C31: The person who sees, the person who solves (3)
Chapter 3/3 for last week. Only 1 chapter today.
Aidan, Leo, and Tracy, who were sitting on a bench in a quiet garden, thought that what had just happened was like a dream, and had not returned to reality yet.
It was Tracy who came to her senses first.
“We really didn’t get punished. It still feels like a dream.”
“I know.”
“I can’t believe the president stepped forward and supported us.”
“I know.”
Leo, who had always had a sharp conversation with Tracy, completely agreed with her opinion this time around.
The eyes of the two of them eventually turned to Aidan.
“Hey Aidan. Aidan?”
“Yes? Uh, yes.”
“What are you thinking about?”
Unlike the two people who were happy to receive the merit points, Aidan had a serious face all the time.
“Aidan, what are you worried about?”
“No. Should it be a concern? That……It’s kind of strange to come and say something like this now.”
“What is it? Don’t be stingy and tell me!”
When Tracy slapped him hard, Aidan hesitated, and then he confided his concerns to his friends.
“It’s just something strange.”
“Strange? What’s strange?”
“You may not have seen it, but the werewolf had a strange silver restraint on his neck.”
“What?!”
“Shhh!”
As Tracy’s voice rose, Leo immediately told her to be quiet.
“Quiet. What would you do if someone heard it?”
The three of them looked around to see if there were any other witnesses, and then put their heads together and spoke in a quiet voice.
“Keep talking. Is that real?”
“Yes. That’s why I tried to stop Mr. Rudger.”
“Are you saying that werewolf is no ordinary werewolf?”
“I wonder if it really isn’t a subject that someone deliberately created.”
If that was true, it couldn’t have been more serious. Leo also opened his mouth with a heavy expression as if he was thinking of something.
“I, too, have heard some news recently.”
“What?”
“There are suspicious people hiding in Theon.”
“Suspicious people? What is that, some kind of secret organization? Isn’t that just a secret club made by students or a rumor?”
There was nothing special about Theon students having secret meetings.
Leo shook his head at Tracy’s question. If it was just that, he wouldn’t even say that he was suspicious.
“I’m not even sure. However, it seems certain that a secret organization that has not been revealed has infiltrated Theon. I realized this while watching the werewolf incident.”
“Wait a minute. Then there are dangerous people in Theon.”
“It’s still at the stage of doubt, but I think so. Aidan, do you think so too?”
“Yes. To be honest, it’s not a good thing to doubt someone, but he definitely has something to do with it.……”
Aidan was about to say something, then shook his head and bit his mouth.
“No, no.”
“What?”
“Is it because of Mr. Rudger?”
Aidan couldn’t help but nod his head at Tracy’s piercing remark.
The reason why Aidan’s heart had been heavy for a while was because of the radical behavior that Rudger had shown the day before.
“I don’t want to suspect Mr. Rudger,” she said, “but the teacher I saw last night was somehow suspicious.”
“Was he suspicious?”
“You guys may not have been able to see it properly because you were behind Mr. Rudger, but I was facing him from the front. Mr. Rudger saw something.”
Aidan didn’t miss Rudger’s reaction but before he could ask, Rudger forcibly removed him and set the werewolf on fire.
Hearing Aidan’s words, Leo bit his chin.
“That means Mr. Rudger was trying to destroy the evidence?”
“What? Mr. Rudger? Does that make sense?”
“What kind of stupid thing is that?” asked Tracy.
“It’s not certain. However, I keep thinking that Mr. Rudger might know something. The teacher at that time seemed desperate to hide something.”
“……”
“……”
Maybe it was an illusion. There’s no way a Theon teacher would do such a dangerous thing. But what if it’s real? What if Rudger Chelici belongs to a secret organization that is too dangerous to even talk about?
What if the werewolves were actually killed to destroy evidence?
“Are you stupid? Anyway, you went too far.”
Tracy rebuked the two, putting her hand on her waist and shaking her head.
“Mr. Rudger must have had something in mind and when we met the president earlier, didn’t you think something was strange?”
“Uh? what?”
“I didn’t feel anything.”
“Ugh…Stupid guys. Do you remember what the president said when he praised us? She gave each of us a little bit of a hint that we did well and what we did.”
“Oh, right. I didn’t even think of it because I was concerned about other things.”
“Think about it. How would the president, who was not present at the time, have known that?”
“Uh, that’s……”
“Of course, someone told the president everything. Who could tell her what we did?”
Rudger Chelici, was the only one who knew.
“Mr. Rudger definitely saw everything we were doing. If he had tried to scold us, he would not have told the president what we did well.”
“Ah.”
Hearing Tracy words, it certainly seemed that way.
It is the same with the fact that only the president and Rudger entered the interview room, and when the president said that she would give them merit points, Rudger took a step back and made concessions.
“You mean it was all Mr. Rudger’s plan? Why?”
“I don’t know that either. Still, Mr. Rudger was considerate of us and only said good things to the president. To be honest, isn’t it too far-fetched to be suspicious of Mr. Rudger?”
Aidan and Leo had nothing to say, even if they had ten mouths.
