The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 279: Locking The Door After The Horse Is Gone (1)

Chapter 279: Locking The Door After The Horse Is Gone (1)
0% Two days later.
Finally able to meet Vermel, I could only be puzzled the moment I saw his face.
It was because his already exhausted face had become halved.
“Did you get a lover overnight or something?”
At first I thought he’d been drained of his energy. Like the face of a husband going into work early the next morning after being sucked dry by his wife all night, should I say?
But Vermel waved his hand and denied it.
“Bullshit.”
Then again, a guy who was working his ass off to gather hidden pieces wouldn’t be making a girlfriend.
“Then why’s your complexion so bad?”
Vermel went quiet for a moment at my question.
Had this guy also taken a dip in the Elemental Spring?
Now that I thought about it, it was a reasonable guess.
The last time I had seen Vermel was about 40 hours ago. It wouldn’t be such a stretch to say that he took a bath in that time.
No way.
“Naah.”
No, it couldn’t be. I was getting too ahead of myself with that earlier thought. Really, we weren’t that close.
We were a contract-based relationship that would end once the Demon King was defeated. There was no reason for him to have any more compassion for me than necessary just as I had for him.
What had happened in the Elemental Spring was my business, so Vermel wouldn’t think to get involved.
Because even if he knew that I was on a time limit, he’d focus more on coming up with a plan to take down the Demon King.
With that thought, I poked Vermel in the side and nagged him.
“So what happened?”
“...Didn’t you hear the news this morning?”
“What.”
“Haa.... you really don’t know.”
Vermel sighed and showed me a news article.
[Prosecution seeks arrest warrant for the Cataclysm ‘Akasha’. ‘There is a risk that she nay flee...’]The hell was this.
I knew that Akasha was being investigated by the prosecution. Still, it had been a non-arrest investigation so she’d come home after they were done....
Didn’t this mean that they were going to lock her up?
I didn’t know much about laws but I could guess how the Kaurelian government intended to treat my sister.
The article didn’t end there.
[Kaurelia Research Institute Survey][Q. What is your opinion on issuing an arrest warrant for the recently surrendered executive of the Demon Army, Winter Heaven Aether?]
[1. Arrest immediately : 44%]
[2. Do not arrest at all : 36%]
[3. Arrest after defeating the Demon King : 13%]
[4. Don’t know or N/A : 6%]
There were 44% of those canf
1 bastards saying that I should be done away with now, and 13% of subhuman fuckers who wanted to discard me after the job was done.
These two were the majority so the public opinion was against.
“Aether, you’re going to be next.”
Vermel warned me.
Me, a humble physicist, was at risk of being arrested in a fantasy world. What the hell.
“They say it’s for investigation but Akasha has already been sentenced, because the whole world knows that she’s a Beast.”
“Fuck, I’m gonna be serving jail time?”
All I did here was knock out a few people with my staff, and make Flare and an atomic bomb.
I was a good Beast who never once killed anyone!
But I’d have to go to prison for the crime of assisting?
That was unfair.
“How does this even make sense?”
“They’re saying that if you’ve really surrendered, you should be judged in court. That’s what a lot of people are thinking even now.”
“But I have my sister Alice!”
I was under the protection of an Elemental King whom the elves followed.
“Don’t bother trying to make logical sense of politics. There are definitely some people who  are just hating on purpose.”
The country that was so obedient to Elementals was now talking about separation of church and state.
What a laugh.
“FYI, the general election is in two months.”
“Ah, then I guess it can’t be helped.”
I see, so it was all for the votes.
Even so, an internal division when the Demon King was getting ready to come charging? Maybe they’d get it together if they also got blown up.
Still, the world must not end. For the sake of Lotte, Freyr, Yufiel and Leninya, for Akasha and Blueberry....
Right.
It’d be good to first go visit Akasha before gathering the research team for Dark Day.
**
The visitor reception process went easier than I thought.
At least being a democracy, they let family see each other.
“You have 20 minutes. Feel free to talk until then.”
Click.
After an unmotivated-looking elf official shut left, closing the door behind them–
We looked at each other through a glass.
My younger twin who was ‘truly’ identical in everything besides hair color.
Unlike me, she had turned haggard within a few days.
“Ther.”
“Kasha.”
“Ther....”
“Kasha....”
Her voice had gotten quite hoarse.
It must have been tough even if she was a Cataclysm. After all, a prosecutor’s investigation went for at least a few hours.
Akasha banged on the desk in frustration.
“Ther, get me out of here.”
“Sorry, I don’t have the ability right now.”
“Haa....”
“Haa....”
Akasha definitely had to be part of the research, as we needed her Innate Magic–White Night–to maximize the power of Dark Day.
But to think that things would go awry like this.
“I’m glad that you changed your mind. But you know, you shouldn’t have surrendered like this. Should’ve looked for a better, more advantageous way.”
“Lotte was dying in front of me. What time do you think I had then?”
“You should’ve looked even if you didn’t have it, you blockheaded sister.”
What?
Even so, how could she call someone who was basically her alter ego a blockhead.
“If I’m a blockhead, so are you.”
“You finished?”
“No? I have more.”
Akasha and I glared at each other, sparks flying in the space between our locked gazes.
We wasted about five minutes arguing.
“Never mind, what’s the point in fighting like this.”
“It’s all good so get me out of here first, alright? The food here tastes like crap.”
“Wait a bit, I’ll find a way.”
What should I do.
