Damn Academy - Chapter 226
Chapter 226
Black Footprints
The smell of blood told me one thing: this person wasn’t normal. Who would think of using blood as ink? And continually sending letters to someone with whom they had no connection was far from normal behavior.
The content of the letter was written with white dust that fell off like powder. Blood and rock dust—what kind of person was this? Did they live in isolation from civilization?
Yet, for someone like that, the handwriting was refined and luxurious, befitting a noble.
The contents of the letter were affectionate yet extremely monotonous. It spoke of the place where the sender lived, where silver flowers bloomed in the spring and starlight shone so brightly that it was visible even in the fog.
A strange sense of discomfort lingered throughout my reading. It was as if I were being watched by an unknown entity.
Moreover, this woman knew my private information.
[You must be feeling lonely after your guardian left. Don’t worry too much; they will return someday.]
T h i s w a s c o p i e d fr om k i n g m t l . org
The guardian referred to Silveryn. She knew that Silveryn had left. Perhaps she was someone connected to Silveryn—a maid? A butler? Someone from the Magic Society was also a possibility.
I checked another letter. It contained the peculiar daily life of Amarylis.
[There must be many mages in Eternia. I have many mage friends too. I know a princess of the kingdom, a great archmage, and a mysterious scholar who holds ancient secrets. Yesterday, my old friend Nocturne visited me. She was a mage among mages. But the dazzlingly beautiful girl in my memory was no more. Her hair had fallen out, and all her teeth were gone. There was a crater-like hole in her abdomen from which green gas emerged. What could have happened to her?]
I opened another letter.
[I had an ominous dream. The faces of those who attended your entrance ceremony had all turned into ghouls. I was so shocked that I couldn’t sleep for a while. Why did I have such a dream? Maybe it was because I saw a corpse on the street yesterday, or maybe it was just because it rained. I am easily swayed by superstitions. I was so anxious that I wandered around my house all day. Don’t go to the entrance ceremony; come to Mayhen and stay with me.]
The message seemed to precisely hint at the events of the entrance ceremony. When was this sent? And how did this woman get news about me? Why is this happening?
I opened another letter. This one contained a story about Lady Vivi.
[Barvisia is a land of sorrow. The sorrow of the lady resonates with that land. And you will also be swept up in it. That woman is destined to fade away in a few years, so hide for a while. The city of fog can conceal you.]
She even knew about Vivi. My hair stood on end. It felt like she knew my future in advance, and it was incredibly unsettling.
At this point, I couldn’t definitively say what this was about.
She accurately knew about past events, but there was not a single letter predicting future events. It might just be an attempt to bewilder me.
The letters sometimes contained cruel, unrealistic, and gloomy stories, as if they were fables adapted from personal experiences.
[Nocturne had no lower lip, and her tongue was decayed, making it difficult for her to speak. But I listened to her story all night. As I listened to her long-winded tales, I could feel that the soul of a beautiful young girl still resided within her. She hoped that no one remembered her in her current grotesque form. I prayed for her all night.]
Based on the information in the letters, the foggy city of Mayhen where Amarylis lived seemed almost no different from a place like Barvisia. What she described were beings that were neither monsters nor humans. They might be entities born from hallucinations.
I gathered all the letters. I needed to find out who this woman was. After all, she was a potential threat to me.
***
Cecil hugged a book with both arms and looked at me with a sullen expression.
“Oh, I think I get it. You need help. You have a favor to ask. Can you check something for me?”
“…”
“And my answer is… Sorry, I’m busy! Bye!”
She then turned away swiftly. I hurriedly grabbed Cecil.
“I need help.”
Cecil sighed deeply.
T h i s w a s c o p ie d f ro m ki ng m tl. o r g
“Haa, can’t you visit just once without needing something?”
T hi s w a s c o p i e d fro m k i ngm tl.o r g
“…”
“Just because you missed me, were curious about what I was doing, or wanted to have a meal and chat while passing by. Can’t you visit for such reasons too?”
“If I said I pretended to need help just to see you, would you believe me?”
“No!”
Cecil raised her voice, and I put my finger to my lips to shush her. We were in the library.
“…Cecil, I desperately need your help. I came to borrow your day.”
