At the Yiertaya Academy, in the Academic Affairs Office.
"Bang!"
After hearing Kriss out, Teacher Ai'erlun, the usually gentle and elegant Dean of Academic Affairs, showed a rare expression of fury. He stood up abruptly and slammed his hand onto the desk.
"This is too much! To dare lock up a student of our Yiertaya Academy—even if my student made a mistake, we should be the ones to handle it. Who does the Sin Hunting Bureau think they are!"
"That Kross, I warned him back when he was at the academy not to be so arrogant and rigid, or he would eventually snap. Now that he's been promoted to a four-star hunter, he dares to reach his hands into the academy? This is preposterous!"
"No, I must confront him face-to-face."
Kriss kept her head low and didn't dare to speak. After all, the person Teacher Ai'erlun was scolding was her own older brother. What if she chimed in and ended up getting scolded along with him?
It was better to just remain a quiet messenger. Regardless, she believed Grinya was definitely innocent.
Just as Ai'erlun was about to leave, Kross, dressed in his uniform, suddenly walked in through the doorway, his eyes as indifferent as ever.
He tapped lightly on the mahogany door and stepped into the office. "Teacher Ai'erlun, there's no need to go to such trouble. I'm already here."
"Kross, what exactly do you think you're doing? You should be well aware of the academy's rules!" Ai'erlun glared at him, like an angry teacher lecturing a disobedient student.
Kross lowered his gaze, not looking Ai'erlun in the eye. In front of Ai'erlun, he still maintained the same respect he had shown as a student years ago.
"Teacher Ai'erlun, I want to see Student Grinya's academic records."
"Those from the Sin Hunting Bureau have no right to interfere in our academy's internal affairs!" Ai'erlun's eyes narrowed, his tone carrying a note of warning.
His meaning was clear: you've crossed the line.
"Is Teacher Ai'erlun trying to protect her?" Kross frowned, lifting his gaze to meet the teacher's eyes.
"Yes, I am protecting my student!" Ai'erlun said without any hesitation.
Seeing this, Kross said nothing more and simply lowered his head again.
Ai'erlun thought he had yielded and couldn't help but let out a cold snort.
A student was still a student. In front of a teacher, their methods were still a bit naive.
Suddenly, Kross tossed a stack of photographs onto the desk, then looked up again, staring directly into Ai'erlun's eyes.
"What is this?" Ai'erlun looked at the thick stack of photos, suddenly feeling an ominous sensation.
"Yesterday at approximately three in the afternoon, a suspected cultist attack occurred at an abandoned Church of Order near the outskirts of the outer ring. When the Sin Hunting Bureau arrived at the scene, Grinya was the only one found there."
Ai'erlun frowned, flipping through the photos casually. "This doesn't prove anything. You said it yourself, it's only 'suspected.' Don't go spreading rumors without evidence."
The photos were all taken in a very dark place: several strange ritual altars, some bizarre scriptures and books, and a large amount of experimental data that made one's skin crawl upon closer inspection.
Ai'erlun's movements paused slightly.
Why did these things all look like cultist items?
Kross spoke at that moment. "The abandoned Church of Order where Grinya was located has already been confirmed as a cultist stronghold. These photos are the proof." He paused, watching the expression on Ai'erlun's face freeze. "In fact, there are many more cultist items inside, but because there are so many, we haven't finished organizing them yet."
He leaned forward, pressing both hands on the desk, his gaze piercing into Ai'erlun's eyes. "I am ninety percent certain that Grinya is a cultist. Yet Teacher Ai'erlun wants to protect her. May I ask, is this your personal intention, or the academy's?"
Ai'erlun: "..."
Looking at it this way, Grinya really did seem like a cultist.
Damn, that was a miscalculation!
He curled one hand into a fist, pressing it against his lips, and coughed twice as if nothing were wrong.
"Such an important matter involving a cultist should naturally involve the principal and the school board in the decision-making process. I am just an ordinary teacher of the people; what I say doesn't count. Just pretend you didn't hear anything I just said."
His face changed very quickly, and he took the opportunity to distance himself completely from the matter.
Kross didn't care. His goal hadn't been to target Ai'erlun in the first place.
"So, Teacher Ai'erlun, can I view Grinya's academic records now?"
"Please!" Ai'erlun nimbly moved out of the way.
"Student Grinya couldn't possibly be a cultist! She saved all of us inside the Wuxin Island secret realm!" Nearby, Kriss pouted, interrupting with great displeasure.
Kross sat in Ai'erlun's seat and lightly pressed a sensor on the desk, causing a light curtain to project outward.
Without even glancing at Kriss, he said, "Is it possible that the Wuxin Island crisis was orchestrated by her all along? That she is the cultist who secretly infiltrated the academy, and she only saved you to divert your suspicion?"
"You... you're talking nonsense!" Kriss's small face turned red with frustration.
"No... I think Kross makes a lot of sense." After some thought, a flash of inspiration hit Ai'erlun, and he suddenly stood on the same side as Kross.
"Because thinking back on it now, Grinya's performance in the secret realm was indeed... very abnormal. Her performance was too brilliant, overshadowing everyone else. Furthermore, after Wuxin Island disappeared, she was the only one left standing, completely different from everyone else's performance."
"Combined with all the accidents that happened on Wuxin Island, I believe the disappearance of Wuxin Island likely has something to do with Grinya."
With Kross's reminder, Ai'erlun fell into deep thought and gradually began to agree with his point of view.
Kross performed a few operations on the light curtain and successfully pulled up Grinya's academic information.
He only gave a shallow glance at the most basic information like age and place of origin. However, a moment later, he suddenly froze. A rare look of astonishment appeared on his long-indifferent face as he stared blankly at the light curtain.
"Her admission test... a perfect score on the practical test, but zero on the theory test?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, he looked at Ai'erlun with a face full of confusion, his expression seemingly asking: what is the situation here?
Ai'erlun's gaze drifted as he gave an awkward smile. "You're not seeing things. There's nothing wrong with the magic network system. That is her actual score."
"Is she a fool?" Kross held it in for a long time before finally managing to squeeze out that complaint.
Then he frowned again. "Wait, this score shouldn't be high enough to get into the Yiertaya Academy..."
He looked up, staring at Ai'erlun with questioning eyes.
"Don't look at me like that. Do you think I'm the kind of Dean of Academic Affairs who would just let a student in through the back door?" Ai'erlun glanced at him, very displeased by his distrustful look.
"Grinya's enrollment was handled entirely by Kaiya, the principal's assistant. This matter has nothing to do with me," he said, washing his hands of it.
"Kaiya, the principal's assistant?" Kross whispered the name, his brow furrowed as he followed up. "The Kaiya from the Kritov family?"
"That's the one."
A flash of inspiration hit Kross, as if he had grasped something. "I remember now. His grandfather is the principal, and he has Ledavich blood flowing in him!"
"Yes. That's why Kaiya was in charge of opening the Wuxin Island secret realm this time." Ai'erlun looked at Kross, whose body was trembling slightly due to his intense emotions. "Did you think of something?"
"Teacher Ai'erlun, I recall that the accident on Wuxin Island seemed to be exactly because Assistant Kaiya sealed off the scene, which prevented the academy from learning about the anomalies immediately, right?" Kross asked.
Ai'erlun nodded.
Kross stared at him with burning eyes and said, "Assistant Kaiya's behavior was so strange. So, did none of you ever suspect that he was the person who threw the rules of Wuxin Island into chaos?"
Ai'erlun froze in place, his expression one of pure horror.
Rate on N.U.
