“Lu, Luca! Wait up!”

Luca left the street market district.

He was searching for the vanished Latik.

‘Something’s definitely suspicious. The timing of his appearance, and the fact that he knew I was unwell.’

If Latik had been a high-ranking professor, he might have let it slide.

But according to Ottbo, he was just an ordinary professor, not even in charge of any significant classes.

What’s more, he belonged to the Department of Magic, which had nothing to do with Luca.

‘If he were from the Department of Swordsmanship or held a special position, I could understand it. But for a regular professor, one completely unrelated to me, to know about me?’

He had heard that news of his and the other students’ injuries had been kept as secret as possible.

It was highly likely that such information hadn’t even reached an ordinary professor.

And even if it had, they’d likely have been strictly warned not to divulge anything.

He wasn’t entirely sure yet.

But the situation warranted suspicion.

“Bella.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“W-Woah?!”

At Luca’s call, Bella suddenly appeared from a blind spot.

Her elusive, almost mystical appearance startled Ottbo, who had been following them, but Luca had gotten used to it by now.

“Have you tracked the movements of everyone involved in the recent incident?”

“The students who first picked a fight with you headed towards the Swordsmanship Department’s game area, and Kirius Blavon was seen heading to the academy’s central building. But the professor named Latik just suddenly disappeared from sight.”

“Tsk. How troublesome.”

Luca clicked his tongue and whistled.

Piiii!

Whistle appeared at once.

Luca put her on his shoulder and asked,

“Did you confirm where the person who stopped the brute grabbing my collar just disappeared to?”

“Yeah. They left from the rooftop of a building not far from here.”

“!”

On the night he met Herote, Luca had asked Whistle for a favor.

‘Stop looking for the devil’s barrier for now, and whenever something happens around me, monitor the movements of those involved. Also, don’t help me if something happens to me. I’m sure those bastards know about you, but they don’t know how powerful you really are.’

‘Got it. Be careful, master.’

Since Whistle could conceal her form using the power of clouds, Luca thought she could tail the Demons undetected.

And his judgment had proven right.

“What building is that?”

“A place you often visit to pick up your subordinate.”

“…the Magic Department building, huh.”

They weren’t technically his subordinates, but the only place he often went to pick someone up was indeed the Magic Department.

‘No surprise there. The Demons keep mages as their underlings.’

According to the original protagonist, several core mage bloodlines had already long since fallen into the Demons’ hands.

But the details were vague, so it wasn’t clear exactly which families had been taken over.

‘It’s possible that Ottbo’s Gress family is among them… At least I don’t sense any devil’s power from him, though.’

He hoped that wasn’t the case, but who knew what might have happened to the Gress family.

Since Ottbo had been ostracized by his family, it seemed he hadn’t been influenced by the Demons, but given that he’d fallen in the original story, Luca couldn’t be sure.

‘That’s something I can look into later. For now, I need to focus on the academy.’

Luca pushed his dark thoughts aside and spoke to Whistle again.

“Did you see who they were with?”

“I didn’t get a good look. There was one person even I felt was dangerous.”

“Dangerous? Did they have devil’s power?”

At his question, Whistle shook her beak slowly.

“It wasn’t power related to the devils. But there were clear traces of a taboo being used.”

“Taboo?”

When Luca echoed, Whistle flapped her wings as if troubled.

“It’s just… I don’t remember exactly what the taboo was. But I got a strong ‘That’s a taboo!’ feeling!”

“… This memory hole thing is annoying.”

At that moment, Ottbo, who’d been quietly waiting for their conversation to end, sneaked over.

“You mean a taboo in magic or alchemy?”

“… Is that it?”

Whistle tilted her head at his suggestion.

Luca clicked his tongue and turned to Ottbo.

“What is that?”

“There are three. Life and death, and the mind. You’re not supposed to research those three.”

“Oh! That’s it!”

To Ottbo’s words, Whistle flapped her wings.

“The taboo set by the gods! You mustn’t interfere in matters of life, death, and the mind!”

“Ho. Ottbo. You’ve been quite useful these days.”

“Really? Hehe.”

Ottbo responded to Luca’s praise with an awkward smile.

“So, do you know what specific taboo that person used?”

“Hmm… I’m not sure about that.”

“Too bad. Anyway, the mind, huh.”

Luca wore a strange expression.

‘That woman… breaks every taboo there is.’

Judging from when Herote tried to rummage through his mind, he thought she was truly blasphemous.

“I heard taboos involving the mind are hard to catch.”

“Why’s that?”

“I’m not sure. Everyone hushes it up, but apparently, magic of the mind is sometimes used in interrogating or torturing slaves and criminals, and the Church doesn’t declare it heresy. Some families secretly research it, or so I’ve heard.”

To commit a taboo was to be declared heretical and punished by the Ascente Holy Order, the continent’s sole faith.

But this punishment involved the eradication of everything and everyone related to the heretic—something quite sensitive from a national perspective.

If a country ruled by a king or emperor let the outside influence of the Ascente Holy Order wipe out an organization or family, public confidence could be shaken.

Thus, those who commit taboos are usually killed by their own organization or nation before the Ascente Holy Order can act.

If you’re dead, you’re not declared a heretic after all.

