‘What’s really going on? Is that really him…?’
Leon’s mind was a mess as he entered the common room to see ‘him’ speaking with the other delegates of the Evenus Household.
Looking at him, he felt different compared to Julien.
From the way he carried himself and spoke. He felt sharper, more refined, and at the same time, more… vicious?
He looked like a snake hiding his fangs, ready to strike at any given moment.
Could that really be him?
‘If I’m understanding things correctly, he should be here to relay the news to Linus about Julien’s death.’
If it were Julien, why would he do something like that?
Unless he had a different goal in mind.
“Linus doesn’t seem to be here. Do you want to wait here?”
The girls were being quite polite with the guests from the Evenus Household.
Even the normally crazy Kiera was mild as she made her way towards her own seat and started studying.
“It’s alright. We don’t have the time to wait.”
And then, eventually, his gaze fell on Leon.
“Actually, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like it if he accompanied me to look for Linus.”
“Me?”
Leon was surprised at first, but then soon nodded his head, under the surprised looks of the girls.
“I’ll do it.”
“Wait, Leo—”
“It’s alright, I’ve recovered enough.”
“But…”
Evelyn looked at Leon with a worried expression, but after seeing his expression, she decided to let him be.
“Alright, who am I to tell you what to do?”
She, of all people, understood how Leon currently felt. She had no reason to stop him. In fact, this was probably a good thing. Having stayed in his own room for the past couple of days, getting some fresh air would be good for him.
In the meantime, the man looked towards the Evenus vassals.
“You guys wait here in case Linus shows up. In the meantime, I’ll go with him to see if we can find him around. This will save us some valuable time.”
“Understood.”
The vassals were strangely obedient to this new man whom Leon found unfamiliar.
This made him even more suspicious and made him want to figure things out even more.
‘Something is definitely off about him.’
“Alright, let’s go.”
Moving past Leon, the strange man headed out of the common room and out of the dormitory.
Leon looked back behind him, staring at the vassals before heading out and following the man from behind.
Stepping out of the building, he was met by the blinding glare of the sun. As he moved forward, he reached out toward the strange man.
“Wait.”
He called out, his breath a little heavy.
With barely any food in his system and days of sleeplessness weighing on him, he struggled to keep up.
The man finally stopped and looked in Leon’s direction.
“What is it?”
“No, I…”
Leon caught his breath before looking at him. The more he looked at him, the more foreign he looked, and yet, his instincts told him that it was him.
Collecting his breath, Leon asked.
“…I didn’t catch your name. What did you say your name was?”
“Me?”
The man blinked his eyes for a moment before adjusting his glasses.
“Lazarus. You can call me that.”
Lazarus?
Leon raised his brow. What sort of name was that?
This didn’t sound like a common name or anything he had ever heard before.
“Even in my home country, the name is rather uncommon. But that is irrelevant for now. Let’s go find Linus.”
Lazarus turned around and headed deeper into the Academy. Leon followed him from behind, his mind wandering over the situation and everything that didn’t add up.
He had been so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn’t realize they were going the wrong way.
By the time he realized, they were not far from the Academy Mirror Crack.
“Wait, why are we here? This is the completely wrong direction. Linus—”
Leon’s words were abruptly cut off by Lazarus, who stared off in the distance.
“So not only do you have a stupid face, but you’re in fact stupid?”
“I’m not stupi—”
Leon almost instinctively answered before he stopped himself. Then… slowly processing his words, his eyes shot up.
“C-could you….”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I do need your help.”
Lazarius pointed towards the cube-like building in the distance.
“I’ve heard that Linus is inside the Mirror Dimension. I’m sure a cadet of your caliber can help me get in to find him. Can you do that?”
“I…”
Leon didn’t know how to answer. His mind was blank.
There was no way that Linus was inside the Mirror Dimension. The Mirror Dimension was still closed for the first years following the recent events.
By now, he’d have to be stupid not to realize that something was up.
He was very clearly aware that ‘Lazarus’ could very well be Julien in disguise.
But how?
How was that possible? He had seen him die before his eyes. There was simply…
“So, are you going to help me?”
“Ah…”
Leon pursed his lips, staring at the man in front of him with a complicated expression. If it was really him, why was he being so vague about it?
No, more importantly, why did he not reveal his identity and come back to the Academy?
Leon had so many questions he wanted to ask, but held his tongue. If this was truly Julien, then… he definitely had a reason to do what he was doing.
He knew him well enough to know that he wasn’t the type to do things randomly.
And so, after taking a deep breath, he nodded his head.
“Alright, I’ll help you out.”
‘Maybe this once, I’ll… be useful.’
Leon stepped forward and entered the distant building, offering a nod to the guard as ‘Lazarus’ followed silently behind. Entering the building, he looked completely unfazed, as though he had been here many times before.
