#008 Suicide Uproar in the Academy
The night was cloaked in deep darkness, the moon itself nearly hiding its light.
With a creak, a figure emerged onto the rooftop of the building.
A girl who looked about nineteen years old.
She staggered, repeatedly steadying herself, then slowly made her way toward the rooftop railing.
"Mom, Dad... and Philip... I'm sorry."
The girl sobbed.
"I can't take it anymore. It's just too hard."
She wiped the tears streaming down her face with both hands and wailed.
Then...
"Goodbye."
A figure leaped from the top of the building.
Soon after, a dull thud echoed across the night sky.
For an instant, the chirping of insects ceased at the sound... but that silence lasted only a fleeting moment.
As if nothing had happened, the insects resumed their song.
Yet somehow, their melody sounded a little sadder—as though it were a requiem for someone.
"Hey, did you hear?"
"Hear what?"
"Someone in the third year committed suicide again yesterday."
"Really? How many times is that now..."
Listening to the passing students' conversation, I let out a long sigh.
Reina, the princess, noticed and asked,
"What's wrong, Kael? Is something troubling you?"
Troubling me...
It was the hottest topic circulating among the academy students lately.
Five incidents this month alone.
Suicides.
No one left a will, so it was impossible to say for certain why they died, but both professors and students alike could guess.
Every single one of the deceased had been a commoner student.
"It must be because of Professor Aslan's absence."
"Exactly. Just knowing he was here was such a huge help..."
I sighed again and dispelled the hearing-enhancement magic.
Listening any longer would only frustrate me more.
The academy's only commoner professor.
Personally appointed by the emperor and even rumored to be the next headmaster.
In this narrow patch of land ruled by nobles, for nobles, his existence had been a great hope and spiritual pillar for the few commoner students and foreign students attending the academy.
'Thinking back, most of my past actions were tied to them.'
Perhaps my current path wasn't all that different either.
In any case, with my presence gone, it seemed the students who had barely been holding on could no longer endure and had begun committing suicide.
'This is serious. It's far exceeding my expectations.'
— You expected this?
'I didn't not expect it. I just... never thought they'd go so far as to take their own lives.'
How desperate must they have been?
Truthfully, as a professor, I didn't know the students' inner circumstances well.
I only knew their faces looked dark and they were struggling.
If they asked for help, I helped... but I had been so absorbed in magic that I never proactively tried to solve their problems.
But leaving things like this...
'Five times in just one month. The intervals are getting shorter.'
They were commoners.
A class that clawed their way through life no matter what.
If even they couldn't endure and chose suicide, there had to be a culprit and a motive capable of driving them to it.
'Should I leave it alone, or should I move?'
— Every event has a cause and effect. Your choices will determine the path we walk from here on, just like the princess beside you. So be careful, kid. Don't forget the greater cause and get swept up in other matters.
The greater cause...
"Kael? Are you all right?"
"Hm?"
When I turned my head, a woman was looking at me with concern.
She narrowed her forget-me-not eyes and continued,
"Your expression isn't good. As I thought..."
"???"
"My cooking must not have been very good."
"Ah, no. The food you made, Princess Reina, was truly delicious."
As I spoke, I scooped up a spoonful of the fruit parfait and put it in my mouth.
Damn... a salty parfait.
Honestly impressive. A revolutionary flavor.
— Just tell her it tastes bad. You're going to die at this rate.
'It's still better than the food we ate on the battlefield. I'm confident I won't die.'
— Showing off again. That's really something to brag about.
Anyway, seeing me eat the fruit parfait brimming with salty flavor, the anxious princess let out a sigh of relief.
She had made it for the first time without anyone's help and had been very worried.
'The first time is always the hardest.'
Thanks to that, my mind cleared and I could finally make a decision about what had been troubling me.
I stood up.
The princess looked up at me, still holding the parfait.
One-third of it still remained.
"Where are you going?"
"A secret mission for the future of you and me, Princess."
"Wh-what...! Y-you scoundrel...! Even if we're on the rooftop, saying something so embarrassing..."
The princess blushed and stammered.
I gave her a slight wink, poked the spot where her nipple would be with my index finger, then hurried down the stairs.
Acting this way toward royalty would normally warrant a beheading, but after firing three shots into her massive breasts in succession recently, she and I had become closer than anyone else in this world.
So whenever we were alone, I always behaved like this.
"I-I shall be in the training hall until 6 p.m.! If you finish before then, come there!"
"Got it~"
Now then, shall I go find out exactly why the students are committing suicide?
— So what are you planning to do? I think beating the truth out of someone would be fastest.
'Sister, get a grip. If we do that, we'll both get caught.'
— What's there to worry about? Just kidnap one decent girl and fuck her all night. She'll spill everything and start calling you "my lord" while following you around.
'You've read a lot of erotic novels.'
— Crazy. What are you saying? That's not a novel!
'Then personal experience? Don't tell me you have an M streak, Sister?'
— Fuck. I'm not talking to you anymore.
She was sulking again.
She wouldn't answer even when I called.
Well, if I got no results, I'd just use the method Beres suggested.
For now, I'd try it my way.
I strode without hesitation toward the third-year classrooms.
Three of the five recent deaths had been third-years.
'Just looking at their faces gives it away. They're still too immature to hide their emotions.'
If I quietly followed the key figures after narrowing them down, things would become clear.
Anyone desperate enough to commit suicide had to be backed into a corner.
'It'll have to show eventually.'
And I easily found two suitable targets.
Two girls whose shoulders were hunched inward, faces dark as night, and eyes completely devoid of hope or happiness.
They were people I remembered from my study group.
'Linn and Cecile... They were always a bit gloomy, but never this bad.'