‘The Ascente Holy Order is a den of psychos too. They won’t even follow “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” logic.’

Even in the original story, the Church wasn’t portrayed as a positive force.

They didn’t hesitate to use the most brutal methods to kill heretics and the Demons’ minions.

“Anyway, those people are dangerous. Even without devil’s power, they felt dangerous.”

“Honestly, if they’d just had devil’s power, they’d be easier to deal with.”

Luca clicked his tongue and looked at Ottbo.

“Ottbo, are your armored soldiers all repaired?”

“No, not yet…”

Ottbo’s downcast expression showed that expecting any fighting strength from him would be unreasonable.

‘Looks like Isella is my only real option.’

For now, Isella seemed to be the only one he could deploy effectively.

Clicking his tongue again, Luca spoke to Whistle.

“Do you have any distinguishing details about those people?”

“Hm… One was big and wore a mask, the other had silver hair and was about your size wearing a school uniform.”

“A masked giant and a silver-haired student. That’s distinctive enough.”

Reiterating to confirm, Luca took out his modified student notebook and contacted Bogus.

Luca: Bogus.

Luca: Do you have data on all the academy’s students?

Bogus: Of course I do.

Bogus: I even have information for people who graduated within the last five years.

Luca: Impressive.

Luca: Can you find information on a silver-haired student who commands a masked giant?

Bogus: What?

Bogus: I don’t categorize info by physical traits, you know!

Luca: The silver-haired one seemed to be about my age.

Luca: Try filtering for lower grades.

Bogus: Still, that’s over a thousand students!

Bogus’s reaction made Luca smack his lips.

‘Is that too much to ask?’

But he couldn’t give details about the Demons or the magic stone bomb.

‘Can’t be helped.’

Luca sighed and tapped on his notebook.

Luca: Got any information you want?

Bogus: I’ve got plenty on you now…

Bogus: Anything new?

Luca: Something new…

Luca: How about this: “Luca Traverse is acquainted with Herote, the dean of the Department of Magic.”

Bogus: ?

Bogus: For real?

Bogus: Wait… You mean that Herote Marcato?

Bogus: Why?

Bogus: You and her?

Luca: Calm down.

Bogus: No way.

Bogus: Whew.

Bogus: Okay.

Bogus: That’s pretty interesting.

Bogus: I’ll look up your info for you.

Bogus: We’ll talk again after that.

After finishing his conversation with Bogus, Luca clicked his tongue.

‘This should be fine, right?’

It was an emergency, and he believed Herote herself would understand.

Luca put the student notebook in his pocket and said,

“Guess it’s time to move on to Plan B.”

“Plan B?”

Ottbo tilted his head at Luca’s words.

“I’m not careless enough to plan only one route.”

“So… how many plans do you have?”

“I have five, up to Plan E. But from Plan D onward, the risk is a bit too high. I’d rather not use those.”

Luca, someone who never acted timid, calling something high-risk was enough to make anyone imagine just how dangerous it must be.

Ottbo swallowed nervously.

“Did you arrange the plans by risk?”

“More or less.”

“If Plan A is acting like we’ve given up on searching for the bomb and provoking them, what’s Plan B?”

Even Plan A was quite risky, since it involved provoking the enemy—Luca had actually been attacked by Kirius.

“This one’s similar to Plan A in its simplicity. The problem is that, now that Plan A has failed, the risk has increased.”

“Risk…?”

As Ottbo seemed a little apprehensive, Luca smirked.

“Don’t worry. I’m not stupid enough to expose myself to danger without a backup plan.”

“Then…”

“If Plan A is walking in crowded areas on purpose, plan B is the opposite—I visit places with few people. Since that’s how much they tried in crowded areas, they’ll be much more blatant in secluded ones.”

Plan B was undeniably riskier than Plan A.

At this, Ottbo grew curious.

‘If this is already so dangerous, just how insane must the plans starting from Plan D be?’

As his anxiety grew, Luca spoke.

“Don’t worry so much. I’m heading somewhere safe.”

“Somewhere safe?”

At Ottbo’s question, Luca nodded.

“Yes. At the very least… I’ll stay near someone who won’t sit by and watch while I get hurt.”

* * *

Academy Central Building.

As the name suggested, this building served as the nerve center of academy administration.

Major academy meetings and the staff conference were held here, and teachers with special ranks had their private offices inside.

It was also where Kirius Blavon, the student affairs principal, had his own office.

Kirius sat at his desk, holding his head in his hands.

“What have I… What have I done…?!”

Unless it was a case of students injuring each other in a fight, academy teachers essentially never administered corporal punishment.

Yet he had all but assaulted Luca in front of other people.

“This can’t be… Was I possessed…? I would never do such a thing…!”

Kirius muttered incessantly.

A red, square magic circle glowed fiercely on his neck.

“Yes… Luca Traverse… It’s all because of that brat…”

Kirius straightened his head.

There was a murderous glint in his eyes.

“If not for him… Everything would go back to normal…!”

He jumped up and grabbed the gauntlet displayed behind his desk.

Clack!

With the gauntlet on, a fierce aura radiated from Kirius.

“Luca…!”

Muttering under his breath, Kirius left his office.

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

Damn, Miros’ magic is quite dangerous huh.

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep