It wasn’t hard to meet Millia. For some reason, she applied for a living support scholarship.
I casually walked into the administration office and politely greeted everyone. After requesting to speak with Millia regarding the scholarship, I was given a room.
Usually, professors would be in their personal offices or research labs, but there were times when they had to work or attend meetings in the administration office. I timed my visit to catch them during one of those moments.
And consultations between students and staff at the academy like this happened often. The issue, at least to some extent, was that the Finance Director himself came for a scholarship matter.
“Who is this Millia student anyway? Do any professors know her?”
“She’s a civil engineering major. Rank 3 mage.”
“That’s it? That’s why the Finance Director came?”
“Well, she’s supposed to join the student council.”
“Oh.”
That cleared up my questions immediately.
The student council wasn’t anything special. I knew the relationship between the current student council president and the Finance Director.
It wasn’t possible for them not to know. After all, I had only graduated from the administration field two years ago. The professors who taught me back then were still around.
They might still be a bit dazed that I, who used to be their student, was now playing with the life string that was a salary as the Finance Director.
But since I treated my seniors with great respect, no one thought negatively of me. I treated everyone equally in public settings, but especially for the professors who taught me, I had formed very good connections.
Especially after the magic field underwent a shocking reduction in staff, the administration professors were uncharacteristically humble around me.
There’s a clear difference between seeing someone just holding a sword and witnessing them wield it right in front of you.
“Well, if it’s the student council, I can’t help it. We all struggled back in our student days…”
“Honestly, I still can’t believe it. Those two who always caused trouble are now the Finance Director and the student council president? Especially Adam, hmm.”
“He really fooled Cassandra a lot. Saying there was an earthquake during the entrance ceremony and needed to be postponed, or that there was a monster attack during an outdoor practice class, or mentioning there was a traitor at the academy…”
Besides that, the professors accepted my situation because of my relationship with Cassandra. Those two were quite well-known in the administration field.
How many times had I been suggested to see a psychiatrist because of the black history caused by Cassandra?
Eventually, they realized that Cassandra was the cause, but before that, it was an established theory among professors that I had a delusional disorder.
Given that sort of history, it was reasonable for the Finance Director to personally show up for a single student’s scholarship.
From my perspective, it was an event where I could be tied to ‘that’ Cassandra, so I had to be careful.
The professors naturally accepted this and focused on their own work.
“Ah, Finance Director? You called for me…”
“Please come in, Millia.”
As a result, I was able to connect with Millia very naturally.
This meeting would be documented as an official record, but perhaps because of that, no one would suspect anything. I intended to do my utmost to ensure Millia’s true identity didn’t get revealed.
I smiled at the shyly entering Millia and presented her with the scholarship paperwork.
Using formal language to create a sense of familiarity was a bonus.
“I’m Finance Director Adam Keynes. I came this time regarding the scholarship application made by Millia.”
“Is this the living support scholarship? Did it go through…!?”
“First, please take a seat. I believe you don’t have any classes after this, so we can take our time discussing it.”
“… Yes.”
She had just shown a genuinely desperate expression; was it an act? Even though the Wish Church is considered a cult, they wouldn’t give funding to an infiltrator in a hostile territory like the academy.
The scholarship application was likely just an excuse, and she probably planned to carry out various schemes through it. I didn’t know what those would be, though.
After calming the excited Millia down, I had her sit down and offered her some warm tea.
I created the softest and warmest atmosphere I could.
“First, I’ll get to the conclusion. Unfortunately, Millia, you are unable to receive the scholarship at this time.”
“W-why!? What’s wrong!?”
“Your grades, friendships, community service, and attitude scores are all satisfactory, but there are several issues.”
“What issues? I checked all the conditions…!!”
“While the other parts of your application are fine, there are some elements that need to be addressed according to the regulations.”
“Address? What do you mean?”
“Here, in the sections for background and context.”
I slid the scholarship-related document towards Millia. To be precise, it was her scholarship application.
The application had all the necessary fields filled out except for essential parts that were left blank. Still, her good grades and life attitude made her a candidate for the scholarship.
Originally, using the regulations to handle situations like this was the norm.
“B-but the professors said this part doesn’t have to be filled out specifically…”
“That’s solely for convenience. However, according to Regulation 12, Clause 6 concerning scholarships, recipients of the living support scholarship must detail their background or circumstances to determine how essential the support is.”
“Th-that’s….”
