The Academy’s Deceased Ate It All

"Ah, welcome, boss!"

The moment Yu Ji-hyeok stepped into the room that had been used as a waiting area during the guild invitation event, Evangelline Loengreen sprang up from the chair where she'd been waiting and gave him a deep bow.

For a second, Yu Ji-hyeok froze.

It wasn't just the greeting—the kind you'd give a respected superior—that threw him. It was the fact that her appearance had her looking like someone his own age.

"What the hell is that look?"

"Oh, this?"

Evangelline Loengreen, now nearly a decade younger, swept back her shimmering blonde hair.

"Not to brag, but I'm a bit famous, right? If anyone recognized my face, there'd be a scene for sure… so I came disguised as a student. Look, I'm even in a uniform. Doesn't it bring back memories?"

Yu Ji-hyeok gave a small nod.

And now she was grinning mischievously, pinching the hem of her skirt and letting it drop midair—obviously toying with him in plain sight.

"…Just drop the formal speech. It's making me uncomfortable."

"Oh my, you sure about that, boss?"

"Yes. Please, I'm begging you."

"Hmm, well, if you insist…"

She shrugged and lifted the bag she'd set down behind her.

The look of the thing alone—plus the faint pulse of mana leaking from it—made it clear this was no ordinary bag.

"Here's what you ordered."

It opened with a click.

Inside the bag, fourteen rings were arranged in a circle.

Yu Ji-hyeok picked up the one set in the center.

Ring of the Dragon Scale (Rare)

A ring forged by melting a black dragon's scale into its surface and engraving numerous magical incantations along its inner band.

The ring alone could rightly be called a sacred artifact, and an exceptional mage has carved layered spells into it—a piece more aptly described as a masterwork.

Increases health and mana.

Increases physical resistance.

Increases magic resistance.

Wards of defense and protection are inscribed within; when the wearer is in danger, a guardian field deploys automatically.

Once a day, the wearer may receive the Black Dragon's blessing.

(Hidden) Imbued with the energies of dragon, World Tree, spirit, and Seven Calamity.

"Oh…"

The performance exceeded his expectations, and Yu Ji-hyeok let out a short noise of admiration.

What made it truly remarkable was that each ring had different properties.

He'd asked Evangelline Loengreen from the start to tailor each one to boost whichever stat the eventual wearer needed most—but he hadn't expected her to pull it off this perfectly, and he couldn't hide his satisfaction.

"Well? Happy with them?"

"Yeah, hugely. I knew I was right to leave this to you, Evangelline."

"Ahaha, I didn't win the title Great Witch and my rank on the Magic Tower in a card game, you know."

Pleased with his reaction, Evangelline Loengreen laughed loudly.

Then she pointed to three rings gathered to one side.

"Now, these are the ones you asked for separately."

Yu Ji-hyeok immediately picked them up.

He tucked two into his coat and held the third out to Evangelline.

At that, her eyes went round, and she stared at him.

"…Huh? Wait, you're actually giving this to me?"

"Yes."

"Seriously?"

"What, did you think I was joking?"

Slightly startled, Evangelline gave a small nod.

She muttered something about really having thought he'd been joking, and Yu Ji-hyeok asked why he'd make such a pointless joke; she said nothing in return.

"Oh, um… no. Well, then, I'll gratefully accept."

Evangelline carefully accepted the ring from him.

She stared at it for a moment, then slipped it onto the middle finger of her right hand.

"Anyway, why do you need so many of these? Who're you giving them to…?"

"My friends."

It wasn't something he needed to hide, so he answered plainly.

It was the truth.

There was one each for himself, Han Su-yeong, Choi Hyun-woo, Jin Ye-seul, Lee Ye-eun, Lee Yu-na, Ivan Hunt, plus shares for Kath Ryle and Ahn Do-hun.

He'd prepared them on the principle that everyone from the playable-character pool ought to be holding at least one means of standing against the Seven Calamities.

The remaining two were for Minerva and Rauné.

"Oh, and here."

Yu Ji-hyeok drew the flask of Yoon Seul-hye's blood from inside his coat and handed it to her.

When he started laying out in detail what he wanted done with it, Evangelline listened with a serious expression.

"…If you could handle it that way."

When he finished, Evangelline nodded and summed up her impression in two short lines.

"You're completely insane."

"……."

"And I love a guy who's that crazy."

She nodded with a giggle.

"All right, I'll get to work on it like you asked. You're shaping up to be a big-time client—the least I can do is handle this much."

