She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter 25

Chapter 25

IN THE EXPOSED catacombs, the duke-level demon had schemed to revive oni. Its preparations had been going well, and oni were extraordinarily strong. If it had been allowed to succeed, it would surely have created an organization that surpassed even Chimera Clausen.

Yet Mira and company had thwarted his schemes. The duke, who’d been working in the shadows for many long years, was decisively defeated.

“Still, what comes next is the real problem… How can I go about sealing it?” Wallenstein wondered aloud.

The demon’s power was unstable from the battle. To seal it, he first had to stabilize the duke’s power—but that would take time, and it wasn’t possible while the demon was restrained.

In these kinds of cases, Wallenstein would normally release the demon and have someone watch over it. However, he worried that releasing a duke would pose too great a risk.

“Tough question…” Mira said.

“Yeah…” Kagura agreed.

The group watched the fallen duke and thought to themselves…was there any way to cleanly return it to light demon status?

As everyone fell silent, a voice echoed through Mira’s mind. “Miss Mira, you all have been discussing this ‘sealing’ process. What does that mean?” It was the Spirit King. Apparently, he’d been using Mira’s eyes and ears to monitor the situation. Once things had calmed down, he became curious about this term, “sealing,” and decided to ask Mira about it.

“Oh. You see…” Mira began to respond telepathically.

Perhaps the Spirit King, with all of his vast knowledge, had a way of resolving this issue. Mira summarized the sealing of demon powers that Wallenstein had described.

“Hmm. I wasn’t aware of this.” It seemed even the Spirit King hadn’t heard about Wallenstein’s techniques. He listened intently and mused, “How to calm the demon…?” After a moment of thought, he declared that if that was what was needed, he might be able to help.

The Spirit King had come through again. “Goodness! How would you do it?!” Mira cried.

The solution was actually much closer at hand than she’d anticipated. According to the Spirit King, Leticia’s songs had the power to soothe more than just the body and mind. They even worked on angels and demons too.

“My word…” Mira thought she knew Leticia well, but she was surprised by this revelation. She smirked; it really was a perfect solution. “It’s my time to shine!” she declared proudly.

Solomon, Luminaria, and Kagura all looked at her, annoyed. But Wallenstein seemed more open. “You have a plan?”

“I do. The Spirit King has given me some useful information,” Mira said.

Solomon’s attitude changed entirely. “Wow, that sounds promising.”

“Sick!” Luminaria said.

“That’s good news for you, Wallenstein,” Kagura agreed.

They clearly trusted the Spirit King’s ideas far more than Mira’s. The group got excited, as if the sealing was guaranteed now. Wallenstein himself was quite relieved; before, he’d been grasping at straws.

“You guys are rude…” Mira pouted, but she summoned Sanctia.

She couldn’t summon Leticia or any other spirits yet due to the oni curse wafting around the place. The only thing she could summon right now was Holy Sword Sanctia, heir to the Spirit King’s power.

“Let’s get this place cleaned up.” Mira took the sword in hand, and the Spirit King’s blessing pattern appeared all over her body.

“Whoa… So that’s what you were telling me about,” Solomon exclaimed when he saw the brilliant divine pattern. Luminaria and Kagura were likewise amazed by the power of the Spirit King emanating from her.

“This is incredible.” The sight filled Wallenstein with hope. Between the Spirit King’s power and this new idea, victory was within their grasp.

Light gathered around Sanctia and swelled. Once it was blindingly bright, Mira swung the sword down.

Gentle yet vivid light washed over the chamber. It emanated like waves from Sanctia, permeating every inch of the catacombs. The light engulfed the curse, purifying it—it even melted the fallen horns of the former Oni Princess.

“Whoa, so this is what the place looked like before?” Solomon gasped, faced with the sudden change of scenery.

The purified catacombs had returned to their original snow-white. What had once looked and felt like a cursed lair now felt like a sacred space.

“So they turned this all dark? How spiteful can you get…?” Luminaria thought of just how hateful the oni must have been to accomplish that feat.

In the past, the oni race ran wild and endangered all of nature, forcing spirits to put an end to them. It seemed the oni still hated the spirits enough to cause all of this. Kagura, believing the oni had earned their punishment, spat, “They’re really the worst.”

“By the way… That sword is cool and all, but we gotta work on your form… Pfft!” Solomon sputtered and started laughing. Rather than finding her brandishing of Sanctia divine, Solomon was amused by her amateur moves. Mira’s axis of rotation was off, and she was bent forward. While Solomon laughed, Mira retorted that it didn’t matter since it was ritual, not combat.

