She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (LN) - Volume 14 - Chapter 28

Chapter 28

NOW, IN A VACANT ROOM within the clubhouse…

“What’s up with calling me over here all of a sudden? Weren’t you in the middle of badminton practice?” a male student said, glaring at Sven. “Isn’t clean up time when girls have their guards down? Are you okay missing out on that?”

“This is an emergency,” Sven said, an extremely grave look on his face. This was not the usual Sven…

The other boy sighed deeply. “What happened?”

“Emilia confronted me just now.”

The moment the words left Sven’s mouth, a shudder ran through the boy. “What…?! She doesn’t know about what we did, though…right?”

Emilia was someone neither of them could afford to ignore. Despite his sudden anxiety, the boy attempted to calmly clarify the situation, asking why Emilia had confronted Sven. How much did she know?

“I don’t know. But I think I fooled her.”

Thinking back on what he’d said, Sven stated that she probably had no evidence. But the other boy didn’t look any less concerned.

“Either way, they suspect something,” he said, immediately looking down uneasily.

“Yeah, that’s true… And she was with two friends, neither of whom I recognized. One of them was a really skilled summoner. And I’m not sure about the other, but from the aura she gave off, I bet she’s pretty skilled, too.”

As Sven continued with this information, the look on the boy’s face became more and more grim.

“Man, she’s got a badass crew now? Hmm… Then it’s probably a good idea not to underestimate them—at least until we’re free of suspicion. Let’s come up with a plan.”

The boy pulled out a notebook and began writing something.

“Roger…must still be doing club stuff, huh?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“In that case, I’ll tell him about everything with Emilia. You be careful not to do anything overly suspicious.”

“Got it. All right then. See ya.”

“Yeah.”

Despite no one else being in the room, Sven and the boy had spoken in hushed tones. Once finished, the two nonchalantly left the room.

Watching everything about eighty feet away, Mira and her companions quickly hid themselves before exchanging their thoughts.

“…And that’s what they said.”

“That sounds pretty shady.”

“They’ve gotta be the ones who did it!”

First Pupil was staked out nearby and had overheard the entire exchange between Sven and the other boy.

“So, Emilia, do you know anything about that guy they mentioned? Roger?”

Emilia immediately grimaced before nodding while saying she did. Roger was a character well-known among the girls in much the same way as Sven was. “I think I have a guess as to who the other person in the room was,” she added.

Dilgen was the name of the other boy who’d been speaking with Sven in the vacant room. He was infamous, much like the other two boys.

“Hrmm… From what you’ve said, could those two also be…?”

Judging from the intense look of revulsion that appeared on Emilia’s face, it didn’t seem that Dilgen and Roger were famed for their good looks.

“They’re perverts,” Emelia spat before going into detail about what offenses they were guilty of. The pair were even bigger perverts than Sven.

Dilgen was said to possess an incredible talent for painting. In fact, he was so talented that he’d won tons of prizes. There was nothing inherently wrong with that talent—it was how he put it to use. He used his considerable talent and skill to go around painting nudes of the female students. These works were almost indistinguishable from the real thing, and they were bought and sold on the down-low.

Emilia went on to mention that one of hers had almost gotten out once. She’d managed to discover this at the last second and burn it, thus averting disaster.

“Jeez, what a waste of talent…”

There was no way the female students could tolerate someone going around painting nude pictures of them without permission. Mira laughed exasperatedly in agreement.

But there was one among them who thought differently…

“But if he’s using his talents to do what he likes, then you can’t really say he’s wasting them, can you?”

Luminaria, standing alongside the two with a nonchalant look on her face, seemed to be more on the pervert squad’s team. She sympathized with Dilgen, who was making the most of his talents.

“Look…I still think it’s bad he does it without permission,” she added, furtively looking away after seeing Mira and Emilia’s reactions and gathering that they didn’t agree even a single bit.

“And about the other boy…” Emilia continued, moving on.

Roger was said to have a prolific imagination and wielded some mysterious wind power. He would stare at girls who passed by him. He’d stare at girls as they exercised. He’d stare at girls while they ate. From what she heard, Roger used his powerful imagination to picture any woman he saw completely naked and in great detail.

She said that just the way he looked at girls felt like it should be illegal. But that wasn’t all. Wherever he went, a sudden wind gust would send girls’ skirts flying.

“…About two months ago, one of my friends had this exact experience. Some mysterious wind blew up her skirt, and when she turned around, she saw him standing there.”

He’d said it was a coincidence and chuckled quietly to himself. However, over the next month, the same thing happened over and over again to her friend. It even happened inside, where no wind should be blowing.

And every time it happened, Roger would be standing there, staring creepily.

Having heard this, Emilia gave him a beating similar to the one she’d dished out to Sven. Perhaps because he’d learned his lesson, the incidents involving her friends abruptly stopped.

“In that case, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine him also having a grudge against you.”

Roger certainly had a motive for harassing Emilia. Maybe even enough for him to scribble graffiti over Emilia’s beloved portrait of Danblf as revenge.