This further heightened Leon’s certainty of Lazarus’s identity.
The Mirror Crack at the Academy was under heavy guard following recent events, with security tighter than ever. In fact, the structure had only been recently built in order to better safeguard the crack.
Arriving before the crack, the two were immediately stopped.
“State your identities.”
Leon glanced at the guard before handing over his student ID.
“Leon Ellert?”
The guard’s eyes widened in surprise the moment he saw the ID. Leon wasn’t just any cadet—he was well-known for his exceptional talent, and more recently, for being revealed as the Prince of the Verdant Empire.
If it were him, then there was no problem letting him in. But there was an issue.
“Who is he?”
The guard turned his attention towards Lazarus.
“He’s with me. He’s one of the delegates from the Evenus Household… I can vouch for him.”
Leon said while looking back at Lazarus.
“.If you say so. Nonetheless, we still have to do some registering before allowing him in. This is for safety precautions.”
Leon looked behind to see Lazarus step forward with a confident stride.
He then extended his hand.
“By all means”.
“…Alright.”
The guard pulled out a small device and pressed it against Lazarus’s arm. As a bright red light washed over it, Leon leaned in, studying the device with care.
This device wasn’t just any regular device.
It was a type of scanner linked to a vast database—an advanced piece of technology recently developed by the Empire. All cadets had been registered within it.
Its primary function was to detect disguises during identity verification, ensuring that no one could mask their true identity.
It could also recognize anyone who had registered before. And Julien… he had already been scanned once.
Leon pressed his lips into a thin line as he watched Lazarus undergo the scan. Would it detect something? Would it recognize him? Would…
“Check complete. You may enter.”
But it seemed like he had been overthinking. The check lasted a few seconds, and the result came out blank.
‘Yeah, there’s no way he wouldn’t think of something like this.’
The check wasn’t exactly foolproof, and there were ways around it.
In the end, the two managed to enter the Mirror Crack without any problems, the air suddenly turning arid and dry as they stepped in.
“…We’re here.”
As they stepped into the familiar space, Leon glanced toward Lazarus, who had come to a halt, quietly surveying the safe zone.
Then, with a faint, knowing smile, Lazarus turned his gaze to meet Leon’s.
“Thank you for bringing me here.”
“…Oh, yeah.”
Leon nodded, his lips dry. He was curious as to why he had been brought here. He wanted to ask him if he was truly ‘him’. He had a lot of questions he wanted to ask, and yet, he couldn’t find it in him to ask a single one.
In the end, the only thing he could do was stare blankly as Lazarus stared in the direction of the outer walls of the Safe Zone.
Eventually, his lips parted.
“…I will be going on a long journey.”
“Eh?”
Long journey?
“I don’t know how long, but it’s something that I have to do. I don’t really have a choice.”
Leon could only listen in silence, his heart pressing. He could more or less tell what he was planning on doing.
“…I will probably change a lot. By the time I come back, I might just be a completely different person. I’ll have missed a lot of things. I didn’t expect things to turn out this way, but in the end, this is what I must do.”
Slowly turning his attention towards Leon, Lazarus… No, Julien smiled.
In that moment, Leon was sure.
The man standing before him was Julien.
“You know, even though you are useless, my death had nothing to do with you. It was something that had to happen.”
“What does that…”
Julien stepped closer, pressing his hand against Leon’s shoulder.
“You’re a prince now. You can’t be stuck thinking about failing your job as a knight. There are more important things that you need to think about. In fact, I’m almost happy that I’m not with you. Things will probably get extremely troublesome if I were to stick with you.”
Lazarus’s expression winced.
In that moment, he truly looked like Julien, and a small laugh escaped Leon’s lips.
“…They’ll not be that bad.”
In fact, if anything, sticking with Julien was the surefire way to guarantee trouble.
He was a trouble magnet.
“I know they won’t.”
Julien patted Leon on the shoulder as he mumbled.
“Don’t resist, okay?”
Leon closed his eyes and nodded.
“…Alright.”
He understood exactly what Julien was about to do.
And just before it happened, Leon took a deep breath and mumbled.
“I’m being fired, aren’t I?”
Julien’s hand paused before a laugh escaped his lips.
“You know it.”
“….Do I get any severance pay?”
“With whose money?”
“Yours?”
“Fuck off.”
Julien clicked his tongue and mumbled, “By firing you, I’m essentially giving away a lot of money, so be grateful.”
A faint white glow manifested over Julien’s ring the moment Leon closed his eyes, and in that moment, the memories of the events that had occurred in the previous hour faded from Leon’s mind.
The last thing Leon recalled before everything faded was a few soft words.
“Goodbye, you failure of a knight.”
And with that, Leon forgot about everything.
