TFBA 05

Episode 5

The meeting was finally nearing its end.
Dean Kimberly Kelly, wanting to escape this disastrous situation even a minute or a second sooner, read through the prepared handout.

“Then, the final agenda item. There is one budget request. But Professor Corrigan?”
“Yes?”
“You mentioned it a moment ago. The carry-over budget is Professor Winslet’s… that is to say.”
“Emergency funds.”
“Right. You said it was money whose use was already decided. But there is someone who has applied to use this carry-over portion?”
“Ah.”

Professor Corrigan’s face turned pale.
Wasn’t this the same Professor Corrigan who, until just now, had been defending Professor Winslet’s dereliction of duty more fervently than anyone?
The Dean had assumed Corrigan belonged to Professor Winslet’s faction and had applied for the budget under Professor Winslet’s approval.
But it seemed that wasn’t the case.
Professor Corrigan’s voice trembled.

“Well, I was in a hurry, so I… secretly…”
“You applied for it secretly?”
“Y-Yes. I thought I wouldn’t get caught…”

The carry-over budget of the College of Magic was Winter Winslet’s property.
No one was allowed to touch it.
That was the unspoken rule of this place.
Professor Corrigan wasn’t unaware of this.
She just thought it would be fine if she didn’t get caught.
After all, Winter Winslet was a person with no interest in how the academy was run, never attended meetings, and the dean’s position was conveniently vacant.
She calculated that by acting during the administrative confusion, she could secure the budget without Professor Winslet knowing.

But then, of all things, that man showed up at the meeting today.
‘Don’t tell me… he came here knowing everything?’
If so, then she was fated to meet her predetermined death from before the meeting even started.
The reason Corrigan had been advocating for Professor Winslet’s privileges to the Dean was, in fact, because she had committed a crime.
Hoping for some leniency, Corrigan looked at Professor Winslet’s face…

“Hic!”

She ended up starting to hiccup again.

“Professor Corrigan.”
“…Yes.”
“How much do you need?”
“Huh?”
“I asked how much budget you applied for.”

She couldn’t understand why he was asking that.
Was he testing her?
Or was it a trap?
Corrigan cursed Winslet inwardly.
‘You have no intention of giving it anyway…’
But having nothing left to lose, Professor Corrigan decided to go for it.

“The amount I wrote down was absolutely not for my personal gain, you know? Transformation magic is a field that inherently consumes a lot of money. Every single reagent has to be imported from Carafe, rare beast fur costs a fortune, and lately, the Academic Affairs Office has been pressuring us to increase the department’s enrollment quota…”
“Your answer?”
“About fifteen hundred Blanc gold coins…”

Corrigan shut her eyes tightly.
She expected a sharp rebuke immediately.
But the meeting room was silent as a grave, and Corrigan slowly opened her eyes a slit.
Professor Winslet was still expressionless.
Soon, an unbelievable statement came from his lips.

“Take it.”
“Huh?”
“I said, take the budget you need.”
“Wha…? Really?”

The most surprised person was Professor Corrigan.

“Y-You won’t change your mind later, or secretly retaliate against me, right?”
“You’ve got nerve. Asking such a thing to my face.”
“Gasp!”

While Corrigan covered her mouth with her hand, Professor Winter Winslet turned his head as if his business was done.

“Dean Kelly.”
“Yes, yes. What is it?”
“Allocate the carry-over budget to the student dining event that was on the agenda earlier as well.”
“Is that… acceptable?”
“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

Having said that, Professor Winslet rose from his seat and left the meeting room.
Those left behind were dumbfounded and looked at each other.
They all had the same thought.
‘Did that guy eat something wrong?’**

Right after leaving the meeting room, I left the spot as if fleeing.
In fact, it wasn’t a metaphor; I was genuinely fleeing.
Because among the 13 participants of the faculty meeting was someone I absolutely should not encounter at the academy.
Winter Winslet was the academy’s famous tyrant.
But the academy didn’t have just one king, so even the great Winter Winslet had someone he had to yield to and avoid.
And that person was…

CRASH!

…This woman, who revealed herself by smashing the wall in front of me.

“Oops, a bit off? I was aiming for your head, not the wall.”
“…Monastrel.”

Tall enough to meet my eye level.
A beauty with messy black hair reminiscent of a hippie and a sleek, powerful physique like a beast of prey.
Monastrel grinned at me.

“What’s this, you’re not surprised? Did you know I’d follow you?”
“How could I not know, with the murderous intent you were radiating throughout the entire meeting?”
“Right. That meeting! What the hell was that disgusting act? You, pretending to be nice. It was so laughable I almost puked. Blegh.”

Monastrel stuck out her tongue and pretended to vomit.
Her crocodile-like yellow eyes glinted.

“Are you here to pick a fight?”
“You were acting like the great Winter Winslet had suddenly reformed overnight. You’re not really Winter Winslet, are you?”

It must have been a joke.
But because it hit a nerve, I found myself making an excuse.

“Anyone can be capricious at times.”
“Why, there’s a saying, isn’t there? When a person starts doing things they never did, it means their time to die has come.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Why are you doing things you never did? It makes me want to kill you.”

[Alert]
[This character’s Death Flag has been activated.]

When ordinary people say they want to kill someone, it’s an exaggerated expression of how angry they are.
But this woman meant it.
The unofficial nickname players of Candelabra of Judgment gave her: The Academy Madwoman.
I’d been caught by a crazy woman.
Creeeak.
A grotesque sound was heard; looking over, Monastrel was gripping the edge of the broken wall and tearing it out.
Monastrel, smiling broadly, threw a piece of the wall at me.

[Warning]
[A Death Branch Point has been updated.]

