The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 92: The Golden-Eyed And The Humans (1)

There were two main types of Beasts.

Humanoid Beasts, and the non-humanoid Beasts.

The girl was a case of a humanoid Beast. An entity that appeared freakishly human yet wasn’t one. Mercury flowed together with blood in her veins.

The most important thing for the girl right now was information. If the Saliere family realized that she was a Beast, then she’d be in trouble.

“What happened to your hair color?”

“I-I dyed it.”

And so she said something foolish when Count asked about what happened. But then she pursed her lips as she realized that there was a huge problem with that answer.

She was screwed.

The girl couldn’t be impersonating her sister right now.

Because she’d introduced herself as Aether’s younger twin to Lotte Saliere, the one standing in front of her.

So she just told a big fat lie in front of the person she’d had that conversation with. Her words would only be seen as an excuse to Lotte.

However, that wasn’t where the problem ended.

“You went all the way to the hairdresser to get your hair eyed?”

“In this weather?”

The Count, Cromwell Saliere, and his son Lorewell simultaneously threw questions at her, legitimate ones at that.

“And why did you break the window?”

The girl froze at those next words from the two men. Her already cold heart chilled further and her pupils began to quiver. She hadn’t felt this rattled since her sister left her.

Getting her breath under control, she turned her eyes towards the window to face the situation and find some kind of excuse.

Gusts of up to 50 m/s blasted through the broken window and into the study. It was so strong that the desk and chair were being pushed back.

At this rate, the inside of the study was going to be trashed. She had to deal with this issue first.

“I-I’ll do something about it!”

Lotte was the first to move, bringing gusset plates and glass after just standing there blinking at the girl’s sudden appearance. She skillfully replaced the tempered glass then returned to her spot with a relieved sigh.

Thanks to her efforts, the study was saved from becoming a mess. But this only resolved the problem for the Salieres, not the girl.

With the situation handled, the father and son continued their innocent attacks.

“Aether, not that I’m trying to scold you, but... how did you break the window? It should’ve withstood most shocks because of the windproof spell.”

It was a legitimate question.

A glass infused with a disaster-proof scroll became unimaginably firm. It wouldn’t have shattered unless a metal plate flew into it.

Yet glass like that broke, and the girl was covered in the shards.

It had been that powerful an impact, but the white-haired girl was fine with no wounds on her body.

“Let’s see... you don’t seem to be hurt, either.”

An additional blow from Lorewell. The girl could only heave at the question to which she had no good answer. At this point, the characteristic poker face of the Golden-Eyed was about to crumble.

She had so many things to account for.

Why she’d gone to dye her hair in this extreme weather.

If there had even been a hairdresser available at this time in the first place.

Why she’d broken the window to come in instead of entering through the front doors.

How she didn’t have a single scratch after breaking through a disaster-proofed tempered glass with her unprotected body.

There was only one plausible explanation for all these questions.

─ Because she was Beast.

Fuck. She couldn’t ever reveal that.

She had to come up with a solid explanation so that no one here could reach that conclusion.

“I, um.”

The girl moved her mouth wordlessly.

She had to say something, had to force the words out but there was nothing appropriate coming up to her throat. Her mouth just wouldn’t open.

The girl didn’t have a way with words. She could intimidate with threats or warnings, but the ways of playing human psychology using language escaped her.

Rather, Quartus was the one deft at handling this type of crisis.

Think. What would Rosemary have done?

The answer wasn’t hard to figure out.

“Ah.”

She wouldn’t have caused this situation in the first place.

The girl bit down on her lip.

She was furious at the fact that she was the Secundus of the Great Mechas, yet put herself in this predicament due to a moment of carelessness. How was she to see her King like this?

Gritting her teeth, the girl organized her thoughts.

At this point, the only way left was to take it head-on.

Yes, if there was even an inkling that they suspected her identity, she would just kill them all on the spot.

Of course, there was the risk of being caught by the Elementals if she murdered the members of the Saliere family who had high magic sensitivity. If that happened, then it would cause a great setback in their plans to revive the Demon King.

Fortunately, they were near the Demonic Lands where the influence of the Elementals were weaker. Even if she massacred the entire Saliere family, she had a higher chance of getting away with it as opposed to being discovered.

She wasn’t going to think about the immediate future right now. If she was found out, she could discuss it with the others then.

The girl prepared to take out the mana grass in her inner pocket.

And then–

“Uh, the glass broke on its own!”

She heard a trembing voice.

Lotte Saliere stood where the voice came from. Breathing hard, she readied her next words.

“T-the storm this time seems to be quite strong. Aether was standing right here when it suddenly broke, so... ha, haha.... But she didn’t get hurt, fortunately.”

