Chapter 65

Chapter 65: Lucia Baskerville (1)

Starting from the afternoon three days later, after Yulia, Lucia, and I had recovered to a certain degree, we were immediately referred to the Disciplinary Committee.

Ah, it was not just the three of us.

“…Did we not agree not to say anything? Holy Fanatic?”

“Ugh, how did things turn out like this…….”

Lloyd Desmond and Viole Yustis were seated with us in the disciplinary seats as well.

In other words, all the students who had known of the wanted criminal ‘Aron Bayonel’ and kept silent had become targets of disciplinary action.

“Uuugh……. But the incident became this big, so I could not exactly keep quiet about it…….”

She was right. 

After all, major corruption had occurred in the outer district, and testimonies kept pouring in from people who had seen ‘Aron Bayonel,’ a black-haired, red-eyed man who had faced Lucia and the Corrupted Bodies.

There was no point in hiding the truth any further, and if we tried to conceal it for no reason, the punishment would only become heavier.

Because the scale of the incident was so large, the seats were filled to capacity with the Headmaster at the center, the professors deliberating the punishment, and the students who had come to observe. 

It was called a Disciplinary Committee, but the atmosphere was practically that of a courtroom.

Based on the written statements we had submitted and the situation that had occurred, the professors recited the full course of events.

“Student Yulia encountered Aron with Lloyd and Lucia during the previous Joint Class…….”

“Then, after considering the possibility that Aron might be inside the barrier discovered the next day, she explained the circumstances to Damon and entered the barrier independently with Damon. To summarize, that is the situation.”

“The fact that you did not tell us about it is certainly grounds for disciplinary action, but…….”

The professors’ tones were all heavy, but this was Saengterminum, known as a prestigious academy even across the continent.

“Mm… We bear great responsibility as well, since the security was breached during the Joint Class and we failed to notice.”

“That is right. Placing this incident solely on the students would not be very good either…….”

Students were called students for a reason.

They were students because they were immature, and they were students because they were inexperienced.

Viole Yustis: 2 days of confinement and suspension

Lloyd Desmond: 3 days of confinement and suspension

Damon David: 5 days of confinement and suspension

Yulia Yupiter: 6 days of confinement and suspension

The verdicts for the four of us, including me, ended in half a day, but when it came to Lucia’s punishment, the professors did not merely look troubled. 

They fell into deep concern.

They had no choice.

“She is from a branch family of the Four Great Houses? Then her original surname was not ‘Dorg,’ but ‘Baskerville’……?”

“She contracted with Valak, a High-Rank Demon, in order to return her parents, who had become Corrupted Bodies, back to normal? Hah, really…….”

“They say she killed Defectors in Saengterminum while serving as a Demon Cult Leader…….”

“She can use the Demonic Armament Type among Black Magic? And even ‘Full-Body Demonic Armament’?”

The parts about ‘Aron Bayonel’ acting together with Lucia were neatly omitted from the items, but I had expected the Headmaster to separately handle that matter, so I accepted it.

Well, even accounting for that, I could not deny that the list contained matters serious enough to be sent to a formal trial rather than a Disciplinary Committee.

“And also…….”

The professors glanced at the Headmaster, but Levia waved one hand as though it had nothing to do with her.

“I am not getting involved this time. You handle it among yourselves.”

“…Pardon?”

The Headmaster’s arbitrary declaration that she would have nothing to do with it.

“Then I will… go through the expulsion procedure and receive a formal trial…….”

And then there was Lucia, who did not argue any further and answered that she would willingly receive all punishment in a formal trial.

Unable to keep watching, many students and Martial Arts Department professors all stood up and began defending Lucia.

In that way, the disciplinary deliberation over Lucia continued for three days, and it could be described as fierce enough to resemble a battlefield.

The hard-liners insisted that she had to be sent to a formal trial, while the moderates argued that it should end with the Disciplinary Committee.

The Headmaster merely sat there, yawning leisurely without taking either side.

The decisive blow in the argument that had split into two factions and sent sparks flying came from an unexpected place.

