# Miracle (6)
Recently, a new worry had taken root in Charlotte's mind.
"Jenny."
"What, Charlotte?"
"I think of you as a sharp and careful person."
"Thank you, Charlotte."
"And yet..."
Charlotte's gaze drifted to Jenny's desk.
Amid the scattered dice and game pieces,
At the sight of it, Charlotte's brow furrowed.
"...And yet why would you waste those virtues of yours merely satisfying people's vulgar curiosity?"
"You don't like that I'm publishing my cases as a novel?"
"No."
Charlotte gave a firm nod.
"If criminals were to imitate Jenny's novel, it would make for excellent teaching material."
"At the same time, it could produce excellent police officers and investigators who model themselves after Charlotte."
Jenny settled into the seat across from Charlotte with a cheerful smile.
She gestured toward the corner of the bedroom—the traces of last night's TRPG session, which had run well past midnight—and continued.
"And you needn't worry about copycat crimes. It's not as though I'm transcribing the cases you solved word for word. I play through those cases on that board game, and then write up the experience. That's all."
"I think you've misunderstood me. I'm not worried about copycat crimes. If I'm being precise, I simply dislike it because there are too many places where the novel fails to match reality."
"Ah. That's what you had a problem with."
Jenny's face stiffened.
Because she had just realized that Charlotte's earlier remark about 'excellent teaching material for criminals' had been Charlotte's characteristic brand of irony.
Rephrased, it had meant this:
—"A criminal reading this drivel and thinking they wouldn't get caught."
Indeed, Charlotte was still eyeing the manuscript on the typewriter with naked disapproval.
Jenny managed a bitter smile and mounted a defense for her beloved manuscript, finished after a full week of burning the midnight oil.
"I think Charlotte's observation and deduction are a remarkable discipline in their own right. More than worth learning for anyone."
"Academia must be cool and precise. But that manuscript is a little..."
Charlotte hesitated briefly, then went on.
"A little too colored by personal feelings, it seems. I disliked it from the very first sentence. 'The Academy City, wrapped in an unusually eerie mist on that particular day'—really."
Charlotte pointed out the window.
The view of the Academy City came into sight—smog-scattered reddish sunlight and a haze of ochre dust.
"It would be faster to find regions without mist among all the places humanity inhabits. Was that kind of description truly necessary?"
"It has romance, you know. Romance."
"That is precisely why I dislike novels of that sort."
Charlotte's delicate face twisted into an expression of distaste.
"To me, deduction is an art. Like the Great Sage's 13 Magic Theory."
"Or like your fiancé's black magic lectures?"
"Exactly. But Jenny's novel reads as though Professor Yulian is suddenly providing a how-to guide for successfully pulling off a romantic elopement."
"That is a bit odd."
Charlotte nodded vigorously.
"So that's why I dislike that manuscript. I don't want my deductions to be romanticized."
"Well... should I just stop writing it, then?"
"There's no need to go that far."
Charlotte pointed to the stack of manuscripts sitting in the corner.
The drafts Jenny had not yet submitted to the Newspaper Club.
"Before you send anything to the Newspaper Club, let me review it first."
"Boo. Don't trample on my creative freedom."
"I'm not trampling on your creative freedom. This is solely to filter out things like—" she paused, "—claims such as nobles having blue veins."
"Huh? Don't nobles actually have blue veins? I heard it's because of their magical power..."
Charlotte wordlessly rolled up Jenny's sleeve.
Against the pale skin of her slender forearm, a web of veins stood out in sharp relief.
Jenny was a commoner and a healing priest.
Which meant no magical power flowing through her body.
And yet the veins raised along Jenny's arm were blue.
Just like a noble's.
Jenny's mouth snapped shut.
Charlotte fixed her with an incredulous stare.
"Jenny, you're in the Department of Healing, aren't you? How can you believe that kind of nonsense?"
"Hehe... I got in through the special admission for divine power rather than grades, so... and it never occurred to me to look at my own veins."
"Good grief..."
Charlotte pressed a hand to her forehead and shook her head.
"Regardless, from now on I'll be reviewing everything before you submit."
"(Whimper), fine."
Jenny grumbled as she held out the stack of manuscripts to Charlotte.
While Charlotte's eyes swept down through the pages,
Jenny unfolded that day's Academy Newspaper, intending to check on the piece she had submitted.
"Right, let's see today's..."
But before she could even turn to the fiction submissions section,
Jenny's gaze came to a dead stop on the front page.
"...Huh? Charlotte?"
"What is it?"
"I think you need to see this."
Jenny slid the newspaper, front page open, across to Charlotte.
Charlotte set down the manuscript she was holding and shifted her eyes to the paper.
The print drove itself into her gaze.
『Multiple Hero Department students, en route to the Demonic Realm for their Graduation Exam, attacked by black magicians.』
Charlotte's fingertips slowly lifted the edge of the newspaper.
