So Unjustly Wronged (5)
"Easy, easy! Slow on the left!"
I waved both arms, guiding the carts along. An unconscious troll lay sprawled across two wagons lashed together, and several dozen guards ringed the whole procession.
"Wh-what is that…?"
I glanced back to find Kirlin staring at the troll, eyes wide.
"You're here, Principal? As you can see, it's a troll. Caught it on the east side of the academy. You can make high-quality healing potions from its blood."
"The east side… you mean outside the east gate?"
"That's right. Some stray that drifted in from who knows where. We'll keep a portion of the potions we make from its blood and send the rest to Her Highness the Second Princess, for her field operatives. Then she'll look kindly on us, send more support our way, and you'll get to keep your post, Principal…"
"Chief Professor!"
Orendi, the Magic Countermeasure professor, appeared out of thin air and dropped down beside me.
"I've finished laying down the magical wards on the underground laboratory by the north gate."
"You did it properly?"
"Of course. It can easily contain a troll even if the thing throws a tantrum."
"Good work."
The plan was to lock the captured troll in an unused underground lab at the north gate. Orendi had already taken my orders and laid down all sorts of magic there, and that troll would sit in its cell and donate blood on a regular schedule.
We could even fold that into class as a kind of practical exercise. Monsters had always yielded useful byproducts when you hunted them, and troll blood was especially precious—learning how to handle it couldn't possibly hurt.
"Keep moving! Clear the students up front!"
I led the guard detail, got the troll into the underground lab without incident, and sent for Professor Ismera.
"What—?!"
The troll still hadn't woken. The moment Ismera laid eyes on it, she sucked in a sharp, startled breath.
"Wh-what is that thing?!"
"It's a troll."
"I can see it's a troll. Why is it at the academy?!"
"I caught it. To make healing potions. You know perfectly well what troll blood can do, Professor. Which is why I wanted to talk to you."
I laid out my plans for putting the troll to use. Ismera made a face of utter revulsion and shook her head hard.
"I can't do something like that!"
Ordinarily she would have giggled and talked in circles, but apparently my plan had been shocking enough to knock her straight.
"It's fine, Professor Ismera. Plenty of people benefit. Everyone except the troll, anyway. And trolls aren't people, are they?"
"But it's still alive…"
A vegetarian, a humanitarian, and a conservationist—she really did come with the whole set.
"Anyway. The Theory Department has a potion-crafting course, doesn't it? Add this as a practical. The Combat Department will handle controlling the troll."
"And what does the Principal think?"
Ismera knew perfectly well that arguing with me any further was pointless, so she turned to Kirlin.
"Dian caught it, so let's just do it Dian's way."
Speechless, Ismera looked back at me with a questioning stare. I shrugged, which was all it took to send her over the edge.
"Do as you please. However, should any problems arise, the two of you will bear the responsibility."
"Sure, whatever. So that means Professor Ismera agrees, then?"
"I do not agree. But since the Principal and the Combat Chief Professor have spoken thus, I have no choice but to comply. Let me make that perfectly clear."
"By all means."
That damn elf…
After that, things went back to normal.
Ever since she'd taught those Graduating Class 1 thugs a lesson, Hindrastar hadn't caused any particular trouble and was adapting well. She couldn't return to her true form, and if she ran, Linus would come after her—so lying flat on the floor and behaving herself was the smartest play.
Not that Linus would actually come. He was too busy looking after the baby.
As it happened, another letter had arrived from him a few days ago. An invitation.
Dian,
We can finally have people over at the house. Let me know a day you can visit as soon as you can.
— Linus
This coming weekend seemed about right, so that was what I wrote back.
I told Olicia to go into town and look into suitable gifts to bring to a house with a newborn. I would have liked to pick them out myself, but I was far too busy to spare a trip into the city.
Was Rormane invited too, I wonder? As Grand Chancellor of the Holy Order, she probably couldn't spare the time.
Rormane… I'd rather she didn't come. For any number of reasons…
Rormane really was…
The memories associated with her rose up, and I shuddered, hastily shoving them back down.
I should go walk a campus patrol. If I sat still, it was only going to keep coming back.
