Episode 976

Today, Direte felt the greatest sense of absurdity he’d experienced so far.

Was that even something to say out loud??

“Well, uh, who knows? Why could that be?”

“Hmm.”

Yukveltire fell into thought.

The two had a lot in common, after all.

Both of them were fifth-years, and both were in the same order as the Wardanaz family junior.

‘I don’t get it. Why?’

With this many similarities, there was no reason the junior shouldn’t listen to both equally.

“…Think about it a little more.”

“The difference must be between Blue Dragon Tower and Black Turtle Tower.”

“That can’t really be important… no, go on.”

“Maybe it’s because I’m royalty? Was his family on the noble faction…?”

“……”

“Direte? Direte?”

By the time Yukveltire looked up from his pondering, his crow beast-folk friend was already walking off in the distance.

Yukveltire lamented her friend’s discourteous attitude.

It was only because she was a generous person. If it had been another mage, surely they would have been angry at Direte.

‘That sort of rudeness won’t do Direte any good, either…’

• * *

Fourth-year Brass Golem watched the professor, worried, along with the other Divination Magic School students.

As per the order’s character, Professor Paselete frequently suffered from fits of madness.

Divination magic worked like a deadly poison on a mage’s mind; the more it was used, the easier it was to descend into insanity. There was a reason the professor’s personality had fractured into so many parts.

But today, that was especially pronounced.

“I-I-It’s coming! It’s really cooooming!”

“Did the professor always have this persona?”

“Who knows…”

“By the way, senior, are you going to stay as a golem all day?”

“Hm? Yeah.”

“Doesn’t it get uncomfortable?”

The other juniors knew well why their senior remained in a golem form.

It was to endure and avoid dangerous misfortune.

The enemies of Divination Mages weren’t limited to madness that sought them out.

The future twisted by observation, the streaks of misfortune those dragged along, even the bureaucrats who occasionally came by whining for next year’s imperial yields—all were enemies of diviners.

The golem senior, as talented as she was, actively challenged divination magic and paid the price in misfortune.

Transforming into a golem to avoid it wasn’t strange.

…Though she’d stayed like that for a bit too long.

“It’s stifling, obviously. That’s why I switched from bronze to brass.”

“…Ah, I see.”

Even within the Divination Magic School, madness came in ranks.

The other juniors shifted the topic rather than interrogating the golem senior.

“But senior, why is the professor like that? Is it a new persona?”

“No… it looks like she’s just seen an extremely ominous future.”

“THE END IS NIIIIIIIGH!!”

Professor Paselete buried herself deep in her armchair, screaming.

No matter how you looked at it, it seemed less like a new personality and more like temporary mania after witnessing a disastrous future.

“Could she have seen the downfall of the Empire?”

“The professor wouldn’t glimpse such a future lightly.”

Even a mage like Professor Paselete required massive preparations, efforts, and funding to peer far into the future.

No way she’d sprung for such a vision now. At worst, she’d have seen something for the next day or two.

“Did something truly catastrophic happen in the next day or two?”

“I don’t know. But the future’s always unpredictable…”

Even the golem senior had no guesses.

What could be so shocking as to rattle the professor within a day or two?

“Is the Empire cutting our funding?”

“If anything gets cut, the Dark Magic School goes first, not us.”

“Maybe it’s something about her own status? Like her post at Einrogard being extended…”

“There aren’t many diviners to replace her. She would’ve known that already—not a reason to be shocked now.”

The students made their speculations, but none of them stood out.

Meanwhile, Brass Golem senior clapped her hands.

“Everyone, get ready for class. Looks like I’ll be taking over today.”

“With professor out, can’t we just rest?”

“No. I peeked into the future and saw all the juniors fail if we don’t have class today.”

At the senior’s strict reply, the students grumbled and took their seats.

Creeaak—

“Sorry I’m late.”

“No, you’re just in time. Sit down, junior.”

The brass golem beckoned gently to the junior who hurried in through the door.

“Professor’s sick today, so I’m running class.”

“Oh no. Are you okay?”

“She’ll recover soon. Saw some weird future, keeps saying the world’s ending… THE END IS NIGH!!!”

The golem senior shrieked again upon seeing who followed Lee Han inside.

The human-form skeleton headmaster had entered the room!

“Wow, senior, you do a good impression.”

“Did she really cry out like that?”

“Yeah, pretty much exactly like that.”

As the juniors chatted without recognizing the situation, the brass golem student screamed again.

“THE END IS NIGH!!”

“Senior, you don’t have to go that far…”

“Why twice, though…?”

“Look, LOOK behind you!”

“?”

The divination students turned their heads.

Most of them couldn’t understand even after spotting Mad Clone. After all, seeing the skeleton headmaster’s human form was rare.

Those who had seen that form before screamed just the same.

“THE END IS NI-I-I-IGH!!”

