By the time Mikhail returned from the station and met up with Claude, everything was over. The Professor was surprised by how fast the problem was resolved.

「Well, Hikaru's here, so I guess it's understandable!」

Mikhail laughed heartily. He was in favor of moving to Scholarzard as well. Hikaru, however, couldn't quite grasp why him being here was enough of an explanation for the Professor.

Hikaru and the others arrived in Scholarzard by the end of the day. Mikhail, Claude, and Luka would be staying at the academy. Preparations for Ludancia's potential attack would begin tomorrow.

「The dorms would be a good place to stay at, but it's a small two-story building, so it's not really suited for defending.」

They were gathered in a lecture hall, with Mikhail standing at the platform, while Hikaru (together with Drake), Lavia, Paula, Claude, Luka, and Ivan listened. League was not around as he had to discuss their next plans with his attendants.

「So are we staying at an ordinary inn, then?」Ivan asked.

「Are you serious? We'll be even more defenseless. The academy can shelter Luka. There's a barrier around the place and people can only enter through the front, rear, and west gates.」

「In that case, the dorm is better…」

「Relying too much on the barrier might become our downfall. We must come up with a number of plans.」

A military personnel, Mikhail excelled at devising strategies. Hikaru listened attentively too.

「But we can use the dorm. The enemy will attack there first.」

「A decoy, huh?」Hikaru said.

Mikhail nodded.「We'll set up a binding magic item there. Reducing their numbers would be great for us.」

「Professor. I don't have any objections about that. But where should Luka stay then?」Claude asked.

「Hmm. Let me ask you, then. Where would you make her stay?」

「Uhm, let's see. A place where she could sleep… I guess the sleeping quarters in the admin building?」

「The enemy would think of that as well. There's not a lot of places a person can sleep in, after all. This is all about outwitting your opponent. Think of a place where the enemy wouldn't even consider that someone would stay there.」

「Does such a place even exist?」

「It does. Hikaru, any ideas?」

「I don't really wanna say it.」

「Oh? If you have something with mind, then please share it with us.」

Hikaru sighed.「Lecture building C.」

「Bingo.」Mikhail said with a smile.

Lecture building C was where Professor Mille Crepes van Quad taught her Short Sword cla.s.s. To be more specific, cla.s.ses started inside, but the actual lessons happened on the vacant lot out front. The reason being, Mille slept there after getting drunk.

In an effort to reform the professor, Hikaru helped tidy up the place, but blankets and the like were still left inside, making it a good-enough location for Luka to stay at. They would have to think about food and baths, though.

Moreover, Mille basically made the place her own, so the academy might not even mind if they turned it into a fort.

Mikhail sure knows his stuff, Hikaru thought.

「But why am I the one doing this?」

Hikaru trudged towards lecture building C. Mikhail asked him to check if the place was safe since he was familiar with it; in fact, no one else but him knew what it was like inside. He even knew the place better than Mille. Unfortunately.

Hikaru stepped out of the building. It would be much faster to cut through the front yard, but even though it wasn't snowing, the cold breeze made him s.h.i.+ver.

「Ugh… so cold…」

Times like this, he was grateful he had Drake with him.

『Hikaru, something's strange.』

Drake, who was always asleep besides eating time, woke up, creating an opening for the chill to get to Hikaru's neck.

「Why are you up? You know you have to stay put when we're outside. So cold.」

『What? I'm doing you a favor by coming with you despite the cold. What's more, I can't even get any mana from you.』

「Man, I didn't know scarfs complained and removed themselves from one's neck.」

『Am I just a scarf to you?! You've been treating me poorly lately!』

「Freeloaders who only eat and sleep have no right to speak.」

『So mean! Wait, I said there's something strange—』

Drake's persistence made Hikaru think that maybe something was wrong.

「What's up?」

But the drakon's answer was not what he expected.

『It feels like there's not a lot of Spirits around.』

「Spirits? You mean the ones that are summoned when casting magic?」

『Yup.』

Hikaru knew Spirits were beings that filled the world, although invisible to the naked eye. The only time humans could sense their presence was when causing supernatural phenomena through Spirit magic. Both mana and Spirits were things that didn't exist back on Earth.

「Can Spirits even fluctuate in numbers?」

『Of course. They decrease in number the more humans use Spirit magic.』

「Are you serious?! What happens if there's not a lot of them?!」

『Things go back to normal after some time.』

「O-Oh, I see. Don't scare me like that. Wait, if they return to normal, why is there only few of them here?」

『Like I said, it's strange.』

According to Drake, he felt like the number of Spirits was lower than usual ever since they entered Forestia. While fewer Spirits didn't really pose any problems,  if the number dropped very low, people wouldn't be able to use Spirit magic for a while.

「Do you know why?」

Hikaru had a terrible sense of foreboding, slowly spreading in his mind like a drop of ink diffusing in a cup of water.

『Maybe someone's using a little too much Spirit magic?』

「That can't be right. Forestia's not known for using much Spirit magic.」

『Hmm… Maybe someone or something is absorbing Spirits?』

「Absorb?」

『You can convert them to mana that way.』

「Oh, like Spirit magic gems.」

The Spirit magic gems that sorcery utilized were formed by Spirits attaching themselves to minerals. It might sound like Spirits had actual forms, but in reality, they did not.

Sorcery basically used these Spirits like mana. An example of that was the ring that emitted fireb.a.l.l.s which used Spirit magic gems.

「Okay, so people can't use Spirit magic when there's not enough Spirits around. But other than that, is there some sort of a serious problem?」

『I don't know. But I just feel uncomfortable.』

「I see.」

『Huh? I thought you'd get mad at me for basing all of this on a gut feeling.』

「What kind of person do you think I am? Intuition is important.」

Yes, they're important. Especially Instinct. Mine is telling me that it's strange too.

「Let's go see Professor Katy. Maybe she knows something.」

Hikaru hurried to the lecture building C and checked inside. Except for some dust, it looked exactly like before, so he then went straight to Katy's laboratory. His Mana Detection indicated she was alone as usual.

「Excuse me—」

As he opened the door, he saw a woman with a flame tattoo on her face wearing a creepy smile while rubbing her cheeks on a large magic rock. Piled up on the table were the magic rocks that Hikaru gave Katy.

Hikaru closed the door, pretending he didn't see anything.

『What was that, Hikaru?! That person's bad news!』

「Don't say a word.」

『Maybe that woman's the one absorbing all the Spirits?!』

「Ssh. That might actually be possible, but just don't mention it for now.」

Hikaru knocked first before entering this time.

「Oh, h.e.l.lo there, Hikaru. What brings you here?」

The table had been tidied up and Katy stood there with arms folded. Her face was flushed, her eyes teary, but Hikaru decided to ignore it. He felt relieved that Katy had shame like the average person. It's important to knock, I suppose.