Chapter: 25
“Calm down. First, calm down. Think rationally.”
I carefully repeated Heneta’s words to myself.
I analyzed the emotions hidden behind Heneta’s eyes.
I organized all the information I knew.
I recalled the details about Heneta that I had learned through the game.
[Mental EX Rank forces the mind into a state of ‘calm’]
Perhaps my usual mental control wasn’t enough to suppress the extreme anxiety, agitation, and turmoil.
My mind entered a perfectly calm state, not allowing even the slightest disturbance.
“It’s not an irreversibly bad situation… yet.”
Thanks to that, I could analyze the current situation extremely calmly and come up with possible responses.
It was a dangerously risky situation where even a single word could send me plummeting, but still.
At any rate, this was not beyond repair.
I could still turn things around.
“I didn’t expect traces like this to remain.”
“Cool. Confessing right away? You’re admitting you’re the one who raided this secret warehouse…?”
“No.”
I cut off Heneta firmly.
“It’s true that I touched that painting. But it’s incorrect to say that I raided the secret warehouse.”
Heneta narrowed her eyes and glared at me.
“You say interesting things. So… you left traces of opening someone else’s house, but you’re not the one who raided it?”
Make sense.
Heneta’s expression said it all.
She was right. Normally, the person who picked the lock is the one who committed the raid.
“Has the principal not yet heard about the incident that happened before yesterday’s assassin attack?”
But that’s in ordinary situations.
This is not an ordinary situation.
“The previous incident?”
“Yes. Before yesterday, when I nearly died from the assassin—there was another attack.”
For example, if it was known that the house whose lock I picked contained an enormous amount of treasure…
And many people were targeting this house.
Even influential figures might have learned of this and moved to raid the house themselves.
Would the person who picked the lock still be 100% assumed to be the culprit?
“The attacker’s name is Yodala. She’s an executive of the organization ‘Black Night.’”
“Yodala?”
“Yes. Yodala, the Bewitching Priestess. She carried out a terror attack on this academy and attempted to infiltrate the faculty building. This was confirmed by Sir Lionel, so if you doubt it, you can ask him yourself.”
Now, the culprit who raided the secret warehouse was either me or Yodala.
As the likelihood that I was the culprit decreased slightly, the principal’s gaze softened a little.
“So… you’re saying Yodala is the one who raided my secret warehouse?”
“Technically, it would be someone working with Yodala. She was detained by Sir Lionel at the time.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. In that case, it’s reasonable to assume they took it. But…”
Heneta’s eyes sharpened again.
“Then you must be Yodala’s collaborator, right?”
However, there were no traces of anyone cooperating with Yodala.
The only traces left were mine.
This meant that it was highly likely I raided the warehouse while Yodala was restrained.
“If I were Yodala’s collaborator, would I have asked Sir Lionel to stop her from attacking the faculty building?”
This hypothesis could not hold because of my earlier actions.
I asked Sir Lionel to stop Yodala.
As the one who had Sir Lionel block her, I could not be her collaborator.
“…Wait. So you were the first to notice that Yodala was targeting this place?”
“At that time, I didn’t know the attacker was Yodala. I just knew there was an attacker.”
“So you were the first to detect the attack?”
“If you don’t believe me, ask Sir Lionel…”
“Okay. Got it. So it’s true.”
Heneta’s expression softened considerably.
This meant her suspicion was beginning to fade.
“Then why did you touch this painting?”
“After informing Sir Lionel about Yodala’s attack, I used the opportunity while she fought him to investigate this building.”
“Why?”
“Yodala wouldn’t target this faculty building without reason. Surely, there’s something inside that she’s after. I assumed her collaborator would search the building to get it.”
“You thought of that immediately after detecting her attack?”
“Yes.”
“You… you’re quite clever.”
“…Thank you for the compliment.”
Heneta’s eyes lit up slightly, as if impressed.
“So while investigating, you ended up here and touched the painting by chance?”
Heneta’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Instinctively, I realized that her next judgment—whether I was guilty or innocent—depended on my answer.
‘Should I really call it a coincidence?’
The only things I touched in this room were the painting and devices connected to opening the secret warehouse.
But Heneta said my traces remained only on the painting.
‘There’s no reason to hide traces on other devices.’
If traces remained elsewhere, she would have concluded I was the culprit.
If traces existed on other devices, I would have admitted it from the start.
‘So, no traces remain on other items.’
Then the key question is why only the painting bears my trace.
I didn’t linger on the painting specifically.
Why is the trace clear only on this painting?
‘Answer: the other devices are designed to move inside the secret warehouse when it opens.’
All other objects rotate or shift into the warehouse once it opens.
The only thing left in this room is the painting.
‘And I didn’t touch anything except the device to open the secret warehouse.’
Conclusion: my mana traces in this room remain only on the painting.
Then the answer I must give is this:
“I did not touch this painting by accident.”
If it were accidental, there would be traces elsewhere.
Touching only this painting by chance makes no sense.
