NOVPUBI crumpled the note and stuffed it into my inner pocket, sinking into deep thought.
At the very least, it was now clear that the Black Dawn Society was involved in this werewolf incident.
But judging from the urgency in the note—"capture them immediately, eliminate if necessary"—even they hadn’t anticipated the escape.
The problem is, if this gets exposed, the Black Dawn Society could suffer a serious blow.
If they’re the ones getting hit, that’s actually good news for me.
Even if I keep a straight face outwardly, inwardly I should be throwing a celebration.
But the real issue... was the last line.
—There’s a risk of our identity being compromised.
That could only mean one thing: Ludger Cherish, the identity I currently hold, is somehow connected to the creation of those werewolf specimens.
I’m supposed to catch three of them. Well—now it’s two.
Which means I need to find and kill them before Seorn’s staff does.
Come to think of it, the werewolf had a marking.
That mark is most likely tied to whoever conducted the experiment.
And the fact that Ludger Cherish is connected to it in some way—
If I weren’t involved, I would’ve left the matter to Seorn’s faculty without hesitation.
But since I am involved... that changes everything.
If I’m found out, I’m dead.
“Professor Ludger? Are you feeling alright?”
“It’s nothing.”
I answered Selina, who had noticed something off and asked out of concern, while I quickly worked my mind.
So there are three werewolves in total.
I’ve already taken out one. That leaves two.
One probably in Seorn. The other, in Rederbelk.
I need to hunt them down.
Meanwhile, the exchange between the Headmaster and Hugo was finally drawing to a close.
“Well, Professor Hugo, you’re free to hold whatever narrow-minded beliefs you wish. Just make sure you fulfill your duties properly.”
“So you’re increasing patrols?”
“That, and more. We’ll be expanding the patrol groups, and more importantly, we instructors can’t just sit idle while students are still out late at night.”
Hugo openly grimaced at that.
It wasn’t concern for the students that bothered him—but the idea that someone of his stature had to patrol like some lowly servant.
Still, the incident had already occurred, and the severity of the situation wasn’t lost on the rest of the faculty.
Even Hugo wasn’t in a position to object outright.
“Fine. As you wish.”
“Good. And I’d like all of you to instruct your students not to roam around late at night. Anyone who disobeys should receive demerits. That’s a direct order from me as Headmaster. Understood?”
“Tch. Understood.”
The meeting adjourned, and the teachers began standing and dispersing one by one.
I also stood to leave and return to my office—but a group of instructors blocked my path first.
“You must be Professor Ludger Cherish. A pleasure to meet ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) you. I’m Daniel Masrak, I teach Astrology.”
“Professor Ludger, this is the instructor for Reinforcement magic...”
Their reasons for approaching me were obvious.
They wanted to ask about the source code magic.
The greed in their eyes made that crystal clear.
“Apologies, but I have urgent matters to attend to.”
I immediately brushed them off and exited the conference room.
* * *
Instead of returning to my office, I made my way to a deserted storage area.
Once I felt I’d gone far enough, I came to a stop.
“Come out.”
If the one who had sent that message in the conference room was nearby, they were surely waiting for me to make a move.
A few lines in a message weren’t enough to cover everything—they definitely had more to say.
As soon as I spoke, I felt someone hesitating behind a pillar—then peeking their head out.
“Um...”
“Speak.”
My first impression was that she looked like a squirrel.
No—I'd seen her before.
She was one of the Black Dawn subordinates who had tried to approach me two weeks after I entered Seorn.
“What is it?”
“I... um...”
She clearly hadn’t expected to see me again and looked flustered.
Then, she stepped out from behind the pillar, and I noticed she was wearing the Seorn student uniform.
That... surprised me a bit.
Don’t tell me she’s actually a student here?
Most Black Dawn members infiltrated as servants or staff—because forging a student identity wasn’t that simple.
To enter this place, you had to pass the entrance exams and prove your aptitude.
And this one, who looked like a mere grunt, was a student? A first-year, even?
No wonder I hadn’t recognized her before—she wasn’t wearing the uniform during our first meeting.
“Let’s move somewhere else. Follow me.”
“Ah, yes.”
I took the lead, and she followed closely behind.
A sudden thought came to mind, so I glanced back and asked,
“Do you like coffee?”
“...What?”
