Lately, Gloomy, the senior professor of Illusion Magic at Kreutz, was in a foul mood.
No, to be precise, she was absolutely livid.
All day long, she gnawed on her nails while glaring at Hiaka Academy through a [Mirage].
‘...What the hell is that illusion? What is that?’
An absurdly enormous Christmas tree had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
It was now being called Hiaka’s new iconic landmark.
Soon after, people from across the continent began flocking to see it.
‘What the f*** is that? How the hell did they cast such an illusion...??’
Even for a senior professor, one once ranked among the top three illusionists in all of Hiaka, it was an utterly unreachable feat.
A display of power so shocking it felt supernatural.
And then came a major crisis for Gloomy and Batalion of Kreutz.
The royal family and academy authorities of Kreutz began to lash out.
They had originally received a fortune—worth billions—in exchange for betraying their country by handing over Hiaka’s illusion data.
But there wasn’t a single mention of this so-called “Professor Cain” in that data.
“Senior Professor Gloomy. This... situation is beyond irregular, wouldn’t you say?”
The Chair’s voice was cold and unyielding.
Gloomy lowered her head.
“...I believe they summoned an illusionist from the Empire. There is no such person as ‘Cain.’ Hiaka is clearly playing tricks.”
“Do you have any proof?”
“......”
“So, nothing. Just your claim. Hmm? Is this how you operated during your tenure in Hiaka as well, Senior Professor?”
“......”
“A shame. Kreutz doesn’t tolerate such conduct.”
Gloomy clenched her jaw so tightly she could feel it crack.
“Kreutz Academy intends to hold you strictly accountable for this incident.”
“I-I just need a bit more time...”
“No. The tree is already real, and tourists from all over the world are visiting. Does any of that change?”
“......”
“You both will be required to return the payment.”
The final notice.
Together, the two were ordered to return 1.7 billion Hika.
A blood-curdling sum.
The next day, Batalion exploded.
“Senior Gloomy! What the hell happened?! I step away for one second and we get hit with a 1.7 billion fine?!”
“Shut up! You think I’m the only one who lost money? Where the hell were you, huh?! Weren’t you in charge of the Assassination Department?! And yet you know absolutely nothing about this ‘Cain’? Does that make any f***ing sense?!”
“I told you! There’s nothing I don’t know! You should’ve just said Cain was an imperial scumbag!”
“I did! I told them that, you bastard!!”
The two began to turn on each other.
***
The location: research lab sofa. I sat there absentmindedly, waiting for someone.
The meeting was well past its scheduled time.
But the person hadn’t shown up.
Putin was famously late. But when Trump visited Putin, he showed up even later just to flex his power.
Maybe it was something like that?
‘...Why isn’t she here.’
Still, I waited. But I could feel a gaze on me. For the past five minutes, Assistant Ran had been sitting beside me, silently staring.
“What are you staring at?”
“You, Professor.”
“Why.”
“No reason.”
“Right.”
“Yes.”
“......”
“......”
Ran is like a machine.
Hair cut to military precision.
Not a single wrinkle on her suit.
Flawless skin.
Her movements are devoid of any excess.
“You have obsessive-compulsive disorder or something?”
“No.”
I brushed some dust off and smudged it onto the back of her hand to test her reaction.
“......”
“......”
She didn’t even blink.
Just glanced at her hand, then turned back to look at me.
“......”
“......”
It felt like leaving a fingerprint on a glass window.
I grabbed a wet tissue and wiped it off.
“...You planning to keep staring?”
“Yes.”
“You know assassins are sensitive to being watched, right? Look elsewhere.”
“Understood.”
Ran turned her head to the window. To the empty sky and drifting clouds.
What is with this person?
The more I look, the stranger she gets.
There happened to be a winter tangerine in the lab. I placed it on top of her head.
Ran’s neck rotated like an owl as she looked back at me.
“What is this?”
“A tangerine.”
“I see.”
“Don’t you have some kind of special ability or something?”
“No.”
“Apples have one.”
“I have a banana too.”
“What’s the banana do?”
“It makes me good at climbing trees.”
“...That’s... oddly practical. Any combat abilities?”
“Yes.”
She pulled out a headband from her pocket. Attached to the middle was a broken sword.
“What the hell is that?”
“It’s the Excalibur Headband. When I wear it, I become better at fighting.”
She placed it on her head.
It now looked like a sword was stabbed into the crown of her skull.
“......”
What is with this person.
That’s when the door opened, and Adele walked in.
“Professor! I’m here to help prepare for end-of-term—oh...”
She paused at the sight of Ran.
Was it because ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) of the sword in her head?
Or maybe...
“End-of-term prep, huh?”
“...Yes. May I borrow Assistant Ran?”
Fair enough. There’s a lot to do before the semester ends:
Grading, responding to cadet inquiries, sorting lecture materials, returning equipment, gathering evaluations, collecting surveys, writing the final report, cleaning the lecture hall, planning follow-ups...
Still, I felt a slight twinge of unease at the idea of leaving Adele and Ran alone together.
“I’ll come help too.”
“Alright. But keep that headband on.”
“Yes.”
Ran followed Adele out.
“Oh my, that’s a headband?”
“It is.”
“I thought you got stabbed in the head or something. Adorable~ Do I get one too?”
“There’s a Rudolph reindeer headband. Want it?”
And so the two assistants, each wearing ridiculous headgear, left the lab.
The door almost shut.
Almost.
Someone caught it before it closed.
A cadet in a saint’s robe.
She glared at the assistants’ backs, then stepped inside.
“Hello, Professor.”
Clip, clop. Footsteps.
Putin—no, Trump.
It was Princess Rebecca.
