episode_0037

She did not respond to the senior’s words. Despite the advice not to search for the demon army’s spy, I was already thinking of ways to find that spy in my head. Of course, there was no way to find it. There were only life-threatening methods as Sharen had mentioned, but no other ideas came to mind. It was impossible to conduct physical examinations on all the students.

Just as I was passing the fountain and walking towards the dormitory, I met Sharen waiting in front of the dormitory door. A smile escaped my lips, and I called out Sharen’s name.

“Did you fail?”

“I didn’t think I would succeed, but I never thought I would fail either.”

“No professor would condone a student risking their life like that.”

“Did you talk to the seniors?”

“The other seniors don’t seem to have any thoughts about your leaving, but Erica senior said there was no need to do so.”

“If the majority of seniors approved, can’t you leave?”

“Isabel senior thinks that even if you leave, the spy won’t appear.”

In response to my answer, Sharen crossed her arms, looking displeased, leaning against the dormitory wall. I approached Sharen slowly and said,

“I agree with that thought too. The moment the knights began patrolling, the spy would hide. Even if the spy appeared because of you, would they really target you? It’s impossible for them to bypass the knights and the academy’s mages to aim for your life.”

“But it’s not in my nature to just sit still.”

“But all we can do is wait, isn’t it? If not that, then…”

“If not that?”

“Catching the academy’s spy.”

At my words, Sharen nodded slowly, turned away from the wall, faced me, and smiled.

“It seems that’s all we can do.”

“It’s also the most difficult method.”

“But I’ve sorted out my thoughts. Thank you, Astan.”

With those words, Sharen entered the dormitory, and I too headed towards the dormitory.

As I welcomed the familiar morning and arrived at the restaurant, Sharon was nowhere to be seen. I wondered if she had caught a cold after waiting for her last night, but then I thought she might just be sleeping in. As I sat down and waited for my meal, someone cautiously took a seat in front of me.

It was Seresria with her familiar black hair and red eyes. Glancing around, I noticed that attention wasn’t focused on her as it usually would be. Perhaps it was because of the knights dining in the restaurant today.

“Sharon isn’t here today.”

“Maybe she’s just sleeping in. After all, Sharon isn’t always the model of punctuality.”

“The patrol of the Ignothian Order has begun. You might already know.”

“Just yesterday, a knight from the Araelia visited our shop. I don’t know their name, though.”

“Aren’t you curious about yesterday’s patrol? I can tell you.”

“How do you know about that?”

She simply smiled at my question.

“Who else but the princess would know almost everything?”

“Yesterday, they say three Death Cores emerged. The first one was found in the cemetery, another in an underground stream, and the third in a village. The knights and guards speculate that the spies are moving around.”

“With the knights patrolling, who would dare stay still?”

“When the detection mages used their magic across Ignothia, they found out there are still four Death Cores left. If we destroy everything before more Death Cores appear, wouldn’t the spies also disappear?”

“If I were a spy, I’d hide until all the Death Cores vanish and the knights leave.”

As I finished speaking, Seresria nodded, took a small bite of her meat pie, and whispered softly back to me.

“Are the knights also searching for the academy’s spies?”

“Half of the knights support the academy’s security, and the other half patrol Ignolia. It won’t be easy to find the spy of the academy, but we must ensure that no victims emerge.”

“What method do you propose? It’s not like the spy will just announce themselves.”

“Do you know that the mark of the demon army is a kind of curse?”

“…I didn’t know that.”

“Just as there are tools to detect the flow of magic, there are tools to uncover curses. That’s what we use to investigate the academy. But we haven’t had any success yet.”

Carefully, I responded to her words, “Does only the Order of Aralia possess this tool?”

She looked at me, then smiled faintly and whispered softly in my ear, “You want to find the academy’s spy? That’s madness.”

“I didn’t say that; it was Sharen who expressed the desire.”

“Right now, it seems like Astan wants to do it.”

After finishing her sentence, she turned back, put down the fork and knife she held in her hand, and gently touched her chin with her right hand, smiling at me.

“Do you want it?”

“My friend does.”

“I have no intention of giving it to Sharen. If Astan needs it… Well, I could obtain it with my abilities.”

