Chapter 27
“So, you researched and developed this all night?”
El tilted her head as she looked at the small, box-shaped artifact.
“What kind of magic tool is this supposed to be?”
“What else? It’s a portable storage box.”
It wasn’t El who reacted to my answer, but rather Linia.
“A storage box? That’s an incredibly expensive item!”
A portable storage box.
In short, it’s a subspace inventory.
It’s not impossible to get one, but it’s an expensive magic tool that even most nobles would have to spend a hefty amount to acquire.
Linia’s eyes sparkled.
“Looking at this, it seems like there’s exactly enough for the number of people in Class A. Are you planning to give these out?!”
“Dream on.”
I made several as needed, but I never prepared enough for the entire student body.
“Besides, you’re not even in Class A.”
“Oh, right. I’m in another class, aren’t I?”
“….”
To think such a gorilla managed to get admitted to the Imperial Academy.
I must really have a natural talent for teaching students.
“Anyway, this isn’t the kind of magic tool I can just hand out so easily.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that?”
“This storage box, unlike the existing portable ones, can also hold people.”
“What?”
“In other words, if someone doesn’t listen to me, I can just throw it at them to capture them.”
That’s right. This is a magic tool designed to capture anyone who doesn’t listen.
“The usage is simple. Pour mana into it to activate capture mode, then throw it at the target.”
“…”
“It’s called the UGS Box.”
**UGS (University Grad Student) Box.**
Also known as the “Graduate Student Box.”
In my past life, I’d always wanted to create something like this, but I had to abandon the idea due to issues with technology and complaints about human rights.
But after dying and being reincarnated(?) into a new world, I’ve finally realized my dream.
“But… isn’t that more of a capture tool than a storage box?”
“No, this is not just a simple capture tool.
Inside the storage box, a subspace is formed, equipped with facilities for rehabilitation and reformation.”
“Rehabilitation? Reformation? What are you talking about?”
“When someone doesn’t listen, you throw them in. After some mild shocks and mental reconditioning, they’ll come out obedient and well-behaved.”
This was actually inspired by **Pokémon.**
Even wild and ferocious monsters(?) become docile and listen to their trainer after being captured. A legendary mental reconditioning tool!
What’s more, if you put someone in while they’re injured, they’ll come out healed after a certain amount of time, thanks to its miraculous design.
“Inside, I’ve set up basic survival facilities, including a bed to sleep on, capsule-based nutritional supplements for meals, and a filtered water purifier.”
"In other words, you're saying we shove a rebellious grad student into a box, reprogram their mind & let them rest, then take them out as a… model worker, not a slave of the new world, right?"
"Wait, did you just say slave? You said slave, didn’t you!"
I flashed a triumphant smile.
"A magical device that lets you carry a grad student anywhere and use them on demand! That is exactly what this UGS Box is!"
"My god, what kind of horrifying contraption have you created…?!"
"Laniel, I knew you weren’t entirely sane, but this is just…"
Hmph, so common folk fail to recognize the brilliance of this masterpiece. El and Linia stared at the UGS Box with a look of utter horror. That kind of stung.
"Black-haired guy, *you* get it, right? The sweat and tears we poured into making this ultimate creation!"
"W-Wait! You're telling me that’s what we made?! I didn’t know! I had no idea!!"
"Even you, black-haired guy?!"
"My name’s not 'black-haired guy'! And what’s this about grad students at the end?! You’re not planning to shove *me* into that thing, are you?!"
I glanced away.
"That would depend on the situation…"
"N-No way! I’m running away! I quit this job as a teaching assistant!!"
Judging by his intense reaction, there’s no need to mention the existence of the UGS Box's upgraded version.
* * *
After all the commotion, the day somehow came to an end.
Following the set curriculum, I attended the scheduled classes. During Professor Dayron's lecture slot, I took over the podium and taught about mana materialization tools.
Thankfully, Dayron only had one class with the A-group, so my schedule didn’t get too tangled, and teaching went smoother than I thought.
