'The sun's still up?'
Stepping out of the Central Library, Andy blinked at the bright sky.
It felt like days had passed inside, yet the sun was still up—
"Time flows differently inside a Rift and out."
As if reading Andy's mind, Grave said it flatly.
"Ah, the Rift business is a secret."
Grave put an index finger to his lips. Andy let out a groan.
Secret or not, in the first place—
'Who'd believe me even if I told them.'
Evangeline and Andy were just a little grimy with sweat, that was all. Not even a small wound. Who'd believe them if they said they'd been to a Rift and back?
'Just what is the Boss, anyway?'
To possess martial power strong enough to make comparison to a professor embarrassing, and yet be a guard—
"Just head to the dorms. Give a suitable excuse and there shouldn't be any real trouble."
"L-let's go together!!"
Grave turned away just like that. Milo hurriedly followed him.
"That man—"
Evangeline pointed at the distant Grave and said gravely.
"He likes me, doesn't he? Hah. It's a real bind, honestly."
Watching Evangeline shake her head, Andy was genuinely impressed.
"Evangeline, you're really something."
"Hah! Honestly! You're only realizing that now?"
Saying anything would only cost him. Andy ignored it and headed for the dorms.
When they reached the dorms, the mood around them was off. Freshmen stood lined up in front of the gate, and guards ran back and forth among them.
"Check again!!"
"It's past lunchtime, though—"
"Is lunch what matters right now? Check again!"
"Same as before! Two short!!"
......Two?
Andy's face went pale.
"Looks like they're searching for someone."
Evangeline said with a serious face. Andy bit his lip hard.
"It's us. For now—"
"Us? Ah! We're over here!!"
Evangeline threw her hand up.
The gazes of the freshmen and guards swung over at once.
"Is it those two?"
"Where were you?!"
Andy's face went white. He could watch his academy life unravel in real time.
A guard strode over with a stiff face.
"You two. We tore the place apart searching for you. Where were you?"
Andy hurriedly worked his head.
The Boss had said to give a suitable excuse, but the mood was far too savage. Untangling this wouldn't be possible with a mere suitable excuse.
Just then, someone gripped Andy's shoulder. Evangeline.
"Just trust me."
Evangeline winked one eye. With confidence brimming on her face, somehow Andy felt uneasy.
He hurriedly tried to stop her, but Evangeline was faster.
When she stepped forward, all eyes turned to her. Her face twitched. Kya, kyak. She let out a faint, bizarre sound. Her body trembled.
'Don't tough it out! Just back down!'
Despite Andy's desperate wish, Evangeline didn't back down; she held resolute.
At Evangeline straining in the wrong place, Andy held back a scream that threatened to burst.
"Where were you?"
The guard asked, scrunching his eyes at her.
"......"
Evangeline's lips moved. She seemed to say something, but her voice was too small to hear.
"What?"
The guard asked irritably. A spasm crossed Evangeline's face.
'Wait, I've seen this somewhere—'
Just then, her trembling lips parted.
"Poooooop!"
A shocking word burst out thunderously.
"Wh...... what?"
"Pooop! We were taking a poop!!"
The hundreds of freshmen who'd been chattering even when the headmaster appeared went dead silent.
The guard, his face indescribable, looked at Andy. Andy frantically shook his head, but the guard nodded as if he understood.
No, why drag me into—
"Mm, ah, right. Bodily functions can't be helped. For now, get inside."
His face beet-red, the guard hurriedly wrapped up the situation.
Evangeline looked at Andy and made a V with her fingers, her face full of the pride of a job well done.
'I should've smacked the back of her head harder.'
Andy regretted it from the heart.
***
'I wonder if they got back safely.'
I muttered inwardly, looking toward the dorms.
Evangeline and Andy had vanished right after the Republic's attack at the entrance ceremony. Circumstantially they were bound to draw suspicion, but there shouldn't be any real trouble.
'Because Elysium Academy doesn't suspect its students.'
Unless solid physical evidence turns up, Elysium Academy doesn't suspect students. More often than not it doesn't even punish them when evidence does turn up.
Evangeline and Andy would be fine.
The problem, if anything, was over here.
"You — where were you?"
The goatee, Bedrick, glared at me and asked. His voice was thick with malice.
Two guards who'd vanished after the attack at the ceremony — enough to draw plenty of suspicion. And since I'd caught Republican operatives before the ceremony, suspicion was warranted.
But he wouldn't be able to tie me to the Republic attack.
'Because the Dean of Students ordered it covered up.'
To slam me here would be to make an enemy of the Dean of Students too.
Could Bedrick do that?
'Never.'
The Dean of Students was a figure in the academy's top ten. Not an opponent Bedrick could make an enemy of. Like right now.
"Proof?"
A deep voice cut Bedrick off.
The tiger-like middle-aged man, the Dean of Students, Logan. Beside him was that Inspection Squad member from before, too.
At the sight of Logan, Bedrick wore a vile smile.
"There's testimony that Grave entered the basement storeroom where the mana-stone bomb was installed."
Bedrick said in a cocksure voice. Logan's tiger eyes turned to me.
"Did you go in?"
"Yes, I hauled materials."
"Hm. Circumstantially suspicious, true."
Logan nodded.
"Exactly. He could even be a spy. The Republic are the most insidious of all, aren't they."
