The arrival of investigators at a crime scene

"Where were you this morning?"

The gorgeous young lady with green hair asks in an irritated manner.

"I went to have breakfast of course."

I reply her nonchalantly. Not good, I'm getting too used to this. The way I reply to her has gotten way too informal. This princess has still not given up yet. Currently we are speaking in the hallway as we usually do, with my two friends walking closely behind.

I turn and look at her for a split second before hastily shifting my gaze. Walking beside her right now, she really does seem like a dignified princess. Her uniform is neatly dressed, from her white stripped collar that signified a firs year, all the way to her cleanly polished shoes. There wasn't a single flaw with her attire.

"No. Before that. Where were you this morning?"

She turns and glares at me with doubtful eyes.

"You weren't in your room."

This girl...WHAT?!

Don't tell me she went into my room this morning before I returned. What the hell was she even doing standing by beside my room.

This stalker princess!

Luckily I chose to go back to the demon realm before coming back here, if not I might've gotten found out.

"You're hiding something."

With each step she takes forward, she sound even more vexed.

This girl, she really has no shame does she. In all my four lives I have never seen a princess peep into someone's room.

"Tch."

From the corner of my ears I could hear someone sulking. That was Corn. I turn my head halfway to see him glaring at me with unfriendly eyes, he was grinding his teeth so hard that if he did it any harder, gnawing sounds could possibly be heard.

"Let's go back to your room. We can have a long chat about it, Rolan Raiser"

"EHHHHH?"

Me, Corn, Max. All three of us were stunned when the princess made that remark.

"Umm princess, classes is about to start soon don't you thi-"

The princess stares at me and I finally realize something. This bitch really doesn't care.

In the Fermone academy there are 4 classes. Low, middle, high and top.

Amongst them, the top class exceeds the rest by an incredible margin. The higher ranker nobility are usually in the high and top classes. This is because being born into a noble family allows them to have way more opportunities and resources than other students.

Estelle is one example of a top class student albeit a very powerful one even when compared to other top class students.

When a mage graduates from the academy, they are usually fourth rate. But this stalker princess has already reached third rate in her first year, putting her on a different level than the rest.

But of course she's still no match for my genius sister who graduated with the rank of second rate.

That's why despite entering the academy not long ago, she's given privileges not just because she's a princess from a foreign country but because she holds such power.

Back to the issue.

For the past week Estelle has been entering our "middle" class classroom and sitting at the back in order to keep an eye on me.

The professors tried to stop her on the first few days, but it seems like she pulled some strings and now it appears as though they couldn't even be bothered to ask her to leave.

"Silence means consent, so you really are hiding something."

Estelle continues starting at me with eager eyes.

"Let's go. Hurry."

For some reason, her icy cold eyes made me turn around and follow her.

"Uhh princess I don't think you would wan-"

However, as we were walking down the hallway on the way back to my room, loud stomping could be heard in a distance.

"Big news everyone!"

"The professors just returned on a mission! Someone has died!"

At that moment, everyone was murmuring.

"Die? Was it a professor?"

"Who do you think they fought?"

"Did someone really die? How scary."

Countless whispers filled the quiet hallway.

YES! Nice save! Now I can get out of this situation.

The sounds of footsteps start arising and more and more people started heading towards the second floor balcony to get a better view.

Everyone is really a busy body. But this works out greatly in my favor!

"Princess let's go check things out."

I signal to Estelle and she let's out a sigh before following.

"That's professor Keit!"

On the balcony of the the second floor, there was a crowd watching the professors enter the academy through the front gate. As they saw the body bags emerge from the professors carrying them at the back, their gossiping got louder.

Body bags? There's more than 10 of them, did they carry back all the students' corpses?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a classroom of 40 students murmuring continuously, a professor hastily enters the room. Upon arriving to his desk situated at the front of the room, he looks down to the sheet of paper resting on the table and begins to speak.

"Miss Ratt?"

No reply was given, only whispers could be heard from throughout the room. As he looked up, he saw students busy talking and gossiping away in their friend groups.

He let's out a sigh and raises his voice.

"MISS Ratt?"

At that moment everyone froze and stared at the man standing in front of the class.

"Present sir."

A girl called out from behind.

"Everyone be quiet, class is beginning now."

