[Stakeout]
“The disturbance named the Forest Incident was successfully resolved thanks to Lewis’s devoted efforts.”
“......?”
Hans stared at me, sitting sideways on the bed, with an incredulous expression.
“Why are you suddenly praising yourself?”
“It’s true.”
“I have no idea what exactly is true.”
Hans looked at me as though I were pathetic.
“There is a mountain of matters still to be discussed, such as facility inspections and student education. It is hardly a situation where we can simply say it was resolved and move on.”
I shrugged at his words.
“That’s not my job.”
“This is really what...?”
“Yeah. I’m not a hero. My name isn’t among the Five-Colored Heroes.”
When I grinned, Hans shook his head.
“Even if that were true, are you not ashamed to call yourself devoted with your own mouth?”
“Not really ashamed— Achoo!”
When I let out a huge sneeze, Hans sighed and handed me a handkerchief.
“I resent my own eyes for thinking, even briefly, that the serious side you showed underground was cool.”
“Heh. The fact that I’m cool is as natural as the sun and moon rising and setting.”
“How dare you compare yourself to the sun and moon? That is blasphemy as well.”
After taking back the handkerchief, Hans handed me the minutes from an emergency meeting.
“Why are you giving me this?”
“Because you need to read it.”
“Is there anything in here I need to know?”
I scanned the minutes quickly.
“There’s nothing much.”
It had been agreed that elf professors would manage the forest that had appeared in the elf district.
Apparently, they were happy that it had filled in the greenery the academy lacked.
Was that race genuinely insane?
It also seemed that separate classes for elf and spirit students had been discussed.
For a start, they had been ordered to complete one hundred hours of a ‘Human Life and Common Sense Lecture.’ It was a three-hour-a-day course that would continue until the academy opened, an extension of the Exchange Meeting.
But...
“Hans.”
“Yes.”
“This is strange.”
“What could possibly be strange about the minutes?”
“Why is my name listed as an instructor for this course?”
Kanibara’s signature was there too.
And under it was my signature, which I had never written.
It was Kanibara’s handwriting.
“Because you are the only person who has experienced both elves and spirits extensively, Lewis.”
“Weren’t we supposed to lie low and be as inconspicuous as possible?”
“If you want to hide a tree, you hide it in a forest.”
He meant that, if I was going to do it, I was better off properly playing the role of a teaching assistant.
“As long as you do not face a Demon King directly, there is no danger of your identity being exposed. That was why you did not disguise yourself in the first place.”
“That’s thanks to me keeping my face well hidden.”
But appearances did not matter to Demon Kings.
The moment they saw me, they would recognize my identity through my soul.
Some high-ranking demonfolk would recognize me as well.
“I think it would be better to stay quiet.”
“I know you only say that because it is troublesome.”
“Tch.”
Hans sighed.
“Lady Kanibara is hiding her identity as well. It will be better if you act in step as an ordinary professor and teaching assistant.”
“The Chancellor, Yureph, and Sonya. Three people already know. Besides, does changing your name and putting on makeup count as a disguise?”
“I seem to recall that disguise working on the person closest to her.”
“......?”
“Shall I tell Lady Kanibara right now that you forgot her real name?”
“...Ahem. Why is my throat so dry? Is it because of the medicine I took earlier?”
I looked away and changed the subject.
“Come to think of it, have you found the people who buried the life force sphere beneath the academy?”
“We are tracking them.”
“Take it easy. From what I saw, they probably buried it at the start of construction and ran for it.”
“I will take care of it, so please take care of your health.”
Hans clicked his tongue.
“A former member of the Golden Mane Knights, defeated by a mere cold. What is this?”
“Hey, even in an age where people conquer the skies and fly through space, a cold will be a disease they can’t cure.”
“People fly through space...?”
Hans’s gaze moved to the packet of medicine on the table.
“The prescription does not contain narcotics. What exactly have you been taking behind my back?”
“Ugh. Forget it.”
My throat was really scratchy after talking, and the fever and medicine had made my head a little foggy.
“Anyway, if you dislike it that much, I will refuse for you.”
“No, you don’t have to go that far.”
I shook my head while fighting off the drowsiness creeping in with the fogginess.
“I’ll do it.”
“You made your reluctance quite obvious.”
“There are things you have to do even when they are troublesome. That’s what adults do, right?”
