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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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The main gate of the Imperial University. Erwin walked casually towards the checkpoint. As always.
“Erwin Rosenthal.”
“Yes. You may pass.”
Click!
The moment she passed through, Erwin felt a tightening sensation around her wrists. Startled, she turned to find handcuffs clamped around them. The potent enchantment on the cuffs immediately sealed her magic.
“What the—”
“Yes, Professor. Erwin Rosenthal, apprehended at the main gate. Will you be coming personally?”
“What is the meaning of this?!”
“Orders from the Head Professor. Please cooperate.”
“This isn’t cooperation, this is an abduction!”
The guard was unyielding.
No matter how she struggled, Erwin’s arms were easily twisted and pinned.
Five minutes passed with her face pressed against the wall. In the distance, Head Professor Ludwig approached. He always had a somber air, but today, he seemed especially grim. He resembled a reaper come to collect her soul.
Erwin shivered.
“Erwin Rosenthal. Explain your whereabouts for the past two days.”
“W-Well… I was… celebrating with friends… all day…”
“Give me the address. And the names of these friends. I’ll be verifying your alibi immediately.”
“…”
Her mind went blank.
She could concoct an excuse for Professor Sergei, who trusted her implicitly, but Head Professor Ludwig would see right through it.
“Y-You should at least tell me what’s going on!”
“You know perfectly well what’s going on. You’re the clever little thing who helped unleash Untier and plotted to assassinate the professors, then ran away.”
“Ugh…”
Ludwig leaned closer, and Erwin hiccuped.
This wasn’t suspicion, it was certainty. There had to be a way out.
If she claimed she’d been lying before and offered a proper alibi now…
“You can stay silent if you wish. We can simply take a blood sample. That will tell us if you’re one of those vermin infused with a Majin’s power.”
“W-What if I refuse to give a blood sample?”
“Then we’ll take it by force.”
“That’s illegal!”
“Any investigative method is legal when dealing with a prime suspect who can’t provide a credible alibi.”
The Head Professor pulled a needle from his pocket. She was doomed. She hadn’t constructed a perfect alibi for the past two days.
How much did the Investigation Department know? When did they think she’d disappeared? She couldn’t fabricate an alibi without that information. Even if she knew, her mind was a blank slate, incapable of coherent thought.
As the needle approached her finger, Erwin squeezed her eyes shut.
“Head Professor. Release her.”
“Schlus Hainkel…”
A hand on her shoulder made her jump. She turned to see Schlus Hainkel standing there.
What was this? Was he cutting her loose?
Erwin stared at him, dumbfounded.
“She’s a suspected terrorist who fled the scene. Let the Investigation Department handle this.”
“Erwin has an alibi.”
“An alibi? We’ve had checkpoints at every intersection on the border of the new district for the past two days. This graduate student never passed through. Can you elaborate on her whereabouts?”
“Yes. She was in the old district the entire time, which is why she didn’t pass through any checkpoints.”
“Where in the old district? Give me an address.”
“The Serena Motel. You won’t find any witnesses who saw us there, by the way.”
“And why is that?”
“Because we both used magic to disguise ourselves.”
“And why would you do that?”
“Because it would be problematic if rumors spread that a knight directly under His Majesty’s command spent two days locked in a seedy motel room with a woman.”
“…”
The Head Professor finally stopped his questioning and closed his mouth. Erwin’s head swiveled back and forth, trying to understand the exchange.
The Head Professor glared at the impassive Schlus Hainkel, then—
“Very well. I can hardly arrest and forcibly draw blood from someone with an alibi provided by one of His Majesty’s knights. You’re no longer a suspect, Erwin.”
“Oh…”
Click.
With a sneer, the Head Professor flicked his wrist, and the handcuffs unlocked, clattering to the ground.
As Erwin rubbed her aching wrists, Schlus grabbed her arm and pulled her away.
“Ow! That hurts!”
“Are you insane? Walking through the main gate like that.”
“Then what? Was I supposed to dig a tunnel?”
“You should have contacted Professor Sergei and requested his protection. The Investigation Department is frantically searching for the escaped culprit. The only people at the Imperial University who can protect you are Professor Sergei and myself.”
