Chapter 57

"Was that teacher's relative the one who caused all that commotion?"

"Calling it a 'commotion' doesn't sound good, but Grandpa didn't really care about it. He was just acting for his own ideals, you see."

Mcilka gasped at her astonishing testimony, and Senior Alice responded coldly.

"Ideals? You mean this ritual?"

"Yes, but this is just a means to an end, Your Highness."

As the prince, who was glaring at the undead in the magic circle, asked, Senior Alice showed a confident smile and dramatically raised her hands high, flipping her robe.

"All for the ideals! Yes, to live a decadent life surrounded by undead, giggling and laughing!"

"......"

Excitement reaching its peak, Senior Alice loudly declared her ideals, causing our thoughts to freeze and our moods to plummet.

"Huh? What did you just say?"

Mcilka, who quickly regained her composure, asked in disbelief.

"Hehe, Grandpa's, no, my lifelong wish is to live a decadent life surrounded by undead, giggling and laughing!"

Snorting, Senior Alice declared again, and I didn't know what to say.

(Ah... I remember, she said she specialized in undead. I never thought she would actually want to be with such grotesque creatures...)

Thinking that this family had involved the school for such a reason made my head hurt.

"Surrounding oneself with undead was Grandpa's ambition. However, as a member of the Church, he had to purify the undead. Summoning undead in a Church ritual was out of the question. So, Grandpa worked at the school to create his ideal space here."

Without being asked, the still excited Senior Alice began to speak.

"First, to secure the space and personnel needed for such a large-scale magical ritual, he recruited students interested in the occult, undead, and even antisocial and apocalyptic theories under false pretenses. Eventually, they were called a cult, but Grandpa's ambition couldn't be stopped by such trivial matters."

(Pretenses and cults... That's not good. Was the school's caution due to this? It would be terrible if they started another strange religious group.)

"Finally, Grandpa was about to complete the ritual, trembling with excitement and joy, when that man stood in his way."

Senior Alice glared at me and pointed.

"Feltyd Legaria! His appearance ruined everything! Grandpa said it was a struggle to hide the ritual site from the teachers who heard the commotion. Looking back, he said it was the headmaster's plan to use Feltyd, who was a new student and not on Grandpa's radar, as an assassin."

(No, no, it was just a coincidence. I was napping and got annoyed by the noise, so I knocked him out. The teachers who rushed in were probably just looking for Father, who was skipping class.)

I sighed inwardly at Senior Alice's skewed speculation.

"Of course, the Legaria family got involved. I, on the other hand, pretended to be your ally to monitor you, and thanks to that, I found the ritual site."

It felt both grand and insignificant, and our side lacked enthusiasm, but Senior Alice was hyped up.

"The ghosts appearing then and now are due to that magic circle, right?"

"Yes, the magic circle attracts them with the massive amount of magic power and the connection to the undead. Moreover, it only reacts to Grandpa's bloodline. Nothing happened until I visited the old school building after Grandpa left, but once the circle reacted to me, it activated, and the ghosts were drawn here. I was confident that the ritual site was somewhere in the old school building."

Senior Alice answered Mcilka's question again.

"Didn't you think it would be dangerous if the undead summoned here escaped and harmed the students?"

The prince's confident question made Senior Alice look surprised.

"How could such adorable beings harm us?"

Beep!

Ecstatic, Senior Alice entered the magic circle and tried to touch the undead warrior, but was bounced off by his shield and flew to the wall. We watched in shock as she landed with a thud and twitched for a moment before getting up.

"Ah, you're just shy!"

(...This senior is hopeless...)

Despite the crack in her glasses, Senior Alice still gazed at the undead with a dreamy expression.

"Roar!"

The undead warrior, activated by the living presence, began to take a combat stance.

"Here he comes! What do we do? Run?"

Drawing his sword, Zach stood in front of us, and everyone tensed.

"It's dangerous to let that thing out. Can we keep it here until the teachers arrive?"

The prince, looking tense, suggested, and Zach and Mcilka, with serious faces, remained silent. While physical and magical attacks would work, they weren't sure if they could handle it with their current abilities.

"I'll take care of it. You all hold him off. Lord Reiforce, please step back."

Everyone looked relieved rather than surprised at my words.

(I wonder what they're expecting.)

As I tilted my head, the giant figure began to walk towards us, raising his sword.

"Zach! Defense!"

"Aye!"

Responding to my call, Zach stepped forward and readied his sword. The magic I was about to cast was a coordinate fixation type, so I wanted him to stay still.

"Mcilka, defense and enhancement spells."

"Leave it to me!"

As the giant closed in, Zach, with defense and body enhancement spells, blocked the rusty sword with a loud impact, and tension filled the air.

"Safina! Aim for the legs!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Surprised that it was stopped, the undead, still swinging its sword, was motionless. I instructed Safina to aim for its legs.

"Draw, two strikes!"

Despite her fear, Safina, with an acceleration spell, quickly closed the distance and delivered two strikes to the same spot, severing the rotten leg from the thigh.

I noticed that the two second-year students now carried real swords.

The one-legged undead fell sideways. Being with everyone made me feel strong, and though I was excited, I remained calm. Mostly because I was an observer.

"Second-class holy magic!"

My words echoed in the basement as I stepped forward, with Zach and Safina behind me.

"Embrace the light and turn to ash!"

Incidentally, these words are not my own; I'm just repeating the lines of the silver knight from the story. I said them to cast the spell, as I did last time, because it felt reassuring. Again, these are not my words.

"Turn Undead!"

With my powerful words, a light magic circle appeared around the fallen undead, and light erupted from the ground like a geyser.

"Roar!"

The undead's scream, like a roar, echoed in the basement.

"It's over."

Lowering my hand, I said quietly.

(Just to be clear, these are not my words. I've said it multiple times, but these embarrassing lines are not my own.)

Internally cringing, I watched as the undead, enveloped in light, crumbled like sand and disappeared.

When the pillar of light faded, there was nothing left, and silence filled the room.

"Ahhh... My Julienne..."

Senior Alice, who had given such a cute name to that grotesque being, slumped in despair.

"Amazing..."

Zach's small voice sounded unusually loud.

"H-Holy... magic?"

Mcilka's trembling voice followed.

"Amazing! Just as I expected, Lady Mary!"

Safina, ignoring their words, shouted and hugged me.

"It's not that amazing. It's just a second-class spell."

I pushed Safina away to avoid any misunderstandings.

"What are you saying, Lady Mary! It's amazing, of course!"

"Huh?"

Mcilka loudly contradicted my modesty.

"Holy magic is very difficult to master, and even a second-class spell requires years of practice! To learn it in such a short time, and on your own, is incredible!"

My face drained of color as Mcilka's rapid-fire words sank in.

(Oh no... Is this... bad?)

I had been concerned about the class, but hadn't considered the learning time. Realizing that mastering it in such a short time was unprecedented, I was sweating profusely, despite my earlier calm.

(No, it's okay. We're the only ones here, and if I ask them to keep it a secret, there won't be any misunderstandings.)

"Miss... Miss..."

Just as I thought of a plan, a maid's voice came from behind me, and I turned to see Tüte and the Grandmasters, their faces twisted in shock, at the broken door.

(Oh no...)

My scream echoed in my mind.

Thank you for reading.