{13}“First Assignment”

  ***

  "Hello, Baron?"

  Baron replied to Rin's greeting by opening just one eye as usual.

  "What's this all about......"

  Ned grumbled. The group was now gathered around Baron. No one still knew what exactly Rin intended to do with the animal.

  "Baron. I'm going to ask you some questions now. Blink once for yes, twice for no. Do you understand?"

  Baron blinked once. Whether he really understood properly was still unclear, but judging by his usual behavior, it somehow seemed like he understood human speech. So everyone was secretly anticipating what would happen next.

  "Did Professor Temel come here last night?"

  Baron blinked once. Rin glanced at the others. Leo gestured for her to continue.

  "Was the person with him someone from our school?"

  This time, exactly twice. Everyone's faces showed surprise. Baron clearly seemed to understand sentences of this complexity.

  "Then was it an outsider?"

  This time he blinked once. The group exchanged glances and nodded. This level of communication seemed reliable. As Rin was carefully considering her next question, Shulmaier suddenly interrupted.

  "Were they evil creatures?"

  Everyone turned to him with wide eyes. He usually spoke so sparingly, why now of all times? And would Baron even understand such an abbreviated question?

  *BLINK BLINK*

  That must be a no, right? If so, did he properly understand the question just now? Amid the uncertainty, Leo stepped forward next.

  "Then are they people?"

  Instead of answering, Baron turned his gaze away. What does this mean? Everyone was confused by this unexpected reaction. Was Baron just coincidentally blinking at the timing of the questions?

  "Lady Rin!"

  Everyone jumped at the sudden voice. It was none other than Haderian. He walked steadily toward Rin, and Leo and Ned naturally stepped in front of her to block his path.

  "There seems to be a misunderstanding. I'm just trying to greet Baron."

  And then he actually bowed respectfully toward Baron? But Baron had already closed his eyes. And everyone was certain he was pretending to sleep.

  "It's a beautiful day, Lady Rin. The birds' chirping sounds like a song just for you."

  "Hey. Can I punch this guy right now?"

  As Leo's clenched fist was hastily restrained, Rin stepped forward.

  "Ahaha. Hello, Haderian? How are you feeling?"

  "Hmm? Did you just hold this fellow's hand?"

  Suddenly Haderian drew the sword at his waist. At the same time, Leo shook off Rin and raised his fist.

  "This guy!"

  *CLANG!*

  Somehow Leo's hand was already fitted with a gauntlet, and he used it to grab Haderian's sword, putting them in a standoff.

  "So now you're openly swinging at me?"

  "Don't worry. I'm attacking freely because it's you."

  "Both of you calm down and listen to me... Eek!"

  Rin, who was trying to stop them, stumbled when she brushed against Baron, who had suddenly stood up. And Baron moved his body in an instant, biting both Leo's gauntlet and Haderian's sword simultaneously with enough force to create sparks, and lifted them up.

  "Huh?"

  "Gasp!"

  Baron's size was truly enormous, and when he deliberately raised his head, the two had to stand on tiptoe as their arms were pulled upward.

  *.......*

  The two immediately lost their will to fight under Baron's intense stare. Leo removed his gauntlet, and Haderian let go of his sword.

  "I-I'm sorry!"

  "Forgive me!"

  The two prostrated themselves flat on the ground, begging for forgiveness with extreme politeness that they had never shown to any other academy student.

  Perhaps this was the consequence of daring to fight in front of Baron?

  Hmph!

  Baron blew a strong puff of air through his nose, then dropped the weapons he was holding to the ground. Then, looking at the two, he raised his right front paw.

  Was he going to hit them? Although it seemed strange for a canine animal to hit something with its front paw, the two jumped back in surprise. But then they froze at Baron's next action.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  'That's definitely a hand gesture, right?'

  Though brief, everyone clearly saw it. Baron waving his paw at the two as if shooing them away. It was exactly the same gesture people use when telling someone to go away or get lost.

  "Heehee... We're sorry, Baron."

  "W-we'll take our leave now."

  The two hurriedly gathered their things and fled. Surely Leo had been in the middle of an important conversation with the group, and Haderian must have come with his own business, but now they were just busy escaping at top speed. Ned offered a brief comment.

  "...Baron is awesome."

  ***

  After the two left, Baron seemed too bothered to do anything but lie down and try to sleep. As the atmosphere wasn't right to ask more questions, the group had no choice but to head to the Engineering Department's laboratory. As expected, Leo had already arrived at the meeting room.

  "Ugh... Is B-Baron resting now?"

  His crouched posture in the corner suggested he still hadn't calmed down. Ned approached and helped him up.

  "He's sleeping."

  "R-really?"

  Leo slowly walked over and flopped down in a chair.

  "Whew. Baron is really scary when he's angry! No joke?"

  Despite saying this, Leo's hands were still trembling slightly. Baron's saliva was dripping from the gauntlet in his hand, spread all over his hands and arms, but he didn't seem to notice. Feeling sorry for him, Rin approached and wiped it off with her handkerchief.

  "Th-thanks. But you saw it too, right? I was only defending myself. It's unfair."

  "Yes. I know."

  The meeting room was quiet for a while. It was surprising that they could communicate with Baron in such a way, but they had ended up disturbing him. They wouldn't dare to ask him again for a while. They had only wanted to get approval for their club activity, but somehow things had gotten to this point.

  Bang!

  Everyone's attention turned to someone hitting the table. It was Calia.

  "Who cares? Let's start our club activity."

  Calia stood up abruptly.

  "All that approval does is determine whether we get budget support or not, right?"

  Ned chimed in.

