No Need to Explain (5K)

"This doesn't seem like something you would do, He Wei Ni Ya."

Just as she was about to return to the dormitory, He Wei Ni Ya heard Bai Wei's unhurried voice.

"Can you be soft-hearted too?"

Facing Bai Wei's question, He Wei Ni Ya remained calm. "I'm not quite sure what you mean, Mr. Visas."

"Didn't you push that little guy away to protect him?"

"Of course not," He Wei Ni Ya said. "It was simply the reasonable choice under the circumstances."

"Oh?"

"He is no longer useful to me, and if I let him keep clinging to me, Finnis and TuPake will become suspicious." He Wei Ni Ya spoke blandly. "With his background, he is unworthy of staying by my side."

"Is that so?"

"You don't seem very convinced."

"No, why wouldn't I be?" Bai Wei said with a smile. "No one deceives their own heart, do they?"

"...What?"

"I'm inside your heart right now. Wouldn't deceiving me mean deceiving your own heart?"

He Wei Ni Ya fell silent for a while before slowly saying, "That makes sense."

After that little joke, Bai Wei did not pursue the matter further. It seemed he had merely mentioned it in passing, and He Wei Ni Ya's tightly wound nerves relaxed somewhat.

Then she heard Bai Wei ask, "Your original target was Finnis, right? But he didn't come alone. There's also that Tu Tu Tu whatever-his-name-is."

"TuPake."

"Ah, right, TuPake." Bai Wei waggled a finger as though nodding. "Two Golden Sounds at once. Including that Daniel fellow, Third Academy has gathered three Golden Sounds besides you now. That wasn't part of your initial plan, was it?"

He Wei Ni Ya nodded slightly.

Indeed, He Wei Ni Ya had originally planned to take care of Finnis first when he came to Third Academy to find her.

But although Finnis had come, Daniel and TuPake had come with him. That was completely beyond He Wei Ni Ya's expectations.

"They all came for you," Bai Wei said lazily. "Sigh, what a sinful woman you are."

"...Mr. Visas, could you please stop joking at a time like this?" He Wei Ni Ya sighed softly as well. After a while, she asked, "Regarding Daniel, do you have any better suggestions, Mr. Visas?"

"You're still keeping an eye on Daniel?"

"Because I think he is the least controllable of the three," He Wei Ni Ya said. "Whether it is his status as a member of the Primordial Family or the fact that he has one of your corpse pieces on him, as you said, it is difficult not to pay attention when all those factors are combined."

"I understand what you mean." Bai Wei smiled. "If you want my advice, it is still the same as before. Don't touch him for now. He's too troublesome."

What sort of person was someone Bai Wei himself considered troublesome and did not wish to touch?

He Wei Ni Ya truly cared about that, but seeing that Bai Wei had no intention of explaining further, she could only let the matter rest for now.

After thinking for a moment, He Wei Ni Ya slowly said, "The plan remains unchanged. Finnis will still be the first target."

"Can I hear the reason?"

"If we make a move on TuPake first, Finnis may very well notice something," He Wei Ni Ya said. "So it would be better to deal with Finnis first."

"I see. One is smart and one is stupid. Killing the smart one first is more advantageous." Bai Wei summarized He Wei Ni Ya's reasoning with remarkable precision.

And that was indeed what He Wei Ni Ya meant.

As they spoke, He Wei Ni Ya arrived at the school's training room.

Tomorrow was the last day of the Seven Sound Festival. If nothing unexpected happened, Finnis would stay no later than tomorrow night, so He Wei Ni Ya did not have much time left.

This time, He Wei Ni Ya hoped to deal with Finnis completely through her own strength, without Bai Wei intervening.

Ideally, she would not use any of the Three Corpse Pieces' rules either. Bai Wei did not object to that; in fact, he was rather willing to see it happen.

Thus, He Wei Ni Ya spent the entire day in the training room, using every Movement Spell she knew while Bai Wei offered pointers from the side.

"Pull your hand back a little."

"You have too many unnecessary movements. And why do you have to stand still while casting?"

Bai Wei gave a great many suggestions, and He Wei Ni Ya listened attentively. She knew that within this academy... no, not merely this academy—perhaps in the entire world, there was no one more suited to teach her combat than Bai Wei.

After all, Bai Wei had previously directed her to take down Ha Duo Ke with only a few words. He Wei Ni Ya did not believe any professor in this academy could accomplish that.

Moreover, Bai Wei's combat philosophy was completely different from the idea of conductors facing each other and casting spells that He Wei Ni Ya had always known. It opened her eyes.

Of course, He Wei Ni Ya could not fully understand every suggestion Bai Wei gave.

For example, "use a roll to cancel the recovery after casting" felt rather strange to her. But after hesitating for a moment, she still did it, only to receive Bai Wei's startled remark: "I just said that casually. You actually believed me?" For a moment, she had no response. She could only silently climb back up from the floor.

