Chapter 427: About What’s Changed (2)

“Claris Richellen…”

Lennok didn’t know who Claris was, but he was all too familiar with the surname Richellen.

Aris Richellen. One of the few names Lennok could never forget.

Was it truly a coincidence that this message arrived from the Sinclair Magic Tower, bearing the name of a wizard with the same surname as Aris?

She was almost certainly someone deeply connected to Aris.

With that thought, Lennok turned to the two wizards who were slowly getting up.

“Surely the Magic Tower’s work isn’t limited to intervening in the central front and seizing interests, is it?”

“…?”

“Could this list indicate a connection to academia, not just military strength?”

As he’d initially stated, he had no intention of joining the Magic Tower on the central front at this point, but academia was a different matter.

Considering what Aris had said, contacting the Sinclair Magic Tower from a research perspective, rather than a military one, would likely cause fewer complications.

At Lennok’s words, the two men exchanged glances.

“…I can’t be certain. The Thorben Magic Tower certainly participates in academic conferences periodically, but its involvement isn’t significant.”

“…”

“We are not a place that leads research and academia. As for the academic side… you’d best inquire with another Magic Tower.”

The Thorben Magic Tower was one of the largest Magic Towers spread across the continent, and among the most active in war businesses.

It was, in a way, natural that they neglected the academic sphere, which had a strong research-oriented nature, given their dedication to war businesses.

Unlike the proud wizards of most Magic Towers, they didn’t hesitate to acknowledge and accept their weaker areas.

That must be why their pride and confidence in the Thorben Magic Tower were so strong.

The conviction that the Magic Tower’s path was not mistaken, and the high Hierarchy that qualified them to hold such conviction.

Their attitude of regarding Lennok as an equal negotiating partner rather than fearing him was not bad at all.

Is this what superhumans who have long endured on the central front feel like?

Lennok nodded, having considered that much.

“I understand. I’ll include even that last conversation in the message.”

Claris Richellen.

A high-ranking official, holding the 3rd Seat in the Magic Tower’s Elder Council, would surely have made several public appearances.

Lennok could easily search for information and confirm her relationships on his own.

He wished he could dismiss it as a mere whim of Aris and forget about it, but considering her last words before she left, he couldn’t.

During the assault on the Defense Force’s mobile fortress, and their subsequent encounter with Croken and escape.

Even in that urgent situation, she would never have let any conversation slip by carelessly.

Perhaps Aris had already noticed what secret Lennok harbored a long time ago.

Thinking about that, he felt he could understand why she had returned to the Magic Tower.

But could it truly be said that it was meaningful for both of them?

Lennok needed to meet Aris again, if only to confirm that.

As he pondered, chin in hand, he realized the two wizards were staring down at him.

“By any chance, there’s just one last thing I’d like to confirm.”

“What is it?”

“The man named Eden. Do you know who he is?”

“…”

Lennok didn’t answer. Instead, he simply set down his drink and smiled faintly.

The man nodded.

“That answer is enough. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“He seemed to know.”

“What do you mean?”

Having left Jenny’s bar, the two naturally avoided the bustling thoroughfare where people came and went, heading into an alley.

Fzzzt…!!

Simultaneously, faint electrical currents flowing from their bodies began to block out all surrounding noise and obscure their vision.

A powerful electrical field created by applying lightning magic.

The field, mixed with faint magnetism, cut off all local communication networks, including general transmissions, creating a perfect isolation zone.

As soon as the spell was complete, the relatively younger man, who had been silent until then, asked,

“About Eden.”

“…”

“If we had bargained on the death of a direct disciple of the Magic Tower, we might have been able to ask for closer cooperation. Sir Darkan would have known that better than I.”

But the man called Darkan unhesitatingly shook his head at the young man’s words.

“You should know how meaningless a promise based solely on coercion is to a monster like him.”

“But this isn’t the time to be discussing such circumstances…”

“Even without going that far, our attitude was precarious. Did you know that?”

A clear hierarchical relationship existed between the two, who outwardly didn’t appear to have a large age gap.

However, having spent a considerable amount of time together on the same battlefield, there was no great fault between them.

All their comrades who had erred in judgment by being bound by minor courtesies and ranks were already dead.

The elite combat wizards who had survived the longest on the central front, even from the Thorben Magic Tower.

They were individuals who had realized long ago that survival was not merely possible with power and ability alone.

That’s why they could choose the risky gamble of acting boldly, not being crushed by Lennok’s fame and power.

If Darkan had managed to impress Lennok by responding without even formal respect, it would have been a successful move.

Otherwise, risking a battle close to death in that situation would not have been a sane idea.

“Eden was an outsider who left the Magic Tower of his own volition. Once his name was erased and he was expelled from the Tower of Thunder, there was no valid reason to delve deeper.”

“…”

“Adamant Thunder must also know that fact. This encounter today was merely him letting us leave alive.”

Lennok’s enigmatic smile instead of an answer at the end.

It was tantamount to him knowing why the Thorben Magic Tower was now investigating Eden’s death.

