Chapter 50: Teacher, Why Are You Just Watching?

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing Phase 1 of the quest: Locate the remains of the Arch-Mage Flam in the capital and determine the cause of her death.]

[Corpse location identified: The ruins of the Royal Magic Academy, Office of the Chief Consultant Professor of the School of Spells.]

[Cause of death identified: Ambushed by the Nightwraith Witch Kalia, who had been subjected to a dual psychological suggestion. The moment she was stabbed with an antimagic stone dagger, the Blood Fiend innate spell, Blood-Origin Waterfall, dormant within Kalia's body, was triggered. It followed the wound and detonated all the blood inside Flam's body.]

[Caught completely off guard, although Flam's protective spell activated in time to reverse time and reset her vital state, it failed to neutralize the Blood Fiend's blood poison, resulting in all the blood within Flam's body being infected by the poison.]

[In the final moments of her life, Flam chose to lift the mind control on the Nightwraith Witch Kalia, and subsequently died from the backlash of the blood poison.]

[Phase 2 quest initializing (Unlocking in three hours).]

[Phase 1 quest rewards distributed now: 3 Skill Points, 1 Random Spell Card.]

Hearing the notification that the quest was complete, Roland finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He wasn't particularly elated because of the distributed rewards.

Rather, he was simply relieved that Flam's cause of death was truly so "simple."

There were no overly complex conspiracies, no grand battles between unimaginably powerful beings as he had imagined.

There was only a cliché, tragic story of a foolish student who had been manipulated into killing her teacher, with the teacher offering one final act of help to the student before drawing her last breath.

And now, this story had been torn to shreds by him, making it impossible for it to ever happen.

To begin with, that genuinely fatal blood magic spell had been banned by his cheat system, which had even slapped a silence status on the caster.

Of course, what Roland was most grateful for was that his powerful backer was safe and sound.

No matter what ruthless schemes might unfold in the capital later on, having Flam's assistance would undoubtedly make dealing with them much easier.

As for that Phase 2 quest... he would wait until it was officially announced.

For the moment, ignoring a certain shut-in blood fiend who was currently screaming and wailing away in an ancient forest fortress, the atmosphere inside the office was unexpectedly harmonious.

Iluvia was overjoyed by the trust Roland had displayed, Kalia was beaming because Roland had patted her head, and Flam was delighted knowing that a certain old fogey was bound to be given a massive fright.

Everyone had a bright future ahead of them.

It was then that Flam suddenly remembered something she should have mentioned much earlier.

"Ah, I almost forgot."

"Roland, Master Toran from the Magic Academy was looking for you. He said you should drop by his office whenever you have time."

"He mentioned that he's made a prototype of the item you casually talked about with him after the assessment ended, and he wants you to go take a look."

Hearing this, Roland was quite surprised. "I didn't expect Master Toran to actually remember that. I was clearly just mentioning it off the cuff."

"After all, that fellow seems to think quite highly of your hands-on ability and is planning to take you on as his disciple."

As she spoke, Flam glanced at Iluvia, who had been quiet for a moment. "So Your Highness, is there anything else you wish to say?"

Iluvia shook her head. "No. I originally only came to share some intelligence and remind you both to stay safe."

"Though it now appears that the trouble might be far greater than I imagined."

With a long sigh, Iluvia continued, "I will have the Hatter step up the investigation, or at least uncover the Chaos Brotherhood's stronghold within the capital first."

"There's no need to be quite that hasty." Roland interrupted Iluvia. "They couldn't possibly be unaware that the operation against Kalia failed."

"An organization capable of slowly growing even under the joint encirclement and suppression of both the Demon King's army and the human coalition forces is not something you can investigate so easily."

"Not to mention, they have an inside mole right here in the city."

"Instead of tracking down the Chaos Brotherhood's traces, you'd be better off finding out who wants you dead."

"The more desperate someone is for power, the more likely they are to collude with the Chaos Brotherhood."

Looking directly at Iluvia, Roland said, "You have the support of the military, and in the eyes of others, you also have the support of Lady Flam."

"Although the Supervisory Bureau maintains a neutral stance that leans slightly to one side, it also means they won't openly take a side."

"Therefore, anyone trying to wrest power from your hands will find it hard to see any hope of victory unless they seek external help."

"No matter how influential words might be, they aren't as convincing as raw fists, are they?"

Roland's words completely shifted Iluvia's train of thought.

Indeed, even though a specialized agency like the Hatter possessed operational capabilities on par with the Supervisory Bureau, tracking down a specific person's whereabouts was certainly not difficult.

Yet, just as Roland pointed out, could the Chaos Brotherhood—an organization that had survived the joint encirclement of major factions and even the demons, and had continued to grow in the shadows—truly be investigated so easily?

Even if she managed to track someone down, it would most likely be a discarded pawn meant to draw away her attention.

What she really needed to pay attention to were the individuals communicating with the Chaos Brotherhood.

Who could it be?

There were quite a few people in this royal capital who wanted her dead.

Grand Duke Wellington? Count Sylvan? Or perhaps her own universally despised younger brother?

Or perhaps some other fellow she hadn't even bothered to keep in her sights?

Thinking about it this way, the scope hadn't narrowed down at all.

However, she certainly needed to keep a closer eye on them from now on.

"Thank you, Roland. I will be careful."

Iluvia and Roland both stood up to take their leave.

The former planned to return to the military headquarters to issue some new orders, while the latter intended to head to the Magic Academy to keep his appointment.

Kalia originally wanted to tag along with Roland to see the excitement, but she was unexpectedly stopped by Flam.

"You can't leave."

Kalia: "???"

Wait, why can't I leave? Hasn't everything been resolved? It's a happy ending for everyone.

Yet Flam's reply left Kalia utterly speechless.

"Lia is an idiot. To prevent a similar incident from happening again, I need to apply some protective measures to you. You are not allowed to step foot outside this office until they are complete."

And so, Kalia could only watch helplessly as Iluvia and Roland walked out of Flam's office together.

Ordinarily, this wouldn't have been a huge issue since Flam had also said it would take at most a day to resolve, guaranteeing Kalia wouldn't miss the academy's opening ceremony.

The real problem was that that hateful woman Iluvia had actually turned around and sneered at her right before walking out the door!

What was her problem?!

For a fleeting second, Kalia really wanted to break free from Flam's restraints and follow the two of them out.

She quickly abandoned that illusion, however.

She simply couldn't break free at all!

Why did this old hag have to tie her up so tightly? It's not like I'm going to run away!

Flam: = w =

"Want to run away, Lia? Don't think I can't tell what's on your mind."

"Besides, when trying to capture a boy's heart, dwelling on momentary gains and losses is the absolute worst taboos~~"

Tch, talking big like that, yet you've been single all this time, Kalia muttered inwardly in complaint.

"And by the way, Lia, you just called me an old hag in your head, didn't you? You were thinking some very impolite thoughts, weren't you?"