"Not quite, headmaster. There are just some minor issues I'd like to discuss," Aerel said smoothly.
"...If it's about the tainted witches knowing that their SN person is here, then yes, I'm aware," Adam replied, rolling his aureate eyes. Their faint metallic sheen caught the dim light.
Headmaster Adam leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs neatly one over the other. "I've already notified campus security. As always, my own defenses are in place."
"Thank you," Aerel replied.
Behind her, Casey sneaked a glance past Aerel's shoulder. Up close, the headmaster looked… young. He wore a simple white blouse with long-buttoned cuffs along with a suit vest in the same mahogany colour as his tousled hair.
He wore pleated shorts, white stockings, polished black loafers…
Casey blinked.
He… did not look like a headmaster at all.
Aerel continued, unfazed. "And I'd like to submit a request to—"
"—house two additional constabulary companies and begin searches on swords?" Adam cut in, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Approved."
His golden eyes gleamed in the gloom of his office. "Some nobles might not agree to their sword-and-family-honour deal, but I'll deal with them."
Aerel inclined her head, her pale hair slipping like moonlight over her shoulder. "Much appreciated."
"You made quite a brilliant catch on the swords, by the way," Headmaster Adam commented, closing one eye in a half-wink. "Quite clever."
"W-What catch?" Casey muttered quietly behind Aerel.
Adam's gaze shifted, amused. "Mm?"
He turned to raise a questioning eyebrow at Aerel, who just smiled and shook her head.
Adam sighed and sat up straight. "Well, we found in the intercepted transmission that SN would be carrying 'the cross', correct?"
"Y-Yes…" Casey blinked, surprised that the headmaster had heard her.
Aerel stepped in, her voice smooth. "You may know of the anomalous object AO - 1442A."
*Tok.*
She gently tapped her inspector's cane. "It is a recurring artifact-class Anomalous Object recorded throughout history. Tales and written observations list that it manifests in different forms, but most often as a sword."
Aerel's pale lashes fluttered slightly. "More specifically, a sword with the capacity to kill anything."
Aerel smiled. "Many famous blades in history are believed to be iterations or possibly fragments of it. King Arthur's Excalibur. Durandal. Honjo Masamune. Goujian. The seven-branched sword. Napoleon's sword. And so on."
Headmaster Adam nodded. "Its designation," he said softly, "is La Croix."
The cross.
Casey made another little 'o' shape with her mouth. "That'd explain partly why the tainted mages want to hunt SN, then, if they were referring to 1442A."
"...It's one possibility." Aerel said.
"There is also the possibility," Aerel said, glancing at Adam, "That given the Archmage's… unique constitution, 1442A was what murdered them. Even though the cause of death remains unclear, it is one of the only possible things in existence that could perform such a feat."
Adam nodded slowly in agreement, his gilded mechanical eyes never leaving the duo.
"Which is why," Aerel nodded to Casey, "I mentioned before that the search for SN has now become quite a delicate issue."
The words floated in the room like bricks—which is, to say, they hit the floor with a thump.
…
Headmaster Adam glanced at Casey and tilted his head, lifting the tension. "I don't think we've been introduced."
Casey hurriedly bowed. "C-Casey Lim. I serve as Inspector Aerel's adjutant."
*Tok!*
Headmaster Adam smiled and tapped a golden plaque on his desk that read:
[L.P. Adam - Headmaster]
"And I am Le Première Adam." The boy smiled, an unsettling curve traveling up his much-too-perfect skin. "The headmaster of Chrysanthemum Academy."
Adam then leaned back into his chair, the gleam of his golden metallic eyes slowly dimming. "...If that'll be all, I have other matters to attend to. Stay safe, Miss Aerel, Miss Casey."
*Whirrrrr-uung.*
The life faded from his eyes as his eyelids slid closed, the golden glow vanishing completely, plunging them back into the sound of mechanical ticking.
*Tick, tock, tick, tock, jjae-kkak, jjae-kkak.*
Casey swallowed and glanced up at Aerel, who led her out of the room without a word, closing the door behind them with a dull THUMP.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
They didn't speak until they were far enough that they couldn't hear the ticking.
"That's the headmaster?" Casey asked once they were away. She wanted to ask more about the Archmage's death, but given her position, she probably shouldn't pry. (And she wasn't sure she wanted to know, either.)
"Yes," Aerel chuckled. "He doesn't quite look the part, but trust me, he more than earns his title."
"He's barely fifteen years old!"
"...fifteen hundred years old, actually," Aerel corrected. "If not older."
Casey stopped walking. "What."
Inspector Aerel glanced back, a faint smile curving her lips. Aerel was beautiful as ever, refined, cold and distant. "You just met Le Première Adam—The First Adam. If you remember from your reading days," Aerel added lightly, "you might recognize his designation."
Casey's stomach dropped suddenly. She actually did remember the designation of L.P. Adam, from one of her first lectures at the constabulary training academy.
"…AO-3E."
Anomalous Object 3, entity-class. L.P. Adam.
Possibly the worst-documented AOs in the world even through its long and extensive history interacting with humankind, but widely regarded as one of the most powerful given the lack of understanding.
"Correct," Aerel nodded.
"That—that kid is an AO?" Casey stared at Aerel. "And he hasn't grown a bit?"
"Even we don't know who or what L.P. Adam really is," Aerel admitted. "But he's on our side. He inhabits multiple puppet bodies, transferring between them freely, like a soul without a fixed vessel. But he claims that his real body is that of the fifteen-year old you just saw."
Casey let out a weak laugh. "...We let an A.O. be the headmaster of the most prestigious Academy in the world?"
"He founded the academy," Aerel replied simply. "We had no say."
"...He's insanely smart, then?"
Aerel laughed softly. "Smarter than all of us combined, probably, plus all of the analysts back at headquarters, and every single professor and lecturer and genius here."
Casey hesitated, but quickly caught up to her boss's long paces.
"Isn't that dangerous?" she asked hurriedly. "That his real body is just… lying around somewhere, in a cluttered office? What if someone tries to kill him? It sounds like he'd have quite the amount of people after him."
Aerel stopped walking.
Just for a moment.
Then she laughed, coldly and softly—incredulously, even. "You saw the amount of puppets in his office, yes?"
Casey nodded slowly. "Un…"
Aerel turned her head slightly, her pale hair slipping aside to reveal the faint curve of an elegant, sharp smile.
"...Did you think, Casey," she murmured, "that they were lifeless decorations?"
Casey shivered.
"Come," Aerel smiled. "We have some newcomers to prepare for and a search to organize."