Chapter 65: Act 1 – The Burning City
The teachers’ meeting room where the School Violence Committee was set to convene.
Everyone was seated except for the guardian of the Third.
“Is everyone present?”
“Yes, we just need the guardian of that student, Third, to arrive.”
“Why is that person, Yerna, so late?”
“Shouldn’t we wrap this up quickly? We’re all quite busy as it is.”
“I heard they don’t even have parents. Can’t we just expel them and be done with it?”
It was absurd for the perpetrators of school violence to be late!
Complaints began to arise from the parents’ side regarding the ridiculous situation.
“Haha, according to school rules… Please wait just a moment. They said they’re almost here.”
It was at that moment.
“Sorry for being late.”
-Bang-!
As the door swung open, the chaos in the room came to a sudden halt as everyone fell silent.
It was only natural.
With an imposing height nearing 2 meters and muscles that looked almost ogre-like, who wouldn’t feel intimidated by the frown on his brow, as if daring anyone to touch him?
At least, there was no one in this space who wouldn’t feel that way.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
-Crunch, crunch.
The only noise in the quiet meeting room was the sound of him moving.
-Squeak, thud.
As he sat down, someone who looked like a teacher switched between studying the documents and his figure before speaking up.
“Um, could it be? Yerna?”
“Ah, no. I’m Dyton Geneper, the legal guardian of Third, here in place of Yerna.”
“Erm, what is your relation with Yerna…?”
“She is my wife. Isn’t it okay for a husband to come instead?”
“Oh, no. Not at all.”
Upon seeing his expression twist in displeasure, the teacher hastily cut off his words.
It was just a confirming question, but evidently, it touched a nerve.
‘Let’s just finish this quickly.’
That would be the best course of action.
——-
After many twists and turns, the School Violence Committee began.
The tension that settled in the teachers’ meeting room was anything but light.
It was almost the first time Dyton had entered the staff room in nearly eight years.
He had always detested the rigid atmosphere of such places.
Moreover, it felt even worse now.
Already tired, the atmosphere only added to his fatigue.
He strained to keep his eyes open, fighting off the drowsiness that kept beckoning him to close them.
It was quite embarrassing to doze off in a place like this.
After all, with his large frame drawing attention, the spot he sat in was hardly concealed enough to hide such a weakness from others.
“Alright, I will now… begin the School Violence Committee.”
A person who appeared to be the principal spoke in a disjointed manner.
To Dyton’s surprise, he soon felt drowsiness creeping in.
Could it be that a principal in any academy needed the ability to cast sleep-inducing magic with their voice?
Yet, he couldn’t visibly doze off at such an event, so Dyton crossed his arms and tried to endure until he could gain the floor to speak.
“The host is… and… the current situation is….”
But his efforts were ultimately betrayed.
The principal’s admonishment was far more powerful than Dyton’s will to stay awake.
He had been unable to focus, and now he couldn’t even properly hear what was being said.
In a last-ditch effort to stave off sleep, he tried to think of something amusing.
‘The principal of the academy I attended also had a knack for putting people to sleep with speeches…’
Come to think of it, he remembered sitting through the graduation speech and accidentally shutting his eyes, only to be startled that the ceremony had ended when he opened them.
Hadn’t he gotten in trouble for snoring back then?
He vividly recalled his friends teasing him about it.
‘Wait.’
The memories were too vivid.
It felt as if he were dreaming…
“Ugh!”
Dyton snapped awake, feeling as if his head had jerked up sharply.
He had dozed off.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
Dyton felt the stares directed at him as he contemplated.
Did I doze off for just a moment, and now they’re giving me looks for it?
With a slightly embarrassed grin, he loosened his neck.
-Snap, crack.
The slight relief in his neck seemed to clear away some of the sleepiness as well.
Indeed, stretching is good for fatigue.
One of the teachers, who had been observing, nervously asked, “Um, do you have any objections?”
“Yes?”
“Were you nodding in agreement, or…?”
“Ah….”
Dyton glanced around.
These people thought he was nodding in agreement because he happened to doze off at the right moment.
“…….”
Dyton felt a bit shy to say, ‘No, I just dozed off. What did you just say?’
So, he said instead, “So, you mean that’s what we’ll be doing?”
Pretending to know what’s going on and moving on.
This was indeed a method that worked quite well in real life.
However, this method came with a critical flaw.
“Excuse me? Did you hear what I said correctly?”
“…….”
Someone shouldn’t be throwing in objections here.
Usually, you could sidestep that with a follow-up, but evidently, it seemed the redirect here wasn’t leading anywhere.