Fortunately, she was the only one in the training room. The Seven Sound Festival had not yet ended, so the training room was theoretically still closed. And most students who had returned to school early had no interest in combat training, allowing He Wei Ni Ya to have the place all to herself.

Finally, as the sun gradually sank, He Wei Ni Ya completed all her training. Panting heavily and drenched in sweat, she lay on the floor, looking nothing like a conductor.

"All right, this is more or less enough." Bai Wei spoke leisurely. "Training complete. Go challenge Finnis tomorrow! If you can take him down without getting hurt, you can even earn a reward from me."

He Wei Ni Ya: "..."

She did not know whether it was merely her imagination, but Bai Wei currently felt like he was playing a game—a game called Training the Conductor—and she was the conductor being trained.

This was clearly a serious matter. After all, Finnis's death could very likely trigger a series of unforeseen chain reactions.

Yet in Bai Wei's eyes, it seemed to amount to nothing.

Then again, that made sense. In a place like Holy Sound, the only person who could make Visas take matters seriously was probably the Lord of Holy Sound.

Thinking of that, the heaviness in He Wei Ni Ya's heart suddenly eased somewhat.

Perhaps it was because Bai Wei would be there to catch her no matter what happened.

That was what He Wei Ni Ya thought.

After a brief rest, He Wei Ni Ya left the training room and returned to the dormitory.

She planned to clean herself up properly before eating. Going to the dining hall covered in foul-smelling sweat would be far too conspicuous.

But when she passed through the lobby, something caught the corner of her eye, and she immediately stopped.

She saw a girl sleeping with her head down on a table in the corner of the lobby.

But that was not the important part. What mattered was the book beneath the girl's arm.

On the surface, the girl had merely fallen asleep while studying in the lobby. There was nothing unusual about it. Yet with the extraordinary vision of Bai Wei's left eye, He Wei Ni Ya saw several words on the open page.

"Advancement Magic."

He Wei Ni Ya's pupils narrowed slightly.

Then, without drawing attention, she walked over to the girl. The girl noticed nothing and continued sleeping, looking exhausted.

From the girl's loose collar, He Wei Ni Ya naturally saw her pale, smooth skin, as well as the blood-stained silver notes on it.

Sure enough, this girl was using Advancement Magic as well.

Just like Auger and Olenna.

But why?

He Wei Ni Ya had been somewhat puzzled before. Advancement Magic was Forbidden Magic no matter how one looked at it, so where had these people found it?

If Olenna could obtain it because she had the Lawrence Family behind her, that was understandable. And Auger was a librarian himself, so it was conceivable that he might have stumbled upon one or two forbidden books.

But where had this girl's Advancement Magic come from?

Had she encountered three people using Advancement Magic in a row merely by coincidence?

Or were there more people using this magic than she had imagined, which was why she kept running into them?

Just as Daniel had said, when he wandered around the Forbidden Forest at dawn, he could see quite a few students secretly attempting to advance.

But how could that make sense? Did all these people each possess a copy of Advancement Magic?

He Wei Ni Ya had not cared much about this before, since she did not need to advance.

But she could not convince herself to turn a blind eye to something so abnormal happening on such a wide scale.

So, after a brief hesitation, He Wei Ni Ya reached toward the copy of Advancement Magic beneath the girl's arm, intending to see what exactly was going on with it.

But just as her hand touched the book, a dull thud sounded behind her.

Someone had fallen to the floor, accompanied by the screams of those around them.

The girl who had just been asleep woke up immediately. Fortunately, He Wei Ni Ya had already withdrawn her hand, so the girl did not notice her movement.

What was going on?

He Wei Ni Ya initially thought someone had deliberately stopped her, and she immediately turned around.

Then she saw a girl with purple skin lying on the floor, clutching her throat and convulsing. She had clearly been poisoned.

At her side lay an opened letter bearing the crest of some noble family.

He Wei Ni Ya understood at once. This was another "Aimiya."

This sort of thing was still happening.

The poison that had struck the fallen girl was clearly different from Aimiya's. She did not die instantly as Aimiya had. Instead, her body rapidly rotted and blackened, becoming horrifying to behold.

Her throat seemed to have been corroded by the poison as well, preventing her from speaking complete sentences. She could only mutter a few broken words.

"Save... save... save me..."

But no one dared approach. Everyone feared her discolored skin, afraid the poison would spread onto them.

Thus, the onlookers did no more than tell her to hold on while they ran to find a teacher. Not a single person offered her aid. They simply watched her blacken and rot.

He Wei Ni Ya was the same. After one glance, she planned to leave first, then return once matters here had mostly settled down to see if she could find another copy or two of Advancement Magic. If this thing had truly become widespread among the students as she suspected, it should not be hard to find.

If she stayed, she might be taken away with everyone else by the teachers on duty later. Explaining herself would waste time, and time was what she lacked most right now.

