Chapter 284
Chapter 284
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 284
>Chapter Title: Why This Sudden Melancholy?
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Professor Pellina had been taken into custody.
The rumor, which had only been whispered among a few students at first, spread to everyone before lunchtime was even over.
Amid all the other professors who continued their lectures unfazed even during the audit, Professor Pellina stood out starkly as the only one detained.
There were two main reactions.
The first:
“No way Professor Pellina would do something like that, right?”
“Exactly. And how would she even know the imperial auditors were coming? I don’t think it was her.”
Professor Pellina couldn’t possibly have done it.
The secret vault being empty was just a coincidence, and the auditors summoning her was merely a precaution for any possibilities.
Of course, plenty of students believed she was guilty.
“I heard artifact research is the easiest for siphoning off slush funds.”
“I overheard the assistants saying her lab gets the most research funding.”
“And the auditors must have some solid proof if they took her in.”
The empty vault was no coincidence, and they had summoned her because of concrete evidence.
Like this, the students split into two camps, spitting as they debated fiercely—but in truth, no one took the incident seriously.
To them, Professor Pellina’s arrest was just juicy gossip. It had nothing to do with them.
In other words, it was like watching a fire across the river.
But one person alone.
I couldn’t dismiss Professor Pellina’s arrest as mere distant entertainment.
Why?
Because I might be the one who started that fire.
That was exactly why I’d grabbed Evelyn as she tried to leave the academy and explained everything.
“So, to sum up what you’re saying, Aster...”
After classes, on a quiet walkway in the academy.
Evelyn waited until I finished before speaking calmly.
“First off, you’re the one who raided Professor Pellina’s secret vault, right?”
“Y-Yeah... but it wasn’t raiding. I was just taking back what was mine...”
“Same difference.”
No, it’s not.
Calling it raiding makes it sound like theft. But the Phrizen artifact was mine from the start. Professor Pellina had only borrowed it for research.
But Evelyn continued as if she couldn’t care less about the details.
As she saw it, the core of the incident was this:
‘I raided it... and because of me, Professor Pellina got arrested.’
I wanted to clear up the misunderstanding, but before long, Evelyn spoke again.
“But so what?”
“...Huh?”
So what?
“I get it. You were your usual self... isn’t that right? What I’m asking is, why tell me all this?”
“Well...”
I gathered my thoughts.
Why tell Evelyn?
“I was wondering if there’s any way to get Professor Pellina out?”
“Get her out?”
I nodded at Evelyn’s question.
That was what I wanted to know.
No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with anything.
‘If it were some noble house, it’d be easier, but the imperial family is a different story.’
I couldn’t exactly play crazy, storm in, and turn everything upside down. And I didn’t have the knowledge to prove her innocence against charges like evidence tampering.
Even if I did, I wasn’t sure I could defend her against imperial auditors...
‘Either way, I have to at least try, right?’
And from what I knew, Evelyn was the most clued-in on this stuff.
I didn’t know if it was from her business dealings, but she knew a fair bit about laws and such.
Of course, I didn’t have high hopes.
Just that she’d probably be better than me.
As I looked at her with that in mind, Evelyn spoke up soon enough.
“To be honest, it’s not like there’s no way.”
“There’s a way?”
She nodded at my question.
“Yeah. Right now, Professor Pellina’s only being held on ‘suspicion,’ and that hasn’t been proven yet. So one option is to quash the investigation before it sticks.”
Quash the investigation?
“How?”
“How? You’ve got Grand Duke Muspellun, don’t you? From the looks of things, it seems like the First and Second Princes are moving against the Third Princess to keep her in check. You think he’d sit still if he knew?”
“He... wouldn’t.”
“Then the easiest way is for you to contact Grand Duke Muspellun. Tell him what’s going on at the academy.”
In other words, use my connections...
But as I listened, a question popped up.
“How’d you know it was the First and Second Princes?”
Evelyn had mentioned the backstory behind the academy uproar so casually.
I hadn’t shared that much, so I couldn’t help but wonder, but she just shrugged like it was nothing.
“I picked up on it during the Golden stuff. When you’re doing big business, you need ties to the imperial family, or it’s tough. You end up hearing things naturally.”
Oh, that made sense.
It was just my imagination that I felt out of the loop on info.
Anyway, back to the point.
“If I could get help from Senior Muspellun, I would’ve already. I don’t think Obern’s reachable either.”
“Oh? Well, nothing to be done then.”
“Nothing to be done...?”
Evelyn nodded matter-of-factly.
