Possession Suspects Possession
Possession Suspects Possession
Ireuka couldn't follow the lesson because she was reading a letter from her parents.
[House Blanton has cut off most of the distribution lines to our trading company. Rumors are spreading in the capital that you injured the crown prince by stabbing him with a spear. I will visit today, so wait at the main gate after class.]
'I didn't do it...!'
She felt wronged. She had been living as quietly as a mouse ever since she came here.
The problem was that she had ended up in the same class as the crown prince. She had enrolled at Tillet precisely to avoid causing trouble for her parents and siblings, but that damned prince had ruined it.
She had been framed for something she hadn't done. Naturally, her resentment toward the prince only grew.
'That bastard Clion... I really should have put a hole in his stomach at the entrance ceremony!'
Of course, she would have been expelled if she had. That was a fantasy she could only act out in her head.
Ireuka crumpled the letter she had received from her parents and ground her teeth. Just then, the bell rang to end class, and the teacher walked out.
There was no avoiding it. With firm resolve, Ireuka headed outside.
**
The crown prince had been unable to attend school for a week due to the stabbing.
However, the pressure on Ireuka remained. The reason was that the prince had set his sights on making her his concubine. He was clearly trying to find an excuse to expel her this way.
'Duke Blanton is probably the one pulling the strings. The story is following the script this far.'
As soon as class ended, Vermel rose from his seat to follow Ireuka. He knew what event would happen next. What he had to do right now was prevent that event from unfolding in a bad direction.
'If I fail the defense check in this event, the chance of defeating the Demon King drops below half. Ireuka is an essential character.'
One of Ireuka's distinctive physical features was the eyepatch she wore over one eye.
That meant Ireuka had heterochromia. She was born with different colors in her left and right eyes. This meant she had received an equal degree of blessing from two different spirits simultaneously. People called this a Dual Core.
A Dual Core allowed the wielder to handle two types of Elemental Magic at once, but the output was only half its normal potential. The common perception of a Dual Core was 'jack of all trades, master of none.'
But Ireuka was different. Both her fire and water outputs far exceeded those of an ordinary person. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been admitted to Tillet's Special Class.
Vermel rose from his seat to prevent Ireuka's impending expulsion event.
─ SYSTEM : 'Black Day Aether' is watching you closely.
At that moment, Aether also stood up. That in itself wasn't a problem.
'Why is she staring at me?'
A chill ran down his spine.
With his current skill level, Vermel couldn't defeat Aether. If she showed even the slightest sign of Corruption at this point, the story would lead straight to a Bad Ending, regardless of any other character's actions.
'It's still early in the semester. Please, just stay quiet....'
─ SYSTEM 'Black Day Aether' is tailing you.
─ Please exercise extreme caution.
'Please, just stop!'
Things were going horribly wrong. Vermel tailed Ireuka heading out into the hallway.
He was tailing someone else, but being tailed himself at the same time didn't feel good at all.
It was all the worse because the person following him was a key figure who held the fate of the world's destruction in her hands.
**
Flare research was progressing smoothly. My current task was to determine the coefficients of the Bethe-Feynman Equation and calculate nuclear weapon yield.
To do that, developing Flare was a prerequisite. In other words, completing Flare was the key to making significant progress on an otherworldly nuclear weapon.
The problem was the experiments. No matter how much theoretical work I did, it was all useless without experiments.
Experiments involved a lot of grueling work, from the design phase all the way to data extraction. Lab courses had been painful even as an undergraduate. I had to know the theory perfectly, and on top of that, I needed to be proficient in experimental preparation, execution, error calculation, variable isolation, and even computer programming.
But none of that was possible without the proper experimental equipment.
My current budget was nowhere near enough to conduct Flare-related experiments.
That was why I had enrolled at Tillet. If I rented research equipment as a student, the rental fee was free. The academy would also subsidize some of the materials for experiments, so the money leaving my pocket would be minimal.
To qualify for rental privileges, I at least needed to join a club. The club booth wouldn't open for at least a week, so I had to find other things to do until then.
[So your choice was stalking a male elf student?]
If I had strong suspicion that Vermel was a possessor, I needed to secure physical evidence. Over the past few days, I'd recorded his behavioral patterns and compiled them in my notebook.
First. Whenever our eyes met, his pupils quaked.
Second. He almost never asked questions during class.
These two points formed the basis of my strong suspicion that Vermel was a possessor. The first point, I could overlook. It was minor, but that was precisely why the second point deserved attention.
The smarter the student, the more questions they ask. The friends who ranked first in my high school class, and the ones who hovered near the top of the department in college, were all like that.
Vermel wasn't. He acted as if he knew everything from the start. Even I, who thought there was nothing to learn in the first year, occasionally raised my hand to ask questions, but this guy hadn't once asked a teacher anything from the start of the semester until now. He just sat in the back, seemingly observing everything.
─ And at this point, something like this is supposed to happen. Just as I expected.
Was he just casually thinking things like that?
As soon as the students stood up, Vermel also rose and headed somewhere. I tucked the Hardcover Book and my notebook into my coat, pretending to stroll across the school grounds as I followed him.
[Wow, stalking....]
Yes, stalking. So what?
If I could confirm that Vermel was a possessor, I'd be able to read the near future just from his expressions, so I didn't care if the book called me a stalker.
I just had to return to Earth. If I could siphon off the future knowledge a possessor held in the process, there was nothing I wouldn't do.
Vermel passed through the classroom and the Central Plaza, heading out toward the south main gate. Then his footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
Keeping a 10-meter distance, I watched closely to see why he had stopped.
A carriage stood off to one side of the main gate. A middle-aged man with navy-blue hair stepped down from it.