“It’s something that could have been easily overlooked, but your case is somewhat unique. I need to verify this personally.”
That was a lie. There were many more unique cases than Millia’s. There were so many students at this academy!
Even if it truly was a unique case, there wouldn’t be a reason for it to escalate to the Finance Director.
What kind of lunatic would request the Finance Director handle a student’s scholarship?
This was merely an excuse. Those familiar with the academy’s paperwork would think, Does that even make sense? But from a student’s perspective, it was different.
Even as a member of the Wish Church, in the end, Millia was just a student who had only entered the academy a little over three months ago. There was no way she could know the intricacies of the academy’s workings that fast.
Millia’s expression was filled with despair… but was it just me or did it seem more like despair in a different sense?
“Don’t be too tense. It seems you’re having trouble filling out the application, which is why I’m here to listen to you directly.”
“Y-you want to talk?”
“Even if it’s about the background or circumstances, it’s quite simple, isn’t it? If what you share is reasonable, the scholarship will be awarded immediately.”
My plan started from here. Approaching Millia under the pretext of the scholarship.
Naturally, you can’t gorge yourself from the first drink of water. With about three weeks left until finals, if I abruptly said, ‘So, you’re from the Wish Church?’ it would all be over.
The reason why she hadn’t written the background or circumstances was easy—there was no way she could openly admit to being from the Wish Church.
Of course, she could fabricate something appropriate, but Grandis Academy was lenient about scholarships. If they said it wasn’t necessary to fill it out, there was no reason to risk writing a lie that could expose her.
This was all because there were so many scholarships available. If it were a genuine high-value scholarship, it would be different, but a living support scholarship wasn’t a huge amount, so it would be easier to pass over lightly.
‘Of course, I’ll have to make something up.’
Then, I would thoroughly investigate the constructed background and circumstances. If the lie were discovered? I would press her. If I found evidence related to the Wish Church? I would confront her with that too.
I must not hint that I already knew about Millia and the Wish Church. It had to be that they made the mistake and got caught.
This would be essential for me to maintain the upper hand while discussing terrorism.
Given my position, where I need to intervene in the progression of the terrorism and control its direction, this was necessary.
However…
“What, uh, I mean…”
“…?”
How should I put it? Millia’s reaction had been odd from earlier.
She seemed genuinely embarrassed and fidgety.
‘If she’s a member of the Church, she must have undergone elite training.’
Even if it felt like she was trying to lead me to let my guard down, there was too much sincerity to it. No matter how much I tried not to be fooled, my senses honed from the Finance Director job whispered to me.
That person was genuinely troubled. It wasn’t an act.
Naturally, I didn’t plan to proceed based on such instincts. I wasn’t going to—until…
“Uh, I came from the Millio Territory!”
“Millio Territory? Where is that? Who’s the lord there?”
“Uh….”
Millio Territory? I didn’t know of any territory by that name within the kingdom. Did she slightly change it from Millia?
More importantly, why was she rambling like this? To provoke my guard or act? This was beyond the realm of acting, enough to raise suspicion even if a regular person were listening.
At that moment, surrounded by doubt, Millia exclaimed, “Actually! I came from the Nocturne Territory!”
“…Ah, I see.”
“Yes! I came after staying there!”
“However, as far as I know, the Nocturne Territory has been decimated due to the Wish Church, and no one currently lives there.”
“…”
Millia, with eyes that seemed as if she had committed a colossal faux pas, fell silent.
If she was going to self-destruct this grandly, it would only be proper for me to engage now.
I abandoned the plans I had and quietly stared at Millia.
“Millia, I’m going to ask you honestly.”
“Um…”
“What exactly is your relationship with the Wish Church?”
I tried to create as pressing a situation as I could, but I was Rank 1 and Millia was a Rank 3 mage. If she wanted to properly shut me up, there was nothing I could do.
That said, I had no problems. I had my trump card hidden within my clothes, and I was protected from afar by the formidable force of the Headmistress.
What would Millia’s response be? Would she deny it outright? Would she try to silence me? Or would she stand her ground?
While I rushed to construct various predictions about how she would react, Millia…
“…Is.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m sorry! As you said, I’m from the Wish Church! Please forgive me!”
“No, uh…”
“I know well what the Church did to the academy in the past, but I’m completely unrelated to it now! What’s more, the Church has significantly fallen apart now!”
“Millia?”
