At this moment, Ain's mind was in utter chaos.
“What on earth is this?!”
“Sevis publicly provoked a student, only to be utterly humiliated by an unknown opponent! The reason is...?”
“Shocking! Tier 4 Mage defeated by a nobody! You’ll never guess the real reason why!”
The massive newspaper was filled entirely with reports about yesterday's events.
The clickbait headlines were bad enough, but even the content was heavily sensationalized. From start to finish, there wasn't a single article about anything else.
“No, this is completely wrong.”
Ain flipped through the weekly magazine, calmly analyzing the current situation.
“Normally, every section of the academy's weekly magazine has dedicated content for its respective department. Whether it's academic research or interesting trivia, it shouldn't be completely monopolized by a single event.”
“Why is the layout so disorganized this time?”
“And there's no disciplinary list from the Titan Prosecution Office. Usually, every issue has one to remind students of the lines they must never cross in the academy.”
“Even my own punishment was published in the last issue. Not only is there no list this time, but even Belinda's name hasn't appeared at all.”
Something was wrong. This was far too abnormal.
And this wasn't the only anomaly!
It was one thing for the Soul-Shattering Howl to appear ahead of schedule, but why did Belinda have to expose herself early as well?
Four words flashed in Ain's mind.
The Nightingale Secret Order!
The mysterious terrorist organization that instigated the magical beast riots in the academy and ultimately drove Lillian to her death through witchification in Act Two of the game.
The Soul-Shattering Howl had come from their hands.
“Normally, the Nightingale Secret Order wouldn't make a move until several weeks after Act One concluded.”
“Why are they acting on the very day after Act One ended this time?”
“Is Belinda's appearance at this time the Nightingale Secret Order's arrangement, or her own will?”
“And why did Lola bring up Lillian? What exactly did the Eye of the Astral Splendor do in Act Two?”
It was too chaotic! Everything was completely out of order!
Finally, Ain focused his gaze on the headline in the very center of the weekly magazine.
“Personally appointed by Sevis, huh...”
“Sigh... and here I was planning to look up information on the mana core of a Contract Spirit after waking up...”
Ain recalled the events of the past two days. Everything had happened so suddenly.
But at least he still had the Scale of Astral Judgment!
His mana should be enough to use it.
And more than just mana, he needed to figure out why the plot was deviating so much from the original timeline!
If the plot didn't match up anymore, then all his knowledge of the future would become completely useless!
No, he had to go ask!
...
At the gates of the Titan Prosecution Office, Ain was stopped by two student guards.
“Sorry, today is Audit Day. Outsiders are not allowed entry.”
“Audit Day?”
Ain was slightly surprised.
Audit Day was a special day unique to the Titan Prosecution Office. The higher-ups would send people to inspect their work on a massive, unstructured scale.
It ranged from questioning ordinary staff about their daily duties to auditing highly confidential files of major cases.
But in truth, all of this was just a smoke screen. The seemingly random inquiries were actually designed to distract the Titan Prosecution Office.
They would hide their true motives within these chaotic inquiries and investigations, leaving the members of the Titan Prosecution Office completely unable to guess their actual intentions.
Late in the game, Ain had personally gone to the Titan Prosecution Office as a high-ranking academy official on Audit Day, using the chaotic inspection to investigate a top-secret file.
But this was only the early game. There had never been an Audit Day during Act Two in the original story.
“Is Sevis inside? Could you let him know I'm here? He was the one who invited me.”
“Huh? The Arbiter himself invited you?”
Suspicion was written all over the guard's face as he began to speculate about Ain's identity.
“Alright, please wait a moment.”
Shortly after, a girl wearing the clerical uniform of the Prosecution Office walked out and bowed to Ain.
“Please follow me. Arbiter Sevis has been expecting you.”
Ain followed the girl into the Prosecution Office. Numerous students were running back and forth with documents, looking as though they were racing against time.
Suddenly, Ain felt an impact from behind. His body pitched forward, accompanied by countless white sheets of paper fluttering into the air.
“Ah! I'm so sorry, so sorry!”
The student who had bumped into Ain immediately knelt to gather the papers with incredible speed. In just a moment, he stood back up, gave Ain an apologetic look, and hurried away.
“Are you alright?”
“I'm fine.”
“Apologies for the mess. The Prosecution Office is... a bit different from usual today.”
