‘Who would kill, or try to kill Verno? I mean, the obvious suspect would be Joshua Boulard.’

Arthur examined Verno’s wounds and they were similar to the corpses in the cavern. Rather than Magic, it seemed they were killed by an unstoppable physical force.

Before he could collect his thoughts, another person rushed into the cave and stopped several paces away.

“So it’s you!”

Melissa Crimson glared at the parasite, her eyes filled with hostility and anger.

“If it were me, why would I stay here and wait for you?”

“...”

He shrugged and pointed at the ripped and mutilated corpses, which were all Verno’s subordinates. Basically, all the spies belonging to the Brutal Prince Order were brutally killed.

“When I heard the explosion, I immediately rushed here. Alas, they were all dead by the time I got here.”

“You want me to believe that?!”

“Believe what you want. Then again, isn’t this what the Principal wanted?”

The parasite softly chuckled, “I mean, isn’t it my ‘job’ to get rid of all the spies.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re free to cause chaos like this. Did you see someone leaving?”

“Oh?” With a shit-eating grin on his face, Arthur picked Verno’s corpse and approached the Dean.

“So you do have a suspect. Would you tell me more, pretty please?”

“Scram out of here before I kill you for real.”

With an exaggerated expression of fear and his hand raised in ‘surrender,’ Arthur gasped, “Ah! I’m so scared. Tsk tsk! This ploy you and Sonia are concocting will unravel soon enough.”

He unceremoniously waved his hand and exited the cavern. As for Melissa, she proceeded to inspect the bloodied corpses, or what was left of them while cursing under her breath.

…

Verno’s body was beyond repair. His legs were practically gone, his arms were crushed and one of them was bent unnaturally backwards, and there was an ugly and gory dent on the back of his head.

He wasn’t a usable host, but he could still be possessed. Arthur quickly entered the lifeless body and gained new skills before returning to Khalil.

While staring at the dead spy, he contemplated his choices for a while before throwing Verno’s body away.

After squeezing the baboon into his magical bag, he didn’t have any space left for a human-sized host. There was the body of Leonis Sanguis, a female cultist, and a couple of small insects like the Lily Spider.

Instead of heading back home, Arthur returned to the spot from earlier and spent several minutes retracing his steps and trying to find that peculiarity.

‘I’m sure I saw and sensed something. Even if it was fast, how could it flee so fast? Or disappear altogether. Then there’s Joshua Boulard. He was supposed to have joined the Sun Alchemists, so it would make sense if he had been ‘taken’ by Verno for questioning. No, I’m stretching it too much. Why would Verno target Joshua specifically… and why in that empty cavern? That’s what I must know. It also links to Sonia’s request. She wanted me to protect the kid.’

“Three days. In three days, we’re going to do it.”

Jonathan was taking out a bunch of materials from his bag. There were colorful crystals, permanent black ink, a lot of animal bones, and even some fresh blood.

Stella and Frey were sitting next to each other, fidgety and apprehensive.

“Are you sure you’re alright, Jonathan?”

“Of course I am. The mission comes first.”

Stella closed her lips but it was apparent that she was worried about her colleague’s emotional state.

“What about Jan? She’s after the Alchemy Scripture too.”

“Fuck her, okay? She’s been caught, remember? I hope she’s rotting in some place.”

“...”

Frey sighed and shook his head, seemingly giving up this brief and pointless argument.

“As I have said a million times already, you two will be waiting near the Translocation Formation along with Parmenas. I don’t know who’ll be the first to notice it, but Parmenas will hold them off for a bit while you two take off with the Alchemy Scripture. We will meet up in the hideout in Ilexset.”

“The bombs will be enough of a distraction and the golem should protect you against the Vault guardians. However, we need to know how much time it will take you to locate the scripture. Even if Parmenas will help, he can’t fend off against everyone. W-what if Sonia comes? Or the Dean? We’ll be screwed.”

“I should be the one worried. After all, I’ll be the one entering the Vault. Parmenas will keep his word and protect you two until the scripture is sent.”

“What if he steals it from us?”

“He won’t. He’s after something else.” Confidently responded Jonathan as he threw a couple of materials into a small cauldron.

“Then what is he after?”-Stella

“The feather. The Phoenix Feather.”

“And you’re going to get it for him?”

Jonathan snorted and nodded his head.

After a brief bout of silence, the chatty Stella pursued her lips and asked,

“And that kid… emm, Joshua? How are you going to use him?”

“He’ll be planting the bombs.”

“Isn’t it too early to give him such an important task?”

“No. At least that way, they can’t be traced back to us. I don’t care if he gets caught later on.”

For the teachers and the Principal, the night wasn’t peaceful. Several students were murdered and the killer was on the loose.

Arthur didn’t attend the emergency meeting and simply went to his room. He peacefully slept for 4 hours before being woken up by a large ringing sound that reverberated across the campus.

Then, the stern voice of Melissa followed up.

“Attention, all students. Attention. There will be a curfew starting from today. Any and all students are prohibited from leaving their dormitory beginning from 7 o’clock in the evening. Additionally, no one will be allowed to leave the academy premises during the day. Any student who breaks the rules will be punished accordingly.”

While fiddling with the ring he had ‘borrowed’ from the dead Verno, Arthur was wracking his brain trying to come up with a plausible and logical theory.

‘Clearly, the Principal has the manpower to eliminate all the spies. There are plenty of strong mages that would help her through all the clandestine affairs. If so, then tasking me to get rid of them was merely a cover-up. Think, Arthur… think about her motives. What does she really want?’

He kept pacing around the room for close to twenty minutes. When he stopped, he clenched the dim magical ring, an expression of shock and epiphany on his face.

‘That’s right! The Alchemy Scripture! Nader told me he had broken into the Vault and found the fake one instead. But why would Sonia put a fake one? It could be that there is a genuine Alchemy Scripture, but it was stolen! Most likely before the Nader went in there. If I were Sonia, I’d want it back and would initially suspect the Spies. However, I wager she learnt of Jonathan and Verno’s plans, thus ruling them out as suspects. Additionally, she must either have a primary suspect or knows who the thief was, but as an Archmagus, what’s stopping her from making a move?’

Arthur spent more time pondering and speculating. He wasn’t sure of anything, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

‘Maybe she knows the target but not the location of the scripture? It would make sense, but that’s not enough for her to be so passive. What if the thief is… aha! That would indeed explain a lot. But first, I need to ascertain all of this and if I’m right, I’ll screw all of them together.’

“Fuck! Fuuuck!”

Feylord shouted atop his lungs as he tried to rip the tight ropes but to no avail. Last night, he had fallen to the side and bumped his head to the ground, which made him lose consciousness for an uncertain amount of time.

He could see the light pouring into the cavern and bring it with the summerly warm breeze. However, Feylord was in no position to enjoy it as he kept moving around and shaking his leg to free it.

“Go to the Nemia Academy, they said! It’s the land of opportunities, they said! What dogshit luck do I have to suffer through this!”

Time crept by and the thirst and hunger started to exhaust the youth. His lips were dry and his mouth was salivating as he looked around, trying to find any sharp object that might facilitate his escape.

He crawled on the ground with the chair tied to his feet and hands, squirming around like a worm as he tried to go to the exit.

Suddenly, he saw a pair of short heels and when he looked upwards, he saw a long-haired girl with particularly pale skin.

“G-gracious demon lady… help me out, eh?”