Chapter 48

I tentatively entered the building of the Black Academy.

The inside was gloomy and dim, like a ruin.

And I didn’t encounter a single person.

In fact, since entering the campus, I hadn’t seen a single soul.

Could this academy have already been shut down?

Well, black magic isn’t very popular, after all.

It’s dangerous, and in some countries and cities, it’s even considered taboo.

This magic city might be no exception.

As a result, it’s possible that the lack of students led to the school being abandoned.

“Gie Gie Gie!”

...Hmm.

Just now, a mysterious creature passed by, emitting a strange cry.

To put it simply, its body looked like an ape, its head like a lizard, and it had insect-like wings on its back.

...Is it a monster?

It was a form I had never seen or heard of before.

“Nooooo!”

Immediately after, a high-pitched scream came from a nearby room.

The door swung open with great force, and a woman with a suspicious appearance burst out.

She was as thin as a wire, as if she hadn’t eaten properly.

Her face was pale, and she had deep dark circles under her eyes.

When she saw me, she ran over, her messy hair flying.

“Hey! Goo-chan! Do you know Goo-chan!?”

Her eyes, wide open, were bloodshot.

Surprisingly, she was still young and somewhat attractive, but it was immediately clear that she was a dangerous woman.

I had no idea what Goo-chan was, but I didn’t want to get involved with her.

“I don’t know.”

“Lies! Goo-chan didn’t come here!? He escaped from my room when I turned my back for a moment!?”

...Could Goo-chan be the mysterious creature from earlier?

“Oh, Goo-chan, where did you go!? Please! Come back to Mama!”

...Could she be referring to me as Mama?

I wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible, but if Goo-chan was the mysterious creature from earlier, I knew where it had gone.

It hadn’t been that long, and it should be easy to find if I looked.

Honestly, I wanted to leave it alone, but leaving this dangerous woman as she was also seemed risky...

“About this Goo-chan—”

“Who gave you permission to call him Goo-chan! Only I can call him Goo-chan!”

This is troublesome.

“Is it the creature with a lizard’s head, an ape’s body, and insect wings?”

“Yes, yes! You do know Goo-chan!”

“If so, he went that way.”

“Goo-chan!”

When I pointed, the woman ran in that direction with incredible speed.

She soon returned, holding the mysterious creature from earlier.

“Oh, thank you. You saved me.”

“...I’m glad.”

She thanked me.

Thanks to finding the creature, she seemed to have calmed down and appeared more normal—

“This is a chimera I created with great care. Hee hee, isn’t he adorable?”

“Gie Gie Gie Gie Gie!”

“Hee hee hee, Mama won’t let go of Goo-chan again, okay?”

“Gie Gie Gie Gie Gie!”

“Oh, you’re so happy. Are you that excited to be reunited with Mama?”

—Scratch that, she was not normal at all.

The woman was rubbing her cheek against the lizard’s head, but the creature seemed to be desperately trying to escape.

...So this creature is a chimera.

I remember that black magic includes spells to create such composite beings.

I wasn’t interested, so I didn’t learn them.

She must be conducting research in that area.

By the way, there are people in this academy.

But the first person I met here is...

When I asked her about the entrance exam, she said she didn’t know much.

But I managed to get directions to the administrative office.

I should be able to find out there.

Passing through the courtyard, where a black mist-like substance floated, and the hallway, where a continuous sound that was either a laugh or a scream echoed, and the toilet, from which I could hear “Come here, come here,” I arrived at the place I was directed to.

“Hmm? No one is here.”

When I entered the office, there were only dilapidated wooden desks.

But I sensed something.

It’s... above?

Suddenly, a skeleton fell from above, upside down.

“Welcome!”

I quickly drew the short sword I had hidden and decapitated the skeleton.

“Gyahhh!?”

The skull flew through the air and rolled on the floor.

The body remained hanging from the ceiling.

“Hmm. An undead.”

That’s why I didn’t sense its presence until just before.

But how is it making a sound without vocal cords?

“What are you doing all of a sudden!?”

The skull, which had stopped against the wall, turned to me and complained.

“I reflexively cut it when it appeared from above.”

“I was just trying to scare you a little, and you did that!?”

That’s what you get for your own actions.

But since it doesn’t seem to be a bad undead, I might as well talk to it.