WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 46: Big Sis
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Grandia Academy.
The faculty was in the midst of a full-blown emergency.
An Apostle of the Evil God had appeared.
Not somewhere else, either, but within the academy itself, while practical training was underway.
<The current situation must not be taken lightly...>
<A thorough investigation into the cause and an explanation from the academy...>
An unidentified barrier.
Several students had been caught inside, and the situation had nearly escalated into a major disaster.
Fortunately, no one had been seriously injured, but the academy had been thrown into complete chaos.
Every faculty member had been summoned to an emergency meeting.
<As Chief Investigator Javert has suggested, we suspect the presence of an internal traitor...>
The discussions continued for days.
In the end, the professors only got to go home after staying awake for three days and nights straight.
Of course, nothing had been resolved.
Just as with the unauthorized raid on the seventieth floor of Purgatory, they merely controlled the information to keep unnecessary rumors from spreading.
The most plausible theory was that a traitor within the academy had been colluding with hostile forces.
Even that had not been fully discussed.
<We will now take a short break.>
<Faculty members, please return to the meeting in six hours.>
After the long, exhausting emergency meeting, the faculty was granted a brief rest.
Even then, they were told to sleep for six hours before returning for another meeting.
“Good grief...”
The faculty was being worked to the bone.
Among those caught in the same current was an elderly professor.
“Professor Glinbert, thank you for your hard work.”
“Ha ha... At my age, this sort of thing is torture.”
Professor Glinbert.
He had taught at Grandia for a full twenty years.
A veteran educator, he had calluses to show for his years in the profession.
“Ugh...”
The old man pressed at the dark circles beneath his eyes.
Shadows played between his deep wrinkles.
“You really do see everything if you live long enough.”
The sort of habitual muttering people developed with age.
Glinbert furrowed his brow, looking troubled.
He had spent a long time at the academy, but he had never seen it in such disarray.
“One strange thing after another...”
The unauthorized raid on the seventieth floor of Purgatory.
A floor that had remained unconquered for so long had been cleared overnight.
The dragon that had ruled the seventieth floor had even been found as a grotesque corpse.
Yet the faculty had not only failed to find the culprit, they had no idea where to begin investigating.
“And now this, less than two weeks later...”
It had only been a month.
Only one month had passed since Grandia Academy admitted its new students.
Yet two major incidents had already occurred in that short span.
In all his twenty years as an educator, Glinbert had never experienced anything like it.
“Honestly... What in the world is about to happen?”
The old professor let out a deep sigh.
Perhaps because he was naturally prone to worry, he could not shake the ominous feeling.
An old man’s anxiety.
Even after staying up for days over academy affairs, concern came before complaint.
Instead of heading for the faculty dormitory, Glinbert made his way to his office.
He figured he might as well get some work done instead of sleeping fitfully for six hours.
‘I should at least put together a simple assignment...’
Because of the practical training incident, the academy had suspended classes for a week.
He wanted to prepare materials for the students in the meantime.
The students would have screamed at the thought of assignments during a week off, but from an educator’s perspective, there was no one more dedicated.
“Ahem... I hope the students like it.”
The old professor muttered an impossible hope.
Before he knew it, he had arrived outside his office.
Someone was waiting for him in the long corridor.
“Professor Glinbert.”
“...?”
The corridor was dark.
It was dawn, so no light came in through the windows.
It was long past the time when even teaching assistants would have gone home, let alone students.
“Who...?”
The old professor furrowed his brow slightly.
All he could see in the darkness was a pure white mask.
“Hello.”
The mask wore an unsettling smile.
The upturned corners of its smiling eyes were watching the old man.
* * *
“Who...?”
The kindly-looking old professor tilted his head.
I smiled and greeted him.
“Hello.”
“You are...”
He frowned for a moment, then his eyes seemed to recognize me.
Glinbert asked as though he had no idea why I was here.
As though he were quietly trying to remember my name.
“So, you’re... Student Viktor?”
“You know me.”
“Of course I do. You performed quite impressively during the entrance exam, and again at the Freshman Welcome Test, didn’t you? I imagine every faculty member has looked over your profile at least once.”
“Ah.”
“And you were caught in the barrier during this practical training too, weren’t you? You were one of the three who faced the Apostle of the Evil God directly... It would be stranger for a faculty member not to know your name, Student Viktor.”
“That’s true. Especially right after an incident this big.”
I did have something of a superstar streak.
