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After the Meeting.

As I left the main conference room, I noticed the other professors huddled together without me.

“Hey, what are you guys doing over there?”

“Uh? Nothing much. We’re just discussing tonight’s dinner plans. We’ll let you know once we decide.”

Waver answered with a smile, and I turned away, unconcerned.

Dinner plans, my foot. This isn’t the Theoretical Department, and we’ve never planned a dinner party before.

Tonight’s dinner was arranged on the spot as soon as Kazadar mentioned a place with free drinks.

They’re probably doing this because of what I said during the meeting.

When I first started, the professors were eager to dig up my background.

However, the Emperor had thoroughly erased all records about me, so they had a hard time.

Most professors, preferring to let sleeping dogs lie, likely assumed I was from some special unit and moved on, but not Felimia. She never gave up.

Last time, when there were unfavorable rumors about me, she tried to use psychological warfare as a pretext for probing me.

To uncover my past and see through me.

As expected, Felimia was in the middle of the group, glancing my way and talking to the other professors.

Whatever.

There must be a reason why the Imperial Palace hasn’t provided the academy with my information, and I have no desire to blabber about it myself.

Partly because I don’t know the Emperor’s intentions, and partly because there’s nothing to gain from revealing I was part of the Hero Party.

I fled from the overwhelming attention given to the Hero Party, so there’s no reason to bring it up now.

And the truth only becomes valuable when one can handle it.

Even if I recited the things I did with Linus, most people would dismiss it as nonsense.

Even Knightley didn’t believe me back then.

Maybe I should have flicked that tree with a finger as proof.

# # # # #

“He’s gone.”

Once Dian was out of sight, Felimia spoke.

“Orendi. Cast a barrier spell around us.”

“Hold on a second!”

Kazadar waved his hand dismissively.

“Brogg and I will leave you to it. We don’t care about Dian’s past as long as he’s useful to our department.”

“Uh… me too…”

Anna raised her hand timidly.

“I need to go feed my kids…”

“I’ll go too. As long as he’s not the resurrected Demon King, I don’t care who the Head Professor is.”

With Waver, Brogg, Kazadar, and Anna gone, Orendi activated the barrier spell around the remaining professors, blocking any sound from escaping.

“You all felt it, right? Something’s off.”

“I’m not sure…”

When Felimia spoke, Orendi scratched his head.

“Everyone knows the Demon King’s army used poison gas and landmines during the Battle of Ivronic Castle. It’s common knowledge, even students learn it in history class.”

“Of course. But the Head Professor spoke as if he experienced it firsthand.”

“Now that you mention it… it did sound that way…”

“What if this is the case?”

Professor Lina chimed in.

“What if he has firsthand experience of the Battle of Ivronic Castle?”

“Hmm, you mean he’s a veteran?”

“He lived in Brunswell for ten years, right? That’s right after the war. If he fought in Ivronic and then moved to Brunswell after his discharge, it makes sense.”

“Yes, Brunswell is far from the Empire. If he wasn’t interested, he might not know what happened to Ivronic Castle afterward.”

“Does anyone here have firsthand experience at Ivronic Castle?”

“No.”

“Neither do I.”

In fact, all the professors of the Combat Department had direct or indirect combat experience, except at Ivronic Castle.

It was a horrendous battle with near-annihilation on both sides. Surviving it was a miracle.

But Felimia shook her head.

“It’s not just about being a veteran…”

“Then maybe he’s from a special unit. There’s no way he’d become Head Professor without some impressive credentials. There were many special units active during the war.”

Orendi brought up a theory often discussed among the professors.

The famous Demon King Slayer Special Unit wasn’t the only one. The Empire had created numerous special units for various operations, most of which remained shrouded in secrecy.

Even Professor Lina, who was speaking, was a former member of a special unit, but no one knew the specifics.

So it’s understandable to assume he’s from a special unit.

“Even if he was from a special unit, it feels like he was more than just a regular member.”

As Felimia stroked her chin, Professor Morton, who had been silent until now, spoke up.

“Are you suggesting the Head Professor was part of the Demon King Slayer Special Unit?”

The exploits of the Demon King Slayer Special Unit were unusually well-documented because the Imperial Palace heavily publicized them.

Hero Linus, Huntress Celine, Genius Mage Kaiden, Oracle Priestess Lormane.

Slaying the Demon King was one of the Empire’s greatest achievements. There’s no reason to conceal any member of such a prestigious unit.

“I’m not saying that, but he might have been at a similar level.”

“So, how do you plan to uncover his past?”

“Well…”

When Felimia couldn’t continue, Morton picked up the conversation.

