Volume 6
Chapter 20
It all began in the bustling commercial district, which was filled with the light of people's lamps. In Arcazam, even after the sun had set and darkness had enveloped the city, this commercial district alone was brightly lit and crowded with people, and the noise never stopped. The incident occurred in a place that showed a different side of itself at night, as traveling merchants and adventurers sought out alcohol. According to the testimonies of the people at the scene, it had started from a very minor argument.
"Those refined
young gentlemen will surely get scared and run away as soon as they have to
fight a magic beast."
A group of people, who
seemed to be traveling adventurers, mocked a boy in a Solminati Academy
uniform. In agreement with those words, about five adventurers heckled the
student, saying, "That's right, that's right." According to the
story, they were all fledgling adventurers of D to E rank. For them, students
from Solminati Academy, who would be appointed as executives in various
countries after graduation and would immediately rise to prominence as
adventurers, were probably an eyesore, like a thorn in their side.
However, what they
were saying was nonsense to anyone who had enrolled in Solminati Academy.
Graduating from Solminati Academy was not easy. It was relatively easy to get
in to gather talented students, but less than 10% of them would actually grow
to a point where they could be active on the front lines. In other words, the
adventurers' remarks were nothing more than pure jealousy.
"Hmph..."
The student responded
to the adventurers with a mocking smile. The adventurers, who were drunk and
quick to pick a fight, had no patience for such an expression, which could only
be taken as a provocation.
The adventurers' heads
filled with blood in an instant, and they attacked the student while cursing
him. The bar was immediately filled with angry shouts and noise, and it
escalated into a huge brawl with chairs, food on plates, liquor bottles, and
cups flying everywhere. The flustered owner asked for help from the military
police who were patrolling nearby, but what the arriving military police saw
were the adventurers who had been beaten down and were crawling on the ground.
Among the cowering adventurers, some had their arms and legs twisted in
unnatural directions, and groans of pain echoed eerily throughout the bar.
The military police immediately
tried to arrest the student and the adventurers who had caused the commotion,
but the student resisted the military police, asking why he had to be arrested
when he was the one who had been attacked. He threw a nearby chair, and when
the military police flinched, he knocked out one of them and escaped. The
military police immediately pursued the student, but as the student ran away,
he knocked out the military police one by one and disappeared.
It was an assault case
by a student of Solminati Academy. As a result, almost 10 people, including the
military police, were harmed. Among the people who had been knocked out, there
were some who had suffered serious injuries, such as broken bones. The fact
that the military police, who were in charge of maintaining public order, had
been defeated, spread throughout Arcazam like a huge ripple. The military
police, with their pride on the line, conducted an investigation, and a student
from Solminati Academy was arrested the next morning.
That student was Nozomu
Bountis, a student of the 3rd-grade, 10th-class.
***
"What the hell is
going on?!"
Mars's angry shout
echoed in front of the main gate of Solminati Academy. The students around them
widened their eyes and paid attention to the sudden loud voice, but Mars was so
furious that he didn't even notice their gazes.
Early in the morning,
the military police had suddenly stormed into the student dormitory. The
students, who were in a state of chaos from the sudden event, had not even had
time to understand the situation before the military police had captured Nozomu
and taken him away. Naturally, that fact spread throughout the student
dormitory in an instant, and then throughout the academy when the students
arrived. When Mars arrived at school and was puzzled by Nozomu's absence, he
asked Feo, who also lived in the boys' dormitory, and heard that Nozomu had
been suddenly arrested.
"I don't know
either! I don't have enough information to understand what's going on!"
"M-Mars-kun, calm
down..."
Tima, who was afraid,
placed her hand on Mars's arm, who was about to grab Feo, to try and calm him
down.
"Ah...
s-sorry."
"It's okay, don't
worry about it."
Perhaps his head had
cooled down a little from the thin, cool touch of her hand, and Mars pulled
back his hand that was about to grab Feo, with an embarrassed expression. Feo
waved his hand as if to say, "Don't worry about it," to Mars, who had
an apologetic expression.