With that thought, He Wei Ni Ya walked toward the stairs, preparing to return to her room.

But just as she lifted her foot, she heard the people around her speaking in hushed voices.

"Isn't that Polly?"

"Ah, you know her?"

"Yeah, the one who works in the dining hall every day."

"Huh? Why does she work in the dining hall?"

"To earn tuition," the girl said. "She's from the Seed Zone."

He Wei Ni Ya stopped.

She turned back and looked at Polly lying on the floor. Her eyes, rapidly losing their light, were filled with despair.

"Wh-why..."

"I... I never wanted to attend the Grand Ceremony... I really... never wanted to."

"Why... did they choose me..."

That was what she said.

A white cloth covered the girl's body.

Black blood immediately seeped through it.

"Rotten Corpse Frog poison may not deal the most damage, but it is the most corrosive. Once it reaches the stomach, it is difficult to save the victim." Adele shook her head as she looked at He Wei Ni Ya sitting nearby. "Your hands are all right, aren't they?"

He Wei Ni Ya shook her head.

"Honestly, you carried her over here just like that," Adele said. "If you had a wound on your hand and the poison entered your body through it, you would be in for a rough time."

Adele was rather surprised.

The moment she received word that someone had been poisoned, she immediately packed her things and prepared to rush over. But before she could set out, she saw He Wei Ni Ya charge in while carrying a body that had already rotted beyond recognition.

When she put the poisoned girl down, Adele had even seen He Wei Ni Ya's hand tightly clasped with the girl's hand. The black poison had nearly soaked into that fair little hand.

It was as though the poisoned girl were He Wei Ni Ya's family.

But how could that be possible?

The two belonged to completely different classes.

Adele shook those strange thoughts from her head, then asked, "Do you know her name? I need to make a record and notify her family."

"Her name seems to be Polly," He Wei Ni Ya said. "That is what I heard others say."

...She did not even know her?

Adele looked at He Wei Ni Ya with even greater surprise, then nodded and began taking notes. "Where is she from?"

"The Seed Zone."

Adele's pen paused.

"Looks like there is no need to notify her family." Adele set the pen and paper aside. "No wonder."

"What?"

"Generally speaking, once the first person has been poisoned to death, it is not so easy for those afterward to get poisoned," Adele said. "Everyone is wary. During the Grand Ceremony, people usually prepare their own food and water. At worst, they learn a few ways to protect themselves. There is a Movement Spell called Purification that can cure ninety-five percent of the poisons on the market, and it is only a two-note spell. You should know that spell too."

He Wei Ni Ya nodded.

"But this Movement Spell is not in the curriculum. It is a universal spell movement that must be bought separately. Still, it is very cheap, since it is only a two-note spell. Generally speaking, especially at a time like this, no one should be stingy over that little bit of money," Adele said. "Of course, that is only generally speaking. Some people truly are... excessively frugal."

He Wei Ni Ya understood Adele's meaning. She looked once more at the corpse covered by white cloth, unreadable emotions flowing through eyes as brilliant as stars.

She had a strange feeling, as if the girl beneath that white cloth was not a complete stranger at all.

Instead, she was another frail little boy.

Then, slowly, she became a little red-haired girl.

But she hid those feelings well. When she looked at Adele again, she had already returned to her usual expression, one that always carried a smile.

"Teacher Adele," He Wei Ni Ya said, "although this girl died, I brought her here. That should still count as a contribution, right?"

"Hm?" Adele did not understand immediately. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, does this count as a contribution to the academy?"

Adele understood what He Wei Ni Ya meant. "You want additional credits? You brought her here for extra credits?"

"That certainly was not my only reason, but..." He Wei Ni Ya gave a soft chuckle. "But you know, Professor Ariana's class is really difficult. I do not want to make up a paper after attending the Grand Ceremony, so..."

She pressed her palms together and raised them above her head.

"Please, Teacher Adele! Give me some credits!"

Adele silently watched He Wei Ni Ya. After a while, she nodded slightly. "Of course. I will give you the highest amount possible. Don't worry—I do not think anyone else will object either."

Naturally, He Wei Ni Ya became even happier. "Then I'll be going now, Teacher Adele."

Adele nodded. "Mm, go ahead. I still need to handle this girl's affairs. I won't see you out."

He Wei Ni Ya left, satisfied and cheerful.

But before going out, she took one last look at the girl.

Black-red blood seeped through the white cloth.

He Wei Ni Ya closed the door.

After leaving the office building, He Wei Ni Ya stood alone beneath the moonlight, then pulled a bloodstained envelope from her pocket.

The envelope bore a noble crest, with its origin written beneath it.

The Roger Family.

TuPake Roger.

He Wei Ni Ya narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Mr. Visas."

"Hmm?"

"I want to change tomorrow night's target."

"Sure."

"To the person beside Finnis."

"No problem."

"Because I think..."

"No need to explain." Bai Wei said with a smile.