“...Since you are saying something normal, the medicine must really be taking effect.”
Was he saying I was not normal without medication?
I wondered what exactly he thought I was, but I could not refute him.
If not for the Main Quest, I would certainly have refused.
The Main Quest was called [Exchange Meeting].
And I had officially been assigned an Exchange Meeting lecture.
I did not think that was a coincidence.
I had a feeling they were definitely connected somehow.
‘It’s inconvenient that I can’t see the quest contents.’
Still, what could I do?
I had to save MP.
If I accumulated MP little by little, one day I would escape Teruna.
...I would, right?
Probably...?
“I’ll give the lecture, so... Yawn...”
That was strange. Why was I so sleepy?
“Yes. I will let them know. Please go to sleep.”
“Yeah. I’ll leave it to you...”
Ah. This medicine was really strong.
Unable to resist the drowsiness any longer, I crawled back beneath the blankets.
Knock, knock.
I vaguely heard someone knock and enter my room.
“Chief... ......”
“Me......”
Judging by the silhouette, he seemed to be a knight from Special Division 4.
***
Knock, knock.
A knight of Special Division 4 knocked on Lewis’s door.
“Chief, I have a report.”
“I will hear it outside.”
Hans turned up the heating array installed in Lewis’s room, then left with the knight.
“Then I will report—”
“Wait. Before that.”
Hans glanced back at the door.
“Does the medicine you gave him have any side effects?”
The medicine Hans had brought for Lewis’s cold came from a knight of Special Division 4.
“As I told you, it has no unusual side effects beyond making one a little sleepy.”
“Hmm.”
“Why do you ask?”
“No. Even with good medicine, falling completely asleep within ten minutes does not seem normal.”
At Hans’s words, the knight narrowed his eyes.
“It is strange. I was fine after drinking coffee.”
It could make someone sleepy, but only to the degree that a cup of coffee could overcome it.
“Perhaps his physical condition is far worse than we thought.”
Muttering bitterly, Hans returned to his office with the knight.
“All right. Give me your report.”
“Yes. While carrying out the investigation you ordered before, we discovered suspicious circumstances.”
At those words, Hans’s expression grew cold.
“Who are they?”
“Laborers from the Skadivia Kingdom.”
The knight explained that some of them had once been elite soldiers of Skadivia’s central army.
“Their whereabouts are unknown, so we have not secured their persons yet, but we are continuing to track them.”
“Tch. Those who survived thanks to Her Majesty’s mercy are running wild without knowing their place.”
Did they hold a grudge over the fall of the Skadivia Kingdom?
Though the ones who had sinned were the Skadivian royal family.
“What about the list of people who recommended them as laborers?”
“We are acquiring it. Perhaps to guard against tracing, they tangled it through several stages.”
“In other words, they definitely have something to hide.”
A crooked smile appeared on Hans’s face.
“They are almost certainly connected to Skadivian nobles.”
He was not suspecting them blindly.
They had more than enough motive and ability for it to be a reasonable suspicion.
“Pretend to give up tracing them back, and investigate the Skadivian nobles at the academy.”
“It may catch them off guard, but we will lack personnel for the academy inspection mission.”
“Suspend the inspection.”
Hans’s voice was firm.
“What we truly need to dig up are the traitors to humanity who hide like vermin and gnaw away at the world.”
“Yes. I will put it into action immediately.”
At Hans’s order, Special Division 4 began to move busily.
And at that same time—
Having heard that the small revenge he had barely planned had failed before it even began, Baal was—
“Humans! Inferior creatures with nothing to trust but numbers!”
Crack—
“Aaargh!”
He raged fiercely enough for the cracks in his barely mended horn to split open again.
“Was it him again? Him again?”
Baal’s horrid voice poured out with all his hatred.
Yuel swallowed dryly at the dense demonic energy that seemed ready to explode his head at any moment.
“I asked whether it was him again! That man who uses strange cards!”
“...It has not been confirmed, but it is unlikely to have been him.”
“If it was not him, then why? Why did it fail so soon?!”
CRASH—!
Baal struck his throne.
Waves of dark-red demonic energy swept through the already ruined hall.
Yuel barely withstood the aftermath and hurriedly continued.
“There is a World Tree at the academy.”
Thud.
Baal stopped moving in the middle of venting his rage.
“A World Tree?”