* * *
We sat across from each other at a quiet café.
She had been fidgeting for a while now, shoulders hunched in anxiety.
I studied her carefully.
Pale skin, delicate features. Short, voluminous brown hair and a small, slender frame.
Her ears were hidden, and her bangs were long enough to nearly cover her eyes.
She really did resemble a tiny squirrel.
She’d trembled like one during our first meeting, too—it wasn’t just my imagination.
I took a sip from the warm coffee in front of me, then set the cup back down onto the table with a clack.
Clack.
“Eek!”
She flinched at the sound of the cup hitting the table.
“Name.”
“...Huh?”
“I won’t ask twice. Your name.”
“Se-Sedina Roschen!”
“Is that your real name?”
“Y-yes!”
“You’re saying it’s not an alias?”
...That was unexpected.
In this world, having a surname usually meant you weren’t a commoner.
You were either a noble, a priest, or a wealthy merchant.
So why would someone from such a background be involved with a secret society—and why would someone with talent enough to enter Seorn only be ranked in the Third Order?
‘No... if anything, someone from a privileged house might be treated worse in this case.’
The strange part wasn’t just her origin—it was her rank. A person with this level of talent, being Third Order?
Well, I’d ask more about that later.
I snapped my fingers lightly.
“Talk. Tell me exactly what happened. Leave nothing out.”
“Uh... well... people might be listening...”
“I’ve cast a soundproofing spell. Even if we scream in here, no one will hear us outside.”
“A soundproof spell? A-as expected of a First Order!”
She kept calling me “First Order,” and it was starting to grate on me.
No—frankly, it was annoying.
“That title needs to go. Stop calling me ‘First Order.’”
“...What?!”
Sedina’s eyes widened like she’d just been told the Empire had fallen.
No exaggeration—she looked devastated.
“Do you want people to start getting suspicious? I’m a professor at Seorn. You’re a student.”
“Y-yes... I-I know...”
“From now on, call me Professor Ludger.”
“H-how could I possibly address you so disrespectfully...”
“That’s an order.”
“...An order...”
The moment I firmly said order, she nodded obediently.
Although her manner was humble, I could see the corners of her lips twitching slightly upward—she was happy she could call me by name.
“So, the situation?”
“R-right. I’ll explain everything. The recent werewolf incident was caused by a subordinate group... not directly by the Black Dawn Society, but by a branch that we’ve allied with.”
Her tone had abruptly shifted—crisp and professional.
That caught me a little off guard.
But I nodded without showing it.
“Go on. Don’t leave anything out. I want everything.”
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
“Professor First—no, Professor Ludger, as you know, there are factions even within the Black Dawn Society. The person who pushed this project the hardest was another First Order member—Victor Dreadpool.”
“Right. That’s true.”
Of course, I had no idea.
But I nodded along as if I knew everything.
Victor Dreadpool. I’d need to remember that name.
“The Shamsus School, formed by gathering back-alley black mages and unethical scientists expelled from the Association, continued their cryptid experiments as they always had.”
“What kind of experiments were they conducting, specifically?”
“That information is highly restricted, even within the Society, so I don’t know all the details... Ah, but come to think of it, Professor Ludger—you did lend your name when Victor requested your help, didn’t you?”
“I only lent my name. I didn’t think it would come back like this.”
From her reaction, it seemed Ludger had once been close to this Victor character.
Which meant... the connection to all this wasn’t just superficial.
The Shamsus School had likely been conducting cryptid experiments, and one of their specimens had escaped, leading to this entire situation.
“Originally, this mess should’ve been theirs to clean up—but unfortunately, one of the escaped specimens snuck into Seorn through the sewer system.”
“That’s why there was a victim the other night.”
“Yes. Even we in the Black Dawn Society never expected this.”
“......”
“Ah—I’m sorry, I talked too much again... I get carried away and—really, someone like me...”
Perhaps misinterpreting the way I was looking at her, Sedina Roschen visibly shrank into herself again.
I quickly shook my head.
“No. It’s just that... contrary to your nervous stammering during our first meeting, your explanation now was quite articulate. I was impressed.”
“O-oh, I’m deeply honored.”
“You’re surprisingly well-spoken. Continue—your explanation was pleasant to hear.”
“R-really?! Yes! Of course!”
A few words of praise and she lit up immediately, launching back into her explanation.
I sighed internally in relief.
If she clammed up now, I wouldn’t be able to get any more information.
Right now, with her mistaking me for a First Order and holding me in the highest regard, I had to extract as much as I could.
She’s unexpectedly easy to use.
Sedina Roschen was officially just a Third Order member—the lowest rank in the Society—but her capabilities were excellent.
From gathering intel to how smoothly she communicated, she was competent.
The secret note she sent me must have been part of her personal spellcraft.
But with that level of ability, why was she still only Third Order?
She doesn’t fit in.
She had a surname, which implied she came from a prestigious house.
When she introduced herself, her reaction to giving her family name carried subtle rejection. Disgust? Rebellion? No—it was something deeper.
She may have joined the Black Dawn Society of her own volition, but to the others, she probably didn’t seem like a loyal recruit.
Perhaps they saw her as a potential spy, and with her own eccentricities, she likely struggled to connect with other members.
She sent me a secret message, is deeply informed, passed Seorn’s entrance exams... Yet despite all that, she holds a low position. To the Society, she’s little more than a tool to be used and discarded.
The fact that someone with my reputation for being abrasive was assigned to deal with her said it all.
Sedina might be devoting herself to the Society with heart and soul—but the Society clearly didn’t feel the same.
She was probably aware of that herself. The more she tried to prove her worth, the deeper she dug herself into isolation.
A burden they don’t want to let go of, but can’t find a use for—a disposable pawn.
Frankly, no First Order-level leader would bother caring about someone like her.
They’d probably toss her into a suicide mission without a second thought.
I didn’t even need to guess what her future looked like.
The Second Orders will clean her up eventually.
Not long ago, I had seen the fracture lines within Seorn itself.
And now—at this very moment—I was staring straight into the fractures inside the Black Dawn Society.
No organization is perfect. 𝔫𝖔𝔳𝖕𝖚𝔟.𝔠𝔬𝖒
In the end, people are the same everywhere.
Maybe this is it...
Caught between Seorn and the Black Dawn Society, I suddenly saw a way forward.
If both sides were this flawed, maybe I could carve a path through the cracks.
Maybe Sedina could be of use after all.
“If you capture the specimens, it’s best to avoid leaving behind any evidence. Ideally, they’d be captured alive—but in light of how public this has become, the priority now is to eliminate them as quickly as possible. There are three of them, so we’ll also do everything—”
“No. Two remain.”
“...Excuse me?”
I pulled out the restraining collar I’d kept in my inner pocket and showed it to her.
“T-that’s... could it be—?”
“One of them. Already dealt with.”
“W-when did you...?”
“Two days ago. In Rederbelk.”
She stared blankly, stunned I’d already taken one down.
“Y-you really are a First Order...”
Pure, unfiltered admiration on her face.
She already revered me, but now it felt like I had shattered the ceiling of that respect.
“So we’ve got two left.”
“Y-yes!”
“You said one slipped in through the sewers, right? We’ll focus our search there. I assume Seorn still doesn’t know about this?”
“No, not yet. But I’m not sure how long that will last...”
“Then we move now.”
I stood up from my seat.
Sedina looked up at me with surprise, like she was disappointed it was already over—then quickly lowered her head, worried she might’ve been rude.
I lifted the soundproof barrier around us.
“Sedina Roschen. I appreciate the report. We’ll meet again—if the opportunity arises.”
“Y-yes! Th-thank you... Professor Ludger.”
She blushed, embarrassed after saying my name aloud.
In that moment, she looked like any other ordinary girl her age.
How had someone like her ended up in a dark organization like the Black Dawn Society?
Well—everyone had their own reasons.
“See you.”
I finished my coffee and left the café.
* * *
Flora Lumos had the day off and planned to spend it studying in the library.
Normally, she would’ve slacked off—but lately, one particular professor had been lighting a fire in her magical motivation.
She was walking under the long, arched stone corridor outside when she noticed something.
Hm?
Through the second-floor window of a nearby café, she spotted a familiar face.
How could she not recognize him?
He was the very professor who taught her class.
Ludger Cherish.
But there was something... suspicious about him.
And who’s that girl he’s talking to?
Ludger looked unusually gentle—sitting across from a female student, deep in conversation.
