Chapter 25
MIRA AND LUMINARIA then made their way to training area one in the training hall, where students from the School of Sorcery were polishing their skills.
“So where is this Dielid?”
Mira looked around the training area, which was filled with several dozen students. But the only thing they knew about the boy in question was his name and that he was a boy.
Considering that it’d take too long to find him themselves in such a situation, Luminaria went to grab a random boy to ask them when…
“Hey, don’t you think it’s gotta be him?” Mira guessed.
Luminaria then looked toward where Mira was pointing and immediately confirmed, “Yeah, he fits the bill.”
There, toward the corner of the training area where the two of them were looking, stood a boy who was very clearly alone. It certainly matched what they’d heard.
Convinced it must be him, Mira and Luminaria marched up. On their way over to him, Mira used Inspect to confirm that the boy was Dielid.
“Hey, got a second?” Mira called out from beside him.
“Huh?” he said, turning to face her with an ill-tempered look on his face. Perhaps because of his current lonesome situation or because he was struggling with sorcery, he was not in a very good mood.
But the moment he saw Mira and Luminaria, a puzzled look appeared on his face. “Wh-what is it?” Despite his attitude, Dielid’s cheeks flushed slightly, and a faint look of excitement flashed in his eyes.
Any man would take a moment to dream when called aside by a beautiful pair of girls, even knowing that they had no chance.
“We wanted to ask you about something. You were on cleaning duty in the banquet hall yesterday, right?” Mira said, bringing him right back down to reality.
“…Ah, so that’s what this is about. You’re here to ask if I was the one who scribbled graffiti all over the portrait, yeah?” Dielid’s manner changed completely, and he closed his eyes before sighing and smiling darkly. “Well, that was quick.”
Dielid had correctly guessed that they suspected him. Seeing Mira’s surprise at how quickly he’d caught on, the boy explained that it was simple.
“I knew because of the fuss the School of Evocation put up. We were the ones in charge of cleaning right before all that happened, so it makes sense that they’d suspect us. And a persona non grata like myself was with them. It wasn’t very hard to guess,” Dielid explained, sounding rather disgruntled, before continuing. “But it wasn’t me. I only stuck around Caerus because I don’t like other people going after me. If he’s gone, then he’s gone, and it’s probably for the better. Right now, I realize I’m probably just getting what I deserve. But I don’t really mind the peace and quiet. I have no reason to hold anything against Danblf’s pupil for doing what she did. And I’m not the kinda guy who’d do something as childish as scribbling graffiti over a portrait to get revenge.”
Word of the incident with Danblf’s portrait had already spread among the School of Sorcery. And what’s more, they suspected Dielid of doing it. He acknowledged this but explained why he hadn’t been the one to do it.
“But well, it’s not like anyone would believe what I have to say anyhow,” he added finally, chuckling grimly.
Judging from what he said and how he was acting, it seemed as if he wasn’t trying to cover up being responsible for the crime but had given up and resigned himself to being accused.
“Hrmm, I see. But seeing as you had been cleaning that day, did you happen to notice anything? Like, was anyone doing anything suspicious or did you see anyone that looked shady?”
While it was suspicious that he was at the scene of the crime, it was certainly possible that he was telling the truth and was, in fact, innocent. Thinking as much, Mira changed her line of questioning.
While he was a person of interest, he was also an important witness who’d been in the banquet hall just before the graffiti incident had taken place. There was a chance he knew the real culprit or had noticed someone behaving suspiciously.
“Huh? A-ah… Let me think…”
Dielid seemed to be surprised that she’d changed her line of questioning. Not only were they not hounding him to quit making excuses and come clean, but they were treating him like a witness.
This change seemed to throw Dielid off for a moment, but he quickly recomposed himself and began thinking about it. After a moment, he gave his answer.
“Hmm… I didn’t really notice anything like that. Cleaning duty went like it always does, and it took about as much time as usual. We usually split up to clean different areas, so if someone had been doing anything weird, then the area they were working on would’ve gotten finished later. But that didn’t happen. We all left the room together. I honestly don’t think there’s anyone who could’ve done it,” Dielid explained clearly.
It was clear from his testimony that he was quite certain of this, probably because he was used to cleaning duty. It certainly seemed that he wasn’t lying or trying to mislead them about anything.
“In which case, none of those on cleaning duty could’ve been responsible,” Luminaria proposed, having heard Dielid’s testimony. She then added that while it would’ve been easy for those on cleaning duty to have scribbled the graffiti, that didn’t guarantee guilt.
“That certainly could be. After all, if they did draw the graffiti, they’d be the first ones everyone suspected. It’d be pretty stupid to commit a crime like that.”
“Yeah, that’s true. But hey, crossing off potential leads one at a time like this is an essential part of investigating.”
After thinking about it for a moment, Luminaria nodded in agreement with Mira’s assessment while smiling happily that such was one of the joys of investigating.
To Mira, the whole situation was infuriating, and yet, it seemed to feel more like a game to Luminaria. It was like she wasn’t taking it seriously enough…or rather, it was like she was being serious about a game.
And so, watching them discuss all this with a puzzled look on his face, Dielid then murmured, “Ah, now that you mention it…” as if he’d thought of something. Then he cut himself off. “No… On second thought…”
“What is it? You look like you remembered something.”
“Yeah… You might feel better if you just tell us.”
Seeing that Dielid had something on his mind, Luminaria and Mira both drew toward him.
