Chapter 42: Noisy Screams

“…….”

Thump, thump.

As Aria tucked her hands into her pockets, she opted to bite her lips, not her fingernails, revealing her resilience even in distress.

She had diligently managed to hide any signs of distress, not wanting to appear unattractive. But eventually, her emotions overwhelmed her, and she couldn’t hold them back any longer.

‘So, they finally broke up.’

Aria exhaled a sigh. She saw Deus and Erica break up just a few moments ago.

It was a relationship that had to end anyway.

Aria had tried to be patient, but when she saw Deus gently patting Erica’s head, her emotions started bubbling up.

And as she saw the corners of his lips curling up, she felt her eyes roll back in her head.

“Huuuu!”

She took a deep breath, making an effort to suppress her emotions. She closed her eyes tightly and directed her anger and jealousy towards Erica, who was feeling Deus’s touch.

‘It doesn’t matter. Yes, it’s okay.’

After all, the professor belonged to her.

Being someone who knew the future, she could never be defeated.

‘Professor, don’t worry. I’ll lead the way.’

And after saving the world together, they could live happily ever after.

Blushing at her own fantasies, she saw Deus hurriedly turning away, leaving Erica behind as he headed towards the academy.

Since Aria had already mastered the footstep technique only known to the Royal family, she arrived at the academy before Deus.

As relaxed as when she left, she gracefully jumped over the high wall.

“Phew!”

Upon landing, she hurriedly tidied her appearance. She took out a mirror, checking if her hair was messy or if there was anything on her face.

‘Great.’

Aria heard that she was a beauty wherever she went. In the past, she would have modestly declined such compliments, but now she was sure that her appearance was not inferior to anyone else’s.

She closed her eyes and sensed the mana.

She then walked towards the entrance of the academy, calm and natural.

Coincidentally, Deus greeted the surveillance guard and entered the academy just as she approached.

“Hello, Professor!”

Aria approached with a bright smile. Deus looked at her for a moment before nodding his head.

“Yes, I remember you. Aria Rias.”

He remembered! Even though they only exchanged greetings once! As expected of the professor!

“Yes! That’s right! I heard you got hurt. Are you okay?”

She smiled affectionately as she approached him.

‘No… Did I feign excessive friendliness?’

This was only their second encounter in this lifetime, yet she unconsciously disregarded the distance and approached him.

The Deus she was familiar with would surely be displeased.

Deus calmly gazed at her, seemingly indifferent.

“Sure, I’m fine.”

However, Deus didn’t push her away. Aria’s heart fluttered a little at his non-rejection.

Maybe the first impression was good?

Or could it be that he knew she entered as the top student?

Probably.

He seemed to have a liking for high-achieving students.

“Well, now there won’t be any strange phenomena happening again, right? My friends were really scared.”

A student who was scared about the current situation would naturally cling to the professor.

As a professor, he couldn’t push her away so easily, and her prediction was correct.

Deus walked with her, nonchalantly responding.

“Yeah, there won’t be any strange phenomena now.”

“That’s a relief! Any idea why such a thing happened in the first place?”

Curiously, she tilted her head, and Deus glanced at the academy building, sharing his thoughts.

“Even if the academy was constructed on a graveyard, the sheer number of evil spirits was unusually high, and their power was overwhelming. The souls that were originally resting in the graveyard were not evil spirits, to begin with.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s why I believe someone intentionally summoned these evil spirits to the academy and made the situation worse..”

“I-I see!”

Aria felt a tingling sensation throughout her body.

‘As expected of the professor!’

His sharp insight always surprised her, and it was the same this time.

How could he figure it out so quickly?

She had tried her best to make it look natural and had a hard time awakening Angel, but the professor grasped it instantly!

‘Finding the Spirit Stone was quite difficult. However, since I’ve already done it once, it was manageable.’

After regressing, she spent the first three months traveling the continent. After that, she came to the academy and released the evil spirits in the academy.

It was quite a complex task, but with her previous memories, she managed it well.

‘Still, it’s good that you struggled. The professor grew up in such a short time and even killed his original personality so early!’

Aria shivered, feeling the chill of the night air. She felt a sense of relief, knowing that her efforts had not been in vain.

“What do you think?”

At that moment, Aria snapped back to reality, her attention now on Deius.

