Regressor, Possessor, Reincarnator

While the students noisily congregated, the professors all gathered together.

As professors qualified enough to teach the students of Galshdin Academy, they weren’t about to lose their cool.

"…Why do you think this happened?"

"The artifacts were all checked before departure."

“The preliminary exploration was also confirmed in the report submitted by the survey team, right?”

They, too, seemed surprised that this incident had happened.

There were many secrets in the ruins that had yet to be discovered, but the Academy had been actively exploring and documenting the ruins populating the Great Desert for hundreds of years already. It was for that reason that the professors didn’t understand why such a commotion had occurred in the middle of their practice-raid.

By every logical metric, things should have gone smoothly.

"Well, it's a megaruins, not a typical ruins site, so I suppose it was more likely that something unexpected might happen."

"That's true, but…”

They changed the subject, knowing they couldn’t only debate over irresolvable semantics.

"What about the students who passed out?"

"I checked in on them a little bit ago, and they’d woken up. They’re fine, some fogginess in their memory from right before they lost consciousness.”

“Did you check their field notes?”

"I checked those first, but…”

In response to the others' questions, the professor who had obtained their recording device stood up with a sigh.

"We couldn’t find anything of use even though several professors, including myself, have personally investigated the scene."

"What? What do you mean…?”

He activated the artifact, perhaps thinking a demonstration was more useful than an explanation.

A rectangular screen floated in the air, displaying the scene from the time in question.

"As you can see here, the students were trying to retrieve relics from the relatively safe first floor."

"…Hmm, the first floor, huh?"

The students on the screen were proceeding step by step, just as they had practiced at the Academy’s simulated ruins.

"But… watch."

As soon as he spoke, the screen suddenly went black, and only the sound of their collapsing bodies could be heard.

No screams, no scuffles, nor signs of threat.

Without any warning at all, the students had just collapsed.

Milton, the professor of spearmanship, frowned at the bizarre sight. "I don't think it could’ve been poison… Couldn't it be a trap utilizing some form of hypnosis?"

"But the students didn’t show any signs of resistance. Didn’t the advance team’s examinations prove that humans display at least some resistance to the mental traps present in these ruins?”

"That's true, but as we saw in that video, there must’ve been an overwhelming difference in skill between the opponent and our students. Perhaps enough so that they really had no opportunity at all to resist…”

He burst into laughter when he said that. "Wouldn’t the survey team have encountered such an entity?”

If there were such a force present, why would it let the students run amuck in the ruins for over a week before making its first move? It had stayed quiet when the survey team had entered the deepest part of the ruins, and it had stayed quiet when the advance team had scouted around the site. Yet it allowed the students to run around for a week, then now suddenly couldn’t let them be?

"Ridiculous. It would be more reasonable to assume that the students encountered a new kind of trap."

“Um… Well, the chairman oversees this event directly, so there shouldn’t have really been a chance for such an oversight to have occurred.”

“Perhaps the trap dealt more with soul capture, rather than mind alteration. But how could the trap quietly knock them out if it was targeting their souls? Ah, that would be crazy.”

The professors talked, their faces remaining largely impassive.

This kind of accident was the kind of thing they encountered several times a year. A terrorist attack would occur, or an ancient monster would appear out of the ruins, or an artifact that usually worked without a hitch would suddenly stop working—such unexpected situations were now just a part of their daily lives.

Therefore, rather than speaking with noticeable agitation, they picked apart the details.

“It was a sudden turn of events, but… not a single person handled it properly. This is something we should consider as grounds for deduction.”

"If anyone had responded well, I'd consider it just a mistake. But, tsk. Students these days are too soft. It wasn't like that back in my day.”

"Yes, yes. And it’s not like this is unreasonable? What were they gonna do if this was a real situation, huh? Shouldn't they have at least tried to buy time to fire a signal for those around them?” 

Following the lead of the first professor, the other professors also bashed the students for their general laxness, becoming less vigilant and more lazy, enamored by their so-called ‘natural talent.’

Jaqnelle sympathized with their passion, but not with their ideas.

‘No kid is good at dealing with such dangerous things at this age.’

On one hand, he thought that students at Galshdin Academy, having beaten out thousands of other students for their spots, should be able to overcome this level of hardship.