He continues his attendance taking, calling name after name with each student responding diligently.

"Mister Richards?"

A few moments pass and there was no answer.

The professors looks up and pans his head around the room, only to see that other people were doing the same.

"Hmm?"

"Mister Nald Richards?"

"He isn't here sir. He wasn't even present for breakfast."

Says a student in the front row.

"Never mind then. Let's move on."

That morning, Nald Richards and several dozen other students were found dead in their room. Their bodies seemingly drained of all life force.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a room somewhere within the academy, talks are underway with a few people in the room.

"This situation is really a disaster vice-principal."

The young lady with beautiful long hair tied up into a ponytail speaks.

Her hair was a stunning blend of red, pink and blonde colors. Her grey eyes flawlessly matched the shade of her hair. She was sitting upright on a couch with three others standing behind her.

"We must issue a full fledged investigation now and report this to the public"

The target of her words is a middle-aged man with a moustache.

The vice-principal picks up the cup of tea situated on his side of the table, it was still piping hot, with steam continuously flowing upwards.

"I don't have the authority to propose that. You should know that Miss Miranda Ranger."

Miranda clicks her tongue and her stare become imbued with fury.

Stubborn old man. This is exactly why this academy became a target.

Those were her thoughts when looking at the man nonchalantly sipping tea in front of her.

"You do know that the principal is still in closed retreat."

"I'm sure you know, if he manages to succeed in his training this time, we would have a grandmaster in the kingdom."

"And I presume someone like you would know how vital that is to our country? Isn't that right slayer Miranda?"

Although young, Miranda Ranger was an extremely high ranking inquisitor which was even bestowed the title of "Slayer". This was because of her excellent sword skills that made her recognized by the head of the royal mage corps and the captain of the first inquisitor squad, the golden inquisitor, who is the current strongest mage in the kingdom.

And as the captain of the second inquisitor squad of the royal mage corps, Miranda was issued the mission to investigate the matter here at Fermone magic academy.

This shitty old man! What the hell does the principal have to do with this?

He just doesn't want to have to deal with the inquisitors since he's in the duke's faction.

Things like this have been going on for quite some time in the Corsair kingdom. Since the inquisitors are part of the royal mage corps, the duke's retainers are all on edge given the current friction between the two sides.

Ordinary people wouldn't be able to see nor feel it, but for Miranda, she experiences it daily due to being the captain of the second inquisitor squad.

She boils in rage as she continues the conversation.

"Vice-principal Gradham. How about this? Shut down the school for a few months as we investigate. We won't ask for anything else, but I'm sure you would want your students to be safe right?"

"As for the media, we'll try out best to limit the details so as to not tarnish the reputation of the school. Is that alright with you?"

She says while trying her best to hold her anger in.

"A few months? You must be insane."

"Then a month will do."

"Hmmm...I suppose that's fine."

Grandham says while continuing his drink.

This old man is really pissing me off!

Miranda clenches her fists tightly as thoughts of her punching the vice-principal cross her mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The second inquisitor squad is currently walking out of the academy gate.

"What should we do captain?"

The middle squad member behind her spoke.

He had tanned skin, short black hair and a very muscular build, judging from his size he would be able to match a bear with his pure strength. Just shy of his chin was a scar that went up to his lip.

Miranda looked over to the woman standing on the muscular man's left. She had blue hair and a small build. The woman held out a disk on her left hand and injected some mana into it.

Shortly afterwards, she looked up and nodded towards her captain and Miranda reciprocated.

The device was a high ranking sound barrier meant for blocking out anyone from hearing their conversations. As the second inquisitor squad they were permitted to carry with them this expensive item.

"Well first, it looks like the black magicians are involved. They seem to be trying to create something based on the papers we found in the secret room."

"Secondly, this has been going on for quite some time. Strange disappearances also seem to have happened before this disaster took place. Based on the students who have disappeared previously and the students who died, it's certain to say they're related to one another."

"Thirdly, this is just a hunch but..."

Miranda pauses for a while as she hesitates to say what's on her mind.

"What is it captain?"

The last squad member spoke. The man had orange hair and was wearing glasses.

When he spoke all three of the squad members looked eagerly at Miranda.

She continues to hesitate but after a few moments she looked up and finally spoke her mind.

"The duke should be involved with this."