Chapter 24

ACADEMY'S UNDERCOVER PROFESSOR

I crumpled up the note and put it in my inside pocket, and then I was immersed in contemplation.

First of all, I knew that the Black Dawn Society was related to the werewolf crisis.

However, considering that it was urgent to capture the werewolves and get rid of them if it was not possible, it meant that the werewolves escape was probably unexpected by them as well.

'The problem is, if the werewolves get caught, the Black Dawn Society will suffer greatly.'

If they suffered greatly, it was no different than a boon to me.

Even if I pretended to feel nothing on the outside, I welcomed such a situation with open arms inwardly.

But if there was a problem, it was written in the last sentence.

-There's a possibility that your identity will get caught.

In other words, it means that the identity of Ludger Chelysie was somewhat related to the creation of the werewolves experiment.

I had to catch at least three werewolves. No, it was two.

In other words, I had to find and catch the werewolves before Sören did and then kill them.

'Come to think of it… there was a mark on the werewolf.'

Maybe the mark itself was related to the people who did the experiment.

The problem was that Ludger Chelysie was somehow involved in it.

Honestly, if it wasn't related to me, I would have just left it up to Sören to take care of it.

But because I was getting involved there, the story was different.

If I got caught, I'd die.

"Professor Ludger? Are you sick?"

"It's nothing."

I racked my brain while responding that I was okay to professor Selena's question when she anxiously asked me about my well-being.

For the moment, it had been confirmed that there were as many as three werewolves.

I had caught one, so only two of them were left.

—One in Sören and one in Leathevelk.

'I must hunt them down.'

Meanwhile, the war of nerves between the principal and Hugo gradually headed toward the end.

"Well, it's up to Professor Hugo to be so narrow-minded, but I just want to make sure that you get the job done."

"So, do I need to intensify the patrol?"

"That's not all. I'm going to increase the number of people who do the patrol a little bit, and most importantly, we can't stay still until all the students return to the dorm late at night."

Hugo looked blatantly annoyed at the remark.

Rather than worrying about the student, he didn't seem to like the fact that someone like him had to go on a patrol that only employees should have done that in the first place.

However, the incident had already taken place, and other professors were also aware of the seriousness of the situation.

Even Hugo was in a position in which he could not directly oppose the order.

"Well, of course."

"Good. And other professors should also warn students not to go out late at night. If they violate the warning, you can give them a penalty point. It's the directions that I, the principal, ordered myself. Understood?"

"Tsk. Understood."

After the meeting, the professors rose from their seats and scattered one by one.

I was also about to get up and go back to my office, but some people blocked my way in advance.

"Are you Professor Ludger Chelysie? I'm glad to meet you. My name is Daniel Masrak, and I'm in charge of astrology."

"Professor Ludger, this is the one who's in charge of the reinforcement class…"

It was obvious why they approached me.

—They want to ask me about the source code spell.

The greed emitted in their eyes already told me that.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go because I'm busy."

I immediately shook off their interest in me and left the conference hall.

***

Instead of heading straight to my office, I moved to a secluded warehouse.

I stopped at my spot because I thought it would be enough.

"Come out."

The person who messaged me at the meeting must have been waiting for me to come out.

There must have been something they wanted to say because they couldn't convey all their intentions within a few lines of messages.

As soon as I spoke, I could feel a presence of someone who was hesitating over the pillar and sticking out their head.

"Uh…"

"Speak."

Her first impression was a girl who looked like a squirrel.

Well, I thought I'd seen her somewhere, but she was one of the subordinates of the Black Dawn Society who tried to approach me 15 days after I entered Sören.

"What's the matter?"

"S-so…"

She was visibly flustered, as she didn't expect to see me again.

Then she showed herself completely from behind the pillar, and I was a little surprised to see her in Sören's uniform.

I didn't expect her to be a student there.

The reason why most members of the Black Dawn Society were hiding as employees there was because the students' status could not be simply manipulated.

In order to get in there, I was sure that they needed to have the talent or the ability to pass the entrance exam.

I didn't know that the person who seemed to be a low-rank member of the society was a student there and that she was also a freshman who had just entered the school.

At our first meeting, I didn't know because she wasn't wearing a uniform either.

"Let's move from here first. Follow me."

"Ah, yes."

I took the lead, and she followed.

I suddenly remembered something, so I looked at my back and asked.

"Do you like coffee?"

"Pardon?"

* * *

* * *

I sat face to face with the Third Order student at a quiet cafe.

