Under the crumbling starry night.

…

After the event that brought Glenn and me together, I realized my own weakness that was hidden under the false veneer of strength, and no longer pretended to be strong.

What I received was the warm, calm, and gentle days – days that can make me forget the pain and loneliness that accompanied me.

“Let me think… I know, how about alchemy? Want to make a red crystal together?”

The time spent with Glenn has quickly thawed my already frozen heart.

But, it was at this time, I was afflicted by a certain ‘ailment’…

“Tsk…? So this normal looking room is the famed centerpiece of the ‘Taum Observatory’?”

At the center of the beautifully polished hemispheric room laid a large and mysterious magic device, with a ma.s.sive black tablet nearby.

This magic apparatus was actually the functional part of the gigantic planetarium, a relic built using ancient magic from time long ago. Previous researched postulated that it utilized light magic to create a projection of the night sky onto the hemispheric room.

What was the meaning of this device? For what reason was the device built? Because of all these unanswered questions, the device was known to be a mystery.

“Ah… Right. Is that so…?”

“Umm, Teacher? Since we took the effort to come out all the way to ‘Taum Observatory’, we should use this planetarium to take a gander at the stars, don’t you agree?” Sistine has been nudging Glenn ever since they set foot in the planetarium.

Suddenly remember what transpired last night, Glenn impulsively shrunk back a step. But Sistine did not seem to mind, and once again pleaded for the opportunity.

“Umm… I-I will think about it…”

“But… rather than fiddling with the useless planetarium device, I am more interested in summarizing our findings and thinking of a good thesis to write.”

“Haa… If you already promised that much…” Glenn reluctantly followed the previous thesis’s procedure in activating the device – first pressing a few locations on the black tablet, and then inputting the commands.

The magic used by the ancients, also known as ancient magic. Modern people could not understand the theory and the construction of ancient magic. No matter how they investigated, they could not use modern magic as a basis for the understanding of ancient magic. But, even not understanding the theory behind the devices, they at least could use modern magic to operate the already existing devices.

Everyone held their breath as Glenn tapped the various glowing letters on the black display tablet. Suddenly, the room was enveloped by darkness, and followed by a change to their world.

Nebulae, comets, stars all appeared as they immersed themselves in the scene above their heads. Countless twinkling stars greeted them in the dreamlike environment of s.p.a.ce, as if a bowl of silver dust was spread upon the darkness, leaving everyone breathless at the magnificent scene. It was hard to believe themselves as still being confined to the chamber. Was it merely a trick of the light that projected the image upon the surface? No… At that moment, everyone felt like they were standing in the middle of the boundless cosmos.

“Who knows? Technological advancement and realization are different. Perhaps this fit the agenda of a certain religious ceremony, or perhaps this is purely for entertainment, we will never know…”

As the device came to a halt, the room immediately reverted to its original appearance.

Then, as with their usual day, they began to record and translate the drawings and etchings on the ground, search for hidden doors and pa.s.sageways, and scour for evidence of unusual magic. The same mundane action they had been performing for the rest of the expedition.

Mm. Either way, I doubt we will find anything peculiar…

“Professor Arfonia!” Sistine rushed over to Celica.

“Umm… I have a favor to ask.” Sistine was somewhat nervous as she asked, “Please, professor. Could you a.n.a.lyze the planetarium device?”

Sistine reminisced about the time when his grandfather, Redolf Fibel, was still alive.

“W-what are you saying? Are there any evidence? Dear grandfather?”

Reflecting his heart, his eyes shone with absolute conviction.

“G-grandfather…”

It was the last thesis written by her grandfather, his opus ultimum.

As of such…

“H-hey, White Cat… I’m sure this is just a simple planetarium device.” Faced with the aggressive Sistine, Glenn fell into distress, “It is not just us. Some very powerful magicians have already investigated the device, with all the tools available to man, and even their conclusion was that the device is noth-…”

Although unsure why, Celica agreed to Sistine’s favor and silenced the annoyed Glenn.

“Oh? Are you really going to do it? If you already agreed, then I will leave it in your able hands. After all, there is certainly the chance that you may discover something new.”

Sistine took a deep gulp, eagerly looking over Celica’s magic a.n.a.lysis.

Sistine’s grandfather, Redolf Fibel was indeed a genius magician, so much so that even if Sistine worked all her life, she may not reach even an ounce of her grandfather brilliance.