While they argued, Wallenstein said impatiently, “So, Mira? Is it working?!” He was already standing in front of the duke preparing something, probably getting ready to seal it. On closer inspection, his collection of tools was likely worth tens of millions of ducats.

“Don’t rush me, please. I was only cleaning up; the real work begins now.” Mira hoped Wallenstein wouldn’t jump the gun as she drew a summoning circle. Purifying the catacombs was only preparation to summon Leticia. 

“If you can hear my voice, feel my thoughts,

Perhaps, will they wake you?

How I long to hear your words, to listen to you sing,

Echoing like a bell, right here in this moment.”

Her incantations echoed, became a melody, dissolved into the air, and formed a gate.

“Woo! Hi everyone, here’s my original song, ‘Ode to My Master’!”

The moment Leticia emerged from the summoning circle, she began singing the prelude to her favorite song.

“You’re really gonna make her sing a song about you?” Solomon said half-jokingly. He shrugged. Luminaria and Kagura made a few cracks about how vain Mira was. However, Wallenstein kept his eyes fixed on Mira, demanding she explain her plan.

“She… I can’t help… She just does this sometimes…” Mira tried to make an excuse; she could never predict what Leticia might do when she appeared. She requested the spirit sing “Lullaby of Peace” instead.

“I love requests!”

The odd, pop-like melody from before stopped and was replaced by a gentler, classic tune. It was soft and sweet enough to touch any heart, filled with something that evoked a mother’s gentle love.

As everyone was drawn in by her song, Mira asked Wallenstein, “Is it working?”

Despite being in such an impatient mood before, it seemed the song had calmed even Wallenstein. “Hmm? Let’s see…” He suddenly remembered his mission and checked on the duke. “This is… Wow, it’s unbelievable! The duke is fully stabilized.” It seemed the Spirit King’s idea was a huge success. Wallenstein took a moment to confirm. With surprise on his face, he exclaimed, “It’s as if we hadn’t fought at all! It’s as stable as can be. At this rate, I could do it in one go—”

The duke didn’t look much different to their eyes, but it seemed it was in the ideal state to be sealed. Its perfect stability meant that the sealing wouldn’t take a mental toll on it, so instead of splitting the process into steps, it could be accomplished all at once.

“Then hurry and do it now,” Mira said. Wallenstein swiftly prepared and began the sealing process.

While Wallenstein worked, Kagura suddenly looked around and asked, “By the way, where’s the divine item?”

“Ah, good question. Where could it be?”

To enter the oni catacombs, the demon would have had to use the divine item’s power to gouge out a tunnel. In that case, it should be nearby…but they hadn’t seen anything.

The group began searching while they waited for the sealing to finish. “Maybe it’s in there?” Solomon found the tower in the center suspicious, so he checked inside.

“At this point, I’d bet it’s farther away.” Mira ran off to check the small chambers on the outer rim.

Kagura and Luminaria began poking around nearby as well.

“Hmm, where is it…?”

“Don’t ask me.”

But they found no clues to the divine item’s whereabouts. The four all turned their eyes to Wallenstein, who was still working to seal it. They might not find it, but once the demon returned to its senses, it would be able to tell them. Eventually, Wallenstein stood up. The process had taken exactly as long as he’d predicted.

With Leticia’s singing as background music, Wallenstein called out with a big smile, “It’s done. And it’s…perfect!” He was quite satisfied; the sealing would have zero effect on the demon’s memories.

“Oho, finished?” With his demonic powers sealed, the duke looked nearly human now. Moreover, Mira noted with a frown, “He’s a handsome devil…” She was especially wary of handsome men.

Luminaria gazed at the light demon for a moment and declared, “Yeah, he’s a real heartbreaker.” She and Mira were similar in their outlook.

Hearing their jealous complaints, Kagura peered curiously down at the demon lying on the ground. “What? He seems like a gentleman to me…” She evaluated him as someone born a woman. He was a very knightly, heroic-looking man.

“Nah,” Luminaria disagreed. “He’ll leave a trail of inconsolable women in his wake wherever he goes.”

“Agreed. Do not be fooled,” Mira warned Kagura.

What was it that drove the two of them—now a beautiful woman and a cute girl—to treat a man like this when he wasn’t even competition? Was it a learned reflex? Either way, Mira and Luminaria disliked the light demon on sight.

“Men are so weird…” Kagura sighed in exasperation and turned her attention to Wallenstein. “What do you think, Wally? Doesn’t he look like the kind of guy to take good care of the people he loves?”

When Kagura asked the question, Mira and Luminaria focused on him as well.

“Umm… Dunno… I guess we won’t know until it happens?” Wallenstein stalled and hoped someone would change the subject.

“So, when should we wake him up?” Solomon asked.

