Since it was the first set of final exams, very few students turned in their papers early.
Even those who finished simply sat quietly in the classroom, waiting.
Only when the bell rang were they forced to put down their pens and hand in their exam papers one by one.
At times like this, you could see every shade of human nature on display.
Some students looked utterly confident, others visibly anxious, some scrambled to scribble one last answer, and a few snuck glances at their neighbors' papers... It was rather entertaining, honestly.
After handing in his exam, Dark told Diana and Rose to go on ahead. He waited until everyone else had left before walking up to the podium, picking up the stack of exam papers, and falling into step beside Professor Silf.
"Something on your mind, Dark?" Professor Silf asked with a smile.
"Professor, have you read this morning's paper yet?" Dark asked.
"Been a bit busy today," Professor Silf said as she walked.
Dark thought for a moment. "I saw an article in the Great Sage Daily. It left me a little confused."
"Confused about what?" Professor Silf asked.
"The Demon King," Dark said quietly.
Something shifted in Professor Silf's expression. "We'll talk in my office."
...
Before long, Dark arrived at Professor Silf's office.
He set the stack of exam papers down on her desk. When he turned around, she had already locked the door.
"Wait here a moment." Professor Silf walked over to the guest table and picked up a rolled-up newspaper.
She did subscribe to the paper, she just hadn't had time to read it yet.
Watching her settle onto the couch, Dark naturally set about brewing tea.
As Professor Silf read, she frowned now and then, lost in thought.
By the time Dark finished preparing the tea, she had nearly reached the end of the article. She looked up. "Two months."
"Hm?" Dark said.
"It's been nearly two months since the Demon King escaped its seal and was reborn," Professor Silf said. "The Holy Church is finally taking action."
Understanding dawned on Dark. "So it really is the Holy Church itself behind this? Then... does that mean they've done nothing at all these past two months?"
Professor Silf set the newspaper down, her expression turning serious. "Of course not. But I'd imagine it's all been secret operations. Given that they've chosen this particular approach now, it's likely they haven't found the Demon King's reincarnation vessel — or they found it and let it slip away.
So they've resorted to some off-the-books maneuvering to limit the fallout. Why do you think they'd fabricate an article like this?"
Dark's brow furrowed slightly. "Professor, that's not an easy thing to guess."
"Try thinking about it from their perspective," Professor Silf said.
Dark considered it carefully. "If I were the Holy Church, the first thing I wouldn't know is how the Demon King managed to escape the seal by suicide. So the moment I discovered this, I'd fixate on that question and start searching for causes, both external and internal. I don't think they'd be able to find an external cause."
Professor Silf nodded slightly. "That's about right."
Dark continued, "So they'd probably need to purge their own ranks internally — that would eat up some time. But of course, the main priority would still be finding the Demon King's reincarnation vessel.
In that process, they'd certainly employ some divination-based methods. But since the Demon King has always been called 'the undying,' it likely has countermeasures against divination. Maybe its reincarnation is something special, leaving no trace to follow."
"That's exactly right," Professor Silf said. "If it were simple to find the Demon King's reincarnation vessel, then even if there were thousands upon thousands of vessels, even if it took ten or twenty years, the Holy Church would absolutely hunt down and eliminate every single one."
Having confirmed his reasoning, Dark mused further. "If they can't find the reincarnation vessel, they'll have to find some way to deal with the aftermath.
Things like the shock the Demon King's sudden appearance would deal to the Holy Church, or the impact on society at large... They need to maintain stability!"
Professor Silf nodded, unable to help herself. "'Maintain stability' — that's well put. The Holy Church isn't like us. They don't know that this reincarnation will have dealt a blow to the Demon King's soul and consciousness, so they'll be treating the Demon King at full strength as their hypothetical enemy."
"How strong was the Demon King at full strength?" Dark asked, curious.
"That's the question, isn't it..." Professor Silf took a sip of tea, saying slowly, "Probably about on par with where I stand now."
Dark couldn't help but frown.
He didn't know exactly how powerful Professor Silf was at present, but as Vice Principal of St. Marian's Academy, even if she couldn't match Principal Cynthia, she had to be counted among the strongest of the age.
Ten years of rapid advancement in Magic Guide technology was more than enough to let an already-powerful Magic Guide Master undergo a complete transformation.
