Ch.108Chapter 108 – The Chancellor Knows Everything

At Glesius Academy, a regular meeting is held once a month.

Participants in these regular meetings typically included professors from each department and the chancellor or acting chancellor.

Until last year, Shannon had attended the meetings as the acting chancellor, but from this year, Chancellor Regina Blasteria began attending the meetings herself.

“Alright. Let’s begin the third regular meeting of the second semester.”

Regina was wearing clothes that were less revealing than usual.

However, despite wearing less revealing clothes, she couldn’t hide her voluptuous figure.

But none of the people gathered here harbored any impure thoughts toward her…

“As everyone knows, we’ve recently discovered evidence of communications between the academy and the outside world. Shannon?”

“Yes, Chancellor. I’ll show you the data now.”

Shannon picked up a small rod next to Regina and waved it slightly clockwise.

—Activating Glesius Academy Security Administrator privileges.

Shannon’s waving of the rod was intended to activate the magic formation protecting Glesius Academy.

Although the magic formation was installed for student management purposes, one of its functions was to intercept communications sent to the outside by individuals with malicious intent within the academy.

—Secured records of secret communications from inside Glesius Academy to the outside.

At the announcement that records of secret communications from inside the academy to the outside had been secured, the faces of everyone gathered here began to harden.

Communications from inside to outside could happen anywhere.

Glesius Academy basically had channels in place for students to communicate with people outside through letters.

Since most students were children of noble families, there were cases when urgent messages needed to be sent if major events occurred in their families.

Additionally, for truly urgent matters, the academy provided crystal balls to enable magical communication.

The academy even distributed weekly newspapers containing news from across the empire so students could know what was happening in the world.

So there was no reason to use secret communications.

But the fact that records of secret communications had been secured by the magic formation meant only one thing.

“It means some malicious individuals with impure intentions have infiltrated the academy.”

Count Ecatos, one of the professors teaching swordsmanship to students, nodded and spoke.

“Well, it’s rather strange that things have been quiet until now.”

Regina was the one who answered his remark.

She turned her head to look at the professors gathered here.

“I’ve gathered you all here today to establish countermeasures for this.”

When Regina mentioned establishing countermeasures, the professors’ gazes changed.

The position of professor at Glesius Academy involved more than just educating students.

The professors gathered here were assigned the role of being responsible for the academy’s defense.

“You all know well. Our Glesius Academy is always exposed to external threats.”

People nodded at Regina’s words.

As she said, Glesius Academy was always one of the places exposed to threats from external forces.

The reason Glesius Academy was exposed to threats was simple.

It was because it was ‘a place where many children of the Celebrio Empire’s upper class resided.’

“People with malicious intentions gather to form organizations, and these organizations periodically bare their fangs at the academy. What they aim for is just one thing: to attack Glesius Academy to announce their existence to the world and create chaos.”

“Is this another similar type of organization?”

“They might be planning to cause simultaneous chaos inside and outside the academy.”

“Even though the academy won’t fall from such attempts, it seems there are still those who don’t know when to give up.”

The people gathered here agreed with Regina’s words.

In fact, during their tenure as professors, there had been several instances of attacks from inside or outside the academy.

Some had even succeeded in breaking through the academy’s defensive magic formation.

However, the defensive magic formation had additional safety measures in double and triple layers, so it was quickly restored.

Nevertheless, the fact that there were those who could break through the defensive magic formation proved that the academy’s defensive magic wasn’t infallible.

“We’ve already gathered all the data on the individual who exchanged these communications.”

“Who is this individual?”

“A third-year student from the Alchemy Department, Jesse Elister. He thought he had hidden it meticulously and wouldn’t be caught by the defensive magic, but…”

When it was revealed that the person who sent the secret communication was Jesse Elister, everyone tilted their heads in confusion.

It seemed most of them were hearing this name for the first time.

“Secret communications from within the academy. Do we know anything about these secret communications?”

Since Jesse Elister was a student in the Alchemy Department, everyone’s gaze turned toward the professor who taught alchemy.

“Ah, well. I think I have an idea. Recently, I taught a class on magical tool development that included content about creating magical tools capable of sending secret communications.”

The alchemy professor thought that the content he had taught might be related.

“Now that I think about it, I remember. Student Jesse Elister came to me after class that day and asked me several questions. I believe he used that knowledge to send secret communications.”

“I assume you have no idea why he sent secret communications?”

“He was a student who usually attended classes quietly. Moreover, his grades weren’t outstanding enough to stand out, so he wasn’t a noticeable student.”

The professors nodded at the alchemy professor’s explanation.

If a student quietly attends classes and has average grades, they rarely catch a professor’s attention.

“Then could it have been deliberate? He would need to stay under the professor’s radar to accomplish whatever he wanted.”

“That’s true, but… there was something that didn’t sit right with me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Currently, only students from the Magic Department have requested equipment inspections at Count Pathos Severio’s repair shop, right?”

“That’s… correct?”

The professors began to focus on what the alchemy professor was saying.

Since this was a student they hadn’t taught, they thought the person who had taught him would know best.

“But this student recently purchased a wand that magic department students often use for practice.”

“Isn’t that an invasion of privacy?”

“He took out a loan from the bank as an academy student to buy it.”

“I see, that can’t be helped then.”

The professors showed understanding at the alchemy professor’s explanation.

This was because Jesse Elister had taken out a loan as an academy student.

Academy students could borrow funds from the bank if they lacked money to purchase necessary items.

However, the bank didn’t give the money directly to the student but paid it to the seller when the student purchased the item. If it was discovered that the student had purchased something different from what was claimed, they would have to pay back anywhere from twice to ten times the amount.

Of course, they didn’t actually collect ten times the amount; it was just meant to intimidate.

The message was clear: they were watching, so don’t spend money frivolously and only purchase what you truly need.

“But why did he purchase a magic wand?”

“He said he bought it for the purpose of enhancing a magic wand, but in any case, it seems the magic wand was damaged during the experiment, so he requested repairs from Count Severio.”

“Hmm.”

At that moment, one professor seemed to have realized something after hearing the alchemy professor’s explanation.

“Why the sudden reaction?”

“Recently, there have been many top-grade magic stones, or what magicians call high-purity magic stones, circulating among magic students… I wonder if he purchased the item with those in mind.”

“That makes sense when you put it that way.”

As the professors’ conversation continued, Regina interjected.

“According to the bank’s report, the date Jesse purchased the magic wand was after rumors spread among students that Count Severio was giving away top-grade magic stones as a service. And after the inspection, secret communications flowed from inside to outside.”

“So, are you saying Jesse deliberately did this to obtain top-grade magic stones?”

“The price of top-grade magic stones is enough to buy cartloads of practice magic wands.”

Regina looked at everyone gathered here and said:

“There’s a possibility that someone is planning to carry out a terrorist attack on the academy. To steal the top-grade magic stones. After all, it’s difficult to safeguard one’s possessions in the midst of chaos.”

As she spoke, a deep smile played on Regina’s lips.

The meaning of that smile was clear:

Regina had anticipated this and had already prepared all the countermeasures.

“Now, shall we begin the main meeting? Today’s topic is ‘Thief Hunting.'”