"The most."
Logan gazed at me with his tiger eyes. Merely meeting that gaze, I felt as if my insides were being dug up.
"You. Are you a Republican operative?"
"No."
"Not, after all."
Logan nodded.
Belatedly, dumbfoundedness crossed Bedrick's face.
"You believe his word?"
"No."
"Then why—"
Logan pointed at his own nose and grinned.
"Republic men give off a foul smell, and he doesn't. He's no operative."
"No, what smell could—"
"Got a problem with it?"
At Logan's question, Bedrick's face went pale. He hurriedly bowed his head.
"N-no. My apologies."
Logan wore his usual sly smile.
"It happens. A measure of suspicion is a virtue. Too much becomes a death sentence, though."
Logan clapped Bedrick on the shoulder. With that, Bedrick fled in a hurry.
Once Bedrick was gone, Logan gazed at me again.
"The Republic's mana-stone bomb that blasted the headmaster was installed in the auditorium's basement storeroom. Strange thing is, I checked the basement after the operatives turned up. If a Republic bomb had been there, there's no way I'd have missed the smell......"
"Didn't they do something else to it?"
"Probably. See anything in particular?"
Logan's voice had no rise or fall, so it sounded as monotone as everyday chatter. But it was full of bones inside. Bones that would pierce your throat at the slightest misstep—
I answered as if it were nothing.
"No."
"I see."
Logan wore his usual sly smile and gripped my shoulder. A hand vast as a cauldron lid.
"Be careful. The academy's crawling with Republic men. Suspect everyone."
"Ah, is that so?"
"Yes, Republic men slip in as stealthily as lice in your hair. Often it's the last person you'd ever suspect who's an operative."
Logan warned in a grave voice.
Just then, the Inspection Squad woman, who'd been quiet all along, opened her mouth.
"That's paranoia."
"Paranoia?"
"Just a few days ago you grabbed Professor Bulfenheim by the collar calling him an operative, and got your pay docked."
"I really did smell it—"
"Suspecting people without evidence is paranoia."
At the Inspection Squad's rebuke, Logan let out a groan. In fact, in the academy Logan was treated as a Republic-paranoia patient.
"I'm telling you, they really are operatives. Take, for instance—"
Logan pointed at me with a thick index finger.
"Evelyn, the 42nd Squad leader."
I lightly moved an eyebrow. As if quite surprised, I parted my lips a touch.
"Do you have proof?"
The Inspection Squad asked sharply.
"Ahem, not yet, but — there's definitely a Republic smell."
"Paranoia."
"No, I'm telling you it's real."
"Without evidence, it's paranoia."
"Tsk."
Clicking his tongue, Logan turned his gaze to me.
"Hold on — let's have a talk."
***
Logan took me to a dim spot behind a building where no shade fell. There stood a dust-covered table and chairs, as if left abandoned.
Logan sat down without even brushing off the dust and put a cigar in his mouth. When I sat across from him, he gazed at me with his tiger eyes. Receiving that gaze, I guessed at his business.
'Probably the operative-hunting quest.'
In the game, Logan was the NPC who gave the 'Operative Hunt' quest. The Operative Hunt was a quest to help Logan root out operatives within the academy. Complete it, and you could earn a chance to join the Student Affairs Division.
There were three important organizations at Elysium Academy. The Faculty Affairs Division, which managed professors; the Student Affairs Division, which managed students; and the Administration Division, in charge of patronage and fund management.
The Dean of Students' Operative Hunt, which could get you into that Student Affairs Division, was a quest you took the moment it appeared.
The flow differed a little from the game, but he'd clearly called me out to give a quest.
About the time a single cigar burned down, Logan opened his mouth. But what came out was unlike what I'd expected.
"You from the Security Bureau?"
......The Security Bureau?
If the Imperial Guard is the Emperor's sword, the Security Bureau is the Emperor's shadow.
The Security Bureau is a top-secret body that moves the Empire from unseen places — in the game it wasn't even depicted. The Security Bureau was a body so covert I wouldn't have known of it had a Grand General not told me.
So why was that Security Bureau coming out of Logan's mouth?
"You're new, looks like, and it shows too much. Does it make any sense for a Corps rookie to catch six Republican operatives?"
What I'd submitted to Logan was a single operative's head. Yet Logan knew I'd caught six. He'd simply let it slide.
Why?
"Honestly, the new lot these days are sloppy."
At Logan's next words, I grasped the situation.
'Logan was Security Bureau.'
It had been strange, come to think of it. No matter how aged, Logan was a Sword Master. Why would a Sword Master be Dean of Students rather than a professor?
In any case, Logan seemed to think me a Security Bureau rookie. Used well, it would be incomparably more useful than the original Operative Hunt quest.
The problem was if my identity got exposed. Impersonating the Security Bureau is a graver crime than rebellion. Get caught and the Security Bureau itself would move. The Security Bureau was the very thing Grand General Cassandra had grimaced at and warned me never to get tangled with.
So—
'I just don't get caught, then?'
A flawless plan.
A story Cassandra had once told me came to mind.
— The Security Bureau lot salute oddly. They show the back of the hand when they salute. The reverse of the Republic salute, apparently?
I saluted Logan with the back of my hand showing.
The corners of Logan's mouth twisted up savagely.