Academy’s Dark Perspective - Chapter 337



Only Krnovel

Academy Dark Curtain Viewpoint Episode 337

“It’s been a while, Aaron~”

Ciel, seen through the intercom, was smiling brightly.

It was the sales smile that was often seen when looking at the housekeeper androids. In comparison, Airi’s face looked quite gloomy, as if she was worried about something.

The mansion management system displayed a speech bubble above their heads that read, ‘Registered Device: CL-00245’, ‘Guest’.

But Iriy, since you’ve been here before, it’s natural that you’d be registered as a ‘guest’… … What’s a ‘registered device’?

After thinking about it for a moment, I remembered that quite some time ago, Ciel had registered herself as a maid android belonging to our household.

“I’ll just go in on my own for now~”

Thanks to that, Ciel opened the front door of the mansion and came in without me having to do anything.

This is a bit of a wild guess, but if Ciel is a ‘registered device’, wouldn’t the mansion system recognize her as something like a lost item? Why, that guy lives somewhere else, not here, because he’s going to college.

As I was having such meaningless fantasies, I heard two people opening the door and coming into the building.

I went out and greeted them.

“Welcome. You managed to get here.”

“What is that devil-like line~”

Ciel laughed out loud as if he had heard a funny joke.

I said that because not just anyone can enter Elysium, the highest-class city in the sky. Did I say something funny? I didn’t understand, so I kept silent, and Airi also kept her mouth shut.

“Ah, ahahaha~… … .”

As Airi and I remained silent, Ciel soon stopped laughing awkwardly. She must have felt embarrassed too, as she coughed in vain and added an excuse.

“Maria helped me~. When I told her that I needed to see Aaron, she readily helped me~”

“Right.”

“How have you been, Aaron~? Well… …Actually, this is the first time we’ve seen each other since ‘that day’~”

“Yeah. I had a good time.”

“okay…….”

“Why is that?”

“Oh, it’s nothing~”

Ahaha, Ciel laughs awkwardly again. Looking at him, Airi’s expression darkens even more for some reason.

But I didn’t feel like asking them about the situation, so I led them toward the living room.

The mansion management system recognized my movements and the guests and served tea on my behalf. The only problem was that it made the mistake of serving only two cups.

“… … I’m sorry about this. It seems like I recognized you as a ‘machine’.”

“Oh, no~. That could be possible~. You can just ask for more, right~”

“No, that’s fine. Just drink this.”

Then I pushed my glass towards Ciel.

“I haven’t really felt like eating anything lately. Even if I don’t eat, my body continues to produce more than enough energy to function.”

“Uh… … Then aren’t you going to eat?”

“Yeah. There’s no need to do that.”

I nodded in response to Iri’s question.

In the past, you had to consistently feed him food to keep his heart-replacing bio-generator running, but after ‘that day’, it was no longer necessary. In fact, since he had a nuclear fusion generator inside his body, eating had become a completely meaningless act.

Thanks to this, I didn’t have to spend any money on food.

The mansion management system originally used to automatically replenish food when the refrigerator was empty, but now it was not replenishing the empty one at all.

Airi’s eyes wavered at my explanation. She asked again, seemingly embarrassed.

“What about sleep then?”

“I sleep about 30 minutes a week.”

Like eating, sleep has become almost unnecessary.

Of course, I haven’t been a person who sleeps a lot since before. If I didn’t sleep properly once every five days, my body, including my brain, would get tired and my efficiency would drop, so I just rested every day.

But now that the replacement rate has surpassed 70%, I hardly sleep.

In order to organize the memory of the cybernetic device, it goes into a power-saving state for about 30 minutes, and when I open my eyes, the work is done. I’m not sure if that can be called sleep, but anyway, that’s all the rest I’m getting now.

“Then, if you don’t sleep at all, what do you do at night? These days, you don’t go to work at all, so you must be at home all day… … .”

“Data is being accumulated.”

“Hey, data?”