She had been at a loss for some time and shrank her shoulders.

I glanced at her.

—White skin and elaborate facial features, voluminous brown short hair with a slender build.

I couldn't see her ears and her bangs were so long that they almost covered her eyes.

It was literally like seeing a little squirrel.

I guessed I wasn't mistaken when I saw that she was shaking at my intimidation then.

I took a sip of the hot coffee in front of me and put it on the table with a loud sound.

Tap.

"Heek!"

The sound of the coffee cup and table touching each other made the girl curl her shoulders.

"Name."

"Pardon?"

"I won't ask you again. Name."

"I… I'm Sedina Rochen."

"Is it a real name?"

"Yes, yes."

"It's not an alias?"

'This is unexpected.'

Having a surname in this world meant that they were from a higher class rather than a commoner one.

—An aristocrat, a clergywoman, or a great rich merchant.

Why did a woman who grew up in such a perfect environment go into a secret society? And she also had the talent to enter the Academy but could only become the lowest Third Order?

'No. It's possible that the more prestigious the family she came from, the less favorable treatment she would gain.'

The strangest part was that she was only a Third Order with that level of talent.

Well, I'd ask her that later.

I flicked my fingers lightly.

"Tell me exactly what happened… Without missing a single thing."

"Oh, that… our surroundings…"

"I casted a voice-blocking spell. Even if we scream here, the conversation won't leak out."

"Voice blocking spell? As… as expected from Mr. First Order."

It was weird for her to keep saying that I was the First Order.

No, it was uncomfortable, to be honest.

"We'll have to improve that nickname first. Don't call me Mr. First Order from now on."

"Pardon?!"

At my remark, Sedina opened her eyes wide as though she had just heard news that seemed like a bolt out of the blue.

I didn't think I would make that face even if people said that the country was destroyed without any exaggeration.

"Do you want people to be suspicious? I'm a professor at Sören now, and you are the student."

"Yes, yes. That's right."

"From now on, call me Professor Ludger."

"Ho, how can I be so profane…"

"It's an order."

"O… order."

She nodded while saying, "Understood," when I spoke in a strong tone that it was an order.

However, contrary to the obligation that was ordered to her, her lips were constantly rising because she was happy to be able to call my name.

"So, what's the situation?"

"Ah, yes. I'll explain everything. The recent werewolves incident that occurred at our Black Dawn Society, or, to be precise, at an affiliated organization that joined hands with us."

I was confused for a moment at the sudden change in her tone of speech, but I nodded naturally.

"Keep talking. Without missing a detail."

"Just like what First, no, Professor Ludger already knows, there are factions within the Black Dawn Society. Especially with Victor Dreadful, the other First Order, who pushed this project the most enthusiastically."

"Yes, of course."

Actually, I didn't know anything.

But I pretended to know everything when responding to her words.

'Victor Dreadful… I'll have to remember that name.'

"The Shamsus school, which was created by gathering the scientists who were kicked out of the association due to habitually using black magic and unethical experiments in the back alley, went into Cryptid experiments as usual."

"What kind of experiment did they focus on exactly?"

"Only a few of us know that, so I don't know that much… Oh, come to think of it, you lent your name when Mr. Victor asked for help."

"I just lent him my name. I didn't expect him to come this far."

Looking at her response, Ludger seems to have been somewhat close to the person called Victor.

It's just that their closeness would be poisonous for me at that moment.

The Shamsus school must have undergone an experiment on Cryptids, and their lab rats eventually escaped, and things turned out to be like that.

"It was their fault, so they should have taken care of it by themselves, but one of the escaped lab rats hid in Sören through the sewer."

"That's why there were victims the day before."

"Yes. This was something that even we, the Black Dawn Society, didn't expect at all."

"…"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm too talkative… I often make these mistakes when I get too thrilled. As… as expected, someone like me…"

Sedina Rochen's attitude had changed into a noticeably passive one, perhaps because she took my staring in a different way.

I shook my head right away.

"No. Unlike your stuttering at our first meeting, your explanation was surprisingly good, so I was just impressed."

"I… I'm just feeling sorry."

"You speak better than I expected. You may explain further. It was nice to hear your explanation."

"Is… is that true?! Yes! Understood!"

After throwing a few compliments, Sedina immediately became happy and continued her explanation.

I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

If she stopped explaining, I couldn't find out any more information.

I had to pull all the information out as long as I was being respected by Sedina because I was covered in the shell of the First Order.

