Roy thought he could be the hero in the situation by giving the clues about the killer that everyone was looking for! He thought he could save everyone from going through the test of the crown by coming forward and could even get rewards from the teachers for giving clues that they were looking for.
Unfortunately, he soon realized that he was probably too optimistic in his assumption. Not only was he caught in the middle of this mess, but the people who were supposed to praise him were calling him the killer. Even the teachers were looking at him suspiciously.
"M-maybe I was wrong about his year..." Stuttering, Roy started looking at other students. If that person wasn't in the First Year students, then he must've been in other years! At any cost, he needed to find that person if he wanted to prove his innocence.
Unfortunately, even after he went through all the students, he didn't find the person he had seen before. He had already started sweating while his throat dried up. He gulped heavily in fear.
All the Head Teachers were still looking at him.
"Kid, we don't have all day." The Head of House of Light couldn't help but feel as if this guy was wasting their time.
"H-he isn't here! I swear in my life I saw someone who isn't here! And he definitely looked like a first-year student! He also didn't correct me when I called him out in the first year! But he isn't here!"
"Do you have any evidence to prove if what you're stating is true?" Xinci asked. "If not, I'm afraid you'll have to be the first person who goes through the test of the crown to prove that what you're telling is the truth."
"Proof? I... Ah, that's right! I can prove I'm not lying!" Roy suddenly exclaimed, realizing that he had forgotten something. He did have something that could prove he wasn't lying!
Roy looked at one of his friends in the crowd. "Loid was there with me! He was the one who called me to the gate, for which I had to leave! He saw me talking to that person!"
In his fear, he had forgotten entirely about the fact that he wasn't alone. He called his friend forward, who was slightly scared to come ahead. He didn't want to be accused like his friend.
"Is he telling the truth? Did you see a person in the Dorm who isn't here?" Yoan asked in his heavy voice, which made the young man take a step back in fear.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"I-i didn't see that person's face clearly, but Roy is telling the truth. He was talking to a youngster when I called him." Despite his fears, now that he was here, he answered honestly.
Hearing the answers, Yoan's face twitched. He realized what that meant!
Even though it was a bad news that a student had been killed here, hearing Loid's answers, Eliana looked at Yoan's face in amusement.
"All of you can go back to your rooms. Until your next orders, none of you are to leave your rooms except the Fourth Years!" She commanded. She had the answer she needed.
Roy sighed in relief. He didn't know what was going to happen next, but at least he was proven innocent. He could safely walk back. However, he didn't forget to glare at the people who were calling him killers, especially people from his own class.
One after another, all the students walked inside the dorms. Lelin and Gabriel walked inside together. Throughout the journey, none of them spoke to each other. However, the silence was somewhat scary. It was as if there was a silence before the storm.
Lelin went to his room, separating from the group. Gabriel also went to his own room, still thinking about Lelin and his identity. He didn't know how Lelin found out about him, but he felt that it was because of some Numen that Lelin possessed.
Only Numens were so mythical that they could help him find out. There was no other way. As for what Numen Lelin possessed, that was the question.
"Something that can help him read my mind? If that's the case, it will make sense how he would know. Or it could also be a Numen that can help him see the past."
He didn't know too much about the Numens other than the ones he heard about. He only knew how many there were in total and that each of those Numens possessed the strength of a Demigod, but other than that, he didn't know much.
"If Lira was here, she could've told me what Numens could make something like that possible for Lelin. Or if he was actually bluffing?"
"In any case, he didn't tell the Teachers. That's good. Just a few days more. As long as he doesn't become an obstruction in my path, I should be able to avoid him. But if he does..."
****
Lelin was about to sleep before he was called down, but now that he was back in his room, he could see the sun rising in the distance. It was already morning.
He stood on his balcony, looking down at the Teachers who were still there.
****
"It seems that our initial assumption about the killer being from the House of Light was wrong," Eliana summarized. "If he isn't a student from the House of Light, he could be from another House who managed to sneak inside."
"With that in mind, what do you say Yoan? Should we still use the Crown of Elisus? We can start with the House of Flames."
Yoan's face twitched uncontrollably. He wanted the crown to be used because the incidence was limited to the House of Light. Even if those people had their talents messed up, it didn't affect him or his house.
However, now that his own house was in the zone of fire, he couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let his precious students go through this test.
"Hmph, didn't we already agree that we won't use the Crown of Elisus? It's not good for the academy and for the students to use it on such a large scale!" Yoan snorted. "Also, how can we be sure that the boy wasn't lying? Maybe he and his friend committed this murder together?"
"That's possible as well. At this moment, anything is possible." Rem agreed. "All we know at the moment is that no one had any clue about the killer other than those two. And even if the Killer was in the crowd before us, he refused to come forward on his own. So it's too soon to come to a conclusion about anything."
"What. Aren't we all forgetting about something?" Xinci rolled her eyes. "We all know that the Spells of Light have been used by the murderer, including the healing and the purifying spell. There is no way that the Killer could be from any other house!"
"Ah, that..." Yoan slapped his forehead. He became so flustered before that he even forgot to consider that factor! It was already proven that the Killer used the Element of Light!
Unfortunately, in his haste, he had agreed that using the Crown was a stupid idea. He couldn't go back on his words now, no matter how much he regretted it.
"As I said, it's too soon to come to a conclusion," Lishen chimed in again. "Even though it looks like the work of a Mage of Light, there could be more to this than we know."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"For example, wasn't the dead a Mage of Light? It's quite possible that he used healing on himself to survive for as long as he could. It's also possible that he was forced to use the Purifying under threat? We're running blind at the moment. First, we need to know more about the dead kid."
Even though Rem was looking at a really wide picture, he did consider all the possibilities, no matter how unlikely they were.
"We should have his complete file in a few hours. We can wait in the Dean's Castle until then."
Eliana left a few teachers behind to keep an eye on the Dorms before leaving with the other Head Teachers of the Head Council. Since everything had happened so recently, they couldn't jump the ship too soon. They needed to consider every factor, especially since it looked like an act of revenge.
****
The Head Council waited for a few hours in a beautiful hall, sitting around a round table.
It was eight in the morning when a young lady arrived, holding multiple files.
"The files are ready."
She placed a file before each of the Head Council members. Each file had the same content. They had the life history of Hawrin... At least as much as they could've gathered.
"Thank you. You can leave for now."
After the young lady placed the file before everyone, she was gestured to leave.
The young lady left the hall, closing the hall behind her as she left. The majestic hall returned to silence as all the teachers looked at the closed file before them, curious if it could give them some information.
Unlike the other teachers, Eliana already knew a few things about Hawrin since she had allowed him an admission here. But even she didn't dive deep into his past other than knowing a few basic things like his father was killed while serving the Church of Light.
She had been so busy handling the Academy in the absence of the Dean that she couldn't find time to even read about how that happened.
Everyone opened the file and started going through what was recorded.
The more they read the more serious their expressions became as they realized how deep this mess could be….