Chapter 482 - 481 - A puzzle piece!
The night had quietly settled over Arcadia Academy.
Moonlight poured gently across the ancient campus, coating the towering academy buildings in a pale silver glow while countless stars stretched endlessly across the heavens above. The lively conversations that had filled the courtyards during the evening had gradually faded away, replaced by a peaceful stillness broken only by the occasional chirping of insects hidden among the gardens and the distant rustling of leaves stirred by the cool night breeze.
Inside the fourth-floor dormitory overlooking the academy grounds, a single room remained softly illuminated by the warm glow of an enchanted crystal lamp.
Luca sat quietly on the edge of his bed.
His academy coat had already been folded neatly over the nearby chair, leaving him dressed only in a simple black shirt and comfortable trousers. One elbow rested upon his knee while his fingers absentmindedly supported his chin, his crimson eyes fixed upon the moonlight spilling through the open balcony doors.
The room was silent.
Yet his mind...
Was anything but.
Recent events replayed themselves one after another.
The Iron Duke’s acknowledgment.
The journey back.
Seraphina’s scolding.
And finally—
Her last sentence.
"The Vice Dean was looking for you."
Luca slowly released a quiet breath.
No matter how many times he thought about it...
The existence of the Vice Dean simply refused to fit anywhere inside the memories he possessed.
Naturally, after hearing those words from Seraphina, he hadn’t simply let the conversation end there.
Instead—
Almost immediately—
He had asked the question occupying his mind.
"Professor..."
He remembered looking toward her with genuine curiosity.
"Do you know anything about the Vice Dean?"
"To be honest..."
He had smiled somewhat helplessly.
"...I had never even heard that Arcadia Academy had a Vice Dean before meeting him."
Seraphina had remained silent for several moments after hearing the question.
Not because she was unwilling to answer.
Rather...
Because she herself seemed uncertain.
She had eventually shaken her head.
"I don’t know very much either."
Her answer had genuinely surprised him.
"You don’t?"
She had smiled faintly before folding her arms.
"No."
"In fact..."
Her blue eyes had become slightly thoughtful.
"...the first time I personally met the Vice Dean was during the expedition."
Luca distinctly remembered blinking in surprise.
"Even you only met him then?"
Seraphina had nodded.
"I naturally knew that such a position existed within the academy’s administration..."
She had paused briefly.
"...but knowing someone exists and actually meeting them are two very different things."
Her expression had carried quiet confusion remarkably similar to his own.
"The Vice Dean almost never appears before the academy staff."
"He doesn’t attend faculty meetings."
"He rarely participates in academy affairs."
"Even among the instructors, very few people have actually spoken with him."
The more she explained...
The stranger everything became.
Luca had frowned slightly before asking another question.
"Then... who actually knows him?"
Seraphina had thought quietly before answering.
"If there is anyone within Arcadia Academy who truly knows the Vice Dean..."
A thoughtful look had crossed her face.
"...it would probably be the Dean."
She had smiled somewhat helplessly afterward.
"Beyond that..."
"I doubt many people can tell you much."
The conversation ended there.
Yet it had only left Luca with even more questions than before.
Now...
Sitting alone inside his dorm room...
He slowly leaned back against the wall behind his bed before closing his eyes.
"A Vice Dean..."
He murmured quietly to himself.
"Whom even the instructors barely know."
His fingers gently tapped against his knee.
"And someone the Dean alone might understand..."
The thought refused to leave him.
Everything surrounding that mysterious man contradicted what Luca knew about Arcadia Academy.
An academy of this size shouldn’t have an invisible administrator.
A Vice Dean wasn’t merely another instructor.
He was supposed to be the Dean’s second-in-command.
Someone constantly involved in academy affairs.
Someone respected.
Recognized.
Visible.
Yet somehow...
The man who had appeared before the ancient ruins seemed almost like a ghost.
Present.
Powerful.
Influential.
And yet...
Practically unknown.
Luca slowly opened his eyes once more, allowing his gaze to drift toward the countless stars scattered beyond the balcony.
The mystery surrounding the ancient sanctuary had yet to be solved.
The silver-haired figure still remained an enigma.
The Demon General’s words continued echoing inside his mind.
And now...
The Vice Dean had quietly become another puzzle waiting to be unraveled.
For the first time in a long while...
Luca felt as though he wasn’t merely walking through an unfamiliar version of the story anymore.
He was beginning to uncover pieces of a history that, somehow...
Had never been part of the story at all.
The quiet atmosphere inside Luca’s dorm room remained undisturbed as the moonlight continued pouring gently through the open balcony doors. The cool night breeze carried the distant sounds of the academy settling into sleep, occasionally causing the curtains to sway softly while the enchanted lamp upon his bedside table cast a warm golden glow across the room.
