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Chapter 114

If we continued along this current path, we were bound to fail, but the reason behind our failure still remained unclear. The 100-point future had shown me the critical scene that proved we were doomed to fail, but it didn’t show me the reason why.

I realized we were going to fail, but it was still too vague.

‘Once more.’

I let out a short breath.

This time, I used a 200-point Preview.

Having already seen the failed outcome in the 100-point version, I hoped to find a clue about the reason for our failure in the 200-point one.

The 200-point Preview showed a brief conversation.

The date and time stamp was from May 24th, Year 323 of the Imperial Calendar, around four in the afternoon.

‘That’s tomorrow.’

I knew the location well. It was the club room that belonged to “Grace”, and all the members of the club, including me, were sitting around.

“I asked if we could see the president for a moment... And I was allowed to.”

Olivia, although a fifth-year, had taken a leave of absence for a year to volunteer for activities related to the Great War. Thus, it seemed Ceres was addressing her respectfully as “president”.

“But... The atmosphere was definitely strange. Senior’s expression was very dark, and it seemed like there was something going on... It looked like there was something she wanted to say but couldn’t, because the commander was beside her. I asked a few times to be left alone with her, but it was clear that it would not be allowed.”

It appeared Ceres Van Owenne would pay a visit to the Order of the Holy Knights in order to clarify what was going on with Olivia. She would meet both Olivia and the commander, but with the commander by her side, Olivia would not be able to say anything.

“The commander said he was only respecting his daughter’s decision to leave the Temple.”

There was much to be suspicious of, but no solid proof to call out the commander.

Olivia seemed unable to say anything crucial, as if she had been silenced.

Ceres Van Owenne would meet the two at the temple of the Order of the Holy Knights, but would return without any confirmation or proof. Despite her suspicions, she would not find anything that could back them up.

We would need some kind of evidence in order to rightfully bring Olivia back.

Was everything going to proceed like this, without us being able to do anything? Even if we were to meet Olivia, she couldn’t ask us to save her, because of the commander watching over her.

“We’ve reached out to the teachers for help as well... But they said that it would take some time, since they would have to bring it up during a faculty meeting first.”

If the students failed, did that mean that the teachers would fail as well?

***

After the Preview ended and I returned to reality, my head began to hurt even more.

Olivia couldn’t open her mouth to say anything on her own. From what I had just overheard, it was enough to show me that Olivia was terribly afraid of Leverier Lanche.

This showed me that we would not be able to prove our suspicions in a more concrete manner in the near future. Hence, we still wouldn’t be able to rescue Olivia even if we knew what would happen.

But if that was the case, I had no clue what I was supposed to do. It would take time for the teachers to act, because they had to convene a faculty meeting.

A 500-point Preview...

‘Should I watch it or not?’

The 100-point Preview had shown me the overall outcome of failure, and the 200-point Preview revealed that, although I would be able to meet Olivia Lanche if I wanted to, she would be too terrified to speak.

‘Would the 500-point preview offer something more significant?’

After much deliberation, I finally executed the 500-point Preview.

[You have used 500 achievement points.]

I had spent a total of 800 achievement points in the blink of an eye.

But if I could just save Olivia Lanche, these points would be restored just as quickly.

‘Instead of working with these vague clues, let’s just go all in.’

***

Year 323 of the Imperial Calendar, June 3rd, around 5 p.m.

This was a point in time two weeks from the present.

The scene I was witnessing was taking place in a location that I could not pinpoint. It appeared to be a conference room, and a group of people were seated within.

There were roughly twenty people.

I wondered who these people were, but only recognized two faces among them.

Mr. Effenhauser and Ms. Mustang.

Immediately, I understood what I was witnessing.

This was a Royal Class faculty meeting. The teachers-in-charge of each class, dorm supervisors, various assistant teachers, and senior staff members in charge of general administration had all gathered together.

Bang!

“This is outrageous!” Someone exclaimed in anger as she slammed the desk in front of her. It was a woman, but I did not know her identity. “Isn’t it clear what Olivia’s going through? The fact that her guardian refused a request for a private meeting should already make it obvious. If there was nothing untoward going on, why refuse such a request? Even the students say Olivia looks unwell, and that something must be going on!”

Her desperate cry was met with a sigh from the oldest-looking teacher seated at the head of the table, who appeared to be the principal of the Royal Class.

“We’re not unaware of that, teacher Sarvina. We should be thankful that we even managed to convene this faculty meeting under such short notice. This is all we can do... The Temple can’t do anything from here onward. What’s next falls within the jurisdiction of the investigative authorities. Even so... whether we can investigate the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights without any evidence... remains unclear.”

‘What on Earth is happening?’

“If only... we were just one day quicker... No, if we had only paid attention to the problem a little sooner...”

The person, who likely was Olivia’s homeroom teacher, started to cry, her eyes brimming with tears.

It was unclear what exactly was happening, but it seemed the Temple’s response had been continually delayed with meeting after meeting. Therefore, it was certain that something had gone wrong.

“If only we had been one day quicker.”

