Two weeks went by in a flash; Christine had already returned to the academy alongside with Albert who after a week deemed it ok to let her be on her own seeing how Elizabeth was taking care of her.
Meanwhile I ended up either passing papers on my desk or going around to check if everything is being set up correctly.
" Everything is finally done " I said stretching my sore back.
After what felt like a millennium of paperwork and the money spending of a madman, I was able squeeze in everything last minute and even rake in some extra cash from the leftover money.
' As expected from merlin his generosity knows no bounds '
" Are you sure about this master? "
As I was basking in the power of money, albert suddenly interrupted me his voice carrying an unfamiliar hint of unease.
" If our information is correct then that man shall try to cause a massacre in the upcoming trip "
I could understand what albert was saying, this man was one of the most wanted criminals in the empire, and the one who assassinated the past empress.
Having appeared at the end of the year banquet nine years ago he had been able to infiltrate the imperial castle, which was considered the safest place in the continent and murder the empress right in front of Eleanor.
' It was supposed to be some great dramatic set up for Eleanor's story, but I'll just cut that short early '
The story was already destined to go haywire when I got transmigrated here and started messing things up and honestly keeping him around would simply cause trouble in the future, I'll just find another way to traumatize her instead for her character development.
" To tell you the truth, normally I would have been sleeping at the other side of the empire at this point "
" And what about this time? "
" This time we have the advantage, this is our only chance to truly bring the rise of the arcane family"
As I said this albert went quiet for a bit before speaking again
" So, what are we to do? "
"Call the others, we are going to hunt a fallen archwizard "
.....
In the continent there are currently only two beings who could truly be called archwizards one being our dear headmaster Merlin and the other being the fallen archwizard Koschei
Both originating from famous folklore back in my old world, they shared certain similarities with their counterparts especially Koschei whose very weakness was carried on from the original Russian folklore.
In this world Koschei was a genius wizard born into a noble household, having blossomed his talents at a young age he was revered and heavily invested in by his family who believed that he would bring honour to their name.
Growing in an unprecedented rate, his rank reached SS by the time he was in his thirties gaining the title of archwizard and endless fame.
Yet that wasn't enough, as he grew older the fear of death endlessly gnawed at him slowly driving him mad.
Unable to accept his destined end yet unwilling to bow his head to a demon because of his pride, he ventured into forbidden magic and research on both demons and humans to create his immortal body.
' That was the story 300 years ago '
His experiments were later on discovered as he was hunted down and presumed dead after his disappearance, but he suddenly reappeared 50 years ago having acquired an immortal.
" That however is incorrect " I said staring towards everyone gathered in my office
The 7 commanders that each held full control over their respective orders watched me tensely as I continued
" As I already informed you 300 years ago it was none other than the arcane family that supplied Koschei with the resources for his experiments, and we continued to do so secretly for 200 years after that "
' That is a lie '
" This heavy sin was passed from generation to generation between the heads of this household "
As I finished, I lowered my head as if in deep anguish talking deep long breaths, before raising it again
" I wish to rectify that mistake.
Tomorrow students of the imperial academy will be arriving to the arcane estate and if our intel is correct then so will Koschei "
Talking a moment to build the tension, I took out a pile of falsified documents that appeared to be extremely old.
" This here are all of our contracts, dealings and documents that act as points of connection between the Arcanes and Koschei, alongside with the truth behind his immortal body after 100 years of constant research done by previous heads "
For a second it felt like the entirety of the office was frozen over as I said this, only broken by the erratic breathing from the youngest commander at the right
" He separated his body and soul to forever freeze his body in time; the reason it took him so long to reappear was because he was only able to partially separate them for the first 250 years' "
Saying so I waited for a minute so that they can all process my words before stating our plan.
" A soul can never be truly separate from its body; he just needed to find a way to keep it at a reasonable enough distance to give the illusion of immortality, for example hiding it away in a magic artifact which looks like a needle "
"....!"
" I'm not going to go around explaining every detail I'm guessing that you already got the gist of it, we have to buy enough time till we locate it, if we don't then he'll just continue regenerating and breaking through any seal we put him in disregarding the harm it causes to him "
" You all know how powerful he is, so I don't want any pointless deaths, just hold him off till we locate the needle. Do you understand? "
" Yes sir!!! "
" Good, rest up for now because tomorrow will be a long day "
.....
As I watched the commanders each leave the room, I silently thanked the ever-standing tradition of mana oaths in the Arcane household.
' If some upstart young lord suddenly told me that his family had secretly helped an enemy of the empire for centuries and was planning on killing them for fame, I would have ratted him out the second I left his room '
Breathing a sigh of relief, I looked towards albert as I checked everything one last time.
" Is the seal stable? "
" Yes master "
" What about the fake one? "
" Also working perfectly "
" That's good we will need them for the show we will put tomorrow, for now I guess I'll just go and see everything else for myself "
Standing up I made my way towards the door
"The records of the deals with Koschei were destroyed long ago, so how did you come to know about it? "
Only to stop frozen in my tracks by Alberts sudden question
"..."
" Did the previous head perhaps tell you? "
At that moment a million different thoughts seemed to crash in my head, till suddenly an unknown memory flashed in front of me.
" 3 years ago... at my birthday, when father called me to the office "
Nodding at my words, albert simply bowed his head as I walked out, my head full of ringing as I realized something
' The weakness of Koschei was never stated in the novel '
Eleanor never defeated Koschei she was killed off with the rest of the main cast before she ever could but for some reason I had believed so
Everything that I thought was simply some brilliant lie to rationalize the information I had turned out to be true, while the source of it was what was false
' What I thought was and what is were mixed to create this situation '
As I stopped before a window I could my face completely ashen
' Wait a minute... my face? '
My head started to spin as I quickly leaned on the windowsill, dragging myself to my bedroom and into the private bathroom where I emptied my stomach
Slowly memories of my actions since entering this world started replaying in my head. Habits that I simply explained as muscle memory, sadistic urges and information that I don't recall in either my or Nicholos's memories, things that were subconscious.
' The memories are mixing; they have been from the start '
These ingrained memories that I had considered to be a video that I can turn on and off at any time somehow became my life, they are influencing me
But I can't stop now if I do, I'll die
So, steadying myself, a smile slowly spread on my lips as I repeated to myself what I always thought
' Do what you have to, it's necessary '