“To be honest, I really think there’s no future for the Church, so I came here to at least get a diploma! It’s also been tough lately with the weird dreams I keep having! I don’t care about scholarships, just please don’t expel me!”
Suddenly, she grabbed my leg and started crying as if begging—not my pants would come undone!
The Headmistress’s formidable ki could protect my body, but it couldn’t stop my pants from coming undone. In the end, even though Millia was Rank 3, she was using all her strength to stop it.
I was so taken aback by her completely unexpected reaction that I froze, holding onto my pants in that moment.
“Adam, I mean, Finance Director! There was suddenly a loud noise—what’s happening?!”
“What’s going on!?”
“Huh…?”
Professors hurried into the room, having heard the commotion, and immediately froze when they saw Millia kneeling while holding my leg, and me awkwardly clutching at my pants.
With confused and contemptuous gazes from the professors now falling onto me…
‘Ah, .’
I suddenly felt like I needed a cigarette…
*
It had been several days since Ruth became the Vice President of the Student Council at Adam’s suggestion. Ruth had gathered various information during that time.
Of course, most of it wasn’t particularly useful, but it was better than having none at all.
Although he was simply the Vice President in name, he hadn’t even set foot in the student council room and instead met with the council president separately at cafes several times.
Lately, what Ruth had been particularly watching was the Wish Church.
‘At the very least, those fanatic bastards need to be dealt with somehow.’
The Wish Church caused quite the stir at the academy. While their scale wasn’t large, Ruth clearly remembered their fanaticism.
And the infiltrator from the Wish Church, Millia.
Recently, she had become close with Beatrice, raising more causes for concern.
‘For some reason, she seems different from the personality I know…’
They had teamed up during the survival exam, where Ruth had been on high alert, yet Millia seemed nothing like the fanatic he remembered.
Unlike that burning loyalty and ambition towards the Church, she appeared much more timid and anxious.
If he assumed it was an act, it would have made sense, but he had observed her constantly meeting with Beatrice, and her demeanor remained the same. It felt far too consistent to think it was just an act.
Above all, since the Wish Church had the characteristic of granting wishes, they were quite wealthy. Oddly enough, it wasn’t the upper class they gathered but the lower class, squeezing donations from them, and while that method seemed inefficient, they were still stacking money at every branch.
Previously, Ruth had killed the fanatics of the Wish Church, after which he had either shared or effectively utilized their immense wealth…
‘Is that poor-looking facade also an act?’
Even after acquiring wealth from the Ash Salt Mine, Ruth was used to being thrifty.
Thus, he often bumped into Millia since she frequently shopped at discount stores and grocery shops. Those weren’t suitable places for an esteemed member of a wealthy church to be visiting.
In her state of pretending to be poor, it would make sense to use her ample resources for conducting more reconnaissance activities instead.
Though it was puzzling, tracking Millia’s activities was easy, and he was following her.
‘Wait…!!’
While he was momentarily distracted, Millia vanished. When he asked another student, they informed him that she has been summoned to the administration office regarding scholarship matters.
At that moment, Ruth felt a surge of certainty. There was no way a member of the Wish Church, who had more money than they knew what to do with, would need a living support scholarship. It was surely related to the Church’s activities.
Hastily packing his Dark Sword, he cloaked himself in shadows and hurried to the administration office.
If luck was on his side, he might be able to catch the church’s tail here. However…
“Finance Director, what on earth is going on…? What are you doing with Millia?”
“It’s inappropriate to refer to you like that, but Adam, this is disappointing.”
“Are you seriously… handling a student within your office?”
“It’s a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding.”
“………….”
What caught Ruth’s eye was Adam, the person he had been cautious about, awkwardly trying to hold up his pants as Millia knelt, holding onto his leg.
Why? Why was Adam…? What was he doing with that fanatic?
Just as his thoughts came to a halt for a moment, Ruth felt an intense mix of defeat, betrayal, anger, and relief upon seeing Adam’s face again after overhearing a conversation between the Headmistress and Chloe.
Quietly, he drew the blade of the Dark Sword.
If Adam was indeed involved with that fanatic…
‘Then…’
It would be better to end Adam’s life and sacrifice himself. If Adam dies, the Headmistress would die as well, and the world wouldn’t burn down.
Was this a side effect of the Dark Sword? Had he become too extreme?
Ruth thought while caressing the hilt of the Dark Sword, his eyes…
…had turned a dark shade of death.
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