Chapter 83: Lieutenant Viva!
This was where the Hellfire began, and it erupted across the room and took out all the students standing close by, leaving no survivors.
"What do you think, Percival? Was she responsible for this?"
Percival huffed when Leonart asked this and he spoke in a lecturing tone.
"Didn’t I teach you better, Leonart? You should know better than anyone that it’s impossible to trace the magical origin of Hellfire."
Leonart let out a small sigh once he heard this, and he looked away to scan the room again. Hellfire was one of the most dangerous affinities that had ever been granted to a mage, but it was also very mysterious. Unlike most fire-based affinities where the mage would use their own power to create flames and then use those flames in a fight, Hellfire did not use a mage’s mana to create the flames! Instead, the mage uses their mana to open a gateway to an alternate dimension that spews Hellfire into this world!
This Alternate Dimension was named Gahenna, and it was a place that burned constantly with an eternal, unquenchable wave of Hellfire. And the only people capable of opening the Dimension gateway to summon Hellfire from that world into this one were those born with the Hellfire affinity, along with Verati, of course.
As someone loved by magic, Verati could easily break through the gateway leading to Gahenna, and he had done that multiple times back when he was developing the Verdant Ice Prison spell to try and counter Hellfire.
But the fact that all Hellfire came from the same Alternate Dimension meant that the Hellfire created by Veratinad and the Hellfire created by Hildegard would have the exact same origin! You couldn’t trace the origin of any individual Hellfire since it would always lead you to the same place!
Percy walked over to one of the bodies on the floor, and he crouched to look at it closely. The body was charred and burnt just like all the others, but for some reason, this body was lying a good distance away from the others. Like it had flown in the opposite direction of everyone else after the blast.
’Was he standing behind Hildegard?’
Percy didn’t know why that thought suddenly came to his mind, but Percy couldn’t help but think that he was right. Hildegard was not a social person, so Percy could understand why she came to sit at the back of the library away from all the other students. Hildegard had her back to the window, and she was facing the main library. So the fact that someone was standing behind her was just a little strange. It wasn’t enough to make any sort of guesses about what happened here, but Percy had learned to trust his instincts, and his instinct told him that this was strange!
"Did you find something?"
Leonart walked up to Percy when he saw him crouching behind a student, and Percy hummed while getting up.
"No, it’s nothing. When are the City Guards getting here?"
Leonart was about to answer, but before he could, a loud voice echoed from down the hall.
"I want a complete perimeter set up around this tower! Get me the logs of all the students who came to the library today and call a meeting with the headmaster!"
Percy huffed in amusement when he heard that voice and he looked towards the door as a man wearing the uniform of the Aquinas City Guard walked through and began to speak in a serious tone.
"Headmaster Leonart. It’s an honor to meet you, sir. My name is Officer Kevin. I’ve been instructed to clear out the library for investigation."
There were many Aquinas guards moving through the hallways to secure the area with a magical barrier, and the loud voice from before suddenly echoed through the hall again!
"Kevin! What are you still doing there!? I told you to clear out the library!"
The person who had been shouting suddenly appeared at the door, and Percy grinned in amusement when he saw Viva’s frowning face! Viva was no longer wearing the common uniform of a regular member of the City Guard. Instead, she had on a blue uniform with two stars on her chest and an official cap on her head that showed that she was now a lieutenant! Viva had finally gotten that promotion!
The moment Viva got a good look at who was inside the room, the frown on her face immediately changed into a look of shock, and she called out!
"Mr. Percival!"
Viva took off her cap respectfully, and she quickly told her subordinate to go and help the other officers with securing the perimeter. Kevin nodded and left quickly before Viva entered the library with a complicated expression on her face.
"Hello, Mr. Percival. I didn’t think you’d be here."
Percival shrugged.
"This is still the library. I might not manage it directly, but it’s also my academic responsibility. I see you finally got that promotion. Congratulations."
Viva’s cheeks reddened lightly when Percy said this, and she nodded her head in thanks. Viva had gotten the promotion a month ago after she finished the protective mission for the princess. Although there were a lot of issues that had to be dealt with because of the attack on the Princess’ hotel, things had quickly settled down after a meeting between the King and the headmaster, so there were no more problems!
Viva turned and greeted Headmaster Leonart as well, and he nodded in return before he spoke.
"So you were sent to take charge of this case? How do you intend to handle this?"
Viva looked around at all the frozen red flames and the dead bodies lying on the ground, and she frowned! Cases with dead children were always difficult to handle since you had to also deal with their parents, so the first thing they needed to do was to make sure the parents were informed of what happened.
"I’ll have to ask you to call a meeting of the parents of all the students who died. We’ll carry out a magical analysis and question whoever was in the area during the attack –"
"There’s no need to do a magical analysis. You’ll find nothing."
Leonart frowned as he cut Viva off and Viva blinked in surprise! Viva had already carried out many investigations on arson cases before, so she knew that flames created using magic always carried traces of the caster’s magic essence in them! Why were they saying she couldn’t use analysis here?
Percy easily noticed the confusion on Viva’s face, and he simply gave her a basic explanation of what Hellfire was and how it worked. Carrying out an analysis would be pointless since the flames here didn’t have any magic essence on them. Viva was stunned once she finished listening, and she turned to look at the crimson flames again before asking.
"So... there is no way to use the fire in the investigation? Well, is there a suspect we can question? I heard that there was a girl who survived the fire?"
Leonart hummed, and he told Viva about Hildegard and her [Hellfire] affinity. Viva’s eyes widened in shock once she heard this, and a part of Viva immediately thought that this girl had to be the one behind the murder! A third-class magical risk being in the scene of such a heinous crime that was carried out using an affinity identical to her own was just far too much of a coincidence!
But Viva got herself back under control! Things had changed after the war ended ten years ago. They could no longer go around condemning people just because of their affinity! They needed to be sure that Hildegard was responsible for this before they tried to prosecute her!
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A/N: Please Vote with GT!