Chapter 50: Chapter 50

The Familiar’s Egg was an item received on my seventh birthday. It hadn’t shown any noticeable reaction despite being infused with magic power morning and night for seven years.

It was reacting now.

I immediately thought of what could have caused the change.

The location changed to the Academy… probably not the reason for the change.

No matter how mysterious the Academy was, the distribution of magic power here was not much different from the room I stayed in at the castle.

That meant…

“The circle.”

Today, the most likely cause was the Ancient Magic circle that was created by absorbing the power from the fountain. I thought about it for a moment and then added more magic power.

Whooooooooong!

Then, the Familiar’s Egg begins to react even more strongly.

I kept pouring in magic power just in case, but it really kept going in endlessly. If there had been a rejection reaction or if it was at a sufficient level, it should have rejected the magic, but that didn’t happen at all.

It was like that time I had starved for several days and then hastily eaten stew made with the supplies that arrived late.

“Is it hatching now?”

The reaction also gradually increased.

The more I poured magic power into it, the more the Familiar’s Egg screamed for more, so I stopped for the time being.

“It won’t work here.”

The first person I thought of was my second sister. As soon as I tried to communicate with the crystal ball, I heard my second sister’s voice.

⸢Dane? Today is roll call day. Did you get to the dorm? Did anything happen?⸣

As expected, my second sister poured out her worries as soon as we got in touch.

I quickly explained the whole story first, then I heard my second sister’s startled voice.

⸢The egg is reacting? Now?⸣

“Yeah. Right now. And even though I stopped injecting it with magic power, it still seems to be vibrating.”

⸢Why now…? If you miss the first roll call, it won’t be good for you, Dane.⸣

I looked at the familiar’s egg again.

I didn’t know the exact details, but I could get a general idea. The fact was that if I left it as it was, something would definitely happen.

In the worst case, there was a possibility that my Familiar’s Egg would be lost.

I couldn’t let that happen, so I had no choice but to ignore the roll call.

Of course, I didn’t intend to be penalized for that.

“Sister, are you in the lab now?”

⸢Yeah. I guess I’ll be up all night tonight?⸣

“Then I will go right away.”

⸢Right now? You’re coming now? How? If you miss the first day’s roll call, you’ll be caught by the disciplinary committee.⸣

I smiled and opened the subspace, thinking of the thing my eldest sister had given me, saying I would definitely use it.

I never thought I’d end up using it like this.

* * *

Roll calls were conducted uniformly in all dormitories within the Imperial Academy, regardless of whether it was the Amaldi Hall, Orwell Hall, or Dantère Hall.

Of course, there was no interference from the school because it was conducted by the dormitory’s disciplinary committee, which was granted de facto autonomy, but it was conducted so strictly that some students said that it was better that way.

If you were late for the monthly roll call, you would receive a one-point penalty.

If you were absent, you would receive a two-point penalty.

Regardless of the penalty points, if you were late more than three times per semester, you would be subject to disciplinary action and dormitory voluntary service. If you were absent more than twice, you would be demoted from the dormitory.

If that didn’t work, you might end up being kicked out of the dormitory.

“Oh, Arnold. Are you feeling anxious about your accumulated penalty points?”

“Shut up, Drojan. I told you. Two of those times were clearly unfair.”

“If you feel wronged, you should go to the disciplinary committee and complain. Why complain here?”

Thanks to this, the ninth floor of the Dantère Hall was also unable to escape the fear of penalty points and roll calls, so everyone was keeping their seats.

Except for Priscilla.

“Where on earth did she run off to?”

“She said that the person doing the inspection today was someone she knew?”

“Is that okay? She almost got caught once before.”

“I don’t know. I think she’s really into the person she’s meeting this time.”

“Love is what ruins people.”

Priscilla was not present. She was confident that she wouldn’t get caught and left the dormitory.

According to their guesses, she went to meet the student she was dating.

“But is it okay for someone from the Theology Department to be like that?”

“You know what? They say that in the Theology Department, secret relationships are allowed once you’re in your fourth year. If you get caught before then, you’ll be killed by your seniors.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

In the first place, the Theology Department itself was a place where those who dreamed of becoming priests studied. Priests couldn’t form families, and dating was also prohibited.