“Regardless of other details, it’s certain that the Head Professor has military experience. He identified me as a former long-range patrol unit member just by looking at me. I used my connections from my active duty days to investigate, but nothing came up.”

“Same here.”

“Me too.”

The other professors nodded in agreement.

“I have contacts who are high-ranking officers in the current military. If they don’t know anything, it’s likely he was in a special unit. But that’s all there is to it. If he was indeed a special unit member, it’s best to leave it at that.”

Morton’s hawkish yellow eyes turned to Professor Lina.

“Lina, you were in a special unit, but due to your confidentiality agreement with the Imperial Palace, you’ve never divulged your past, and we’ve never asked. Such agreements are not easily broken; they are serious commitments.”

“Well… that’s true.”

“For now, it’s important to ensure our graduating class meets the standards demanded by the Imperial Palace. Delving into the Head Professor’s past is unrelated to that goal.”

“Is that so…”

“If you’re really curious, Felimia, you can continue. But I don’t want to waste more effort and time on something irrelevant to the academy’s progress.”

With that, Professor Morton stepped outside the barrier spell and headed towards the lecture hall.

Watching Morton’s departing figure, Felimia turned to Geneb, who had remained silent, her gaze asking for an opinion.

“Secret Prince.”

Geneb spoke softly.

“What did you say?”

“A secret prince. A hidden delinquent prince from the Imperial Palace.”

“Haha! Professor Geneb, what are you talking about? That’s not like you.”

Lina chuckled.

“If he were royalty, he’d have silver hair. But Professor Dian doesn’t.”

“Among the rumors about the secret prince, one is that he’s the child of a concubine, too unmentionable to acknowledge.”

“If we go down that path, there’s no end to it. Why not just say he’s the Demon King?”

Crazy rumors about the Demon King abound.

Some say the body was female, others that the real Demon King survived and blended into human society after cutting off his horns, or even that he was an alien from another world.

“That’s the only theory that comes to mind. The most plausible one is that he was in a special unit. And if he was, there’s no point in investigating further.”

Geneb’s theory of the secret prince wasn’t serious; it highlighted how far-fetched any non-special unit theories were.

Such speculation belongs more to idle students than to professors.

“In truth, I don’t see why it matters what the Head Professor did in the past.”

Orendi said with a smile.

“We’ve been digging for months and found nothing. The Head Professor’s presence has been beneficial; he’s competent and takes good care of us. That’s all I care about.”

Lina nodded in agreement.

“Yes. When I asked him directly before, he just smiled, suggesting he’s under similar circumstances as me. It’s really troublesome, you know, confidentiality agreements.”

“So, shall we start preparing for our classes?”

Orendi pointed to the clock tower. The first class was about to begin.

As always, no conclusion was reached about Dian’s past, and the professors dispersed to the lecture halls.

Anna, Waver, Brogg, and Kazadar had left, uninterested from the start.

Morton and Geneb found digging pointless.

Orendi and Lina didn’t care as long as he performed well.

In the end, only Felimia remained curious about Dian’s past.

Felimia watched the departing professors and pondered.

At first, everyone tried to find out, but now they’ve given up due to a lack of results.

Well, they’re all satisfied with Professor Dian’s leadership, and his past doesn’t matter much.

Especially if he was in a special unit, digging into his past is futile.

But she wanted to dig deeper.

Felimia’s curiosity wasn’t baseless.

It stemmed from her time as an expert in psychological warfare for the Imperial Army ten years ago.

Back then, while interrogating captured high-ranking demons, she gathered some consistent testimonies.

They mentioned encountering two humans when they thought their infiltrators had deserted.

The camp lamp suddenly flickered, and the legion commander’s head was gone when it came back on.

When they went to check on a long meeting, everyone was dead.

All these accounts included sightings of a blond and a tousled brown-haired human.

Felimia had requested information from the Imperial Palace but was ignored, leading her to assume they were just another special unit.

After the war, she learned the blond was Hero Linus, but the brown-haired one remained a mystery.

No one in the four-member Demon King Slayer Special Unit revealed by the Imperial Palace had brown hair.

Could it be that someone who fought alongside Linus was excluded from the Demon King Slayer Unit? That’s impossible.

Unless, for some reason, the Imperial Palace hid his existence.

Thus, despite the low probability, Felimia suspected Professor Dian might be the brown-haired soldier.

There was no solid evidence, just an instinct honed by years of psychological warfare.

Should I try again? But he deflected me last time, so it won’t be easy…

It seems… tonight’s dinner might be the last chance…