*
Tomorrow.
We will go to the Assassination Daily studio.
The Empire’s main office building.
At last, the 「Betting Table」 begins.
But from what I saw in [Watchtower Star’s Time Forgery], Gray is grievously injured in an assassination attempt there. The shoot fails.
And that happened even with a senior professor escorting her.
Now, I’m faced with two choices:
Stop her from going.
Or ensure her safety.
I chose the latter.
A greenhouse is warm and safe—but it can’t raise a dandelion strong enough to sprout through concrete.
Pressure will always exist. If we keep running every time, neither I nor my cadets will grow. Hiaka will never recover.
And we won’t survive. The Demon King War is still approaching.
We must grow stronger.
So I summoned the princess.
“You want me to accompany Gray to her shoot?”
“That’s right. No one in their right mind would attempt a bombing or assassination with royalty present.”
To harm royalty is to declare war on an entire nation. It’s an act of full-scale provocation. The reason Dormant Dragon Cadets were safe during the “Rebellion and Collapse” was simple:
The princess was among them.
Even Kreutz, as insane as they are, had to pause at that.
“I’m sorry, but why me?”
Naturally, she had no reason to grant my request.
With her usual drained, jaded expression, she asked:
“You’re seriously trying to play that card? After we boarded the same ship?”
“I’m not throwing a tantrum. I’m asking. I’m not exactly in good standing with the royal family. If I go to the Empire, I’d have to ask for permission. Bow my head. Why should I do that?”
“Because Gray might get hurt.”
“Then I’ll assign her a guard.”
“No. It has to be you.”
“......”
I remembered the injured Gray in that forged timeline the Watchtower Star brought me.
We didn’t catch the culprit, but the implications were clear.
It was Kreutz.
Because in the timeline that followed, a Kreutz cadet stood as the cover model.
“We have to prevent the assassination itself.”
“With me?”
“Yes.”
“So, Professor, you’re telling me you want to use a princess as some kind of human safety totem?”
“Correct.”
Rebecca scoffed.
“I have plans.”
“What kind?”
“There’s a new massive Virgin Mother Church built near the Cain Tree... in Sector 9. Today’s the first sermon.”
“We’re leaving tomorrow. That shouldn’t interfere.”
“Professor.”
She looked directly at me, irritation clear.
“This whole situation... doesn’t it go against our agreement?”
“The contract was about disrupting Hiaka–Empire negotiations. This is unrelated.”
“No. If Gray goes to the Empire and completes her shoot, the image of Hiaka’s assassins softens. That could help the diplomatic exchange.”
“We’ll see. The causality doesn’t track.”
“......”
“Didn’t you model for the weekly edition?”
“Weekly and monthly covers have completely different reach. And I don’t represent the Assassination Department—I represent the Kingdom of Hiaka.”
“Close enough.”
“......”
Who’s right?
Rebecca.
I was just being stubborn.
“My instincts tell me this is a bad idea.”
“Are your instincts always sharp?”
“They’re very sharp.”
Doubt it.
You couldn’t even spot the traitor in front of you.
“My instincts are a bit sharper.”
“......”
Rebecca sighed and brushed her bangs back.
“...Were you always like this?”
I showed her the back of my hand with a mock-serious look.
She crossed her arms tightly. Already sitting with her legs crossed, she was now double-locked.
“I don’t want to.”
“Do it.”
“I said no.”
As expected, Rebecca was twice as uncooperative.
She hated it when I invaded her personal space.
So I decided to use that.
“Do it.”
I stood from my seat—
And sat down right beside her, on her crossed-leg throne.
“Hmm?”
***
Back in Kreutz, Gloomy stood up from beside Batalion.
“I’m done. I’m leaving.”
“Gloomy! Senior Gloomy! Calm down. We’re on the same side here, right?!”
“A useless ally is worse than an enemy. At this rate, I can’t side with you.”
“Senior Gloomy! Gloo—!”
SLAM!
The door shut like it had been broken off its hinges.
“D-dammit all!!”
Batalion swept everything off his desk. Books crashed, frames shattered, crystal balls exploded. Then came his scream:
“F***! F***!!”
It wasn’t just about Gloomy.
No, the entire continent’s situation was shifting in strange ways.
In civilized societies, weakness is treated as a virtue.
But in continental power dynamics, weakness is pure evil.
Hiaka, stripped of its rankers and humiliated in the Assassination War, had become a laughingstock.
That’s how it should have been.
But ever since that cursed tree appeared, the tides were turning.
< Duke Rulyue: “Seeing Cain’s Tree was the best decision of this winter.” >
< Becken Travel launches 24,000-person group tours. Tour name: [Cthulhu’s Christmas] >
< Hiaka announces first-ever nationwide tourist expansion project... >
< WizardPatch ranks Hiaka #1 on “Top Places to Visit This Winter” >
< Agion, senior professor of Illusion-Assassination at Hattengraj: “If you have time, visit the tree before it withers. It’ll be the most shocking experience of your life.” >
Monarchs, rankers, nobles—they all started visiting.
Hiaka saw more than 40,000 tourists a day.
Some days even topped 70,000.
It was the highest in the kingdom’s history!
But Batalion’s misery didn’t end there.
“A c-continental peace summit...?!”
The Hiaka royal family had decided to play big. Using that obscenely huge tree, they set the stage. And naturally, Kreutz’s king had to attend.
What if the Hiaka king humiliated him there?
Senior Professor Batalion clenched his jaw.
“Goddammit...”
A chill ran down his spine.
And then—another report he could barely believe.
“Another [Stigma] descended? Again? At Hiaka Academy?”
His heart sank.
Something was going horribly, horribly wrong.