Academy’s Undercover Professor - Chapter 31

  

ACADEMY’S UNDERCOVER PROFESSOR

  

Chapter 31 – The Person Who Sees, the Person Who Solves (3)

 

Aidan, Leo, and Tessie, who were sitting on a bench in a quiet garden, had yet to come back to reality as if what happened a while ago was a dream.

It was Tessie who came to her senses first.

“So we really didn’t get punished. It still feels like a dream.”

“I know, right?”

“Who would have thought that the principal would take action and side with us.”

“I know, right?”

Leo, who usually had sharp conversations with Tessie, agreed with her completely at that time.

The two people’s eyes soon turned to Aidan.

They stared at him as if asking if he had anything to say.

“Hey, Aidan. Aidan?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.”

“What are you thinking about?”

Unlike the two who were happy to receive the award points, Aidan showed a serious face the whole time.

“Aidan, do you have any concerns?”

“Well, should I say it’s a concern? Well… I know that it’s kind of weird to say this now…”

“So what is it? Don’t hesitate, and say it so your heart will feel more at ease!”

When Tessie strongly whined at him, Aidan hesitated for a while before confessing his concerns to his two friends.

“It’s just that something is weird.”

“Weird? What’s weird?”

“The werewolf yesterday. You may not have seen it, but the werewolf’s neck was tied with a strange silver leash.”

“What?!”

“Shh!”

As Tessie raised her voice, Leo immediately gestured to her to be silent.

“Be quiet. What if someone hears you?”

The three looked around and checked if there were any other listeners, and then they put their heads together and spoke in quiet voices.

“Keep talking. Is that true?”

“Yeah. I’m sure. That’s also why I tried to stop Professor Ludger.”

“A leash, you said. Are you saying that the werewolf is not an ordinary werewolf?”

“I think it’s really someone’s intentional experiment.”

If his story was true, it was bound to be a serious problem.

Leo also opened his mouth with a heavy expression as if he was thinking about something.

“Me too; I heard a rumor recently…”

“What is it?”

“That there are suspicious people hiding in Sören.”

“Suspicious people? What’s that? You’re talking about a secret organization, right? Isn’t it just a secret club or false rumor that the students created by themselves?”

There was nothing unusual about having a secret meeting between students in Sören.

Leo shook his head at Tessie’s question.

If it was just that, he wouldn’t even say that the rumor was suspicious.

“I’m not sure either, but I think it’s clear that a secretive organization that has not been revealed has permeated Sören. I realized it, especially after I saw this werewolf case.”

“W-wait. Then you are saying that there are dangerous people in Sören.”

“It’s just still in a level of doubt, but I’ll say so. Aidan. Do you think so, too?”

“Yeah. Honestly, it’s not a good thing to suspect someone, but I’m sure something is off. And I think that, in particular…”

Aidan shook his head and shut his mouth as he tried to say something.

“No, never mind.”

“What is it?”

“Is it because of Professor Ludger?”

At Tessie’s straightforward words, Aidan wasn’t able to lie and nodded his head.

The reason why Aidan’s heart has been weighed heavily since a while ago was because of the violent behavior that Ludger had shown the previous day.

“I don’t want to be suspicious of Professor Ludger, but the way he looked last night was somewhat strange.”

“Strange, you said?”

“You may not have been able to see it properly because you were covered by Professor Ludger’s back, but I was facing him from the front. At that time, Professor Ludger saw something.”

The reaction that Ludger showed at the time was obvious, even though it was just a brief moment.

Aidan hadn’t missed it.

But before he could ask about it, Ludger had forced him to get away and burned down the werewolf.

Leo held his chin after hearing Aidan’s words.

“Do you mean Professor Ludger tried to destroy the evidence?”

“What? Professor Ludger? Is that possible?”

Tessie asked back as if saying that he was such a fool to say so.

No matter how likely it was, she couldn’t believe that Ludger Chelysie, who had helped them and fought fiercely with the werewolves, had something rather secret beyond his action.

