The Academy Regressor is Obsessed

Until Nori-um’s letter arrived, Asel wasn’t particularly expecting compensation from the Academy. It would be nice if they gave it, but it didn’t matter much if they didn’t. But after hearing from Irina about the Academy’s underground vault, he instantly flipped his attitude.

-If you go down the Academy waterways, there’s a shabby-looking prison door. Beyond that, all sorts of magical tools and scrolls remain in their original state. As I recall, there’s even a magical tool used by Cromwell, the first lightning magician.

Those words awakened all of Asel’s senses.

Cromwell, the first lightning magician. A transcendent being who established a new myth of destruction formulas and a cruel grand master. Asel had read her autobiography written by herself, so he knew quite a bit about Cromwell.

She was born in a storage for sacrifices for demon worshippers. The place where her memories first begin is not in her mother and father’s arms, but inside a corpse with organs cleanly cut out, forming a pool of blood. There, she drank the blood of her own kind to become an excellent sacrifice.

It was a succession of disgusting days. Fortunately, it didn’t go as far as cannibalism, but she repeatedly committed murder, starting with killing her parents with her own hands.

It was a process to corrupt the soul and make it a sacrifice to manifest the demon of the moon. Cromwell endured it all, swallowing her bile.

For 5 years. The year she turned 7.

She happened to see magic used by one of the demon worshippers. And she immediately copied it and made it her own. It took about 1 second to construct the magic core, and the manifestation of magic occurred simultaneously with thinking of it. Moreover, she didn’t stop there, but rose to the level of immediately understanding and applying the characteristics of the magic used.

That’s how she smashed the demon worshippers’ hideout. With a huge explosion, the cave collapsed, and she, the only survivor, emerged through the broken rocks. After that, there was a description of how she traveled around the continent.

Asel read that part carefully too, but he was more interested in the process of creating lightning magic.

-I was raised by the demon’s minions. Through their oppression, I killed those who gave birth to me, and gained negative magical power I didn’t want. That process was never smooth. Before my self was even formed, I wished for my death.

-But I am here. Remaining alive on this earth. Then what I could do was not to be comfortable with my death, but to directly grind and drink those damn demon worshippers. That was the mission given to me, and my life. But with the magic I learned, it was impossible to kill those deeply assimilated with demons. Humans hadn’t yet built such a great magic system.

-So I helped them. With the knowledge and talent I gained, I completely overhauled the overall manifestation method and learning method of magic. Then by chance, I saw lightning flashing in the sky. And that changed my life.

-Nature is great. No matter how great a superhuman, if you put your body in a typhoon you’ll be torn apart alive, and you can’t withstand the lava of a volcano and flames that melt iron. And the same is true for lightning striking from the sky. God’s spear that overwhelms all natural phenomena in momentary power. As I researched magic, I suddenly wanted to obtain that.

-So I tried. I was struck by lightning directly to explore its power and figured out how that power moves. I went through dozens of near-death experiences, and when I first succeeded in converting magical power into lightning power, the electrical signals throughout my body went haywire and I repeatedly died and came back to life.

-Yet I am here. In the end, I succeeded in making lightning my own. I haven’t yet created a formula to handle lightning power, but nevertheless, lightning now dwelled in my magical power. The first step of special magic that other magicians can’t even imitate, that one must be prepared to die just to follow, dwelled in me.

-I named this magic lightning magic. And after confirming that no magician except me could use it, I called magic that is extremely difficult to learn like this special magic. Lightning magic was the first special magic to appear in this world.

The autobiography ends like that. There was no content written about what happened to her afterwards, what kind of life she lived, or how she met her death. However, since all the lightning formulas she created were focused on killing, it seemed certain that a thick smell of blood was permeated in her future.

“It’s been a while, Headmaster.”

Anyway, that wasn’t the important thing. Though he was curious about the trajectory of Cromwell’s life, Asel was more interested in the artifacts she wore.

Cromwell was a magician who had expertise in crafting magical tools during her lifetime. Though she didn’t make many, according to remaining records, each of the magical tools she used was of high quality. Some of those were sleeping in the Academy’s underground vault.

It was unknown how such great magical tools flowed into a place like this, but honestly, that didn’t matter. The important thing was that an opportunity to obtain such magical tools had arisen.

‘As the alliance leader said, I’ll extract as much as I can extract.’

Asel thought that as he sat down on the sofa.

No pang of conscience whatsoever. What conscience when he nearly died? It was right to suck dry to the bone as much as possible within the possible range. Both a magician’s reason and instinct were shouting so.

“Have you been well in the meantime? I’ve been doing alright. Though I went through some critical moments, I’m fine now.”
“…I’ve been well too. More importantly, I’m glad you’re alright. I was very worried.”
“Haha. I’m truly moved that the Headmaster was worried about me.”
“…Haha.”

Frida let out a dry laugh. While conversing with Asel, she glanced at Ena and Nori-um sitting on either side of him.

Though they weren’t saying anything, they were staring intently at Frida with their unique expressions. Just from those gazes, Frida felt like her throat was being choked.

They’re probably doing that to pounce immediately if she shows any attitude of refusal or “That’s a bit…” in the main point that’s about to come out.

Just imagining it made her fingertips tingle.