It was funny how in a place like that, dating was banned only up to a certain grade.

Well, it could be argued they were doing it before officially becoming part of the clergy…

“After observing Priscilla, I understand the cleric profession a little bit.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to believe in religion.”

“Oh, such blasphemy?”

“Oh, go tattle if you want.”

Amidst the bickering, Drojan looked toward Dane’s room. He seemed to have come in just now, but there was still no news.

“He knows about roll call, right?”

“Of course. That’s why he came in just now, right?”

“I’ll go and take a look.”

Drojan immediately knocked on Dane’s door.

The door was open.

When he went inside, he saw Dane tidying up the room.

“Dane, you know roll call is coming up soon? Come out soon.”

“Alright. See you later.”

It was a strangely low tone of answer. Of course, Drojan didn’t feel anything strange about it.

Drojan returned with a relieved expression, and soon it was time for roll call. Just then, Schaal, from the Martial Arts Department, yawned and opened the door to come out.

“Oh, I’m sleepy.”

Soon, the elevator stopped and the doors opened, and the disciplinary committee came in.

Led by the president of the disciplinary committee, who looked extremely strict, students with serious expressions walked in.

‘Something’s a bit weird today?’

While Drojan felt uneasy inside, the president of the disciplinary committee pushed up his thick-rimmed glasses and spoke.

“Ninth floor of the Dantère Hall. You won’t be able to get through today safely.”

“What do you mean?”

Then he snapped his fingers and an image was projected into the air using magic power.

“This is the magic surveillance footage that was installed recently. Interestingly enough… Priscilla, a student on the ninth floor, was caught escaping.”

Drojan was inwardly astonished.

“After tracking her, we confirmed that she left the dormitory grounds. That was five minutes ago. Surprisingly, Priscilla is currently in the dormitory.”

‘She’s dead.’

The president walked to Priscilla’s room as if there was nothing more to see, opened the door, and chuckled after confirming that there was no one inside.

“I usually don’t check the bedrooms, but I guess I’ll have to change the rules from now on. Drojan, do you have anything to say?”

“…”

Damn.

As the president of the disciplinary committee said, for the ninth floor of the Dantère Hall, they just roughly checked the number of people and passed them. There was that much trust.

But today, that trust had been shattered, and now the wind of penalty points was blowing.

“Arnold, Drojan, and Schaal. You three will pass. However, Priscilla will be penalized two points for being absent without permission, so please inform her.”

“…Yes.”

“Hmm, and one more… Dane Sogres. He’s a freshman.”

The president pushed up his glasses and tilted his head.

“He didn’t miss the first roll call, did he?”

“Oh, that’s impossible. He must be inside. I think it’s because he’s busy unpacking…”

“Well, we’ll know when we go see.”

The president approached the door without hesitation and opened it. Then, he saw Dane standing up from where he was unpacking his things.

“Dane Sogres? Didn’t you know we were doing roll call?”

“I’m sorry. I’m just busy unpacking.”

It seemed like the unpacking was almost finished. The president looked at Dane and waved his hand as if to say that it was okay.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter. It’s the first day, so that’s understandable.”

“Thank you.”

“I have high hopes for you, Dane Sogres. I’m glad you’ve been so well-behaved from day one, unlike your two older sisters.”

The president immediately closed the door and addressed Drojan. “Alright, I’ll go down to the eighth floor.”

“Yes.”

“Make sure to warn Priscilla.”

The president and the other disciplinary committee members got on the elevator, and as soon as the door closed, Drojan sighed.

“It’s completely ruined.”

She could have just held on a little longer. Why did she have to crawl out like that on the first day of all days?

“Now we’re screwed, what do we do?”

“I don’t know. Ugh, we’ll need to take care for a while.”

Drojan, who had been grumbling, asked as if something had just occurred to him, “Oh, by the way, should I order delivery for dinner? We can have a welcoming party for Dane or something.”

“That’s good. We can talk, too.”

“Okay, I’ll ask Dane.”

Drojan went back to Dane’s room and opened the door, but—

“Dane, are you free today? How about a welcome party… huh?”