I grabbed a practice wooden sword, left the faculty hall, and strode out across campus.
"Hello, Chief Professor…"
The students I passed greeted me in shrinking voices and edged aside, step by nervous step.
That's odd. They used to come swarming over, making a racket. What's with them today?
"Eek?!"
Another student bolted as if he'd laid eyes on something filthy. The atmosphere was getting strange.
"You there! Over here!"
I pointed out a student who had met my eyes and immediately looked away.
"Get over here. Now."
"I didn't do anything…"
"Dodging my eyes is the crime."
Once he was close enough, I hooked the practice sword over my shoulder and asked,
"Something going on lately? Why's everyone avoiding me?"
"Nothing's going on…"
"You little—? You gonna talk straight or not?"
"There's really nothing going on!"
His voice shot up into a scream as he bolted away. So something was going on.
Maybe I should ask Knightly. She was a student too.
I wasn't even going to bother with Hindrastar. Unlike Knightly, that one was massively hostile toward me—she'd play dumb even if she knew. Knightly it was, then.
Meanwhile, Knightly stood surrounded by her followers.
"Knightly. You heard, right? About that rumor."
The rumor in question was currently the hottest topic among the academy students: the Dian–Knightly scandal. A young, capable, handsome, witty chief professor, supposedly involved in that kind of relationship with the academy's top student—a beautiful girl of excellent bloodline.
Who on earth could resist jumping on a rumor like that?
And yet, for a story that should have already turned the academy upside down, things were surprisingly quiet. Most of the students circulating and consuming the rumor were doing so in hushed whispers, passing it along behind closed doors.
Professor Dian was the Combat Chief Professor, and the old gossip had already painted him as the Secret Imperial Prince, a noble hiding his power, and so on—not someone you casually messed with. As for Knightly, she already had a cold personality, and she was the daughter of the great Ducal House of Toulouse. Ordinary students couldn't even bring themselves to speak to her.
For those reasons, only the followers who labored under the delusion that they were close to Knightly had worked up the courage to mention it to her face.
"What rumor?"
On any other day, Knightly's expression and words would have amounted to fuck off and get lost. Today, at least, she asked her followers in a somewhat milder tone.
"You know… they say the Combat Chief Professor… called you to his office and… forced you to do something awful…"
What had started as the two of them went out the east gate alone had now mutated, absurdly, into she was raped in his office.
Knightly snorted.
"That's not even funny. Where did you hear that load of crap?"
"It's a huge deal among the students right now. You and Professor Dian…"
"That's what you'd like to believe, isn't it."
"Huh? Believe what?"
Knightly swept her followers with a look full of contempt.
"You want to believe Professor Dian and I have some sordid relationship, don't you? You all hate me."
"What are you talking about, Knightly? That's not true at all!"
"Don't give me that. I know you talk behind my back. 'The bitch who ran away because she didn't want an arranged marriage.' Isn't that right?"
Faced with Knightly's murderous aura, the followers shook their heads, looking frightened.
"There's no way… You're the daughter of the famous Ducal House of Toulouse, and we're just insignificant lesser nobles. We wouldn't dare…"
"That's exactly why you do it. You're nothing but walking inferiority complexes. The only reason you hang around me in the first place is to scavenge whatever crumbs fall your way, isn't it?"
"Knightly…!"
There was a reason Knightly, who had never shown much of this until now, was coming out like this today.
It was because those people were treating Professor Dian as some predator who did unspeakable things to minors.
Knightly might have been a rude, arrogant noble daughter, but she at least did not talk one way to someone's face and another behind their back, and she did not tear other people down in underhanded ways.
And Knightly liked Dian. Setting romantic feelings aside, it was because of the intense private lessons she had been receiving from him. Classes like Dian's private instruction were exactly what she had always wanted—dangerous, bold things that actually helped in the field.
Whenever she trained with him one-on-one, Knightly felt a thrill as if she had become the real rookie of an active-duty special ops unit. Something she could never have felt in her oppressive, stuffy family, or under Principal Kirlin's old play-it-safe curriculum.
And that was why, someday, Knightly wanted Professor Dian to—
"Hey, Knightly! Let me ask you something!"
From across the way, Professor Dian called out to her.