From Space Idiot to Professor

22 – Interview (1)

Right after the practical evaluation was stopped, we were detained.

In fact, it is not just us.

Not only the students and supervisors who were in Stellarium that day, but even tourists who stopped by this planet for a vacation were caught.

The planet was sealed off.

“I was interrogated. Please cooperate.”

The investigation has begun.

I was the first among the students to be taken in and interrogated.

There was no other reason for coming in first place.

“You really didn’t do it?”

Because it is ‘Eidel von Rhineland’.

A bastard that even the family gave up on.

And yet, thanks to the damn federal law, we have no choice but to live together under the same ship.

A kid who is closer to a youth police officer than his father….

Because he’s that kind of bastard.

I was expecting to be called out by police officers who were familiar with the area.

Of course I felt unfair.

“No matter what, is it because he went crazy?”

“Well.”

Detective Terence of the Galaxy Southern Region Police Agency looked at me and took a cigarette break. He was in charge of juvenile crime in this area, and he often clashed with Idel.

This time, he seemed to think he was making no sense, so he just laughed.

“Don’t you know the principle of presumption of innocence?”

“I know, jjasyuja. “I just called you to see your face.”

Detective Terence rubbed his dark beard and sighed heavily. His face, shining in the light of the interrogation room, was extremely gaunt.

“We have secured all the CCTV data. The prosecution said it was very unlikely that you were the criminal. There are a lot of people who are more suspicious than that…… Anyway, I have a few questions for you. “That’s why I called you.”

“Please speak.”

“Caliper.”

I almost jumped.

“… Do you say that? I heard it’s a tool that was only used in the old days. Anyway, you were caught on surveillance camera holding it.”

“Oh, that… ?”

“Where did you get it?”

It sends shivers down my spine.

“I heard that it was prohibited to bring personal items into the exam room… ….”

I was tired.

No, rather than being annoyed, I am embarrassed.

If I honestly say that I carried it around because it was given to me by a foreign media, it is certain that I will be taken to a mental hospital (a Galactic Monster Management Center under the pretense of being) like this.

On the contrary.

If I say that the Holy See gave it to me, I will immediately be subject to further investigation by inspectors, and if it is revealed that there was no mastermind, it will only raise further suspicion.

For your information, foreign media cannot confirm its existence using testing methods of uncivilized humans.

After completing the calculations up to this point, I have come to a conclusion.

Conclusion that there is only one way left.

“I’m not sure.”

“You, you, you, you’re going to catch me like that again, huh?”

“What can I do about something I really can’t remember?”

I decided to remain ignorant until the end.

“You need to know this. Well, what is that….”

“Are you saying you’re past the age of a boy?”

“Yes, that’s right. “I know!”

Detective Terence spoke threateningly. To put it simply, they told you not to mess around because you could be held criminally responsible.

But what should I do?

Do you think this will scare me?

I am confident.

“I also saw something like that at some point. Caliper? “I didn’t even know it was like that, so I just picked it up and swung it.”

Some people may laugh in bewilderment.

No, a kid who is only about 16 (even though he is a C grade) solved this terrible situation by breaking a monster pot with an old tool?

But what can we do?

Idel.

This one word completes all possibilities.

If he’s crazy enough to try to set fire to a building where people live just because he’s being a little rude, it makes sense to grab a tool and fight the monster.

Of course, the fact that the tool was able to be secretly brought in makes perfect sense.

However, since the body search was thorough before coming to the practical test site, there was no way for me to hide the calipers the size of a human forearm. It was correct to judge that it had been there from the beginning.

Luckily(?) Terence nodded at what I said.

“Well, it’s you.”

“Yes, because it’s me.”

It is very convenient in times like this.

“But I hope we won’t have to face something like this again in the future. “You are having a hard time, I am having a hard time, what is this?”

“Detective, you are in charge of juveniles. “Wouldn’t you and I be bye-bye soon?”

“Because of you, I will soon be transferred to the homicide department.”

After that, Terence asked a few more questions. Of these, several were directly or indirectly related to calipers.

But what to do? Even the parties said they don’t know.

I played it off until the end.

It is advantageous to pretend not to know about this until the very end because it can be detrimental to future entrance exams.

In addition, it was fortunate that I was in the blind spot of CCTV when the caliper began to be held in my hand.

In the end, Detective Terence had to let me go without much benefit.

***

After Idel left, Detective Terence began investigating other students one by one.

“I don’t know.”

I heard that from Seti, who is famous for having a very bad relationship with Eidel.

“… Well.”

A girl named Rustilla, who had suppressed the monster at the scene, also gave a similar answer.

“That tool… Do you know where the caliper went?”

“I don’t know. “I don’t remember.”

I don’t know.

No one.

The whereabouts of the caliper.

Detective Terence sat with his legs crossed.

An average person might think, ‘Why is that important?’

But Terence was a man with good sense.

‘There is something.’

I would have understood it if I had said that Eidel used the plasma sword to subdue the monsters.

‘Sixteen swords were placed in the test site. Other than that, there was no other weapon that could kill a monster. However, the fact that there was that tool….’