“Most of what composes my body right now are unfamiliar modules. That’s probably because there’s not enough data on usage, but the efficiency is very low. That’s why I spend most of the day actually using modules to gather data. Other than that, I’m researching data on other [mysteries] and the second dimension, mainly on dragon species.”

The most regrettable part was that we could not test the module’s full power.

If you use a force strong enough to defeat a Sky Dragon in the mansion, not only will the house fly away, but Elysium itself may also disappear or crash.

I would like to use a ticket and go to the hunting grounds, but Miyu insisted that I couldn’t. She said that if I were to be exposed to a completely different environment in another world, which is already unstable, unexpected problems might arise.

“Come to think of it, Miyu still seems to think there’s something wrong with me. I’m following the expert’s advice, but I haven’t noticed anything particularly strange even after living with him for three months. I think it’s time to stop doing daily checkups, but he just won’t let me go.”

“… … .”

“… … .”

For some reason, the two people had extremely complicated expressions on their faces when I said this.

“Why is that?”

“Oh, it’s nothing~”

Ciel is being vague.

Since she didn’t seem to want to talk, I didn’t bother to ask her. She quickly changed the subject again.

“Speaking of ‘tickets’, the reason we came here today was to tell you that news~”

“News?”

“When Aaron-nim fought the Sky Dragon, you scattered a large number of tickets as a way to draw him out of the area. I heard that was a problem.”

“Specifically?”

Airi explained to him.

“… … It seems that a large number of tickets have ended up in the hands of corporations, criminal organizations, or civilians. People who have no connection to the possessed person have ended up getting their hands on the tickets.”

“Right.”

Even without hearing a detailed explanation, I could guess that this would be a rather troublesome problem.

There may be people who used tickets without knowing anything and were dragged to another dimension and died to monsters without knowing what happened, or there may be organizations that learned how to use them and abused them.

“But the good news is that the government has recognized the problem and started collecting the tickets. But before they could do anything, the problem was resolved on its own.”

“It’s been resolved?”

“The ticket became useless.”

Ciel explained that from one day onwards, the ticket lost its effect and it became impossible to go to the hunting grounds even if you used it.

“At first, I thought it was fake. There were quite a few cases where they were copied and sold on the black market.”

“But when I bought the ticket myself and tried to use it~? The effect just disappeared~. And after a while, the ticket itself disappeared from the store page~”

Perhaps there was an intervention by the ‘author’. If not, then as this world gradually changed into ‘reality’, the privileges of being a possessed person began to disappear.

There’s no way to know which of the two is correct unless you meet the author again. Well, there’s no need to meet him again just to find out.

“That’s fortunate.”

“Right~? And there’s another story~”

Ciel explained facts one by one that we had not yet heard of through the news or media.

First of all, the Urban Regeneration Committee.

The Urban Restoration Committee, which had been the subject of much talk and trouble, was disbanded after completing its mission safely in two months.

Large-scale construction work that would have taken years in the original world was neatly completed here in just two months thanks to the power of technology.

It is said that the area that was completely scorched earth due to the battle with the Sky Dragon has now been completely restored and has been filled with buildings and structures that look even more magnificent than before.

“If you go there later, you’ll be really surprised~? Sectors A, B, and C have all become completely different worlds~?”

“Right.”

“I heard that Kalia-sama originally worked in the art, fashion, and entertainment industries, right? That’s why she built all the buildings and roads so beautifully, right?”

“Calia?”

“Oh, you didn’t tell me that~? When the Urban Reconstruction Committee was selecting a company to take charge of the reconstruction project, I heard that Miss Kalia somehow showed her skills and won the project~? I don’t know how she did it when the Stingray Group itself collapsed and she was busy just trying to clean it up~”

It was certainly an amazing story.

At first glance, it seems that the future of the Foundation, which had been receiving support from the group, is bleak as the Stingray Group has been completely destroyed.

Even considering that Kalia herself had to be hospitalized because of the Sky Dragon, it’s not just surprising, it’s suspicious. Did she get her hands on some kind of hypnosis app?

I have such doubts.

Airi added an explanation.

“That’s… … I heard from people at other companies… … that they threatened the committee and the companies.”

