The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 244

After the Doctor’s introduction, a moment of silence fell. Everyone wore expressions that showed they didn’t know how to react to the sudden appearance of a large donor.

Seeing the awkward expressions of the instructors, the Doctor smiled kindly.

“You don’t have to be so stiff. Just act as you normally would. That’s what I came to see.”

He stroked his rather long beard and burst into a hearty laugh.

He looked like a kind neighborhood old man to anyone. Of course, looking kind was all an act. In reality, this man was light-years away from the word ‘kindness’.

‘Everyone’s reactions are natural. If there were an intruder, they would have reacted to the name Doctor.’ I clicked my tongue inwardly, observing each instructor’s expression.

It seems there aren’t any intruders among the instructors after all.

“Haha. Everyone, please be comfortable as the Professor… no, as the Doctor said. Those who need to go to class can go. As I mentioned, I only came for a brief introduction.”

At the chairman’s words, the instructors began to move one by one.

“Yes, I understand.”

“Then, I’ll go first… I have things to prepare at the training grounds. Excuse me.”

“I’ll be going as well.”

“It was an honor to meet you today.”

With that, the instructors scattered.

Only about ten people remained in the instructor’s office.

“It’s good to see everyone’s passion.”

The Doctor naturally spouted a lie. He didn’t think that at all, but to play the part of a kind donor, he had to say such things.

“Haha. Of course. The passion of our school’s instructors is greater than that of any other school’s instructors or professors.”

The chairman replied with a proud expression. He was genuinely pleased, as he highly valued the instructors’ passion.

“More importantly, Professor… no, Doctor. Didn’t you ask us to call you Professor before?”

“Yes, I did.”

“But why suddenly Doctor…”

The Doctor clicked his tongue inwardly.

‘He remembers useless things.’ Annoying.

“Haha. My position has changed in the last three years. These days, everyone around me calls me Doctor. So, that title feels more familiar.”

“I see, that’s why.”

“You can still call me Professor, Chairman. Those who used to call me Professor still do.”

“Ah, I see. Then, I’ll call you Professor as usual.”

“Yes, please do.”

The Doctor chuckled again. Of course, he muttered ‘annoying bastard’ under his breath.

“So, about that…”

The chairman glanced around cautiously.

“Did you really just come to see the school’s usual atmosphere today?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The reason the Doctor came to the school was because there was a high probability that the intruder was in this school.

‘The secret passage in the Palace of Versailles is virtually impossible to infiltrate. The passage in the shopping district is also difficult to operate, making infiltration virtually impossible. If someone infiltrated, they most likely did so through this school’s passage.’ And recently, the secret passage on the school side had been opened.

The intruder is highly likely to be among the school’s staff.

“…Really?”

The chairman asked again. The Doctor’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

‘He doesn’t seem to have noticed my real purpose. Why is he reacting like that?’ The chairman’s eyes looking at the Doctor seemed quite uneasy. His eyes were full of worry.

‘Hmm. Come to think of it, I heard that support and donations to the knight school have decreased a lot recently. Is he suspecting that I’m here to say I’m stopping my donations?’ That must be the only explanation.

“You don’t have to worry, I have no intention of stopping my donations.”

“T-That’s not what I meant at all.”

The chairman waved his hands in a fluster. He looked like a kid caught plotting something. Of course, that wasn’t his real reaction, but that’s how it looked to the Doctor.

‘Still emotional.’ The chairman should know how to be calculating. He’s so emotional in everything he does, how can this school grow any bigger?

‘Well, it doesn’t matter even if the chairman does well. The seed is already rotten.’ The Doctor sneered inwardly.

‘This chairman and the people at this school are all stupid. If they have money to raise knights, they should be raising mages, which is a hundred times better.’ Of course, he maintained a kind smile on the outside.

“Then, is it really okay if we just let you observe the classes?”

The chairman asked again. The Doctor’s eyebrows twitched very slightly. He was starting to get annoyed with the chairman for making him repeat himself.

“Haha. Yes, that’s all I need.”

Once this research is over, and there’s nothing more to see at this school, he’ll kill that annoying chairman first. That’s what he decided.

‘To do that, I need to catch the intruder.’ The Doctor smiled a sinister smile inwardly.

“Ah, right. There’s one personal request I’d like to make.”

“What is it?”

“I’d like to observe the class of Stella Vinoche, a third-year student.”

As he said, the Doctor was convinced that there was an intruder among the school’s staff. And he thought that the intruder was highly likely to be Stella Vinoche.

“Stella… May I ask why?”

The reason he thought so was simple. First of all, it was none other than Stella Vinoche who recently opened the secret passage. Since she opened the passage out of curiosity for no reason, it wouldn’t be strange if she had secretly entered it.

‘The entrance to the bunker isn’t that hard to find either.’ Unlike the device in the shopping district, the secret passage to the bunker connected to the school isn’t made up of particularly complex devices. If you have a good eye, you can find it easily.

‘With Stella Vinoche’s level of observation and curiosity, she could have found it.’ Therefore, the suspect is highly likely to be Stella Vinoche. There was no one else he suspected of being an intruder.

“Professor?”

The chairman asked again at the Doctor’s silence. It seems he was thinking too deeply.

“Ah. Sorry. I had something on my mind.” The Doctor smiled apologetically and continued. “What reason would there be? I just wanted to see with my own eyes how skilled the so-called treasure of the knight school is.”