“I’m not sure. However, I keep thinking that Professor Ludger might know something. The professor at that time seemed to be in a hurry to hide something.”

“…”

“…”

‘Maybe it’s a misunderstanding.’

‘There’s no way a Sören professor would do such a dangerous thing.’

‘But what if it’s real? What if Ludger Chelysie is a part of a secret organization that’s too dangerous to talk about?’

‘What if he killed the werewolves to destroy evidence?’

“Are you idiots? No matter how likely it is, you still went too far.”

Tessie put her hand on her waist and shook her head while rebuking the two.

“Professor Ludger must have thought of something. And when we were talking face to face with the principal earlier, didn’t you think something was weird?”

“Oh? What?”

“I didn’t think so.”

“Phew. Idiots. Don’t you remember what the principal said when she complimented us? She pinpointed each of us for what we did well and our deeds.”

“Oh, right. She did. I couldn’t think of it because I was so focused on something else.”

“Think about it. How would the principal, who wasn’t even there, know about it?”

“Oh, that’s…”

“Of course, someone told the principal everything. And who could tell the principal about what we did?”

Ludger Chelysie.

It was just him.

“Professor Ludger was pretending not to, but he actually witnessed everything that we did. If he wanted to scold us, he wouldn’t have told the principal our good deeds.”

“Ah.”

Listening to Tessie, it certainly seemed so.

Only the principal and Ludger came into the counseling room, and when the principal said she would give them award points, Ludger took a step back and yielded.

“Everything is Professor Ludger’s plan? But why on earth?”

“I don’t know it either. Still, Professor Ludger cared for us and only told the principal good things about us. Isn’t it too much for you to suspect Professor Ludger?”

Aidan and Leo had nothing to justify their previous remark.

To be honest, it was indeed true.

* * *

* * *

If Ludger was a suspicious person, would he have taught them the groundbreaking spell of source code in his first class?

It doesn’t make sense for a person who had to hide his identity to reveal it instead.

“Is that so?”

Aidan scratched his head, but he couldn’t get rid of his subtle doubts about Ludger.

He was sure that Ludger was a respectable professor, but he also couldn’t deny that there was indeed something strange about him.

“Yes. Tessie, I think you’re right. It’s meaningless to think about it right now anyway.”

“Yeah. As long as you know that.”

“More than that, I’m hungry. Did you guys eat?”

“No. Not yet.”

“How about Tessie?”

“Why me?”

“If you haven’t eaten yet, why don’t we go eat together?”

“What… what?”

Tessie wondered if she was mistaken when listening to Aidan’s words.

‘What? Eat?’

‘With me?’

“Are you for real?”

“Why?”

“That, that’s because… eating is… uh…”

As she was embarrassed, Tessie twisted her hair with her fingertips and murmured softly with a blushed face.

“For… fellow friends…”

“We’re already friends, right?”

“…!”

Looking at Aidan, who stared at her while smiling brightly, Tessie’s ears turned red.

Leo, who was watching the scene from the side, sighed and shook his head.

Seeing that childish girl who couldn’t be honest and his friend who had no sensitivity whatsoever…

He thought that his daily life in Sören would be eventful.

***

“Oh! Professor Ludger!”

It was after I was headed back from work.

On my way back to the accommodation, I met professor Selena.

She, who found me first and ran toward me like a puppy while making a fuss, looked more like a student in the Academy than a professor.

‘Isn’t she lying about her age?’

“Are you off from work?”

“Yes.”

“I heard the news. Yesterday, I heard that you caught the werewolves.”

“Yes, I got rid of them.”

“Whoaaa. Really?”

Professor Selena was looking at me with a burdensome gaze.

Still, we were fellow new professors, but I thought that she was looking up at me too much.

“All they’ve been talking about lately is only Professor Ludger. More than that, how on earth did you catch the werewolf? Was there any method to do it?”

“Wait.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m a little busy today, so I’ll talk to you next time.”

