PTSD Military Chaplain of the Academy

One common occurrence in typical academy novels is when the protagonist stays out late and an incident occurs.

And I know barely a fraction of this novel’s content.

All I can do is prevent such incidents from happening in advance.

Before my duty shift began, I had already confirmed that Chloe had returned to the dormitory. Since nothing would happen while the protagonist was absent, I could sit back and relax a little.

“Head Priest.”

Sofia Sub-Priest called out to me. Not wanting to do anything, I quietly closed my eyes.

“Head Priest?”

“……”

“Don’t pretend to sleep.”

She is quite perceptive. I slowly opened my eyes to find Sofia Sub-Priest looking at me with a bewildered expression.

“What do you want?”

“Your name, Head Priest, follows the naming convention of the Holy Empire, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“In that case, are you perhaps from the Holy Empire?”

Sofia Sub-Priest’s eyes sparkled. She seemed to be brimming with hope that I was from the same region as her.

“No, my father is from the Holy Empire.”

“Then what is your baptismal name? What is your baptismal name, Head Priest?”

“My baptismal name is Benedict.”

“Aha.”

Sofia Sub-Priest nodded and smiled. We chatted like that for some time—how long has it been?

“Ugh… I need to go to the bathroom!”

“Will it take long?”

“Um… It’s 11 o’clock now, so I’ll be back by 10 minutes past!”

Sofia Sub-Priest left to go to the bathroom. After that, I continued reading theological books, but at some point, I felt fatigue in my eyes and took off my glasses to stretch.

Having sat for a long time, my body felt quite stiff.

“Phew…”

“Hmm… Slurp…”

Professor Esther, who had been diligently reading a paper, was now slumped over her desk, asleep. I looked at the wall clock.

The current time was 11:30 PM. It had been quite some time since dusk had fallen, and outside the window, darkness had enveloped everything. Only the occasional streetlight dimly illuminated the surroundings.

I stood up from my chair and did some simple stretches to loosen my body.

According to the academy’s duty shift regulations, duty staff were required to patrol at least 30 minutes after the students’ curfew.

On weekdays, the curfew was at 10 PM, but on Fridays, which preceded the weekend, it was typically at 11 PM.

In other words, it was roughly time to start patrolling.

After loosening my stiff body, I approached the sleeping Professor Esther, who was frequently licking her lips in her sleep. She was still lost in dreamland.

“Professor Esther.”

“Umm… Who…?”

“Professor Esther. It’s time to patrol.”

“Uh, uh…”

Professor Esther rubbed her sleepy eyes and woke up. She stretched her arms and, while twisting her waist, let out a yawn as she pushed her chair back and stood up.

“Yawn… I’m still so sleepy. I had duty shifts at my previous academy too, but… I feel like I’ve been so tired recently.”

“It seems the faculty room is warm.”

“That’s true. The heating is good. But what about Sofia Sub-Priest?”

Professor Esther looked around for Sofia Sub-Priest. Now that I think about it, she had indeed only said she was going to the bathroom…

“……”

“Professor Lucio?”

I quickly checked the wall clock. The current time was 11:33 PM. Sofia Sub-Priest had gone to the bathroom at 11:00 sharp.

“…Constipation?”

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”

Well, I could check the bathroom while on patrol to see if she needed assistance. With Professor Esther by my side, there shouldn’t be any issues even if Sofia Sub-Priest happened to be in the ladies’ room.

“Then, let’s go patrol.”

“Huh… I’m a bit nervous.”

Professor Esther and I left the faculty room. The dimly lit hallway welcomed us.

* * * * *

“S-Sofia Sub-Priest~.”

“……”

We were currently in the women’s restroom on the first floor of the academy’s main building, where the faculty room is located. While I waited outside for Professor Esther, she had gone inside to look for Sofia Sub-Priest.

“Professor Lucio. It seems Sofia Sub-Priest isn’t here?”

“Hmmm…”

Strangely, Sofia Sub-Priest, who had exited the faculty room to go to the restroom, was not inside. I thought for a moment.

Unless Sofia Sub-Priest was foolish, she wouldn’t have skipped the nearby restroom to use one on another floor.

Then, perhaps she took a detour on her way back. If Sofia Sub-Priest were mischievous and curious, that might be possible.

Eventually, after giving up the search in the ladies’ room, Professor Esther returned with a suspicious expression.

“Nobody was in the restroom. There weren’t even any occupied stalls.”

“Ugh… If she’s not in the restroom, where on Earth could she have gone…?”

“Hmm… Perhaps we missed each other? Sofia Sub-Priest might have gone back to the faculty room.”

“That makes sense.”

As I stroked my chin in thought, Professor Esther proposed a good hypothesis. I agreed with her opinion to some extent and turned back toward the faculty room.

However, even when I opened the door wide in the faculty room…

“…No one is here.”

“There’s no one.”

Only the warmth from the heating unit escaped, and Sofia Sub-Priest was nowhere to be seen.

At this point, a bad premonition began to take shape in my mind. I shook my head vigorously to dispel the anxious thoughts creeping in.

“What should we do? Should one of us stay in the faculty room? There’s a chance Sofia Sub-Priest could return while we patrol.”

After mulling over her words, I shook my head and said,

“For now, it would be better to patrol together and then return to the faculty room afterward. Having at least one more person makes searching faster.”

“That sounds good.”

Thus, we left the faculty room once more and continued walking through the dimly lit corridor of the main building.

The pitch-black hallways of the academy at midnight created a chilling atmosphere, intertwined with the cold night air of early spring. It was eerily quiet, to the point of sending shivers down one’s spine.

However, Sofia Sub-Priest was not there either.