A subheading continued beneath the main headline.
『—According to survivor eyewitness accounts, many students implicated Black Magic Defense Studies professor Yulian Nihilrit as the mastermind.』
『In response, the Imperial Academy Academic Committee, with Professor Yulian's consent, has passed a resolution for temporary detention.』
"...?"
Charlotte tilted her head and looked at Jenny.
"Is this perhaps the fiction submissions section?"
"No. Look properly. It's the front page."
"Then is it because of Jenny's novel...?"
"Huh...?"
Jenny pointed at herself with an expression that said: Is it my fault?
Charlotte let out a small laugh at that dumbfounded face.
"Don't worry. I'm joking. There's no need to be particularly alarmed about a temporary detention."
"Doesn't it mean they're suspecting him of being the culprit?"
"Procedurally speaking, yes. But it also serves to protect witnesses at the same time."
This was a world where transformation magic existed.
The administration didn't operate by arbitrarily naming culprits from eyewitness accounts alone.
"Setting aside for a moment whether that really was Yulian—if the culprit is connected to him or is targeting him, it also carries the meaning of interrogating him in the detention center while simultaneously keeping him safe."
"Aha."
Charlotte closed the newspaper with indifferent calm.
"Still, we should pay a visit. From what the paper says, it seems he voluntarily consented to the temporary detention—it might be worth asking what he's thinking."
Charlotte reached for her overcoat and put it on.
Meanwhile, Jenny sat in her chair and watched her carefully.
Charlotte paused in the middle of dressing and spoke to Jenny.
"What are you doing?"
"Hm? Am I coming too?"
"Were you not going to? We need to investigate this case. You're supposed to help me from the side."
"I thought you were going to see your fiancé out of worry for him."
"I'll begin investigating right after the visit."
"Got it."
Jenny rose from her seat, feeling a small flutter of excitement.
This was the first time Charlotte had ever told her to follow along.
Which also meant she trusted Jenny more as an assistant.
But that pleasant notion didn't last long.
"...What, Charlotte?"
"What do you mean, Jenny?"
"Did you not bring me along as your assistant?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. You need clerical status to visit the detention center without a reservation—that's the only reason I brought you."
"..."
Jenny fixed Charlotte with a half-lidded glare.
Whether or not Charlotte understood what that look meant,
she paid it no mind whatsoever, simply steering Jenny to the front and striding through the detention center entrance with perfect composure.
*
"Charlotte. I think it would be best if you stepped back from this case."
Inside the temporary detention center.
These were Yulian's words, addressed to Charlotte through the iron bars from within the elegantly furnished room.
"One of the students in my class has turned. You could end up on the list of suspects if you're not careful, Miss Charlotte—so for now, it would be better to lie low."
Sip.
As a bonus, he sat on the other side of the bars sipping tea without a care in the world.
Jenny had been deeply worried, given the whole temporary detention situation—only to find herself experiencing a sense of relative deprivation at the sight of the nobles-only detention room, which was somehow more lavish than her own dormitory.
'Is this actually a visitation?'
Leaving Jenny to her thoughts,
Yulian and Charlotte carried on their conversation between the two of them.
"Abandon the case? What do you mean?"
"The method the black sorcerers used to attack the graduates in this incident—it turned out to be an application of techniques I had mentioned in my lectures. Ah, but before that—do you know how the incident unfolded?"
Charlotte shook her head.
"The newspaper didn't include the detailed circumstances, so I came to hear them from you."
"Very well. I'll go through it one by one."
The full story of the incident was as follows.
Six in the morning.
The graduates boarded an airship departing the Academy at dawn.
Seven in the morning.
The airship suddenly went down.
Fortunately, the escort professors were traveling with them, and as every passenger was a student on the cusp of graduation, their defense magic deployed successfully just before impact.
Thanks to that, no students died outright.
The problem, however, was the location: a Demonic Realm.
And not just any Demonic Realm—one rated a full tier above the designated site in terms of danger.
There were injuries from the crash, but the students and professors immediately had to contend with the demonic beasts.
Half past seven in the morning.
Thanks to the triage system [TL: Emergency Classification System] devised by Director Schun some time ago, injured students were assessed and sorted with speed.
New casualties arose from the demonic beast attacks, but the triage system allowed them to return to the scene quickly all the same.
Eight in the morning.
Reports came in that bleeding was stopping far more slowly than it should.
Even so, the professor from the Department of Healing thought little of it and did not revise the triage classification.
Nine in the morning.
Divine power ran dry.
Under ordinary circumstances that would have been fine, but the blood simply wasn't clotting that day, and the divine power had been squandered as a result.
Patients who should have been classified black had been sorted into red instead.
Ten in the morning.
By the time the rescue team arrived, only roughly half the students and professors were still alive.
"Having heard it to this point—in your view, what method did the culprits use to make this attack succeed?"
