Join us on Discord
Click Here

Chapter 82: Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat

Chapter 82


In the dining hall, where children have yet to regain consciousness.


Worried that the perpetrator might control another person and cause a disaster again, I returned to the dining hall with Yoon Si-woo.


We stopped running only when we reached near the dining hall and realized that the surroundings weren't particularly chaotic.


If something had happened, there would have been a commotion, but since there wasn't, it seemed there were no major issues in the dining hall.


I felt somewhat relieved and sighed in relief when I saw Leonor smoking magic herbs near the entrance of the dining hall.


Raindrops gathered beyond the slightly open window, seemingly to let the smoke out.


The raindrops trickled down her face reflected in the window.


I quietly watched her and made eye contact with her reflection in the window.


Leonor hastily wiped her eyes with her sleeve.


Then, bowing her head slightly, she mumbled an excuse as if to explain her actions.


"...Damn, my eyes sting. This is why I shouldn't smoke indoors. The smoke doesn't clear."


Hearing that, I asked Yoon Si-woo, who was standing next to me.


"...Can you check if the kids in the dining hall are okay?"


Yoon Si-woo nodded obediently and went into the dining hall.


Fortunately, he didn't seem completely oblivious to the situation.


After sending Yoon Si-woo away, I approached Leonor and noticed her reddened eyes.


I sighed.


It's not because of the smoke.


Leonor pretended to be okay and took out another magic herb from her pocket, offering it to me as if asking if I wanted to smoke.


Without saying much, I took it and put it in my mouth.


I lit it and gently patted her back.


Leonor bit her lip as if something was boiling up inside her, took a deep breath, and grumbled at me.


"...Is it okay for a junior to do this to a senior?"


"There's no senior or junior when comforting someone who's struggling."


"...Sometimes, you sound like an old man."


Leonor gave a bitter smile.


She put the magic herb back in her mouth, took a puff, and stared out the window at the falling rain.


Her eyes were filled with undeniable sadness.


She was a person full of affection.


Earlier, when I conveyed the news of Mr. James's death, she had a hard time hiding her pain.


Leonor mumbled.


"...I don't know about split personalities, but at least the person I knew was a good man. He didn't deserve to die like that. He said he'd teach me cooking next time..."


She had mentioned earlier that it might be a split personality.


But it was different.


In fact, Mr. James was just a victim thoroughly manipulated by someone.


I carefully spoke to her.


"...Senior, I think I made a mistake earlier."


Leonor asked back.


"A mistake?"


"Yes. I think Mr. James was being controlled by someone."


"...Controlled?"


The sadness in Leonor's eyes changed to another emotion, and just as I was about to explain in detail, a voice interrupted from behind.


"Scarlet, how did you know he was being controlled? Did something happen?"


I stopped explaining and turned around, seeing Eve looking at me with a serious expression.


I cautiously answered her.


"Nothing happened, but thinking about it, it seemed odd. If it were a split personality, he wouldn't choose such a death even if he were caught... But how did you know he was being controlled?"


Seeing her serious expression, I became curious.


Until just a while ago, Eve had agreed with my opinion that it might be a split personality, but now she seemed to already know Mr. James was being controlled.


As I pondered how she came to know this, I remembered her asking if something had happened to me.


...Could it be?


"...Did something happen?"


When I asked, Eve snapped her fingers.


Then, a woman with short hair, wrapped in a blanket and seemingly unconscious, appeared behind her.


On closer inspection, it was the woman named Rhea I had seen during field training last time.


Eve looked at her with a troubled expression and spoke.


"Scarlet, you've seen her face, right? She came to investigate after we requested support from the Bureau of Public Safety, but she suddenly stabbed my neck and tried to burn with my body. 


Fortunately, I had cast an illusion spell beforehand, so I survived. Anyway, the Rhea I know would never do that. So, I knew she was being controlled."


"...She tried to kill you? Are you okay?"


"I'm fine, I'm fine. Well, if you hadn't warned me to stay vigilant, it could've been really dangerous."


Eve answered with a reassuring smile, but my heart sank.


Hearing that Eve almost died reminded me of her death in the original story.


She had died suddenly.


Was it also the work of someone being controlled?


But in the original story, her death didn't happen this early.


I had no idea what was going on and was deeply confused when I heard Leonor's voice from the side.


"...So, you're saying some bastard controlled Mr. James and made him do that?"


Leonor, her eyes bloodshot and her hands trembling from clenching them too tightly, asked in a low, angry voice.


And in response to Eve's answer, Leonor's expression hardened.


"Yes, probably the work of a witch."


"...A witch?"


Leonor asked for confirmation, her face stiff.


"It's not certain, but almost 100%. Controlling people as you wish isn't an easy task. Let alone controlling two different people in such a short time to the point of death, that's impossible for a human."


"But weren't all the witches killed off in the past..."


Leonor muttered in denial at Eve's words.


Witches were almost mythical beings to the people of this era.


Even the mightiest heroes couldn't be sure of defeating them, and it often required an entire race to be prepared for extinction to finally bring one down.


The very idea that such beings were alive and were the culprits of this incident was hard for Leonor to believe.


But I couldn't deny Eve's words.


I had seen the girl with the black and purple hair during the gym incident.


She was likely a witch.


Still, we couldn't just despair.


I steeled myself and spoke to Eve.


"Then it's almost impossible to find and stop the perpetrator directly."


"Yes, we need to find a way to stop this somehow."


"Is there a way?"


When I asked, Eve pondered for a moment before muttering.


