CH 35

༺ Fun and Entertaining Club Fair (2) ༻

Her white hair was blowing with the wind, and her red ruby eyes were shining. A smile that never left her face was her defining characteristic, and if you were to stop any passerby and ask them, ninety-nine out of a hundred would say she’s beautiful. 

The last remaining one was me. I couldn’t think of anything good about her. After all, I knew her real face.

‘Why is that brat here?’

If I had to write a testament before dying, I would definitely write about the Manager trio. She was one among them. The 1st Manager, who shouldn’t be here, was here.

As I glared at her, she looked back at me. When our eyes met, she smiled, which was extremely annoying and bothersome.

“Executive Manager!”

She rearranged the food on her arms and then waved one arm vigorously. Seeing that cheerful smile, I involuntarily sighed. Don’t raise your voice when others are looking, it’s a bit embarrassing. 

“I’ll be back.”

After leaving the club members and their stares behind, I walked toward the 1st Manager. I wasn’t sure what she would say if I made her come to the booth. The scariest person in the world is an unpredictable troll.

“Long time no see, Executive Manager! Have you been well?”

“I was doing fine until just now.” 

After looking at you, I don’t think that I’ll be having a good time.

“Hehe, I’m glad.”

Regardless of what I said, the 1st Manager kept smiling. Sometimes, I really wanted to slap her, but I always held back. I had to resist. It was hard to find a replacement if the 1st Manager disappears.

But for now, I need to figure out why she’s here. I believe she didn’t come to the place where I was working just to hang out. 

“So, what brings you here?”

“Huh? Didn’t the Minister tell you?”

The 1st Manager tilted her head at my question. The Minister? What did that person say?

‘Ah.’

– Don’t be surprised if some officials from the Administration visit as well. 

The Minister had said something like that the last time we talked. Tsk. I didn’t know he was talking about her. I thought he meant that a few people would come to see my face for socializing. 

I frowned at the unexpected development of events, but the 1st Manager ignored that and kept talking.

“The Minister said that there’s something I need to do once I get here.” 

“Something you need to do?” 

After pondering for a moment upon the 1st Manager’s words, I roughly grasped the outline. If the 1st Manager came all the way here to do something, I could vaguely guess the reason. 

“He said that corpses would appear and someone from the Special Service Agency would come, too, so I just have to wait. But what did he mean by a corpse? Was he talking about the undead?” 

“You’ll find out when the time comes, so don’t worry about it.” 

“Hmph…” 

Undead? What undead? It’s been a while since the Twilight Cult disappeared, and I haven’t heard anything about the undead roaming the continent.

I glanced at the 1st Manager, whose lips twitched in response to my words, and organized my thoughts. 

‘It’s the perfect time to destroy the Academy.’ 

Because of the Information’s Executive Manager, the Apels Revival Soldiers, the Third Glory, received the code name ‘corpses’. 

The fact that a corpse will appear soon meant that the Apels Revival Soldier plans to launch an attack during the Club Fair, and as the Information’s Executive Manager mentioned, we just had to wait for the reinforcements to be dispatched from the Special Service Agency. To think they’d really target the fair. 

‘Are they dumb?’

Obvious goals at an obvious timeframe. At this point, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was someone from our side infiltrating them. Well, I guess there’s a reason why they want to resurrect a country that was destroyed 300 years ago.

While I was finishing organizing my thoughts, I heard the voice of the 1st Manager.

“Executive Manager. This is the booth of the pastry club. Right?”

“Ah, yes. Why?”

“Which is better, bread or cookies?” 

At that question, I subconsciously looked at the food the 1st Manager was holding. They were already more than enough for a meal, and she still wants to buy more food.

As if noticing my gaze, she puffed out her chest and proudly spoke. 

“I have another stomach for desserts!”

I couldn’t understand what she was talking about, but if she said so, I guess she was right. 

Anyways, what’s more delicious between bread and cookies?

“Bread.”

“Then I’ll buy cookies.”

After choosing the other option without hesitation, she smiled while sticking out her tongue.

“I know that your taste buds are weird, Executive Manager. So the cookies should probably be better than the bread.”

After saying that, she quickly walked toward the booth. That audacious Manager has reached the point of using her superior for her own benefit, taking advantage of the time we have spent together.  To think that a subordinate would try to use their superior.. Where is this world heading?

‘Well, it doesn’t really matter.’

There’s a reason why I said the bread was better than the cookie. 

You still have a long way to go, kid. 

I saw the 1st Manager tearing up after taking a bite of the cookie.

As expected, the 1st Manager’s crying face is prettier compared to her smiling face. I’m finally starting to feel better.

Ignoring the betrayed look in her eyes, I went into the booth and grabbed an apron. 

“You don’t have anything to do, do you?” 

The 1st Manager smiled awkwardly at that question and opened her mouth.

“I was planning to go and see the juniors of my former club…”

“So you don’t.”

I wrapped my apron around the neck of the 1st Manager, whose hands were sealed with food. She turned her head this way and that, but it was a futile rebellion. 

I wondered if it was okay to leave her in the booth, especially since she’s an unpredictable troll. However, if she was here to stay at the Academy and not here to hang out for a while, I might as well keep an eye on her. It was better for her to be a bit of a nuisance than to wander around the Academy while out of my sight. 