The girl couldn’t believe what she heard. Was she defending her?

No, she wasn’t trying to protect her. Those eyes were watching her with wariness.

She had vaguely realized since that time they talked in front of the bonfire that the way Lotte viewed the Golden-Eyed had changed after meeting her.

Understandably, as the girl had easily subdued two Calamities that had gone for her throat.

The only ones who could tame and control Calamities were the Cataclysms. She didn’t know if Lotte was able to think that far, but it was apparent that she had an instinctive fear of her.

“A-and she dyed her hair at Mrs. Camilla’s place. You know how diligent she is. She took care of Aether’s hair saying, “I won’t lose to a storm like this!” How is it, didn’t it turn out nicely?”

“Hm.”

“I see, that does sound like her.”

Her defense was all over the place, but it was better than what the girl came up with.

The girl stared dumbfoundedly at Lotte who was covering for her despite her wariness.

Lotte couldn’t meet her eyes properly. Her pupils rolled like waves crashing on a shore as she twirled her crimson shoulder-length hair around her finger in a display of agitation.

“But something’s strange... Didn’t Aether say last time that she was going to where the beastkin live?”

“T-that! She came back, said she was going to go later because of the storm. Right?”

“Uh, right.......”

“Hm, she isn’t hurt so it’s fine. Don’t stay up too late studying and get to bed early.”

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“Ah, understood!”

Cromwell and Lorewell shut the door and left. There was an immediate silence following the thud.

The girl looked at Lotte, and Lotte looked at her back.

Unsurprisingly, Lotte broke away first.

She didn’t really get it, but she was okay for now. Lotte sighed softly under her breath so that the girl wouldn’t hear.

When the white-haired version of Aether came crashing through the window, her heart had nearly dropped. It had been from surprise but it was also the trauma of that day that resurfaced whenever she saw the white-haired girl.

The girl had effortlessly made those Fenrirs aiming for Lotte’s neck submit to her. From that time onward, questions and doubts about the entirety of the Golden-Eyed began sprouting in her heart.

What on earth were the Golden-Eyed? Why couldn’t they use magic simply for having yellow eyes?

Even though she had tried to concentrate on her studies, those questions would spark fires that burned in her mind.

“I... dyed my hair.”

The girl’s excuse to her father and brother who had run over here at the sound of the window breaking was ridiculous. She then let out a noise right after, seeming to have realized the contradiction of her statement.

Because she’d introduced herself to Lotte as Aether’s younger twin sister.

So yes, that girl had been the liar after all. At least Aether had been consistent with what she said.

Then what was she? Was she different altogether from Aether?

While she’d been distracted by those thoughts, her father and brother began throwing a barrage of questions towards the girl.

Starting with the broken window to why she wasn’t injured, why she’d gone to get her hair done at such a time, etc. The girl’s face turned dark at the constant questioning which gave her no time to think of an explanation.

Lotte soon glanced at her, seeing murderous intent exude from her bright yellow eyes. The girl pulled her hand back in a gesture to take out something.

Not good.

Though she didn’t know why, Lotte felt that she had to stop the girl from being backed into a corner. There was no logical reasoning as to why that was.

It was just that her instincts screamed for her to help the girl feel mentally at ease if she wanted to save her family.

So despite her own suspicions about the girl, Lotte took her side and made up excuses so that she at least wouldn’t have strange thoughts.

That was why things were like this now.

Vrrrrrrr.

The girl was drying her wet hair with a magic device. The limp, white strands sparkled like snowflakes in the study’s light.

She’d gotten soaked all over due to the rainproof scroll shattering from the impact of crashing through the window, which became her alibi. If this fake Aether had been indoors, there wouldn’t have been a reason for her to be wearing a disaster-proof scroll.

“.......”

This awkward atmosphere had persisted since earlier. The white-haired girl said nothing as she was busy drying her clothes and hair while Lotte sat reading a book on the rocking chair. She couldn’t focus on the words at all.

The girl set down the hair dryer with a tap.

“Um, hey....”

“.......”

No answer.

Come to think of it, she didn’t know what to call her because the girl refused to tell her saying that Lotte didn’t need to know when she had first asked.

Lotte tried again more formally.

“Excuse me...?”

“... Akasha1.”

“Hm?”

“I’ll be here for a while so you should at least know my name.”

The girl turned around with a smirk. Those golden eyes that appeared scheming made Lotte’s insides flip.

“Let’s get along, Lotte.”

Lotte instinctively knew.

This was going to be an uncomfortable living situation.

1. "Means space, sky or aether in traditional Indian cosmology, depending on the religion" (Ākāśa in Sanskrit)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akasha