Ain waved his hand to show he didn't mind.
Ten minutes later, the girl led Ain to Sevis's office.
“Arbiter, Mr. Ain has arrived.”
Ain stepped into the office. What greeted him was a desk piled high with documents. Mountains of white paper and files completely surrounded a man.
“Good...”
Accompanied by a rustling sound, a weak voice drifted out from the pile of documents.
Ain looked closely and was shocked to realize that the man before him had lost all of yesterday's sharp, cold edge. His hair was a disheveled mess, his face was smeared with dirt and oil, and deep, dark shadows of extreme exhaustion hung beneath his bloodshot eyes.
Was this beggar-like wreck really Sevis?
“What... did you do to yourself?”
“Young Master Sevi—cough, Young Master Sevis, has been working non-stop since yesterday's intense battle without any rest.”
Hearing the girl's words, Ain looked at Sevis in shock.
It was already almost noon. This guy hadn't slept at all since their fight yesterday afternoon?
“Rosalind, let me take it from here.”
“Yes, sir.”
Sevis stood up slowly, his face a mask of exhaustion.
“I wanted to invite you personally, but the current situation is too critical for me to leave. Since you're here, I'll keep it brief.”
“As you can see, the Prosecution Office is in utter chaos right now.”
“Because today is Audit Day?”
Sevis shook his head.
“Actually, Audit Day is just a cover. The root cause is that Belinda, an insider of our Prosecution Office, was colluding with external threats. We also uncovered a number of contraband items.”
“The higher-ups are furious. To thoroughly purge any potential internal threats, they are currently auditing the files and associations of every single member.”
“To suppress the news that a 'traitor' has appeared within the Titan Prosecution Office and avoid causing unnecessary panic among the public, the weekly magazine published all those sensationalized reports.”
Ain suddenly understood.
“I see.”
No wonder they insisted on sensationalizing the story about him and Sevis. They were capitalizing on the students' love for gossip to make them ignore other information.
Sevis sighed again.
“Setting aside whether external spies have infiltrated our ranks, we have also recently discovered that some of the magical beasts in the academy are showing abnormal symptoms.”
“Agitation, hyperactivity, weakness... We have yet to determine what exactly is causing it.”
“But we can at least be certain that the situation is grim. Someone is attempting to incite chaos within the academy.”
Sevis rubbed his temples and let out a bitter laugh.
“Apologies, I'm truly overwhelmed. Remembering the strength you displayed yesterday, I wanted to ask for your help.”
“I wonder what you think.”
Ain pondered for a moment. Setting aside whether Lola's delivery of the weekly magazine was intended to lead him here, looking at the current situation, joining the Titan Prosecution Office was undoubtedly the fastest shortcut to gathering crucial intelligence.
“Alright, I accept.”
A look of relief finally appeared on Sevis's exhausted face. He spoke solemnly.
“Thank you so much. In light of my insolence yesterday, I formally apologize to you on behalf of my entire family—my Swordbearer.”
Sevis held a favorable impression of Ain.
A pure soul free of any sin was undoubtedly the most precious treasure in the mortal world!
Sevis was even willing to support Ain to become an Arbiter of the Prosecution Office in the future.
“Swordbearer? Wait, isn't that a bit...”
Ain't pupils dilated once again.
Swordbearer—the title each Arbiter of the Titan Prosecution Office bestowed upon their deputy.
Ain was caught off guard. He had assumed Sevis merely wanted him to help out at the Prosecution Office for a while, but he hadn't expected to be officially brought into the inner circle of the Titan Prosecution Office.
Many students had to start from clerical work even after graduation, yet his starting point was already the position of Swordbearer, directly beneath the Arbiter!
It seemed the current situation was far more severe than he had anticipated.
“The Arbiter's judgment is naturally beyond doubt. Lord Ain's joining of the Titan Prosecution Office at this time is truly opportune.”
“The Arbiter has been stretched too thin lately. With a deputy like you to assist him, we can finally rest easy.”
“However, since Lord Ain is working at the Prosecution Office for the first time, you may not be familiar with our internal procedures and regulations. Allow me to...”
Before Rosalind could finish, Sevis grabbed a stack of files from the desk and slammed them violently toward her.
“What time do you think it is, still playing those family games!”
“Even the dog I raised is starting to bite its master now?”
Rate on N.U.