I’d guessed it since she appeared by breaking through the wall with her bare body, but this madwoman was no ordinary human.
In fact, she wasn’t even human.
A dragon polymorphed into human form.
A dragon who had infiltrated the academy, supposedly to lecture, but actually spent her time beating up students, and who ‘particularly disliked Winter Winslet‘—that was Monastrel’s true identity.
This was why I tried my best to avoid her.

“If you hadn’t dodged that attack just now, I was going to let it slide. But since you dodged, that means you want to fight me, right?”

I don’t know how her thought process led there, but on my very first day of work, I ended up having to fight a dragon.
But there was no need to lose unnecessarily.
I am Winter Winslet, after all. Why?

“I don’t know who let a beast that can’t understand human speech loose on campus without a leash, but an animal that bites people needs to be educated. Come at me.”

Monastrel’s smile deepened.

“That’s more like it. This is the Winter Winslet I know.”

[Casting Carpet of Frost spell.]
[Casting Wind that Rends Sails spell.]

First, I created distance between Monastrel and myself.
I covered the floor with ice to make it slippery and pushed her back with wind.
Dragons are creatures akin to the ancestors of mages.
But recalling my Candela of Judgment play experience, Monastrel does not use magic.
If she carelessly revealed her strength, hehe, hoho, it would disrupt her enjoyable life of play, I suppose.
Instead, Monastrel preferred close combat, enjoying taking enemy attacks with her body based on her race’s exceptional durability and physical strength, then counterattacking.
In her Magical Defenses lecture, she’d charge at you with a creepy smile after being hit by all sorts of spells, so there was probably no one in the academy who didn’t know Monastrel was a maniac.
And now I had to deal with that.

[Casting Earthen Rampart spell.]

Seeing Monastrel leap, I erected a stone wall in her path.
Seeing this, Monastrel snorted contemptuously.

“You think you can stop me with a mere slab like this?”

As Monastrel threw a punch, the solid rock slab was pitifully pierced.
So Monastrel sensed something was off and frowned.

“What’s this? Why is it so thin?”

I made it that way on purpose.
So it would break easily.

[Casting Minor Air Burst spell.]

Using telekinetic magic, I compressed the air and then released it all at once.
BOOM!
With a cannon-like sound, a heavy shockwave engulfed the stone wall.
The stone wall shattered into sharp, pointed fragments, sweeping towards Monastrel with blade-like force.
A simple combination of two spells.
A popular combo frequently used in Candela of Judgment.
Monastrel, caught off guard and taking it head-on…

“Ha, you fight in a rather amusing way, don’t you?”

…was, of course, perfectly fine.
She had a few scratches on her crossed arms, which she’d used to protect her face.
Even these were healing quickly, so she still seemed to have plenty of leeway.
But seeing the vein throbbing at her temple, it was clear her temper was properly frayed.
Monastrel roughly swept back her bangs and taunted.

“Let’s see you try that again.”

I gave her more, since she asked for more.
For over ten minutes, a one-sided offense and one-sided defense—hardly worthy of being called an exchange—continued between Monastrel and me.
I unleashed my abilities as a Candela of Judgment veteran without reserve; the varied bombardment of magic prevented Monastrel from predicting my next attack, and the S-Rank magic talent possessed by Winter Winslet allowed me to unleash hundreds of offensive spells without tiring.
After numerous attempts yielded no chance to get close to me, Monastrel began to get visibly irritated.

“You’re really fucking cheesy… Grr!”

[Casting Suffocating Arrow spell.]

“Wait. Time out! Time out, I said!”

[Casting Hail of Icicles spell.]

“You stay right there! Just let me get my hands on you… Damn it!”

[Casting Ernback’s Elongating Floor spell.]

Monastrel growled, shrieked, and even jumped up and down on the spot, but in the end, she only proved how energetic she was, posing no threat to me.
Dragon or not, if she stayed in human form and didn’t use magic, she was just a durable punching bag.

“Since when did a guy who could barely use ice magic learn all these unheard-of, unseen spells?!”

[Using Tauber’s Weighted Gaze spell.]

They say a stick is the best medicine for a mad dog.
Unable to withstand the pressure magic, Monastrel finally fell onto all fours.
I don’t particularly have sadistic tastes, but seeing Monastrel struggling and groaning gave me a sense of satisfaction.
However, at that moment, an opportunity arose for Monastrel.
It wasn’t that I let my guard down.
An unexpected variable simply occurred.
Spectators, drawn by the tremendous commotion, had gathered, and among them, one man inserted himself between me and Monastrel.
Surprisingly, he didn’t try to stop our fight by showing his skill or persuading us with talk.
He just shouted:

“Aigoo, my lecture hall!”

He must have been the owner of the classroom destroyed by our fight.
Due to this uninvited guest’s intrusion, I withdrew the spell I was preparing for my next attack, and Monastrel didn’t miss that opening to charge.
Using the stunned professor as a shield, she closed in on me.

[Casting Carpet of Frost spell.]
[Casting Wind that Rends Sails spell.]

I hurriedly cast the two spells again to push her back, but Monastrel resisted the wind by digging her fingers into the floor.
Screeeech!
The floor tiles laid indoors splattered like puddle water on a rainy day when a wheel passes through.
And exactly one breath later, Monastrel appeared right in front of me.
In an instant, my collar was grabbed.

“Any last words?”

A rapidly rising survival instinct.
Remembering that dragons are weak to flattery, I decided to try complimenting Monastrel’s appearance.

“The contents might be vulgar, but the outer shell is a masterpiece. Any interest in coming to my house? You’d make a perfect taxidermy piece once I kill you.”

Around this time, I discovered a critical problem.
Although I had possessed Winter Winslet’s body, I couldn’t control the way he spoke.
This was a critical problem.
A very critical one for survival.

[Warning]
[A Death Branch Point has been updated.]