ACADEMY'S UNDERCOVER PROFESSOR
Before I knew it, the sun was completely gone, and night had come.
I headed to the depths of the forest that the students couldn't reach.
Inside that forest, the members of the Black Dawn Society who had stolen the Omnipotent Stone were hiding.
Whisper.
Sören's guards who were chasing after the members were seen near the entrance to the forest, but they were guarding the outside of the forest without going into it.
I easily broke through the loose part of their security.
They didn't recognize my shadowy existence.
'There are a lot of dense forests here, maybe because it's Sören.'
There were three major forests inside Sören's land.
The first one was the 'Secret Forest', where no living beings ever lived.
The second one was the 'Silent Forest', where all sorts of eerie events and bizarre psychic phenomena occurred.
The third one was the 'Forest of Fantasy Dream', where all kinds of spirits and supernatural phenomena existed with enormous vitality.
The forest itself was a prohibited area that went back and forth between danger rank two and three.
It was indeed surprising that such a place existed inside the Academy's land, but it was even more surprising to know that the Academy let those forests be.
'I can't consider the sense of safety of people in this world the same as those who lived on the Earth in the 21st century, but I can't help my inability to understand it.'
I thought I was quite used to living there, but I still couldn't help feeling the gap from my past life.
In any case, there were three places designated as dangerous areas that were simply considered as 'forests' inside Sören.
Among them was the 'Silent Forest', which was the place where the men who stole the Omnipotent Stone ran away to.
'A forest full of evil hands and powerful, wicked minds that were designated as dangerous entities.'
It was said that the land was used as a cemetery before the foundation of Sören.
The corpses and death, which had been accumulated in the cemetery for a long time, had spread to become a supernatural phenomenon of the magic sort since Sören's establishment.
That was how that distorted forest was established.
If someone entered the forest mistakenly, they would be possessed by the vengeful spirits and become lost, or they would be covered by wicked minds and forced to become something 'completely different'.
It was a place where one had no choice but to witness disaster fall on a person with weak mana or mental power if they entered the forest.
That was why it was called the 'Silent Forest'.
—Because the people who went into it would disappear without any sound or news.
'They manage to maintain this kind of forest, I see.'
It was what I said, but in fact, Sören had taken measurements a few times regarding the Silent Forest.
It seemed that some of the principals in the past had argued that the forest should be disposed of due to its danger.
Nevertheless, there was only one reason why the Silent Forest still remained…
It was because all of the disposal efforts had failed.
'When they cut down the trees, they will grow again the next day.'
It was said that some people who had cut down the trees even went crazy or became idiots.
Even the wizards who had strong mana suffered from nervous breakdowns and nightmares.
However, even when they tried to set the forest on fire, the forest did not burn down, as it seemingly had its own will.
Many principals had no other choice but to get rid of their goals of removing the Silent Forest.
In the end, all they could choose to do was impose a ban on entering the forest itself.
'But the Silent Forest has its own boundaries as if it had drawn a line by itself. If the trespassers don't cross that line, they will bear no ill effects from entering the forest.'
It didn't matter if they kept staring at the Silent Forest beyond its boundary.
—They would be all right as long as they didn't go into the forest.
The problem was that those guys were inside the Silent Forest.
'Even if the rumors of the forest are exaggerated, there must be a danger to the Silent Forest itself. Do they have the confidence to go there, or were they forced to flee there?'
I paused my steps while letting out a sigh.
I had also been inside the Silent Forest for quite a while.
There were voices of unidentified insects and beasts.
—And even the voice of someone sobbing.
[Die. Die. Die.]
[Hiks hiks hiks. I hate it. I despise it.]
[Please help me. Someone, please get me out of here.]
Those voices kept ringing in my head, but I didn't mind them because I had been going through worse things than those voices all the time.
Now that I had come that far, it would be all right for me to lift the magic.
I immediately released Ater Nocturnus and poured mana pills into my mouth.
'Are they around here?'
Dim, vengeful spirits flew around me in the air.