“Threat? How?”

“As the chairman.”

Ah, I understand.

Regardless of what happened to the Stingray Group’s former employees, many of the group’s assets, including large amounts of weapons, real estate, and technology, remained.

And above all, the tactical weapon called ‘Aaron Stingray’ is still intact, and the name ‘Aaron Stingray’ is now being treated as a strategic weapon rather than a tactical weapon.

It seemed that Kalia was using our blood relationship(?) to sell my name and gain various benefits in the financial world.

‘I don’t know for sure, but maybe it’s because of that that I can live without thinking about much these days.’

It was my idea to put Kalia forward as the representative in the first place, so I had no intention of interfering with it.

Of course, later on, I will have to demand payment for selling my name without consulting him and using it for business, but for now, the important thing is to get the Stingray Group back on its feet.

“Any other news?”

“What other news~? Actually, I have a crush on a guy at my university, but he doesn’t know my true identity yet~”

“be not interested in.”

“This is too much, Aaron… … .”

“There are a few more.”

As Ciel was talking nonsense, Airi spoke up in her stead.

“I heard that Ms. Maria is working to help the chairman’s younger sister. Because of that, the foundation currently has a temporary chief secretary handling the work of the chairman and Ms. Maria… … .”

Iri’s story continued.

I got sued for stealing modules from problem solvers and corporate senior adaptors and giving them to my kids.

Because of that, a legal battle began, and now the kids have had their modules taken away and are being seized by the court.

Also, due to the recent Cheon Gong-ryong incident, the opposition party is trying to propose a revised version of the ‘Special Act on Adaptation’.

After summarizing the story, it turned out that New Valhalla City was currently in a state similar to a forest that had once burned down.

The story is that just as countless plants and animals died in the fire, but new life forms took root using the ashes as nutrients, New Valhalla City was transformed into something new thanks to the empty spaces left by the deaths and disappearances of countless people.

While I was drawing… … .

“And… … There’s still no sign of Serena and Lexus opening their eyes… … I don’t know for sure, but a certain medical equipment company’s plant was blown up in this incident, causing disruptions in production… … Because of that, I don’t know when we’ll be able to properly treat them… … .”

I’ve heard before that people I knew… no, people I was quite close to were caught up in the war and died or were in a coma.

Since it wasn’t particularly new news, I nodded quietly and answered calmly.

“is it…….”

But at that moment.

“I see…?”

Bam.

Airi got up from her seat and started glaring at me.

But I couldn’t understand her attitude. So I asked back.

“Why is that?”

“Mr. Chairman… … Are you not thinking about anything after hearing this story… …? Really… …?”

“I don’t think so.”

“No one else but Evangeline!”

Airi screamed in agitation.

“Evangeline, whom you cherished so much, became ‘like that’! The entire shelter was bombed! And yet you say you don’t think anything of it!”

Airi starts to cry without saying anything.

I still couldn’t understand why she was crying. Just as I was about to tell her my honest thoughts, Ciel grabbed her shoulder and calmed her down before I did.

“Iri. Right now, Aaron is… … .”

“… … I know! I know!”

“Both of you, why are you doing that?”

“… … It’s nothing. I’m sorry. I’ll go get some fresh air for a bit.”

Iri wiped away her tears, then turned around and left for a moment.

As I was quietly watching the scene, Ciel, who had remained in his seat, spoke to me with a strangely bitter smile.

“Mr. Aaron.”

“Why is that?”

“I will be visiting Aaron and Airi together for some time to help with his treatment.”

“Treatment? My responsible modular is… … .”

“Miyu-sama asked me to do it first. Actually, before Evangeline-sama became like that, I learned some magic from her. Now, I can somewhat reproduce the ‘Necromancing’ that ‘Shade Wells’ used. Originally, I thought I could use it against the Sky Dragon somehow… … At that time, I couldn’t do anything, so I ended up using it like this.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It’s okay, Aaron.”

Ciel looked at me with a bitter smile and determination as he spoke.

“I… I will definitely fix you.”