"...So, what is
it? I couldn't figure out the details because the stories that are spreading
throughout the academy are all over the place."
Mars and the others
nodded at Shina, who was putting her hand to her mouth and thinking. The story
that Nozomu had caused an assault case and had been arrested by the military
police had led to various speculations, and to be honest, they couldn't get a
clear picture of the whole situation. The only thing that was consistent in all
the stories was that Nozomu had caused an assault case in the commercial
district last night.
"Now that you
mention it, it seems the military police came to the girls' dormitory last
night. It seems they asked the dormitory head, who was still awake, about
something..."
"Now that you
mention it, there were more military police around the store than usual."
"It seems the
story about a Solminati Academy student causing a violent incident has already
spread throughout the town. I overheard people talking about it on my way
here."
Shina added to
Mimuru's and Mars's words, who had just remembered something. An elf who could
hear small sounds in the forest also had an excellent sense of hearing. She had
probably overheard the townspeople, who were peeking at the students on their
way to school, whispering rumors so they couldn't be heard.
Considering that the
incident occurred in the crowded commercial district, it was understandable
that the story spread so quickly. That being said, Mars and the others couldn't
just take this story at face value.
Irisdina, who had been
silent until now, also had a stern expression on her face, as if she had chewed
on a bitter bug. Her tightly clenched fist seemed to be a testament to her
anger.
"The story has
spread throughout the town, so the teachers have probably heard about it as
well."
"Yeah, I'm sure
of that."
"Then, let's
start there."
With her long black
hair fluttering in the wind, Irisdina turned on her heel and started walking
toward the school building. Her footsteps, which were not her usual graceful
ones, were rough, showing her anger.
***
An assault case by a
student of Arcazam. Moreover, the culprit was a student who had recently started
to attract attention in the academy, and he had even beaten up the military
police.
Jihad, who had
received the report, was glaring at the letter from Mauzu, the captain of the
Arcazam Security Force, at his desk in his silent office. Next to him were Inda
and Anri, who had been called in for this matter. Inda, who was standing by
Jihad's side, was also looking at the report on the desk with eyes of suspicion
and confusion.
"What in the
world is going on here...?"
Inda's choked voice,
which showed her turmoil, echoed in the office.
This incident was also
hard for Jihad to believe. He hadn't spent much time with Nozomu Bountis, but
the swordsmanship he had witnessed during the mock battle was straight and
unwavering. It was true that a "swordsman's intuition" was not a very
convincing argument. However, when he had first had a mock battle with Nozomu
and had witnessed his katana techniques and Ki techniques, he could tell from
the surprise of the people around him that he had almost never used his techniques
in his academy life until now. He could also guess the reason for that, and his
nature of not wanting to show off his power.
Considering all that,
he couldn't accept the story that he had gotten into a fight with traveling
adventurers who had provoked him and had beaten up the military police who had
come to stop them, just as the report said.
"I don't know.
Looking at the report and the sketch of the culprit, there are no factors that
would deny that the culprit is Nozomu Bountis. However..."
Jihad once again
looked at the report from Mauzu, the captain of the Security Force. He had
understood Mauzu's personality when they had worked together on the Triclops
subjugation mission before. He was a steady and serious person with good
manners, so he would not give them a false report. The carefully prepared
report also had a sketch that was made from the testimonies of the military
police and the citizens, and the drawing looked very similar to Nozomu's face.
"I am~ convinced
that Nozomu-kun is not the culprit~."
Anri, who had been
watching the groaning Jihad from the side, stated with conviction that Nozomu
was not the culprit. Hearing her words, Jihad looked at her as if to ask,
"What is your reason?"
"Well~."
Just as Anri was about
to answer Jihad's silent question, the door of the office was suddenly opened,
and seven students came in one after another. The one leading them was
Irisdina, who had a sullen look on her face.