At this point, anyone in Grandia Academy who didn’t know me was practically a spy.
‘I was supposed to keep a low profile...’
After getting dragged into several incidents, that plan had become impossible.
I decided not to care anymore. I was going to keep getting involved in incidents anyway.
If I held back just because I didn’t want attention, I wouldn’t get anything done.
“But... What brings you to my office? It’s long past curfew. Did you get permission from your supervising professor?”
“There’s something I’d like to discuss with you, Professor Glinbert.”
“Hmm...? With me? At this late hour?”
“It’s important enough for me to come at this late hour.”
“...?”
The old professor furrowed his brow at my odd answer.
Well, that was fair.
We had never even met before.
He said he knew my name, but that was only on paper.
We had not seen each other’s faces even once since I enrolled.
‘Professor Glinbert is in charge of third-years to begin with.’
There had been no reason for us to meet.
From his perspective, it was natural to be suspicious.
Before he could react further, I jumped straight to the point.
“I’ll get straight to it.”
“What is this all of a sudden...?”
“Would you take a look at this?”
I rummaged through my robe and pulled out a crystal orb.
Its surface was blue. It looked like an ordinary crystal orb.
Of course, what mattered came next.
“A few days ago... Before practical training began, that is. I saw the notice saying the student hunting grounds would be closed for several days. So I visited the hunting grounds beforehand to stock up on food for my spirit beast. The spirit beast I tame takes the form of a bat, so fresh monster blood is its staple food.”
“Mm...”
“But, oh no. Perhaps I was in too much of a hurry, because I dropped the recording crystal orb I always carry around. I didn’t notice until the next morning, and by then the student hunting grounds had already been closed. I had no choice but to trudge back, telling myself I’d retrieve it during practical training.”
It was a lie.
I left the crystal orb behind after the student hunting grounds had been closed.
I slipped through using the Wall Clipping bug and hid it somewhere it wouldn’t be found.
I hadn’t accidentally dropped it there. I put it there on purpose.
“I was so distracted that I’d left the recording function on, too.”
Still, I spoke as though it had been an accident.
As if I were telling the story for someone else’s benefit.
“So it kept recording until the day of practical training.”
“...”
The old professor listened in silence.
Maybe I had caught his interest.
I casually operated the screen.
“But... It recorded something interesting.”
Ding.
The crystal orb’s screen projected like a hologram.
A view of the forest appeared amid the wavering display.
Area A of the student hunting grounds.
“Would you like to see?”
“...”
I selected the exact point and played the recording.
It was from the day before practical training.
Someone approached through the dim thickets.
A suspicious figure wearing a dark red robe pulled low over their head.
The robe seemed to have a recognition-inhibition option, because its wearer could not be seen clearly.
[Rustle, rustle.]
The figure pulled a thick bottle from inside their robe.
They twisted off the cap and poured its contents onto the ground.
A sticky black liquid seeped into the earth.
It didn’t look like anything pleasant.
[Rustle, rustle.]
After emptying one bottle, the figure immediately pulled out another.
They emptied exactly sixteen bottles in a row.
The figure’s movements were utterly calm.
[Whoooooosh!]
Then, by sheer chance, a sudden gust of wind blew through.
The robe pulled low over the figure’s head fluttered for a moment.
For that brief instant, their face was caught on screen.
“Interesting, isn’t it?”
It was an incredible coincidence.
The robe had fluttered for only a moment.
The area was obscured by thick bushes.
And since it was night, visibility was poor.
The sudden wind, the angle of the bushes, the point where moonlight happened to fall.
Unless the spot had been deliberately chosen with every one of those factors considered, there was no way the figure’s face could have been recorded.
“Professor Glinbert’s face was captured this clearly.”
“...”
And then.
My crystal orb had been placed in exactly that kind of spot.
“A remarkable coincidence, isn’t it?”
By chance.
Purely by chance.
“It was you. The traitor colluding with the Cult.”
The crystal orb contained evidence no one could deny.
Glinbert remained silent for a long time.
His eyes had turned cold.
His kindly expression vanished, leaving only venomous killing intent.
“Ha ha... Have you shown this recording to the other professors?”
“Not yet. I wanted to confirm it with the person involved first.”
“I see... Is that so?”
Clang!
Iron bars dropped down across the corridor where we stood.
The space caged Glinbert and me, blocking off our escape.
When I turned my head, Glinbert was operating the security system with a crystal orb in his hand.
“What a relief. You handled this very stupidly...”