But they didn't approach me or do me any direct harm.
Rather, the spirits peeked at me secretly and were busy running away with strange screams.
I ignored those vengeful spirits and searched for the traces of the secret society members who had fled.
'I found them.'
There were footprints on the damp ground.
They numbered around five people.
'Their number is unexpectedly small. I heard that there were at least 10 of them, though.'
The rest of them were either killed while running away or were caught in the hands of their pursuers before they could evacuate.
In other words, those five people who succeeded in escaping were the ones with the most proper skills.
I kept moving along the tracks.
The forest was dark because there was no light, and even the night fog made it so I could not properly distinguish the direction I was headed.
But it didn't really matter to me.
I followed the traces of the ground with unshakable steps and headed deeper into the forest.
'Those people standing by outside… Right now, they'll only stand by at the entrance to the forest, but if enough of their people gather, they'll begin to go straight into the forest.'
So before that, I had to finish the portion of my work.
Not as the Professor Ludger Chelysie, but as John Doe, the First Order of the Black Dawn Society.
Chatter.
As I continued to walk, I stopped at the voices coming from beyond the hazy fog.
I naturally eliminated my presence.
Those voices were not made by vengeful or wicked spirits.
—Conversations.
Walking along the trail, I finally reached my destination.
* * *
* * *
"Pheew. Mr. Demires. What should we do now?"
"There's a tracking party outside the forest right now."
"Right. In addition, just by staying still in this forest, our sanity keeps getting consumed. We can't continue on if we keep being like this."
"Just shut up!"
Demires, who had been keeping his mouth shut, screamed at the complaints of the Third Orders.
"I have a plan! So stop talking nonsense, and just follow along properly!"
"…"
The Third Orders shut their mouths at Demires's half-threatening words.
But their anxiety was not something to be resolved with just a few words.
—Because one of their colleagues who had already entered here went mad because he couldn't stand the magic power of the Silent Forest.
They couldn't afford to help him either, so they had thrown him away in the middle of the forest, and they didn't even want to imagine what had happened to him.
'Damn it. If the tracking party comes in, aren't all of us going to die without being able to escape?'
The Third Orders had the same thought in their minds.
They had been believing everything Demires, the Second Order, had said without question and following him.
But they must have sensed that things had already gone awry from there.
Demires had acted without telling any First Orders about it with the irresponsible words that he would take responsibility for everything.
'There are two First Orders in Sören right now.'
'No matter how he's the Second Order, can he really sort this out?'
'I don't even see any way to survive in the first place.'
Everyone closed their mouths and only rolled their eyes.
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In fact, Demires also felt uneasy.
It was good that he did it at first, but honestly, he didn't care much about the aftermath.
'Damn it! They said it's an Omnipotent Stone! But it's not worth anything!'
Demires looked down at the fist-sized stone in his right hand.
It was the Omnipotent Stone that had made him confident in his plan.
The stone that was wrapped up in cloth was emitting mysterious power just from being held in his hand.
But that was all.
The Omnipotent Stone itself was emitting powerful force, but it never granted any wish.
'I trusted the power of this stone and did this thing.'
Demires felt like he was on the edge of a cliff.
It was his original plan to make a wish on the stone there to gain strong power and to rise to a higher position.
That was why he had even kept it a secret from the First Orders.
'Damn it. How do I use it?'
The force flowing out of the stone was obviously real.
But the force was something else that didn't mix with the mana he dealt with.
It played a perfectly separate role, like water and oil.
As a result, Demires had no idea how to deal with that force.
Even if he made a wish earnestly in his heart, the stone was silent.
Even if he stroked the stone with his hands or spilled his mana into it, it wouldn't budge.
At that point, it was nothing more than a pretty and powerful mana stone.
Sraak.
There was a sudden sound of footsteps on the grass.
The members of the Black Dawn Society, who were surprised, were all nervous and stared at the place where the sound had come from.
"Who is it?!"
It was when Demires stepped up and shouted like that…
That a man dressed in black appeared in the dark.