"Excuse us."
"Irisdina-san?
And Shina-san and the others..."
Inda's eyes widened at
Irisdina and the others, who had entered without knocking, but she immediately
returned to her usual sharp face and tried to tell them to leave.
"We are in the
middle of an important discussion. If you have business, please come back later..."
People were seriously
injured in this incident, and it had honestly become too big for the academy to
handle alone. To avoid unnecessary chaos, they needed to deal with this matter
quickly and accurately. Of course, that "deal with it" included not only
expelling the culprit, but also having him face justice as a criminal.
"It's about that
important discussion. We are convinced that Nozomu is not the culprit of this
incident."
"What is your
basis for that?"
Irisdina accepted
Inda's interrogation with her chest held high. She had already heard the truth
of the rumor from Nozomu. She already had a general idea of what had happened.
However, to get solid evidence, Irisdina and the others needed to get
information.
"To confirm that,
please tell us the details. And we want you to listen to what we have to
say."
"I think that's a
good idea~. I think what Irisdina-san and the others are trying to say is
probably the same as what I'm thinking~."
Anri also agreed with
Irisdina's words. She had also been one of the people who had heard the truth
of the rumor that had spread in the academy before from Nozomu. They were
thinking the same thing.
"...Very well.
Let's start from the beginning."
Jihad slowly began to
tell the story of the assault case that had happened in the commercial district
last night. Irisdina and the others were listening intently, making sure not to
miss a single word of Jihad's, while also sincerely worrying about their friend
who wasn't there.
***
Because of the assault
case that Nozomu Bountis was said to have caused in the commercial district at
night, the academy was in a state of chaos all day. The 3rd-grade,
in particular, had split into two in their evaluation of Nozomu, and various
speculations were running rampant in various classes.
However, there were
two main trends in these speculations. One was that he had gotten carried away
after being acknowledged by Jihad-sensei, and the other was that this was a
case of misidentification with which he had nothing to do. In the 3rd-grade
1st-class, too, various speculations were flying around, with these
two as the main themes.
In that classroom,
Camilla was silently looking at her own palms, as if to ignore the noise around
her. Her two painful hands, wrapped in bandages, were reflected in Camilla's
hollow eyes. She had been confronted with the fact that the truth she had believed
in until now was a complete lie, and all the words she had directed at Nozomu
had bounced back and were deeply piercing her heart.
"Camilla, your
hands... are you okay?"
Lisa, who was nearby,
asked Camilla with a worried look on her face. Lisa's face was pale, and there
were dark circles under her eyes. Her normally shiny crimson hair was now
faded. She was exhausted from the impolite looks and rumors that were being
directed at her recently. She probably hadn't gotten much sleep last night
either. And now there was this commotion. It was clear that this would put an
even bigger burden on Lisa's heart.
"I-I burned
myself a little while cooking. I'm fine, I've already treated them
well..."
Camilla felt a sense
of gratitude toward Lisa, who was worried about her even though she was not in
a good state herself, but Lisa's kindness only gouged out her heart even more
deeply. Because she was also responsible for the reason Lisa was in such a
state. But even as she was tormented by regret and guilt, Camilla found it hard
to tell Lisa the truth.
Nozomu didn't
betray Lisa. The one who betrayed her was...
The words that had
risen to her throat were somehow stopped, and only a voiceless air was pushed
out from her lungs. And each time, the guilt in the depths of Camilla's heart
would swell up.
"So, what in the
world happened this morning?"
"I don't know,
Nozomu probably got carried away and did something stupid, right?"
Her classmates'
arbitrary speculations came pouring into Camilla's ears like a torrent. They
hadn't received any detailed information about the incident from this morning,
and there had been no announcement from the academy. All they had were
speculations, but Camilla was convinced that the story was a complete lie.
Nozomu had been
innocent from the very beginning. The one who had set him up was Lisa's other
childhood friend, and now that she knew the truth, Camilla couldn't think of
anyone else besides Ken Notice who would try to get rid of Nozomu.
