Beastly yellow eyes shone in the darkness, scouring the area for the fifth night in a row.
Rotsard kept bothering the Academy's staff about the records of the unauthorized exits and entries of the barrier, but with the completely revamped exams beginning in two weeks, he was politely asked to wait.
He didn't reveal the purpose of his inquiry, shrugging it off as a whim, but he did make several trips to different people to advertise it.
Unfortunately, the backup plan to alarm the culprit and make them return to the crime scene didn't seem to work.
Either the perpetrator had nerves of steel… or he was no longer in the Royal Academy…
That was also something to consider.
"Tsk."
Rotsard clicked his tongue in annoyance, reaching into his shirt's pocket and taking out a poorly smoothed, piece of paper that looked like it was thoroughly crumpled before.
The letter that the commoner nurse slid under his door before going missing.
She certainly was careful not to leave any worthwhile details about that witness of hers… but that in and of itself could be a clue.
It might have been someone she at the time considered safe, an ally worth protecting. Someone who wouldn't stab her in the back…
…so… someone trustworthy, and not just in general, but someone she personally knew to be that…
Only that this line of thought didn't particularly shorten the suspects list… it even made it longer if anything.
"Hmm…?"
A certain scent tickled Rotsard's nose, making the boy furrow his brows and look in the direction the wind carried it from.
There was some movement in the darkness… although nothing that seemed to be even remotely connected to Rotsard's purpose.
But it was a familiar scent, and it gave Rotsard an idea.
"...if I can't get the record myself…"
He muttered under his breath and got down the wall, sneaking his way towards the scent's origin.
What he found there was…
A group of three upperclassmen breaking into a storage shed.
Normally, those sheds weren't locked, and this particular one had a lock, not because of the fear of someone stealing its contents, but simply because the equipment there was already prepared for the exams and had been locked so that no one would take it by mistake and misplace it later.
"..."
Almost instinctively, Rotsard glanced to the side, expecting to see a murky figure there because in the deofol's story, the discovery of someone breaking into the storage shed was what spurred the future hero and his love interest to confront the main villain of the volume.
The so-called final clue.
It just felt like the deofol would be there to check out whether Rotsard will get involved with it or not.
But, it wasn't there…
Still, although it was taking them a bit, the trio was rather careful about the lock on the door, and it really did appear that they intended to be stealthy and leave no trace of whatever they had planned.
…that whatever being, making a mess of the equipment that the first-year students would be using…
Nothing dangerous, at least if the events would playout as they should, although Rotsard wouldn't get himself involved even if it was.
"!"
But, as some time later, the three boys were done and were about to properly lock the shed, creating a perfect crime, Rotsard grinned angrily at the difference and stepped out.
*THUMP*
"Break it!"
"!!!"
*crack*
As he got out of his hiding spot, Rotsard stomped on the ground and growled, making the boy using the makeshift lockpicks to jolt in panic over being discovered, causing him to snap his tools within the lock.
"Who!?"
"Wall! Shell! Lesser endurance boost!"
"Oh, for the love of the Grand Fae of Light…! I broke it!"
While Vicas flinched and gasped, the larger of his two friends immediately activated three spells, showing off a great mastery of them by using shortened incantation for two of them, while the third one cursed in a hushed voice, clinging to the shed's door and staring at the lock with pieces of metal sticking out of it.
"Who goes there!? I… I'll have you know we have my uncle's permission!"
Since the nightvision spell all three were using was barely the tier 1 one and wouldn't allow them to clearly see who approached them, Vicas, who stepped out in front of his two friends, called out, trying to mask his nervousness with confidence.
"Young Master, stand back. That person shouted at us to 'break it', not stop."
"H-huh?! What do you…?"
The one who activated his spells first, reached out and grabbed Vicas's arm, pulling him behind himself and causing the headmaster's nephew to call out in a baffled voice.
"Good intuition. Now scram and don't you dare come back here tonight."
Rotsard smirked and nodded to the side while chuckling.
"?"
His words, though, caused a bit of consternation in the trio.
They were caught red-handed doing something suspicious, but they wouldn't even be questioned…?
