Arc 34: Trouble

When I reached the classroom, the students’ eyes fixed on the crow, just as I had expected. They seemed equal parts curious and wary.

“Did you tame it?”

Aten came over to ask, stroking the crow with a practiced hand.

“Yeah, well, that’s right.”

There was no other answer I could give here.

“You’ll have to send it outside when class starts. Will that be all right?”

“Yeah. It’ll leave on its own when it’s time.”

“On its own?”

“Yeah.”

As if he’d dare stay.

But Aten examined the crow from every angle, looking incredulous. Well, Gregory was keeping up his excellent performance.

“If you don’t mind, could you show me?”

“Hm?”

“I’m curious about it leaving on its own...”

Hmm.

I looked at the crow. Our eyes met, and I nodded.

That meant he should figure something out.

The crow nodded as if to say he understood. That alone made Aten’s eyes widen.

CAW!

With that single cry, the crow took lightly to the air. He circled my head, landed on my left shoulder, then hopped over to my right. When I raised my arm, he even walked along it to perch on my fingertips.

I made a few casual movements, and the crow obligingly played along. It really did look as if I were controlling him with glances and gestures.

“Wow.”

Aten’s exclamation was quiet, but her eyes sparkled. I had never seen her look so openly delighted.

Deciding that was enough of a demonstration, I had the crow settle on my shoulder again.

“Well, that’s how it works.”

“That’s incredible. I’ve never seen such perfect taming. You can control an animal with nothing but gestures and glances, without even giving a verbal command or using mana.”

That was because it wasn’t taming.

Hearing Aten put it that way, I wondered if we had overdone it.

Sure enough, the other students in the classroom were stealing glances at me too. Students who practiced taming were rare, and having an animal this well trained was rarer still.

Just then, the bell rang, and the crow flew out the window.

“... It really does leave on its own.”

The sparkle in Aten’s eyes grew even brighter.

* * *

Frondier asked around whenever he had a spare moment, during breaks and at lunch. He was looking for whoever was spreading the other rumor Gregory had mentioned. Naturally, Gregory was also flying around in crow form, gathering information.

Meanwhile, a heavy atmosphere hung over Constel’s conference room. Calling it murderous would hardly have been an exaggeration.

“...”

“...”

“...”

Every professor in the room sat in stony silence, the anger they were holding back plain in their eyes. They had gathered for what was called an emergency meeting, but all of them knew why it had been called.

They had been unable to do anything during the incident.

The fact that they had been under the influence of the business cards offered no comfort. Nor did the fact that merely resisting the urge to attack Frondier had been an impressive feat. None of that meant a damn thing to them.

“... Whew.”

But the meeting would get nowhere if they all kept their mouths shut.

Professor Binkis looked around and exhaled as though emptying every last bit of air from her lungs. Then, after a small breath in, she spoke.

“We’re a disgrace. Every one of us.”

She coldly voiced what they were all thinking.

The professors’ brows furrowed as if the words had driven a spike through them. They already felt it keenly, but hearing it said aloud made them want to find somewhere to hide.

“A student was in mortal danger, and we just stood inside the building without moving a muscle. My, my. Constel, the school that trains the finest combatants on the Central Continent. Turns out we’re nothing but a gathering of cowards.”

No one could answer her. Binkis was a Constel professor herself. Under the business card’s influence, controlling her own movements had been the best she could manage.

Her words were stabbing into herself as much as anyone else.

“Professor Binkis, that’s enough.”

“... President.”

President Ospreet had spoken.

Of all the professors, Ospreet alone had resisted the business card completely and even cast magic. Concern that the other professors might lose control had prevented him from leaving the building, but he had unquestionably overcome its effects.

“It was a powerful force. Had I been closer to Frondier, I can’t say what would have happened to me either.”

That was what Ospreet said. Ospreet, the only person present who had managed to resist it completely.

Professor Jane pressed her temples. Every muscle in her body ached from resisting the business card’s power. The other professors were no different.

“According to the incident report, someone else stole those business cards and escaped. They called themself ‘Kraken,’ apparently. They weren’t the perpetrator of this incident, but it means another disaster involving those cards is coming. Very few people could resist that power completely. You really would have to be a Zodiac.”

The professors’ faces darkened further at Jane’s words.

Malia, who had a pain-relief patch on her forehead, spoke.

“Frondier says Kraken introduced themself as ‘someone who isn’t with Indus.’”

“Playing word games...”

Another professor ground their teeth.

Given the circumstances surrounding Gregory, the culprit, whoever had stolen the business cards had to be a member of Indus.

Professor Isamaya spoke.

“Kraken knows it too. It would be extremely dangerous for Constel to make an enemy of Indus as a whole right now. The public won’t believe that Indus, known as an ally of the common people, was involved in a crime. Above all, Indus has a separate ‘face’ it presents to the citizens. Unless those people are caught committing a crime, this is bound to be treated as the work of an individual acting alone.”

Jane considered that for a moment.

It certainly would be difficult to turn against Indus right away. But...

