Chapter 123 - An Ancient Language?!

A meeting was taking placeI inside a boardroom, the same one in which the Eitsirc academy's top management, together with the head teachers and the vice principal, normally met.

However, while all the executive chairs were filled, indicating that every executive was present, the same could not be said for those belonging to the vice principal or the head teachers, with only one of the latter present.

"...How is it possible that this happened...?" Asked a woman of great beauty and long pink hair with a cold expression on her face, Amara Pieren, the head teacher of the esper class, "Not only do we have dozens of injured, but also... there are 14 deceased children... just how did this happened?"

Although the tone of her voice as she asked these questions was calm, everyone present could sense that the woman was actually extremely angry.

None of them wanted to confront the woman in this state, but knowing that remaining silent would only make things worse, one of those present spoke up.

"...Um-We... we are still investigating exactly what happened, but from what we have been able to find out from the teachers along with the information we got from the chimera's bodies...we are certain that this was an intentional attack..."

At the mention of these last words, Amara's expression turned even colder, small sparks of purple then beginning to appear around her, evidence of her anger.

"On what basis do you say this?" Amara then asked.

"Ahem, we say this mainly for one reason, these chimeras... including the ones the professors encountered, showed signs of having been altered to possess certain characteristics..."

After saying that, the executive in question began to explain in detail about these characteristics.

For the chimeras that the professors had encountered, they could spit out a kind of liquid poison which was dangerous to rank (B-) supers, as the poison would only react with a certain amount of energy, and if this energy was less or more than required, the poison would not activate.

The reason this did not affect the professors was because they greatly exceeded the battle experience of the chimeras, so they were able to defeat them before they could even use the poison, only becoming known when the chimera's bodies were subjected to research.

In the same way, the chimeras that attacked the students also had something prepared, only this time targeting rank (D) and (C) supers.

In this case, the substance was a purple smoke which could not be perceived with the naked eye unless it accumulated in large quantities.

However, no matter how small the amount of smoke in the vicinity, its drowsy effects were still considerably strong, being able to put dozens of rank (D) and (C) supers to sleep in seconds.

Finally, as the cherry on top of the cake, a sack filled with a purple liquid with strong acidic properties and which seemed to be the source of the purple smoke.

"As you may know, normal chimeras do not possess these characteristics, and even if they were special variants, for a group of 40 of them to appear simultaneously and all share the same characteristics... the probability is almost impossible." Added the executive.

By special variants, the executive was referring to monsters such as the Aqugas snake that Jay had encountered in the admission test some time ago, a monster that for various reasons did not follow the normal behavior that would be expected of its race.

"Therefore... we have come to the conclusion that... these monsters are the result of genetic alteration..."

Although the other executives already knew about this, they couldn't help but frown at the mention of this topic.

In this world, few things were as taboo as the genetic alteration of monsters, with all the world's global organizations and countries, current and former, forbidding this act and severely punishing those who even revealed traces of having approached the subject.

The reasons were varied, but chief among them, undoubtedly, would be how easily the monsters mutated... and how difficult it was to control them.

From the Great Proliferation onwards, the monsters were already mutating rapidly on their own, usually becoming stronger, but there were people who noticed that at the same time that a normal dog could become stronger and bigger than a lion, perhaps they could take advantage of that to make more profit from livestock.

The result of this was... a total disaster, with the appearance of more than 50 new types of species of monsters classified as untamable and unfit for human contact, not forgetting, of course, that this also caused the death of these "visionaries", but not by the laws, but by their own experiments.

Like them, history repeated itself several times, with people trying to take advantage of the monsters' facility to mutate and failing horribly.

Sometimes taking their own lives in the process, and sometimes affecting entire populations.

The end result could already be seen in the present day, with all the major powers of the world banning any kind of genetic alteration in monsters, something that even criminal organizations abided by for fear of repercussions.

"...We must find the culprit as soon as possible..." Amara then said with a slight trace of urgency in her voice.

Of course, this was understandable, after all, if someone could alter chimeras in such a way, that meant there was also the possibility that that person could do the same to stronger monsters, greatly increasing their danger.

And what was worse, as today had shown, that person was not friendly at all towards the academy.

Amara then stood up from her seat and gave her orders, "For the time being we will increase security in the cities and decrease the students' going out of the city to a minimum, besides-"

"You really think that's the solution?"

However, at that moment, a man's voice interrupted Amara, causing everyone present to turn their attention to him.

Standing at the entrance to the boardroom, a tall but thin man with silky brown hair and wearing a formal suit was looking directly at Amara with a faint smile on his face.

"...Marcus..." Amara said, keeping her same cold expression as always.

"Welcome, Mr. Marcus!"

"Welcome!"

Nevertheless, the other executives stood up to greet him, just as they had done with Amara when she entered the boardroom, as that was the level of respect they should have for the head teachers.

With the arrival of this person, now two head teachers were present, with Amara Pieren, from the esper class, and Marcus Brandvold, from the pugilist class, making this meeting much more influential and powerful than before.