'Is he an enemy?
It was when everyone thought so and aimed at him with their wands and weapons at him…
"Is this everyone?"
The members of the Black Dawn Society unconsciously flinched at his sharp voice that was full of irritation.
It was some kind of reflex.
They wondered why they were like that, but at the same time, they were bound to realize who the man was.
"You managed to run away without getting too far, I see. Still, you're members of the Black Dawn Society, huh?"
"Y-you are…!"
Demires, whose eyes had become accustomed to the dark, recognized the man's face and hardened his expression.
"F-First Order, Mr. John Doe!"
"Oh! It… it's really him."
The rest of the members also recognized Ludger and knelt down in front of him with pale faces.
Demires also bit his lips tightly and bowed his head.
Ludger nodded satisfactorily at their sharp response.
Demires slowly raised his head and managed to move his lips.
"Wh-what kind of business does Mr. John Doe have here…?"
"Second Order Demires."
"Yes! Mr. First Order!"
"Why do you think I'm here?"
"…"
Ludger's question forced Demires to shut his mouth.
'Why was the First Order here?' Demires had only received a question back instead?
No way…
'Does he know everything?'
There was only one reason why the First Order, who was hiding in the professor's position, had come to that place.
—It was to hold them accountable for causing the incident.
Demires quickly racked his brain.
His opponent was an executive of which there were only seven members of in the organization of the Black Dawn Society.
There was no way that position could have been gained simply by personal connection or luck. It must have been because he had the skills to match the position.
Even the man with the code name 'John Doe' was famous for having a trashy personality.
—A man who even killed fellow members of the Black Dawn Society when things went awry, the man was a symbol of fear from the perspective of the lower members.
'The reason why he didn't get scolded by the Zero Order for doing so must be because there's something that he has that makes him able to keep his position that firmly.'
Such a First Order was holding him accountable.
Then what should he do? No, there were a lot of tracking parties out there in the first place, so how did John Doe get there?
Demires had complicated thoughts.
"You're racking your brain, I see."
"That…!"
Demires's mind went blank at Ludger's voice, who spoke as if he was seemingly piercing through him.
He was bound to rack his brain hard as he had gotten to that situation.
He raised his trembling hand.
He politely held the Omnipotent Stone previously gripped in his right hand with both of his hands.
He politely offered it to Ludger.
—And he recited the most optimal words to be spoken there, which were chosen by his instinct.
"Th-this is the Relic called the Omnipotent Stone."
"Yeah."
"I… I offer this to Mr. First Order."
He didn't say any lame excuses of why he did that to obtain the stone.
He was just offering the item that he desperately obtained as if he was offering it as a tribute to his superior, Ludger.
It definitely hurt his pride, and he thought it might be better to cause a mutiny right away.
However, Demires wasn't like that.
"…"
Ludger didn't give any answer for a long time.
The rest of the men's lips dried due to his silence.
It was after 10 seconds, which seemed like 10 years, had passed…
Rather than opening his mouth, Ludger showed his action instead.
He took the Omnipotent Stone that Demires handed to him.
"Alright."
The men, who were very nervous, became extremely relieved at his words and loosened their bodies.
Because of that, they failed to respond properly to Ludger's next words.
"And farewell."
"Pardon? What does that…"
Shoot.
The darkness of the ground fluttered, and soon, thorns popped out and penetrated everyone, holding them in their places.
Demires stared at Ludger with incredulous eyes.
His pouting mouth was about to say, 'Why the hell?'.
However, Ludger only looked down at him with a cold stare that held no emotion and gave him no answer.
Drop.
The corpses whose vital points had been pierced rolled around the ground.
Ludger had no intention of keeping them alive in the first place. If he kept them alive and they stepped on his tail, his position would be in danger.
It was better to shut them up forever in that Silent Forest.
'Is this the Omnipotent Stone?'
Ludger untangled the cloth that covered the stone.
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Ludger's eyes turned sharp when he saw a dark green emerald stone.
His usually expressionless face frowned very slightly.
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