Chapter 82

Brain opened his eyes.

After looking at Filbus and us, Brain sat up.

"…W-what about me…?"

"You were lying unconscious in this classroom. There, with Liz."

After hearing Filbus's explanation, Brain turned his gaze toward Liz.

Liz, who seemed to have fainted more deeply than Brain, remained limp and unresponsive to Filbus's call.

"Brain, what were you doing here?"

"…Well—"

Brain pressed his finger to his temple and began recounting his memories in a surprisingly clear tone.

"I saw her there—"

"Ah, hold on a moment."

Filbus interrupted him.

"First of all, why were you wandering outside? What were you doing?"

"…Ah, I'll start from the beginning. I was hunting undead. I was in the dormitory when I noticed an unusual noise. When I looked outside, I saw that situation."

"Testing your skills, huh?"

"Something like that."

Brain nodded without any remorse. It made sense that Brain, who wanted to test his offensive magic, would do something like this.

"So, what happened then?"

"…I defeated the zombies and skeletons that appeared—and destroyed the magic circle that was summoning them."

Filbus's eyes widened at Brain's words.

"You did!?"

"Yes. …There are probably multiple ones, but I destroyed one of them…"

Brain continued his story matter-of-factly, without any particular pride.

"Then I headed back to the dormitory, but when I looked up at the school building, I saw a girl walking down the hallway."

At that point, Brain moved his gaze.

"That girl—Liz. I didn't remember her name, but I knew she was a classmate. I thought if she was being chased by undead, I should help her, so I entered the school building."

"…And then?"

"I made it to this floor, but I couldn't find her in the hallway. So I checked the classrooms one by one—and found her here."

"Was Liz unconscious at that time?"

"Um…yes, I think so. She was definitely lying down, though I'm not sure if she was unconscious."

"Not sure? Didn't you get closer?"

"No. When I tried to check on her—"

At that point, Brain closed his eyes before continuing.

"I was attacked by someone."

"Attacked?"

"Yes. By someone in all black—whose face I couldn't see."

"Did that person knock you out?"

Brain nodded with a slightly regretful expression.

"Yes. I've practiced some martial arts, but the other person was better. I managed to land one hit to the stomach, but then I woke up like this."

"I see…"

"That's my situation."

"I see… Can I ask one more thing?"

"Sure."

"The reason we came to this classroom is that there was lighting in front of it. And the door was locked with Hard Rock. Did you do that?"

"…No, I didn't do that…"

"I see…"

Filbus fell silent.

From the flow of the story, it seemed that the person who defeated Brain had set up those spells.

But why would they do that?

Moreover—

Why did they just knock Brain out?

If they didn't need to kill him, that made sense, but there was no need to be merciful.

Plus, the Hard Rock and lighting.

It almost felt like they were trying to protect the unconscious Brain and draw attention to their presence.

The silence in the classroom was broken by Filbus.

"Mr. Filbus. Liz is waking up."

"…Huh, …me…?"

Liz blinked her eyes.

Filbus leaned in to look at Liz's face.

"Are you okay, Liz?"

"Ah, yes, I'm… I'm fine…"

"Sorry, but what were you doing here?"

"Um, well—"

Liz pressed her hands to her head, looking flustered.

"I was walking around the school building at night when suddenly undead started appearing! So I panicked and ran here!"

"And you barricaded yourself in this classroom… Brain said he was attacked by someone. Did you see anyone?"

"Someone…?"

Liz tilted her head.

"I don't know. I must have fainted at some point… I probably fainted from fear…"

"So, you didn't see anyone in this classroom, right?"

"No, I didn't see anyone… I haven't seen anyone since I entered the school building…"

"I see."

Filbus nodded.

At that moment, I noticed a puzzled look on Lola's face. She seemed to be thinking about something, but before she could speak, Filbus closed the conversation.

"I got the gist of it. We'll talk about the details later. Are you in any pain? It's late. We're going back."

Filbus stood up as he said this.

When we left the school building, the number of undead wandering around had significantly decreased. They would be defeated soon.

Filbus looked at us.

"Filbus and I will continue to hunt the undead. Can you guys go back to the dormitory on your own?"

"…I can help too."

Filbus shook his head at Brain's offer.

"I can't rely on someone who just collapsed. Get some rest today."

Filbus and Filbus left.

After parting ways with Lola and the others, who were heading back to the girls' dormitory, Brain and I walked to the boys' dormitory.

"…I showed you a shameful side of myself…"

Brain muttered.

"…It's not a big deal. I wouldn't know what to do if I was attacked in the dark either."

Brain didn't seem convinced by my reassurance.

"Albert, why were you there?"

"I was helping. Filbus came to ask me."

"…As expected of the hero of Lake Greasia…"

"No, it's not just me… He also asked Brain and Sylas. You had already left, though."

"I see…"

Brain nodded, then tilted his head.

"What about Sylas?"

"Sylas said he had a headache and was resting in his room."

"…Sylas? Is he okay…?"

Brain was Sylas's friend, so it was understandable that he was worried.

Brain muttered.

"…I'll go check on him…"

When we reached the dormitory, we walked to Sylas's room together.

I wasn't particularly close to Sylas, but I went along with the flow.

Brain knocked on the door.

"It's Brain. Sylas, are you awake?"

Although it was late at night, the dormitory was buzzing with the undead incident, so it didn't seem too unreasonable.

The door creaked open.

"Hey, Brain. What's up?"

Sylas appeared from the room, looking tired and lacking energy.

"…You said you had a headache?"

"Yeah, I do! My head has been hurting all night!"

Sylas scratched his head, looking uncomfortable.

"It must have been hectic outside."

"Yeah. That's why we were called out."

"That's why you came to get me! Sorry, I didn't get to talk much!"

Sylas bowed repeatedly to Brain.

"So, is everything under control outside?"

"…It's fine."

"That's good, that's good. With you and Albert, it's a piece of cake, a piece of cake!"

Sylas laughed, then winced.

"Sorry. My head is still hurting. Can I go back to sleep? Can you tell me more tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"Good night."

Sylas closed the door.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

The next day, we went to school.

After all that commotion, I wasn't sure what to expect.

It seemed the teachers were too busy to decide on a school closure. They opened the classrooms and made it a self-study day.

At lunchtime,

Just as we were about to have lunch, Kilria and a group of her noble friends came to my seat.

"Hey, Albert. Let's go to the cafeteria?"

Her words were overlapped by another voice.

"A-ah, sorry, s-sorry, s-sorry!"

A tense voice interrupted the group of nobles.

Everyone turned to look at the source of the voice.

There stood—

Lola, her face pale. She looked straight at me and continued.

"I'm sorry for interrupting! A-Albert, can I have a moment!?"