From the very first day of classes, chaos reigned in the school.
As soon as I stepped inside, I could grasp the general situation.
-“I accuse Erica von der Lichtenburg, second-year student of the Imperial University.”
“Haha…”
Not only on the bulletin board but papers were plastered all over the walls.
They all contained the same content.
It was an accusation against Erica’s character.
“What kind of grudge did she earn…?”
I stared at the long text in disbelief for a while.
The accusations being made were as follows.
Erica often makes derogatory remarks about low-ranking nobles and commoners.
Erica makes the students from the cadet branch in Lichtenburg run errands for her without paying them a fair wage.
Erica consumes more than half of the snacks provided in the dormitory all by herself, and so on…
Some claims seemed a bit forced, but some were definitely scandalous enough.
Erica can be quite rude.
-Therefore, I demand the expulsion of Erica von der Lichtenburg. Signed, Selene von Festia.
At the end of the accusation, it was written like this.
Selene von Festia.
She must have been one of the same-year classmates serving Erica.
If she’s willing to betray Erica, what on earth did Erica do?
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s her fault…”
“……?”
Just as I was about to turn around, I spotted a girl tearing down the accusation while nervously glancing around the wall.
Her head turned as if she was checking for anyone, and our eyes met right on.
It was Erica.
Holding the crumpled accusation tightly in her arms, Erica froze as if she had been caught at the crime scene.
“Oh, no! I wasn’t supposed to stick this in places other than the bulletin board! I was just cleaning up for the sake of the environment!”
“Oh really? Since when did you care about the school’s appearance?”
“T-This… Have you read it…?”
“I did. What on earth did you do to Selene to make her act like this?”
“I swear I didn’t do anything! I really didn’t!”
Erica shouted defensively in distress.
Has she ever realized what her faults were…?
As Erica suddenly started to whimper, I could feel the surrounding gazes beginning to gather.
Reluctantly, I decided to take Erica to the Chairwoman’s residence.
The moment the door swung open, I noticed Emilia failing to manage her expression, but thankfully Erica was so dejected that she didn’t catch on.
There was still plenty of time before class.
Even though Erica might have a first period class and would desperately try to squeeze herself in wherever there was an empty slot.
“So, what happened? Explain it to me in detail.”
“Um… no…”
After whimpering for quite some time, Erica finally stopped crying when Emilia brought out cookies, and then she began mumbling as she stuffed her face.
“I don’t know. Things have been strange over at Festia lately. They’ve been bothering our family over trivial matters since some time ago.”
“Wasn’t that your cadet branch?”
“Right. They used to obey us well, but after getting their hands on a gold mine, they suddenly changed their stance. Originally, we had an agreement to deploy Lichtenburg’s soldiers to Festia’s territory in emergencies in exchange for the rights to the gold mine.”
“Did they unilaterally break the verbal contract while it was still in place?”
“Yeah. I never imagined they’d betray us out of the blue, and now our family is in chaos.”
It didn’t seem like it was entirely Erica’s fault.
The accusations against Erica seemed to be just one of many attacks from Festia.
It was hard to believe that the usually cordial Festia would suddenly stab Lichtenburg in the back.
She couldn’t possibly be stupid enough not to realize it was a fight she couldn’t win.
Something smelled fishy.
“Hmm, this is definitely a big deal.”
“But why is Emilia… the attendant here?”
Erica looked back and forth between me and my shoulder, confused.
It seemed my shoulder felt heavy for some reason, as Emilia was now resting her chin on it.
“Is there a problem?”
“No, uh, it seems like there shouldn’t be any… but…”
“Then all’s well.”
“U, um… yes?”
Tight.
Emilia’s arms suddenly wrapped tightly around my neck.
She’s been doing this a lot lately.
Every time a girl comes over, she starts getting extra clingy, forgetting her duties as an attendant to show off.
I couldn’t bring myself to tell her to stop, knowing I’d wronged her so much, so I just quietly endured it.
“This isn’t something Festia did alone. Someone must have instigated this. A bigger puppet master…”
“That would be troublesome. Fight on. Hang in there.”
“W-Wait! Can you help me out?”
“Why should I help? This is a family feud of yours.”
“N-No… If I lose my mind, it’ll be a loss for you too! I’m a genius barrier magician, you know…”
Just as I tried to get up, Erica suddenly dashed forward and grabbed my hand.
Again, she began to plead while sniffling.
For her to say “genius barrier magician” herself…
Her level of self-love was honestly admirable.
“Come on, it’s clearly not a big deal.”
“It’s not a big deal?! I’m about to get expelled!”
“You won’t get expelled. Do you think the professors don’t know how rude you’ve been? They’ve known all along and let it slide. That level of accusation won’t even get you suspension, so don’t worry.”