In front of him was a girl with the same hair color.
I'd seen that girl a lot somewhere.
[She's in our class! How do you not know that?]
Of course I didn't. Rote pestered me every day to sit in the very front row, so I rarely got to see the friends behind us. Frey was the only familiar face I knew in our class.
"Ireuka, it has been a while."
The middle-aged man spoke. Only then did I realize the girl belonged to House Eliyev.
Wasn't House Eliyev fairly well known in commerce?
"Did you read the letter?"
"Yes, Father."
"Then I will ask you directly. Why did you stab the crown prince?"
Ireuka's face crumpled as she protested.
"I didn't do it!"
"Rumors are spreading all over the capital. You, better than anyone, know full well that you have harbored a grudge against the prince!"
"I'm telling you, I didn't do it!"
[Wow. Is it okay for a father to berate his own child like that instead of protecting her?]
"That's how it is when the family relationship is bad to begin with."
My own sister fought with our parents at every chance. They snarled at each other so much that they threatened to strike each other from the family register.
"You already have a prior offense. Do you even understand how rude it was to refuse the prince's proposal to his face at the banquet hall?"
"I never had the slightest desire to marry the prince!"
"Weak nobles like us have no choice but to accept when the Imperial Household issues an order. Do you truly not realize how many sanctions our family's trading company is suffering because of your actions?"
The fight between father and daughter grew increasingly heated. Ireuka looked thoroughly wronged.
Ireuka probably wasn't the one who stabbed the prince. It was clearly a scheme by the prince himself. Knowing Clion's personality, there was nothing he wouldn't stoop to in order to take her as a concubine. This was why bastards whose names started with 'Cl' were trouble.
The most definitive proof that Ireuka was innocent came from the actions Vermel took after following her out. He abruptly cut into the space between father and daughter.
"Who are you?"
"You're... from the same class...."
"My name is Vermel Horde, sir. I am Ireuka's classmate."
"Is that so? I apologize that my daughter has caused a commotion at school."
"That isn't the case, sir. Ireuka is truly not at fault. Someone else stabbed the prince."
"Ho ho, are you trying to cover for your friend? You have a good heart. But unfortunately, Mr. Horde, the Inspectorate has already ruled that my daughter did indeed stab the prince. There is nothing I can do about it."
"What if the Inspectorate's investigation findings are false?"
"Heh, even if you are an elf, do not overstep the bounds of your words. The Imperial Household could expel you from the academy if they so wished."
Watching Vermel's expression shift moment by moment only strengthened my conviction.
That guy was practically a confirmed possessor. He had known that Viscount Eliyev would meet Ireuka at the main gate during this time slot and interrogate her, and he had personally stepped in to prevent it.
That meant Ireuka was a necessary asset for my own safety, too. Whatever the case, the world a possessor would try to create was a peaceful one without the Demon King's army. If his intentions aligned with mine, I had more than enough justification to help Ireuka.
I slipped into the gap among the three of them at the right moment.
"We can find out by examining the Inspectorate's investigation results."
"And who might you be?"
"I am also a classmate of the young lady of House Eliyev."
I deliberately made eye contact with the viscount. Merely doing that prepared me to persuade him.
"A Gold-Eye...."
The race known across the entire Arens Continent as the most intelligent and wise. People literally bought them as sex slaves and ended up using them solely as private tutors for their children. A walking library!
The art of persuading and investigating people doesn't rely solely on logic. People can be convinced or unconvinced depending on who is presenting that logic.
For instance, how would people react if a thief with 15 prior convictions declared, 'Stealing is wrong!'? The first response probably wouldn't be 'I see,' but 'Give me a break.'
The Gold-Eye Tribe occupied the top tier of the continent's hierarchy in terms of ethos. Without changing my expression, I spoke clearly and naturally, even though half of it was sophistry. It was meant to add persuasive power.
"The place where His Highness the Second Prince collapsed was in front of the fountain. Calculating backward from the time the bleeding began, it falls between 4 and 6 a.m. What was Ireuka doing at that time?"
"...Jogging near the west research building."
"If Ireuka had stabbed His Highness, ice crystals should have remained around the fountain. But there was no trace of water-element mana particles being manipulated at the fountain."
"Is that true?"
"Yes. It is."
Actually, I have no idea. So what.
"Furthermore, if the prince was truly stabbed with a real blade and the assailant fled, the weapon used in the crime should have remained. Has anyone from the Inspectorate ever come to investigate Ireuka directly?"
"No, I heard they did not."
"And yet they have already issued a guilty verdict?"
Ireuka's complexion brightened. It was time to deliver the finishing blow.
"Though I am a member of the 'Gold-Eye Tribe,' I am nonetheless a 'citizen' of Philiut, formally registered with the Empire. Having said this much, the Imperial Household might well pressure me for it."
Though the prince really was throwing every imaginable tantrum.
"Even so, our race is extremely averse to seeing falsehoods spread. Therefore, at the risk of committing an affront to the Imperial Household, I dare to convey my opinion."
"W-well, if a member of the Gold-Eye Tribe puts it that strongly... I see that my judgment was far too hasty. I will reconsider the matter. I am sorry for suspecting you, Ireuka."
"Father...."
With that, the incident was settled. Viscount Eliyev climbed back into the carriage he had arrived in. Seeing him hand his daughter an apology allowance, it seemed he wasn't purely a bad father. I supposed this was what they meant by the innocent shrimp getting its back broken in a whale fight.
"...Thank you both. I'll definitely repay this debt someday."
Her face deeply flushed, Ireuka bowed her head and then bolted in the opposite direction, just as her father had done. In the quiet afternoon plaza, only Vermel and I remained.
He asked me a question.
"...Who are you."