“…You just want to use me?”
I rummaged through my pocket and pulled out what I had prepared.
I handed her a petal candy.
Cecil snatched it immediately and put it in her mouth.
With one cheek bulging, she said,
“It tastes good, but this won’t make me help you.”
“What else do you need?”
“…A souvenir.”
“What kind of souvenir?”
T h i s w as c o p i e d f ro m ki n g m t l . o rg
“Something from Claridyum.”
She was aiming for this, no wonder she had been so prickly. She could have just asked, and I would have given it to her.
T h i s w a s cop i e d f ro m k i ngmt l . o r g
“That’s manageable. Alright.”
It wasn’t a big deal.
“Something unique. With a heartfelt letter included.”
It was a bit tricky, but not impossible.
“Alright.”
“Deal.”
Cecil extended her hand for a handshake. We shook hands like diplomats who had just signed an agreement.
“So, what do you need help with?”
T h i s w a s c op ied f r om k i n g m t l.o rg
“I want to investigate a region called Mayhen, and a place within it called the foggy city.”
It was the place Amarylis had repeatedly invited me to visit at the end of her letters.
“Hmm…”
Cecil rolled her eyes upward as she thought for a moment.
“Mayhen and the foggy city?”
“Have you heard of it?”
“Unfortunately, no. If I haven’t heard of it, it’s probably not a major city or a well-known place. It might be an obscure region known only to locals, or a forgotten place.”
“Let’s start by looking at the map.”
“Alright. You grab ‘The World Map Recorded with My Daughter’ and ‘Dalton’s Continental Travelogue.’ I’ll bring all the geography records from a hundred years ago.”
“Got it.”
“Wait.”
Cecil placed her hand on my chest, stopping me.
“You know tomorrow is our meeting day, right?”
“Yeah. I even ironed my clothes. Do you need anything else?”
Cecil smiled softly and tidied my bangs.
“Just come looking handsome.”
She tapped my chest and walked away first.
***
“Ugh…”
Cecil, sitting across from me, stretched.
“Are you sleepy?”
Cecil, now relaxed, slumped in her chair like a mollusk.
“No. I’m just drained because we found nothing.”
We had spent five hours since midday, but we hadn’t found anything of note.
T h i s wa s c op i e d f r o m k in g m t l. o r g
Cecil sighed.
“There are too many foggy cities, so the name foggy city is meaningless.”
There was no place called Mayhen on any map. Cecil scoured old place names that sounded similar, but couldn’t find a match.
T h i s w a s c o p i e d fr om k i n gmt l .o r g
“Want a snack?”
Cecil silently extended her hand. I placed a petal candy in her hand.
She immediately popped it into her mouth.
“Can I take a break?”
“Sure.”
I couldn’t keep Cecil with me all day, so it was time to wrap things up.
“Let’s just investigate the New Territories and the western coast, and then we’ll stop.”
Cecil, seemingly bored, tapped her foot under the table.
She then nonchalantly placed one of her feet on my thigh.
“…”
Cecil smirked as she watched my reaction.
“My leg’s swollen.”
It distracted me enough to take a break from the book. I also popped a candy in my mouth and, to clear my head, asked Cecil something I had been curious about.
“How are you and Trisha getting along?”
“Hmm, why?”
“It doesn’t seem like you’re hanging out together these days.”
“Well…”
Cecil avoided my gaze, her response neither confirming nor denying anything.
She didn’t seem interested in asking about my relationship with Trisha. Even if she knew, there would still be many questions.
Before I could ask more, Cecil changed the subject.
“I’m curious, why are you so eager to find this place called Mayhen?”
“I received a suspicious letter from there.”
“…What’s in it?”
“It’s not particularly threatening and seems friendly… but I think it needs to be investigated.”
“Did the letter have an address from Mayhen? Was it written by the sender?”
“Yes.”
“Oh… wait, did someone deliver it to you directly?”
“No, I got it while I was away, but no.”
“Then it must have been a stitch.”
“I suppose. Why?”
“If it’s a stitch, there’s a way. It travels on the wind, and during warm seasons, it carries pollen. We can analyze the pollen to identify the route and general area.”
Different plants grow in different parts of the continent, so the pollen would vary. Identifying the region would make the search easier.