There was no one inside.

It was as if it had been empty to begin with.

“What? Wasn’t he here just a moment ago?”

“…Anyway, I haven’t liked him from the beginning.”

I chuckled at my second sister’s grumbling.

“Why?”

“Just… He acts like showing up for roll call is the most important thing in the world. If you don’t show up for roll call, they scold you like you committed some big crime. Who does he think he is?”

Well, he did seem a bit picky. His voice was loud and sharp, but it seemed to have worked out well, so I didn’t think he really suspected that I had left.

“But is that something Sister gave you? An illusion that projects your exact appearance?”

“Yeah. I think most people wouldn’t even notice.”

I waved my eldest sister’s invention, the ‘Illusion Generator Mk.1’, which had the illusion magic installed.

“You used that?”

“Yeah. It’s pretty useful, isn’t it?”

“As far as I know, it’s incredibly difficult to use… Since it’s controlled remotely, the connection is unstable, and if the flow is even slightly disrupted, it shows right away.”

It was easier to use than I expected though.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

For reference, I left the dock connected to a generator in my room before the roll call started. At the same time as the roll call began, I used the generator to project my image, fooling the president into thinking I was there.

“Its performance is solid.”

If it could get past that picky person, then it was definitely effective.

Of course, since it was only an illusion, it had no substance and would be exposed immediately if it touched something. So, I thought I should use it carefully depending on the situation.

Anyway, I left the dorm and came to my second sister’s lab. There seemed to be a lot of really great stuff in there.

“Oh, this is my lab. What do you think?”

“It looks amazing. It’s so wide.”

“On the other hand, it’s incredibly hard to retain. There’s a lot of work that the professors ask you to do. It’s actually less difficult for me because I’m from House Sogres.”

I decided not to ask any more questions because the words sounded somewhat bittersweet.

It was time to get to the point.

When I took the familiar’s egg out, my second sister’s eyes widened.

“Really… it’s reacting?”

My second sister took the case very carefully. Her eyes, which had been worn out from fatigue, sparkled. It had been a long time since I had seen her eyes shine like that.

“How is it?”

“I’m sure of it. This egg is reacting to your magic. When that happens in cases like these, it typically means that there’s a chance of it waking up.”

“There’s a chance?”

“Yeah. As I said last time, there are a lot of eggs that don’t wake up even after reacting like this. Of course, just getting the reaction itself is incredibly difficult. However, that’s just one step forward.”

It was a bit of a disappointing conclusion, but still, it was something. The egg hadn’t responded even after I put all my effort into it for seven years.

“By the way, it’s reacting really strongly. Has it been like this for a while?”

“The more magic I put into it, the more it seems to act like that. I brought it to you because I thought something might happen if I put in more.”

“Hmm… It certainly seems to absorb magic power. However, there’s not much we know about Familiar’s Eggs yet, so it might be a bit much to put it into a magic stabilizer.”

By the way, the Familiar’s Egg was reacting the whole time I was here.

In the end, the point was that there was only one thing I had to do.

“How about continuing to add magic power?”

My second sister seemed momentarily taken aback by those words and asked, “Continuing to inject magic?”

“Yeah. I’ll keep going. I don’t think we can stop here.”

Whooooong!

The egg continued to cry out. There was no guarantee that things would quiet down if we left it like that. On the other hand, if things became quiet, I had a feeling that there wouldn’t be another chance.

Clare was quiet at that.

“This might be the best place. You said that there’s a magic shield constantly flowing to protect the research secrets.”

“I did.” Clare thought for a moment, then nodded. “Alright. Let’s do it.”

In the midst of this secret agreement between me and my second sister, my sister completely cleaned up the experiment table and placed the Familiar’s Egg on it.

“Dane, I’ll install a magic filter just in case. Your magic is naturally pure, but just in case.”

By the way, my second sister knew what happened to me during the day. There was no reason to hide it from my family. After all, she knew that what flowed through my body was Ancient Magic.

“Dane, if there’s even the slightest danger, tell me right away. I’ll stop it.”

“Alright.”

With that, I stood in front of the experiment table and immediately started injecting my magic power into the egg.