Frida deliberately cleared her throat with an “ahem”, then opened her mouth looking at Asel.

“This incident. I’m truly sorry. I want to sincerely apologize on behalf of the Academy.”
“Ah, it’s alright. Though I was badly injured, I’m still alive.”
“That’s not important. What’s important is that you were put in a dangerous situation due to the Academy’s mistake. On behalf of the Academy, I’m sincerely sorry. I’ll make sure this never happens again.”

Frida said in a sincere voice, bowing her head slightly. Whether Nori-um and Ena were stubbornly standing there or not, apologizing to Asel was a natural duty as a human being. Her head wasn’t so heavy in matters like this.

Asel accepted her apology with a smile, then began a full-fledged conversation with her.

“I heard you’ve already read the letter.”
“That’s right. You want to go to the underground vault?”
“Yes. I understand you’ve already given permission.”
“Right. Honestly, it’s not a difficult thing. I’ll immediately deliver one of the magical tools in the vault.”
“One, you say? I didn’t say one.”
“?”

Frida tilted her head. Asel grinned and leaned his upper body slightly forward.

It was a clear superior-subordinate transaction. There was no need to engage in the deal from an equal position.

“One magical tool for the damage to my body. And one scroll as compensation to soothe my disappointment in the Academy. Lastly, one magical tool to appease my master’s anger. I’d like to take these three.”
“Are you a bandit?”

Frida reflexively asked back like that, but seeing Ena’s face turn grim, she immediately nodded.

“I shouldn’t say such bad words. Three. I acknowledge it clearly. Take them.”
“Thank you. As expected, there’s no one but you, Headmaster.”

Asel said with a bright smile. Frida shed tears of blood inwardly.

The magical tools, scrolls, and potions in the Academy’s underground vault are truly astronomical in price. A vault mainly consisting of relics discovered in ruins or items gifted by notable powerhouses just before death. As such, tools with powerful and rare effects are lined up.

Just selling one would be a tremendous help to the Academy’s finances. And three of those amazing items were completely snatched away by Asel.

With holes already punched in the Academy finances and her wallet, now even the vault was being robbed, Frida’s glass-like heart shook as if it would shatter at any moment. But she quickly pulled herself together.

Yes, it’s compensation for a student who nearly died because of her. It’s not right to show off or show displeasure over something like this. It was clearly not right as an educator or as a person in charge.

Thinking that way made her feel better.

She smiled gently and opened her mouth towards Asel.

“Is there anything else you need?”
“I don’t need anything else. This should be enough.”
“Good. Then let’s depart for the underground vault right away. I’ll just make some preparations.”

The moment Frida said that and stood up, Nori-um quickly opened his mouth.

“My, why so hasty, Headmaster? Even if the conversation with Asel is over, we haven’t even started talking about compensation for ‘Weiheim’. Please sit down again.”
“…Nori-um.”
“It won’t do even if you call me in such a pitiful voice. Come now, I have a contract I brought in advance. Read it and just sign here and here.”
“…Hiiing.”
“Oh my, it’s tough hearing the whining of an elf aged several hundred years. Senior, be careful in front of Asel too.”
“Shut up.”

Ena fired lightning towards Nori-um. Nori-um lightly caught her attack by opening a subspace, then said to Frida.

“There’s not much content that’s detrimental to the Academy anyway. And to maintain an amicable relationship with the federation, it will be much more helpful to stamp this. Don’t forget that my term still has a long way to go.”
“…Hmph.”

Frida puffed her cheeks and whispered that, then began signing the contract.

Nori-um immediately grimaced as if he had seen something he shouldn’t.

“Gaaack!”

The path to the Academy’s underground vault was in the waterway connecting to the basement of the main building. Going down the damp stairs, a wide waterway with clear water flowing opens up, and going deeper inside from there, another staircase going down appears.

At the end of the stairs was a shabby-looking metal door. It looked similar to a prison door housing prisoners. But unlike that outward appearance, the magic applied to the door easily exceeded several dozen in number.

The power was not to be ignored either. Asel stood right behind Frida, who was starting to open the door, and quietly examined the applied magic. Then he let out an exclamation.

The method of opening the door before him was not using a key or saying a specific phrase. Only by drawing the mana circuit used when first creating and installing the door in reverse order from the beginning without error, would the magic applied to the door not activate and open obediently.

Moreover, it wasn’t possible to know the circuit just by approaching the door. Only a very small number of individuals allowed entry in the Academy were given the opportunity to remember the circuit in their heads.

It was an extremely tricky method. Even if the person trying to open the door was a staff member allowed entry, if they made just one mistake, all sorts of magic would activate and mercilessly turn the staff member into a crippled state.

Still, it was better to have secure security than loose. Asel quietly waited until Frida opened the door.

“It’s open.”

Not long after, Frida opened the vault door.

With a creaking sound, the door opened and.

Whoosh!!

An overwhelming gale of magical power blew from beyond. A wave of powerful magic that even overwhelmed Asel for a moment.

Light rose in Nori-um and Irina’s eyes, and Ena stood with an indifferent expression, slightly distancing herself from Asel.

“Let’s go.”

Frida said. Asel’s mouth corners twitched as he stepped beyond the metal door.

The treasure hunt begins.