Slowly, I swallowed and she continued to smile at me. Her peculiar crescent-shaped smile was truly frightening.

“Try saying, ‘Help me.’”

“… Help me.”

At my response, she began to laugh, and I cautiously sipped my tea while watching her. It was a strange feeling, as if my cheeks were getting warm. She was truly an odd person. As I carefully drank my tea and observed her, she slowly stopped laughing and rummaged through the pocket of her robe, taking out a small piece.

The engraved pattern was somewhat familiar. It seemed like something I had seen before, but it wasn’t the pattern of Aralia.

“If there is someone with a curse around, the artifact will shake. However, it’s just an object that detects all curses, so we can’t be sure that person is a spy for the Demon King’s army.”

“That alone is enough.”

She simply smiled at my response.

We arrived at the classroom, but Sharen was nowhere to be seen. I wondered where she could be and what she might be doing. As I asked other male students in the classroom, all of them responded with ignorance, which made me feel as if my body was aching from their lack of knowledge.

Of course, if I had been out like that last night, I might catch a cold… But I thought that taking a magical potion would make me feel better. When I asked a friend who stays in the same room as Sharen, they replied that Sharen had already left. Since she’s not the type to go somewhere early in the morning, I sat in the classroom with curiosity. Shortly after, Sharen entered the classroom and sat next to me, and I glanced at her.

“You went somewhere without eating breakfast?”

In response to my question, Sharen leaned closer to me and whispered softly.

“I found a way to find the spy for the Demon King’s army.”

Sharen smiled as she gave that answer, and I opened my mouth to speak to her.

“Let’s talk after class.”

“Okay, let’s meet in the backyard. We shouldn’t talk elsewhere, as people might overhear us.”

With her response, Sharen opened her textbook, and I took out the artifact given to me by Seresria from my pocket and placed it on the desk.

“It’s a magical tool that detects curses. Carry it with you. It might help in finding the spy.”

“…If I had known this was available, I wouldn’t have struggled since morning.”

“What were you doing?”

“I was looking for a way to make a potion that detects curses… If I had known, I wouldn’t have needed to do that, right? I searched through the books and finally found it, but I feel a little disappointed.”

In response to that, I whispered softly to Sharen with a small smile.

“It was given to me by Seresria, so thank her.”

“The power of Araelia is truly amazing. Making such a tool must be more difficult than one would think.”

“It’s the advantage of Araelia.”

Sharen chuckled at my response and then looked at me, saying, “Isn’t it the same for Photon?”

“Are we going to have a dispute between nations here?”

I said that and laughed, and Sharen whispered softly to me as she picked up the sculpture.

“In that case, there’s no reason to gather in the backyard, is there? I made a potion to find curses from this morning, so this isn’t necessary.”

“Well, still, it’s good to make plans. Let’s talk in the backyard for a bit.”

“Okay, sure.”

And just then, as the professor came in, we bowed our heads in greeting.

When we arrived in the backyard, a few students were sitting on a bench chatting, and we casually sat on a bench in the corner.

“So, what was the original plan?”

“I was originally going to apply this potion to the restaurant’s door, since it’s a door that all students pass through. If someone with a curse touched it, the color of the potion would change, so we planned to investigate that student.”

“What if they’re not a spy for the Demon King’s army?”

“We’ll have to search again.”

“It’s really an impractical method.”

Sharen shrugged at my words, and I cautiously spoke.

“First of all, the magical tool given by Ceresria is ultimately an item that detects all curses, so we can’t exactly pinpoint it… But since there aren’t many students at this academy with curses, the number of suspects will decrease.”

“In the end, the method is similar.”

“It’s similar, but there’s a big difference from targeting all students. But the problem is that… it takes a long time.”

Then there was a moment of silence. No solution came to mind. And even if we found one, it was a problem. Just as my thoughts became complicated, a voice reached my ears.

“What are you thinking about?”

Looking towards the voice, I saw Ceresria standing there.

“Like you’re making up something fun.”

Her smile towards us, she must surely know that we are trying to find the academy’s spy. It was naturally impossible for her not to know.

So, I spoke up.

“Ceresria.”

“Would you like to try something fun together?”

In response to my question, Cereseia simply smiled.