Ch.58Chapter 58. Why So Complicated (4)

“It’s suspicious, but…”

Landgar was sitting in his chair, lost in thought.

Thinking about Ryuyeong, whom he had just encountered.

Ryuyeong, whom he had pretended to meet by chance, wasn’t as special as Landgar had expected.

The sight of a human terrified and bewildered by illusions was something Landgar had seen countless times before.

The only concerning point was that Ryuyeong still maintained his gaze and occasionally looked at him throughout the ordeal.

‘I don’t need to worry too much about him for now.’

Though there were suspicious aspects, when Landgar shook hands with Ryuyeong, he knew for certain.

Ryuyeong wasn’t skilled enough to be of concern to him.

He certainly surpassed the level of ordinary students by far, but he wasn’t skilled enough to disrupt his plans.

In other words, he was bothersome but not worth paying much attention to.

Besides, with several plans already going awry, he didn’t have the capacity to worry about someone of that level.

Whoosh-

“Hm?”

“Elder.”

“I told you not to come during the day because it’s dangerous.”

Landgar muttered in a low voice toward someone who suddenly appeared in his office.

It was Nigel, a Black Magic user who had recently caused a major incident.

“I apologize. But this is important.”

“What is it? Speak quickly and disappear.”

“We’ve found the sacrifice. I believe we can proceed with the plan as originally intended.”

“Oh?”

“I’ll explain in more detail later. And the testing of the potion is also complete.”

Landgar couldn’t help but smile at the good news he was receiving after a long time.

After a period filled with bad news, good news was finally coming his way.

“That’s good news.”

“Yes. I knew there was a meeting tonight, so I came urgently to inform you.”

“Good. You may go now.”

“Yes.”

Whoosh-

Nigel bowed his head and disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared.

“Hehe.”

The discovery of a new sacrifice along with the completion of the potion.

Additionally, he had roughly assessed the abilities of the suspicious Ryuyeong.

Thinking that he could finally silence the Third Elder at today’s meeting, Landgar couldn’t hold back his laughter.

**

After the unfortunate Cain Hover incident, time passed quite quickly.

Cain Hover had not regained consciousness even after a week of collapse.

I wondered if mana overload was such a dangerous thing, but from what others said, there are cases where people never regain consciousness.

Though he was an unpleasant fellow, I felt a bit sorry for him.

The Cain Hover incident was quietly resolved.

The head of the Hover Family wanted it that way, so I had nothing to say about it.

The classmates were shocked for a while because of their fellow student who had suddenly fallen into a coma, but time truly is a healer.

After a few days, everyone gradually regained their spirits and returned to normal.

“Professor.”

“What’s wro… I mean, what?”

“Do you really not see anything?”

“Unfortunately, no. It seems like the investigation team deliberately erased all traces.”

The biggest change after Cain’s incident was my relationship with Professor Amillion.

Convincing Professor Amillion was easier than I expected.

Having already received confirmation from Yuria, and having sensed something suspicious about the academy while working as a professor, Professor Amillion immediately accepted my proposal.

In short, Professor Amillion became my ally.

In addition to keeping my identity secret, she agreed to work with me.

Ironically, what gave Professor Amillion certainty was the investigation team’s report.

The team leader’s report that found no traces related to the potion I mentioned and blamed everything on Cain Hover’s personal mistake.

When I mentioned that the vice chancellor was suspicious, Professor Amillion nodded in agreement.

And now, a week after Cain’s incident, Professor Amillion and I were at the scene that had just been reopened.

Unfortunately, we weren’t finding any traces.

‘It really looks like nothing happened.’

The site that had been set ablaze thanks to Cain had been cleanly restored as if nothing had happened.

I couldn’t understand how they had restored the burned grass and trees.

“You’re sure he drank the potion… I mean, are you sure?”

“I’m certain.”

Professor Amillion was surprisingly bad at speaking casually.

It had been several days since I told her to speak comfortably to appear as professor and student without suspicion, but she was still struggling.

“Sigh. It seems difficult to find anything here.”

“That’s certainly true.”

Although I had expected this, I couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

I knew Vice Chancellor Landgar was suspicious, but there was surprisingly no concrete evidence.

No traces of black magic remained on Yuria’s mana analyzer.

