Chapter 85 – Good News and Even Better News

“[A beastkin spotted leaving campus despite the restrictions]”

Among the chaotic posts, this one, which I initially dismissed as another pointless entry, kept nagging at me.

Why? I wasn’t sure.

If I wasn’t sure, there was only one way to find out.

I reached out to tap the post, but
swipe!

“Ah…”

Silina snatched her terminal away.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that? It’s
my
terminal.”

Tch,
clicking my tongue in annoyance, I pulled out my own terminal.

As I was about to access the community forum through the message link,

“Eliaernes.”

Silina stopped me.

“Ugh, what now?”

Silina flinched at my irritated tone but quickly composed herself.

“You asked me about the informant I have within the Cartel, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll tell you.”

Her gaze was serious, her voice heavy.

“But… I don’t know what to think.”

“And I’m not saying that I have all the answers.”

“But unlike me, you can think objectively, without personal feelings clouding your judgment. And… you’ve read classified information on the Cartel in the Forbidden Library, haven’t you?”

“Okay. Tell me.”

I reluctantly put my terminal away, sat back down, and waited for Silina to continue.

After a brief hesitation, Silina took a sip of mint chocolate milk and spoke.

“First of all, Eliaernes, you’re suspicious of the Cartel’s orders, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

The Cartel’s orders were definitely suspicious.

If they wanted to control information, they could have easily caused confusion by providing misleading intel or worked covertly behind the scenes without drawing attention.

Yet they’d issued a blatant order to cut off specific information requests.

The Cartel isn’t just some random organization; it’s a global network. Their influence extends to every corner of the world, information guilds, merchant guilds, adventurer guilds, there isn’t a single place they haven’t infiltrated.

Could it be possible that such an organization wouldn’t anticipate the information leaking?

No way.

They knew, and deliberately issued that order so it would get leaked.

But what for?

On the surface, it seemed like the Cartel, now allied with Eustetia’s branch family, aimed to keep an eye on me, or rather, to control the main Eustetia family.

The hidden intention, however… I couldn’t quite grasp yet.

While I had my suspicions, they felt too speculative.

And I hoped the name of House Eustetia wouldn’t be tarnished by such a foolish act.

Still, it seems like the main purpose behind their actions was to test our reaction.

It’s a bold move, but the Cartel likely had a plan to deal with Eustetia, just like the branch family seems to.

And then, there’s the second intention behind letting the information leak so easily.

This was simple.

The cartel was trying to ferret out the spies in their organization.

Of course, there were countless spies in the cartel, but what the Cartel was looking for wasn’t the small fry, but spies from the Empire.

I didn’t know much about how it was structured, but if they could confirm the information leak and find out how it was leaked, they would be able to catch the spy.

That’s why I asked Silina about the person.

What did they do?

Were they an important person to Silina?

Or someone expendable?

I wasn’t asking whether I could kill them or not. I was asking if that person was someone Silina could cut ties with.

If we caught on to the Cartel’s true intentions and responded, then whoever leaked the information was likely to be exposed.

And then that person would be pressured by the cartel and eventually killed.

Then what? Simple.

Either they die.

Or they sell out the Empire’s information to the cartel to save their own life.

The former might be slightly unpleasant, but it wouldn’t be a problem.

But the latter? That’s a problem.

I didn’t know how much information about the Empire that person had, but they must know at least something about the inner workings of the imperial family.

If they were to betray the Empire to save their life, it would definitely cause problems.

Of course, the ones who would be most inconvenienced are the Imperial Family.

But I also have something I’m concerned about.

The secret about House Eustetia.

If, by any chance, that was revealed, it would cause chaos in the Empire.

It’s not really a problem that I don’t have Arisa’s blood.

But…

If the name of Arisa and Eustetia was slandered and became a source of gossip, that’s a different matter.

The high society of the Empire would be no different from that academy community forum I just saw.

The rumors would spread in the worst way possible.

And that would be awful.

That’s why I’m worrying over something that isn’t like me at all.

“That’s what I thought as well. There was no need for them to make such a blatant order. They could have just provided misleading information… So, if they issued such a direct order…”

“It’s a provocation.”