"Lisa..."
"............"
Lisa must have also
heard the speculations of her classmates, but she remained silent and said
nothing. However, contrary to her expressionless face, tears were welling up in
Lisa's eyes, and they were trembling.
Why was she making
such a face? How could she make it so that she wouldn't make such a face?
Seeing her exhausted best friend, only anxiety welled up in her.
As the two of them
faced each other in silence, a shadow approached them.
"You two, what
were you talking about?"
Ken approached Lisa
and the others with his usual smile. He didn't seem to find it strange at all
that Nozomu was the culprit. Right now, his voice was just annoyed her.
" Come to think of it, it seems Nozomu did something stupid again. He
probably got carried away just because things were going a little well for
him."
"?!"
Camilla was instantly
furious at Ken's words. What are you saying?! You're the one who covered
everything with lies, deceived the person you were supposed to protect, and
pushed her away from happiness! But that anger immediately turned into a sharp
arrowhead and pierced Camilla's heart. Camilla gritted her teeth to endure the
pain and looked down as if to cower, trying to hide her expression.
"Camilla. Are you
really okay...?"
"Camilla has been
a little unwell since yesterday."
The sense of
self-reproach that was welling up in her and the furious anger that was the
opposite of it were like a high tide, wearing down Camilla's heart. And like
blood flowing from a festering wound, a chill attacked Camilla's entire body.
Ken, who had glanced
at the silent Camilla, ran his hand through his shining blond hair and showed a
satisfied smile.
"Well,
fortunately, since Nozomu did something stupid again, the people who were
defending him will probably realize that Lisa was right."
Ken's attitude was as
if he no longer had any worries, but Lisa's face still looked unwell.
"What's going to
happen to Nozomu...?"
"Expulsion is a
certainty. But I think it's fine, isn't it? He wasn't here for the past two
years anyway, so it'll be the same even if he's not here now. Even without him,
there are 'friends' who will lend a hand..."
"?!"
Ken looked at Camilla,
who was still looking down. The moment she heard his words, which were said in
an excited tone, Camilla's swirling emotions exploded like a raging volcano.
She kicked her chair and ran out of the classroom. She couldn't take it
anymore. If she had stayed there, she would have been crushed by the sense of
self-reproach and powerlessness that was welling up inside her.
"Camilla!?"
"H-hey! What are
you doing? Get back to the classroom!"
She heard Lisa's and
the teacher's flustered voices from behind her, but Camilla didn't stop. She
couldn't stop. Camilla, who had run nonstop, went out of the school building
and reached the central park, where she fell to her knees on the grass as if
she had collapsed.
"Uuuuu!"
Recalling the image of
the person she had set up, Camilla cried, suppressing her voice, in a corner of
the central park where there were almost no people. Her cries were as if she
was begging for forgiveness, but there was no one there who would reply to
them. The groans of her crying in the corner of the park didn't reach anyone
and were swallowed by the sound of the wind.
Eventually, Camilla
slowly got up, but she didn't return to the academy and just disappeared into
the noise of the town. She was completely exhausted, her footsteps were
faltering, and her eyes were somewhat hollow.
***
That day, Nozomu was
awakened by a noisy "clatter" and the presence of many people
approaching. He noticed that the dormitory was filled with a tense atmosphere.
Nozomu, who was wondering what was going on, reached for his beloved katana,
which he always kept close by, and checked his surroundings.
He could hear the
sound of metal rubbing against each other, "clatter, clatter," and
multiple footsteps from downstairs. Eventually, the unpleasant sounds stopped
in front of his room, and they were intently checking the situation inside. He
was on guard, wondering if an intruder had entered, and he crouched down and
reached for the hilt of his katana.
However, the next
moment, what came into Nozomu's eyes were the military police who had broken
down the door and had entered the room.
"He's here!
There's no mistake!"