“Louise. If you need more help, ask her.”

“Ah, yes, brother.”

Louise looked awkwardly at the 1st Manager, who had a gloomy expression on her face as if she had been caught and sold by a slave hunter. Then, Louise turned to me. 

“But brother, who is this person?”

“She’s my subordinate, so you can treat her comfortably.”

“This is violence…”

As I grabbed the shoulder of the complaining 1st Manager, she twisted and sat on the floor. 

* * *

Ainter watched as Carl argued with the woman he called his subordinate. 

“The Advisor unexpectedly seems to have a good relationship with his subordinate.”

“You’re right. That’s totally unexpected.”

Hearing Rutis’ voice mixed with laughter from the side, Ainter answered appropriately and shut his mouth again. 

Rutis also didn’t seem to mind Aitner’s reaction. He was too busy looking at the woman. From their point of view, she probably just looked like a young woman who was whining.

‘So she’s the 1st Manager?’

Although Carl didn’t explicitly mention who she was,  Carl only had one female subordinate with white hair. After confirming it was the 1st Manager, Ainter’s expression darkened.

While the divisions within the Prosecutor’s Office may perform common tasks, they still had their own specialties. The 1st Manager’s specialty was interrogation, or more blatantly, torture. 

The 1st Manager was infamous to the point where it was said that it was better to die than be captured by her. Once inside, one could never walk out on their own. It was even a joke that the number one reason for retirement among officials in the 1st Division was trauma caused by witnessing various tortures. 

Ainter wasn’t sure if people were serious about that or not, but it was clear that what happened there was worse than what one could imagine.

‘The sense of disparity is quite severe.’

However, the woman in front of his eyes was the one leading the 1st Division. Although the average age of the current members of the Prosecutor’s Office was young, he didn’t expect her to be such a carefree person behind closed doors. 

She was rumored to be a witch, a sadistic woman who enjoyed bathing in blood, or someone who personally tortured prisoners for fun. That was the gossip surrounding Elizabeth Massello, the head of the Prosecutor’s Office’s 1st Division. 

Of course. Due to the notoriety of the Prosecutor’s Office and the fact that they can be rarely met during peacetime, there were numerous bad rumors regarding the Prosecutor’s Office’s members. It was also why one shouldn’t believe everything they say. 

“Executive Manager! I bought that with my money!”

“Thank you. I’m glad to have a Manager like you as my subordinate.”

“Aah! Don’t eat that!”

“Louise, do you want to have a taste?”

“Nooo!”

But still, that was a totally unexpected sight. Even if he ignored all of the rumors, it was true that the 1st Division specialized in torture. It was decades ago, but there was a time when they were called the Supreme 1st Division and stood above other divisions. 

‘Have things changed?’

News about the Prosecutor’s Office spread slowly. After all, it was a tightly sealed department. Even if they were to claim that they were no longer involved in torture but in other duties, there was no way to know unless it was openly revealed by the Prosecutor’s Office. It was especially true for someone like Ainter, who had no real authority. 

He was thinking that when his eyes met the 1st Managers.

‘…It wasn’t.’

What changed was irrelevant. 

When their gazes met, the beautiful red color of her eyes, reminiscent of rubies, instantly filled with bloodlust. After scanning Ainter with a quick glance that would have gone unnoticed if he hadn’t been the recipient of the gaze, the 1st Manager looked away as if nothing had happened. 

Ainter barely managed to hold back his laughter. He couldn’t believe he’d wondered if the Prosecutor’s Office had changed compared to its previous notoriety. The look in the 1st Manager’s eyes was all too familiar and terrifying. 

‘A look that is wondering how she should dispose of me.’

The same eyes of the Crown Prince who won the fight for the succession, the eyes of the 2nd Prince who’d almost won the fight for the throne, and the gaze Carl gave him two years ago.

Maybe the reason why the 1st Manager came to the Academy was related to him. When Ainter reached that conclusion, he felt his blood run cold. 

* * *

“Executive Manager.”

“Why?”

The 1st Manager suddenly whispered.

“Are you planning to get rid of the 3rd Prince?”

I suddenly grabbed her ears at that question.

“Ah, it hurts!”

“Absolutely not, so go away and stop giving off that vibe.” 

If it were someone else, I wouldn’t have minded. But hearing the 1st Manager say that gave me chills. Two years ago, the 1st Manager had asked me, ‘When are you going to get rid of the 2nd Prince?’ She showed clear intentions of trying to eliminate him.

At first, I brushed it off, but I was frightened as she made more and more explicit comments.  I went through so much trouble to urgently execute the assassination of the Second Prince (no witness reports, by the way) before a massive incident of the Prince being tortured broke out. 

“You have your own tasks to handle, so behave yourself.” 

“Okay…”

As I let her ears go, she rubbed it gingerly. Based on the outside, she looks like a normal person.

Am I really supposed to take this person with me during the duration of the Club Fair, in the crowded Academy with people coming from all directions? 

‘I think I’ll go mad.’

If they were going to send a Manager, the 5th one would have been better. Sadly, the best one at interrogating was the 1st Manager.

5th Manager, I miss you…