Yuria was visibly perplexed when no traces of black magic were found on all three analyzers.

It’s fortunate that I sensed something suspicious.

“Sigh. This puts us back to square one.”

“Is there any sign of Cain waking up?”

It would be great if Cain regained consciousness and spoke honestly, but he showed no signs of waking up.

No traces were found at the scene, and the only person who could testify, Cain, was in a coma.

I testified to the investigation team that I saw Cain drinking a potion, but the result didn’t change.

In other words, there was no way forward now.

“No.”

“Tsk. Well, what can we do?”

“What do you plan to do?”

“What can I do? Just wait and see.”

“Wait for what?”

Professor Amillion asked with a worried look.

“Another incident will probably happen.”

“…”

I said it half-seriously, but Professor Amillion’s expression momentarily frowned.

She stared at me intently as if asking if I was serious.

I nodded because I was serious.

A new incident would definitely occur.

“Shouldn’t we tell Yuria and do something about Vice Chancellor Landgar? If it’s difficult for us to do something on our own, we could even make an anonymous report to the government…”

“Come on, how can we trust the imperial government?”

“Sigh, but we can’t just sit here doing nothing.”

Professor Amillion was surprisingly impatient.

She kept fidgeting, suggesting we should do this or that.

She needed to learn patience from Erika, who had been searching for the hourglass for a year.

“Let’s wait for now. If we act rashly, we might end up unable to do anything when it really matters.”

“Haa.”

Professor Amillion sighed, rubbing her forehead in frustration.

She must be quite frustrated.

“Let’s head back now. There’s nothing more we can find here.”

“Alright, let’s go…”

In the end, we left the forest without any results.

Professor Amillion seemed more disappointed than I was.

“Ugh. Isn’t there anything we can do?”

“I told you, we need to wait. Patience is essential when trying to catch a big fish.”

“…”

Professor Amillion just quickened her pace without saying anything.

‘Something will definitely happen.’

Unlike Professor Amillion, I was certain.

I didn’t know when or how, but a new incident would definitely occur within the academy.

It was certain as long as Landgar was here.

That fox would definitely cause trouble…

“Professor! Ryuyeong!”

“Hm?”

A cheerful voice called out to me and Professor Amillion as we were lost in thought.

It was Cynthia who appeared before us.

With sparkling eyes, she looked at me and Professor Amillion with an expectant gaze.

“You’re investigating the recent incident, right? Let me help you.”

“Ah, no. We’re done.”

“Come on. Maybe if I go with you, we might find something different!”

“It’s alright, Cynthia. The investigation team has already completed their investigation, and Ryuyeong and I didn’t come to investigate but to give statements.”

“Then I’ll go to the scene and give my statement too! After all, I’m a witness too.”

“…Um…”

Cynthia wouldn’t easily back down no matter what we said.

She confidently claimed that she might see something different if she looked.

“No. Professor and I have already checked, and even if we go back with you, there’s nothing new to find.”

“How would you know that?”

“Huh?”

“Things might be different if I look. How can you be so sure?”

*Flinch*

Cynthia’s voice dropped coldly.

What I felt in Cynthia’s voice was subtle but definite anger.

Was what I just said that offensive?

I think I said it in a similar way to Professor Amillion.

“Um…”

I was momentarily taken aback by Cynthia’s cold response and couldn’t find words.

Although I hadn’t known Cynthia for very long, this seemed like the first time I’d seen her like this.

“Cynthia?”

“…Ah.”

Cynthia, who had been staring at me with cold eyes, only withdrew the cold anger from her gaze when Professor Amillion called her name.

‘…What’s going on?’

I understand she might feel bad, but it was a bit surprising.

The Cynthia I knew until now wasn’t someone who would react like this to something so minor.

“Ah, sorry, sorry. I just wanted to help somehow.”

‘Oh.’

As Cynthia apologized to me in a completely different tone from before, something entered my vision.

An opaque infographic.

It was a system message.

<Sub-Quest (2-1) ‘Wrong Direction’>

Objective: Correct Cynthia Surplus’s mental state

Description: Guide Cynthia Surplus, who is heading down the wrong path, to the right path.

Reward: 2 Stat Points

Penalty: Severance of relationship with Cynthia Surplus

‘What is this…?’

As I read the quest content, I couldn’t help but frown.