“Yes. We do not know the details, but it is certain that a World Tree Branch at the academy stimulated the life force sphere and awakened it.”
“And the forest growing was a coincidence too?”
Life force was not a benevolent power.
No. Benevolent power did not exist.
Had surging life force entered the surface races, a spectacular result would have followed.
Humans would have burst apart and died, elves would have become grotesque mutants, and spirits would have run wild through abnormal awakening.
But by chance, seeds had been planted throughout the academy in the middle of winter?
The erupting life force had flowed into those seeds and done no more than create a small forest?
“I presume the World Tree’s will intervened.”
Crunch.
Baal had never seen the World Tree himself.
His army had been annihilated in Elesia, the spirits’ paradise, before the Yggdrasil War even began.
But as he ruminated on that humiliation and watched the war waged by the other Demon Kings, he had learned the World Tree’s grandeur.
“Are those witless, lazy elves truly that serious about the alliance?”
At Baal’s question, Yuel bowed his head in affirmation.
The Yggdrasil War was a war in which the World Tree burned and the elves nearly went extinct.
Of course they would be desperate for an alliance.
Desperate enough to use part of the World Tree that was everything to them.
That was Yuel’s guess.
Of course, it was a misunderstanding, far from the truth.
“I beg your pardon, but—”
“Be silent.”
“This is the time to retreat and conserve our strength.”
Crunch.
Baal glared at Yuel with his teeth clenched.
“The moment we achieve our great work on the surface, I will tear your mouth apart first.”
“If that day comes, I will gladly offer even my neck. But for now...”
“A crisis is also an opportunity. They do not know we planted it.”
Yuel sighed inwardly at Baal’s words.
It was impossible to stop Baal, whose mind had boiled in rage.
“A World Tree Branch needs an owner to display its full ability, like the staff owned by the Elf Queen, does it not?”
“...Yes. That is what I have heard.”
“Then that means its owner is at the academy.”
Yuel’s brow furrowed at Baal’s words.
“They must be very strong.”
“It does not matter. Whether we kill them or fail to kill them.”
Baal gave Yuel an order.
“Call the Garum Unit and Rupert.”
Yuel immediately understood Baal’s intent.
‘Does he intend to send the Garum Unit, made up of shadow demonfolk, to attack academy students?’
Then high-ranking demonfolk Rupert would be a diversion.
A diversion to assassinate the owner of the World Tree Branch amid the chaos.
‘It is crude, but... it is close to the best move he can make right now.’
If they could assassinate the owner of the World Tree Branch, that would be the best outcome.
Even if they failed, killing students would not be bad.
They could incite the races by saying that the attack occurred because the World Tree Branch’s owner was at the academy.
Or claim that students died because a gap in forces was created to protect that owner.
No matter the outcome, they could plant the seeds of discord among the three races.
‘Of course, we will pay a price as well. We have more room than the other Demon Kings, but not enough to waste resources...’
Yuel raised his head after thinking it through.
If a strategist could not stop his lord, his role was to maximize feasibility or minimize damage.
“Please grant me only a little time.”
“Time?”
“We have gained control of the people calling themselves the Skadivian Resistance. Some are nobles, so we can create confusion from inside the academy.”
Baal gestured for Yuel to continue.
“Humans are a race highly sensitive to privilege and wealth. They are weak, yet full of selfishness. We will exploit that.”
Yuel intended to spread rumors that elves and spirits who learned humanity’s strengths at the academy would enslave humans.
It was absurd, but for those mad with ideology, the facts themselves did not matter.
Only the opportunity to make their voices louder mattered.
“If the students create conflict among themselves, the academy will become unsettled.”
Then the nobles would add their hands to the chaos.
The leaders of the three races would try to quiet it somehow.
But it would not be easily resolved. They could not use force, and even their basic common sense differed, so diplomatic resolution would drag on.
“When their guard has weakened and their attention turns inward, we will send the Garum Unit and Rupert.”
The Garum Unit would massacre students, and Rupert would secretly assassinate the World Tree Branch’s owner amid the chaos.
Perhaps imagining that scene, Baal smiled for the first time that day.
“Good.”
“I will refine the plan and make a detailed report.”
“There is no need. Complete the plan within ten days and carry it out as soon as preparations are done.”
“Yes.”
Yuel bowed and left the ruined hall.