“Ah… Come to think of it, Stella was out on a mission when you came last time.”

“Yes. Unfortunately…”

“Ugh. Stella doesn’t really like anyone watching her train…”

The chairman stroked his chin, looking troubled.

“But since it’s a request from the Professor… yes, I’ll arrange something somehow.”

“Yes, please do.”

The Doctor chuckled one last time.

“Ah, right. If you want to see an excellent swordsman, there’s one more person I can recommend.”

“…”

The Doctor suppressed his anger inwardly. He had no interest in swordsmen, excellent or not. The only person he was interested in was Stella Vinoche. However, as his character, he couldn’t ignore such a topic. The Doctor reacted with a cheerful expression.

“Oh. Who is it? Which student has shown promise?”

“Ah, it’s not a student. It’s a new instructor, Ruan Palatia…”

The chairman raised his hand to call someone.

“If it’s not a student, it’s fine. I want to see outstanding students grow.”

The Doctor smoothly avoided the annoying topic.

“Ah, I see.”

The chairman lowered his hand.

“Then… should I just prepare for you to observe Stella’s training?”

“Yes, please.”

The chairman nodded.

“Alright. Then I’ll start preparing right away. Until then, would you like to observe another class?”

“Yes, I will.”

“Then, please come this way. I’ll guide you.”

With that, the chairman led the Doctor out of the instructor’s office.

* * *

After the Doctor left the instructor’s office with the chairman, I immediately got up from my seat and headed to the classroom. I should have left with the instructors when they rushed out five minutes ago, but I stayed quietly in my seat because I felt like I needed to hear what the Doctor was saying.

‘……That was close.’ I don’t know how panicked I was when the chairman tried to call me. Of course, my identity wouldn’t have been revealed just by introducing myself here, but there’s always a chance. I wanted to avoid being remembered by that guy. He seemed to have glanced at my face earlier, but he didn’t seem particularly interested, and he probably wouldn’t remember it.

‘Thank goodness. He didn’t take a special interest in me.’ This confirmed that I wasn’t his target. If I were the target, there would have been no reason for him to say he wasn’t interested in the previous topic.

His target is too obvious from the start.

‘Stella Vinoche.’ The Doctor’s target is Stella. I don’t know why, but it’s certain.

‘He even suggested that he wanted to observe Stella’s training himself.’ When he mentioned Stella, the mana around him was shining with a sticky murderous intent. The Doctor clearly has murderous intent towards Stella.

‘I don’t know why he’s targeting her…’ Is he trying to kidnap Stella to use her as a test subject? Or is there something about Stella?

‘Or does he think that Stella is the one who infiltrated the lab today…’ There’s not enough information yet to make a conclusion.

‘No. Is the last hypothesis too far-fetched?’ It’s not even certain if they realized the existence of an intruder in the first place. In that situation, would they specifically target Stella as the intruder? Even thinking about it again, it’s too far-fetched.

‘But…’ The timing of the Doctor’s actions is suspicious. He came to the school right after I finished infiltrating. Even in a situation where it wouldn’t be strange if Ignis went berserk and they were focused on the aftermath.

‘It’s like he belatedly realized there was an intruder and came to find the culprit.’ This circumstantial evidence is giving credibility to a far-fetched hypothesis that is close to a delusion.

‘Whatever it is, I need to keep an eye on Stella and the Doctor and watch the situation.’ Now that I know the Doctor’s target is Stella, I can’t just stand by and watch.

‘I need to go see Stella first after class.’ To do that, I need to meet Stella before the Doctor does.

* * *

After the first class ended. As planned, I headed to Stella’s classroom to meet her. But unfortunately, I couldn’t meet Stella. For the record, I wasn’t late. It wasn’t just me who couldn’t meet Stella.

“Stella didn’t come today. She said she wasn’t feeling well.”

Stella was absent today. The reason was sick leave. Since she didn’t come to school, the Doctor naturally couldn’t meet Stella either.

‘Come to think of it, she pushed herself so hard in the sparring yesterday. There’s no way she could come to school today.’ Stella fainted after sparring with me last night. It was training that completely broke her limits, so there was no way she would be in good condition today. Based on my experience of tormenting Soonchan several times, there’s a high probability that she’ll experience poor condition until at least tomorrow.

‘Not bad.’ Whatever the reason, the Doctor’s plan was completely derailed. The Doctor can’t meet Stella today. The Doctor seems to have the image of a busy businessman who visits about twice a year, so it’s impossible for him to visit again tomorrow. In other words, the chance for him to officially meet Stella has disappeared forever.

‘Since Stella is at home, it’ll be impossible for him to do anything forceful.’ In the Vinoche family, there’s Sein Vinoche, who boasts monstrous combat power. It’s true that swords are ridiculously inferior to magic, but Sein Vinoche is an exception. No matter who the Doctor is, it would be difficult for him to break into her lair and do anything to Stella.

‘If that’s the case, there’s no reason for me to stick with Stella.’ While Stella is at her mansion, there’s no need to worry about her separately. In other words, I’m a free roll right now. I’m free.

‘Then, what I need to do now is…’ Empty house robbery. I’ll take advantage of the fact that the Doctor is active outside and break into the lab.

‘Forget about class, I’m going to re-infiltrate the lab right now and steal Ignis.’ That’s it.