It was a clever idea.
“I’m glad I asked you for help.”
Cecil puffed up with pride and placed her other foot on my thigh.
“Where else would you find a perfect friend like me? Right? Give me the letters.”
I rummaged through my bag and selected those that hadn’t been thrown into the fireplace, handing the envelopes to her.
“Here.”
Cecil sniffed the paper and said,
“Alright, I’ll leave it with a friend in the alchemy department. If I say it’s for Damian, the results will come quickly. Probably.”
“Thank you.”
Cecil stretched again, showing signs of fatigue.
“Are we done now?”
“Yes.”
“My legs hurt, so I’ll stay like this for a while.”
“…”
***
The next day, I went to find Liria to retrieve the tailcoat I had left for alteration.
“Liria, are you there?”
I knocked on her door, but there was no response. She might have been out cleaning or had gone out.
Since Cecil was waiting outside the mansion, I opened the door out of urgency.
As soon as I entered, a strong herbal scent hit me.
I saw Liria asleep on her desk. Books were scattered around, and the walls were adorned with various potion samples and handwritten recipes.
Liria’s room looked quite different from the last time I saw it.
T hi s wa s c o p ie d f r o m kin g m tl . o r g
“…”
Among the scattered items, I noticed some materials related to the entrance exam for Eternia.
Why was she studying so hard? Was she preparing to enroll?
I felt a moment of solemnity. Even while I was away, she had been striving to build her own life.
I took out all the gold coins from my pocket and placed them in a pouch. Along with a note, I left it by Liria’s bedside. Preparing for enrollment would cost a lot for materials and textbooks.
I quietly took the neatly folded tailcoat from the nightstand and left the room.
***
Cecil stood in the courtyard, admiring the mansion. It didn’t seem particularly interesting to me, but Cecil couldn’t take her eyes off it.
“What are you looking at?”
Cecil glanced at me and then back at the mansion.
“It’s just fascinating.”
“The mansion?”
“No, that Candy is Damian, and Damian is the disciple of a great mage. Seeing it in person feels strange.”
“Shall we go?”
Cecil stopped admiring the mansion and walked over to me. She matched her steps with mine as we headed to the carriage.
“I got a message from a stitch a little while ago.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about what you asked for. The results are in.”
“What did it say?”
“It came with pollen from trees that grow in the far north.”
“…”
“Mayhen doesn’t match the northern names much, so it’s a bit suspicious. The sample might have been contaminated.”
Cecil limited her analysis to the north, not considering beyond that.
But I understood everything now.
Finally, all the pieces fit. A place where humans couldn’t live sanely. A Magic Sword that suddenly found me. A place where ink was replaced by blood and stone. A name that didn’t appear on any map of the continent.
Everything pointed to the land of death.
Mayhen and the foggy city existed beyond the land of death.
***
Liria knocked on Damian’s door, arms full of cleaning supplies.
The knock echoed through the empty room and hallway. Disheartened, Liria sighed.
“He’s gone…”
Her primary job was to assist Damian, not to dote on him. She steeled herself and entered the room to finish her tasks.
First, she opened the window and tidied the hastily discarded clothes and disheveled bedding.
She then stood by the fireplace, laying a large cloth on the floor. She used a rake to sweep out the ashes.
As she worked, she muttered to herself, imagining Damian’s return.
“Surely, he’ll come back today…”
Suddenly, instead of the sound of the rake scraping the fireplace floor, there was a tearing sound.
“…?”
Sensing something was wrong, she rummaged through the ashes and found a black letter torn into pieces by the rake.
“Ah!”
Realizing her mistake, she screamed.
She hurriedly unfolded the letter to check the damage.
[…Nocturne looked into the mirror and hid in a cave, sobbing for days. Why is God so cruel to us?]
[…Poor Nocturne. She can never return to her old self. To comfort her, I sometimes talked about you. I don’t know what she thought, but she always stopped crying and listened when I mentioned you.]
[…Nocturne still weeps for her past self, left behind like a discarded husk. To console her, I gave her a new name.]
[…Poor Priscilla. May the goddess’s blessing be with her.]
T his w a s c o pi e d f r om k i n g mt l . o r g
End of Chapter
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