C244: Rhapsody on a Rainy Day (3)
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Rudger immediately returned to the hideout.
Lightly brushing off the rainwater from his umbrella, Rudger went up to the second floor where his master was waiting. He was thinking of asking for advice on the sealing technique.
'But the atmosphere…….'
Unlike usual, the atmosphere of the hideout was heavy. It was not until he arrived at the office on the second floor that Rudger knew why.
"Are you here?"
Grander sat buried on the sofa.
She looked comfortable as if it was her own house but the others weren't.
"Brother."
Hans called Rudger in a trembling voice, while Alex and Pantos, on the other hand, kept their eyes on Grander while in a tense state
The two instinctively felt how dangerous Grander was despite her soft appearance.
Even now, their skin had so many goosebumps that they could be mistaken for hives.
Rudger sighed at the uncomfortable air that filled the room.
"Teacher, what are you doing?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're playing too much."
When Rudger rebuked, Grander pouted her lips.
"Some arrogant disciple left his sky-like teacher and went somewhere. It's boring to wait alone, so I played a little prank for a while."
The tension in the room was nothing more than a prank she deliberately created. Just a simple step to figure out what level of Rudger subordinates before he comes.
However, it must have been so heavy that it was hard for the victims to breathe. Especially for someone with a keen sense, such as Pantos, Alex, and Hans, who has a sense of beast, the time before Rudger came seemed too long.
"Teacher, let's stop here. Isn't everyone having a hard time?"
"Oh, yes. All right, all right. You're saying your men are more precious than this teacher?"
Grander deliberately gathered her momentum as if Rudger had to listen.
Alex, who was barely relaxed, wiped off his cold sweat and Pantos became silent.
"The author is his teacher as the leader said…."
Rudger spoke to them.
"Everyone leave. I need to have a separate conversation with my teacher."
Rudger, who confirmed that all the members had gone outside, closed the door and sat on the sofa opposite Grander.
"That's great, student. Where did you get all those guys?"
Grander expressed her honest feelings, recalling Rudger's men who went out.
"As I wandered around the world, I met them by chance."
"Ha ha. You're too modest."
"It's true."
Of course, it is true that Rudger recognized their talents and asked them to join him but he didn't look for them on purpose.
"The brown-skinned man was quite proficient in swordsmanship for a human being and the giant guy is a pretty interesting one. He looked nervous, but he still had fighting spirit even after he saw me."
"I see."
He was fully convinced that Pantos did that.
Even when he first met Rudger, Pantos came to visit him at the exact moment when his teacher, Grander, was away.
'If only Pantos had faced master at that time.'
He thought maybe Pantos would not be here. Perhaps even Pantos himself knew he would not stand a chance against Grander. Still, he would have tried because that was the reason he lived.
"And most interesting of all was the man who rolled his eyes the hardest."
"You mean Hans?"
"Yes. He was a really strange guy. Being a human being and an animal, but yet not an animal. Inside him, there was a strange one that even I admired."
Grander saw through Hans' constitution at once. It didn't just stop there, but she even noticed the existence of the Beast of Gévaudan sleeping inside Hans.
"Where did you get that guy from? Was it in a box on a rainy day?"
"……You talk as if I've picked up an abandoned dog on the street."
"A dog? If I have to say it, it's a similar kind but it's not bad to use as a pet."
Rudger was happy that Hans was not here now. If he had, he'd have been hurt.
"I encountered Hans in the Durman Kingdom while teacher was sleeping."
Rudger explained how he met Hans five years ago. His unique constitution and the Beast of Gévaudan hunted in the Dorman Kingdom.
"The Beast of Gévaudan? It has a pretty grand name for a cryptid."
"It was strong in its own way and I only managed to knock it down after using real magic."
"Well, he must have been a very good dog."
The cryptid that ate a knight and drove a city in despair was treated like a dog by Grander.
The Beast of Gévaudan was a monster that left its name in history and a part of his remains was even kept in a museum but anyone who knew Grander would have been rather surprised that she had said this.
For regular people dog is just a word but coming from Grander it was a great compliment.
"So what are you going to do with all these little guys?"
Grander asked Rudger, bending her eyes like a crescent moon.
"There must be a good reason to get out of this teacher's arms and wander around the world."
"……I just realized what I had to do."
"What?"
"Yes. It was something I had been thinking about even before I met teacher."
"Can't you tell this teacher what it is?"
"That is…"
Rudger tried to speak but shook his head at once.
"I'm sorry."
"……what a surprise. I didn't expect you to hide something from me."
"Are you angry?"
"I'm not angry."
She said so, but her expression made it clear that she was sulking. She said no, but Rudger, who knew her for a long time, could tell.
"I'm sorry, teacher. If I have a chance someday, I'll tell you then. However, please excuse me for keeping it a secret for now."
"……a dull fellow. If you're so serious, I won't ask but since you wanted me to meet you subordinates you must want something from me, right?"
"Yes. I need a little help to fix the seal.
"The seal?"
Rudger explained that he had just met with the diocese of the Lumensis order and if that continued the order might track him down.
"I wonder. Was the power flowing out to the point where they noticed?"
"From what she said, they seemed to have noticed the existence of teacher."
Grander grinned at the remark and her white fangs stood out.
"I'll tell them to come as much as they want. I guess they still think I'm scared and avoid them."
"If the teacher comes forward himself, it will be difficult to finish in moderation. Be careful."
"Hmph. They weren't even interesting anyway. Is that why I just have to make the sealing technique a little stronger?"