"Surprisingly, the kids are picking this up pretty well."
The ones already familiar with tool materialization still struggled a bit, but the students who were new to magical engineering were quickly grasping mana control.
[But Master, about the black-haired guy… He ran off and hasn’t come back yet. Is this really okay?]
The black-haired guy, who discovered the dark(?) secret of the UGS Box, had been avoiding me outside of class. Not that I was particularly worried.
"He’ll come back eventually."
[Huh? How can you be so sure?]
"Because he’s broke, isn’t he? Once he gets tired of scavenging mushrooms off the ground and feels miserable, he’ll come crawling back."
What if he doesn’t?
Either way, since I didn’t have an assistant, I decided to forgo any experiments today and instead sift through research materials to find a new topic.
So, I headed to the campus's 24-hour central library.
[There’s no one here.]
"Because it’s not exam season."
Libraries always get crowded closer to exam time. At the start of the semester, they’re bound to be quiet.
"Quiet is nice, though."
[There are a lot of ghost stories about quiet libraries, though.]
"Stop jinxing it with nonsense."
Why does this AI insist on ruining a perfectly good atmosphere?
"Anyway, you can’t seem to stay still for even a moment."
As usual, I ignored the AI’s chatter and grabbed a book from the shelf.
Then I settled into an empty seat and started reading.
—That... we... one...
“......”
—You... that... what...
“......”
—No... that’s... problem...
“Shut up, you fool! Why are you mumbling so much today? It’s not like you.”
[What are you talking about, Master? I communicate via the interface window, so you shouldn’t be hearing any sounds.]
Wait, hold on.
...That’s true.
I’d assumed for a moment that it was the AI making noise, but this thing doesn’t communicate with actual sound.
I’d just always found the text on the screen so noisy that I mistook it for speech.
“Then what’s this noise I’m hearing right now?”
[Who knows? When I scanned earlier, there wasn’t anyone here, and there’s no record of anyone entering.]
“......!”
A sudden chill ran down my spine.
I looked around, but all I could see was the quiet, clean, eco-friendly library.
I immediately ordered the AI to scan again.
“Run the scan one more time.”
[There’s still no biological response detected. However, there does seem to be a suspicious area.]
“A suspicious area?”
[There’s an artificial energy flow coming from one spot. I think it’s best if you check it out yourself.]
I felt uneasy, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to ignore it without driving myself crazy. So I got up and followed the AI’s directions.
Eventually, I found myself in a secluded corner of the library.
“This is the place?”
[Yes, Master. We’ve arrived.]
“It’s just a wall.”
[There’s a faint energy response coming from it.]
Hearing that, I crouched down and took a closer look at the wall.
And then—
[It’s a barrier.]
“A barrier? I don’t see anything.”
[It’s faint, but a barrier is present.
It’s designed to disrupt recognition, obstruct perception, and induce hallucinations!]
“How do you even know that?”
[Because I’m connected to the data center!]
Apparently, the AI had access to data about magic circles and barriers, so it could identify them.
[Of course, my energy source is aether, so I can’t actually use magic!]
“Well, scanning magic circles and barriers isn’t half bad, I guess.”
[Ah, you’ve finally recognized my amazing capabilities once again!]
If only it would shut that mouth of its.
Anyway.
“A barrier, huh? I can probably break it with a bat.”
I pulled a steel bat out of my dimensional storage and lightly pressed it against the wall.
And then—
-Crack!
A sound like sparks flying could be heard, followed by a buzzing noise.
The seemingly ordinary wall slid open like an automatic door.
And beyond it, a long staircase stretched downward.
[It’s here! The secret rooooom!!]
‘Why are *you* the one getting excited about this?’
[Places like this are usually packed with hidden treasures—that’s the classic trope!]
‘Usually, when you say stuff like that, it ends up being a dead end.’
[Ah, ahhh! What a rookie mistake!]
Well, whatever. As the AI said, there could be ancient magical artifacts or some hidden secrets down there.