What had driven them to this state?
I decided to follow them for now.
Soon, I saw a group of female students call them over and beat them in a secluded corner of the building.
'Second-years picking on third-years?'
I was reminded once again that in this place, class trumped strength or year.
I suppressed my presence as much as possible and crept closer.
Through my magically enhanced hearing, their conversation came through crystal clear.
"Senior~ Linn senior? What kind of pig makes a sound like that? Do it again."
"Oink... oink..."
Smack. The girl's head whipped to the side.
The orange-haired girl who had slapped her smiled slyly.
"If you don't do it properly, I'll strip you naked and make you run around this building."
"Th-that...! P-please, anything but that..."
"Then do it right."
"Oink. Oink oink...!"
"See? You can do it. Now, Cecile senior is a horny boar."
At the command, the other girl standing nearby imitated a boar.
Quite convincingly.
"Oink. Oink oink...!"
"Good. Now the two of you combine! You know what mating looks like, right? Do it."
At the order, the girl called Cecile climbed on top of Linn.
Then she rocked her hips while squealing.
The group surrounding them burst into laughter.
— Seeing stuff like this makes me wonder if some of our kind are wearing human skins.
'Kids who don't know any better are the cruelest.'
— What are you going to do?
'Hmm...'
I quietly memorized the laughing group and the orange-haired girl standing in the center.
Then I looked down at the two girls crying and acting like pigs.
'Fucking them senseless all night might be a good method too.'
"Linn. Have you thought about it?"
"...Sorry. Give me a little more time."
"All right. Tell me when you've decided."
"Okay."
Jeffrey left.
Linn watched him go, biting her lip.
I had followed the two victimized students just in case, but aside from the earlier group, no one else bothered them.
No one, including other commoners, approached the two girls.
'Ah, there was one person. Her boyfriend or something, I guess.'
Anyway, there was no reason to drag this out any longer.
It was time to move for punishment.
I slipped out of the academy under cover of night.
Technically there was a curfew for students, but it was only for show. Students with any real power or connections came and went freely at night, so sneaking out was no trouble at all.
Recalling the location I had scouted during the day, I moved quietly.
'Lucky me.'
The academy's soundproofing magic was disabled at night.
Instead, mana detection was active.
For safety reasons.
In that sense, the orange-haired girl applying for an overnight stay during the day was excellent news for me.
It would make the job much easier.
— So what's that cocky girl's position?
'Isabel Grayport. Daughter of Count Grayport. A military family in charge of the southern gate in the capital.'
— Oho. She's got some real power then?
'Yeah. Plus, with three sons and only one daughter in that family, she grew up spoiled rotten and completely shameless.'
— Then tonight should be fun. The answer to dealing with a girl without manners is to crush her with your cock until she's on the brink of death!
While chatting with Beres like that, we soon arrived at Stronghold, the noble district.
A place only nobles could enter, with security far stricter than usual.
Well, if someone like me was determined, finding a way in was possible.
Even with reduced mana reserves, overwhelming it with understanding was enough.
I lightly cast an invisibility spell and headed toward the target, avoiding paths with mana detectors.
— Not bad. You've done this more than once or twice.
'I spent a long time on the battlefield. Especially when sneaking into magical ruins in the capital, they never let commoners in, so I had to hide like this sometimes.'
— I've never seen anyone as obsessed with magic as you. Even that bastard Carlos from a thousand years ago wasn't this bad.
We passed through the main street without issue and finally reached the target location.
A massive wall and an even taller building came into view.
— Think you can do it?
'Hmm. Won't be easy... The patrol numbers and alarms everywhere are a problem.'
— Stop whining. I'm disappointed, Jeremy Aslan.
'Well, getting in isn't impossible, but...'
Just then, voices and presence suddenly appeared.
Soon after, the main gate swung open.
— What's this at this hour? Is the target going out?
'Maybe she's going to meet a lover.'
Whatever the reason, this was an opportunity for me.
I quietly climbed onto the carriage that had emerged onto the main road and clung to it.
The carriage moved without stopping.
It traveled for a long time. Suddenly it turned off the main road and entered a forest. Seeing that, I was certain.
This young lady was heading to a villa for a special night.
— A villa?
'Yeah. Behind the noble district in the capital, there's a large forest with villas... Nobles care a lot about appearances. They can't meet openly in broad daylight, so they use a little trick.'
— How?
'They pretend to spend the night alone at the villa, each arriving in their own carriage, then meet in secret afterward. Just the two of them. Under cover of darkness.'
— Oho?
And sure enough.
Isabel got out of the carriage and sent the coachman away.
Only two presences could be felt inside the villa, but she didn't even inform those most trusted individuals and instead walked off in another direction.
After walking for about twenty minutes like that...
A man appeared in the darkness.
A strikingly handsome man with blond hair.
"Lord Kristiang!"
Kristiang?
Don't tell me it's Kristiang Swan?
— Who's that?
'He's one of the empire's most notorious playboys.'
Even if I left him alone, this situation would already serve as revenge...
But Beres's thoughts were completely different.
— Hey, we still have to take that bastard down.
'Why?'
— Isn't he someone who gets in the way of your greater cause? If we leave him be, he'll just go around spreading his seed everywhere.
Huh? Now that I thought about it, she had a point.
'As expected of you, Sister! This junior has learned a thing or two.'
— Ahem.
Beres made a pleased sound.
She had an unexpectedly childish side, getting so happy over praise.
Anyway, I quietly followed the two moving figures.
They entered a villa where only one servant was present.
Even that servant soon left the building.
'This is shaping up to be the perfect crime.'
— Then let's go right now. Time to crush those bastards!