“???”

“W-what kind of spell is this? Why is everyone freaking out?”

“…Sorry.”

Lee Han apologized in their stead.

It wasn’t exactly his fault Mad Clone kept following him, but someone had to apologize.

Doing his best (putting in a certain amount of spin), he explained and the seniors nodded.

It wasn’t the actual skeleton headmaster, but a clone interested in Einrogard’s magical education who had dropped in for a visit…

‘Now I understand why the professor’s like that!’

Frankly, even the students felt like pretending to go mad, screaming that the end was nigh.

Skeleton headmaster or headmaster’s clone—what’s the difference? Having a grand mage in class was intimidating all the same.

“What are you doing? Begin.”

“…Ah, right.”

The brass golem senior felt just as pressured.

Turning stiffly to walk over to the board, she tripped and fell.

Thud!

“Was that misfortune?!”

“N-no, I just tripped from nerves.”

“……”

Lee Han deeply regretted it.

‘I’m sorry!’

“Anyway, junior. How did the last prophecy turn out? Did it help you avoid misfortune?”

The golem senior recalled what had happened last time upon seeing the junior.

Before, the junior had gotten a strong prophecy to try to change his future.

‘It was ‘Don’t interact with royalty,’ right?’

Recalling that, the golem senior arrived at another thought.

Come to think of it, wasn’t the prophecy given after escaping Mad Clone, to help him avoid further trouble?

If he’s here with him again, the prophecy can’t have worked very well…

“…I don’t think I followed it very well.”

“Yeah, looks that way.”

A flash of memory passed across the junior’s face, revealing there’d been plenty of events.

Other juniors had their share of troubles, but the feeling this junior gave off was on a different level entirely.

What on earth had happened…

“Let’s begin class… The last time, I talked about celestial magic.”

Celestial, or astral, magic borrowed and used the power of the stars.

Divination mages were inevitably drawn to celestial magic. If you had to borrow the power of spirits or demons for prediction, you’d run out of bodies or souls in no time.

“Stars move according to the laws of the heavens. Because of this, skilled mages can borrow their movements’ power to glimpse the future. This kind of observation lightens the burden on the mage and wards off madness. If you get greedy, you can even make contracts with the stars themselves, but there’s no need to go that far today. Surely, there’s no one here who wants to sign a contract with a star right now?”

The students burst out laughing at the senior’s joke.

But two people did not—Lee Han and Mad Clone.

Lee Han sat with a grim look, as if he’d bitten into something foul. Mad Clone, similarly displeased, murmured to Lee Han,

“Cowards, all of them. Satisfied just watching movement.”

“…Ah. So, Master, why don’t you give them a sharp lesson? Make them sign star contracts, too.”

“No need to trouble those who aren’t my disciple.”

‘Tsk.’

Lee Han clicked his tongue inside.

Apparently, he wasn’t going to force the seniors to make any star contracts.

“In today’s class, you’ll train to read the stars’ motions and divine the future. Don’t overstrain yourself if you can’t see anything.”

Divination magic couldn’t be forced.

Especially with celestial magic, aptitude was critical.

Some mages found inspiration for the future just by watching the motion of a blue star, while others could study the same star for years and see nothing.

Finding the star that resonated with your soul was most important. Omens, fortunes, and patterns were secondary.

“So… how was it…?”

The brass golem senior, finishing her explanation, stood before Mad Clone with proper composure.

Headmaster or not, a headmaster’s clone was still a “headmaster.”

No wonder she felt self-conscious.

“Not bad.”

“Th-thank you!”

The brass golem senior nearly jumped for joy.

“But that’s not to say it’s flawless. That attitude’s far too complacent when teaching the next generation.”

“…I apologize.”

The senior became dejected again.

“But, given the level of the mages involved, such complacency is somewhat excusable. Not everyone can learn under royalty.”

“Th-thank you?”

“Still, no improvement at all means there’s something to reflect on as a mage.”

“…I’m sorry, but, grand mage, I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to do.”

“I’ll explain simply.”

Mad Clone replied readily.

“You can teach other mages lazily and inattentively, but not this disciple here. Like the birth of a new star, instruct them with burning passion.”

“U-understood!”

With generosity and dignity, Mad Clone laid out the goal.

Since this disciple had already contracted with the guest star Arna, he was bound to show rare talent even in reading wandering stars.

In that case, memorizing the movement of an easy comet or nova now wasn’t a bad idea.

The more kinds of divination magic a mage knew, the better prepared they were for misfortune and for planning ahead.

Of course, that was all from Mad Clone’s perspective—Lee Han just wanted to find the moon, the blue star, or the red star with the other seniors.

“……”

Having been smacked for no reason, Lee Han fell silent.

Then, when Mad Clone wasn’t looking, he quietly whispered to the golem senior.

“Is there any magic for predicting in advance what my master will say?”