Luca slowly leaned back against the headboard.
His crimson eyes remained fixed upon the ceiling, yet his thoughts wandered far beyond the four walls surrounding him.
The more he replayed the conversation with Seraphina...
The less comfortable he became.
He had spent years inside this world’s story.
Years.
Not merely completing it once or twice.
He had experienced every route.
Every hidden ending.
Every secret event.
Every optional quest.
There had been times when he knew exactly which conversation a character would have before they even opened their mouth.
That familiarity had always been his greatest advantage.
Yet recently...
That advantage seemed to be disappearing piece by piece.
The Vice Dean...
Simply shouldn’t exist like this.
Luca slowly closed his eyes once more.
Arcadia Academy had always possessed a Dean.
The instructors.
The department heads.
The student council.
Every important individual had played some role throughout the countless scenarios he remembered.
But the Vice Dean...
No.
There had never been anyone like him.
Or perhaps...
Luca’s brows slowly furrowed.
"...Was there?"
That single possibility made his thoughts pause.
Perhaps it wasn’t that the Vice Dean hadn’t existed.
Perhaps...
He had simply never appeared.
There was an enormous difference.
A man who never stepped into the spotlight...
Would naturally never become known to the player.
The realization caused Luca to sit upright.
"If that’s true..."
He murmured quietly.
"...then he has been here the entire time."
Hidden.
Watching.
Unknown to everyone.
Including him.
His fingers slowly intertwined as he continued thinking.
Then another memory surfaced.
The ancient ruins.
The overwhelming pressure.
The silver-haired figure.
The Demon General.
And finally...
The Vice Dean’s arrival.
He had not looked surprised.
He had not looked confused.
If anything...
He had behaved as though he already understood exactly what he was facing.
Almost...
As though he had encountered something similar before.
Luca slowly released another breath.
"Who exactly are you...?"
The question disappeared into the silent room.
No answer came.
Only the wind continued entering through the open balcony.
Another memory quietly resurfaced.
The Demon General.
Even now, recalling that overwhelming existence caused an uncomfortable feeling to settle within his chest.
The thing that disturbed him wasn’t merely the Demon General’s strength.
It was his words.
"Return..."
Luca repeated the word quietly beneath his breath.
"What did you mean...?"
The Demon General hadn’t looked at him with the expression of someone meeting a stranger.
Nor had he looked at him like an ordinary enemy.
There had been recognition.
Confusion.
Expectation.
As though Luca’s very existence contradicted something the Demon General believed to be true.
Then there was the silver-haired figure.
That mysterious man had also behaved strangely.
He had looked directly toward Luca.
Not through him.
Not past him.
At him.
Almost as though searching for something.
Or someone.
Luca rubbed his forehead.
"So many questions..."
A bitter smile appeared upon his face.
"...and not a single answer."
For the first time since arriving in this world...
He genuinely felt blind.
Not powerless.
Not weak.
Simply...
Unable to see the complete picture.
The world he had once believed he understood completely continued revealing hidden layers one after another.
Events he had never experienced.
People he had never met.
Histories he had never read.
It almost felt as though...
The game had only shown players the surface.
Everything beneath it...
Had remained concealed.
Luca slowly stood from the bed before walking toward the balcony once again.
The cool night air immediately brushed against his face.
Far below, the academy grounds rested peacefully beneath the moonlight.
Students slept comfortably inside their dormitories.
The libraries had long since closed.
Even the training grounds stood empty.
The academy appeared exactly as it always had.
Peaceful.
Safe.
Ordinary.
Yet somehow...
Luca could no longer look at it the same way.
His gaze slowly drifted toward the tall central tower where the Dean’s office was located.
"If even Professor Seraphina knows almost nothing..."
His crimson eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
"...then the only person left is the Dean."
The thought lingered quietly.
Sooner or later...
He would need answers.
Not guesses.
Not assumptions.
Answers.
Because every instinct inside him told him that the Vice Dean wasn’t merely another mystery waiting to be solved.
He was connected.
Connected to the ancient ruins.
Connected to the Demon General.
Perhaps even connected to the countless inconsistencies slowly rewriting the story itself.
Luca rested both hands upon the cold stone railing.
The moon reflected quietly within his crimson eyes.
"Whatever is happening..."
His voice carried softly into the night.
"...it started long before I arrived in this world."
The breeze answered by gently rustling the trees below.
Luca remained standing there for a long while, silently gazing toward the academy tower.
Somewhere within that ancient building...
Someone possessed the answers he sought.
The only question that remained...
Was whether those answers were ready to be heard.