Dielid seemed to be quite flustered at having been approached by the pair of beauties. But despite this, he managed to remain in control of himself and confessed what he knew to Mira and Luminaria just like they’d asked…
A week from the day before—or eight days ago—he’d witnessed something. Dielid had finished cleaning duty and was on the way home when he ran into a group of male students who were all whispering to one another.
“I was just passing by, so I didn’t hear much, but I believe…they were talking about preparing to do something the following week. Or something like that.”
Pressed for details, Dielid finished giving his testimony before adding finally, “Well, I won’t tell you to believe me.” Then he said he knew nothing else and shut his mouth.
“Hrmm… It sure sounded like they were a pretty fishy group, huh?”
“Agreed. If they were the ones who drew the graffiti, then it means we’re dealing with multiple culprits.”
They’d been scheming eight days ago to execute some plan one week from that day. If all went as planned, then they’d have carried out the plan the day before, on the exact day that the graffiti incident had taken place.
This raised the possibility that multiple people had been responsible for scribbling graffiti on Danblf’s portrait. And it’d been premeditated.
“So do you know the names of those in the group you saw?”
If they could rule out each and every potential lead for certain, then they’d get one step closer to solving the case. To do this, they’d first need to identify those who’d been in the group.
Unfortunately, Dielid had just passed by them and hadn’t been paying much attention, so he didn’t get a good look at them. He didn’t seem to remember any of their faces.
But after being pressed to think a little harder, he recalled a single name.
“Oh yeah, I remember there was one guy… I think they called him Sven…”
So one of the group member’s names was Sven. This was a valuable piece of information that would serve as their next clue in the investigation.
“Hrmm, Sven, huh…? How about we follow that lead? Thanks for sharing the info with us,” Mira said, immediately turning on her heel to go after those who were the real culprits.
The moment she did, Dielid called out to her with an apprehensive look on his face. “Hey, wait. Didn’t you come to bring me in?” Everyone had presumed him guilty, so he wondered if it was okay not to take him in to be disciplined.
“Hrmm, you didn’t do it, right? Or were you lying?”
“No, I wasn’t lying, but…”
It no longer seemed very likely that Dielid was behind the graffiti.
Mira simply answered, “In that case, then there’s no need to, is there?” as she quickly walked away to exact vengeance on whoever it was that thought they could just draw that graffiti and get away with it.
Behind her, having gotten used to everyone suspecting him, Dielid watched Mira, utterly stunned.
Luminaria gently leaned in toward him and said, “Anyone can start over, ya know. Even you.” Then she ruffled his hair and said, “Now get to it,” before laughing as she left.
Watching as she left, Dielid felt something well up deep within his chest. He wanted to find out exactly what that feeling was and felt as if he’d been reawoken.
Afterward, he would apologize to all those that he’d caused trouble for and start over from scratch. But that was another story.
As they discussed who Sven might be while in the lobby of the training hall, Mira and Luminaria heard the bell announcing the end of morning classes. Were it a normal day, she’d have intensive training once the afternoon break was over.
But today was different. Her top priority was getting revenge on those scoundrels who’d started this war by scribbling graffiti all over Danblf’s portrait.
“Hrmm, Emilia should be getting out of class, too. How about we go meet up with her? She might have an idea as to who this Sven character is.”
“True. Yeah, let’s ask Emilia.”
The two went straight back to the School of Evocation. In any case, that was where they promised to meet up with her when they’d gone their separate ways that morning.
But once arriving at the classroom, they found Emilia was not alone but standing beside a young boy.
“You said the morning was no good, but the afternoon isn’t, either?!”
“Yup, sorry. I’ve got some important business.”
“…Fine.”
“I’m really sorry, Phil. I think tomorrow should work.”
From the looks of it, the boy was fairly close to Emilia. And Emilia seemed to have a soft spot for the boy…
At first glance, it looked like a caring older sister with her spoiled little brother. But now, the mood seemed a bit tense.
“Okay then, see you tomorrow. Remember…you promised,” the boy said, leaving the classroom. At the same time, Mira recalled seeing his face before.
Oh ho? That boy just now… Wasn’t he one of the top students from the orphanage?
There was one boy from the orphanage run by Artesia and Lastrada who’d enrolled in the School of Evocation at Alcait Academy. Remembering him to be a sullen and quiet boy, Mira was impressed to see that he’d brightened up and could properly chat with others. It’d been the right decision to enroll him in the academy.
Feeling pleased about this, Mira went into the classroom.
“That boy just now, I was worried he might be a tad timid, but it looks like he’s broken out of his shell, huh?”
“Ah, Miss Mira!” Emilia turned around and excitedly rushed over to Mira once she heard her voice.
“Were you watching, by any chance?” Emilia said with a bit of a smile.
“Just toward the end,” Mira answered. “It seems he’s taken a liking to you,” she continued.
Then Emilia briefly explained her relationship with the boy. Just as Mira had initially suggested, the boy had been extremely shy. But being one of the representatives of the School of Evocation, Emilia had taken the initiative and began reaching out to him so that he might adapt to class more quickly.
She began by just greeting him, before making small talk about class, then moving on to chitchatting and shooting the breeze. As this continued, he began talking to her more and more. And now, in an attempt to catch up to his peers, he’d been going with her to practice in the mornings.
“Wow, I never expected he’d come so far. You really are an excellent role model!”
Having been praised by Mira, Emilia smiled rather proudly as joy bloomed on her face.
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