Ch.85Chapter 85. Goal Achieved (5)

Thud-

The massive undead wyvern’s footstep causes the ground to tremble slightly.

Whoosh-

Not to be outdone, the skeleton horse wreathed in green flames stomps its foot and breathes out fire.

‘Hmm. They don’t seem to get along as well as I thought.’

Following Greenie, my newly acquired pet, Yongyong.

I thought they’d get along since they’re both undead, but that wasn’t the case.

Yongyong and Greenie were growling at each other, keeping each other in check.

Still, they weren’t openly attacking each other since I was between them.

“Greenie.”

Clop-clop-

Greenie now obeyed my commands very well.

It was worth visiting and playing with him regularly despite my busy schedule.

At my call, Greenie slowly walked over to me and obediently lowered his head when I reached out.

Despite being nothing but bones, this undead acts exactly like a real horse.

‘Well, I suppose it was originally a real horse, just with only bones remaining now.’

While stroking the cold bones, I looked at Yongyong.

Yongyong growled discontentedly and pawed the ground, as if unable to understand Greenie.

Still, this was a big improvement in behavior.

Originally, when I first brought him here, he would charge at me whenever he got the chance, which was troublesome.

After some disciplinary training with a bit of punishment, he no longer rushes at me mindlessly.

Someday he’ll probably listen to me as well as Greenie does.

‘And someday I might even ride these guys and fly around?’

Though I don’t know when that day will come, I stroked Greenie more vigorously while imagining how cool it would be to fly around on him.

“Are you two getting along?”

Whoosh-

Greenie stomped his foot and breathed out green flames strongly, as if answering me.

Woong-

Seeing Greenie’s rather cute response, I returned to my office.

It had already been three days since I captured Yongyong.

That meant three days had passed since the battle with Landgar.

In just three days, the continent had been turned upside down.

Actually, what happened at Crescen Academy wasn’t that big of a deal.

Landgar went on a rampage and Principal Binuar was injured, but there were no other casualties.

Even the appearance of the undead wyvern, which could have drawn attention, didn’t cause much of a stir since the main body was gone.

That’s because I had captured Yongyong.

Instead, various major incidents occurred across the country.

The highest knight of the Goddess Church was murdered by someone.

The strongest knight order of the O’Neil Kingdom was annihilated.

War broke out overnight between small kingdoms in the western part of the continent.

Incidents that shook the entire continent occurred simultaneously in a single night.

Thanks to these major events, the fact that the vice principal of Crescen Academy had committed treason became relatively insignificant.

“Captain.”

“Yes? Do you have any news?”

“Nothing yet regarding Landgar. I hear that even with Yuria interrogating him, he’s not opening his mouth easily.”

“I see.”

I never expected Landgar to talk easily in the first place.

Still, I had some hope since Yuria was personally conducting the interrogation.

“Anything else?”

“It seems your suspicions were correct, Captain.”

“…Really?”

Addy’s expression had seemed unusual since she entered my office, and this must have been why.

With a serious expression, Addy continued.

“First, regarding the murder of the Goddess Church’s highest knight. They say there’s absolutely no evidence.”

“None at all?”

“Yes. There are clearly signs of battle, but no information to identify the opponent.”

“Hmm.”

“And about the Luna Knight Order of the O’Neil Kingdom.”

“Yeah. They’re pretty strong, aren’t they? How could an entire knight order be completely wiped out?”

“The O’Neil Kingdom is trying to keep it quiet, but it seems to be Black Magic.”

“Black Magic?”

The mention of Black Magic reminded me of the battle with Landgar.

Those unpleasant black mana tentacles.

It was definitely a type of mana that was difficult even for me to counter.

If I hadn’t had my gauntlets, I probably would have struggled quite a bit.

It’s the kind of mana you can’t directly counter with your own mana, so anyone facing it for the first time would be caught off guard.

Hearing it was Black Magic, I could understand how the Luna Knight Order of the O’Neil Kingdom was annihilated.

“It’s not easy to get information, but rumors about Black Magic are definitely circulating. There’s no mention of undead though.”