"Yes, I have thought of that for now."
Rudger took out the research paper he had prepared and handed it to Grander and Grander opened her eyes wide looking at it.
"……you've already thought it through."
"Yes. However, there is no problem in theory, but there are some parts that are difficult to implement, so I wanted to ask for your advice."
"What advice? You've already done it yourself."
Grander grumbled at the data Rudger handed over.
"Well, it'll be over if I invest a little bit of time. It's not that difficult because we just have to reinforce what was already there anyway."
"I'm glad to hear that."
"But you'll have to be careful. No matter how much you strengthen the seal, if you continue to use that power, you will eventually reach your limit at some point."
"I know that."
"No. You don't know. If you face the limit, it won't just end up as your own problem."
Grander's red eyes stared at Rudger as if piercing him.
"Don't forget the promise you made with me ever since I got you out of that hole that day. The contract we've made while I taught you."
"Yes, I always have it in my heart."
"You always talk well."
Grander, who cleaned up the documents properly, stared at Rudger with a subtle gaze to see if he suddenly remembered anything.
"More than that, you're my disciple."
"Yes, teacher."
"I'm saying that you're the only one who knows the magic that I've seen while fighting with me."
Rudger had a strange anxiety when she spoke about that and replied while trying hard to suppress his emotions.
"……Yes, please speak."
"I think that magic was different from ordinary magic no matter how much I looked at it. Like a dedicated magic created to deal with beings like me rather than ordinary enemies. Am I right?"
"……."
As Rudger remained silent, Grander grinned, bringing her index finger to her chin.
"I wonder if my disciple made such a magic in case this teacher comes and makes a fuss."
"……."
"Ha ha! You're not going to do that! How would my disciple dare to make magic to deal with his teacher? You can't do such a thing without losing your mind!"
A cold sweat ran down Rudger's back and in the end he got up from his seat in a hurry.
"Oh, my student. Where are you going like that?"
"……I remembered something urgent for a moment."
"Something urgent? Where else is there more urgent than talking to your teacher whom you haven't seen in a while?"
"I'll be back soon. Well, I'm off now."
Rudger ran away in a hurry while thinking that if he gets caught this time he might really die.
* * *
The next morning the teachers were gathered in Theon conference room after a long time and wondered why the president called them.
"Good morning Selina."
"Good morning teacher Merylda."
"Did you have a good time yesterday?"
Selina blushed and hesitated to answer when Merylda asked with one eye closed.
Merylda smiled softly and tapped Selina with her arms.
"What's that reaction? There must have been something."
"What about teacher Merylda? You left in a hurry yesterday. Did you go home right away?"
Selina was embarrassed for nothing and changed the subject and Merylda, who was asked, answered as if she had been waiting.
"Oh, my. I wasn't going to say this."
"What? Did something really happen?"
She just meant to change the subject, but she didn't know it was real.
"You know, Selina. I feel like I met my destined person."
"Destined… person?"
As Selina looked curious, Merylda told her what happened yesterday and about her meeting with the exotic handsome man named Alex on Royal Street.
"In the end, he showed me the wrong way, but later he confessed honestly. He wanted to be with me because I was so beautiful."
"Uh……"
If it were the usual Selina, she would have responded with joy, but this time she couldn't because she didn't think Merylda would fall in love so easily. Was it because of the cheesy words?
'No way.'
Merylda is famous for being a master of love, so how would she fall for such a trivial thing?
Selina believed in Merylda, so she decided to think she had a plausible plan. Then the door of the conference hall opened and Elisa, the president, entered.
"Have you all been well? It's been a long time since the werewolf incident that day."
Elisa, who started off lightly with a greeting, lightly looked at the teachers who looked at her with a questionable gaze.
Most of them were questionable reactions, but there were also hostile reactions, typically from Hugo and other members of his factions.
Elisa immediately brought up the subject.
"I'm sure everyone is curious. Why did I suddenly call everyone like this?"
"Did something happen again?"
Chris Benimore asked.
Some teachers looked anxious because many things happened both internally and externally recently.
Elisa said, "It's not like that, so don't worry," ending the anxiety of the crowd.
"I'll get right to the point. I'm sure everyone knows that there are still vacancies in Theon."
The conference hall quickly became quiet because everyone knew what the president was going to talk about.
"And these empty seats must be filled."
"Planning Office……"
Hugo frowned at someone's murmur.
"If we leave the position vacant for too long, it will eventually disrupt Theon's work. So now that I have a chance after a long time, I would like to recommend a suitable person."
Elisa's words rattled the teachers. In particular, the response of aristocratic teachers, including Hugo, was the most intense, and they seemed to be unable to believe what the president said.
"Who do you recommend? I know there is no suitable talent yet."
Hugo asked in a retort as his eyes toward the president were full of doubts.
'What is the president up to this time?'
Elisa smiled softly at Hugo.
"Why not? We recently got one."
"What? What are you talking about…….?"
"Please come in."
At that moment, the door of the conference hall opened and one person came inside.
Everyone shut up as the sound of shoes touching the floor rang loudly inside the conference room.
The teachers' eyes naturally turned to that person. A sculpture-like handsome man dressed much neater than usual.
Anyone with an eye can see that the outfit he is wearing is from House of Verdi's.
His steps were more disciplined and upright than soldiers and as he walked, his black long hair tied back clattered.
Soon the man stood next to Elisa Willow and turned toward the crowd.
"Nice to meet you."
Hugo opened his eyes wide.
"I'm a candidate for the Planning Director position, my name is Rudger Chelici."