Chapter 25: Investigation

When Dina arrived at the scene, what she saw was complete chaos.

She immediately controlled the wind elemental energy and blew away the smoke far outside the academy.

5 collapsed students were laying on the floor, unconscious, covered in their own vomit.

She quickly alerted the other staff members of the school.

The 5 unconscious students were washed by a water elementalists staff member and then they were quickly taken to the medical center.

A faint scent was still linger from the unconscious and many staff members who smelled this scent knew what this smell was

'This is a smell produced by the ash horned forest skunk!'

They understood why the students collapsed and became unconscious, but they could not explain the previous smoke. 'Someone clearly was responsible for this incident' most of the staff members thought

Class was suspended until further noticed and the news about the incident quickly spread throughout the academy.

Speculations started to appear from the public.

"Someone dared to attack the academy"

"It must be an outsider"

"But why would they attack with such methods? Using a white horned forest skunk's scent of all things. What was their intention?"

An investigation team was formed by the academy. They tried to figure out who this mystery attacker was and what was their purpose

Their only clues were the white horned forest skunk's scent and the burnt surface where the array was placed.

.....

After a day, Teo and the other 4 students regained consciousness. They were all laying in beds within the medical center. They found themselves wearing masks to cover their noses with a strong flowery scent. The flowery scent was used to block off the lingering smell that was around them.

Teo was last to regained consciousness. The other 4 students were already being questioned by investigators who also wore masks.The investigators asked them what they could recall about the incident, but did not know what happened. It all happened too fast, smoke suddenly appeared out of nowhere, they eyes became quickly irritated and could only helplessly close their eyes. They could remember constantly vomiting due to the smell that appeared with the smoke. They tried to run but could only collapse into the ground as they blacked out.

The investigators told them what had occurred. A life saving tool used by most travelers was maliciously used in the attack. They also told them that Teo was seen trying to help them by various witnesses, if he did not try to help, he wouldn't have suffered from the attack as well.

The 4 students were touched, especially the 3 Silver Sword members. Even though they had attack this guy mercilessly but he still tried to help them. He even suffered greatly from it. They knew the excruciating feeling of being smothered by that disgusting smell. They felt guilty for lynching on him before.

The investigators asked if they knew anyone who could have done this, but the 4 student had no clue. The 3 Silver Sword members completely removed Teo from their list of suspects. In fact, they had offended many people, but with the backing of the Silver Sword Association, no one dared to do anything to them. Even if they did, who would be foolish enough to do such a thing within the academy. They also did not want to expose their deeds to the investigators so they said that they had no idea.

As for the girl, she as she was completely unrelated, she also said that she had no idea as well.

When the investigators noticed that Teo had woken up. Some of them went over to talk to him.

Teo slowly remembered what happened. A guilty conscious still left him feeling sick. He looked towards the girl that he accidentally caused grief to. Her blonde yellow hair was a mess, her face looked a little dirty, and she looked dazed and unfocused.

"Do you remember what happened?" an old investigator asked him.

The investigator's voice resounded in Teo's ear and he turned and looked at the investigator.

The investigators wore similar clothes to the staff members of the academy, except there was a red armbands on the left arm. The old investigator looked to be around 60 years old. With a face with a bit of wrinkles, he gave a friendly feeling, but his eyes were sharp as a hawk.

These investigators were part of the 'Red Guards', a part of the academy's elder members who were strictly responsible in keeping peace within the academy. They were not seen most of the time, but they often patrolled the academy unnoticed by many. The only time they would gather in such an extravagant fashion was during the yearly ranking tournament. They acted as guards during the tournament, but their real role was to apprehend anyone who broke the rules. Killing and maiming within the academy was strictly prohibited, broken bones and bruises were allowed as they could be healed. For other serious wounds that one could not recover from, they were met with punishment.

Teo shook his head and feigned ignorance. He considered telling everything the truth but seeing the Red Guards investigating the incident, it make him reconsider this idea. His little revenge cause such a stir within the academy, the punishment wouldn't be light. Although he did not maim or kill anyone, the incident was still considered as an attack towards the academy. The punishments given by the Red Guards were known through various rumors. It ranged from being expelled from the academy, tortured, and if the crime was severe enough, perhaps even death. Because of these rumors, there were hardly any people who broke rules, and people who were punished and came back to attend the academy, they were sworn to secrecy not to divulge their punishments.

Teo didn't want to be punished. Even though he felt really guilty about it, after some thought, he couldn't risk being punished. Even the lightest rumored punishment, being expelled, was something he didn't want. He still valued his time in the academy. His friends were here, his sister was here and the library was also here. So he didn't confess to the investigator and only told him that he saw the incident and tried to help.

"You are quite brave, but next time don't risk endangering yourself. You should just call for help next time an incident like this happens again" said the investigator

The investigator had a biased to not suspect the victims of causing this incident. In his view, a normal 10 year old would not dare harm themselves with such a thing, so he did not doubt Teo's words. Besides, there were many witnesses among the other people in the class that said that Teo arrived after the incident occurred, so it was even more unlikely that he was involved.

....

When the investigators left, the 5 students were left in the same room. An awkward tension was within the room. They all suffered from this event. Teo was feeling guilty, the girl was still shocked by what happened and the other 3 were feeling guilty when they heard the investigator said that Teo tried to help them.

The silence in the room only lasted for 5 minutes until the door opened again. Several visitors also wearing masks came through the door. Teo recognized a few from the group. Two of them came towards him, it was Rowen and Windle.

"Little Teo are you alright?" Rowen said

Rowen was worried when she heard that Teo was involved in the recent incident. The investigators told the several visitors what happened and although Rowen was still worried, she was relieved to hear that Teo was not injured.

Teo nodded "I'm fine big sister" and tried to smile

Rowen had felt that something was in did wrong with Teo. It was her woman's intuition that was telling her that Teo was somehow depressed

She thought that he might've been depressed because he also accidentally suffered. She looked at the other 4 students in the room. They were being visited by relatives, friends or fellow faction members.

Rowen's eyes caught the blonde girl who was one of the four. Teo's eyes sometimes drifted towards the blonde girl too, and Rowen caught sight of it.

She now thought she understood what was happening. Teo wouldn't save those 3 Silver Sword members because of their history, but Teo might've tried to save this girl.

'Could Teo had some feelings for this girl?' she thought

A faint smile appeared on Rowen's face, but she didn't say anything.

But then Teo, Rowen and a few others within the room suddenly noticed something strange about the blonde girl's visitors