And yet the Demon King, despite having spent that entire ten-year gap sealed away, could still be compared to Professor Silf as she stood now... just how strong had it truly been at its peak?
"No wonder Hero Bright died in the war against the Demon King."
Dark took a deep breath, then said, "But if it no longer holds the dominance it once did, why would they still fear it?"
Professor Silf shook her head slightly. "Perhaps because the Demon King's very existence is itself a kind of faith. The scattered remnants of the demon race across the world, along with the fanatics of the Heretical Order, would easily rally around it as a center, forming a force to be reckoned with.
Or perhaps it's because the Demon King holds the technology to mass-proliferate the demon race, which could spark its resurgence. And there's something else, too..."
Professor Silf raised her eyes to look at him. "In the past, Magic Guide technology may have carried us to victory over the demon race, but it never truly coalesced into a system, nor was it ever greatly simplified.
But today's Magic Guide technology has not only deepened significantly, it's formed a proper system, with methods for structured study. Anyone with sufficient talent — especially those with a solid foundation in advanced magic — wouldn't find it hard to learn."
Dark couldn't help but say, "Like Vlad?"
Professor Silf nodded. "Like Vlad."
Dark thought it over. "That really is a problem. The Holy Church believes the Demon King will become a major threat, and if things truly spiral out of control, then whoever let the Demon King escape the seal will go down as the villains of history.
So whether it's to maintain stability or to protect themselves, they need to remove themselves from this whole mess. I think I understand now!"
Something flickered across Professor Silf's face. "Understand what?"
Dark said, a little excited, "The Holy Church, without question, holds one of the greatest voices of authority in the entire world today. To the average person, whatever they say carries the weight of truth.
Suppose one day they suddenly announced to the world that the Demon King had already been completely killed. Some people wouldn't believe it, but not many.
And as long as they establish 'the Demon King is dead' as settled fact before the Demon King itself can announce its return, they can kill it — utterly — in the court of public opinion..."
"In other words, even if the Demon King truly returns to the world, as long as no one believes it's really him, then he isn't the Demon King. And it won't trigger a worldwide panic."
"As long as the Holy Church acts fast enough, then whoever returns claiming to be the Demon King can be dismissed as an impostor — a demon remnant, or a member of the Heretical Order playing the part. The narrative belongs entirely to the Holy Church."
"Whoever controls the mouthpiece of the people controls the 'truth' of the world."
"And this article — this is just the opening move to set the stage!"
...
Professor Silf's lips parted slightly, shock rippling through her.
She'd had similar thoughts herself, but she hadn't expected Dark's insight to be even more thorough than her own.
If the Holy Church really was acting the way Dark described, then without question, they were cooking up a lie for the entire world.
Faced with a choice between admitting failure and deceiving the world, they'd chosen to deceive the world!
If it succeeded, it would honestly be a masterstroke.
But this seemingly 'brilliant' scheme carried a risk far greater than simply admitting failure.
If the Demon King rose to power and the truth ever came out, the Holy Church would be doomed beyond redemption.
"Just who came up with this?"
Professor Silf couldn't help but wonder.
Were there really people that reckless within the Holy Church?
Weren't they afraid some other power might get hold of proof of their deception and use it to bring them down?
But then again, if it were the royal family who held such proof, they'd probably keep quiet about it.
And from St. Marian's Academy's standpoint, they wouldn't say much either.
Because the royal family and the Holy Church weren't truly opposed to each other — if anything, they were deeply intertwined.
Both were pillars supporting the stability of society.
Toppling the Holy Church would benefit no one — not the royal family, not the Academy, not the people.
Perhaps in a different era, things would be different.
But this was the era they lived in.
Humanity, in the short term, simply couldn't afford another internal war.
Ten years of recovery was still far too short.
The same held true for the other demi-human species.
That was why St. Marian's Academy, which had always remained neutral, had made an exception this time and leaned toward supporting the dove faction.
...
Just as she was lost in thought over this, Dark had already stood up. "Well, Professor, I'll head back now."
Professor Silf nodded, making no attempt to keep him. "I should get back to grading exams anyway."
And so Dark left the office.
His way of thinking about this differed somewhat from Professor Silf's.