I suddenly looked up, and there was Alice hovering. She was keeping quiet, but when I gave her a hint, she cleared her throat.
But something else popped out than what I expected.
“...Fascinating. I didn’t think there would be a ‘dummy’.”
Whish
.
Dropping down next to me, Alice took a close look at Akasha.
“Same face, even same personality. But completely opposite in hair color.... I can see what the Goddess intended.”
“What the heck? Explain so we can understand.”
At my and Akasha’s urging, Alice smiled and nodded.
Then, she said something shocking.
“The two of you are actually the same person.”
“What?”
“What?”
What was this all of a sudden?
“See, you’re reacting the same at the same time.”
Yeah, because it made no sense.
Akasha and I had been together ever since I could remember, so how were we the same person?
“To make it easier... yes. The Goddess copy-pasted your file.”
“Why?”
“Hm, perhaps to lay groundwork for defeating the Demon King? She probably came up with the idea while debugging.”
Alice looked at Akasha and continued.
“In fact, you probably aren’t supposed to exist in this world. You’re only someone who the Goddess created as a little test.”
Alice’s remark was one hell of a storm. Akasha looked stunned.
And I was making the same face as well.
Come to think of it, Vermel hadn’t had a clue about Akasha’s existence.
“I’m Akasha, and Akasha is me....”
It was bewildering.
Still, it was said by Alice so I had no choice but to believe her, since Elementals distinguished people by their souls.
Of course, learning this didn’t really change things. Either way, I had to get Akasha out of here.
“...So, what are you trying to say?”
“...So, what are you trying to say?”
We asked Alice at the same time.
Whether the information she just gave could help us get Akasha released from here.
“It’s worth asking for her to be released. After all, by this logic, the white-haired you is also my sister.”
That’s right, come to think of it.
Alice and I were sisters, and if Akasha who had nothing to do with Elementals or Earth was also my sister, what kind of messed up family tree was that?
Kaurelia’s prosecution also had questions about this, hence locking up Akasha and investigating her.
So if they knew that Akasha and I were one in the same data, they might let her go immediately.
“You’re right. Have the four Elemental Kings vouch for her based on the point that you two are actually the same person. If you can do that, then white-haired you should be able to get out of here.”
“But will the people believe that?”
It was one thing for there to be a fact, another thing to believe it.
“The mana waves and soul test results will match so those who will believe will believe.”
“Hm.”
“Hm.”
We’d at least be able to build a favorable public opinion towards Akasha.
Since Akasha, who didn’t have a guardian Elemental like me, had been captured like this by near-unanimous decision.
“Okay. I’ll at least give it a try, so wait just a bit longer.”
As I was about to end the visit with those words–
“Wait.”
Tap.
Akasha pushed herself up with her hands on the desk.
There was something uneasy and pitiful in her troubled-looking eyes.
“You, Elemental.”
“Call me Alice, sister.”
“Alice. Let’s say that what you said is true. Then if the Demon King dies and the world is restored....”
Akasha’s voice shook subtly.
“...Then, what’ll happen to me?”
“That’s.”
Alice stumbled on her words.
“You said I’m just a dummy. Then if that debugging thing is done, I’ll have no reason to exist.”
“.......”
“Will the Goddess erase my very existence? Or will I be banished to some other unknown world?”
Don’t be ridiculous, Akasha added with her teeth gritted.
Her gold eyes were glowing colder than ever.
“Yeah, they say that when Elementals are silent, it’s an affirmation. So it seems I’m right.”
Akasha twisted her lips and sat down crookedly.
Neither I, nor Alice–
–could say anything in the face of her anger.
I knew what she was feeling, and I sympathized as well. Because we were supposed to be one in the same.
“Kasha.”
“Ther, if the Goddess tries to erase one of us? I’m going to go back to the Demon King.”
“Don’t be like that.”
“I don’t want to be separated from my only family.”
Even if it’s me from another world.
That was what Akasha seemed to have swallowed back at the last minute. I could tell even if she didn’t say it, because I, too, would have said the same thing.
“Ah, damn it.”
My head hurt all of a sudden.
I had just managed to merge the ego of a man who was living on Earth with the ego of a girl who was living here on Ahrens continent.
And so I had thought I wouldn’t have to think anymore about my existence, but... now there was this variable.
I had been such a fool to think that making Dark Day would be the end of it.
─ It’s commonly known as a spaghetti code, which I really hate.
The Goddess was someone who hated wasting data with a passion.
Once White Night served its original purpose, she’d probably delete Akasha.
From the perspective of a transcendent being, disposing of Akasha would be no different than examinees throwing away workbooks after CSATs.
Sis.
[She simply hates duplicates, and isn’t so cruel as to do something to the both of you....]
Yes, that’s it.
Having been about to leave the visitation room without any words of comfort or explanation, I went up to Akasah ten seconds before the visitation was to end.
I said one thing to her as she looked dejected.
“Akasha, you’re not going to die so don’t worry.”
“......?”
Her eyebrows furrowed as if to say ‘and what bullshit is that’.
Akasha didn’t know about the contract between me and the Goddess, so of course she’d just stare in confusion.
For the sake of the one in front of me who was anxious about disappearing, I relayed what I knew without any falsehood.
“No matter what, you aren’t going to vanish but remain in this world.”
That wasn’t some guess but words of certainty.
Because.
The one who was going to be deleted was me.
Footnotes
1. Meme spelling of elf for Koreans due to a text bug happening once on WoW3