"Thank you, Evangelline."

"And I'll try to talk some of the other Ten Powerhouses into joining too. The more firepower, the better, right?"

She tilted her head down, thinking it through.

"Lee Myung-jun'll come no question—what with the business about his sister, and you being the one asking. I'm in, obviously… and Laura and Ahn Ju-hyeok, those two will probably show as well."

"Laura and Ahn Ju-hyeok too?"

"Yeah. Ju-hyeok will sprint over barefoot if it means seeing his nephew… and Laura, well, she's…"

Evangelline let out a small puff of laughter through her nose.

"Anyway, those four are pretty much locked in. The others, I'm less sure. Li Weiwei—I'd love to have him, but unfortunately he's still recovering. Richyard and Anastasia are off in the polar regions clearing a Gate while basically dating each other, Evans is already on a security detail… and our esteemed Madam Fujiwara said she's got urgent business back in her home country and won't be free for a few months…"

"Four will be enough. More than enough, honestly."

Lee Myung-jun on assault, Laura on defense, Evangelline on magic, Ahn Ju-hyeok on healing.

If those four—well-balanced as they were—joined in, it would clearly add up to an unexpectedly massive boost in firepower.

For some reason, Evangelline watched his pleased reaction with a sour look before nodding as if to say she got it.

"All right, I'll head out, then. I've pulled all-nighters lately and I'm dead tired… I'll be out cold for two or three days straight, so don't try to contact me. What you asked for won't take long, so don't worry."

"Right. Thanks for the work."

"……."

For some reason, his answer made her lips twitch, as though she still wasn't satisfied with it.

"…Oh, right."

Then Evangelline Loengreen nodded as if she'd remembered something.

"Ivan—you said you're friends with that kid, right?"

"Ivan? If you mean Ivan Hunt, yes."

She smiled slightly.

"Tell him I'll do the tutoring session I promised four days from now, so he should keep his schedule clear."

"Ah, sure. I'll let him know."

"……."

"Then I'll be on my way, Evangelline. Thank you, sincerely, for all the work."

With that, Yu Ji-hyeok picked up the bag of rings and walked out without a backward glance.

Evangelline sat there for a moment, then gave a small sniff.

"……."

A long while passed before she murmured quietly,

"…Was I a little too mean with that?"

His reaction hadn't been what she'd expected, and her voice trembled faintly as she muttered.

She wasn't normally one to talk to herself, but for some reason, right now, she couldn't seem to stop.

"This is embarrassing—ahem."

She glanced sidelong at the ring on her right hand.

After staring at it for a while, she looked at her other hand.

"……."

For some reason, her eyes shook slightly as she looked at her left hand, and she swallowed hard.

She moved to take the ring off, but then she caught sight of herself in the mirror.

In the reflection, a version of her ten years younger than her real age stood there in an Academy uniform, carefully clenching the hand with the ring on it.

Looking at that image, Evangelline Loengreen felt as if something had cracked her hard across the back of the head.

"Oh, hell…"

The shame, the mortification, the secondhand embarrassment for her past self crashed over her at once, and she dropped her face into her hands.

"I had no business making fun of Laura…"

By now, preparations were almost completely finished.

That was the conclusion I reached as I walked back to drop the bag off in my dorm.

I'd secured Alice's help, and preparations regarding the sacrifices were as wrapped up as I could get them on my end.

The artifacts I'd commissioned from Evangelline were done, and I'd locked in support from the Ten Powerhouses on top of that.

I'd already given Lydia and Lee Ye-eun their pieces in advance, so the groundwork for snaring Choi Jun-hyeong, Landschi, and the rest was basically in place too.

All that remained was to lock down the festival-day schedules and movements through Shin Woo-seok and Yoon Seul-hye and use those to flesh out the finer details of the plan.

Everything was moving along smoothly.

And yet I couldn't shake a vague unease.

After turning the question over for a while, I landed on the reason.

The plan was going too smoothly.

Against Margo, we'd been blindsided by a perfectly executed ambush.

With Sbeungali, we'd seen it coming to some degree, but in the end we were the ones who fell into the trap.

When we faced Minerva, even with preparation on our side, every single person had gone in resolved to die, so the same kind of dread hadn't stood out.

But this current setup—us holding the advantage, everything proceeding to plan—was a first, and I figured the unfamiliarity of it was the source of the strange feeling.

Once I framed it that way, a bitter taste settled into my mood.

'…Right.'