Because he never really believed the Demon King posed much of a threat, and he didn't much care about the Holy Church itself, he hadn't thought to dig any deeper.
But this whole matter made him suddenly realize the world was moving toward an "informatization."
Whatever game the Holy Church was playing — or might be playing — boiled down to nothing more than manipulating public opinion and information.
As basic education spread and the times moved forward, the newspaper, as a medium, would only grow more important in spreading information.
But the true hidden symbol of an "informatization" — the computer — had, in fact, already appeared.
St. Marian's Academy's Sorting Cards, and the gate card in Dark's own hand, already possessed some of the functions of a computer — and were, in fact, countless times more convenient than the earliest computers had ever been.
It was just that, so far, no one had turned their attention to it, no one had pushed further development of the Sorting Card's underlying technology.
And the way the Sorting Card transmitted information relied on the Academy's barrier, which meant it lacked the ability to scale beyond that.
But everything complex starts from something simple. Once there's a foundation, there's room to grow.
Every flaw, every shortcoming — there was always a way to work around it.
If someone could develop and gain control of this technology, it would be like holding the keys to the new era's information network — arguably, holding the keys to the entire age itself.
...
Still, that was as far as Dark took it — just idle thoughts.
Right now, he had neither the time nor the inclination to become this world's own John von Neumann.
There was still the Potions exam that afternoon.
As for the Holy Church...
As for the Demon King...
Let them descend into madness. Let it all come crashing down.
Wouldn't that just be delightful?
...
Three days flew by.
When the final exam — Monster Studies — came to an end, most students looked as though they'd just been freed from purgatory, practically ready to howl at the sky.
Of the six exams held over those three days, the hardest by far had been Arithmetic Class.
You could tell just by looking at the pale, drained faces of the students walking out of that exam hall that day.
The one small comfort, at least, came that evening, when the first-years discovered that the second-years above them were suffering through the exact same ordeal.
Humans are always good at finding a bit of peace by sharing their misery with others.
Professor Bacon, who taught second-year Arithmetic Class, hadn't just used the textbook Dark had compiled — he'd layered it together with the original second-year curriculum, making this year's Arithmetic Class harder than it had ever been.
When Dark found out, he couldn't help but feel relieved that the textbook credited the author only as "Anonymous" in multiple places. Otherwise, if the second-years ever learned the devil responsible was right under their noses, wouldn't they drown him alive?
Compared to the brutal difficulty of the Arithmetic exam, one out of the six exams turned out to be surprisingly easy.
The Monster Studies exam, personally written by Professor Nini, covered only the most basic material — anyone who'd paid attention in class could answer it without trouble.
Then again, Monster Studies for first-years had always been treated as a casual elective, much like Astronomy, with no real need to raise the difficulty.
In any case, the students walking out of the Monster Studies exam room clearly looked far more relaxed.
Having finished all their exams, the first-years didn't even bother returning to their dormitories to drop off their bags before flooding, in groups of three and five, into the specially-opened Traveler Street, throwing themselves into wild celebration ahead of the coming three-month summer break.
Dark hadn't really planned on going, but under Doron and Pistan's relentless dragging, he found himself tagging along regardless.
Diana and Rose came along too, naturally.
Both of them seemed to be in fairly good spirits.
But the first-years were still a bit awkward socially — after one meal together, the group simply disbanded, with nothing else planned.
Most people just wandered around Traveler Street for a bit before heading back to Noble House's common room, one after another, to chat and play chess, perfectly content.
From here, they'd have at least two more days of mandatory time left at the school.
Not until the professors finished grading exams and handed out the report cards could students finally leave campus.
On top of that, the professors would assign different tiers of summer homework based on each student's score bracket.
On Friday night, there would be an end-of-term celebration and the graduation ceremony!
The announcement of the Academy Cup standings, along with the Holy Grail wishing ceremony, would also take place around the same time.
And the moment anyone thought of the Academy Cup, every student outside of Magic House would feel a dull ache in their chest, as if they'd just bitten into a lemon.
...
It was nearly nine at night by the time Dark finally shook off Doron and the others and made it back to his dormitory.
He flopped onto his bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.
"An entire school year, gone just like that."
"What a wild ride that was!"
But before he could properly settle in and rest, a knock sounded at the door.
He couldn't help but frown.
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