“Oh dear, we’re trapped.”
A faint light shimmered across the iron bars.
They didn’t look ordinary.
It was probably a security system incorporating some kind of barrier magic.
“Ahahaha! You should have told the other professors first!”
Perhaps he was relieved.
The old man laughed brightly and spread both arms wide.
The corridor was already sealed. There was nowhere to run.
“Oh no...”
“If I kill you here, everything is solved! You’re the only one who knows about this recording! You stupid little bastard!”
The professor abandoned his dignified way of speaking and shouted like a madman.
Sharp mana flickered at his fingertips.
He seemed to intend to silence me by killing me.
The unexpected situation sent a chill down my spine.
“You fucking little shit! You fucking brat! You scared the hell out of me! Fuck, fuck, fuck! I thought I’d been caught! But it’s fine, I just have to tear you apart and kill you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
He wasn’t someone I could have a normal conversation with.
As expected of someone affiliated with the Cult, his mind wasn’t sound.
Cold sweat ran down my back.
“Uh... This is a problem.”
I meant it.
He was a veteran teacher who had taught at Grandia for twenty years.
We were not in the same weight class.
He wasn’t someone I could deal with through chip damage like in the nightmare.
He wasn’t a vampire either, so fragments of the Stake wouldn’t work.
On top of that, there were no bugs I could use in this research building corridor.
“Die! Dieee! You fucking brat!”
There wasn’t even a gap I could escape through with Wall Clipping.
Meanwhile, he was striding toward me.
“D-Damn it...”
It was a genuine crisis.
And I was a glass cannon with overall E-rank stats.
One spell from a veteran professor would turn my insides into a splatter across the floor.
“I just need to kill you! Then I can cover it up! The situation is already a mess anyway, so nobody will care if one lowborn mongrel from Class E like you goes missing! And what if they do care? I’ll never get caught! Why would anyone think that I, a third-year instructor, did something to you when we’ve never even met! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! You came charging in full of confidence! You reckless little pup!”
“P-Please spare me...”
It was my miscalculation.
I never expected Glinbert to react so crazily.
My original plan had been to show him the evidence and have a calm conversation...
“Hahaha! Are you crying? Cry harder! Beg for your life while you cry! I’ll kill you anyway! I’ll smash that stupid crystal orb too! I’ll melt it in hydrochloric acid so nobody can find it!”
“Ahh... I was so careless! I’m going to be murdered without being able to do anything! I’m so scared!”
Scared.
Scared.
“...Did you think I’d say that?”
I dropped the act from my voice.
I was a transmigrator.
Someone who prepared for the next move, and the next, and the one after that.
This situation had been in the palm of my hand from the start.
“Professor Glinbert, you’ve admitted that you’re the traitor.”
“Yeah! So what! So what! You’re going to die here! Hahahahahaha!”
“Hmm... Is that so?”
I held my chin as though deep in thought.
Then I slowly turned my head and looked beyond the iron bars, around the corner.
“Did you hear that, Professor Javert?”
“...What?”
Glinbert froze on the spot.
Naturally, because he could not sense anyone else in the corridor.
‘But.’
I was certain.
She would be watching the situation from beyond those iron bars.
More precisely, she had followed me from the moment I left the hospital room.
‘That was why.’
Why I had deliberately acted suspiciously in front of Javert.
Why I had made her suspect me and watch me.
I had used her.
An unfavorable field for me.
[Glinbert’s Research Room], where there were almost no bugs I could use.
‘Only. From the beginning. All along. To clear this place.’
Click.
The sound of heels striking the corridor.
By then, a red-haired woman stood behind the iron bars.
She had been hiding around the corner until just before, so she had heard our entire conversation from beginning to end.
“Professor Glinbert.”
“C-Chief Investigator Javert? H-How are you in a place like this...?!”
Her gaze was cold.
Her green eyes were fixed solely on the traitor.
A brilliant white light shimmered at Javert’s fingertips.
“That was an interesting story. You intended to kill my student and conceal the incident...”
Crunch.
The iron bars and barrier that had sealed off the corridor.
With a few gestures, she crumpled them.
The iron bars, and even the barrier itself, shattered into pieces.
“Would you tell me again?”
Her characteristically inorganic gaze was fixed on the old professor with hostility.
Glinbert’s face turned white.
I smiled at him.
My twisted lips carried the scorn I reserved for yet another fool.
“Smile, Professor.”
Now, get a taste of our big sis Javert.
Footnotes:
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