‘What does that supposed to mean?’

“Unfortunately, Olivia Lanche is no longer a student at the Temple. Therefore, there’s nothing more we can do.”

Hearing that, I felt like the puzzle pieces were starting to fit together.

Olivia Lanche had withdrawn from the Temple as of the day before. Hence, the Temple had lost any justification to speak on behalf of Olivia Lanche’s personal affairs.

If they were to do so, her guardian could simply rebut them by pointing out that they had no right to demand his daughter back, especially since she was no longer a student at the Temple.

Alternatively, another argument could be made that the Temple authorities, suspecting some foul play, had been pestering her, which led to her forced withdrawal.

If the faculty meeting of the Temple had been just a few days earlier, the faculty might have been able to do something. However, everything had gone awry because of a one-day delay. Or, if they had anticipated that Olivia might suddenly submit her withdrawal, they might have been able to delay the process by giving the administrative department a heads-up.

The 800 points weren’t wasted after all.

Now, I had a clear understanding of what the issues were.

Ceres Van Owenne would initially meet with Olivia, but Olivia would not be able to say anything while under the watchful eyes of Leverier Lanche. Her silence could be partly due to her fear of Leverier Lanche, but there were other possible explanations for it.

Considering the magical procedures that seemed to have been performed on Olivia, there was a chance that some sort of manipulation had been done to prevent her from speaking at all.

Following that, the student council president must have sought the teachers’ help. However, without evidence, the teachers needed to be cautious about making such a direct request to the Order of the Holy Knights, which would lead them to debate whether to send an official request for her to be released.

By the time the Temple made the internal decision to take action, Olivia Lanche would no longer be a Temple student. Therefore, the Temple found itself unable to make any demands on the grounds of concern for Olivia Lanche’s personal safety. From that point onward, the jurisdiction would be transferred to the investigative authorities, but it was clear they would not take any action.

Eventually, it seemed the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights would fail in his original goal of brainwashing or subduing Olivia; thus, that strategy would also fail to achieve its purpose.

‘If things continue as they are, it will be a catastrophe for everyone.’

***

After the time for dinner had passed, Adriana called for me.

“Junior. Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Her expression suggested that things had gone as she’d expected.

We gathered in the Grace clubroom. Since it was the weekend and some members had not yet returned from their outings or were absent, only those who were on campus were present.

Those who appeared to have read the letter were all wearing serious expressions.

“Ah... Reinhart, was it?”

“Yes.”

Ceres Van Owenne, the student council president who was also the vice president of the club, looked at me with an ambiguous expression. It was a hesitant look, as though she was unsure if my presence was appropriate or not.

“Um... Right, you went to see the president. Please, have a seat.”

Ceres, being in the same year as Olivia, seemed to recognize that I had visited Olivia, and did not seem intent on sending me away. It appeared that she understood that, for whatever reason, I was concerned about Olivia.

In front of her was the anonymous letter that I had written.

Ceres waved the letter I had written in front of the silent audience.

“If this is a prank someone is pulling, it would be a very evil one... But, unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like a prank at all.”

“What does it say?”

“What’s going on?”

Those who were in the know wore serious expressions, while those who were clueless had bewildered looks, as though wondering if some major incident had happened.

“Some of you might not know this yet, but early this morning, the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights himself came to the Temple and took the president away.”

“H-He took the president? And he came down himself to do so?”

“Yes. It was so early that I did not manage to witness it firsthand, but it seems some people witnessed the event.”

At this point, it was probably only the students the same year as Olivia Lance who knew about her disappearance. The other students’ perplexed reactions were quite understandable.

“And this letter... In it, the writer alleges that the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights will do terrible things to the president. Something akin to torturing her.”

Torture.

The appearance of such a shocking word left everyone understandably shellshocked. The fact that the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights had taken his daughter away like a kidnapper in the dead of night was shocking enough, but now, an anonymous letter had arrived, claiming that he would torture his own daughter.

“What... That’s... That’s absurd!”

“Exactly...”

“This has to be a prank someone is pulling!”

It was inevitable that people would not believe such allegations.

The atmosphere in the room immediately grew chaotic. It was only natural, given all the incredulous stories that were being dumped on the attendees all at once.

“Everyone, please, quiet down.” Ceres tried to calm the crowd as tension grew around her eyes. “This is nothing but a malicious prank. It’s also a tremendous slander against the commander.”

Hearing that, both Adriana and I felt a chill run down our spines. It was understandable that the authenticity of the letter was in doubt, but if this idea gained traction, it would not only grow into a substantial problem, but Adriana and I could end up being apprehended.

“... However, whether this is true or not, several people did see the president being taken away by the commander this morning. It seems those who were out for their morning exercises witnessed it.”

Ceres had evidently heard stories from others who had witnessed Olivia’s departure in the early dawn.

“Among those stories, common elements included the commander apparently hitting the president. They also say that it looked like she was being dragged away against her will.”