And so, they now had a theory as to the motive behind the crime.

“That’s awful… Master Danblf had nothing to do with that…” Emilia was shocked to learn that the innocent portrait of Danblf might’ve fallen victim to someone seeking revenge against her.

“But that’s still just a theory. First off, let’s go ask this Roger guy and see how he reacts to make sure. If we can get enough evidence, you can guess what we do from there.”

“Hrmm, beat ’em to a pulp!”

While he certainly seemed extremely suspicious, it wasn’t as if they’d found any solid evidence. Fired up, Mira said that if they could find such evidence, then they’d strike such fear into him that he wouldn’t forget it for the rest of his days.

“Yes, we’ll beat them to a pulp!”

Seeing how committed Mira was, Emelia brightened, once more filled with determination and resolve.

“All right, then our next issue is finding where Roger is.”

They’d had a target, but where exactly was he?

“He said that he was doing club stuff, but what club is he in?”

Remembering the conversation between Sven and Dilgen, Mira thought about maybe going to find a few students to ask.

As she did, Emilia cried, “Ah!” as if she’d remembered something.

“I think he’s in the swimming club. One of my friends said she used to be in the same club, but she quit because she couldn’t stand him staring at her.”

Judging from what she’d heard of Roger, the swimming club seemed like a perfect fit for him. It was easy to see the contours of girls’ bodies in swimsuits, so he could likely put his imagination to maximum use.

“Hrmm, shall we go check it out?” Mira asked as she walked off.

But then Emilia spoke up. “Um, what will you do this time?” she asked reluctantly.

Seeing Emilia’s reaction and how she was acting, Mira tilted her head quizzically, curious as to what the problem was this time. But after a moment, she figured it out…

“…Don’t tell me. The pool, too?”

Emilia nodded. Much like the gymnasium, the pool was also equipped with special enchantments. You were required to wear a special swimsuit to even enter it. Since incidents with water could be potentially life-threatening, the pool was even stricter about this than the gym.

“Do you…?”

“Yes.”

Turning around, Mira saw Luminaria casually pull out a swimsuit—a school-regulation one at that.

“I never would’ve thought…”

And so, once again, she was faced with the conundrum of leaving Emilia alone with Luminaria.

Mira didn’t have a school swimsuit, but she took out the swimsuit that’d been custom-made by Lily and the maids. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t work for going in the academy pool. After the gym clothing debacle, Mira wondered what to do.

But things were different this time.

“I can lend you my spare. And this time, it’s not dirty!” Emilia proudly proclaimed, as if Mira could leave it to her, before dashing off.

Emilia was an extremely responsible individual and, therefore, had not only a spare set of gym clothes but a spare swimsuit as well.

Alcait Academy had an indoor pool that was open all year round and was located in the pool building, which was next to the main school building. Having made their way there, Mira and her companions asked a nearby male student if he knew where Roger might be.

And, sure enough, he was still inside. What’s more, he’d become pretty serious about the swimming club about a month earlier.

“All right, so all we need to do now is get a hold of him and have a little chat.”

“Yes.”

So what story would Roger sing? Smiling fearlessly, Mira and Emilia ran into the girls’ changing room in the pool building. The three changed into school-issued swimsuits. Despite her never having much reason to wear it, Luminaria seemed to be oddly comfortable in hers.

“Damn, look at me. I don’t know if I should be allowed to walk around like this.”

Luminaria’s voluptuous physique was so perfect that one might say that she could fulfill whatever fantasy a man might possibly conceive. This was only enhanced by the school-issued swimsuit, which looked rather subdued at first glance. Leaving a little to the imagination meant that Luminaria had now ascended to a level of attractiveness that was beyond measure.

“Th-that’s…”

While Luminaria was patting herself on the back, Mira clamped her hands tight around the school-issued swimsuit she’d borrowed from Emilia. She was holding a real schoolgirl’s swimsuit. More unbelievably, she had permission from its owner to wear it.

From a man’s point of view, this artifact was more than just an article of clothing. But Mira would overcome this trial, just like she had with the schoolgirl uniform and the used gym clothes.

And yet, from here on out, she’d be in unfamiliar territory. She’d be hit with an even greater sense of deviancy mixed with a slight rush of euphoria. Mira swallowed heavily.

In any case, she couldn’t sit around twiddling her thumbs. With Emilia about to finish getting changed, it’d look odd for her to stay there staring at the school-issued swimsuit.

All right, here goes.

Steeling her resolve, Mira took off the schoolgirl uniform in one go and gently put her legs through the swimsuit. The moment she did, a feeling that was impossible to put into words washed over her entire body.

“Stay calm… Everything’s fine…”

She was no different from some weirdo pervert. Just like Sven and his buddies. Realizing this, Mira forced herself to think that she was just a normal, cute girl while rationalizing that all she was doing was borrowing some clothes from a friend. People did that all the time.

But in crept that creepy, dirty feeling. Staving it off, Mira somehow managed to finish getting changed.