When a secret room opens up, it’s only natural to check it out, right?
So I stepped inside without hesitation.
With a mix of half-excitement and half-apprehension, I descended the stairs.
Eventually, a wide hall came into view.
And there, I saw a stranger...
“Whaaa! Holy shit, you scared me!”
“Gahhh! What the—?!”
Startled, I screamed, and the other person also recoiled in shock.
A woman in a black robe pointed at me accusingly.
“Y-you! Who are you?! Where did you come from?!”
“Me? I’m just...”
And then, the man standing next to her calmly stepped forward and spoke.
“Why are you so flustered? No one else should even know about this place. It’s probably the insider you mentioned.”
“Oh, right. That makes sense.”
Naturally, the two robed figures turned their gazes toward me.
And then the AI chimed in.
[Those robes—they’re the ones worn by that Doomsday Cult we saw during the train attack!]
* * *
Doomsday Cult?
Why are *you* guys here all of a sudden?
What kind of grudge do these people have against me to keep showing up like this?!
All I wanted was a simple, peaceful life—fixing prototypes, preparing for monster attacks, and maybe earning a little side income along the way!
“Anyway, we’re all busy here, so let’s cut to the chase.”
My thoughts were interrupted by the robed man, who started speaking to me.
“The information—where is it?”
Feeling the sharpness in his cold gaze, my mind began to race.
‘They just called me an insider, didn’t they? So, these guys must have a mole in the academy, and they’ve been exchanging information with them!’
[Judging by how they didn’t recognize you immediately, it seems like they’ve never met the mole in person yet!]
Got it. I’ve figured out the situation.
Which means there’s only one thing for me to do.
“Before we get into that, there’s one thing I need to clarify.”
“Hmm? And what would that be?”
“Why are you late?”
At my unexpected question, the two robed figures tilted their heads in confusion.
“What are you talking about? We arrived ahead of schedule, and the one who showed up late... was you.”
"That's the kind of soft thinking that leads to failure! To achieve great things, you should arrive at least 26 hours early!"
"What are you even talking about...?"
"I was already here 26 hours ago waiting for you! But since you didn’t show up then, I stopped by somewhere else, and that’s why I’m late now!"
When I brazenly turned the blame around, the woman flared up.
"Hey, wait a second! Either way, you're the one who didn’t show up at the agreed time—"
"Hold on. I don’t want to waste time on this pointless discussion. I apologize for the whole '26 hours' thing. My bad.
But wasn’t the insider supposed to be a woman…?"
Wait, what?
The insider was a woman?
But hesitating at a moment like this would only make me look more suspicious!
I turned to the others, who were now looking at me with doubt, and confidently opened my mouth.
"Can’t a woman have short hair, squinty eyes, a quiet voice, and be on the shorter side?"
"What?"
"Are you seriously judging me based on appearance and dismissing me just because of how I look?"
"Uh, no, it’s just that the description we got was…"
"So you’re saying I can’t change how I look as I please?! Maybe I felt like cutting my hair, or my eyes got smaller—things like that can happen! Are you trying to restrict and oppress my appearance?! What kind of imperialist nonsense is this!"
At my words, the man hesitated, looking flustered, before finally muttering,
"I’m sorry. I apologize."
"I accept your apology."
I graciously accepted his apology.
[Wow, why is this even working? And why does that guy keep apologizing?]
"Because I’m a genius, of course."
[Fair point, but still… Huh. This is kind of ridiculous.]
The process doesn’t matter anyway. As long as the result is good, that’s all that counts!
So, I decided to dig deeper into this guy’s secrets while I was at it.
"By the way, how’s the plan coming along?"
"Haven’t I already told you?"
The man, whose face was hidden by a hooded robe, seemed slightly suspicious of me.
"You need to constantly assess the progress and keep checking the plan! Saying ‘I already told you’ and skipping explanations is exactly the kind of lax thinking that caused the train incident to fail last time!"