“Yes? What are you talking about?”

“This situation. As a student, you can’t just ignore it.”

“Ah, I see. Distrust towards the academy is understandable. Some students received a notice that their withdrawal could be canceled, but few decided not to due to the broken trust.”

“That’s right.”

“But I won’t give up! There’s so much I still want to learn here!”

Aria felt it was for the best.

Professor won’t need to waste his precious time worrying about others now.

Deus remained silent, looking troubled. Aria smiled reassuringly and said, “You have nothing to worry about! There are still plenty of other students to take care of! In fact, only the cream of the crop will remain!”

‘The professor has nothing to worry about.’

‘Because I will lay out all the tiles without the professor’s knowledge.’

In fact, it was Aria because of whom Deus was able to start learning necromancy.

The basic textbook for necromancy was not something that even a well-connected merchant could easily obtain.

Through the recent academy incident, she believed that he must have become quite familiar with basic necromancy spells.

‘Keep getting stronger like that. This time, you must not die.’

Suppressing her laughter inwardly, Aria suddenly realized that she had followed Deus all the way to the faculty dormitory.

“Oh my, I had so much fun talking with the professor that I ended up following him. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

‘Aah! I must have made a really good first impression! The professor is so kind!’

She will probably go back to her room and replay today’s events over and over again.

“There’s one thing I’d like to ask, if it’s alright.”

As Aria was about to turn away with a sense of regret, Deus’ voice stopped her.

“Yes? Anything.”

Smiling brightly, Aria looked at Deus with anticipation.

A question?

What could he possibly ask?

As she waited with a cheerful smile, her anticipation shattered when Deus asked his question.

“Even after terrorizing the academy, don’t you feel any guilt?”

* * *

“Even after terrorizing the academy, don’t you feel any guilt?”

Aria’s smile, which was as bright as a painting, began to fade at my words.

She awkwardly continued to smile, unable to control her expression properly.

“W-What are you talking about?”

“Hmm, do I need to be more specific?”

As she pretended not to know even though she already understood, I decided to push a little more aggressively.

“I’m talking about how you woke up innocent souls who were peacefully resting in their slumber and turned them into sinners?”

“.......”

Aria kept her mouth tightly shut, staring blankly with unfocused eyes.

I, too, continued to criticize her without any change in my expression.

“An old woman who just wanted to give candies to her grandchildren became a bizarre evil spirit, feeding her eyes to the academy’s students.”

“.......”

“The orphanage director who loved the children twisted his methods to protect them and put all the second-floor girls’ dormitory students in coma.”

“.......”

“The child who enjoyed playing tag would climb onto other people’s beds at night, scaring them and asking them to play.”

With each word, Aria’s head gradually dropped.

“Even if you didn’t know what actions they would take, in the end, it was you who awakened the sleeping souls.”

“Do you have any evidence?”

Aria’s voice was low. Instead of hostility, it carried a stronger sense of fear.

“If you have any evidence that I did it, then show it.”

As I remained silent, Aria began to gain confidence, raising her head every time she spoke.

“Coming at me all of a sudden, there must be a reason, right? Or do you just pick on anyone?”

The Aria I saw in the game was a pretty smart girl.

If it were the original Aria, she wouldn’t have left any traces behind.

But now, she seemed to be emotionally different and didn’t realize she had missed quite a significant part.

“Without any evidence, you shouldn’t be suspecting a student out of the blue, professor. You scared me.”

Aria laughed playfully as she regained her composure. She seemed relieved that I didn’t say anything.

“It’s noisy.”

Ignoring her, I closed my eyes for a moment. It was so loud that my ears were ringing.

“What? Did my voice get too loud?”

Looking slightly flustered, Aria looked at me cautiously.

“No, it’s not your voice.”

It wasn’t just a young girl’s high-pitched voice. The chaotic, overlapping voices were resounding in my ears.

[It’s her! That crazy girl who came a few months ago and woke us!]

[Let’s kill her! Let’s kill her! Let’s kill her!]

[I will tear and devour her tender flesh!]

They were the weak spirits that were still lingering in the academy, following Aria.

Their voices, louder than a girl’s shrieks, were in disarray.

“The spirits who are screaming that you are the culprit… they’re too noisy.”

Hearing my words, Aria’s expression hardened once again.

--- End of The Chapter --

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