If Rudger was a dubious person, would he have taught them the groundbreaking magic source code from his first class?
A person, who has to hide his identity, rather than trying to reveal himself, is contradictory.
“Is it?”
Aidan scratched his head, but couldn’t shake his subtle suspicion about Rudger.
He’s definitely a respectable teacher, but there’s no denying that he’s got something odd about him.
“Yes. Tracy I think you’re right. It is meaningless to even think about it right now.”
“Huh. It’s okay to know.”
“I’m hungry. Have you guys eaten?”
“Not yet.”
“Tracy?”
“Why me?”
“If you haven’t eaten, why don’t we go to dinner together?”
“What?”
At Aidan’s words, Tracy wondered if she had heard wrong.
“Meal? With me? Why?”
Embarrassed for nothing, Tracy twisted her hair with her fingertips and muttered a little with his flushed face.
“With friends……”
“Are we already friends?”
“……!”
Seeing Aidan smiling brightly as he looked at her, Tracy dyed her earlobes red as well. Leo, who watched the scene from the side, sighed and shook his head.
It seemed that their Theon life would be eventful in the future.
* * *
“Ah! Mr. Rudger!”
On my way back to my dorm, I met Selina who ran towards him looking more like a student than a teacher.
‘Aren’t you really lying about your age?’
“Are you off work?”
“Yes.”
“I heard the news. Yesterday, I heard that Mr. Rudger caught a werewolf.”
“Yes. I took care of it.”
“Wow. Really?”
Selina-sensei looks at him with a burdensome gaze. Still, she’s also a new teacher, but I think she’s looking up too much.
“Recently, I’ve only been hearing about Mr. Rudger. How did you catch the werewolf?”
“Wait.”
“Yes?”
“I’m a little busy today, so we’ll talk about it later.”
At my resolute remark, Selina nodded her head slightly with a pale face like a child scolded by an adult.
“Oh, I’m sorry. You’re busy.”
“No. Not to that extent. Selina, please rest well.”
“Yeah. Mr. Rudger too.”
I said goodbye to Selina and parted with her.
Unlike other teachers, she is a good person who cares about me. However, I couldn’t get close to anyone because I was in a difficult position.
It’s possible to eat together as a group, but that’s all. And above all, I had one thing to do now.
When I returned to my private residence, there was a parcel at the door. Having packed the parcel, I went inside the house and checked the contents.
It was the material that Hans sent me, about areas where missing people and certain people gather in Leathervelk recently.
After lightly checking the contents, I headed to my personal study. On one wall of the study was a map of the city of Leathervelk, along with pictures pinned everywhere.
I cut out some content from the document and pinned it to one corner of the map, an area full of abandoned factories in Leathervelk that has a laboratory nearby.
After finishing the work up to that point, I immediately took out a portable crystal ball.
[Brother, have you checked all the materials I sent?]
“Yes.”
[As brother told me yesterday, I checked the area. In an abandoned factory, about ten strong men rushed to and fro. I’m pretty sure it’s there.]
“Right.”
[And I checked out what you personally told me to find out. Some workers have recently gone missing on the outskirts of the city.]
“Was there a family of three among them?”
[There was. It’s the only case where an entire family has disappeared. The police didn’t do much research and let it go, but the neighbors should have been very anxious.]
“……I get it.”
I left those words and cut off communication.
After staring intently at the map fixed on the wall for a moment, I walked out of the dormitory wearing a dull brown coat, unlike usual.
* * *
The factory area of Leathervelk where even the light of the stars and the moon disappeared due to the thick clouds in the sky.
The chimney of the factory, which stood tall without emitting soot, was itself a tombstone in memory of those who died in the shadow of the city. Considering that there are people who actually died in difficult circumstances, the term tombstone was not particularly wrong.
The slum district, called the abandoned district, had no street lights, which gave a strong feeling of desolation. All he could see was a rat that quickly swept across the floor.
Rudger arrived at the place where even the vagrants gave up begging and escaped.
“Are you here?”
Hans, who had come first and was waiting, greeted Rudger.
Hans looked at Rudger’s walk and shook his head, sticking out his tongue. Although he looked casual on the outside, Rudger was already heavily armed.
From the chill that was flowing from him, Hans felt that he was thoroughly prepared for the fight to come.
“Are you going alone?”
“Will you help me if I ask for help?”
“No, I just wondered if you would be able to deal with them alone.”
“Alone is enough. What about the guys inside?”
“There are about forty. However, these guys know that their feet are on fire and are slowly trying to escape. If I was only three days late, they would have disappeared.”
“What are their powers?”
“It would be nice to see that even a trivial person has at least one gun. Well, my brother, who is a wizard, doesn’t like firearms, but there are about three of them wearing reinforced armor.”
“Elite power?”
“Two warlocks.”
“Right.”
Rudger, who was about to head straight to the laboratory, stopped his steps and asked Hans.
“Hans, the family I asked about.”
“Yes.”
“How old was the child?”
With his back against the wall, Hans looked up as if to recall something.
“He was seven years old, such a young kid.”
“……Seven years old.”