his head.
“It’s not that I never suspected them, but it’s unlikely.”
“Why?”
“If they were going to act, they’d have done it long ago. Besides, this is not their way.”
Zero Order had someone he was looking for at Seorn.
By Ludger’s estimation, the one Zero Order sought was surely Rine.
She possessed a judgment granted only to a Saintess, so it was fully plausible that a demon like Zero Order would seek her.
And yet to stage indiscriminate terror like this now?
No matter how he looked at it, this was not something Zero Order would do.
“Most of all, what’s strange is that I sense no traces of mana anywhere in the vicinity.”
“So from the start, what’s happening now isn’t simply a situation caused by magic, is that it?”
“It’s a stretch to call it a mana disaster. It would be strange enough for a mana disaster to suddenly break out in Seorn, but even that would accompany mana.”
Then what in the world was it?
Gregoryum—the only lead they could call a clue—was dead.
And the dead did not speak.
“Of course they don’t. Because this isn’t magic.”
There should not have been a voice.
Ludger and Elisa.
Both extended their hands toward Gregoryum’s corpse at the same instant.
Spell-forms manifested in a flash, then were released.
A torrent of energy laden with massive mana struck Gregoryum’s body.
The corpse turned to dust and scattered in all directions.
Yet neither could relax their grip on tension.
The dust that had dispersed as fine particles gathered in midair and soon began to take on a form.
It was a thin old man neatly dressed in a suit.
His limbs were long so he looked like a gangly stick; his mustache and beard were white and grown out long.
His cheeks were hollowed in, while his aquiline nose jutted sharp and long.
The old man had no pupils. Instead, where his eyes should have been, a golden current flowed out faintly.
“What I use is on an entirely different level from those base methods humans use. Far more mysterious and vast, and very beautiful. So don’t you dare apply your narrow, shallow standards as a measure.”
The old man chuckled as he spoke.
Ludger and Elisa readied for battle.
They had no idea who the suddenly appearing old man was, but it was plain he was the ringleader of the incident.
“Normally, in a situation like this, capturing the culprit alive would be the priority.”
Elisa roused mana through her whole body.
As immense mana arose, pink petals began to whirl and scatter around them.
“But I suppose I shouldn’t try to hold you to the same standard.”
Ordinarily, this was where Ludger would have restrained her, but he agreed wholeheartedly with Elisa’s move.
Capturing or taking alive—those were things you did after weighing the opponent.
From Ludger’s perspective, that old man was absolutely not someone who could be handled by such half-measures.
Elisa’s urge to go in hard was born of the same instinct as Ludger’s.
The opponent was exceedingly dangerous.
The old man showed not a flicker of fear even before the great surge of mana closing in on him.
“Since you’ve come all this way to find me, a self-introduction is the least I can do. A pleasure to meet you. My name is Nirva. A servitor of the Goddess, and the administrator of dreams.”
The old man who introduced himself as Nirva bowed with courtesy.
“Good morning. And I suppose it shall become a good afternoon.”
He raised the head he had inclined in a nod.
“So have a good night, and sweet dreams.”
Flaaash!
At the same time, the mana Elisa had raised washed away as if rinsed by water.
From the heart of the storm woven by those petal-like currents of mana, Elisa’s body—her consciousness gone—collapsed limply to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
Ludger’s eyes flew wide at the sight.
‘Headmaster Elisa.’
A 6th-Circle Lexuror-class mage had been struck down without even a chance to react.
At the same time, from the self-introduction Nirva had spoken, he could immediately surmise the man’s nature.
“You. You’re a demon.”
“You humans call me that. It’s hard not to find it offensive. Analyze the meaning packed in the name and it says an evil fiend, does it not? It’s no different than insulting us who bear the solemn mandate of God.”
Nirva’s golden gaze turned to Ludger.
“Even so, dreams are equal for all. Just like our great Goddess. Thus even to dull-witted humans like you, I shall show ample mercy.”
Nirva smirked.
Fine wrinkles crowded across his cheeks.
“So have a good night, and sweet dreams.”
It’s coming.
Whatever had felled Elisa Willow in an instant—
It was surely the authority of that demon called Nirva.
Ludger triggered a spell.
Not a physical attack. Something else that, at the very least, affected the mind.
So he had to protect brain function as much as possible and retreat far away...
As he tried to slip out through shadow, Ludger felt the strength drop out of his legs.
“W-what...”
A slackness swept through his whole body.
At the same time, the edges of his vision turned hazy and everything began to blur.
Drowsiness surged over him.
‘When did it even—’
Any attack should come with some kind of precursor, yet Nirva’s authority did not.
He must not sleep.
Ludger clenched his teeth and fought to endure, but once the wave of sleep rolled in, it would not recede.
His legs gave out and one knee hit the ground.
He remained upright only by barely managing to draw his cane and brace himself.
But that, too, was a desperate stopgap.
Beyond eyelids growing as heavy as a thousand catties, Nirva spoke.
“How astonishing. For a mere human to resist my authority to this extent.”
Even the voice of admiration brushing his ear sounded like a lullaby.
Sleep now. Close your eyes and dream sweetly.
His whole body seemed to cry out for it.
Flaaash!
Ludger forced strength into his legs and sprang to his feet.
At the same time, the blade concealed in his cane flashed from his hand and swept for Nirva’s neck.
Sssrkt!
