Chapter 82: She Reminds Me of You
Rosa looked around at the burnt students once again, and she had to quickly look away with a pained expression since she couldn’t stand the sight! It was true that the death toll here was far too much! All the students who died here had been in the middle of reading or borrowing a book when they were suddenly set ablaze. There was no way the sight of so many wasted destinies wouldn’t cause you pain!
"Okay, that’s quite enough."
Headmaster Leonart finally spoke up when he saw that things were getting out of hand. The headmaster placed both hands on his walking stick in front of him, and he continued.
"I understand that emotions are flaring at this moment, but I implore you both to retain your civility even now. Remember that before anything else, we are teachers and instructors, and it is our duty to set a good example for our students. Due to the severity of the case, it has gone beyond the jurisdiction of the school. The Aquinas City Guards will be called in for an investigation. But in the meantime, I must place Miss Hildegard on a temporary suspension until we can confirm what truly happened."
Both Rosa and Clement turned to look at Leonart in shock!
"You’re suspending her!? But she said she wasn’t responsible! This is her final year in the Academy! She can’t afford to miss her classes!"
Rosa said this with a worried look on her face, and Clement spoke up with an entirely different perspective!
"You’re only suspending her! Headmaster, you can’t possibly think that she’s innocent! Who else in this school will have the ability to do something this barbaric!?"
Slam!
Leonart slammed his staff on the ground hard, and he gave both professors a hard look! The professors seemed to immediately remember who it was that they were speaking to, and they gained back some of their respect as they stepped away. Leonart then spoke up.
"I have made my decision, and it is final. Until we can determine the reason behind this incident, Miss Hildegard is suspended from all academic activities. Miss Hildegard..."
Leonart turned to speak to Hildegard, but he stopped when he saw the look on her face. Hildegard had always been a very tough person. Right from the moment she learned what her affinity was, she had developed her tough exterior as a way to protect herself from the people that scorned and hated her. And right now, that tough exterior had come back in full force! Hildegard was still sitting on the floor, and her face was set in a hard look, like it had been cut from stone! Hildegard was absolutely emotionless, but even with her lack of emotions, she still couldn’t stop the tears that fell from her eyes and down her cheek!
The sight of such a complicated reaction stunned Leonart for a moment, but he simply let out a breath to calm himself before he continued speaking.
"Miss Hildegard, I hope you understand why I have made this decision. You will be escorted to your dorm by the Hall Monitors, and you will remain there until you are summoned for questioning."
Hildegard simply nodded once in response, and Clement clicked his tongue in annoyance as he spoke:
"The Parents’ Union are not going to be happy about this, headmaster. And when they come for an explanation, I hope they won’t have to listen to us defend someone who is clearly guilty."
Clement turned around with a wave of his cloak, and he stormed out of the room! Many teachers continued to murmur even after he was gone, and Headmaster Leonart told them all to disperse and reassure the students that things had settled down! The teachers began to leave one by one, and before long, the Hall Monitors arrived in the burnt library.
The Hall Monitors were the security guards in charge of protecting Aquinas Academy! The security force was made up of mages in the third and fourth realm of magic, and they all wore special white uniforms that served as defensive artefacts. All the guards had also learned a unique spell called [Anti-Magic Chain] that allowed them to capture and deactivate the magic of any mage below the fourth rank using special golden chains! The two Hall Monitors spoke with the Headmaster for a few seconds and received their orders before they finally left the room with Hildegard.
Once they were gone, Rosaline turned to her grandfather and spoke up seriously.
"Grandfather, do you really think she is responsible for this? We both know Hildegard is not the sort of person to do this."
Leonart’s face hardened, and he gave his granddaughter a look that pinned her in place.
"Grow up, Rosaline, and stop allowing your emotions to cloud your judgement. You were a child when the war happened, so I cannot hold your naivety against you. But this would not be the first time a dark mage would manipulate the empathy of others to try and escape punishment for their crimes. If you cannot bring forth a reasonable reason for what you are seeing right in front of you, then stop spouting such childish defences!"
Slam!
Leonart slammed his staff into the ground, and Rosaline took multiple steps back in shock as she saw true anger flash across her grandfather’s eyes! This was the first time that her grandfather would speak to her so harshly, and Rosaline realized that she had misunderstood her grandfather! Even though Leonart kept silent all this time, that didn’t mean he was unaffected by what happened! Close to twenty students had been killed by the Hellfire, so it was taking a lot of effort for Leonart to remain calm in the face of such a disaster!
Rosaline tightened her hands into fists as she turned to stare at the ground for a moment before she quickly spun on her heel and began to leave the room! Leonart wanted to ask Rosa where she was going, but he decided that it didn’t matter. They all needed to calm down, and they could talk about all of this some other time.
As Rosaline walked through the door, she was surprised to see that Percy the librarian was still there! Percy looked completely unaffected by what had happened in the library, and she gave him a hard look for his lack of empathy before she began walking quickly down the hallway! If her grandfather wanted proof, then she would find proof for him! Rosaline knew that Hildegard was not the sort of person to do something so evil, and she swore to get to the bottom of this!
Percy watched Hildegard walking away, and he almost smiled as an image of a younger Leonart overlapped on Hildegard’s body.
"You know she reminds me of how you were a few years ago."
Percy spoke up as he finally entered the library, and Leonart looked over at him before letting out a tired sigh and saying:
"I know. And that is what worries me about her. She is far too passionate about what she believes is true. I have many regrets from my past, and I do not want her to suffer the same fate that I have."
Percy hummed calmly as he walked up to some of the shelves in the library and looked through the books. Nearly all the books had been burned by the Hellfire explosion, and it was obvious that they would have to replace all of them. Percy moved towards the eastern wing of the library, where there were some tables that students used to read any books they borrowed, and Percy was able to trace the focal point of the explosion to a table in the middle of the reading area.