“Well, thanks for the alibi, anyway…”
She offered her gratitude, but Schlus simply gave her a strange look.
She replayed the conversation in her head, trying to understand his reaction, then—
“Oh my god! You… you crazy bastard! Who would go to a motel with you?! And for two days?!”
“Quiet. It’s already done.”
“Ugh…!”
The implication of his alibi hit her, and her face flushed crimson. Embarrassment quickly turned to rage.
“I’m not letting you get away with this.”
“Your siblings are adorable. Robin and Louise, was it?”
“You… you… you’re despicable…!”
As she was about to yell, Schlus’s hand clamped over her mouth, and he shoved her against the wall. His fingers pressed against her tongue, preventing any sound from escaping.
Footsteps approached from the other side of the wall, then receded. Once they were gone, he removed his hand.
“Gasp!”
“You still haven’t learned your place. You’re not my employee. You’re my servant. You will obey my every command. Understood?”
“Ugh…”
“If this happens again, your siblings will pay the price. There won’t be a second warning. Understood? Answer me.”
“…”
“Good.”
She nodded vigorously, and he finally released her with a faint smile.
This man only saw her as a tool. His actions, seemingly for her benefit, were simply a means to an end, securing a useful spy. Erwin felt foolish and pathetic for having momentarily felt grateful.
“By the way, are you sure this will work?”
“What do you mean?”
“What if they ask for specifics? You look like a virgin who’s never even been inside a motel… Won’t they see right through you?”
Schlus Hainkel stopped in his tracks.
He turned around, his expression annoyed. It seemed she’d struck a nerve. No one would ask Schlus Hainkel for details about that, would they? But it was enough to bruise his ego.
Erwin felt a fleeting sense of satisfaction.
“Then let’s prepare for those questions.”
“Huh? How?”
“By recreating the alibi. We’ll spend two days together in a cheap motel. Then we won’t need to fabricate anything. We can simply tell them exactly what happened.”
“…”
Schlus Hainkel stepped closer, his face inches from her. Erwin’s ears burned as she turned away. She couldn’t meet his gaze.
She hated the emptiness in his eyes as he casually suggested such a thing.
“Whether I’m a virgin or not… we can confirm that ourselves, can’t we?”
“Th-That…”
“I was joking. If we spend two days in a motel, your siblings will starve.”
“…”
“Don’t provoke me again.”
With that final warning, Schlus Hainkel straightened his tie and walked away. The tension drained from Erwin’s body, and her legs gave way.
She slumped against the wall, her head hanging low.
“That bastard…”
– I told you, I can hear you.
Right.
She didn’t even have the right to complain behind his back. Tears welled up in her eyes again.
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“Sigh…”
How many times had he wanted to kill Schlus Hainkel?
Ludwig took a drag of his cigar and sighed heavily. The Imperial University had been attacked twice by the same group.
Once from the outside, allowing them to infiltrate, and once from the inside, by a traitor. Both times, their target had been Schlus Hainkel. They clearly saw him as a threat and wanted him eliminated.
Yet, Schlus was being strangely uncooperative with the investigation.
Of course, his defense of Sergei’s assistant could be genuine. If one believed the absurd notion that Schlus Hainkel, a knight with a commoner attendant, would seduce a graduate student and take her to a seedy motel to satisfy his lust.
Even if it were true, Schlus’s attitude was odd. There was no concrete evidence, but he seemed to know more than the Investigation Department and was withholding information.
“Am I being paranoid…?”
Schlus Hainkel’s constant posturing made him seem omniscient.
Ludwig shook his head, dismissing his suspicions.
Accusing a decorated hero and a knight directly under the Emperor’s command without evidence could backfire spectacularly. Schlus Hainkel was now too powerful for the Head Professor of the Imperial University to touch.
“The artifact is the real problem.”
The artifact that could detect a Majin’s power in blood. It was practically useless.
It worked perfectly if he could obtain a blood sample, but those infused with a Majin’s power wouldn’t willingly offer their blood.
“We need mandatory nationwide testing.”
The artifact was useless without forced blood collection. He needed to petition the Emperor for legal grounds for mandatory blood testing.
Ludwig clenched his fists, his resolve hardening.
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