“R-Really?”
“Yeah. Everyone knows you’ve thrown your manners out the window.”
“Phew… Thank goodness…”
Erica seemed relieved and smiled as she let go of my hand.
The expulsion issue would be fine, and Madam Lichtenburg would handle the conflict with Festia.
Thinking that way, I sent Erica back for the time being.
*
-Erica von der Lichtenburg. 14-day suspension.
“Huh?”
The next day, I couldn’t hide my astonishment when I opened the official letter.
Erica had been suspended.
And two weeks was quite a hefty punishment.
Just imagining her whining again made my head hurt, so I decided to find Ludwig first.
“What’s going on? Are you gracing this humble professor’s research lab with your presence?”
“Professor, I came to ask you something.”
“I’ve heard you’ve even been using casual language with His Majesty. When did I become of higher status than His Majesty?”
“This is an educational institution, and I’m here as a student. What I want to ask is—”
“You’ve come to ask me to cancel your girlfriend’s suspension, haven’t you? I’ll save you some time and reject you right now. Regrettably, there’s no way to cancel her suspension.”
“……”
I hadn’t even opened my mouth when I got hit with a preemptive strike.
Letting out a sigh, I dragged a chair over and sat down in front of Ludwig’s desk.
“I don’t recall saying you could sit.”
“You didn’t say I couldn’t either, Professor. I didn’t come to ask you to cancel her suspension. I actually think it’s quite fitting.”
“What…?”
“Isn’t it great? Just seeing the girl who thought she had everything fall apart and cry with shimmering tears is a sight for sore eyes.”
“Schlus Hainkel, sometimes you freak me out with how I can’t understand you. Right now is one of those times…”
Ludwig’s eyes were twitching with a strange intensity.
Could my Majin’s authority be putting the pressure on him?
Considering Ludwig is a powerful magician, that could very well be.
“I just want to see the results of the committee’s decision.”
“That’s impossible. If you’re a student here, as you say, I can’t show you internal documents.”
“Professor, sometimes you need to know how to compromise.”
“Are you trying to threaten me?”
“Threaten? I’ve glanced over what you’ve been researching before, and it seems you were studying the properties of elixirs, but you haven’t published a single paper on the subject? It looks like you’ve been failing to produce elixirs. Research on elixir properties… If completed, would surely contribute greatly to humanity.”
“Are you trying to bribe me with just elixirs? How low do you think you-”
“I’ll offer you three bottles of elixir.”
“……”
Ludwig’s face contorted in shock.
After glaring at me for a moment—
“Compromise… seems like it might be worth considering.”
“You’ve made a wise choice.”
He extended his right hand towards me.
I firmly shook it.
I couldn’t help but think Ludwig had changed quite a bit.
He wouldn’t have dreamt of accepting bribes before.
Three bottles of elixir.
Of course, I didn’t have them on me right now.
But I never said I’d hand them over immediately.
From the start, Ludwig probably didn’t expect to receive such an astronomical amount all at once.
I decided to take my time gathering the elixirs.
I could ask Aria for a bottle or two and maybe save up some shop coins for another.
“Don’t worry too much. Once I see it, I’ll properly incinerate it.”
“……I’ll hold you to that.”
Ludwig accepted the document I handed him.
It was the committee’s decision regarding Erica von der Lichtenburg.
The document bore yesterday’s date.
I lightly waved goodbye to Ludwig and left the lab with the document.
“Let’s see… ”
Three bottles of elixir.
Thinking back on it, that was quite a hefty expenditure.
I believed the information in here would be worth that expenditure.
As I flipped through the tedious minutes, something caught my eye.
“Found it.”
I had discovered something.
-Erica von der Lichtenburg is accused by Selene von Festia of violating the Magician’s Oath by performing large-scale spells during the civil war in the South, acting not merely as volunteer soldiers but as battle mages. Confirming the facts is difficult.
Finally, the mystery was unraveling.
The accusations plastered all over the bulletin and walls were all a facade.
The actual accusation submitted to the school had a much more lethal blade hidden within it.
No matter how many fools disregard the Magician’s Oath, if caught breaking it, one cannot escape exclusion from the magic community.
If Erica were expelled from the scholarly world, it would be catastrophic for her.
It seemed the school had considered that.
By using the excuse of “difficulty in confirming the facts,” they decided to suspend Erica and bury the incident.
However, the real issue lay elsewhere.
“How did Selene find out about that?”
Very few knew that Erica had cast a massive spell in the civil war in the South.
So how did Selene learn of it…?
I had gathered some valuable information.
It seemed the price for the three bottles of elixirs was justified.
I tossed the document into flames and left the place.