Dyton felt his mind clearing a little from his moment of panic.
“……So.”
What should he say? Thinking hard, Dyton finally struck upon an idea.
‘Maybe I should ask to hold this off for now.’
For now, he felt too out of sorts, so he’d put it off.
Later, he could ask for a settlement if needed and if they wanted an apology, they could apologize, right?
He felt bad for all the people gathered, but he couldn’t spare the time for that. Not now.
Thus concluding that, Dyton uncrossed his arms and continued speaking.
“I believe that the very premise of this committee is a bit too hasty.”
“Yes…? What do you mean by that…?”
“I mean, it’s just kids roughhousing a bit, and since someone ended up with a broken arm, isn’t it a bit too hasty to come to a conclusion on such a thing? When I was in school, if I got into a scrap like that, I’d be too embarrassed to even mention it. Do you understand?”
“……Yes? So…? What?”
Ah, I messed up.
The fatigue had frozen his thoughts.
He himself wasn’t quite sure what he was saying.
What had been filtering through his mind began spilling out.
He needed to reach a conclusion before making some huge blunder.
Trying his best to fight off the oncoming sleep, Dyton clenched his eyes and fists and said.
“Let’s end this here. If you want something, just contact me later. If you need me to come directly, I will come. Well then, I’m leaving.”
He had said everything he needed to.
Now, leaving before he couldn’t hold back the drowsiness any longer was the best option.
Dyton stood up swiftly.
-Whoosh.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
With a statement that was nothing short of a threat, everyone could only look on in silence as he opened the door and disappeared.
“……Does that mean if we don’t end this, he’ll come find us and kill us?”
“……I don’t know.”
“Is there… going to be any trouble for us?”
—-
-Whoosh.
Luke gazed out the window at the pouring rain, contemplating.
Given the increasingly cold weather, it was likely this would be the last rain of the year.
-They predict that the rain accompanied by strong winds will continue until this afternoon, so be sure to dry your wet clothing well to prevent catching a cold…
The TV, which Luke had left on to acquire various information while doing housework, was currently broadcasting updates on the weather.
Luke agreed that the rain wasn’t likely to let up anytime soon.
Today, the downpour, delayed from yesterday, wasn’t going to stop easily.
When nature is tampered with, it tends to respond with counteracting force—though delaying rain by just a day wouldn’t result in some cataclysm.
However, for the children, this pouring rain was merely a source of enjoyment.
Outside his window, connected to the backyard, he saw Pyris and Diana, clad in raincoats and boots, playing merrily in the downpour.
-Splash! Splash!
“Pyris, let’s see who can splash the water further!”
“Splashing water? How do we do that?”
“Like this! You stomp on the water hard! Oh, but be careful not to step on the flowerbed! Sis will get mad! Got it?”
“Oh! I got it! Sounds fun!”
-Splash, splash!
Luke rested his chin on his hand, watching the scene from the table.
Those kids were truly bursting with energy.
In truth, the chilly weather would typically warrant concern about them catching a cold, but with the various climate control enchantments he had set up, it wasn’t too cold in this area.
So, it wouldn’t matter much if they played in the rain.
But why was splashing around so entertaining to them?
It was nothing more than an aimless repetition of stomping in puddles.
Reading the thoughts of children was quite difficult.
Luke had always thought that enjoying a warm beverage indoors, with a book, away from the rain was far more delightful.
Yet, he couldn’t help but worry about Dyton.
He looked so tired, what if he slipped in the water on his way back and got hurt…?
-Crunch, crunch.
At that moment, a new pair of footsteps mingled with the sound of the rain and splashes, perked up Luke’s ears.
It was Dyton’s footsteps.
After shaking off the water from his soaked umbrella a couple of times, Dyton carelessly propped it up beside the shoe rack and said, “I’m back.”
“Good job.”
Finally, Dyton had returned.
Perhaps due to the heavy rain, he looked like a drowned mouse… No, more like a bear.
His pants were soaked, glistening with water, and he barely wore anything on his torso except for a shirt under the suit he had worn out in the morning.
He didn’t seem to be cold, though.
And Dyton’s voice was as drenched with fatigue as his body was with rain.
While Luke was tidying up the umbrella Dyton had tossed aside, he struggled with a wave of guilt for having forced someone who appeared tired to do such a thing and hesitantly asked, “So… what happened with the Third? Did it go well?”
At Luke’s concerned question, Dyton nodded weakly, fatigue evident in his movements.
“Yeah, it seems to have gone well.”
It should be, right?
The atmosphere had seemed fine overall.