“I touched this painting with intention and certainty.”
“Certainty?”
“I was certain there was a hidden space behind it.”
“…What?”
Touching it intentionally means I sensed something.
“How could you…? Even if a collaborator opened it first… maybe residual traces could be felt?”
Heneta attempted to fill the gaps in my explanation with her reasoning.
Very helpful.
“I don’t know about that, but I sensed something behind this painting and touched it. Though touching it didn’t change anything.”
“…I see.”
Heneta pondered seriously, re-evaluating the truth of my words.
“Even if there were residual traces left by a collaborator, you couldn’t feel them…”
She lifted her gaze sharply and glared at me.
“You said you detected Yodala’s attack first, right? So you could sense her mana?”
“Yes.”
“How? Yodala doesn’t leave traces of mana.”
“I detected it by reading the mana in the bodies of rampaging monsters at the same time.”
After this, the principal would naturally verify the facts with Sir Lionel.
“…What?”
Heneta looked at me as if I was saying the most absurd thing.
“You’re telling me you read the mana inside monsters?”
“Yes.”
“That’s impossible…”
Heneta frowned deeply, lowering her gaze.
“If it’s hard to believe, why not try it?”
Now it was just a matter of proving I could read a monster’s internal mana to prove my innocence.
“…Test. Right, we can test it.”
Heneta’s eyes gleamed.
“Alright. We’ll test it as you say. Follow me.”
She gestured for me to follow her out of the room.
Testing whether I could really read a monster’s mana was simple.
‘Bring the monster here and have me recite its information.’
Reading a monster’s mana meant knowing its level, strengths, and weaknesses.
If I could read it, I truly had the ability. If not, I didn’t.
‘If I know all the information about the monster the principal brings, I could pretend to have the ability even if I didn’t.’
And naturally, I knew almost every monster in this world.
Whatever the principal brought, I wouldn’t be at a loss.
‘Of course, there could be unknown monsters somewhere, but that won’t happen this time.’
The monsters he brings will be ones I know.
“Let me ask one more time. You really can read a monster’s mana, right?”
In front of the giant iron door on one side of the open space in the Monster Prison, where monsters were restrained.
Heneta glared at me warningly.
“It’s not too late. If you tell the truth now, I may give some leniency.”
I met her gaze and said with absolute confidence:
“I will say it again. I truly have the ability to read the mana inside monsters.”
“…I see.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
“I hope that’s true.”
Snap!
Heneta snapped her fingers.
It seemed to be a signal, and the huge iron door behind her slowly opened with a heavy sound.
Thud, thud, thud!
The door opened, revealing a monster.
A golem made entirely of semi-transparent ice.
Ice Golem.
“This is a rare monster that even top hunters and tower lords have rarely seen.”
An artificial monster created thousands of years ago.
Unable to reproduce, most of these golems have perished over time.
Only this one remains.
“I kept this monster separately for research. So currently, only I know information about it.”
Unless someone can read mana, it is impossible to recite its information.
“If your confidence comes from knowing many monsters, I’ll give one last chance. Admit it—everything you’ve said is a lie…”
I said nothing.
I slowly approached the bound Ice Golem and placed my hand on the core in its chest.
“Hoo…”
The Ice Golem.
Truly an ultra-rare monster.
Only the principal knows its information.
If I couldn’t read mana, I couldn’t know anything about it.
‘…That’s what they’d naturally think.’
I smiled slightly and focused my mana on the core.
“Let’s begin.”
Ice Golem.
A remnant from the Ancient Magic Kingdom.
Indeed, only the principal knows its information… but
‘Not in the future.’
Two years later.
According to the game scenario (Act 4), the principal transfers the Ice Golem to Rozarin for research, and its information spreads to all magical towers, starting conflicts between them.
‘I would know the information about a monster that triggers such a major event.’
I remembered every detail about the Ice Golem.
“First, this monster’s name is…”
I began reciting all I knew about it.
‘Wait. What?’
If I hadn’t sensed familiar mana inside its core, I wouldn’t have done this.
‘Jeyraon’s mana?’
Inside the Ice Golem’s core was Jeyraon’s mana.
‘Why is Jeyraon’s mana here?’
Jeyraon and Black Night should have no connection to this Ice Golem incident.
Why is Jeyraon’s mana detectable?
Could there be some unknown background I’m missing?
No, that shouldn’t be possible.
The background is fully revealed in the game.
Black Night has no role in this episode.
‘It should be that way…’
I froze for a moment, bewildered by this inexplicable phenomenon.
[The ‘Seizure Technique’ embedded in the Ice Golem reacts to the player.]
[You have acquired control over the Ice Golem, a legacy of the Ancient Magic Kingdom.]
Suddenly, a message appeared, notifying me that I had become the Ice Golem’s master.
[Absorbing the ‘Pure Frozen Energy’ forming the Ice Golem’s core, a legacy of the Ancient Magic Kingdom.]
Cold energy flowed from the Golem’s core into my body.