"Alright, capture
him!"
The people he had
thought were intruders were the military police, who were supposed to be
maintaining public order, and for some reason, they were trying to capture him.
Nozomu, who was surprised and hesitated whether to fight back, was completely
slow in his initial response. The military police jumped at Nozomu without a
word. And he was captured and taken away by the military police without knowing
why, and he was locked up in a cold iron-barred cell.
And now, after being
held for several hours, Nozomu was being interrogated by Mauzu, the captain of
the Security Force, himself.
In the dim
interrogation room, Nozomu and Mauzu were facing each other. He was a man in
his prime, about the same age as Jihad, and he looked calm and polite, but the
man in front of Nozomu had a poker face as if to hide his anger. The sound of
him tapping the desk with a pen, in an unpleasant way, occasionally echoed in
the silent room. Mauzu, who was staring intently at Nozomu as if to interrogate
him, slowly opened his mouth.
"So, I'll ask you
again. What in the world were you doing yesterday?"
"Like I've said
many times, I was feeling unwell and was sleeping in my dormitory room."
The same exchange,
which had been repeated so many times in this interrogation room today that it
was stupid to count, began again.
"In other words,
you were alone."
His tone was to
confirm, but the words behind it were that he had already concluded that Nozomu
was the culprit.
"I'm
innocent."
Nozomu held his chest
high and insisted on his innocence, even as he was being pressured by Mauzu,
who had a frown on his face and a well-built body.
"But there's no
one to testify to your innocence. And the military police and the residents who
were near the scene saw your face clearly. Are you really telling the
truth?"
But Mauzu laughed at
Nozomu's claim and glared at Nozomu with narrowed eyes. Mauzu had no intention
of letting the culprit who had injured his important comrades and subordinates
get away with it, and there were military police who had actually seen the
culprit's face at the scene. They had also, to a certain extent, identified the
escape route from the testimonies, and had also gotten a testimony from a resident
who had seen a student from Solminati Academy enter the boys' dormitory late at
night. No matter how much Nozomu insisted that he didn't do it, Mauzu and the
others had already gathered enough testimonies.
But Nozomu had no
intention of dealing with such a baseless false accusation. He held his chest
high as if to repel Mauzu's glare. Mauzu frowned for a moment when Nozomu
glared back at him. Mauzu, who had his comrades injured, showed a slight
displeasure at Nozomu's defiant attitude, but he took a big breath as if to
pull himself together.
"...If that's the
attitude you're going to take, then it can't be helped."
He finished writing
the statement and called in the military police who were waiting outside the
room. He had judged that it was pointless to listen to Nozomu anymore and
decided to keep him in the cell until he was judged by the proper law.
The military police
who had entered the interrogation room grabbed Nozomu's arm. With his arms
firmly held, he was made to stand up from the chair and was pulled toward the
door leading out of the room.
"In any case,
I've already properly reported this to the academy. You won't be able to avoid
expulsion either way."
"...Do you know
what 'Water Mirror Heart Mask' is?"
The words Nozomu said
as he was leaving echoed in Mauzu's ears. But before Mauzu could reply to him,
Nozomu's figure had disappeared behind the door.
***
Nozomu, who had been
taken away, was once again confined to a cell surrounded by iron bars and stone
walls, and he was enduring the gaze of the military police who were watching
him intently.
As he sat on the cold
stone floor, Nozomu thought about the person who had probably put him in this
cell. The person who had put him here was undoubtedly 'him'. He didn't receive
negative emotions from the underclassmen much recently, but there were still
many among his classmates who didn't have good feelings toward him. No, now
that Nozomu's skill had been re-evaluated and he had been acknowledged by
Jihad, it was very possible that he was receiving jealousy and anger from
places he couldn't see. However, Nozomu could only think of one person who
would try to completely get rid of him to this extent.
"Ken..."
