Arita remembers.
The day her master’s face was clouded with despair upon receiving an unexpected letter.
[Please take care of the children, Arita. I have urgent business to attend to.]
Arita remembers.
The day her master returned in tatters after venturing into the lair of the ancient dragon with her comrades.
[She wouldn’t have died. No, she wouldn’t have left like this… If I search the continent, surely, one day…]
Arita remembers.
The day she first heard the unintelligible murmurs from her master.
The days they began to dominate every shadowy corner of the continent.
The days they mercilessly crushed organizations operating in the shadows of the empire, searching for clues.
[I… I don’t know, Arita. What am I supposed to do…]
Arita remembers.
Even after subjugating all the shadows of the continent, her master’s hollow gaze did not fade.
Even when she offered her everything, including her own body, to comfort her master, his bitter eyes eventually turned toward a faded will.
[…Arita. Can you find out what happened in Primus?]
Arita remembers.
The fleeting moment when hope colored her master’s empty gaze.
The rare tremor in his otherwise composed voice.
[Wait! Evan!!]
-Swish!
Arita remembers.
The moment a dagger coated with a potent sleeping poison narrowly missed its mark.
The form of a small girl who saw through Arita’s ambush—a strike no one else had ever noticed.
Arita…
“Karian, what in the world are you plotting…”
-Scritch.
***
[Memory Restraint]
She does not remember.
The threads of mana burrowing into the deepest shadows, impervious to any external intrusion.
The moment when an overwhelming pressure subdued her, and her memories were erased by the girl.
“You did not infiltrate Primus today. The newly reinforced magical barriers prevented you.”
Arita does not remember.
The moment a youthful finger sent a purple orb into her mind.
The moment she turned her back, as instructed by the girl, and returned to the distant orphanage.
-Tap.
-Tap.
“…Huh?”
“Ah! Sis woke up~!”
“Arita, sleeping in? That’s rare.”
Arita remembers.
Finding herself in the orphanage bed, having fallen asleep at some point.
The playful fingers of mischievous children poking at her cheek.
“You’re awake, Arita.”
“…Director?”
Arita remembers.
The bewilderment of failing, for the first time, to fulfill her master’s command.
Yet, rather than disappointment, her master’s face showed traces of relief and gratitude.
-Scritch.
“It seems your memories have been severed. No, someone deliberately severed them from my view.”
“What do you mean…?”
“It means I made the wrong choice. I should have gone myself, not sent you.”
Arita remembers.
The gentle voice that reassured her as she hung her head in shame.
The calm voice that thanked her for not disappointing him yet again.
“Thanks to you, one thing is now certain.”
There’s something hidden in the academy I’m not supposed to know about.
With eyes filled with a chaotic mix of emotions, Karian stood up from his chair.
He then informed Arita and the children nearby that today’s breakfast would be soup.
“Let’s eat first. You can’t think clearly on an empty stomach.”
“Take at least one bite. You need to eat something to regain your strength.”
“…Yes…”
Despite my continued encouragement, Princess Irina absentmindedly took the spoon I offered her.
Even so, she just poked at her food, indicating that the shock from last night was still overwhelming.
‘It’s my fault again, after all…’
Last night, I erased Arita’s memories.
And I also had to erase the memories of Princess Irina and Evan.
They wouldn’t understand why I let Arita go.
Strictly speaking, secretly infiltrating Primus is a grave crime on its own.
And allowing someone who tried to harm students to escape—especially as a professor at Primus—was unforgivable.
But from my perspective, I couldn’t let Karian’s cherished subordinate be interrogated.
I didn’t have much of a connection with Arita, but if something happened to her, Karian would undoubtedly turn all of Primus upside down.
‘It’s better to avoid unnecessary chaos.’
So, instead of capturing Arita, I erased her memory and sent her back.
It was easier to act as if no intruder had been there in the first place than to reveal the truth.
Of course, for Evan and Princess Irina, this situation must be even more baffling.
They were patrolling the campus with me when, all of a sudden, they fainted and couldn’t recall anything.
Experiencing such a bewildering event from start to finish would make staying calm almost impossible.
“My deepest apologies…”
“People faint sometimes in life. Since there’s nothing wrong with your health, just relax and fill your empty stomach first.”
It seemed Princess Irina and Evan felt embarrassed about fainting in front of me.