But he also knew that wasn’t reasonable. The purpose of the Academy was to raise the next generation of warriors, mainly in the hope of being able to fight against any calamity that would arise, like the return of the Demon King. Even if such a calamity were impossible to overcome, there had to be at least a little resistance set in place.

Even if that resistance were actually useless.

"That's not the point, anyway. Word has already gotten around, and the students are getting anxious."

"Nonsense, didn't they all know the risk in coming here? It’s not supposed to be a picnic, they should have come prepared to face an accident, no?” 

"Well… There have already been a few who’ve attempted to give up on the practice-raid…"

The professors shouted out, as if they never could’ve imagined this outcome.

"What on earth…?”

"And there are some threatening to lodge a complaint because of the problems with the escape artifact. There are quite a few students backing up that threat as well."

"No way…"

“Do they think this is a joke? They’re acting like this is a casual outing!”

"Times sure have changed…”

"Ah, tsk. Thirty years ago, any person who gave up was treated like an absolute moron…”

The professors sighed. However, they couldn't stop the dungeon practice-raid here, just because the difficulty of the ruins they'd chosen this year happened to be a little too high. 

"I can already hear all the shit I’m going to get when we get back.”

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, though…”

“We can’t pull out now! How is that fair to the competent students? Or even, just when considering the prestige of the Academy?”

In actual battle, one couldn’t just quit because they wanted to, and they couldn’t just escape because they felt like it.

This was a prime example of what real battle should feel like.

* * *

* * *

"In any case, the significance of the practice we execute should be reiterated. However, if we go ahead like this, many students might be too scared and give up…”

How could they motivate students and encourage them not to give up until the end of the practice-raid?

Their expressions darkened. They had yet to experience any situation like this in their careers as professors, and had never thought they would.

Seeing this, Jaqnelle broke his quiet watch of the meeting and shared his thoughts.

"I will go into the ruins."

"No, Master Jaqnelle, what are you talking about…?”

The first among them to speak was Professor Klaich, and Jaqnelle replied with a nonchalant expression.

"Let the students know that I will go into the ruins and watch over them myself."

"Ah!"

They understood what Jaqnelle was saying.

"To show that there is no reason for them to be anxious. Or to put it bluntly, to show that their fears are no different from superstition. They might be less scared if they feel they have someone to lean on…”

"You're going to enter the ruins…”

"Even though nothing has been resolved."

A member of the Top Eight was saying he would go directly into the ruins and protect the safety of his students. Who wouldn’t believe him?

"In fact, if the same incident were to happen again, they would know that I could protect them. It’s not fallacious in the slightest.” 

The professors nodded. However, it was more like they looked at him and had no choice but to agree.

There were only six more days to enter and exit the ruins— No, after today, only five. During those five days, Jaqnelle needed to be at the ruins day and night. But how could he be expected to pull that off?

That was an issue that the professors needed to solve. 

If the resident member of the Top Eight—someone who had only come along as a backup measure—was in charge of such a crucial task…

But since they had done nothing wrong, one professor gathered the courage to carefully say, "Well, we are very grateful to you, Master Jaqnelle. Thank you for your passion, acting directly for the sake of our students…”

"Hmm? What do you mean?: Jaqnelle said with a mellow smile on his face. "Haha, you don’t expect me to do all this for the students by myself, do you?"

"You mean…"

"Let's all go together. All of us."

The professors’ faces paled at his words.

Malvern, the eldest professor of water elementals, spoke with tears in his eyes. "Ha, but I’ll be over sixty this year, and I must return to see my grandson…”

"Then do you mean that I should go into that dark, dangerous ruins site alone?"

When he responded with a stern face, Malvern hurriedly corrected himself.  "Oh, no. I meant that I would be sad if you left me behind since I am an old man. Ha, ha…”

He spoke those words outwardly, as he cursed to himself inwardly.

Where in the world would one of the Top Eight find any force that could endanger them?

"Hahaha, I was mistaken. It’s because I’m still so young and have little social experience. Thank you for your patience!”

"N-naturally. I will demonstrate that these old men still have a horse in this race."

"And I'm sure all the other professors will join for the sake of their students, too, right?"

When Jaqnelle asked with a smile, everyone nodded. Though they all wanted to say no, they knew they couldn’t, and they mourned that fact.

"Let’s go. We have to go. For the students."

"Ah, I’m so nervous… I haven’t gone into the ruins myself in such a long time.”

