Chapter 63 – Reward

Adelia’s sly, red eyes scanned my body.

“Why are you suddenly curious about that?”

And then, she whispered in a sticky voice.

“And who told you there were beings who can see the form of a soul?”

I didn’t answer her, and started counting inside my head.

When I reached three…

Thud.

The door, barely propped up after being broken, fell to the ground.

“Professor Adelia Baros. I clearly saw you leave earlier. Why are you still here?”

Mikel Vendelin, the head maid of Signia Hall, entered the room.

“Huh…? Oh my…”

Adelia, who was setting a mysterious mood just moments before, looked completely flustered at Mikel’s appearance.

I grinned at her.

“Isn’t this some kind of violation of school rules?”

“It is. Even if you’re a special professor, entering a student’s room without permission is a clear violation of the school rules. You will be disciplined accordingly.”

“You heard her, Adelia… Professor.”

“When…?”

“Who knows?”

A moment ago, right after Adelia said she could see the form of a soul, I pressed the emergency bell.

I got all the information I needed, so it’s time to get rid of her.

But still, she could even see that I was weakened? I didn’t think it was that bad.

Still, the good news is that Adelia doesn’t seem to be over 400 years old. She only said she could see the form of a soul, and didn’t seem to have any idea that I was Ronan.

Anyway, her words just pieced together all the puzzles in my head.

The reason she’s been so intensely interested in me since the beginning of the semester was because of my soul.

And just from the form of a soul, she can see the potential, talent, and other things a person may have.

Furthermore, I’ve decided on my future course of action.

I need to avoid being noticed by anything related to demons as much as possible.

Of course, I already planned on avoiding their attention until I got stronger, but I need to be even more cautious.

I sighed deeply.

Just when I thought I’d solved a problem, more complicated issues keep popping up.

Still, it’s better to have found out before it was too late.

I sighed again and shook my head.

“Mikel, please take care of Professor Adelia for me. And could you also bring me a sick leave application?”

“Yes. I’ll also prepare a light meal for you.”

“Thank you.”

“Please call me whenever you need anything.”

After giving a perfect, formal bow, Mikel lowered his voice and spoke to Adelia.

“Let’s go, Professor Adelia.”

“Uhm… Could you just let it slide?”

“Not a second time.”

“…Fine.”

Adelia nodded weakly, letting out a small sigh and glanced at me.

“Eliaernes, you’re really too much. Last time, you just sucked me dry and then dumped me, and you’re doing it again today…”

“When did I ever ‘suck you dry’? I just happened to be there when the sweet stuff came flowing out.”

“…Huh?”

Adelia’s usual smug expression shattered.

“I never asked for anything. I wasn’t curious about anything. You, Professor Adelia, are the one who volunteered to tell me everything.”

I shrugged and gave Mikel a nod.

“Then, I leave it to you, Mikel.”

“Yes. Please rest well. I will have the door fixed within the hour.”

“Okay.”

“Seriously… You’re seriously too much…”

As she was dragged out, Adelia looked at me with an expression of injustice, frustration, disbelief, and betrayal.

I looked at her and tried to flip her off…

But barely managed to stop myself. Instead, I stuck out my tongue and gave her a mocking face.

Peaceful silence returned once more.

I lifted my trembling body and grabbed the device I’d stuffed in a drawer.

I thought it was so inconvenient that I’d never use it, but it was time I used it.

***

Tap- tap-

The cold, calm, platinum eyes scanned the document on the table.

The appearance of the labyrinth.

The attack by the demon and the half-demon.

The attempted assassination of the Imperial Princess.

And the strangely fast resolution of events, along with the cleanup, rumors, and movements.

The appearance of the labyrinth in the capital was, on the surface, an ‘accident’ that didn’t lead to any deaths.

There were only missing persons.

And of course.

The betrayal of the guard who tried to assassinate the Second Imperial Princess was also buried with no fuss, under the guise of being a result of magi corruption and demonic hypnosis.

Following that, the Karela Academy issued a ban on leaving the academy grounds to all students.

Although there were no deaths inside the academy, the academy is a place that gathers all of the empire’s talents. This measure was taken to protect them.

At least, that’s what it seems on the surface.

But there were other reasons behind it.

They thought there might be a demonic pawn among the students.

Because of that, there were a lot of students from high-ranking families that requested a leave of absence, pressured by their parents.