“Everyone, please look at this.”

Under Professor Dave’s lead, the Black Magic Department professors brought in the results of physical analyses conducted on those who had been believers of the Valak Order.

“I wondered if this might be the case after reading the written statements… but this is astonishing. None of the believers arrested there showed any trace of having forcibly contracted with the Demon Cult Leader.”

“That means…….”

“Although Student Lucia was a Demon Cult Leader, she continued maintaining her reason for years in order to prevent innocent people from being harmed. Valak, the High-Rank Demon who contracted with the student, was the one who arbitrarily increased the number of believers.”

The committee stirred.

“It is unfortunate that the former believers do not remember what happened during the past week due to the side effects of the rampage… but their bodies, as shown through data, do not lie. There is also room to consider extenuating circumstances regarding the motive. She is still a student, so sending this all the way to a formal trial seems excessively harsh treatment, does it not?”

“Is that not merely a conclusion based on the result? If Aron, the wanted criminal from your Dark Empire, had not luckily been there, there could have been countless deaths.”

“That is a reasonable opinion, but it is also an undeniable fact that Student Lucia possesses outstanding talent.”

A strange light entered the eyes of the Black Magic Department professors.

“We also do not want to lose a talented individual who excels in Black Magic.”

With this, even the Black Magic Department professors, who had been watching the situation, began taking Lucia’s side.

On top of that, due to the students’ overwhelming petitions for leniency in Lucia’s punishment, the scales of power that had maintained their balance slowly began to tilt to one side.

The punishment handed down to Lucia was as follows.

Lucia Dorg Baskerville: Formal trial referral suspended indefinitely, 10 days of confinement and suspension, 10-point deduction from all subject grades, compulsory double major in the Black Magic Department

It was leniency so exceptional that calling it unusual would not be enough.

Once the disciplinary proposal passed, applause erupted throughout the observer seats.

Should I say it was typical of hot-blooded teenagers……. It seemed their innocent way of thinking could not accept the idea of a talented and well-liked classmate being expelled just like that.

Even so, Lucia’s face, still unable to shed her guilt, remained shadowed.

In any case, after that long, arduous Disciplinary Committee finally ended, I was left alone and inwardly finished making my own resolve.

Grab.

“…Damon, I spoke with Lucia separately.”

I had expected it, but damn, she was fast.

The Headmaster, who had grabbed the back of my neck, whispered coldly into my ear.

“She said you knew Lucia was a Demon Cult Leader? And that you even caught Defectors with her? Why did you not tell me that in advance? Hm.?”

“…This is not something to discuss here, is it?”

“Oh, good. You said it well.”

***

And so, the Headmaster’s Office.

“Lucia must have conducted herself well.”

“Apparently so.”

“I wondered if it would go all the way to a formal trial, but who knew so many students and professors would oppose it?”

“Heh, that is probably because there were no deaths. If even one person had died, it would not have turned out that way.”

“You know your subtle self-promotion is very obvious, right?”

“When else am I supposed to brag? How many people know that I am Aron?”

Anyway, forget self-promotion or whatever. I wished she would release me first.

“Ahem, ahem. By the way, most respected Headmaster?”

I fully displayed the noble bloodline of the Four Great Houses and spoke to the Headmaster in a rather polished tone.

“What?”

“If you hang a person upside down, blood rushes to the head and leads to death. It has already been about an hour, so I believe my life may be in danger…….”

“Oh my, you were a person? I thought you were a Mad Dog who did not know gratitude and bit anything he saw.”

“…….”

Currently, I had become an ice statue with only my head sticking out and was hanging upside down from the ceiling of the Headmaster’s Office.

Since a considerable portion of the content related to ‘Aron Bayonel’ had been omitted from Lucia’s written statement, I had expected to receive separate punishment.

The Headmaster must have learned the full story of the incident in greater detail through Lucia.

“You encountered the Valak Order Defectors while making undead in the Artificial Rift, did you not?”

“Yes. I found out Senior Lucia was a Demon Cult Leader there and approached her.”

“Hmmm…….”

