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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Demon God]
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Chapter 178 - Kirrin’s Black Forest (1)
The next morning, when I went down for breakfast, Kirrin was nowhere to be seen.
Was she just sleeping in?
I asked the others, but no one knew where she was.
Strange.
“Agh, my head… Ugh, my head… I’m dying here…”
I ignored Hindrasta as she clutched the back of her neck, groaning, and stepped out of the dining hall.
Just as I was about to head upstairs to check her room, I ran into Kaiden.
"Where are you going?"
"Kirrin hasn’t come down, so I was wondering if something happened."
"She returned to the academy."
I frowned at his unexpected answer, prompting Kaiden to elaborate.
"Early this morning, she came to me in a hurry, saying she had urgent business to attend to. She asked me to open a dimensional gate to the academy, so I did."
"Really?"
What could be so urgent?
If it was something that required immediate attention, Ismera would’ve been the first to act, not Kirrin.
What could she possibly need to handle alone during the academy’s break, without even informing the vice Headmaster or the senior professors?
This didn’t sit right with me.
"Also… she seemed a bit off."
Kaiden added hesitantly.
"Her eyes were swollen, like she’d been crying all night."
"She cried…?"
Why? What could have made her cry?
I had a bad feeling about this.
Kirrin was a fragile person by nature, and leaving her alone at the academy didn't seem like a good idea.
"I’m heading to the academy. Open a gate for me."
"Understood."
Stepping through the dimensional gate Kaiden created, I arrived at the academy.
The portal led straight to the main building.
As soon as I stepped out, I heard the cawing of a crow.
Looking up, I spotted a large crow circling above the main building before flying off in the distance.
A crow? Those weren’t common around here.
I watched it disappear before heading inside.
Since it was the break period, only a few administrative staff remained on duty in the main building.
As I walked down the empty hallways, I heard the faint sound of someone sobbing.
It was coming from the Headmaster’s office.
"Kirrin, are you in there?"
I knocked on the door, and the crying immediately stopped.
Focusing my hearing, I caught the sound of someone stifling their sobs, as if covering their mouth.
"I know you’re in there. Are you okay?"
After a brief silence, Kirrin finally responded from the other side.
"I’m fine… Hic… Why are you here…?"
"I heard you left early this morning saying you had urgent business. I came to check on you. Why are you crying?"
"It’s nothing… Just leave me alone… I want to be alone…"
I tried the doorknob, but it was locked.
I decided to leave for now and come back later, once she had calmed down.
Instead of using the portal to return, I headed to my office.
After hearing her cry like that, I had lost all interest in going back to the duke’s estate to relax.
I sat alone in my office, reading a book, but at some point, I drifted off.
When I woke up, it was already lunchtime.
I went back to the Headmaster’s office and knocked again.
Still no answer. The door remained locked.
"At least eat something."
No response.
With no other choice, I headed down to the academy’s dessert café, but since it was the break period, all the shops were closed.
In the end, I used the dimensional gate to return to the mansion.
"Where did you go?"
Merilda happened to be standing by the gate when I arrived.
"Academy. Did you eat yet?"
"I was just about to. Come join me."
After finishing my meal and shaking off the women trying to drag me somewhere, I went to find Ismera.
"Ismera, about Headmaster Kirrin…"
I told her everything, and she shook her head.
"There’s no urgent business that would require her to return so suddenly. As you know, the faculty is on a three-day vacation, so no one is doing anything right now."
"Then why did she leave?"
"Not sure… But if she was crying, it’s probably not about work. Maybe… she’s getting dismissed as Headmaster?"
Dismissed?
The Second Princess had been trying to remove Kirrin at every opportunity.
Now that Kaiden and I were here and Ismera had been promoted to vice Headmaster, Kirrin could be fired without causing any immediate problems.
Of course, the biggest obstacle was the emperor himself—he was indebted to Kirrin’s father and wouldn’t easily budge.
But it had already been ten years since the war ended.
The emperor was old now, old enough that his death wouldn’t be surprising at any moment.
And the Second Princess… She had seized complete power in her thirties as the post-war leader.
It was only a matter of time before even the emperor struggled to keep her in check.
"Hmm… Could that really be it?"
But something still didn’t add up.
Kirrin had told me that lately, the Second Princess’s attitude toward her had softened.
From what I had gathered in my brief encounters with her, she wasn’t the type to change her stance so erratically.
"Kaiden, did the Second Princess ever promise you she’d give you the Headmaster position later?"
I asked Kaiden, but he said he’d never heard anything like that.
There was no way she would appoint me, either—I had made my refusal crystal clear from the beginning.
And Ismera didn’t have the standing to replace Kirrin.
She wasn’t an outsider, but if they were going to remove Kirrin, they’d need someone on the level of the Demon King Slayer Special Force.
I doubted she was being dismissed.