If it is Professor Arfonia… if it is the continents greatest seventh-ranked mage… then perhaps…

After about an hour had pa.s.sed since the start of the a.n.a.lysis, as Glenn started to doze off…

“I-is that so…”

“So, even you could not find anything. And here I thought, ‘If it were you~’. Ah, either way, could I get a copy of your a.n.a.lysis?”

“Thank you, that will be a big help.”

H-how… Even Professor Arfonia couldn’t find anything. That is to say…

No, there must be something, grandfather has never been wrong. And when I grow up, I will definitely unveil the mystery.

“That and…”

Glenn obediently listened to Celica’s decisions, and activated the planetarium device. Then, when Celica wanted to a.n.a.lyze the planetarium device, Glenn had a face full of antic.i.p.ation, and agreed with all of Celica’s conclusions. In short, from the very beginning, the one Glenn trusted the most on this expedition was Celica, and not Sistine – and it was confirmed time and time again during this expedition.

“Oh? This is quite similar to what I saw during the expedition to Cantare’s Nougat ruins. If memory serves, I believe the best interpretation of this design would be…”

When I was the one specifically recruited to serve as the archaeothaumatology consultant…

Lumia was correct. Although Celica never explicitly advertised her experiences, it was clear from her replies. Celica’s understanding of ancient civilizations easily overshadowed that of Sistine, despite never having had published a single paper on archaeothaumatology. Whenever Sistine discussed archaeothaumatology with Celica, she would be awestruck by Celica’s breadth of facts and the depth of understanding. Sadly, being beaten in her own field was what brought about the greatest shock to Sistine.

“But still… Uuu…”

That place should have been rightfully mine…

“Why… does my heart hurt so much?” Sistine muttered under her breath. At that moment…

A flash of inspiration came to Sistine. Sure, Sistine was inferior to Celica on many levels, but if she carry out her plan, then perhaps she could one-up her.

Once Sistine confirmed that everyone was busy with their work, and would unlikely interfere, she pulled close to Lumia and whispered.

“To think, there really is nothing new to be found here…” Glenn grumbled as he browsed through the compiled notebook of expedition results.

“Yeah, sure.” Glenn gave Celica a lukewarm response.

Her face from the side was dyed with melancholy, although no one knew why.

“Wh-…”

Whiiir.

“What…?!”

The planetarium device was beginning to churn.

The previous thesis has never described such abnormal function before.

“Wh-…?!”

“N-no way. Is this for real?!” Sistine and Lumia exclaimed as they stood next to the stone control panel next to the planetarium device.

In the moment that followed, Glenn and all the other students simply stood dumbfounded at the mysterious portal that appeared.

“Hey, how did you do that? What did you do to make that appear?!”

“Ahhh!! I can’t believe Sistine got to make a name for herself before me!!”

Kash, Cecil, Wendy, and Gibul all joined in cheering.

Glenn trembled at the discovery.

When even the seventh-ranked Celica concluded that ‘Other than the function as a planetarium, there is nothing else to it’ using a.n.a.lytical magic, a mere second-ranked Sistine had no way of challenging that conclusion. In other words, there was no way for Sistine to have opened the door with the device’s in-built mechanism.

I knew it! There was no way for any hidden mechanisms to be located within the device, there is simply no room for it to be placed! Even its current mechanism barely fitted inside the structure! For it to be possible…

“Hey, Celica. What do you think? Could it be that she…?”

“Celica…?”

“H-how could it be possible?”

“C-Corridor… of… S-Stars? R-right, this is the ‘Corridor of Stars’!!” Celica was acting in an extremely unusual manner as her mouth muttered odd words.

“H-how can something like this… be possible…? B-but, I am… certainly…!” Celica kept muttering in a trance-like state, and then slowly stood up, “R-right… I…”

“Professor Arfonia?!”

To everyone’s surprise, Celica sprinted into the portal and vanished.

No one could believe what had just happened. For the experienced Celica, who had gone on countless expeditions, to make such a rudimentary mistake was unthinkable.

But, perhaps the portal has exceeded its time limit, or perhaps because a mechanism in place for when a person enters, the sound of the magic earlier has once again came.

Before Glenn’s very eyes, Celica’s back disappeared from view as the portal vanished.

Silence. Everyone who was present at the scene was at a loss for words. Celica had vanished through the mysterious portal.

“Teacher?”

Glenn placed a magic crystal on each of the tent’s four corners, and then activated the soundproofing wards. It was to prevent others from outside to eavesdrop on the conversation.

