The Genius Tamer of the Academy

Chapter 104

Adela’s story—could it be connected to me? Should I even be hearing this? What if my clumsy attempt at comfort only brings trouble? What if I end up deceiving and angering her?

Even so, I wanted to know. No, I had to know.

“When I was young, before I knew how to use magic.”

“Yes.”

“The village where I grew up was buried.”

This was news to me. My eyes widened in shock. I’d never heard anything about Adela’s past in any Academy records.

Adela continued, her voice almost a whisper.

“The whole village. Completely. Nothing was left.”

Her voice was overly calm, as if she were recalling a long-past event with peace. But instinctively, I turned my head to look at her.

Adela’s face was far from calm.

Her eyes, locked onto mine, were visibly trembling.

“They said a dark mage was hiding in our village.”

“….”

“No, they said the entire village was cursed.”

This was too heavy a tale for me to handle.

“But that wasn’t true. They must have known it wasn’t true.”

“No one listened. They just needed someone to turn into an enemy.”

“We didn’t have the power to deny it.”

Adela loathes dark magic, for the innocent people who died after being branded as dark mages. But what Adela despises the most isn’t the ones who cursed her village.

It’s those who conducted the witch hunt.

A face flashed in my mind, and I shut my eyes tight. Finally, the pieces were falling into place.

Why had there never been any mention of Adela’s family? Why did she seem like someone with nowhere to return to, spending her vacations solely focused on training at the Academy? Why was she always so driven and anxious?

“Innocent villagers… without any reason, they just vanished overnight.”

This was why Adela had to become a cruel protagonist in the Academy’s harsh stories.

Almost as if blaming herself, Adela murmured bitterly.

“I was the only one who survived.”

* * *

“He’s definitely lost his mind.”

Kassan cursed under his breath, grinding his teeth. He was in the middle of a dense forest, each step forward a struggle. Normally, he would be relaxing in a place stocked with food and water.

“Why am I doing this crazy thing?”

Shing—

Kassan angrily slashed at the weeds blocking his path with his sword.

Han Siha had caused trouble. Correction: he had caused trouble. And not just any trouble—big trouble.

‘Bury it? You’re not suggesting that because you want to be buried yourself, are you?’

‘There’s an Earth Mage in the second year. Those guys aren’t so weak that they can’t last a week, so if you get caught, that guy will bury you.’

Kassan had no choice but to remain silent in the face of Rbeni’s sharp words. His eyes seemed to ask, are you really planning to stay quiet when you’ve dragged me into your emotional mess?

He wasn’t wrong.

It was only right to fix the situation before the Academy noticed. Just in case.

“Although it’s unlikely… if they don’t survive.”

He handed over a single bottle of water before sending them off.

Kassan sighed with a look of exasperation.

“Are you really an idiot? They’ll figure it out on their own.”

Though he had been pushed into this, he also knew he had to do it. If something happened, it would be his responsibility, regardless of his nature.

No matter how rotten Kassan’s temper was, he didn’t bear that much malice towards his junior at the Academy.

It’s easy to think, ‘I wish that guy would get out of my sight,’ but to jump to, ‘I want to kill him,’ requires a leap in logic.

Carrying a heavy bag, Kassan quickened his pace.

Mana operation.

Kassan infused the wind with a subtle force.

If Adela could detect terrain, Kassan could detect mana.

Even without a tracking stone, he could serve as one himself.

Wiiiing.

Blue mana swirled around him.

“Ah, damn it.”

He’d found them. But now he was at a loss.

“What do I even say to these guys?”

He had to clean up the mess he’d made, but thinking about their reactions made him feel even more hopeless.

* * *

Rain was pouring down.

The outskirts of Ardel were peculiar, with a tropical climate on the left and desert-like conditions on the right.

This area often experiences sudden downpours, so unpredictable showers were common.

It was a good thing we had chosen to head to the cave.

An hour later, the sky cleared quickly, and Adela and Won went out to hunt.

We had settled into a decent division of labor.

Basilus was in charge of keeping the fire, while Natalie and Kloshti managed the water supply. Adela and Won took on the hunting.

