Even before the sunrise, the Royal Academy was abuzz. The great barrier wasn't destroyed, but it was pierced through, and an ongoing investigation was threatening to throw a wrench into the scheduled exams.
Despite not supposed to, a crowd of onlookers gathered around the training grounds, observing the Academy's staff members running back and forth while the vice headmaster and even the headmaster himself were out there, in person, checking the scene.
"Didn't something similar happen last year?"
"Not to that degree... but yes, it did."
The two looked at each other and nodded.
"Find Student Rotsard Vallhall and bring him here."
"A-at once, headmaster!"
Headmaster Lazalarius stopped one of the staff members and instructed her.
"Politely…! We just want to ask him a few questions!"
The vice headmaster added, calling at the leaving woman's back, but whether she was paying attention enough to hear it was a different matter.
The command, not discrete at all, created a wave of murmurs, adding fuel to many wild theories.
In the center of the crowd, Blanid, in her Justin disguise, froze up with her eyes widened in panic.
She had not at all prepared for the possible consequences. Wouldn't her getting in trouble mess up all the plans the Young Miss Amelia Edemsworth had? Wouldn't…
Wouldn't getting outed as the culprit bring out discovery that would expose everything?
Literally everything, including the disguise spell on her!?
The fake identity coming to light…
Amelia Edemsworth, and not the Edemsworth family as a whole, being the one backing the supposed commoner student Justin.
Justin, or rather Blanid, being in fact a female servant of the Edemsworth house, Amelia's original personal maid one year younger than her.
Blanid not even being an actual commoner, but one of many of Amelia's father's children that he never acknowledged but kept close just in case…
Ruined…
Everything would be ruined...!
Not just Amelia's plan, but her reputation…!
Amelia was but one of nine official children of the Edemsworth patriarch, simply one of eight other girls. She might have been talented, but with two older sisters and five younger ones, she didn't seem special in the eyes of the father who sired dozens of other daughters without ever acknowledging them.
She could be easily replaced...
Edemsworth house would cut her off without a second of consideration to protect their pride and make a statement!
Blanid trembled, her face turned ghastly pale, and the wave of nausea almost knocked her down to her knees. But she stayed up, praying with all her might to any higher power that could be listening for help.
A couple of minutes later, Rotsard Vallhall arrived at the scene.
He was certainly brought by the female staff member, although the sight of the two of them was… off...
The woman wasn't looking at him, staring at the ground at an angle, away from the bleached-blond-haired youth as if terrified, clutching her hands to her stomach.
"I-I brought him..."
"..."
When she opened her mouth, her voice was shaking with tears barely held back, causing the headmaster's expression to darken as he looked away from her and at the student behind her.
"You should go back to the hospital wing to have it treated, Miss. As unintentional as it was, having you lose those fingers would be far too harsh of a lesson."
"...!"
Rotsard was the one to speak next, not to the headmaster or the vice headmaster but to the female staff member, and although his voice was showing hints of concern and wasn't all that cold, it made the woman cower and shudder.
"What ha…?"
"Miss, if you're injured, then please go to the hospital wing for treatment."
The headmaster spoke up, but was interrupted by the vice headmaster stepping forward.
Despite his words, Syon grabbed the female staff member's wrists and made her raise her arms.
"!!!"
The crowd gasped. The thumb and three fingers of her right hand were burning red, with the tips starting to blacken… the sign of a severe frostbite.
"Were you attacked by student Valhall?"
"N-no… I… I wanted to fulfill the task as fast as possible… He wasn't in his room, so I went to cafeteria first, then checked the bathrooms, finally I rushed to the hospital wing…. That's when I spotted him walking into one of the private rooms… I rushed in and grabbed him… I don't think that he even attacked me… It's just… my hand just froze upon making contact…"
Syon asked cautiously, but the woman shook her head and mumbled through tears and sobs.
"No. While I didn't attack her maliciously, I certainly did retaliate against being grabbed without warning. With mana movement alone, but still. I won't deny that much. Also, she really should go to the hospital wing, unless you want to treat her, Young Lord."
"?!"
Rotsard shook his head and put the story straight with a shrug and a smirk so nasty that only a scummy third-rate villain was capable of making it, baffling all who were present.
"..."
"V-vice headmaster… it… it hurts more and more…!"
Syon breathed out and lowered his hands, the moment she was released, the woman sobbed, clutching her hand back to her stomach again.
"Haaa… Go have it looked at immediately. Enember."
"Th-thank you, vice headmaster."
Syon ended up sighing and shaking his head, but he did not focus on the bleached-blond-haired youth, instead casting a spell on the woman's left hand to warm up the injured right one and set her off, stepping back even before she finished expressing her gratitude.
"What were you doing in the hospital wing?"
"Minding my own business, my Lord. As one should."
The headmaster took to the scene and asked, certainly not expecting Rotsard to return his tone right back at him, only that with a proper honorific.
"?!?!"
His tone was so polite that it took everyone a moment to realize he actually snapped back.
"..."
Syon, standing right next to the youth, didn't say a thing. Not because he didn't have anything to say, though… One look at the beastly yellow eyes glaring at the headmaster Lazalarius with a mixture of anger, annoyance, and disdain sent shivers down Syon's spine and caused his hair to stand at its ends.
Rotsard was furious.
Actually furious.
And even though the headmaster was the first person to realize that the bleached-blond-haired youth was hiding his actual strength, only Syon had the idea about how grave the situation actually was…!
"What you were doing isn't important. What we want to ask you is about this gaping hole in the Great Barrier!"
The next moment, Syon inserted himself between the bleached-blond-haired youth and the headmaster, hoping and praying that Rotsard wouldn't actually do anything rash.
"...this…? Oh, I see your concern. It does have ice mana mixed with light around the edges... it must be preventing the self-repair properties from kicking in."
Rotsard sighed, sparing a single glance at the crack before furrowing his brows and nodding. He even breathed out, slightly relaxing or at least momentarily letting go of his anger.
"...!"
"!?"
He didn't realize what reaction his words caused… both the headmaster and vice headmaster stared at each other, and the next moment Syon hurried closer, almost rubbing his nose against the hole, staring at it intensely…
"It does…! It does have ice mana mixing in and interfering…! But it was in such low concentration that I missed it even with Mana Sense…!"
After a few seconds, Syon leaned away and declared, looking at the headmaster with a troubled expression.
"You didn't know…? Then why did you call for me specifically?"
Rotsard frowned, getting annoyed again.