  "That makes sense! If we want to do it, we can just start by ourselves?"

  "Hmm."

  Once again being sparing with his words, Shulmaier walked to the blackboard. Then he wrote 'Establishment of the Free Research Club.' Elrunt wrote the number 1 below it.

  "Then I propose our first project. Let's investigate the mystery surrounding Professor Temel. All in favor?"

  Everyone raised their hands. The Free Research Club's official first project was unanimously confirmed as 'The Mystery of Professor Temel.'

  ***

  That evening. All the 'Free Research Club members' didn't go to their dormitories but waited in Rin's room until nightfall. After all the librarians had gone home and the library closed, the members carefully opened the door and came out. The library, with all its lights turned off, was so dark that the interior was barely visible by the faint moonlight coming through the occasional windows on the walls.

  "Let's go."

  Under Leo's direction, the members moved stealthily. They had all put strange fur slippers over their shoes, which remarkably made no sound as they walked. Leo muttered with a somewhat satisfied face.

  "The sound-deadening effect of chicken feather clumps is good."

  Even in the darkness, Shulmaier was busy recording something in his notebook. Calia frowned and said.

  "But isn't the smell too strong?"

  Leo shrugged.

  "Can't be helped. I collected them from the chicken coop floor."

  Shulmaier, who had been scribbling something, added.

  "It was impossible to completely remove the chicken droppings."

  "......"

  The members stopped at the second floor, just as Rin had done the night before. Then they gathered at the window overlooking Baron. As they each took out the blankets they had brought, Leo said.

  "Now we'll take turns keeping watch while the rest rest."

  The members nodded seriously, covered themselves with blankets, and lay down. After that, they began their stakeout, taking turns every hour.

  ***

  "Ugh... didn't we just switch shifts a moment ago?"

  Ned complained in a weak voice as he opened his eyes. Shulmaier, who had just woken him up, warned him to be quiet with a finger. Then he began quietly waking up the others.

  "Mmmm."

  By the time Calia, the last one, woke up, all the members were already pressed against the window. Calia rubbed her sleepy eyes and looked down, where she saw a familiar face standing next to Baron.

  "Professor Sven?"

  "Shh."

  Rin cautioned her to be quiet. It was cramped with six people pressed against one window, but fortunately, they could see everything they needed to. Professor Sven was pacing next to Baron, seemingly waiting for someone.

  As they watched further, they saw someone running very quickly from a distance. It was a man in a cloak. He ran at a speed that was hard to believe was human and stopped silently next to Baron. He even had a strange-shaped large sword on his back.

  'Is that the person?'

  When Ned asked quietly, Rin nodded.

  'I think so.'

  The cloaked man talked with Professor Sven for a while, but they both spoke so quietly that nothing could be heard. After talking for some time, they began saying something to Baron.

  Then Baron, who had been lying down, suddenly stood up. After scratching the ground a few times with his front paw, the ground suddenly split open in a square shape and sank downward.

  "Gasp!"

  Calia made a gasping sound, too surprised. Ned beside her hurriedly covered her mouth.

  *CRASH!*

  Suddenly the window in front of them shattered. The startled members stepped back and tripped over something.

  It felt as if a black wind had momentarily swept through. When the members came to their senses, they saw the cloaked man standing on top of the fallen Leo. They had no idea when or how he had moved up there.

  It happened so suddenly that the broken glass pieces were still bouncing around from the impact. A moment later, hurried footsteps were heard as Professor Sven ran up. He opened his eyes wide when he spotted Rin among the students sprawled on the floor.

  "Rin? What are you doing up at this hour instead of sleeping?"

  "Do you know these people?"

  The cloaked man asked in an ominous voice. The professor touched his shoulder and said.

  "They're my students! Lower your guard!"

  "But they saw the secret passage."

  "Well... that can't be helped."

  Leo, who was pinned under the man, could see the skull-shaped mark on the man's shoulder as he regained his senses. As all the members came to, Professor Sven helped them up one by one.

  "Everyone be quiet and follow me."

  The members didn't understand what was happening, but they exchanged glances and obediently followed. During the move, the cloaked man followed from the very back, watching like a guard.

  When they opened the entrance, they saw Baron standing tall, and the 'secret passage' open next to him. Professor Sven went down the passage first, and the members followed. There were stairs leading downward in the secret passage, heading in the direction of the library.

  It seemed to lead somewhere under the library. Since they went down without even turning on lights, the passage was soon engulfed in darkness, and the members descended slowly, feeling along the walls and relying on the person in front for quite some time. And finally, Professor Sven stopped.

  "We're here."

  When the professor opened the door in front, their eyes were briefly blinded by light. On the other side, a familiar face was waiting for the members. It was Professor Chester Riden, who taught mathematics and archery in the Military Studies Department.

  "Professor Riden?"

  "Calia? What brings you here?"

  The interior they entered, guided by Professor Riden, was a very unique space. It looked as if the library above ground had been turned upside down. In the center, what appeared to be the huge root of Grandfather Tree extended downward, and books were arranged along spiral staircases on the walls, just like above.

  The lighting was rather dim, and unlike the trunk above, the roots below not only went through the center but also spread in all directions, penetrating bookshelves here and there. As a result, they had to avoid the roots as they walked along the stacks.

  Other professors were also visible besides Professor Riden.

  Professor Avaine, who taught the Samar language,

  Professor Jeff, who taught ecology,

  Professor Iselin, who taught spirit studies.

  There were also many faces that Rin and the other members didn't know well. They all seemed surprised to see the students brought by Professor Svetrinaha.

  -To be continued-