'It's surprisingly easy to utilize her.'

For the moment, Sedina Rochen was a Third Order member at the bottom of the Black Dawn Society, but her own abilities were quite outstanding.

Starting from collecting information to continuing her explanations, our conversation itself was quite long and smooth.

Sneaking the note that was sent to me was also part of her magic.

However, why did she only become a Third Order with that level of skill?

'She seems out of place.'

The fact that Sedina had a surname meant that her family was a pretty well-off aristocratic one.

'Her reaction showed reluctance when she said her surname in her introduction. In other words, she doesn't like her family. Reluctance? Sense of defiance? Something much bigger than that.'

The problem was that she may have entered the Black Dawn Society by her own will, but it did not look like that at all from the perspective of other members.

They thought that maybe she was a spy, and she herself had a loose screw personality, so she couldn't get along with the other members properly.

'To send me magic in secret, to be literate about a lot of information, to be admitted to Sören as a student… Her position is rather low compared to the outstanding ability that she has. It looks like, inside the organization, she is only considered as a pawn that's being used roughly before being thrown away.'

Just by looking at her, who seemed like she was dedicated to me, in the identity of someone who was known to have a trash personality, I could get a rough estimation.

Sedina herself might be so passionate that she vowed allegiance to the Black Dawn Society, but the society itself was not happy with her presence.

She tried to work harder as she seemingly realized that fact, but the situation did not improve favorably towards her, and she fell into a deep pit.

'From the standpoint of the Black Dawn Society, they're keeping her for now, but she's like something that they hesitated to use since they have so little interest toward her, but they still can't give up on her.'

No, there was no way a First Order executive cared about her in the first place.

They were probably trying to use her as a sacrifice to do a mission that required her to risk her own life.

I could picture her future without looking at it.

'Is someone from the Second Order going to get rid of her?'

It was a while ago that I saw a crack carved inside Sören at the meeting.

And right then at that moment…

I could also see the cracks carved inside the Black Dawn Society.

There was no perfect organization in this world.

After all, the places where people live are all the same.

'This is maybe…'

It felt like I could see a way out when I found out that both parties had considerable disputes within each other, in a situation where Sören and the Black Dawn Society had been caught in layered problems just like a sandwich.

If I did well, maybe I could gain something from Sedina?

"Once you catch the lab rats, it's better not to leave any evidence. The priority is to capture them alive, but we have no choice but to get rid of them as soon as possible since the people are getting noisy about it. There are three of them, so we'll try our best to…"

"No. There are two of them."

"Pardon?"

I took out the werewolf leash that I had put in my inner pocket and showed it to Sedina.

"Th-this can't be…"

"I've already caught one of them."

"Wh-when on earth did you……."

"Two days ago, in Leathevelk."

Her face was blank since she didn't know that I had caught one of the three werewolves already.

"As… as expected from Mr. First Order."

Her expression was one of extreme respect.

Her trust level toward me had always been maxed out, but it felt like it advanced more.

"Anyway, are there two of them left?"

"Yes, yes."

"You said that the werewolf hid here through the sewer, so I'll expand the search around the sewer first. Sören still doesn't know this information, right?"

"Yes, you're right, but I don't know how many more days it will last…."

"Then I'll have to move right away."

I said so and got up from my seat.

Sedina looked up at me as if asking if the conversation was already over and immediately bowed her head as she thought her behavior was rude.

I released the sound barrier that I had surrounded us with.

"Sedina Rochen, I've heard your story well. I'll see you next time if I have a chance."

"Yes, yes! Uh… Professor Ludger."

Sedina blushed shyly after saying so.

If I looked at her like that, she looed like a fresh young girl of her age.

How did such a child end up in a hideous organization called the Black Dawn Society?

Well, she must have had her own circumstances.

"Well, then…"

I left the cafe after drinking up all the coffee.

***

Flora Lumos was going to go to the library and study leisurely because she had no class that day.

She was usually just going to slack around, but recently she couldn't sit still because of a professor who had ignited her desire to learn more about magic.

Thinking so, she was walking in an outdoor corridor with long arched pillars.

'Oh?'

Beyond the second-floor window of a cafe not far away from her, she could see a familiar face.

How was it possible for her to forget such a face?

That was the man who taught the class that she took just then.

Ludger Chelysie.

But there was something fishy about his attitude.

'Who's the girl on the other side?'

Ludger, who seemed somewhat softer than usual, was having a face-to-face conversation with a female student.

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