"Hahaha… I’m kind of excited to work alongside kids at this age again.”

They answered in earnest, hoping to satisfy Jaqnelle with their responses.

"I’m glad to see that everyone agrees. Oh, by the way, don’t you have something else to discuss, too? Looks like everyone here’s stuck at Rank 6 or 7…”

The professors' eyes gleamed at Jaqnelle's words. The gazes of the old middle-aged men weren’t pleased, but Jaqnelle endured.

Leaving things like this would only hurt their feelings. He had to dangle a carrot in front of them. 

"Why don't you talk about your ranks in the hierarchy so you don’t get bored in the dark?"

"Well, what a grand idea!"

"Oh, I love dark places!"

"Hmm… I’ve been really enjoying dark and lonely places nowadays… Maybe because I’m old.” 

Jaqnelle burst into laughter as he took them in as they talked like children.

"Let’s do our best."

Their meeting had ended in success.

* * *

"William, did you hear?”

"…Everyone was talking about it.”

"Who doesn't know at this point?"

"Then what should we do…?” Ariel asked as she looked around with a worried face.

The campsite was abuzz with talk about what had happened that morning.

"What can we even do? We can't give up here."

"Still… the escape artifacts don’t work…”

"I believe in Jaqnelle. He may be the youngest, but he’s still a member of the Top Eight. And didn't the professors also just say that it was the result of a new trap?”

"That is true…”

“There are also professors who will be stationed all over the ruins just in case, so what's there to worry about?"

Ariel still looked at the sky with a flat expression, unable to come to a decision.

She was racking her brain, trying to weigh the new obstacles and the risks of their endeavor with the potential rewards.

Looking over his group, Allen thought over what might be lurking in the ruins.

‘Could it be the Demon King? A band of dark sorcerers? Or just remnants of ancient magic?’ 

The sunset had already darkened to the point that the orange, previously sprawled across the sky, had all but disappeared; only the twinkling stars shone through the black night, silently and faintly illuminating them. 

As everyone found themselves lost in thought within the calmness of the atmosphere, William summoned up his courage and spoke.

"E-everyone, why don’t we try to calm down and just take a moment to look at the stars. One of my friends is from around here, and they told me that there's a meteor shower every few decades in this area…”

“…”

"Well, no matter how many stars there really are in the sky, my friend always said it just looked like an ocean full of stars… Well, I actually looked into it on my own, and I found out that a comet passes by every 82 years, and this is the exact region where the meteor shower should appear… It’s coming… It's about time…”

William's voice grew smaller and smaller, perhaps nearing his limit, before he went completely silent.

“……”

The atmosphere was tense with static.

Just as Allen had finished contemplating whether he should speak to break the awkward silence, he heard a laugh.

"Pfft… what was that, William? Are you trying to lift the mood? Because of me?”

"Well, I mean, I just don't want you guys to worry too much…”

"Is that really it? William, do you have a crush on me or something? I don’t think even Evan could pull off such a ballsy move…”

"Hahaha, w-wait a minute. When did I ever do that?"

William was once again embarrassed, as Ariel teased. Evan coughed in reply.

"Phew, but you did make me feel a little better. Thank you. And about the ruins…” Ariel thought hard and burst into laughter again. "I never take risks… Let’s do it. We should at least try so that we don’t regret it later, right?"

"Hmm, you're right. Though I'd like to have a personal conversation with Master Jaqnelle…”

“We can try if we see him. But I don't know if we’ll even be able to find him.”

As the three of them carried their lively conversation, Vestla suddenly asked, ⟬Allen, do they know you've been having a hard time during this training?⟭

'What?' Allen's eyes snapped to his three peers.

Those kids were enjoying their youth, with age-appropriate worries and dreams. 

⟬I mean, does it mean anything to them that you've tried to match their energy as much as you could for the last few weeks to get them information?⟭

'Well, I don't know.'

⟬Then why are you trying so hard? You said that all you wanted was to live so that you could fulfill your goals. This isn’t like you, you know.⟭

Allen was a little troubled by Vestla's question.

‘That's…’

⟬Did you get attached to them?⟭

Allen hesitated for a moment then answered, poking a branch into the blazing bonfire.

'No, that's not it. It's just… I just got a little carried away with keeping up with them.’

Ariel checked the time and got up from her seat.

Unlike when she had first sat down, her face was devoid of any worry.

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