“…Yes. That’s what it is. So… what’s the best way to respond to this?”

I looked at Silina, whose expression had darkened.

“Why are you even asking me about this? There’s someone far more capable right next to you.”

“Fabiana would just tell me to cut ties.”

“Why?”

“…I can’t say.”

“You can’t say, huh? It’s probably because she cares about your safety.”

Silina’s nose twitched at my words.

“…What makes you say that?”

“It’s because Senior Fabiana seems to care about you a lot.”

Silina gritted her teeth, “That’s her way of showing that she cares? Preventing me from doing anything, trying to turn me into some fragile greenhouse flower… if that’s what ‘caring’ is, then I should just behead every teacher who taught me such nonsense.”

Fabiana, and now Silina… I don’t understand their obsession with beheading people.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity, which only seemed to irritate Silina further.

“What’s so funny?”

“You and Senior Fabiana are both the same. You immediately jump to beheading people. If your teachers are the ones who taught you to do that, then yes, their heads should definitely roll.”

“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”

“I’m not joking, though?”

Silina clicked her tongue, seemingly parched. She looked at the remaining mint chocolate milk, debating whether to drink it, but eventually gave up and spoke.

“Forget it. So… what would
you
do?”

I grabbed the leftover mint chocolate milk and asked, “Is this person important to you?”

And then,
gulp, gulp,
I drank it.

“Important… Wait a minute! Why are you drinking what I left?!”

“Pfft… What? Were you about to make some childish comment about indirect kisses?”

“Wh-what?! No! Do you have no sense of propriety as a noble?!”

“There’s no need for that, especially not in front of you.”

Silina’s face twisted in confusion.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You have some idea of what kind of person I am. Why should I pretend otherwise in front of you?”

“…Hah… Honestly, sometimes you seem less like a Duke’s daughter and more like some back-alley thug.”

“That’s incredibly rude.”

“You’re being plenty rude yourself.”

I shrugged and steered the conversation back on track.

“Anyway, is that person important to you?”

Silina fell into deep thought.

Her hesitation alone answered the question.

So I asked again, “Can you cut ties with them?”

“…If it’s to protect the Empire… I’ll have to.”

“It’s not just about cutting ties. This person might eventually try to kill you.”

Silina flinched.

I’d heard she grew up surrounded by constant death threats, so to see her react like this, meant that this person was more important to her than I’d thought.

“Well, let’s set that aside for now. Have you considered how much damage severing ties with this person could inflict on the Empire?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“I’m not trying to lecture you. I genuinely don’t know. How much information about the Empire do they have?”

Silina looked dumbfounded for a moment before sinking back into thought. She touched her lips, hesitated, and sighed deeply before speaking with clear difficulty.

“That person… is like a mother to me.”

Her voice was heavy with emotion, and I was genuinely shocked.

“What? You grew up without a mother?”

And then, I was shocked by my own words once more.

“Oh, crap.”

“…Are you insane?!”

“S-sorry. It was a slip of the tongue.”

To be fair, it was a surprising revelation.

Silina does have a mother.

And not just any mother, but a perfectly normal, seemingly kind and graceful one.

So, for her to call someone else a mother figure was…

Well, surprising, to say the least.

“A slip of the tongue… hah… whatever. Anyway, that person is very important to me. So… to be honest, it’s not something I can easily decide.”

“Hmm… I can understand that.”

Feigning sympathy, I nodded in agreement, while silently organizing my thoughts.

Someone who was so important to Silina was working as a spy in the cartel.

Who? Likely an Imperial family member trying to control Silina.

If that was the case, the higher-ups at the Cartel might already be aware of this spy within their midst.

There’s a good chance that the information might have been leaked by the Imperial Family itself.

Or maybe they’d taken it a step further and deliberately concealed the spy’s identity while letting slip that there
was
a spy in their organization, intending to create discord within the Cartel.

At a glance, this seemed like a petty succession squabble among the Imperial family.

But from a broader perspective, there’s likely a bigger scheme at play, using the succession struggle as a convenient cover.

And the true mastermind hiding behind it all?

If my guess was right.

Demons.

