In her words, she was afraid that her sword might not be able to withstand the violence of [Darkness], felt deeply remorseful for not being able to do so, and finally resolved to continue to work hard from today onwards, striving to stand on the opposite side where she could fight against it as soon as possible, and asked me to supervise her efforts.
Although I hesitated several times before agreeing, but... it's still the same question: why do I always have to be dragged into this?
"You're so soft-hearted, you foolish disciple. But if you keep being so soft-hearted, you won't end up with a good outcome," the mentor said with a smile. "However, I am naturally aware of this. Although there will be some overlap in our schedules, I won't let you break your promise, okay?"
"As long as you finish what you're doing here, you'll definitely make it in time. You can even bring her a bouquet of flowers and congratulate her."
Did Miyuki really defeat all the contestants by herself?
I nodded, too lazy to pay attention to my advisor's teasing, and asked, "Is there anything else? Advisor, just tell me everything at once, so I don't have to come back and find you gone."
"No, no, at least not for the time being."
The mentor waved his hand, indicating that I could leave directly: "It's a pity that the thing I asked that person to customize won't be ready so quickly, otherwise you could use it now."
"And our soft-hearted Juliana is probably getting impatient. You'd better hurry up and go."
Although I was curious about the items ordered by my mentor, since she didn't choose to be explicit, I couldn't get a clear answer no matter how much I asked.
After saying goodbye to her and greeting the hunting dogs lazily sunbathing outside the workshop, I walked out and, as expected, saw the academy headmaster who had been waiting for me for a long time at the corner.
Having probably been watching this area, the headmaster, who had been gazing blankly at the nearby greenery, quickly turned around and spoke to me the very moment my footsteps echoed into the corridor: "Ah, it's Yumi. Sorry, I seem to have been here too long. Did you just finish your intimate encounter with the Witch?"
"..."
What kind of questions are these?! Dean, even if you want to gossip, can you at least stop using monotonous reading as a cover?! Also, you've practically stared the tree in front of you until it's bald! This is too much pressure!
He rubbed his forehead, feeling a bit of a headache, and thought that the teachers in this college were all rather frivolous.
I cleared my throat, avoiding the awkward topic, and said directly, "Dean, let's get straight to the point. Since you've been waiting for me here, there must be something you'd like me to do for you, right?"
"So I was found out after all?" Ms. Juliana, who was completely incapable of acting, muttered to herself, then straightened up and adopted her usual demeanor in front of the students, saying in a serious tone, "Yes, Yumi, I do have something I want to ask you."
"You probably heard our conversation with the witch earlier, it was about Professor Adrian."
She's here. I felt a slight chill and became more attentive to what she would say next.
As the headmaster lightly stomped her foot, an ice-blue magic circle flashed around us, forming a simple, silent barrier that isolated us from the interaction of internal and external sounds. Her words continued unhurriedly: "First of all, it should be noted that the following content is based entirely on unverified information. Please take note of this premise."
I nodded to indicate that I understood.
"About two and a half months ago, during the holidays, before the students returned to school and started their studies, some faculty and staff members told me that Professor Adrian, who usually stayed in the planetarium, was often doing some unusual things, including but not limited to: frequently entering and leaving the academy, purchasing strange equipment, and communicating with people of suspicious appearance."
She adjusted her glasses, and a stack of papers she was holding floated out and landed in my hands: "At first, we all thought that Professor Adrian was just trying to find a breakthrough through a new experiment because his research had been stuck at a bottleneck for a long time. But we later discovered that instead of settling down to continue his research, he went to the neighboring town more frequently and participated in gatherings organized by a group of suspicious-looking people."
"The information you have is what I asked others to investigate. It looks like just a few small auctions held by the mages themselves, nothing particularly noteworthy. But my intuition tells me it's suspicious."
As I followed her words, I flipped through the pages in my hand. Just as she said, it was nothing more than a small underground auction jointly organized by some mages who had graduated from the academy and were active outside, as well as a small number of wild mages.
However, this is also what is puzzling.
As far as I know, in the area surrounding Academy City, not to mention Mermaid Harbor and the transit hub which are a few steps away, even in the nearest city of Piss, there are legitimate auction houses backed by the Wan Jin Chamber of Commerce. Why take the risk of participating in underground auctions where there may be unexpected situations?
"Unless there's some secret going on between them." This was the conclusion that the dean and I reached simultaneously.
But I still had some questions: "Dean, you clearly have doubts about Professor Adrian, and you even have circumstantial evidence to support those doubts. If that's the case, why didn't you confront him directly or ask your mentor for details, instead of coming to me, your student?"
“You were even hesitant just now about whether to entrust him with arranging the next practical activities.”
Juliana opened her mouth, then pursed it again. After struggling for a long time, she finally made up her mind, exhaled a long breath, and whispered, "Because I still have a glimmer of hope that he might fall into depravity."
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