The strike had landed clean.
Nirva’s widened eyes fixed on Ludger in astonishment.
“Impressive! To move in that state... such willpower far beyond any human.”
But the moment Ludger saw the severed head grin slyly, he knew something was wrong.
“I commend that desperate effort. Unfortunately, I do not exist in the current plane, so even if my head is cut, I cannot die. Even if you cut the moon reflected in water with a sword, the moon itself is not severed, is it?”
The cross-section of the severed neck—
Golden sand flowed writhing as though alive.
“So then, have a good night, and dream sweetly.”
Ludger’s body collapsed to the ground.
His eyes shut, vision drowned in black.
He sank into slumber.
Deep, deeper—
An eternal sleep from which he would never awaken.
Confirming that Ludger had fully succumbed, Nirva reattached his severed head.
His eyes, filled with golden light, lifted toward the sky.
“This place is still as suffocating and nauseating as ever.”
His muttering voice brimmed with disgust.
A stark contrast to the manner he had shown facing Ludger and Elisa.
“Normally, I should wait a little longer before rising, but time is short. I’ll have to be satisfied with this much.”
Nirva’s body lifted into the air.
Then, from the ends of his form, he began to scatter like powder.
Golden shimmering sand.
It caught the wind and spread in all directions.
“Huh? What’s that?”
Some students passing by stopped in their tracks at the faintly glittering golden dust in the air.
Those touched by the dust went glassy-eyed and collapsed where they stood.
The students who panicked and tried to run met the same fate.
In an instant, people began to topple everywhere, consumed by sleep.
Students, teachers, servants—none were spared.
Regardless of strength, anyone touched by the sand fell into slumber.
The whole of Seorn sank into silence.
And the golden dust did not stop at Seorn.
Like dandelion seeds carried on the breeze, it drifted toward the nearby city outside the academy.
To bestow more dreams.
* * *
Rederbelk bustled with life even from midday.
As a city of advanced magitech and industry, steam and machinery never ceased their rhythm.
Workers noticed a golden cloud rolling in from beyond.
“Hey, look at that. You know what that is? Some new factory opened nearby?”
“Smoke from a factory wouldn’t be that pretty a color.”
“Isn’t that direction where Seorn Academy is?”
To Rederbelk’s citizens, the golden cloud didn’t look threatening.
It floated slowly on the wind, and above all—it was beautiful.
So no one thought to flee.
The wave of slumber swept through the factories on the outskirts of Rederbelk.
The shouting of men above the roar of machines fell /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ quiet.
Trucks in motion ground to a halt, and even steam golems stopped following their operators’ commands.
The golden cloud rolled through the factories and spread steadily across all of Rederbelk.
“What the hell is this!”
Alex, seeing people collapse in the distance, quickly retreated backward.
His keen sense told him at once: touch that golden dust and you fall.
He tried to call for backup, only to realize no one else was answering.
‘Don’t tell me they’re all already down?’
At that moment, a shadow dropped straight from the sky and landed beside him.
It was Phantos.
He had Arfa and Bellaruna tucked under his arms.
“You’re safe?”
“Th-thanks to you, Mr. Phantos, we barely made it out.”
Bellaruna, dizzy from Phantos’s sprint, spoke with glazed eyes.
The golden tide pressed toward Owens.
They had to evade it.
Alex was about to shout a warning when the wind surged, scattering the golden dust far away.
“What in the world is happening here?”
Violetta descended slowly, a black parasol shading her, as if drifting from the sky.
She wore practical clothing, as though she had left her work at once.
Aside from Hans and Seridan—both fast asleep—the members of Owens were gathered in one place.
“Does anyone know what’s going on here?”
At Alex’s question, no one could answer.
They were just as shaken by the situation.
“From the way people collapse into sleep, it seems that cloud must be the cause our leader spoke of.”
Alex clicked his tongue.
Meanwhile, the golden cloud thickened its shape, closing in on Owens.
Violetta swung her parasol, raising a fierce gale.
The golden cloud shredded apart, pushed backward by the wind.
But Violetta’s face was grim.
“This cloud. Its resistance is stronger than just a moment ago.”
“I saw it too.”
Phantos’s sharp gaze fixed on the golden haze.
It rose thick, now resembling smog more than cloud.
The golden dust filled the air, surrounding Owens, cutting off escape.
It wasn’t simply drifting aimlessly—it moved with will.
“I’ll open a path.”
Escaping now was the priority.
Violetta stirred her mana and wove a spell.
She had never wasted a day of training since learning magic in snatches from Ludger.
Especially with wind-based spells, Violetta possessed an exceptional talent.
Even Ludger had been genuinely impressed while teaching her.
Thanks to that, in a short time, she had mastered powerful magic.
Though she lacked the breadth and versatility wind spells could offer, her raw output was formidable anywhere.
Violetta extended her parasol.
From its elegant tip burst a small vortex, colliding with the golden haze.
Kwagagagak!
But instead of driving it back, her spell scattered as if striking a wall.
Everyone’s eyes widened in shock and horror.
Most of all, Violetta herself, who had cast the spell, was shaken.
“Impossible. How can mere haze block the wind...?”
She had thought it was no ordinary cloud, but to resist wind magic of near 4th-Circle level?
Fwoooosh!
Before they even had time to grasp the danger, the golden cloud surged, rushing to engulf them all.