The Headmaster, seated with her legs crossed as she looked up at me stuck to the ceiling, sharpened her eyes.

“The reason you did not tell me was because you intended to try resolving it alone?”

“Well, yes.”

It was not as though I had wanted to resolve it alone in particular.

If the Headmaster had learned early that Lucia was a Demon Cult Leader, she would have immediately acted to remove Lucia from the situation, and then a lot of the future information I knew would not merely have gone awry; it might have twisted in completely unexpected ways.

In fact, my plan had nearly gone badly off course because of the Headmaster, had it not?

Information about the future was currently the strongest weapon I possessed.

Naturally, it was not good for the future to change beyond the range of my expectations.

“Well, even so, you nearly did resolve it cleanly by yourself.”

Levia looked up at me and smiled bitterly.

“After hearing about the situation, it seemed you would have handled it well on your own if I had not interfered.”

Come to think of it, she had merely sat there without saying much during the Disciplinary Committee too.

It seemed that, because she thought Lucia’s rampage was her own fault, she had shown consideration in her own way.

“Lucia also said she would not tell anyone about the fact that you are Aron. Her behavior at the Disciplinary Committee was quite compliant as well, so she likely did not say that lightly.”

To think she had even looked after things that far. 

As expected, even if her personality was terrible, she was a capable Headmaster.

Hm, should I reconsider the Headmaster’s principles of action?

“If your handling of the matter had been even slightly unsatisfactory, I would have turned you into an ice statue all the way to the top of your head in that state.”

Of course. 

As if a monster would change? 

I take back what I just thought.

“Even taking those things into account, you irritated me quite a bit. As things stand, even I can no longer hide that Aron is hiding in Saengterminum.”

Well… I acknowledged that. 

In that situation, even my existence could not have been concealed.

It was not for nothing that I had suppressed my temper and was obediently accepting this ice statue punishment.

“Furthermore, the demon who made Lucia a Cult Leader……. You are currently under a formal contract with that Valak fellow, are you not? It seems you forcibly terminated other people’s contracts through a contract.”

“As expected, you noticed immediately. As expected of the dignified Headmaster.”

“…Why does that make me angry when it is praise?”

“How about slowly discarding the prejudice you have against me?”

Her intuition was good.

Strictly speaking, the contract I made with Valak was not a formal contract, but a slave contract.

Of course, I was ‘Party A,’ and Valak was ‘Party B.’

Now, even though Valak was a High-Rank Demon, he had become a half-baked demon who could not contract with anyone without my permission.

I had not only contracted with a demon, but had even shackled that demon. 

However, even the Headmaster could not have noticed that much. 

Honestly, I was not confident I could make her understand it either.

“I never imagined that the Security Formula I devised would be impossible to perceive because of a demon’s Authority. I heard the Authority’s name was ‘Reptile Ignorance.’”

During these three days, Levia had also analyzed the formulas on the Demon Order’s altar and strengthened Saengterminum’s Security Formula.

“That Authority will not work. From now on, if you, Valak’s Contractor, use ‘Reptile Ignorance,’ it will be detected immediately.”

The Headmaster confidently lifted the corner of her mouth.

It seemed she thought she would be able to read ‘Reptile Ignorance’ from now on, but what a pity.

How long did she think I had used Black Magic? 

I could interpret a High-Rank Demon’s basic Authority on my own and modify it into something better.

Originally, demons extremely hated having their power invaded or analyzed, so attempting to modify an Authority in this way would not even be possible in the first place.

However, the current Valak had no choice but to obey me, his only Contractor. 

If I invested a few days, modifying it would be plenty possible.

Since I was in confinement for these five days anyway and could not leave the Dormitory, this actually worked out well. 

During that time, I would just dig into a way to modify ‘Reptile Ignorance’ inside the Dormitory.

Around the time I had organized my thoughts in my own way.

“But, Aron Bayonel?”

Levia’s pupils narrowed.

Even though she was far away because I was stuck to the ceiling, the way her eyes flashed was not ordinary.

“That thing you used on Lucia when she became a Corrupted Body… what was it?”