Darkan was ashamed of himself for clinging to a sordid clue at the last moment, unable to let go of his lingering regret.

“Even if we suspect he acquired unique magic through Eden, we have neither proof nor justification.”

Darkan sighed softly and shook his head.

“I shouldn’t have heard about it from the Tower Master. It was a conversation that could have ended well, but I made a mistake at the end…”

“Ugh…”

Despite exchanging words for a considerable amount of time, the two ultimately learned nothing about Lennok.

Lennok had only used his magic for a brief moment to approach them.

Immediately after the high-dimensional leap that seemed to transcend space, it was already overwhelming enough just to grasp Lennok’s ensuing words.

Despite his blatant intention to see through their motives and use them as messengers, his opponent seemed far more astute and composed than they had expected.

Unlike the utterly vicious rumors circulating about him in this city, he seemed to be a far more reasonable interlocutor, so they had let their guard down slightly.

“Let’s go back. At least we’ve learned that Adamant Thunder isn’t a complete lunatic beyond reason, so that’s enough.”

“…Is that enough?”

“Adamant Thunder asked us to deliver a message to another Magic Tower on his behalf.”

Darkan replied, walking through the narrow alley.

“That means we can reveal that we’ve established a good relationship with Adamant Thunder in the process of delivering the message.”

As the two men’s electric fields vanished, their lingering gazes turned back to Sector 49, and only faint murmurs echoed in the street.

“Let’s be content with that for today. But next time…”

“Um… Assistant Professor?”

“Yes?”

The scene in the sunlit laboratory.

Organizing the bookshelves filled with various magical theory texts was always Lennok’s task.

As usual, when no one was around, he’d clean them with magic without lifting a finger, but…

When someone was watching, like now, he had to force his aching limbs to move.

As he wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead, wondering when she would leave, he heard a cautious voice call him from behind.

Turning around, he saw a female student with striking auburn hair looking up at him hesitantly.

She was one of the undergraduates who used to hang out with Priscilla. Her name was… Feine, perhaps?

“Um, I’m really sorry to ask, but… could the Assistant Professor perhaps take over the supplementary lecture?”

“Please speak comfortably. A supplementary lecture, you say?”

Ever since his wager with Bailla to use the Carlyle Research Institute’s facilities, the way people viewed Lennok had changed, and Rebatenon University was no exception.

With the revelation that Lennok had made significant contributions to the thesis on the conversion of electric power and magic, his theoretical research abilities began to attract attention.

Lennok replied, tidying and shelving the remaining books.

“As far as I know, Assistant Professor Cassia is scheduled to teach the supplementary lecture.”

“Um, I really, truly apologize to Assistant Professor Cassia, but…”

Feine closed her eyes tightly, as if making a great resolve, and said,

“Her supplementary lectures are just too hard to understand…!”

“…”

“It’s already difficult enough with the advanced theories on elemental transformation, and she doesn’t seem to grasp at all which parts we don’t understand…”

“So, you’d rather have me teach the lecture instead?”

“Of course, it’s not that Assistant Professor Cassia is a bad person. She really tries hard to take care of us, and she even throws out strange jokes during lectures, but… oops.”

“…”

She makes a lot of slips of the tongue.

Lennok thought so, then finished organizing all the remaining books and lightly dusted his hands.

Feine, her face slightly flushed, waved both hands and said,

“Well, Assistant Professor Evan has such an excellent understanding of theory, enough to write an amazing thesis, and you’re originally our assistant professor anyway… So, I was wondering if I could ask this of you…”

Indeed, consistently building rapport using Davi had paid off.

To think an undergraduate who hadn’t even properly conversed with him would make such a request to Lennok.

Or perhaps Cassia’s lectures were genuinely difficult for ordinary undergraduates to understand.

It wasn’t Director Bailla, so he hadn’t expected such an issue from Cassia. It was difficult to judge someone’s aptitude just by their outward appearance.

Naturally, this wasn’t something Lennok could decide alone. He gently persuaded Feine to return to her dorm and turned his head.

“How do you feel after hearing the live lecture evaluation?”

“…It’s embarrassing.”

Cassia, who had walked out from behind the shelves, replied.

It wasn’t Feine who had been watching Lennok organize the shelves from the beginning, but Cassia, his fellow assistant professor.

Lennok smiled, seeing her slumped shoulders and dejected expression.

“It looks like you’re disappointed, to me.”

“I didn’t know the undergraduates thought that of my lectures.”

Cassia muttered with a shocked expression.

“Being called an unlucky genius was the last thing I wanted to hear even when I was a student, but to think it would happen after I got a job…!!”

“…”

Speaking of which, he hadn’t yet heard from Evelyn, who had been suspended.

She had seemed utterly dejected, unintentionally becoming jobless. Perhaps he should call her sometime and make her drink some vegetable juice.

For now, comforting the seemingly panicking Cassia was the priority.

“Hmm… From my experience, it’s easier to start with doubt.”

“Doubt…?”

“The doubt that what I know might not be obvious to others.”