He said the name of
his former friend. The person who had set him up, even though they had sworn to
protect the same woman. Ken was probably trying to get him expelled by pinning
this false accusation on him to completely get rid of him from the academy.
Nozomu's fists were clenched tightly. An anger that made his guts feel like
they were boiling welled up.
Thump.
"!"
At that moment,
Nozomu's heart throbbed violently. At the same time, a jet-black hatred slowly
seeped out from the depths of his chest.
Grrrr...
Along with a growl that
echoed in the abyss, a fierce pain ran through Nozomu's head. His breathing
became ragged, and sweat dripped down like a waterfall.
"Ugh!!"
Nozomu crouched on the
stone floor, his hand clenched tightly over his chest, desperately fighting
against the hatred that was trying to wash away his reason. Eventually, his
violently throbbing heart slowly calmed down, and the polluted anger that had
seeped out began to disappear. What was left was a strangely melancholic sense
of loneliness. It might have been the remnants of the friendship with Ken that
had remained in Nozomu.
The fact that Ken had
taken such an action again meant that he was probably planning on repeating the
same thing. He couldn't allow that. Nozomu started to think of a way to prove
his innocence. To do that, he had to prove that it was impossible for him to
have been at the scene of the crime.
"Hah..."
He closed his eyes,
took a big breath, and changed his mood that had been sinking into the past.
If he considered what Mauzu
had said during the interrogation, Ken had probably been using "Water
Mirror Heart Mask" until he returned to the dormitory. In that case, the
only way to overturn the testimonies was to prove his alibi, but Nozomu was
sleeping in his dormitory room when the incident occurred, and no one had
visited him, so it was impossible to prove his alibi.
To be honest, Nozomu
couldn't prove his innocence alone, and even if he wanted to find someone to
prove it, he couldn't do so in a cell.
"This is a
problem..."
It would be best to
contact his friends and have them lend him a hand, but he couldn't seem to
contact them from inside the cell. All of Nozomu's tools and weapons had been
confiscated, and since this cell was built underground, there was only one
staircase leading to the ground. On top of that, the military police were
guarding the entrance.
Even if he were to
break out by force, it would be a bad idea to release his Ability Suppression
in a town like this, and he wasn't going to be executed immediately anyway.
However, it was also hard to believe that Nozomu, who had no experience in
escaping from a cell, could do so without using force.
He might have no
choice but to be confined to this cell for a while. A careless escape would be
a bad move, and if he were to do so, he would be giving Ken a perfect
opportunity to get rid of him under the pretense of "apprehending a criminal." Even if he were to break out of the
cell, it would be a last resort, and this was not the time to act in a hurry.
However, there were a
mountain of things to think about. While Nozomu was groaning and lost in
thought, a military police officer came down to the basement with an unpleasant
look on his face and approached the cell Nozomu was in.
"Hey, you have a
visitor."
"A visitor?
Who... Irisdina and the others?!"
The military police
officer frowned at Nozomu's voice, which had regained its vigor. The military
police officer's blunt attitude was probably because he thought Nozomu had
injured his comrades, but he might be able to get some information from this.
Nozomu was thinking
that, but the next words the military police officer said made him tilt his
head again.
"It's your
girlfriend. Jeez, why would she come for a guy like this..."
"...Huh? Girlfriend?"
The military police
officer said only that to Nozomu and went back, with his shoulders stiff. On
the other hand, Nozomu was dazed, unable to understand what the military police
officer had said. He didn't have a girlfriend now. Who could it be?
As if to answer
Nozomu's question, footsteps could be heard coming from the stairs that the
military police officer had just come down from. The light streaming in from a
small skylight with iron bars was hiding the figure of the shadow that was
approaching like a curtain.
When the approaching
shadow was illuminated by the light, Nozomu's eyes widened in surprise.
"Nozomu, are you
okay?"
"Camilla...?"
It was his former
friend who had hated him like an enemy. It was Camilla, Lisa's best friend, who
was standing there with a somewhat hollow expression.
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