“I see, I thought so. Are they all the work of the same people?”

“Yes. If we connect it to the war in the western continent, it makes sense. There’s information that Black Magic was used in the assassination that triggered the war.”

So my prediction was right.

Four major incidents that shook the continent overnight.

Even if the murder of the Goddess Church knight wasn’t related, the other three incidents had a clear common factor.

Black Magic.

“It seems the Black Magicians have indeed revived.”

Addy’s voice dropped low.

**

“Alright. We’ll now begin voting.”

With both the principal and vice principal absent from the academy,

The decision-making authority fell to Camilla, the most senior professor at the academy.

Camilla raised her hand and announced to the gathered professors in a declarative tone.

A small pouch appeared and flew to the center of the professors.

“Please write your opinion in that pouch and submit it. I’ll only accept ‘for’ or ‘against’.”

Murmur, murmur-

As Camilla finished speaking, murmurs spread around.

“Professor Amillion, what will you do?”

“I…”

Amillion paused briefly at Kassis’s question before continuing.

In truth, she had already made up her mind.

“I’m voting ‘for.’ The incident that night was resolved well with no casualties, and nothing else has happened since. We just need to finish up through the closing ceremony.”

“Hmmmm.”

Kassis let out a low hum, as if surprised by Amillion’s response.

The academy principal was absent due to injury, and the vice principal had been arrested for treason.

The issue Professor Camilla had gathered all the professors to vote on concerned the academy festival.

The festival had already been disrupted by the incident, but the question was whether to officially “suspend” or “conclude” it.

Though it seemed like a semantic debate, all the professors knew how important this distinction was.

For now, it was simply that the academy festival couldn’t continue due to an external attack.

But in a few years or decades, when recorded in history, it would be different.

If it ended as “suspended,” history would record that “the academy festival was suspended due to an attack.”

On the other hand, if they held the closing ceremony and “concluded” it, the record would be different:

“Despite facing disruption from an external attack, the academy festival successfully concluded with the closing ceremony.”

“But isn’t it dangerous to gather all the students in one place again after what happened?”

“I think that’s possible too. But security will be much tighter in preparation for such an event. Three of the six major families have offered to help with security.”

“Hmmmm.”

That was certainly reassuring to consider.

The Sinclair, Bernstein, and Phrysis families gathering in one place to prepare against an attack.

No matter how strong the opponent might be, they wouldn’t dare attack with these three families present.

“I understand.”

Kassis nodded as he watched Amillion submit her vote without hesitation.

From the atmosphere, it seemed most professors were in favor of “concluding” the festival.

They probably all had similar thoughts.

None of them wanted to admit that an event held within the academy was “suspended” due to an external attack during their tenure.

‘That makes sense.’

After brief consideration, Kassis wrote his vote and sent it flying to the pouch in the air.

Amillion watched Kassis with a doubtful expression and shook her head.

Normally, Amillion would have definitely voted for “suspension.”

Although there were supposedly no major damages, that wasn’t entirely true.

Two buildings were damaged, and the principal was injured.

Gathering students again in one place for a mere formal closing ceremony in this situation didn’t align with Amillion’s principles.

Yet Amillion voted in favor for one reason only:

At the request of Yuria and Ryuyeong.

For whatever reason, both of them had asked that the academy festival be successfully “concluded.”

Perhaps Yuria had even pulled strings behind the scenes to make this vote happen.

‘Will it be okay?’

Amillion trusted the Phrysis family, especially Yuria Phrysis.

That massive ice wall she had seen that day.

Even recalling it now made her feel secure.

‘Yes, and Vice Principal Landgar has been captured too.’

According to Yuria, Vice Principal Landgar was the mastermind behind an organization she had been tracking for a very long time.

With the mastermind captured, they wouldn’t be able to cause more trouble.

Amillion nodded to herself, trying to convince herself of this.

“Now I’ll conclude the voting.”

The professors’ voting finished more quickly than expected.

Looking at the atmosphere around her, Amillion was half-convinced:

The festival would be successfully “concluded” as Yuria and Ryuyeong had requested.