“It’s true… then.”
“Hehe. That’s correct. Student Ryu is currently working with me.”
Yuria swept her hair behind her ear as she spoke.
I had suspected as much ever since the academy contacted me late at night, but here we were.
The purpose of the academy’s communication was indeed about the Guild Leader.
‘Surely I had asked them not to cause trouble or get discovered, didn’t I?’
Though Yuria appeared calm on the outside, the bitterness inside her was undeniable.
She had just thought that with the Leader now enrolled as a student at the academy, they would make an excellent source of information going forward.
And yet, within days of assigning the task, they were already caught.
“Understood. Since it’s late, I’ll relay the details to Student Ryu… no, Ryu, tomorrow.”
“…Um.”
“Yes?”
“Ahhh, no. Understood.”
“Yes, I apologize for disturbing you so late.”
The voice of Professor Amillion, transmitted through the communication device, cut off.
“Phew.”
Yuria sighed deeply as soon as the transmission ended.
She wanted to ask what was going on at the academy, but barely managed to hold her tongue.
Had the Leader revealed their true identity directly to a professor at the academy?
‘Well, telling the head of the St. Claire family is forgivable.’
The head of the St. Claire family was, after all, an outsider to the academy, so it wasn’t too concerning.
But revealing themselves to a professor at the academy?
It didn’t make any sense.
‘I’d like to meet them right now.’
Regrettably unable to do so, Yuria rested her forehead in her hand as she mulled over her next move, hoping that the Leader had at least finished the task they had been asked to handle before being discovered.
Now, how to clean up this mess.
The moment I returned to the dormitory, I immediately checked my Guild Uniform while lost in thought.
Inside the uniform, I had hidden a black mask, thankfully untouched by anyone.
It seemed Cynthia hadn’t bothered to search through my clothes.
What a stroke of bad luck turned good.
Had she found the mask, Cynthia might have immediately figured out my true identity.
“Ugh.”
But still, what to do?
Avoiding detection by Cynthia regarding the black guild uniform was merely a stroke of luck.
‘What will happen next?’
For now, I subtly pressured Professor Amillion by leveraging the names of the Prisis and St. Claire families.
Both families held significant influence within the Crescent Empire.
Specifically, two of the six great families.
Therefore, Professor Amillion wouldn’t easily interfere with anything involving these two families working together.
When I mentioned the St. Claire name to Professor Amillion earlier, it was partly with this intent.
‘Even so, I’ve been discovered as someone who isn’t just a regular student.’
Though this was only a temporary situation.
The core issue was that Professor Amillion had learned my true identity—or at least part of it.
While they didn’t know everything, they certainly knew I wasn’t just an ordinary student.
This was troubling for my future academy life.
I might even be forced to leave the academy.
‘Ugh, how did it come to this?’
Until the big competition, I had managed to avoid revealing myself.
‘So many incidents keep happening at this academy.’
Beginning with the Undead’s appearances, rumors of traitors within, and Cain’s sudden rampage—something seemed to explode nearly every day.
“Guess in situations like this…”
I stood up from my bed with the guild uniform in hand, heading toward someone who could offer advice on handling this situation.
I hoped they were still in the office.
Unfortunately, Eddi wasn’t in my office.
Casually tossing the guild uniform onto the desk, I stepped out of the office for the first time in a while.
“Eddi? Are you in your room?”
Knocking on the door next to my office, which belonged to Eddi, I waited.
“Hey.”
To my surprise, it wasn’t Eddi who opened the door.
Instead, Erika stood there, her silver hair flowing.
“Erika?”
“Yeah. Long time no see?”
“What are you doing here?”
“I don’t have an office, remember? Eddi said she wouldn’t be using hers today, so I borrowed it for the day. I had a bit of work to do.”
“Ah.”
“So, what’s up?”
“Hmm…”
I hadn’t planned on consulting Erika about my troubles, but here we were.
“What a big mess.”
“Yeah.”
Surprisingly, Erika listened to my story patiently, all the way to the end.
Thanks to Yuria, explaining my enrollment in the academy was straightforward.
Yuria had framed it as me infiltrating in a student capacity as part of her work, and Erika accepted it without a second thought.