The thoughts continued.

‘Monsters were exchanged for golems. It has not been confirmed at what moment it was replaced. And the timing and whereabouts of the caliper are unknown.’

I could see a commonality here.

The main material of the replaced golems was metal, and this would have been similar to the caliper.

Because they both sparkled. Shine is a common characteristic of metals.

‘Metal, metal, machinery….’

At that moment, a reasoning flashed through Terence’s head.

“The name is Rustilla… Did you say that?”

“Yes.”

Rustila adjusted her posture and nodded her head.

“Did you feel anything when you cut them down?”

“It was like a piece of iron.”

“It’s a piece of iron.”

Then there was something to check.

“Student Rustilla, according to the answer you gave earlier, I heard that you signed a contract with the Holy See. Obviously, excitement…….”

“He is the god of purity and tenacity.”

God of purity and tenacity.

A constellation corresponding to a main sequence star named ‘GJ-721’ located in one part of the galaxy cluster.

… This is a classification among scholars, and in the world, it is better known by its true name, ‘Vega.’

A constellation so famous that its true name is known.

In some ways, it can be said that it has been with the history of mankind. And there was much that was known about the Constellation of Rustilla.

One of them was the skill ‘Mind’s Eye.’

“I heard that you can read other people’s images to some extent. Is it good, bad, normal, crazy….”

Honestly, Terence also felt a little uncomfortable bringing this up.

Reading other people’s minds.

Of course, it does not accurately read the inner thoughts, but only draws a rough picture like a painting, but still.

However, I couldn’t say this or that about this.

The constellation was literally an extralegal being. And the humans who receive the protection of the constellations are similar.

All countries before the Laniakea Federation that arrested these people for political reasons, tried to carelessly manage and supervise them, or did other bad things were completely destroyed.

It was the judgment of the Constellation.

It was a trick by foreign media.

I couldn’t be overtly uncomfortable.

“… Huh. Anyway. Have you ever used that ability to observe the inner thoughts of a student named Idel?”

This is all I can ask.

Lou Stilla responded, crossing her fingers under her desk.

“No.”

Well, there is no way a person who made a contract with the Constellation would use that level of power on just anyone.

Constellations were something that came only to a few chosen good people.

In the first place, the very fact of having a background was a guarantee to say, ‘I am a person who can live without laws!’

No matter how much I asked, nothing came out.

“Okay, that’s it. “Let’s stop here.”

Detective Terence sent Lou Stilla away and was lost in her thoughts.

It is certain that it was done by foreign media, and it has not even been determined which of the four armies it is….

‘I don’t know specifically who did it or why.’

No matter how much I thought about it, it seemed like there was no foreign media so ignorant as to make such nonsense during the academy entrance exam.

Knock knock knock.

At that time, someone knocked on the interrogation room door.

“Detective, a customer has arrived outside.”

“A guest? Who?”

No one came to visit him at this time.

“I am a newspaper reporter named Oh Fay. He said he would like to meet with the detective because he has something to report on this Stellarium case….”

“… “Reporters are annoying.”

If it comes to you without even sending an email, it doesn’t look very good.

– I’ll send it back.

Terrence was about to say that, but stopped.

For some reason, I felt like I shouldn’t kick him out.

Intuition gained from working as a detective for a long time.

“I’ll be out soon.”

Terrence trusted that intuition.

When we went to the lobby, there was a man with his face covered in a thick coat and a fedora. Detective Terence figured this man was the newspaper reporter his subordinate had been talking about. So he approached him and spoke to him.

“This is Detective Terence. “Are you looking for me?”

The man nodded his head and opened his mouth.

“Do you know a student named Eidel von Rheinland?”

“Yes, I know.”

“I knew you had known that student for a long time.”

“Yes, but….”

Terrence then shook the man’s hand lightly.

“Are you here to interview that student?”

“To be exact, I came to interview a detective who is familiar with the student.”

During a brief conversation with him, Terence smelled the hand that had shaken the man’s hand.

‘… ‘You’re not a newspaper reporter.’

“You came to interview me?”

“Yes, even though it is reporting, there is nothing particularly grand about it. “All you have to do is tell me what a friend named Eidel did when he was young.”

“Leaking other people’s information is something a public official should not do.”

“hahahaha, not as a public official. “Who asked you to reveal your criminal history?”

“…… ?”

“I’m just asking you to explain the story based on what you already know.”

The man who made a somewhat rude remark upon first meeting soon took off his hat. As his visor rose, the face of a smiling young man was revealed.

Terence laughed helplessly, not trying to show his discomfort.

It was someone I knew.

Not just an acquaintance, but a friend I have been close with since childhood.

“I have to cover that student soon… “That date is not something I can control.”

“… ….”

“Could you please let me take a preliminary field trip?”

“… Under.”

‘Oh pay’. You should also come up with an appropriate pseudonym.

As far as he knew, there was only one person among his friends who came unannounced and pulled pranks like this.

Terrence said, laughing as if it was absurd.

“You’re still the same, Feynman.”

The man who heard that name also laughed along.