"That incident wasn’t even related to our division…"
"So just because it was a different division, you think it doesn’t concern you? Are you saying it’s okay to turn a blind eye? Weren’t we all connected by trust? If you treat others like that, it’ll create friction internally, leading to a breakdown of trust, and eventually shaking the foundation of the entire organization—"
"Stop, stop! My bad! I was wrong!"
The man, overwhelmed by my righteous argument, knelt before me.
Justice always prevails, after all.
In other words, I am justice.
By the way, what’s with these guys calling themselves a “cult” yet organizing themselves into divisions?
Seriously, there’s never anything normal about cults.
"The insider—meaning you—will guide us to a secluded area. Then we’ll wait there, capture the target, carry out the operation, and blow up the key building, causing chaos…"
"To cause a distraction and escape during the chaos."
"The targets?"
"El Grante and Raniel Reventesia, two individuals. You investigated this, so don’t tell me you forgot."
"…"
Huh?
It’s plausible. A group that orchestrated a train terror attack could attempt a kidnapping.
And if the target is El— a princess— they might try to kidnap her.
But.
‘Why am I included? Why me? Seriously, why?’
[Maybe it’s because the person who escaped the train last time mentioned your name to the cult, making you a person of interest?]
‘So, in short, these bastards are targeting me too? These damned lunatics! It’s one thing to target a princess, but going after an innocent commoner?’
[But, about the train…]
‘Train or no train, the fact that they’re after me is a crime in itself!
There’s no way I can forgive them.
As I was contemplating how to deal with these bastards, I accidentally locked eyes with one of the men.
These wicked people don’t deserve to be grad students (*slaves*), but rather grad students (*assets*) exploited to their fullest extent.
"Hey, why aren’t you answering? Don’t tell me you actually forgot about it…."
"What are you talking about? Of course not. How could I forget such critical information? Are you seriously doubting me again? This kind of wrongful suspicion and wasting time is exactly how operations fail…!"
"Fine! Fine, it’s my fault! So please, just get to the point already!"
The man took out a scrap of paper and began reading it carefully.
"According to the information you provided, El Grante is a petite girl with long silver hair, and Raniel Reventesia is a platinum blond with narrow eyes, and… short for a man…."
As he spoke, the man suddenly stared at me intently.
What are you looking at? I wanted to ask, but the situation wasn’t ideal.
Why didn’t this guy suspect me from the start if he had details on their appearances?
Then, a possibility struck me.
And so—
"What are you staring at?"
"This appearance… it’s awfully similar to you…."
"So what? Anyone who’s short, platinum blond, and narrow-eyed is automatically Raniel Reventesia?"
"No, but with this much resemblance…"
"Ridiculous. Even at the academy, there are at least 30 people who are short, platinum blond, and narrow-eyed!"
"Thirty? That’s a bit much…."
"One or two, you say? Did you confirm that? Did you check?"
"Well, no, but…"
I tried my best to persuade him, but his eyes still showed doubt.
Fine, time to change tactics.
"Alright, fine. That information is about me. I accidentally wrote my own appearance under Raniel Reventesia's profile."
"What?! How does that even make sense?"
"People make mistakes! What, are you going to keep shaming me for being human?"
"Something’s definitely suspicious about you."
Although he was wearing a hood and his expression wasn’t visible, I could tell he was eyeing me with deep suspicion.
Got it.
Even though I’m explaining so well, how dare you doubt me? Seriously, people have no faith in others. No wonder you're acting like some kind of cult member!
Not that I’m at a loss for words, though.
“Suspicious? So, let me get this straight. You’re telling me that I, Raniel Leventhesia, the *marked one*, somehow just happened to stumble upon this hidden meeting place—one I painstakingly prepared—and you think I just rolled in here by chance? That would be an unbelievable coincidence. Actually, no, it’s beyond coincidence—it’s outright luck. Why don’t you go outside and try your hand at winning the imperial lottery instead of standing here?”
“I-I only said it was suspicious.”
