Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 582

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 34.
The Princess and the Detective (34)
Despite his fearsome reputation, Boris had only demonstrated his swordsmanship before multiple students once. Shortly after enrollment, he had challenged a senior who had made a name for himself with the blade, striking him with a wooden sword hard enough to cause injuries short of death—all within ten seconds. After that incident, he never displayed his skill even in jest, which made those who hadn’t witnessed it firsthand skeptical. The victim had left the Academy not long after, and since Boris remained extremely taciturn about the matter, the rumors had spiraled into something truly terrifying.
It was entirely plausible, then, that a senior who suddenly found Boris standing right in front of him would startle and stumble backward. Even if Boris had merely intended to ask a question. Regardless, Boris shook his head toward Lucian.
“I’m not sure.”
Only then did the seniors scramble to their feet and step several paces away from Boris. Looking at their faces, all three were graduate students: Tim, Septimus, and Elze. In their haste to distance themselves from Boris, they had inadvertently moved deeper into Acorn Villa. An odd configuration emerged—the villa’s owner, Boris, stood outside while the rest remained within. Elze, however, paid no mind and glared at Boris and Lucian as she spoke.
“We know all about it. The outrageous thing you’ve done.”
Lucian responded.
“Outrageous? What do you mean?”
“You!”
Tim suddenly raised his voice. The embarrassment from moments ago, when he’d collapsed to the floor, had caught up with him belatedly.
“You dared enter a graduate student’s villa! And you stole Marisa’s herbology thesis!”
“I’m sorry? Who did what… exactly?”
Lucian had no choice but to respond that way. A graduate student’s villa? A thesis? By any measure, none of this had anything to do with Lucian, who was a first-year student repeating his second year since enrollment.
Lucian looked toward Boris. And before he could even ask, he reached a conclusion. This had nothing to do with Boris either. Boris wasn’t the sort of person to do such a thing, and besides, why would he covet some incomprehensible herbology thesis? But before he could answer, Tim shouted again.
“That’s not all! All four of you are men, yet you dared enter the women’s villa last night and hid there all night!”
This time, even Boris, whose expression rarely changed, looked flustered. The previous accusation could be resolved with clarification, but this one was a fatal piece of nonsense that was damaging by rumor alone. Lucian stammered in response.
“Th-that’s really, truly something I don’t understand! We slept here yesterday!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We have evidence. Whether all four of you or just one or two, you definitely entered Raven Villa last night.”
“No! That never happened!”
“Hmph, go tell that to the Student Affairs Department. Are the others inside? Come out, all of you. We’re going now.”
Septimus, who was already inside Acorn Villa, turned and glanced around the bedrooms. There was only one closed door. Just as he was about to open it, Boris called out to him.
“Just a moment, senior.”
Though he disliked admitting it, Boris’s voice was difficult to ignore. When Septimus turned his head, Boris continued.
“What time are you referring to?”
“The time you entered? Between 10 and 12 at night? It was empty after that, so I don’t know how long you stayed.”
“At the time you mentioned, we were both in Professor Hoiock’s Wine Cellar. There were many people gathered, so there should be plenty of witnesses.”
Hearing Boris’s words, Lucian exclaimed with relief.
“That’s right! We even brought wine from there! The professor said we shouldn’t take it, but anyway, we brought it from there!”
Bringing alcohol into the dormitory was also forbidden, but that didn’t cross Lucian’s mind at this moment. However, Septimus let out a scornful laugh.
“You might have been there. In any case, the time you entered isn’t certain. Raven Villa was empty all last night. You could have gotten drunk at the Wine Cellar and sneaked in whenever you felt like it.”
“No! We came straight back to our room!”
Lucian protested, but the seniors merely folded their arms and looked down at him with contempt. After a brief pause, Boris spoke.
“I would appreciate it if you could share the basis for such certainty. We cannot go to the Student Affairs Office on mere suspicion. This is already a matter of disgrace based on rumor alone.”
He was right. It was best never to have been involved in such a matter from the start. Elze’s jaw twitched.
“Want to know? Traces of a rare magical substance were detected in our villa. Those traces passed through our villa’s window, crossed the campus, and led directly to your villa. Want me to show you?”
Elze pulled a small pouch from her apron. From it, she extracted Hinden’s Powder, which detects magical substances, and carefully sprinkled it bit by bit with her fingers. Nevertheless, various spots throughout the Living Room began to glow. Lucian was so flabbergasted he couldn’t close his mouth.
“I… I… What is all this…?”
“Well, that’s enough evidence, right? We can discuss the details there.”
“Marisa is waiting at the office. Go face her and make your excuses.”
Lucian circled the Living Room several times. Then he ventured into the Corridor to examine it further. Sure enough, something faintly luminescent traced across the Corridor floor as well. The trail of light vanished at the entrance to Acorn Villa. And the Living Room was glowing. It was so blatantly obvious that I didn’t know what to say. What on earth was happening? Why had it come into our Villa?
