Chapter 87: Infernal Affinities
The Angel Generals from the Demihuman army all had a natural talent for boosting the morale of their troops, and that morale boost gave the soldiers an unnatural confidence and strength that made them very dangerous!
Down on the stage, Mirio noticed a pair of eyes that were watching him closely, and when he turned to his side, he saw the amused gaze of Percy looking right at him. Mirio was a little taken aback when he saw the look in Percy’s eyes! Usually, whenever Mirio gave a speech or performed any action, Mirio would see people looking at him in admiration or desire, so Percy’s amused reaction rubbed him the wrong way!
’That’s the new librarian, isn’t it? The one that got in through nepotism.’
Mirio turned away from Percy after having this thought, and he simply bowed to the crowd one last time before he finally left the stage. Everyone in school had heard about how the librarian only got his job because of his connection to the headmaster, so Mirio didn’t see Percy as someone important.
Once that speech was done, the rest of the meeting went by in a flash. There were a few more promises from the staff about what they would do to ensure the safety of the students, and the headmaster announced that there would be a remembrance ceremony to honor all the students who had been lost.
Before long, the meeting finally rounded up, and the teachers and parents began to head out of the hall. Percy made his way out calmly, and he watched as some parents and teachers moved together and spoke in hushed voices about what had happened here. The most obvious topic of concern was still the lamia, Hildegard, and what would be done about her. Although the City Guard had still not concluded their investigation, most people already believed that Hildegard had to be guilty, so they wanted her to get the worst possible punishment for her actions!
Percy didn’t really have an opinion about this one way or another. Everything pointed to Hildegard being responsible for this, but the fact that there was no way to trace Hildegard’s magic to the Hellfire that was used just made things a little complicated! But Percy decided that he was not going to get involved in this unless he really had to. Let the City Guard and the other teachers handle things the way they could.
"Mr. Percy!"
A loud voice called out from behind just as Percy was walking through the large courtyard outside the Academy main building, and Percy turned around to see Rosaline heading toward him quickly. Rosa had a small frown on her face, and she jogged over to Percy while breathing heavily.
Percy smiled at her.
"What can I do for you, Miss Rosaline?"
Rosa took a few seconds to catch her breath before she finally spoke.
"I wanted to talk to you... about Hildegard."
Percy hummed.
"What about her?"
Rosa looked around to make sure that there was no one else listening in on their conversation before she continued.
"I’ve been doing some research into the Hellfire affinity recently. There’s a book Verati wrote a long time ago called [Infernal Affinities]. Do you know it?"
"Yes, I suppose I’ve heard of it."
Percy was honestly surprised Rosa knew that book. He had written it back during the demihuman war, on a random week when he was bored between battles, and he forgot all about it. It was one of the pillars that followed him around back then that took it and published it under his name. The book contained all the dark affinities that he considered extremely dangerous, and one of those affinities was [Hellfire].
Rosa brightened up when Percy said he had heard about it, and she spoke even faster.
"Then you’ve read about the [Hellfire] affinity, haven’t you? In the book, Verati says that Hellfire wasn’t like normal fire. Hellfire exists in an alternate world, and a mage can bring Hellfire into their world by opening a gateway between the two worlds."
Rosa looked so excited as she explained this! Like she was trying to open up an entirely new path for this investigation. But her joy was cut short as Percy spoke.
"But Verati also wrote that the amount of energy needed to open that door was impossible for anyone below the Ninth Realm, didn’t he? The only people that can bypass that energy requirement are those born with the affinity. Are you trying to say a mage in the Ninth Realm snuck into the academy and unleashed Hellfire just to kill eighteen ordinary students?"
Rosa seemed to deflate as she considered this, and she looked to the side with a frown! Rosa had actually not read that part of the book! She had been so excited when she saw the passage about there being other ways to summon Hellfire that she immediately had to tell someone else about it! And surprisingly, the first person that came to mind wasn’t her grandfather, or even the City Guard. It was Percival.
Rosa did not know why she felt like coming to him, but there was just something reassuring about this librarian that made her feel like she could depend on him if she ever needed to! That was why Percival’s words really took the wind out of her sails!
Percival watched Rosaline closely, and he could almost feel the disappointment flowing off her body at that moment. It was obvious that Rosa was doing her best to try and prove Hildegard’s innocence!
"Mr. Percival, I believe?"
A voice suddenly called out from the side, and Percy turned to his left to see the Student Council president, Mirio, walking up to him! Mirio had a calming smile on his face, and his angelic aura seemed to be even stronger than ever as he approached Percy and put his hand out.
"Hello, sir. I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of making your acquaintance."
Percy took Mirio’s hand and shook it with a smile before nodding.
"It’s nice to meet you too, Mirio. Your speech was quite enlightening."
Mirio’s expression became modest, and he simply nodded.
"Thank you, sir. It’s a shame that we students can’t do more to aid in the prosecution, but I’ve sworn to make sure Hildegard can no longer hurt anyone in the school. I’ll stake my own honor on that pledge."
"You mean investigation."
Mirio blinked and turned curiously to look at Rosa, and he raised a brow in surprise when he saw her frowning at him! Rosa had a hard look on her face, and she spoke up again while waving a finger towards Mirio!
"Hildegard has not been convicted of any crime yet, so there is no prosecution. She is still being investigated. And when we discover her innocence, there will be no prosecution at all."
Mirio’s smile became strained, and he had to force himself to remain respectful in front of the teacher.
"Ma’am, are you trying to say that you believe Hildegard is actually... innocent?"
"I don’t just believe it. I know it’s true. Hildegard is not someone to do something like this, and as the student council president, I’ll ask you to place more faith in the students you watch over."
"And what of the students that were killed, ma’am? Do I not have any responsibility towards them?"
Mirio frowned as he said this, and Rosa was slightly taken aback by the hard tone he used with her! It was obvious that this was a very sensitive topic for Mirio, and Rosa let out a long sigh before speaking.
"Look, Mirio, I know you and Hildegard don’t exactly see eye to eye. You both are academic rivals. But –"
"Please excuse me, ma’am. I have to be somewhere else."
Mirio suddenly cut Rosa off before she could finish what she was saying, and after giving a short bow to Percy, he left to greet another random person, completely ignoring Rosaline!
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A/N: Please Vote with GT!