They were apologizing, saying they had only caused trouble when they should have been protecting me in case of an emergency.
‘But isn’t it the professor’s job to protect the students, not the other way around?’
I still couldn’t understand why Princess Irina and Evan had tried to protect me.
It wasn’t as if I needed their protection.
‘What were they thinking?’
Of course, I appreciated the sentiment.
However, having knocked out the princess and erased her memory, I couldn’t meet Princess Irina’s gaze directly.
No matter how I thought about it, everything I did was far beyond a mere act of irreverence.
Even though Princess Irina wouldn’t remember anything, I still felt uneasy.
‘Is this what they mean by a guilty conscience?’
“Anyway, really, nothing happened. So, don’t worry about it too much.”
Lightly patting Princess Irina’s shoulder, I stood up from my chair and headed toward the hallway.
Or at least, I tried to.
“Professor, um… I got a letter from my sister.”
-Stop.
Her noticeably cautious voice.
The way she glanced at me as if checking my reaction.
But more than anything, the word “sister” froze me in my tracks.
To Princess Irina, there was only one person she would call her sister, and I knew who that was.
“It seems my sister plans to attend the upcoming Summit of Growth.”
“W-Why…?”
“I don’t know the details either, but the letter mentioned that the Divine Beast had delivered the message.”
I felt my eyebrows twitch as I turned back to Princess Irina and asked if I could see the letter from her sister—Lillian—just for a moment.
And exactly one minute later, I found myself speechless as I read Lillian’s handwritten letter, which contained everything Princess Irina had described.
‘Are they running some sort of relay or something?’
After all the effort I put into sending away the people Karian sent, now Lillian herself was coming.
‘I hadn’t given my students any hints, so where had things gone wrong?’
As I reflected on my recent actions, Princess Irina’s voice interrupted my thoughts once again, pulling my gaze upward.
This time, however, she wasn’t making a simple report but rather a personal request.
“Please help me, Professor. I don’t want to disappoint my sister…”
Her determined eyes carried a hint of resolve.
The atmosphere around her was intensely serious.
“W-What exactly… are you asking me to help with?”
“Training. For the Summit of Growth.”
“…Hmm…”
From Princess Irina’s perspective, the Summit of Growth was an opportunity to meet Lillian.
It was also a chance to show her skills and earn Lillian’s acknowledgment.
Thinking about it that way, it wasn’t strange for Princess Irina to ask for my help.
After all, she was my assistant, and among the professors at Primus, there wasn’t anyone stronger than an ancient dragon.
To her, I must have seemed like the most reliable person, given that I was trained by that dragon.
Of course, she didn’t know I was only borrowing Orphion’s name.
Still, from my position, her request felt not only burdensome but downright unnerving.
‘If I trained Princess Irina, I feared she might turn out like my other students.’
Even so, I couldn’t bring myself to refuse her request, knowing the vast social gap between us.
When someone with the blood of the Divine Beast asks for training, you train them.
When they ask to be taught, you teach them.
That’s my current reality.
“Come to my office in the afternoon. It’s better to discuss this when we have more time.”
“…! Yes!”
Princess Irina’s face lit up by the second with anticipation, while my face could only betray my growing concern and dread.
‘If the emperor were to appear before me in the future and demand accountability for ruining not one but two of his daughters, I wouldn’t have any excuses.’
I’d have no choice but to beg for mercy.
“Hmm…”
Ainel, who was skimming through some recently received documents, let out a short sigh.
Then she shifted her gaze toward the new professor standing in front of her.
“When did mana architecture become such a terrifying subject?”
She was questioning the difficulty level of the assignment the new professor had prepared for the Summit of Growth.
And for good reason—the documents Ainel held were filled with extremely brutal and complex assignments.
“Even if it’s meant for advanced students, don’t you think this is a bit much?”
“Well, it’s all been taught already. They’ll be fine.”
“I don’t think the students will agree with you…”
Worried about the backlash from students, Ainel instructed the professor to adjust the difficulty level.
Yet the professor remained firm, instead attempting to persuade Ainel by emphasizing the purpose of the Summit of Growth.
Since the event was designed to simulate real battlefield experiences, the assignments needed to be challenging.
“It’s better for them to face this kind of challenge now, Dean. There were kids much younger than these advanced students who managed tasks like this.”
“…Professor, just what kind of world have you lived in…”
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