“... But now we know. We know Indus is an organization that routinely commits crimes. Granted, they were the ones who let us know, but I doubt they ever wanted things to turn out this way.”

Isamaya nodded at Jane’s words.

“Yes. That’s how badly Indus needed those business cards. Enough to risk being exposed to Constel. They must have been crucial to its plans.”

“The cards’ original owner, Serf Daniel, was with Indus to begin with. In other words, this plan must have been in preparation for a very long time, ever since Serf was part of the organization.”

They did not know what Indus had been planning. But if the business cards were indispensable to it, imagining the possibilities was not difficult.

“Large-scale... chaos. Perhaps they mean to use it as cover to carry out their real objective.”

“Or perhaps the chaos itself is the objective.”

Several professors folded their arms and tilted their heads up, each sorting through the information in their own mind.

“Speaking of which, that student, Frondier...”

An incongruous remark broke into their deliberations. It was Pascal.

“Is this his first time? Getting caught up in an incident, I mean?”

Having only recently come to Constel, Pascal had asked out of simple curiosity.

All the other professors shook their heads as though they had rehearsed it.

“Frondier tends to be right at the center of these incidents, actually.”

Malia let out a little laugh at someone’s reply. He was her son, but she could hardly deny it.

“Hmm, I see.”

Pascal brought a hand to his mouth after answering. He seemed to have something on his mind.

Meanwhile, Isamaya spoke to Jane.

“You certainly have your hands full, Professor Jane. He’s in your homeroom, isn’t he? Class Five?”

“Yes. Still, I don’t mind. He isn’t a bad child at heart, and his abilities...”

His abilities...

Come to think of it, was Frondier strong?

She briefly recalled the days before the break. Frondier had put on an astonishing performance in the final exam and taken first place.

The break had begun immediately afterward, dulling the memory, but there was no way to measure his strength on any ordinary scale. Nothing he did followed a familiar method.

“... Well, at any rate, all I hope is that he doesn’t cause any more trouble.”

Jane murmured the words like a prayer.

* * *

Things were starting to come together.

Whenever I approached passing students to ask around, they jumped in surprise. Still, when I asked politely, they all gave me proper answers. My efforts to improve my image hadn’t been entirely meaningless.

After putting together what the students knew about the rumors circulating at Constel with the information the crow brought back, we arrived in the hallway outside a classroom.

“This is it.”

The crow and I looked at the wall in front of us.

[Quinier de Biet has an extreme phobia of corpses.]

[Quinier de Biet did not enroll at Constel to improve her abilities. She is hiding at Constel.]

The words were inscribed as a magical notice.

I wasn’t the only one looking. Quite a crowd had already gathered around the wall.

Quinier was among them, concealing her expression behind her fan. Even so, judging by her eyes, she was utterly disgusted.

“Quinier.”

“Oh, Frondier.”

“All those rumors causing a stir lately turned out to be false. Why is this one still here?”

Quinier shook her head.

“It’s not as if we’re leaving it up on purpose.”

“Then...”

“We can’t erase this notice.”

As she spoke, Quinier stretched out her hand. Mana rose from her fingertips. I wasn’t sure, but it was probably a spell meant to erase the notice.

However, her magic vanished in midair with an electrical crackle.

“It’s protected by a fairly advanced security spell. At this level, even following the proper procedure to dispel it takes time. It would probably take someone like Professor Binkis... or Edwin to undo it.”

Even as Quinier explained, I could hear the unpleasant whispers of the other students around us. She pretended not to hear them, but there was no way she didn’t. Some were deliberately speaking loudly enough for her to hear.

“Quinier, there’s something I want to discuss with you about this rumor.”

“Well, I don’t.”

Quinier turned sharply and walked away. I called after her retreating back.

“It’s a false rumor. Don’t let it bother you.”

“It’s already been three days. It’ll take at least another two weeks to dispel and erase all of this. Every rumor Gregory spread has been dismissed as false, but these words are still here. I’ve decided to give up.”

She waved a hand dismissively and kept walking.

From behind, she looked much as she always did.

But as long as she wouldn’t show me her face, I had absolutely no reason to trust something as worthless as how normal she looked from behind.

Just then, a voice came from behind me.

“Ah, Frondier. There you are.”

It was Professor Jane.

But I had something more urgent to deal with.

“Quinier. Let’s talk.”

“Stop bothering me and go do what you need to do. Your professor’s calling you.”

Quinier kept walking. I glanced at her retreating figure, then at the hallway ceiling, then at the magical notice.

And then...

Weaving, Simultaneous Replication

Imperial Palace Armory

Spears, Identical Replicas: 12

CRAAASH!!

I smashed the wall to pieces. The notice and everything else went flying, and a refreshing breeze blew in through the gaping opening to the outdoors.

“?!”

“...??”

Every student nearby stared wide-eyed. From somewhere behind me came Jane’s shout of “Froooondier?!”

Only after I destroyed the wall did Quinier stop walking and turn to face me properly. She was so surprised that she forgot to hide behind her fan, finally revealing her face.

Meeting Quinier’s eyes as she stared at me like I was a lunatic, I said again,

“Let’s talk, Quinier.”