ALL NOVEL Chapter 45: Brewing Trouble
I wanted to start right away, but unfortunately, I had someplace to be.
This would be a long process, so I told Lumine that we’ll go take pictures tomorrow. I was looking forward to what happens down the line. Even if she didn’t end up making friends in the classroom, as long as the girl wasn’t lost, I was going to be satisfied.
Not everyone needed friends. Not everyone wanted them either.
After leaving Lumine behind, I found myself in front of the administration building.
I was called over to the Principal’s office, where our usual meetings happened.
I climbed the stairs of the buildings, passing by and greeting each of the busy admins working their way around.
Naturally, the one I was going to meet was the one who held true power in the academy. Gladwin Hark, a manager under the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
He hadn’t called me to his office, which meant he had no idea about my break-in. Mundus had, thankfully, also taken care of every smallest thing that could allude to the presence of the kids or myself in the bar.
The investigation didn’t bring anything suspicious either.
There was nothing to worry about. My crime was perfect this time.
I stopped in front of the door to the office and was about to knock when it swung open.
A woman with long brown hair stood on the other side. She wore a labcoat that snugly fit over her short figure, a telltale sign of her half-dwarf blood.
“Professor Ethan!” She said, looking up at me. Short as she might seem, this lady was very well achieved. No one in the faculty did not know of her.
Even I, who had only met the other professors a mere two weeks ago, knew her.
How couldn’t I? She was… the undisputed poker queen of our first-ever Annual Glorious Glorenstein Pre-Entrance Ceremony Poker Competition (faculty only)!
“Professor Denadis. It has been a while.”
Professor Denadis nodded. She had an extremely bright smile for someone who had just stepped out of the principal’s office. Her constant nods were almost cute.
“It has. Oh, I heard about the incident” She immediately changed her gaze. “It must have been shocking, getting tricked like that by those things. Thank god Mr. Gladwin was around.”
“Those are things of the past, let’s not bother ourselves with the depressing stuff.”
Denadis smiled again. Her scruffy hair bobbed with her head every time she nodded.
“That’s right. Well, Professor Ethan, I must get back now.”
“Of course. It seems things are going well?”
“They are! The chimera-research lab has never been livelier.”
“That is great to hear. I won't hold you up anymore.”
The professor turned away and walked off. My gaze lingered on her for a second before I pushed the door open once more and entered the office.
Just as ever, sitting at the desk was the principal, Kurt; and on the couch was the civil servant, Gladwin Hark.
Both of them greeted me with a stiff nod. The principal is more so. He felt a strange sense of responsibility for a lot of incidents related to demons.
Four people had been cursed by Mundus. Principal Kurt, being the man who had headed a paper on Demonic Mana, a curse that one of the demon king’s generals used, thought there might be a way to counter this too.
Unfortunately, the magic that Demons used was the same as the ones we did.
I decided not to talk about this and greeted them both. Gladwin pointed at the couch, and I took a seat.
“Professor, how are you feeling?” Gladwin asked, a bitter smile on his face. “I am sorry about the way it turned out.”
That’s right.
Most of the credit had been given to Gladwin. Nothing was said outright, but we had declared that ‘Gladwin Hark handled and wrapped up the case.’
Of course, this wasn’t the first time it had happened. It was smart of the empire to be cautious.
He also had an explanation for me, though.
“We had to veil the incident as a sting,” Gladwin said. “It would have caused diplomatic trouble with the other countries, but thankfully we managed to say we had it under control. I really apologize that it has to be this way.”
“I don’t mind it at all,” I told Gladwin. “In fact, I welcome it. How is Professor Barnum doing?”
Gladwin’s smile only grew softer. He looked like he was touched by my kindness. Of course, I knew better than to ever drop my guard around him.
There was a reason that this man was sent to the volatile academy out of every other civil servant the Empire had.
“Professor Barnum is going to be in attendance, but he will take a while to recover.”
A moment of silence filled the air. Gladwin took the chance to pick up a kettle and poured tea into three cups. He placed one in front of me, dragged one toward himself, and stood up to give the last one to the principal on his desk.
As Gladwin sat back down, I decided to come to the point.
“What did you need me for?” I asked.
Gladwin’s gaze narrowed.
He leaned ahead and pushed a small envelope toward me.
“This is information we have received from the intelligence of multiple countries.”
I flipped the envelope open and pulled out a letter from within.
“As we expected,” Gladwin said. “The presence of the nobility has become of great interest for some of the scum in the world. Criminals and cultists from not just the Empire, but the whole world are turning their gazes this way. The war’s end is the best time for them.”
A few names on the list of groups were rather recognizable. Even during the war, there had been some disturbances on the inside.
“I wanted to alert you. We will handle all of it, but you should know that we plan to use their interest.”
“Use it?”
“We will lure them out and crush them all. Please stay on the lookout for the students, Professor Ethan. Enemies from the outside could come in at any time.”
I pushed the letter back into the envelope and placed it on the table.
“Got it,” I said.
It seems some interesting things are going to happen soon. How fun.