And Seymour…

“What are you doing? Slacking off?”

Was Seymour in charge of picking fights now?

“I’m making fish skewers for you to shove down your throat.”

“…I’ll enjoy it.”

No doubt about it, Seymour was strong against the weak and weak against the strong.

When I glared at him, Seymour slumped back into his sulky state.

I felt a little bad for Seymour, but he was the least annoying when he wasn’t acting up.

After joining the magic department, he had been quiet for a while, but it seemed he was comfortable enough to start causing trouble again.

“Why don’t you go & start the fire?”

Flap, flap.

Seymour began fanning the flames with Basilus.

Of course, clueless Basilus blew his breath at the fire.

“There was no need for you to do it.”

Ah, I was nagging that guy again.

“Koo?”

Despite my grumbling, Seymour was still taking care of all the odd jobs.

Meanwhile, I got up and headed towards the cave.

Adela had told me not to worry, but I couldn’t just sit idly by.

My head was a mess.

It could be because of what Adela had told me yesterday, or maybe because of the situation we were in now.

After sharing her story with me yesterday, Adela had gone back to her tasks as if nothing had happened.

I also interacted with Adela as if nothing was wrong.

Sigh. Since there’s nothing I can do about it right now, let’s just focus on work.

I muttered to myself, staring off into the distance.

“It’d be great if we could find something to signal with.”

Like the SOS signals you see in movies.

The kind that says, ‘We’re here, please save us!’

“Koo!”

Oh.

I didn’t need fireworks. I’d forgotten we had a natural firework right here.

I could just have Basilus shoot a Fire Spike into the sky.

“Maybe starting tonight wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

I’ll discuss this idea with the others first.

Then I continued to explore the cave.

Even if Ardel found out about our situation, it would take time for them to reach us.

Especially if we had to endure the night.

“If we get attacked at night, it could be dangerous. Should we set up a barricade?”

Of course, we’d stand watch in turns like last night, but you never know what might happen.

I ventured deeper into the cave, hoping to find something useful.

“Basilus.”

By now, we could understand each other with just a glance.

“Light it up.”

* * *

Thanks to Basilus blowing on the branch, the fire lit up, and my vision cleared.

It was brighter now.

It was so dark before that even with a torch, I couldn’t see much.

I didn’t expect to find anything special.

I wasn’t looking for anything extraordinary.

Even if I found a net or a pot to cook food with, it wouldn’t be something described in the original story.

There could be something, anything.

I mumbled as I moved forward, only to stumble upon something I hadn’t anticipated at all.

“What’s this?”

The torchlight flickered across the cave wall once more.

Uncovering the Ancient Code

Unfamiliar symbols covered a corner of the wall, repeating in patterns.

Wait a minute.

“Is this a mural?”

The characters resembled ancient script, and given the cave setting, it wasn’t surprising to find something like this. But something about it felt familiar.

A chill ran down my spine.

This feeling… my intuition, it’s never been wrong.

“Basilus, doesn’t this look familiar to you?”

No, I had definitely seen this before.

Think! Remember!

A seemingly insignificant conversation suddenly flashed through my mind.

‘What’s this?’

‘I found it last week.’

The unidentified note that Lee Han had discovered in the secret passageway of Ardel.

“Han Siha! Answer me! Hey! Where should I put this?”

I shouted at Seymour, who was calling me over for some trivial matter.

“Go get Adela.”

“What? I can’t hear you well!”

“I said, go find Adela!”

* * *

“It’s the code Lee Han mentioned.”

“A code? Oh.”

Adela had seen Lee Han hand something to me in the corridor.

She seemed to understand the gist of it, having been there.

“If it was dropped by the person who almost killed us, there must be something to it.”

“…Most likely.”

Adela nodded, agreeing with me. The cave turned out to be much deeper than expected, as if the darkness could swallow us whole.

Something was undoubtedly hidden deep within this underground labyrinth.

“They probably won’t pay much attention.”

Adela glanced back and muttered quietly. Although we could trust most of our companions, she was still wary of Seymour.