While Amara on her own would be able to give orders and change many things in the academy, that had its limits, limits which would only be expanded when another head teacher was present.

"So you're saying I shouldn't be concerned about the safety of the students?" Amara then said.

Entering the room and taking his respective seat, Marcus proceeded to answer, "Of course not, I too agree that we should increase security and take better care of the students when they go out...but that's only a temporary solution."

"Unless you know who the culprit is and their exact location, all solutions will be temporary." Amara added.

Letting out a small sigh, as if he already knew Amara would respond that way, Marcus replied, "That's not what I mean, but... how long do you think we can protect the students?"

"..."

His answer was met with an icy stare from Amara, who couldn't decide whether to continue listening to him or simply conduct the meeting without him.

"Don't look at me like that, or at least wait for me to finish." After saying that, Marcus stood up, "My point is, are we really doing the right thing by protecting them so much? We have magic circuits all over the academy, and anyway monsters showed up and attacked the students. Even though we managed to eliminate the threats, we were too late and unfortunately several students died as a result. Even with all the security in place at the academy, even though we have teachers who are true powerhouses, there is something amiss."

Intrigued by what he just said, the executives were not saying a word in order to understand better, as for Amara, though not as much as the executives, she was also paying attention.

"The problem... is that we have protected the students too much! In the end, even if they are in the best environment in the world, if they can't protect themselves, or at least save their lives, then are we doing a good job as an educational institution for supers?"

With those words alone, Amara could already get an idea of the direction in which Marcus was taking this conversation, which made her recall some information about said character that the vice principal had told her some time ago.

Due to various unfortunate circumstances, Marcus, as well as many other children, had been left in the care of a certain clan who firmly believed that weak people were a plague on this world.

That was their main ideology, and as such, the children were raised under a training regime which could only be described as cruel and inhumane, leaving behind a trail of unfortunate victims.

And although this clan has long since disappeared because of those very acts, the beliefs they held, burned into the bodies and minds of all the children raised in this clan, still remained, in one form or another, present in the children who were now adults.

"Therefore, I have a something for you, which will not only make the students stronger, but will also allow us to get clues or even catch the culprit behind this incident. But of course, I can't carry it out without your help..." Marcus said, running his gaze over each of the executives until it landed on Amara.

The executives were interested to the extreme, as Marcus, being a head teacher would not simply talk the talk, but would definitely have something to back up his words.

Amara, on the other hand, knowing his past, couldn't help but be slightly wary about the "something" he might show.

Though again, she was also interested, after all, simply what had Marcus thought to make him believe that he could strengthen the students at the same time as finding the culprit of the chimera incident?

At the very least, she could hear him out.

"Tell me then, what is that something?" Amara asked.

With a smile immediately forming on his face, Marcus then pulled a large piece of paper from his pocket, spreading it out on the table for all to see.

"Watch everyone, my greatest pride!"

With that statement, all the executives then leaned forward in their seats so they could see the paper Marcus had pulled out.

"This...!"

"Is it...?!"

Little gasps of surprise came from a couple of the executives as they looked at the paper, causing Marcus' grin to widen even more, pleased with their surprise.

"...Ancient Runes?"

"A lost language...?"

"Don't be silly, it can't be something like that, just look at each of these characters, it's like nothing I've ever seen, I'm a language teacher so I know what I'm talking about, what's more, I'd even go as far to say it's something completely new!"

With the executive who had said that last taking the paper in his hands, the other executives also gathered around him, starting to discuss about the paper, and after a few seconds, they came to a decision.

"Ohh, I see, then I think this paper and each of these enigmatic characters should be studied thoroughly, it will definitely contain some secrets that can help us strengthen the students!"

"Thank you very much for your contribution, head teacher Marcus!"

Turning to look at the teacher in question, the executives then saw that, although there was still a smile on his face, his eyes were closed and his right eyebrow was constantly twitching.

"Pfft, you idiots, that's not an ancient language or something like that, that's Marcus' handwriting." Amara said with a chuckle, using a bit of energy to move the paper into her hand.

"Oh..."

"Ah..."

With that, an awkward silence then filled the room, with the executives in a nervous state and Marcus occasionally glancing at the executive that was a language teacher, his brow still twitching slightly.

After a couple of minutes, Amara finished reading the contents, an interested expression on her face.

"This plan will undoubtedly make the students stronger and give us a chance to catch the culprit... but it is also something the vice principal would not allow because of the risks." The esper then said.

Hearing the mention of the vice principal, Marcus frowned a little, as he knew she was telling the truth, but just as he was about to try to convince Amara that he would take all the blame, Amara spoke again.

"However, the vice director is not here, so you have my support to see this through. But I have one condition... I want you to personally take care of giving heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased students."

With that statement, Marcus completely forgot about the incident with the executives and enthusiastically responded, "Even if you didn't say it, I was already going to do it!"

Thus, that day, the foundations of a plan which aimed to revolutionize the entire academy began to be laid.