The commander had hit Olivia, and it seemed Adriana and I weren’t the only ones who’d seen it. Evidently, the commander had actually committed an act of violence against his foster daughter, and this alone was enough to shock everyone.

“Putting aside the identity of the person who wrote this letter and left it here, I think it’s necessary to check on the president to see if anything has happened to her.”

Although it seemed that she believed the wording in the letter was excessively exaggerated, Ceres seemed convinced that the commander might indeed do something to Olivia in an attempt to change her mind about abandoning her faith.

The fact that the commander had used violence on his foster daughter had already been proven.

And while Leverier Lanche might not stoop to torture, it was a common belief that he would indeed take some action to correct what he perceived as his wayward child’s misguided thoughts.

Adriana and I didn’t need to argue about the credibility of the letter, since Ceres had already made the decision that she had to check in on the president herself.

“I’ll go personally to check on this situation tomorrow and let you know what I find, so keep quiet about this until then.”

Given the lateness of the hour, it was too difficult to look into this matter right then. Therefore, Ceres was planning to proceed as scheduled and visit the headquarters of the Order of the Holy Knights the next afternoon.

Given the way things were unfolding, it was clear that the best course of action for Adriana and I was to remain silent at this juncture, since Ceres had already reached the conclusion we desired on her own.

However, this was merely the sequence of events that would lead up to the predetermined future.

Ceres would head to the temple of the Order of the Holy Knights alone, and return full of suspicion, but without any confirmation. The commander would allow her to meet Olivia, but would not permit them to be alone.

Whether the student council would manage to meet Olivia afterward remained unknown, but it was very likely they would be prevented from doing so.

The moment Ceres returned empty-handed, I would consider another plan to obtain evidence, and secure confirmation of her suspicions through that plan.

However, since I already knew that we wouldn’t be able to get anything out of the meeting with Olivia, I had already thought of a second plan. I would have naturally come up with this plan in the predetermined future, but the fact that it did not end up working out showed me that, while we would be allowed to meet Olivia the next day, the commander of the Order of the Holy Knights would not let us meet her anymore after that.

In other words, the next day was the only opportunity we had to meet Olivia.

Olivia would still be unable to say anything, either because of her fear of the commander, or because of some kind of concealing magic that had been cast on her.

“Vice President, I think we need to consider a ‘what if’ scenario.”

When I voiced my opinion, all eyes turned to me. By speaking up, I risked becoming the prime suspect behind the letter, but it was time to step forward.

If we kept going down this path, we were going to reach a dead end.

“What do you mean by ‘what if’?”

“Well... I don’t know much, but is the president very afraid of the commander?”

Ceres tilted her head slightly in thought. “Hmm... The president is a fifth-year student, but she repeated a year, so the seniors in their sixth year would actually know more about her than I do.”

Olivia was repeating a year, and so she was living with the younger fifth-years. It was understandable that the current sixth-year students would know more about Olivia.

There were indeed two sixth-year seniors in the room, one male and one female, and Ceres turned her attention towards them.

“Hm... Now that I think about it... She didn’t seem to want to talk about the commander much,” said the male senior.

“She definitely seemed scared. Whenever that topic came up... it’s like the atmosphere just sank. I’ve seen it happen quite a bit. She seemed to tremble a little, too,” said the female senior.

The female senior seemed to know Olivia a little better. From her testimony, everyone understood that Olivia was indeed afraid of her adopted father, Leverier Lanche.

I looked at Ceres.

“If we go to meet her while she’s in this state... won’t she be unable to speak about anything properly?”

“Hmm... But if I ask that the two of us be left alone, just the two of us, maybe... we could get the full story?”

‘No, the commander won’t allow that.’

“There’s a chance that would work, but there’s also a chance it wouldn’t. So, preparing for the unexpected seems wise.”

Fortunately, the others in the room seemed like decent people, since they did not find it rude for a young junior like me to speak up in such a manner. Had there been someone more “old-fashioned” around, they might have told me to keep quiet because I was making too much noise.

Ceres seemed to agree with my suggestion, although she doubted the necessity of preparing for such an eventuality.

“I suppose that’s true. Preparing for a situation in which we won’t be allowed to have a proper conversation isn’t a bad idea. But what do you suggest we do?”

There was one way to ensure that Olivia’s perspective would be heard, even if she was silenced or rendered unable to speak due to some magical means.

“I think that bringing an additional person along might be a good idea.”

The vice president didn’t have to go alone; if she brought along another person, that would be enough.

“If by another person you mean... Reinhart, are you saying that you want to go along as well?”

Most of the others looked at me with uncertain expressions, as though wondering what good it would do for me to be there.

“No, not me.”

I wasn’t suggesting taking me along.

“Oh!” B-4, Ashir, who had been sitting there quietly, suddenly exclaimed. It seemed he had realized what I was getting at.

“There’s a classmate of mine in Class B, a first-year student named Evia.”

B-7, Evia...

It was an unexpected suggestion, but in this situation, she was more necessary than anyone else.

“Why do you think we need her, Reinhart?”

“She can use Telepathy.”

At that, everyone gasped in astonishment.