Her attitude was so straightforward, and what she said next was this:
“This isn’t just any audit. It’s more like a targeted investigation, and you know the goal, right? To oust Principal Schubertz.”
“...Yeah.”
“But as far as I know, Principal Schubertz has run the academy cleanly, without any major corruption. So how do you take down someone like that?”
“Well...”
“You fabricate flaws where none exist. The audit hitting the whole academy, not just the principal, is probably for that reason.”
It was similar to Parun’s view but from a different angle.
The similarity was in the ‘purpose of the audit,’ and the difference was in how they’d achieve it.
Parun believed everyone had dirt if you dug deep enough... but Evelyn thought you could just make some up if there wasn’t any.
Anyway.
“It’s a situation where even the innocent have to watch their step. But Professor Pellina’s already given them an opening.”
“Yeah...?”
“So what would you do in her shoes?”
“Me? I’d...”
First, make an example out of the one who slipped up. Shake them down thoroughly and blow up even the tiniest suspicions.
Why?
‘...Scare them, coax them, sweet-talk them, and even stuff they didn’t know comes bubbling up.’
Like, say, some fabricated crime by the principal that never happened. Or whatever else.
False testimony too flimsy?
‘It is flimsy.’
If just Professor Pellina gave such testimony, she’d be the only one looking crazy.
But if she started it, and academy staff one by one echoed the same story?
A non-event becomes real, fake turns true—it’s only a matter of time.
So what Evelyn meant was this:
“Strictly speaking, it’s not your fault Professor Pellina got arrested. You know what happens in cases like this? The whole artifact research crew gets shredded. It’s the easiest field for embezzlement, and the easiest to pin it on. That’s why even decent merchant houses dip into artifact businesses that don’t turn a profit. To build slush funds. That’s the general perception of artifact labs and ventures.”
I hadn’t known that.
I’d always wondered why merchant houses clueless about magic kept jumping into artifacts. Turns out that was why.
But that wasn’t the point right now.
What Evelyn was getting at was:
“It’s not your responsibility. Professor Pellina was just a bit unlucky.”
So...
“Don’t overthink it.”
“Hmm.”
Her final words hit like a nail, and I swallowed a faint sigh.
It wasn’t that her coldly calculating side felt off. Nor was it pity for Professor Pellina.
More like...
I was just struck anew by how easily I accepted her logic.
“You’re... right.”
“Right? So don’t worry about it too much.”
It was a bit different from the Pellina issue, but... why this sudden melancholy?
I couldn’t pinpoint the reason.
* * *
After that fruitless chat with Evelyn.
I stayed behind where she’d left, lost in thought.
I understood and agreed with her, but that didn’t mean I could just wash my hands of Professor Pellina.
It wasn’t about sympathy.
More like...
‘This is the right thing.’
Not some human obligation or loyalty—just a simple matter of principle.
Broadly speaking, Professor Pellina had acted for the Magic Tower.
Setting aside my personal values, that was the right call for the Tower.
The problem was...
‘...How to get Professor Pellina out.’
For now, I shelved my impatience and stepped back to ponder the bigger picture.
Not focusing on ‘Professor Pellina,’ but the overall flow.
‘Looking at it this way, it’s not without gains.’
- You fabricate flaws where none exist. The audit hitting the whole academy, not just the principal, is probably for that reason.
That one line let me see the essence of the situation.
So, what was the essence?
‘In the end, the First and Second Princes versus the Third Princess.’
Those three.
The solution to the problem lay with them.
I paced in place, calmly sorting my thoughts.
What I knew and didn’t, what could happen and what couldn’t—I reviewed it all, weighing possibilities.
But something... one puzzle piece was missing.
‘Just one, if I had just that one...’
The sun was already setting.
Deep in thought, I headed toward the dorms.
As I drew near, a voice called from afar.
“Friend!”
“...?”
Surprisingly, it was Damian’s study hour.
Yet for some reason, he was sitting on a bench in front of the dorms, waiting for me.
He wasn’t alone.
So who was beside him?
“...Obern?”
“S-Senior.”
Unlike the beaming Damian, Obern called to me with a pale face.
I set aside thoughts of Professor Pellina for a moment and looked back and forth between them.
What? This pairing?
It wasn’t just the pairing that was weird.
Second-year and first-year.
One grinning brightly, the other white as a ghost.
I stared at them, then glanced up at the sky.
‘Wyvern, fly.’
...Of course, the wyvern didn’t fly.
It was in the Black-White Slums.