Lennok said in a firm voice.

“The doubt that others might have forgotten what I remember.”

“Um, Evan?”

“The doubt that my lecturing ability might be terribly lacking compared to my understanding and acquisition!”

Lennok smiled faintly, seeing Cassia’s slightly weary expression.

“Something like that. To be honest, I’m not a great teacher myself.”

“…”

“So, what was the business you wanted to discuss after I finished organizing the shelves?”

Cassia hadn’t just idly entered Aris’s laboratory, which was usually off-limits to others.

She had mentioned wanting to talk privately, and Lennok had simply used the excuse of organizing shelves to bring her to a quiet spot.

In the meantime, Feine had unexpectedly sought out Lennok, momentarily complicating things.

“Well…”

Lennok, his back to the struggling Cassia, sighed inwardly.

He hadn’t yet fully dealt with the injuries and gains from his battle with Madrich Onnion.

His visit to the university at this point was to gather information about Claris Richellen and ascertain her purpose and intentions.

If he could find traces of the Sinclair Magic Tower within Aris’s lab, he could cross-reference it with the information about her that had been made public.

Of course, this was only possible because he was aware that Aris, despite her perfect image, had surprisingly sloppy aspects.

Just as Lennok reminded himself of that fact once more and was about to turn to hear her business.

“Please consider everything I’m about to say as something you’ll hear and then forget.”

Cassia took a light breath and spoke.

“It’s about the thesis Evan wrote in this lab.”

“…What?”

“There are people trying to steal and misuse the contents of the thesis.”

Saying that, Cassia glanced around slightly and lowered her voice even further.

“I have an acquaintance with the Dean of Rebatenon University. It’s a purely personal connection. I heard about the thesis through him separately.”

“…”

The Dean of Rebatenon University.

Lennok had never met him directly, but during his time as an assistant professor at the university, he had heard some rumors about him.

He was said to be very old and a shrewd operator, someone who didn’t confine himself to the title of Dean, but whose abilities everyone acknowledged.

He was said to possess quite flexible thinking and a strong experimental nature, unfitting for someone who had lived so long.

Indeed, otherwise, he wouldn’t have even considered building such a large-scale educational institution within the city by directly negotiating with the City Government.

Aris had also mentioned the Dean’s existence a few times in passing.

If he sifted through his blurry memories, it probably wasn’t a negative connotation…

While Lennok was deep in thought, Cassia spoke again.

“Protecting a thesis submitted under the university’s name is the school’s duty, so the faculty department seems to have taken separate measures.”

“…I thought they only gave formulaic answers, but it seems they do have their own way of doing things. So?”

“All seven administrative staff dispatched to investigate the details died at the scene.”

A chilling reply. Lennok fell silent.

“Currently, only the relevant faculty department officials and the Dean himself know this fact. Normally, they would directly contact the City Government and pass this matter up to higher authorities, but…”

Cassia hesitated, but Lennok understood why she was acting this way.

“So, the Dean sent a message to ask for my intentions.”

“…You haven’t already heard about this, have you?”

Cassia asked with a slightly surprised expression.

“I was just about to tell you that was the main point.”

“I’ve had similar experiences, yes.”

Considering the City Government’s handling of affairs and the peculiar nature of special agencies Lennok had experienced, once he handed the matter over to them, the situation would likely spiral out of control.

“If this matter goes up, it’ll probably get troublesome for you as the thesis author. You wouldn’t be able to refuse just with your assistant professor status.”

“That’s right.”

“From the school’s perspective, they’d have to escalate the scale to resolve the issue. It seems the Dean intervened in the middle to hear Evan’s opinion.”

From the faculty department’s standpoint, if the misuse of the thesis had escalated into a crime, it was only natural to report this matter to higher authorities and step back.

However, from Lennok’s perspective, the very act of this matter growing and being called here and there was tantamount to a loss.

So, the Dean recognized this and decided to intervene midway to hear Lennok’s opinion?

There was one fact that could be inferred from that process.

‘He knows I’ve been intentionally hiding behind Aris’s name all this time.’

Did he surmise Lennok disliked being openly exposed and decided to ask for his intentions beforehand regarding escalating this matter?

“Cassia is trusted enough by the Dean to convey such sensitive matters personally.”

“…”

Cassia closed her mouth with a slightly troubled expression.

She had let Lennok know that she was in a position vague enough to personally deliver the Dean’s message, but it was also a clear indication that she couldn’t reveal the full circumstances.

Considering her real name, Akasha, which he’d heard under a different identity in the autonomous region, Cassia must have her own circumstances.

However, in this situation, it was difficult to concern himself with that.

Lennok sighed softly.

“Alright. I won’t ask about that.”

“Thank you.”

“However, judging something based solely on those words seems impossible.”

“Then how…?”

“I’d like to meet the Dean in person.”

Lennok said.

“I believe he’s at the university today, can you arrange a meeting?”

The head of Rebatenon University and a leading wizard.

It was a good opportunity to meet directly with the Dean and settle matters regarding his university life.