This situation was similar to what the demons who infiltrated the continent 400 years ago would do.

The kind of schemes where they’d start by corrupting human society from within, weakening it before destroying it completely.

I still wasn’t sure if the head of the cartel was a demon, had allied with the demons, or if the demons had infiltrated the Imperial Family.

But there was one thing that was certain.

“We shouldn’t do anything yet.”

Now wasn’t the time to move recklessly. It might seem like staying still was playing right into their hands, but I didn’t have much of a choice.

“…Why do you think that?”

“We don’t have enough information.”

“Information? If it’s about the Cartel, I can—”

“No, not the Cartel, I’m talking about the ones behind
them
. So, for now, it’s best to stay put and watch their next move.”

If brute force alone could solve this, I wouldn’t hesitate to act.

But this wasn’t that kind of situation.

Even if I could crush them with force, there’s no telling what would happen if the information they had were to leak out and spread throughout the empire.

Communication artifacts are too advanced now. If I were to act as recklessly as I did 400 years ago, things would get messy.

And I had a hunch about the “weapons” the collateral branches of the Eustetia family were holding.

Though I dearly hoped I was wrong.

“Anyway, don’t do anything reckless either. Especially, don’t go around asking the Imperial Family for advice or help with this.”

After giving Silina a serious warning, I stood up and pulled out another mint chocolate milk.

“You’re probably the only person in the Empire… no, the entire continent… who casually orders a princess around like that.”

Silina glared at me as she stood up.

Ignoring her, I pulled out my Terminal and accessed the community forum.

I searched for the post that had been nagging at me earlier.

“[Beastkin spotted leaving campus despite travel restrictions].”

Since getting this body, my intuition had become strangely sharp.

Not battle intuition but… the kind of gut feeling you need for everyday life?

That kind of intuition was telling me that there was something off about this title.

…But I couldn’t find the post.

Where did it go?

“Hey, Silina.”

“What?”

“Can you search for posts with specific titles on this community thing?”

“Yes, you can.”

I immediately handed her my Terminal.

“Find it for me.”

“Why can’t you do it yourself?”

“…I don’t know how.”

Silina’s brow twitched.

“Why don’t you learn? It’s easy.”

I learned. I learned more than enough.

Yurasia had spent nearly two hours teaching me.

But somehow, I still wasn’t comfortable using this device.

“Just find it for me.”

“…Fine.”

Silina reluctantly nodded and took my Terminal.

“What’s the title?”

“‘Beastkin spotted leaving campus despite the travel restrictions.’”

Silina’s fingers moved swiftly across the screen, searching for the title. Then, she handed the Terminal back to me.

“Oh…”

I immediately checked the content.

***

[Beastkin spotted leaving campus despite the travel restrictions.] – Anonymous

‘They left with a professor. And they were back super fast. Like, ten minutes?’

‘If you go out with a professor, are you allowed to leave even with the travel ban? Aren’t even professors banned from leaving?’

ㄴ ‘Professors are also banned from leaving.’

ㄴ ‘How do you know?’

ㄴ ‘I’m a professor.’

ㄴ ‘Oh, I’m a student.’

ㄴ ‘What? How did they leave?’

ㄴ ‘I heard the first years have all sorts of special privileges. Guess it’s true.’

ㄴ ‘Isn’t that just a professor’s privilege? Special professors have a lot of authority, as far as I know.’

ㄴ ‘Are they pretty?’

ㄴ ‘I don’t know, only saw their tail.’

ㄴ ‘What kind of beastkin?’

ㄴ ‘Judging by how fluffy it was, a squirrel, maybe?’

ㄴ ‘Ooh, furry lol.’

***

A squirrel…? Is it Pina?

“Silina, do you know who teaches [Mana Manipulation B]?”

Silina tilted her head, seemingly in thought, before answering, “I think it’s Professor Pied Haveron.”

“…Pied Haveron?”

“I heard he’s a new professor.”

“What’s his specialty?”

Silina, looking at me as if I were an idiot for asking such a thing, responded in an irritated tone.

“Mental manipulation, I think.”

“…Hmm.”

That bastard is definitely suspicious.