Now that I thought of it, Sbeungali had been wary of Milited, and before Minerva fell, she'd warned me that Milited might actually prove more troublesome than she was.

Maybe it was worth pulling detailed information about Milited out of the two of them, just in case.

That was what I was thinking when I opened the dorm door.

"~~~~~~!!!"

"Whoa—Rauné?"

Rauné came pattering across the floor as if it had been waiting for me and slammed into my chest.

I caught it on reflex, and that was when I felt the unsteady tremor in its energy.

"There, there, don't cry… it's okay."

I shut the door first, stepped inside, then drew out a branch of the World Tree and put it in Rauné's grasp.

The thing latched on and started slurping up my mana with terrifying force, like someone binge-drinking to blow off stress.

"So."

Only after I'd seen Rauné calm down somewhat did I turn my head and level a glare at the uninvited guest standing there.

"What brings you here in person? Aren't you supposed to use Belluna as your delivery service?"

"Mm."

Standing in the middle of the room, the Smith of Yado scratched his chin at my question.

"There are a few things I needed to say. That's why I came directly."

"Things to say?"

"Yes."

He nodded and held up his fingers.

"Four, to be exact. Originally three, but the trip over made it four."

"What are they?"

The question came out sharper than I'd intended.

"First. I wounded that compatriot of yours against my own intentions. I apologize. I didn't anticipate it either. It was a genuinely unfortunate accident."

"…Did you apologize to Rauné, not just me?"

He nodded.

I glanced over, and Rauné nodded too.

"Then that's fine. What's the next thing?"

"Second, your and Minerva's weapons are complete."

He pointed to a row of arms and armor laid out in one corner of the room.

"…All of it made to your specifications. Inspect them later."

"That was fast."

"This is the one thing I have full confidence in."

He gave a small nod and folded down a third finger.

"Third. To settle the accounts between us cleanly."

I shot back warily, "I paid you over the asking price, as I recall. Don't tell me you're saying it wasn't enough."

"No. As you said, you paid me more than what was owed. The matter at hand is the change."

He spoke evenly, his expression somber.

"Twice. Exactly twice, I'll lend you my strength."

"Asking me to give you my life or anything of that order is off the table. So is making me your slave or trying to expand the number of wishes. Within those limits, I'll help with whatever I'm best at."

His expression remained dim, but his eyes burned with a quiet fire as he met mine.

"I don't lie, and I don't deceive."

"Twice, to the letter, you make a request—and I'll help with everything I have. With that, the deal between us closes perfectly, with neither side at a loss."

"…Good. Smith of Yado. With a high-rank fire spirit like you helping, it'll be a serious advantage."

Say what you wanted, he stood on roughly the same level as Belluna.

Going by what he'd just said, asking him for direct combat support would be out of the question, but even so, the value he'd bring didn't change.

"So what's the fourth?"

"The fourth is entirely your choice."

The Smith of Yado drew in one long, slow breath and let it out.

"My intuition is exceptional. Sometimes close to prescient."

"……."

Coming from Belluna, the same line would've sounded like a child's bragging, but coming from him, somehow, it carried weight I could believe.

"And so, sometimes, an item meant for a specific person comes to mind—an item they'll need at some unknown point in the future."

I felt like I'd actually heard a story along those lines before.

The knightly order that had eventually become the Association, formed by heroes several hundred years back—the head of that order, as a child, had received a famed blade from the Smith of Yado, and only on the verge of death had he paid the price in full. I'd seen something like that in the original work.

"And I've seen such a foreshadowing concerning you. …Of course, whether to accept my offer and commission the piece is entirely up to you."

The proposal blindsided me, and the question came out almost reflexively.

"And, naturally, it won't be free?"

"Correct. I'd count it as one of the two favors."

That gave me something to think about.

If anyone else had said it, I'd have brushed them off as fishing for a hustle—but for some reason, his words weren't easy to dismiss.

"Mind if I take a little time and answer later?"

"It doesn't matter. But keep in mind, I don't know when the foreshadowing will come true either. To put it at the extremes… you might need it tomorrow, or you might not need it for decades."

He muttered in his quiet voice,

"…And I can't claim my foreshadowing is perfectly accurate either. Anyway, think it over properly before you answer."

His words only deepened the dilemma.

While I was wrestling with it, I thought of the one person who'd know him best.

"I'm going to ask Belluna about this."

"Do as you like."

As I was preparing to call her, I asked, half on impulse,

"By the way—if I did say yes, what was it you'd planned to make?"

He answered without missing a beat.

"A coffin."

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