Lucian’s voice cracked from anger and indignation.
“But still! Why would we take a senior researcher’s thesis! I don’t even understand it! I’m not interested! I’m a first-year student!”
Tim glared at Lucian and spoke.
“Marisa had her thesis stolen once before. Then it disappeared again, and now it’s impossible for her to rewrite it before the deadline. Whether you needed that thesis or not, whatever your intentions were—I don’t care about any of that. Someone from your room came in, and the thesis disappeared. One of you will have to take responsibility.”
“But there’s no reason for this!”
“Maybe one of you was acting on someone else’s orders. Isn’t that right?”
Meanwhile, other students in the Dormitory, awakened by the commotion, opened their doors and peered out from various rooms. Standing in the Corridor discussing this now would only breed more rumors.
Boris spoke.
“Understood. Let’s go for now, the two of us. Lucian, go change your clothes and come back.”
“Change? Right.”
As Lucian disappeared into the Bedroom, Septimus spoke.
“What about the other two?”
“They’re not in the room.”
“But one of the Bedrooms was closed earlier?”
Boris tilted his head toward the door as if to say to check it.
Septimus watched Boris with a somewhat tense gaze, then went to the remaining Bedroom and opened the door. Inside was silent. The bed was arranged so neatly that one might wonder if anyone had slept in it last night. With so few personal belongings, it looked at first glance like an unused empty room. There wasn’t a single book or piece of clothing lying out.
Septimus stepped further into the room, looked around, and came back out. All the while, he watched Boris’s expression. Boris waited silently. Then, as Lucian emerged, he smoothed down his tousled hair a few times to restore it to normal, then looked back at his senior with an expressionless face.
“Let’s go.”
The three seniors, Boris, and Lucian—five people in total—barely managed to lock the creaking Villa door, which had started to squeak after being kicked open about ten times, and descended the Staircase. Walking a few steps behind the seniors, Lucian whispered to Boris.
“This seems like it might be related to Makgun, doesn’t it? We didn’t do anything yesterday, right? Makgun wouldn’t normally sneak into the female Dormitory without reason, but….”
Boris shook his head and spoke.
“We’ll find out when we meet him and ask. Don’t say anything without evidence.”
Not long after they disappeared, Maximian and Tichiel appeared at the entrance of the North Tower Dormitory. Tichiel, walking ahead, was brimming with energy after having devoured breakfast entirely. Maximian, following behind, looked as though he would perish if he didn’t get eight more hours of sleep immediately.
As Tichiel entered the entrance and climbed a few steps up the Staircase, she pinched her nose.
“Ugh, what on earth is that smell?”
“Someone’s graduation project submission.”
Since the graduation project’s quality was so exceptional, the two covered their noses and practically ran up to the second floor. As Tichiel entered the Corridor and walked a few steps, she stopped and tilted her head.
“Something’s odd.”
Maximian wasn’t curious about what was odd at all. He only wanted to quickly hand over Juspian’s letter to Tichiel and get back into bed.
Earlier, as Tichiel methodically worked through a heap of pancakes and fruit, Maximian had told her about Juspian sending a ‘speaking letter’ while merely wetting his lips with a glass of water. However, he hadn’t mentioned visiting Juspian and the Land of Mortals. From experience, when Juspian told him not to tell anyone, keeping his mouth shut prevented unnecessary problems—even if the other person was Juspian’s beloved only daughter.
Tichiel, who had listened to the story with a giggling laugh, asked to see the letter in question. As if she had guessed something. Right, when the letter unfolds, Juspian would pop out, and if she heard it directly from Father, there would be no problem, right?
So they were on their way to retrieve the letter stashed in the wardrobe. But Tichiel had been looking around from the entrance, searching for something. Since she kept doing this, Maximian had no choice but to ask.
“What are you doing?”
“There was a magical reaction around here. It’s almost completely faded now, though.”
“This is the Magic Academy. Someone probably dropped some trash.”
“No. This is… hmm. Hinden’s powder.”
Hinden’s powder, which sensed magical power, was quite an expensive magical material. If someone was using something like that, something must be going on. Maximian didn’t know what Tichiel was seeing or how she knew, but he wasn’t curious either. The sleepy Maximian wasn’t curious about anything.
Upon reaching the entrance of Acorn Villa and opening the creaking door, it seemed all his friends had left. Maximian went into the Bedroom and retrieved the letter. Meanwhile, Tichiel took out a handkerchief, carefully swept the Corridor floor, and then folded it back up and put it away.
Maximian held out the letter and asked.
“What are you doing? A quick cleaning?”
“Sample collection. But is anyone inside?”
“No, it looks like everyone’s already left.”
“Already? But no one’s come to the Dining Hall yet.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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