“Still suspicious? Raniel Leventhesia may have a genius-level mind so incredible that even the gods themselves would be envious, but are you really suggesting that some academy student like me managed to waltz into this hidden passage that no one can normally access? Why don’t you write a novel about it and submit it to a contest? It sounds like award-winning material! Ladies and gentlemen, here we have the winner of the Empire’s Cultural Competition, the Emperor’s Grand Prize!”
“Ahem… I-I… uh… I’m sorry.”
The man looked like he was feeling terribly wronged, but in the end, he accepted his fate.
“If you’re going to apologize, don’t create situations that require one in the first place.”
“Got it. I’ll keep that in mind.”
He seemed like he was reflecting, though honestly, he always looked like he was reflecting before repeating the same mistakes. But that’s just how people are, so I decided to let it slide this time.
“So, what was the information you were after?”
“Details about the academy’s facilities and infiltration routes.”
Ah, so that’s what they were after.
Now that I had completely thrown off their suspicions, I began leading the way.
“I’ll guide you from here, but if you keep acting suspicious, just turn around and leave. Don’t ruin my mood any further.”
“Ahem… Just lead the way.”
It would’ve been easier for all of us if they had just turned around and left, but they insisted on following me.
Of course, that didn’t mean I had any intention of kindly showing them around the academy.
[Master, is this really okay?]
‘What wouldn’t be okay?’
[Aren’t they cultists planning to kidnap you? Sure, your absurd improvisations have worked so far, but if they figure it out later…]
‘And what if they figure it out? You think they can break through the Power Suit armor or something?’
[...! Well, when you put it that way, I guess not!]
Exactly.
Even if I could only activate the prototype for a second, I could easily deal with these clowns.
And even if the battery ran out, as long as I was wearing the suit, there was no way they could penetrate it.
‘I actually think this is a lucky situation.’
[Huh?]
‘You know how people say that grad school is for people who’ve committed sins?’
Which brings me to this—
‘Why not turn real sinners (these kidnappers) into grad students?’
Right now, our research assistant (the black-haired guy) is being annoyingly uncooperative due to his unnecessary morals and principles, so…
**"Wouldn't research go a lot smoother if I could get my hands on one fresh and lively graduate student?"**
* * *
Gark Darvan, a knight of the Church.
A warrior who had mastered aura and a devout believer recognized by the Church.
Now, he was caught in confusion as he stared at the peculiar girl(?) in front of him.
‘No matter how I look at it, she seems like a boy… but judging by her frail physique, maybe she’s a girl...’
To make matters worse, her skillful evasion of their questions only heightened his suspicion.
And yet, her strangely confident demeanor and natural way of speaking made her seem like an insider after all.
‘Well, like she said, the idea that our target would coincidentally break through the barrier and show up at the rendezvous point right at our meeting time doesn’t make any sense.
It’s more plausible that an insider accidentally revealed themselves.’
“What are you spacing out for? Hurry up and follow me.”
A deep, resonant voice.
The kind of voice that carried an air of dignity, completely unbefitting of a girl.
“…Understood.”
And yet, her confident attitude and casual tone dismissed all doubts.
The Church hadn’t provided much information about the insider.
Since this was an operation meant to be carried out in secret, the details they had been given were limited.
All they’d been told was that the insider was a woman who would be waiting and would reveal themselves to them.
It was entirely possible that the insider was a person of some standing within the Church, which explained why the information had been so restricted.
‘Well, even if they turn out to be someone else in disguise, we can subdue them immediately if it comes to that.’
The unit Darvan belonged to was a formidable combat division formed to rival the Empire’s knightly orders.
And he was one of the most skilled among them.
‘What could possibly go wrong?’
With firm confidence in his own abilities and unwavering faith in the Church, Darvan followed after the girl.
Though there was one thing that unnerved him.
“Graduate student… hehe. A fresh, lively graduate student… ehehe…”
The ominous mutterings of the girl ahead of him echoed endlessly in his mind.