"I don't think they can control just anyone. If they could, they wouldn't need to control others to kill me. Controlling me directly would be much simpler."


My greatest fear recently had been not being myself and harming those I care about with my own hands.


I hadn't even considered the possibility of being controlled...


In hindsight, it was a relief.


If someone like Yoon Si-woo were controlled and killed people, it would truly be a catastrophe.


Feeling somewhat reassured, I grasped the crux of Eve's words.


"So, you're saying there's a specific target they can control?"


"Right. No matter how powerful a witch is, she can't control just anyone. There must be people she prepared in advance. Controlling people isn't easy, even for a witch."


"Then, finding out who she prepared in advance would be the best course of action. There might be something they have in common."


I said that while trying to think it through.


A common trait between James, who was controlled today, and Rhea...


One was a man in his 50s, an ordinary person. The other was a woman in her 20s with abilities.


Since there seemed to be no obvious commonality, I was pondering over it when Eve suggested.


"Maybe it's something invisible. Let's investigate with magic. There are a lot of wizards in the dining hall, right? We originally came to check on Rhea's condition, so we can ask them to look for anything suspicious."


"...Seems like that's the only option."


Since it sounded plausible, I followed Eve, who was carrying Rhea wrapped in a blanket, into the dining hall.


As we entered, carrying a person wrapped in a blanket, the people who were chatting while observing the children's conditions turned their gazes toward us.


After exchanging a glance with Sylvia and Yoon Si-woo, who were looking at me with surprised eyes, I followed Eve.


Eve approached the school nurse, who looked like she was about to collapse, and handed Rhea over, saying:


"Kate, if the children's conditions are stable, can you check Rhea first? Just let us know if you find anything suspicious during the full-body examination."


"...Ms. Eve, I'm feeling exhausted right now, why me..."


"Because you're the best we have here."


Although she seemed happy at Eve's praise, the nurse soon shook her head.


"...Thank you for the compliment, but I'm barely holding on while treating the children's internal injuries... If it's just an examination, leave it to that boy over there. He'll do a much better job."


The nurse pointed to Dwight Neinhart, the magic prodigy from Class B, who looked similar to the nurse.


Though he also seemed tired, I figured he’d be fine since that’s his usual state.


Dwight, with sleepy eyes, asked Eve.


"...So, I should examine this person?"


"Yes, check thoroughly from head to toe."


"...This is a good chance to test my new spell."


Dwight's eyes, which had been droopy, gleamed slightly.


Thinking he was truly obsessed with magic, I sat nearby, waiting for him to finish examining Rhea. The nurse, looking at Eve, said:


"...Ms. Eve, are you hurt?"


"...How did you know? I used magic to hide it."


"As a doctor, I can tell by your expression when you're in pain."


At the nurse's words, Eve, with a sheepish smile, snapped her fingers, revealing a slowly bleeding wound near her neck.


...Was that the wound from when she said she got stabbed earlier?


The wound didn't look shallow, showing just how close it had been.


The nurse, with a worried face, said:


"...Let me treat it."


"It's fine. You must be tired. Just save your energy for the kids. This much will heal if I just spit on it."


"...Why do people keep coming with dangerous neck injuries? Rhea had a neck wound earlier too. What happened?"


Confirming the scratches around Rhea's neck, who was peeking out of the blanket, I indeed saw several scratches.


As I pondered the unusual shape of the wounds, a strange feeling crept in.


It was like pieces of a puzzle coming together in my mind.


Suddenly, I felt I shouldn't ignore this feeling.


What could it be?


While contemplating, I took another look at the wounds on Rhea's neck.


"...I understand."


"Huh? Understand what?"


When I muttered, Ms. Eve beside me asked.


"The commonality. Between the two."


I felt all the pieces fitting together.


Eve had mentioned it.


Rhea stabbed her in the neck and then tried to burn herself along with her corpse.


The reason for burning together.


It was the same reason James was killed in such a gruesome manner.


"James also had a wound on his neck."


Leonor, sitting next to me, widened her eyes and murmured.


The bandage wrapped around James' neck before he entered the kitchen.


"...Yes. He said he got it from scratching an itch."


Scratches on the neck.


That was the reason they had to be killed in such a manner.


The purpose was to destroy evidence.


That wound was proof that they were controlled, so they were killed to hide it.


So, we just needed to be wary of people with such wounds on their necks.


But there was another issue.


"...Even so, what exactly causes such wounds?"


Eve muttered.


Honestly, it was a mystery.


I knew the wound was a common trait, but the wound's shape was clearly from self-inflicted scratches.


What on earth caused people to create such wounds on themselves?


And then, Dwight's voice was heard.


"Excuse me, you need to see this."


In an urgent tone unlike his usual lethargic voice.


We all approached him, and Dwight pointed to a spot near Rhea's head.


A panel appeared in the air, looking like an X-ray.


It seemed to be Rhea's brain.


Dwight pointed to a specific part of the image and said.


"...Do you see this? This white thread-like thing."


At first glance, it looked like a thin thread slightly protruding from the brain.


But as Dwight magnified the image, we realized it was slowly wriggling.


Could it be some kind of worm?


As we all looked at Dwight, wondering what it was, he, with an unusually serious face, spoke.


"When I saw it moving slightly, I checked thoroughly and found a biological response. At first, I thought it was a worm, but there's a problem."


We all held our breath at his next words.


"Though it's faint, this thing emits magic."


A small, worm-like creature lodged in the brain.


"This is a magical beast."



PREVIOUS | TOC | NEXT

Comments

Post a Comment

Join us on Discord
Click Here