This was especially true for the students who came from kingdoms outside the empire.

If they had imperial citizenship, they wouldn’t be able to apply for a leave of absence easily because they have to be wary of the eyes of the Imperial princes and princesses, and the Empire.

The Karela Academy was the pride of the Empire.

Applying for a leave of absence under the pretense of worrying about the security of the academy could be seen as doubting the safety of the Empire.

But if they had a different nationality, they wouldn’t need to worry. Even if it was the most powerful and strongest empire, it wouldn’t make sense for them to try and pressure a kingdom with that flimsy excuse.

What’s more, this wasn’t an accident, it was an incident.

And anyone in a high position, even in other kingdoms, knew that for sure.

The demon’s attack, the appearance of the labyrinth.

And the resulting deaths.

These kinds of things had never happened within the capital for nearly 100 years, so the impact was bound to be huge.

On the other hand, the imperial family and the nobles aligned with them used this incident as a weapon.

Demons are the enemy.

A common enemy of all humankind. Evil that must be eradicated from this land by joining forces.

That’s a fact known to everyone living on this continent.

And those demons, who have been silent ever since the peace treaty, have now made their appearance.

Not only that, but they were rampant inside the capital itself.

This meant that the ‘enemy’ that humanity needed to join forces to eliminate, had reappeared.

And so, all of humanity would have no choice but to unite again.

And the Empire, with the strongest power on the continent, would become the focal point.

This was an important opportunity for the Empire to rise again.

On the surface, they seemed to be a powerful empire, but the current state of the Hermann Empire was already rotting on the inside.

Ever since the peace treaty, the empire’s political situation has slowly become unstable.

It was inevitable.

After the long war ended, the nobles, whose survival was ensured, began to move to satisfy their long-starved appetites.

Of course, it wasn’t just the nobles.

The neighboring countries, who had aligned themselves with the most powerful force on the continent, the Empire, were also taking the opportunity to regain the things they had lost or forfeited.

So with internal division and external pressure, the Empire was just suffering in secret.

There was even talk that the next war could be between humans, not demons.

But at that moment, the demons appeared.

They brought the forgotten fear of the demons to the surface and raised awareness.

And so,

The strength of the Empire that everyone feared, the geographical advantage they thought was annoying, and the information that could only be found in the Empire’s forbidden archive were an opportunity to sharpen their dull blade again.

That’s why it’s strange.

It was strangely natural, even easy.

As Fabiana traced the large and small events that flowed so naturally, almost as if it was following someone’s intentions, she rubbed her throbbing temples and leaned back in her chair.

The source of the incident was, without a doubt, the royal family.

At the very least, the incident was started by a marquis-level noble or higher, with ties to the royal family.

Otherwise, things wouldn’t have played out like this.

“I don’t have the face to see Eliaernes…”

Fabiana wanted to conceal as much as she could, in accordance with Eliaernes’s wishes.

But she didn’t want to conceal everything.

She only wanted to show off enough accomplishments to be granted access to the treasury and the forbidden archive.

But it wasn’t easy.

In some ways, it was impossible.

Unspecified people heard about the events that only happened inside, and were spreading rumors.

And, naturally, she couldn’t find the source of those rumors.

It didn’t make sense.

Fabiana de Hermann.

The first princess. The most powerful figure in the imperial family, and the heir most likely to be next in line.

For Fabiana, who controlled the information guilds in the capital, failing to find the source of the rumors was practically impossible.

But, it wasn’t entirely impossible.

There were people who could obscure Fabiana’s eyes and orchestrate such a big plan.

The Emperor and the Empress.

And…

“Anton de Hermann…”

The first prince. Anton de Hermann.

“Was it that bastard of a brother?”

Click, Fabiana bit her teeth and took out a mana herb from her pocket, and put it in her mouth.

Then, click-click, as she was about to light it with a lighter engraved with the imperial insignia, one that she stole from the emperor last month,

Ding-

“Hmm?”

The device vibrated.

Just what bold, arrogant person would contact her through a message?

With a vicious smile, Fabiana grabbed the device with a rough hand.

And then.

“Ha… Ahahahaha!”

She couldn’t stop laughing as she read the message on the screen.

[It’s Eliaernes~…^^]

[Good. Morning.]

[I have something to say about yestreday’s thing…]

[Do you perhabs… have some time~?]