Listening to my firm words, Professor Selena nodded with a slightly sullen look like a child scolded by an adult.

“That… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have called you when you were busy.”

“No. It’s not that I couldn’t answer your call. Have a good rest, professor Selena.”

“Yes. Please take care on your way, Professor Ludger.”

I greeted Selena and separated ways with her.

Unlike other professors, she was a good person who was interested purely in my achievement.

However, I couldn’t get close to anyone because I was in a tight position.

It was still possible to eat together as a group, but that was all.

And first of all, I had one thing to do immediately.

When I returned to my private accommodation, there was a package at the door.

Taking the package, I went inside the accommodation and checked its contents.

It was data that Hans had sent me.

—Areas where missing people and some particular people had gathered recently in Leathevelk.

Whirrr.

After checking the contents briefly, I headed to my private study.

On one side of the wall in the study, photos were pinned everywhere, along with a map of Leathevelk city.

I cut out some of the contents of the document and pinned them to one corner of the map.

—An area full of abandoned factories in Leathevelk.

—An abandoned slum.

There was a laboratory around there.

After I finished pinning the locations, I immediately took out a portable crystal ball.

As mana flowed in, a voice came from beyond the crystal ball.

[Did you check all the data that I sent?]

“Yes.”

[As you told me yesterday, I checked the surrounding area. In one abandoned factory, about ten strong men rushed in and out. I think I’m sure about that.]

“I see.”

[And I personally checked what you told me to. Some laborers have recently gone missing outside the city.]

“Was there a family of three among them?”

[There was. It’s the only case where a whole family disappeared. The police didn’t do much investigation and hushed it, but their neighbors must have been very nervous. The data came out easily after investigating a little bit.]

“…I got it. I will go there soon.”

I left that message and cut off the communication.

After staring intensely at the map fixed to the wall for a while, I left the accommodation while wearing a dull brown coat that was unlike my usual one.

***

One dark night…

In Leathevelk’s factory area, where starlight and moonlight disappeared due to the thick clouds in the sky…

The chimney of the factory, which stood tall without emitting any smoke, became a tombstone in honor of those who died in the shadow of the city.

Considering that there were actual people who died due to a difficult environment, the word “tombstone” was not particularly wrong.

The slum area, usually called an abandoned area, had a strong sense of desolation because there were no street lights that were sometimes seen from time to time.

All he could see was a gutter rat passing by the ground quickly.

Ludger arrived at that place where even vagrants gave up begging and gave a wide berth.

“You came?”

Hans, who had arrived first and was waiting, welcomed Ludger.

Hans looked at Ludger’s face, then he shook his head and clicked his tongue.

On the surface, he looked nothing like a danger, but Ludger was already heavily armed.

Hans could feel that Ludger was thoroughly prepared for the fight ahead, judging from the bitter energy emanating from him.

“Will you go alone?”

“Will you help me if I ask you to?”

“Well, I thought I might be able to deal with one or two of them.”

“Never mind. It’s enough for me alone. What kind of guys are on the inside?”

“There are nearly forty people, but it seems like they know that they’re in a rush—they’re slowly leaving this place. It’d be in vain if you were here three days later.”

“What’s their power?”

“You’d better assume that each of them and even some of the nobodies have guns. Well, guns won’t work against you, who’s a wizard, but there are about three of them who are wearing strengthened armor.”

“What about their elites’ power?”

“There are two black wizards.”

“I see.”

The entrance was a large pipe tube that was drilled for wastewater disposal.

Ludger, who was about to head to the laboratory, stopped and asked Hans a question.

“Hans. The family that I asked you about beforehand…”

“Yes.”

“How old was the kid?”

“Their kid, you said?”

With his back against the wall, Hans looked up as if he was thinking of something.

The sky was full of gloomy clouds.

“He was seven years old. He was still such a little boy.”

“…Seven years old, huh?”

Ludger moved his legs again.

“I see.”

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