“Ah, right…”

“As I suspected…”

Lumia’s unique ability was [Magic Amplification], and could temporarily amplify the magic power of one she comes in contact with, allowing for a significantly stronger magic. Sistine only wanted to see if she could pick up anything Celica may have missed with Lumia’s a.s.sistance, but it turned out to be an incredible miscalculation.

Sistine could not resist testing the mechanism out, and began to operate the control panel as indicated. She ended up activating the unknown function, and what followed was the appearance of the portal. Or so the story goes…

“Lumia, I had always felt from a long time ago that your [Magic Amplification] is not really as simple as we thought.” Because of the sensitivity of the information, Glenn lowered his voice.

Glenn believed this incident was not unlike the previous. Likely, the magic mechanism Sistine identified was one of ancient magic, that would have been otherwise unintelligible to their modern understanding. Yet, Lumia’s ability made that a reality.

But now was not the time to delve into that matter.

“No, Sisti is not at fault here… If I had given more of a thought before using my ability, then…”

“Certainly, I would have liked if you asked for permission first before going ahead with your power… Despite being in a foreign land, aren’t you guys acting a bit too overconfident just because you are surrounded by your cla.s.smates?”

“But still, we were originally here to unravel the mystery of the ruins, so what you found can’t be really be said as a bad thing. Rather, the real problem is…”

“That crazy old woman! What exactly was she thinking?! Charging in alone like that…!”

“Of course it would be to bring her back!” Glenn immediately replied, “I have a bad feeling about this. That Celica was acting weird lately, although I do not know the reason. Either way, we cannot simply abandon her like this!”

“White Cat, Lumia, listen well. I need you to open that portal again, and Riel, once I am gone, I leave the rest of the students in your care. Do you all understand?” Glenn said to the three girls as he took out explosives and ammo from his baggage, “I will head to the other side of the portal, and will need you to open the portal – once tomorrow morning, once at lunch, and once more at night. If I have yet to return with Celica by then, I want you to leave us and return to Fejite.”

“The good thing is that others will think you only accidentally chanced upon the mechanism for the portal. To avoid Lumia’s ability from being revealed, I need you three to get your stories all sorted out.”

Lumia eyes were bright with conviction.

“Y-yes, that isn’t wrong… but…”

“But-…” Just as Glenn opened his mouth to reject her.

And then,

“Y-you guys…” Glenn looked at Lumia and the others, with his heart in complete turmoil.

Certainly, there was always the chance that they would be able to immediately locate Celica and return. However, there was also the chance that things won’t go smoothly, and what awaited them on the other side was an enchanted cave with no way to return. Despite being a worst case scenario, it nevertheless was very possible. Could Glenn really bring Lumia and the others into such a dangerous place?

Glenn was conflicted, and momentarily unsure how to decide. After struggling internally, and taking into account all the risks and rewards, Glenn made his final decision.

“Teacher?!”

“Wh-…?!”

Did they hear everything earlier?! N-no, that is impossible with the soundproofing wards I had set up…

“Hey, teacher… what is your plan regarding the matter with Professor Arfonia?” Kash asked after a long period of silence.

“You are going alone?”

Sistine rushed out from the tent, “T-teacher?! For you to say something like that!”

“Enough is enough! You kids just be quiet!” Glenn’s loud outburst cut Sistine and the others short.

“Oh, I get it now… Hey, teacher…” Kash leapt at Glenn after a short dash, “Y-you baaastard!!”

Kash’s kick flew straight into Glenn, and made Glenn roll all the way back into the tent behind him.

“T-that…”

“While I may just be a burden if I went, Lumia have her unmatched ability in healing magic, Sistine have her combat magic and knowledge, and Riel have her sword… I’m certain they will become your strength!”

“Teacher! If Lumia and the others have already resolved themselves to follow you, you should just let them! This way, the rescue of the professor will be able to proceed more smoothly! Don’t worry about us, we will be fine on our own!”

“The professor is important to teacher, right? Why are you still putting up a strong front at a moment like this?”

“Teacher, please don’t be rash and try to do everything alone…”

“Hehehe~ We all believe that teacher will definitely be able to bring the professor back safe and sound.”

“Y-you guys…? Why would you all go to such lengths for Celica…?” Glenn was flabbergasted by the students, and unintentionally voiced a dumb question.

“…Ah.”

“You guys…” Glenn gazed at his students for a while, with his heart filled with warmth…

After making his decision, Glenn turned and said.

After hearing Glenn’s sincere request, the three girls all silently nodded their heads in affirmation.