“But is it really that big of a deal?”
“Of course it is! We basically infiltrated the academy without permission—how could a professor let that slide?”
“You did use the Prisis and St. Claire names, didn’t you? And didn’t you even say Prisis is real?”
“True, but…”
“So all you need to do is silence that professor, right? After all, he’s the only one who knows.”
“You’re right, but…”
“And if things go south, just leave the academy. Why are you acting so out of character?”
“…”
The more I listened to Erika, the more I realized she was right.
As long as Professor Amillion didn’t say anything, there was no real issue.
And if it became problematic, leaving the academy, as Erika suggested, would suffice.
‘But the problem is, I can’t leave.’
I didn’t have the leverage to convince Erika of why I couldn’t drop out.
If I were expelled, it could jeopardize everything I’d achieved so far.
This insecurity was why I found myself overthinking more than usual.
“Haa. I can’t leave the academy, which is why it’s problematic. It’s hard to explain, but that’s how it is.”
“Then just make the professor an ally, or worse, eliminate the threat.”
Typical Erika.
A straightforward solution devoid of complicated reasoning.
Hmm… But upon reflection, her approach did have merit.
No matter how events had unfolded, Professor Amillion was the only one currently aware of my identity at the academy—as far as I knew, no one else had been told last night.
If that assumption held, Erika was right; silencing Professor Amillion would indeed solve everything.
“Think you can handle it? If not, need some help? Messing with an academy professor does carry some risk, but with your help…”
“Aaah, no way. Whatever you do, start with persuasion first!”
“That would be the peaceful way, though I’m not planning to recruit him into the Black Shadow Guild, am I?”
“Obviously not. Besides, I’m not even supposed to know I’m part of the Black Shadow Guild.”
As I spoke, my thoughts began to crystallize.
Usually, speaking with Erika only made things more complicated, but this time was different.
A thread of how to resolve the situation began to emerge.
‘There was something unsettling about Professor Amillion earlier.’
Recalling his almost unfinished statement from earlier, I became more certain.
Perhaps Erika was right, and the situation would resolve itself simpler than I anticipated.
“First, I need to meet Yuria.”
“Yuria?”
“Yep. Aligning Yuria’s story is my top priority.”
“Hmm. Well, then I’m heading home?”
“Want to come along?”
“Do I need to?”
“Not really, but it’s been a while since you’ve seen Yuria, right?”
“Ehh, forget it.”
Erika shook her head and made a face, clearly unwilling to go.
Though both were guild leaders, Erika and Yuria were polar opposites.
Actually, it seemed only Erika was uncomfortable around Yuria, given how she treated everyone the same.
Regardless, it was common knowledge among guild leaders that Erika and Yuria didn’t get along.
“Thanks, anyway. Helps clarify things.”
“Sure. Oh, are you hanging out with those kids these days?”
“… I’m out.”
Wooong—
Ignoring Erika’s trailing words, I headed directly to Yuria’s place.
Her house was still lit.
“Yuria, you there?”
The light suggested she hadn’t retired for the night yet.
Creak—
“Hmm, definitely something’s up. For you to personally visit this late, Leader.”
Yuria opened the door with a subtle expression.
“Come in. I was just about to contact you, actually. Times like this really make me wish we had a communication device.”
“What’s up?”
“That’s what I’d like to know. Earlier, Professor Amillion Starpen from Crescent Academy contacted me. He wanted to know if you’re truly from our family.”
“Wow, quick.”
Professor Amillion sure acted fast.
I hadn’t expected him to reach out to Yuria on the same day.
I figured he’d wait until tomorrow given the late hour.
‘But this is actually good.’
The fact that Professor Amillion went out of his way to double-check with Yuria about my identity suggested his own urgency.
I suddenly had a favorable feeling about how this would resolve.
“So, what’s this about?”
“I’ll get straight to the point.”
Though the idea of retelling what I’d just said to Erika wasn’t appealing, I began recounting my story again to Yuria.
I also laid out my plans for what needed to happen moving forward.
“Today…”
And that’s how I started explaining the day’s events to Yuria and what we should aim for next.