Of course, even aside from that, it was clear that the two of us needed to go alone.

Without the torch, we wouldn’t be able to see even an inch ahead in the pitch-black cave.

As we continued to walk, carefully feeling the walls, Adela suddenly stopped as if she had sensed something.

“It looks like stairs. Are you going down?”

The structure was unsettling, too unnatural for a regular cave.

Adela emphasized again, “It could be a trap.”

“I know.”

The illusion magic spread throughout the forest, and the code that seemed prepared and waiting—it was all too strange. The odds of it being a trap were high.

But still…

“I have to go in, even if it’s a trap.”

If something or someone could enter Ardel Academy so easily, it wouldn’t be surprising if they launched an attack at any moment.

Even with the risk, we needed to find whatever was inside that cave.

Without hesitation, I descended the stairs.

Adela gripped her sword tightly, though I noticed a slight tremble in her hand. Perhaps she, too, sensed it instinctively—this was no ordinary cave.

Even I, who wasn’t particularly sensitive to magic, could feel the overwhelming pressure in the air, making it hard to breathe.

The interior seemed dome-shaped. Other than the intense magic, there were no signs of life.

Step by step, we walked across the hard ground.

And then, suddenly—

“Han Siha!”

“Aaaah!”

The ground below us was empty.

I slipped—no, it wasn’t a slip.

The floor was collapsing beneath us.

“Damn it.”

With a loud crash, we fell.

I quickly surrounded myself with magic, but the impact was still harsh.

The entire floor of the dome crumbled, and we plunged several meters into what seemed to be a lower level of the cave.

“Ugh…”

It all happened so fast.

“I think… I stepped on something.”

“A trap that triggers automatically upon stepping on it?”

Adela groaned as she lifted her head.

Fortunately, it seemed we hadn’t sustained any serious injuries.

Basilus circled around me, wide-eyed and clearly distressed.

“Ugh…”

Thanks to Basilus, the darkness around us lightened slightly.

I fumbled around until I found the extinguished torch and held it out to Basilus. He lit it with a puff of fire.

The ceiling had caved in, and the walls seemed completely sealed, trapping us in a narrow space.

The intense source of magic seemed to be coming from this area.

As I slowly scanned the left side and then turned to the right, something caught my eye.

I approached it as if in a trance.

“What is that?”

Glowing, the strange symbols etched into the stone wall gleamed brightly.

“It looks like what we’re searching for is inside this place.”

The feeling wasn’t foreign.

The sensation of overwhelming power, so intense that it made my fingers tingle, was the same as when I first held the cube.

Adela’s eyes widened with realization.

“Shall we open it?”

Woooong.

With a heavy rumble, a stone shifted, revealing something buried deep underground.

As the bright orange light flooded our vision, I knew instantly.

The third cube.

I grabbed it without a second thought.

Even though I knew it was a trap, that it could only be a trap.

This was something I couldn’t afford to miss.

Rumble, rumble.

The ground began shaking violently, far worse than before.

“I think we’ve really set something off.”

“Agreed… Ugh!”

Boom.

Adela was flung across the room, crashing into a wall. I didn’t fare much better.

A rock dislodged from the ceiling and aimed straight for my head, but Basilus deflected it with his tail.

“Koo! Koo!”

Damn it, we needed to get out of here.

“Adela, snap out of it!”

At that moment, I realized what was causing the tremors.

We had awakened something.

Something that had been sleeping in this underground chamber.

“What on earth is that…?”

“A golem…?”

Covered in moss, a giant golem, dormant for who knows how long, was awakening in the corner of the underground chamber.

Its eyes gleamed with a menacing light.

Boom. Boom.

The massive entity, at least three times my height, took a step forward, a powerful force of magic in motion.

Adela gritted her teeth and yanked me towards her.

“Hold on tight!”

“O-okay!”

Using a piece of debris like a platform, Adela somehow managed to steady herself. Even in that brief moment, her instincts told her to leap.

Was she planning to levitate both of us?

I stared at Adela in shock, and she nodded.

“…Here we go. Hold on tight.”

“Aaaah!”

With a scream, we shot straight up.

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