blueteamnovel Chapter 201
Chapter 201
“This is the first time I’m seeing your face in person.”
“...Y-yeah, I guess so.”
“No need to be nervous. Just for Shy Boy’s sake, I have no intention of harming you.”
“Uh, by Shy Boy, do you mean Derrick?”
“You catch on quick.”
“Hehe, well, it’s a perfect nickname. I should start calling him that too.”
“......”
“What’s with that look?”
“Oh, nothing. Just thought Shy Boy finally met his match. You two have the same talent for making people nauseous.”
“!!”
“You can do whatever you want in front of me, but tone it down in public. It’s honestly annoying.”
“Y-yes, sir...”
She reacted like an innocent schoolgirl.
She had no problem standing tall before a crowd of thirty thousand, but the moment the topic of romance came up, she finally acted her age.
‘I thought he was the one getting bossed around, but now that I see her like this... maybe it’s mutual.’
Watching her blush, Ihan had a sudden thought—maybe she liked Taechang even more than he liked her.
Good thing Taechang wasn’t here right now.
If he were...
...he might’ve gotten a flick on the forehead.
They say jealousy blinds men and makes them pathetic, but Ihan had no problem being honest about it.
That was the healthiest way to deal with it.
And then—
“So, I finally get it now. Why Lady Irene, Lady Levi, and the three from the swordsmanship department all joined the student council out of nowhere. This was your doing, wasn’t it, Instructor?”
Her eyes, reminiscent of mystical amethysts, gleamed as she nodded to herself, as if she had just pieced together the puzzle from the past few days.
Her assessment was complete.
Muttering to herself, she began laying it all out.
“Lady Irene doesn’t enjoy the spotlight. Neither does Lady Levi or those three. And yet, all of them suddenly decided to knock on the student council’s door? That seemed odd, but if you were behind it, everything makes sense now... Hmm. So, does that mean something big is going to happen during this exam?”
A guess.
“Like the monster attack during the midterm evaluation...? Oh! I see! It’s not a terror attack—it’s something shady happening at the academy! You assigned those three powerhouses to the student council as an extra layer of security!”
An analysis.
“Which means the target could be... Lady Irene? Lady Levi? Or maybe even me? Feels a bit arrogant to say it myself, but there aren’t many people in the academy who’d be considered more valuable than us. Ugh, but there’s too little information to be certain.”
A judgment.
“So, what can I do to help?”
“......”
...She had just dumped all of that on him in a matter of seconds, leaving Ihan no room to explain anything.
All he could do was sit there and listen.
And after hearing everything, he was left utterly speechless.
“...You figured all that out on your own? What are you, Holmes?”
“...Who’s that?”
“A legendary detective who could solve cold cases without leaving his seat.”
“Oh my, I’d love to meet someone like that! But, more importantly, let’s talk about the plan. How are we handling this?”
“...No other questions?”
“Why waste time questioning when we should be solving the issue? Efficiency is key, Instructor. Efficiency.”
“......”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Oh, just realizing there are way too many geniuses in this place.”
“?”
...Taechang’s doomed.
Ihan was sure of it.
***
“We need to push harder and root out the bad guys. At the very least, we can’t let innocent applicants get caught up in this mess.”
Levi was doing everything in her power to achieve the best possible outcome.
“...Y-yeah. We’ll do that.”
“Kunta will work hard.”
“Man, there’s never a quiet day, is there?”
[The Seed of the Saintess.]
A natural ability to earn people’s trust.
A commanding presence that drew others to follow.
An innate gift, bestowed by the heavens.
Even those with the talent to become heroes could only be led by someone like her.
Naturally.
—
Meanwhile, as Levi and her group worked to root out the temple’s potential infiltrators, on the other side of the academy—
“I’ve found them.”
Irene Windler had just located her target.
***
"That... so, you're saying she’s the Duke’s ‘real daughter’?"
"Yes! That’s what I’m telling you!"
"......."
"Well? Now that you’ve seen her, you get it, right?"
"...Yeah. She does resemble him."
"See? I told you!"
The fledgling recruit was babbling excitedly, but Ihan completely understood the sentiment.
‘She really does look like him.’
Like that damn Duke.
Irene Windler had handed him a telescope, but Ihan didn’t need it. Even from this distance, his vision was sharp enough to see the woman clearly.
Unlike Irene’s long, flowing hair, this woman had a short bob, her locks a rare shade of golden blonde.
The noble houses of Pendragon flaunted a variety of vibrant hair colors, but silver and gold were particularly uncommon. Among the academy’s students, the only one with such striking golden hair was the fledgling standing next to him.
Yet, this woman’s golden hair was just as vivid.
Perhaps because of its rarity, quite a few applicants and proctors were casting glances in her direction. When Ihan focused on their lips, reading their murmured words—
"Wow, she’s gorgeous."
"A real beauty...."
"Still, compared to that senior from earlier...."
"Ah, yeah, no contest there!"
...Typical men.
"Instructor?"
"...It’s nothing."
"??"
Ihan kept his mouth shut, scrutinizing the woman a little longer.
‘...Her eyes, her presence... she does resemble him.’
If she were standing next to the Duke, she might even look more like him than the fledgling recruit beside him.
And yet, Ihan felt it instinctively.
‘Why does she feel so artificial?’
Her appearance was undeniably similar.
Her presence and energy waves bore some resemblance as well. Even her scent had faint traces of the Duke’s.
‘But something about this...’
It felt wrong.
Yes, she looked like him, but she didn’t feel like the Duke’s daughter at all.
Was this just his own bias talking? His personal disdain clouding his judgment?
‘No. That’s not it.’
If he had to put it into words—
It felt like staring at an eerily well-crafted uncanny doll.
A doll. Artificial. That’s why he was so certain.
That woman—
‘She’s a fake.’
And not just any fake.
──She came with a nightmare attached.
At that moment, Ihan finally understood how the Magic Tower and those lunatic cultists had planned to get their hands on Galahad’s Cursed Sword.