“Where on earth could she have gone…?”

“I don’t know. Damn…”

“Should we split up and look?”

“…No. It’s not wise to scatter carelessly.”

The chill in the air felt palpable since we exited the faculty room. If it were simply a matter of temperature difference, I could bear it, but there was something unsettling about it.

Professor Esther seemed to understand the meaning of my words; she silently nodded. Then, suddenly, she pressed herself against my side. Almost hugging me, she clung tightly to my left arm.

“Are you cold?”

“N-No, it’s not that… I’m just a bit scared. It’s strange… In my previous academy, I never felt scared while patrolling… Is it because this place is larger?”

“That might be the case.”

We walked on. Even after walking for quite a while, our footsteps echoing in the frigid hallway, we couldn’t find any sign of Sofia Sub-Priest.

Despite having searched for a long time, there was still no sign of her by the time we reached the end of the main building’s corridor. It was as if she had vanished without a trace.

Now that there was no place left to check, we reluctantly began to head back to the faculty room.

Just as we approached the restroom we had checked earlier…

“Professor Lucio.”

Professor Esther bent down and picked up something.

I looked at Professor Esther’s hand. When she opened it, there was…

“Hair?”

Blonde hair. It was hair that reached down to her shoulders.

And I had seen this before.

“Sofia Sub-Priest…”

Sofia Sub-Priest had certainly come up to the restroom. However, her whereabouts after that remained a mystery.

Before either of us could speak, we both turned our gazes toward a certain spot. The dim emergency light hanging in the corridor, covered in dark shadows, faintly flashed red.

It was a passage leading from the main building of the academy to the annex.

The boundary between the main building and the annex. We stood before it, facing each other, and silently nodded.

Words were unnecessary. We immediately headed toward the annex.

* * * * *

The Caldera Imperial Academy Annex. Once used as part of the main building, it now housed classrooms and club activities, as well as the offices of some longstanding departments, after a new main building was constructed.

And being an old building, the hallways of the academy annex exuded a far colder atmosphere than the main building where we had just patrolled.

“This place is much colder. It’s a good thing I wore a thicker coat…”

Professor Esther was still walking while tightly clinging to my left arm. Thanks to her, I didn’t feel the cold too much, but…

“What will you do when you have duty shifts again later?”

“Y-You’re right… Ah, I really hate scary things…”

On the other hand, I understood her feelings. The corridor of the annex was indeed chilling and eerily quiet.

As we walked slowly, something caught my eye.

It was the stairs leading to the second floor of the annex. And in the empty space below those stairs, something white was faintly visible, starting to appear—it looked like hair.

I whispered to Professor Esther.

“…Professor Esther, do you see that?”

“Wha-?!”

“…?”

As I whispered quietly, Professor Esther suddenly jumped in surprise and clung tightly to my arm.

No, aside from the soft sensation of something pressing against my arm in real-time, it felt like my arm might break from the force. Seriously.

Realizing the fact, Professor Esther only loosened her grip a bit, looking apologetic.

“I’m s-sorry. I was surprised…”

“It’s alright. More importantly, look over there.”

Following my finger, her gaze stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Then, she began to tremble like an aspen tree and pressed herself closely to me.

“W-What is that? Is it a ghost?”

“I’ll go check it out.”

“W-Wait! Do we have to go?!”

“We have to find Sofia Sub-Priest.”

Professor Esther’s lips trembled as she hesitated, and then she pulled out her staff from her cloak and muttered resolutely.

“…Be careful. If anything appears, I’ll cast magic…”

“N-No, there’s no need for that. What would you do if it’s a student…”

I cautiously walked down to the bottom of the stairs. As I got closer, the white hair came into clearer view. At the same time, a sound pricked my ears.

“Ugh… Hic…”

Is that… the sound of crying?

It sounded like someone was trying desperately to hold back their tears. For now, it didn’t seem like there was anything ghostly, as Professor Esther had imagined.

As I slowly approached, the white hair seemed to sense my presence and jerked away, turning towards me. I then recognized the face and the identity of the owner.

“…Laura von Adelheit?”

The noble lady of Adelheit, Laura von Adelheit. Her hair clung to her forehead due to cold sweat, and her shaking eyes were directed at me.

“Ah…?”

As I cautiously called her name, Laura, with her rabbit-like eyes wide open, stared at me vacantly, as if she had encountered an unexpected person.

And beside her, another familiar face popped out.

“H-Head Priest…?”

“N-No, was Sofia Sub-Priest also there?”

I looked at the two of them in disbelief, and for a brief moment, Laura and Sofia Sub-Priest, who had been staring at me in confusion, simultaneously leaped into my embrace.

“Hooouu…! Head Priest!”

“Hic…. Sniff…”

“What is going on…?”

Caught off guard by their embrace, I felt my vestments gradually soaking in tears and gently patted their heads.

“…Calm down. I don’t know what happened, but it’s alright now.”

“Th-Thank goodness… it’s not a ghost…”

While I was comforting Sofia Sub-Priest and Laura, Professor Esther approached us, visibly relieved.

“First, we should head to the faculty room.”

As I tried to lead the two still clinging to me toward the faculty room, Laura, who had buried her face in my chest, suddenly lifted her head, startled.

“P-Professor. Professor Antorelli.”

“Yeah?”

“There’s something strange here.”

“…Something strange?”

Laura nodded vigorously. Then, with a trembling finger, she pointed towards the end of the hallway.

I turned my gaze where her finger pointed. However, there was nothing there. Just a dark, eerie void that swallowed the entire corridor.

Gulp—

At that ominous sight, I involuntarily swallowed hard.

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