So then… why was she crying?
I needed to go back and check.
# # # # #
Late in the afternoon, I returned to the academy and knocked on the Headmaster’s office door.
"Kirrin?"
No answer. The door was still locked.
"Kirrin, let’s talk."
Silence.
"Do you know where the Headmaster went?"
I asked a staff member on duty, but they had no idea.
They didn’t even seem aware that she had come to the main building at all.
I stepped outside and walked to a spot where I could see her office window.
The sun was beginning to set, but there were no lights on inside.
Maybe she went to the dormitory?
I made my way there, but it was the same—locked door, no response, and no sign of anyone inside.
She wasn’t in her office or the dormitory.
Where the hell could she be in an empty academy?
I wandered the grounds, checking every possible spot, but there was no trace of her.
I even asked the guards at the outer posts, but there were no records of Kirrin entering or leaving.
What the hell was going on?
Then it hit me—she was a dark elf, even if only half.
If she deliberately hid her presence, she’d be nearly impossible to find.
But why would she do that?
I couldn’t figure it out.
As dinner time approached, I returned to the duke’s estate.
Kirrin still hadn’t shown up.
"You still haven’t found her?"
For the first time, concern flickered across Ismera’s face.
"No. She’s nowhere in the academy. Dark elves can hide their presence, but there’s no reason for her to."
"Exactly. That’s what’s strange."
"What could it be…"
Furrowing her brows, Ismera grabbed my wrist and dragged me to Kaiden.
"Professor Kaiden, the Headmaster hasn’t been seen all day. Can you find her?"
"Headmaster Kirrin is missing?"
Kaiden set down his book and nodded.
"Let’s try."
A circular window appeared in front of us, displaying a bird’s-eye view of the academy.
"That’s amazing…"
Ismera’s eyes widened in awe.
"It’s a reconnaissance spell. Nothing special."
Kaiden scanned the entire academy with his magic.
"I already checked everything, so—huh?!"
I froze mid-sentence.
Scattered across the dark academy grounds were tiny white figures.
Cats.
Thermal detection even picked up the body heat of cats?!
I had assumed it was just a basic reconnaissance spell, but Kaiden really was on a whole different level.
But despite how impressive the magic was, we still couldn’t find Kirrin.
Even a dark elf couldn’t erase their body heat.
If we couldn’t detect her like this, then she wasn’t in the academy at all.
If the guards hadn’t seen her leave, that meant she had snuck out.
Why would she sneak out like a thief?
Considering everything… the only explanation left was that the Second Princess really had dismissed her.
Time to confirm.
"Open a gate to the Imperial Palace."
"What?! At this hour?!"
As Kaiden prepared to open a dimensional gate, Ismera panicked and stepped in front of him.
"I'm just going to ask a quick question. It'll be fine."
"You don’t just show up at someone’s house uninvited at this hour! And you’re talking about the Imperial Palace! How are you even planning to meet the Second Princess?!"
"If it doesn’t work out, I’ll just come back. But something might have happened to Kirrin—we need to eliminate the possibilities one by one."
"...That’s true, but still..."
While Ismera hesitated, Kaiden finished opening the portal to the Imperial Palace.
"Alright, I’m off."
"...Be careful."
The exit of the dimensional gate was near the palace’s drawbridge.
I adjusted my clothes, put on a pleasant smile, and casually walked toward the bridge.
"Halt!"
The palace guards leveled their spears at me and shouted.
"Good evening. I have business here. I’m Dian, the Head Combat Professor of the Special Missions Academy."
"The palace is closed at this hour. Come back in the morning."
"It’s urgent. I need to ask the Second Princess something."
At that, the guards exchanged bewildered looks.
"This guy’s completely insane. Get lost before we arrest you!"
Yeah… Ismera was right.
Even during the day, security checks were strict. Showing up in the middle of the night and asking to meet the Second Princess? Of course, they’d think I was crazy.
Hmm… what now…?
# # # # #
Knock, knock, knock.
The Second Princess slowly opened her eyes.
Something had woken her up.
Knock, knock, knock.
The sound was coming from her bedroom window.
Something was clinging to the glass with all four limbs.
What is that? An assassin?
That couldn’t be.
Every possible entryway to her chambers was secured with multiple layers of protective barriers.
Even the most skilled assassin wouldn’t be able to approach unnoticed.
"Your Highness, we need to talk."
The supposed assassin spoke.
A familiar voice.
Upon closer inspection, she realized—it was Dian, Linus’s companion.
"Thanks. My arms were about to fall off."
She opened the window, and Dian grinned as he climbed inside.
"Welcome, Dian."
The Second Princess greeted him with a composed smile.
But even as she maintained her poise, she couldn’t ignore the cold sweat running down her back.
Because she knew—if Dian wished it, taking her head would be the easiest thing in the world.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Demon God]
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