"Hold on… isn't that…? Oi! You're the Vallhall brat!"
"Him!?"
Once again, the biggest one showed off and gasped, making Vicas flinch and frown, trying to see more details in the darkness.
"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk."
But that only got tongue-clicking as a response, and Rotsard closed the distance between him and the trio.
"!!!"
The next moment, the biggest one reacted properly, not only shielding the other two but also attempting to intercept and counter the attacker…
Attempting, being the keyword.
Right in front of him, Rotsard stopped completely, and only then did he raise one leg, climbing on the tiptoes of the other and pushing his knee against the upperclassman's chest despite the target's best attempts to prevent just that.
*CRACK*
"GU-GHUAGH…!"
"Liam…!"
While his chest released a nauseating sound, the large boy let out a gurgling sound and stumbled back, clenching his left side, his eyes bulging out, all to the panicked call from Vicas.
*thump*
"You practiced internal spells since the last time, huh?"
Rotsard nodded towards the upperclassman who kneeled down gasping for air, recognizing him as the guy whose throat he stepped on over half a year prior.
"Hey. I told you to scram. Not to clean up after yourself and skedaddle."
"WHA..?!?!"
The very next moment, Rotsard changed focus. He scoffed coldly in annoyance, grabbed the front of Vicas's shirt and pulled him to the side, ignoring the shocked cry…
*bump* "...?!" *WHAM*
…taking a step forward, and then seemingly lightly tapping the back of the third boy with his foot, for his victim's chest and then head to slam hard against the shed's door…
*thump*
…knocking the boy out instantly…
"You…!"
"Young Vicas. I need a favor. How about helping me out in exchange for my silence about your involvement with this shed?"
As the red-haired antagonist of the 1st volume was trying to wrap his head around what just happened, Rotsard let out a threatening sigh and asked in an ice-cold voice.
Despite them being in different years, the actual age difference between the two was in months...
…and Rotsard was the older one…
Not to mention that even though he was shorter, the way Rotsard held Vicas up at arm's length made it obvious who was stronger in that match-up.
"The hel?! You just attacked my friends and…!"
"As the culprit behind the fainting epidemic, you really ought to think your next words carefully. I really can't say I am a reasonable person, you know? Why test me?"
Vicas grabbed Rotsard's wrist and tried to free himself while getting angry, only to be faced with the chilling reality and even colder words of his captor.
"!!!"
Vicas's eyes turned wide and round. He really couldn't have expected that out of all people, Rotsard Vallhall, the scum of the Royal Academy, would be the one to figure everything out.
"See? We are fellow nobles. My complete silence requires only a little favor and nothing else."
"...!"
The look in Rotsard's beastly yellow eyes sent chills down Vicas's spine.
"Wh-what kind of favor…?"
After closing his eyes and taking a couple of deep breaths, Vicas cleared his throat and asked.
He did his best to sound calm and composed, but the result wasn't quite up to his standard.
"I want records of unauthorised exits and entrances of the great barrier from a couple of months back. Specifically…"
"Uuu… hhhhg…! U-uuuuuughh….! Uuuuuu… Hhhhh…!"
Satisfied, Rotsard nodded and spoke up, but he got interrupted by a cry.
And not some whimper, but a heartwrenching sobbing.
"...?!"
"LIAM!"
The sound itself baffled Rotsard and made him loosen his grip, but it was the source of it that made Vicas shout and free himself just to rush to it.
"Liam! Can you hear me!?"
"Uuu…. Hhhh…! Y-yhoung mashther…! Hhhhhg…!"
Vicas got to his friend, the one who tried to block Rotsard and got kneed in the side of his ribcage.
The large boy was wheezing and gasping for air, turning pale, red, and bluish at the same time.
Although he was trained in combat, that didn't change the fact that the Royal Academy was a facility for prospective aristocrats who, not all, but in most cases, were sheltered and even spoiled by their families. While training was normal, rarely anyone, although once again, not everyone, had a real combat experience, and what is often the result of it, had any experience with actual wounds and severe injuries.
That was the case with Liam Strengnoan.
No matter how hardworking he was, and how much he steeled his will, he was just a pampered teenager.