Wallenstein whipped around as if he’d been thrown a life raft and replied, “Morning, at the earliest.”

“Then, shall we ask him where the divine item is then?”

“Looks like we’re camping.”

“Guess you gotta let a guy get some sleep.”

“That sounds like the quickest way to find it…”

Everyone agreed with Solomon’s assessment. The debate about hot men was left unsettled.

***

“I sensed a sealing. Could it be?” These words were spoken by Faust, the off-duty knight who’d just wandered in.

“That’s right. It went great,” Wallenstein answered. Faust peered at the light demon, and a smile spread across his face. Perhaps as a fellow demon, he could tell that he’d been fully awakened. The comrades rejoiced over their completed mission.

“Hey, is that guy…?” Solomon asked. Was this the light demon Mira had told him about?

Now that he thought about it, Wallenstein realized this was their first meeting. “Whoops, sorry. Let me introduce you.” He introduced Faust to the group, and the group to Faust.

After everyone exchanged greetings, Faust asked, “By the way, Wally, what’s with the…uh, the getup?” One might think Faust had known Wallenstein for a long time, but it seemed this was his first time seeing his friend dressed like that. Faust stared at the black mummy curiously.

“It’s just special equipment… Don’t ask. Please.” Wallenstein averted his eyes and tried to give off a “change the subject” vibe again.

This was an outfit he’d requested back when his eighth-grader syndrome was at its peak. Now that he’d been rehabilitated, he’d become a pretty normal, if not outright docile, adult man. That made this all very embarrassing. He’d rather not bring it up.

The Wise Men and Solomon were smirking smugly at Wallenstein, which was enough to tell Faust that he should drop it.

With that settled, Faust hoisted the duke over his shoulder. He planned to take the new light demon back to headquarters, where he’d have peace and quiet until he woke up.

“I’ll be off.” With that, Faust was suddenly clad in a mysterious light. In the next instant, he disappeared. He had used teleportation magic.

“Ooh! Oh! That’s it! I’ve been wondering about that!” Mira had seen this once when they were riding the train. Faced with it again, she pressed Wallenstein for details. “You came from Sentopoli with that same spell, didn’t you? Teach me! Now!”

Mira wasn’t the only one; Luminaria and Solomon were also watching, rapt.

“Umm, well. Okay…” Wallenstein explained that it was indeed teleportation magic. However, it wasn’t all-powerful; it required a sort of landmark at the destination. There was also a limitation on the number of markers.

It functioned similarly to Kagura’s own magic that allowed her to switch places with her shikigami. In comparison, Kagura’s actually seemed much more convenient, since she could send Tweetsuke anywhere at high speeds to serve as a mobile landmark.

But according to Wallenstein, it was actually an Ethereal Art, which meant that any mage could learn it. Moreover, he’d given his travel marker to Kagura. After she switched places with her shikigami at Alcait Castle, he was able to teleport to the marker.

Even more excited by the existence of such awe-inspiring magic, Mira watched Wallenstein eagerly. “I see… In other words, if I put one of those down, I could use that magic myself!” Solomon and Luminaria watched with bated breath, too.

“Umm, look… I kind of had to promise I’d never teach anyone else how to use it…” he replied nervously. He’d already shared all the information that was safe to disclose. How to learn it, and how to create the magical tools used as markers, was confidential.

“Mm? Who was it? Who has silenced you?” Mira quickly decided that she’d just have to ask the person who taught him.

“I’m not allowed to divulge that information either…” Wallenstein looked away. He insisted that it was a secret. Mira could tell from his stubbornness that whoever it was must be quite important, and the spell itself must have been quite powerful. So she gave up.

What would happen if teleportation magic usable by any mage spread throughout the world? Mira was focused on its convenience for transportation, but the magic could be dangerous if used for criminal purposes. No doubt whoever taught Wallenstein kept it secret because they were afraid of it being used for nefarious ends.

She couldn’t rightfully interrogate him further.

“I suppose that’s that then…” she sighed.

Teleportation magic was so tempting…she’d be willing to go rather far to learn it. But knowing that it would put Wallenstein in a tough spot made her reconsider.

“Well? We’ve done what we must here. Shall we return to the castle?” Mira turned to go, as if trying to shake off her disappointment. Luminaria shrugged it off as well.

“You two are just gonna have to learn it for yourselves.” Kagura followed after them with Tyriel on her back. She wore a composed smirk on her face, as if to say that she didn’t need to rush; she could already teleport, after all.

Mira and Luminaria glared at her. Behind them, Solomon approached Wallenstein, who was in the middle of changing back into his suit.

“Hey, so, what about me?” he asked.

“Sorry. No can do,” Wallenstein apologized.

It seemed this information was too confidential, even for a king.