"First, the airship going down appears to have been caused by Ether leakage."
"Correct. I emphasized repeatedly that sleep magic using Ether can only be countered with a detoxification potion, or with Ammonia—an awakening stimulant that's at least relatively easy to obtain."
Ammonia doesn't neutralize Ether's effects.
But it does produce a ghastly enough stench to rouse consciousness from the very depths of the underworld.
"Then I also know why the students' bleeding wouldn't stop?"
"...Heparin."
The image of a young girl flashed through Charlotte's mind.
Red hair pulled back behind her, the Nihilrit family's dependent retainer.
The name of the medicine that girl had been consistently receiving was Heparin.
"It's the medicine that prevents blood from clotting."
"Yes. I said that if an accident were to occur, this medicine could prove lethal—and that it must be used with great care."
"Especially since heroes who face demonic beasts are bound to sustain injuries often—you warned that it would be quieter and more fatal than arsenic."
"You remember."
"You emphasized it in class so many times, I had no choice but to."
Behind Charlotte, Jenny nodded.
Even Jenny—who had not been paying particularly close attention at Charlotte's side—remembered that clearly enough.
"Then the culprit is straightforward. Someone with access to the students' rationed meals. And someone who could get to the airship beforehand. Investigate the people who fit both criteria and you'll find them quickly."
"And according to the compiled eyewitness accounts, the one who fit all those criteria was me."
"Ah."
Having grasped the full story of the incident, Charlotte gave a nod.
In other words, the culprit had moved about wearing Yulian's face and tampered with both the airship and the rationed meals.
Having worked this far through it, Charlotte tilted her head.
"But why does that mean I shouldn't be investigating? If anything, you should trust me over those incompetent investigators and—"
Yulian said nothing, only looked at her.
Meeting his gaze, Charlotte had no choice but to fall silent.
Because she thought she understood what that look meant.
"...All right. I'll stay quietly in the dormitory."
"Thank you for understanding, Charlotte."
Yulian gave a small wave.
"Be careful on your way back."
"You too, Yuli... hmm... by the way, do you happen to know the proper way to say goodbye after a visitation?"
Charlotte turned to look at Jenny.
Jenny said farewell to Yulian on Charlotte's behalf.
"Then we'll be taking our leave. If there's anything you need, please let us know."
"I'd be grateful if you could send a nice lunch box every now and then."
"Understood."
Charlotte and Jenny turned their backs on the cell where Yulian was confined and made their way out of the detention center.
On the tram back to the dormitory,
Charlotte said nothing to Jenny.
Charlotte spoke again only after they returned to the dormitory and she had set up a barrier.
"Jenny. You can't trust the Academy Investigation Bureau."
"You mean they're accomplices?"
"That remains to be seen. Whether they're simply incompetent in the purest sense—like a certain someone—or active accomplices. Either way, I meant that they can't be trusted."
Charlotte hung her overcoat on the rack and curled up into her chair.
"So what will you do from here, Charlotte?"
"Didn't I say so at the detention center? I'm going to stay quietly in the dormitory."
"What?"
Jenny stared, visibly surprised.
"You, turning down a case? That's unexpected."
"I enjoy removing the veil from a mystery. I have no hobby of resolving one that's already been unveiled."
"Then what about your fiancé? Who else besides you is going to prove his innocence?"
"...?"
Charlotte looked at Jenny with a puzzled expression.
"Prove it? Why would I?"
"Huh? Isn't he your fiancé?"
"No, no. That's not what I—"
Charlotte hesitated briefly, then opened her mouth again.
"You know about the Academy High School Division Kidnapping Incident, right?"
"Of course. The entire curriculum was overhauled because of it. The Black Magic Defense Arts were created because of it, too."
"Then do you know why I didn't step in at the time? No—before that. Do you know what became of the culprits back then?"
"Hmm... weren't they dealt with by Director Schun's private soldiers?"
Jenny didn't know the detailed circumstances of that incident.
The public had only been told that Yulian had back-traced the culprits' trail and Director Schun had treated the students—
the precise whereabouts of the black sorcerers had never been disclosed.
But Charlotte shook her head to say that wasn't right.
"Hmm... the details are classified, but the black sorcerers didn't exactly meet a pleasant end."
"I'd imagine not. They were illegal black sorcerers, after all. But why bring that up now?"
"Because this situation is similar."
"Similar?"
"There's no need for me to move. If anything..."
As though to prove she meant it when she said she had no intention of acting,
Charlotte shed her overcoat and threw herself onto the bed in her pajamas as she was.
And as she always did, she picked out a silver coin, closed her hand around it, pulled the covers up, and said,
"If I got involved, there's a high chance it won't end cleanly."
Jenny tilted her head.
What on earth could that mean.
The question didn't linger long.
— 『Director of the Academy Territory Investigation Bureau missing since the day prior, following a visitation.』
Something had begun to happen at the Academy.