{16}“Leo's Conspiracy”

  ***

  "What? What did Senior Leo just say...?"

  Ned quickly covered Calia's mouth as she asked the question.

  The two were currently lying flat on a roof, and below them, Leo and Haderian were clearly visible. Even at a glance, they appeared to be engaged in some sort of secretive conversation.

  'Don't talk so loudly even from this distance.'

  Calia reluctantly nodded at Ned's warning.

  There was a reasonable explanation for this unexpected and bold espionage...

  ***

  Three days had passed since they received permission to establish the Free Research Club. During that time, the members had been using the Engineering Department's conference room as their club room, with some members showing up and others not. However, once midnight passed, everyone would gather in front of the library as if by some unspoken agreement. Past the secret passage under Baron, they would reach the Root Library. That's where the members' special study group was held.

  "You came today too."

  The members greeted Professor Antoine, who welcomed them warmly. After settling down in a suitable spot in the circular stacks of the Root Library, they sat in a circle around a thick book that Rin had brought. The cover of the book had the title 'Introduction to Ajurat Script Decipherment.' The members began copying the character chart on the first page into their own notebooks.

  The script they were studying was from the ancient kingdom of 'Ajurat,' now extinct, and was essential knowledge for many archaeologists and linguists.

  Although the characters, pronunciations, and translation methods had been largely discovered, it was a script rarely used by anyone other than researchers. The members' reason for starting this unfamiliar study was obviously for reading the Root Library, as all its records were written in the ancient language.

  "It's really surprising that you came too."

  Calia's comment was directed at Ned. Ned shrugged his shoulders as usual.

  "Even I find this interesting."

  The members spent time repeatedly copying the characters into their notebooks and mumbling the pronunciations. Aside from Ned occasionally glancing at other members' notebooks, everyone was focused, and the only sounds were the scratching of pencils on paper and soft muttering.

  This midnight study group consistently continued for about an hour each night. Rin and Shulmaier had the best attendance, followed by Leo, Elrunt, and Calia. Ned, despite claiming interest, had increasingly poor attendance until he eventually showed up only about once every four days.

  During the day, they mostly gathered in the Engineering Department's conference room, but other than Rin and Calia playing chess with Elrunt, there weren't many club activities.

  Perhaps that's why?

  The subtle change in Leo's behavior caught the attention of the other members.

  Considering his usual demeanor, it might not seem unusual to see him sketching and erasing things repeatedly with a serious expression. However, whenever a member tried to take a peek out of curiosity, he would quickly hide it with a "Don't look!" which only aroused more curiosity. Everyone initially thought nothing of it, but after this behavior continued for several days...

  "I can't stand this anymore!"

  At a meeting where Leo happened to be absent, Calia suddenly exclaimed. There was no preamble, but everyone immediately understood and nodded. Leo had recently been avoiding conversation with others and seemed to be struggling with something on his own.

  It was serious enough that even Shulmaier, who rarely spoke, opened his mouth.

  "Leo. Won't talk to me either."

  He wrote in large letters on the blackboard:

  [Leo's Conspiracy]

  "Oh, come on. 'Conspiracy' is too much."

  After saying that, Ned came forward and added the word 'Surveillance.' Seeing this, Calia snorted.

  "Hey! Just like someone from a thieves' guild!"

  But Elrunt shook his head.

  "He keeps avoiding the question whenever I ask him directly. I think surveillance is our only option."

  He then looked at Rin.

  "What do you think? Surveillance. Doesn't it sound fun?"

  Rin looked slightly flustered before giving a shy smile.

  "Me? I've never done surveillance before..."

  ***

  "Leo has incredibly good instincts."

  On a path within the Academy grounds, the members were listening to Ned's explanation.

  "I've tailed him a few times before and almost got caught. His awareness level is practically that of a wild animal, regardless of what he's thinking about."

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  As he spoke, he demonstrated how to walk slowly, starting with the toes.

  "The basics are to move slowly like this, with your toes touching the ground first. This way, you can make almost no sound."

  The members each tried to imitate Ned's movements. However, the forest path was littered with fallen leaves, twigs, and stones, creating a lot of rustling noises.

  Calia furrowed her brows.

  "Why doesn't mine work like yours?"

  Ned demonstrated again and said:

  "The important thing is to push slightly forward with your toes before they touch the ground."

  "Push? Wouldn't that create noise when they drag?"

  "No, I mean to clear away. Slightly, very slightly push aside anything that might make noise, secure a safe spot to step, and then place your foot down completely."

  Sure enough, Ned's toes were pushing the surface slightly forward before touching the ground. The movement was visibly displacing small stones and leaves. Calia tried to follow carefully, but the disturbing rustling sound persisted.

  "Is this really helpful for surveillance? How often do you need to follow someone in a forest?"

  Ned wagged his finger in denial.

  "Training should always be thorough."

  "...Aren't thieves and thoroughness rather distant concepts?"

  ***

  "Someone's looking for me?"

  Haderian, who had been swinging his sword at the training grounds, stopped his strike upon hearing the news.

  "That Leo guy."

  "Hmm? Leo?"

  Haderian, still gripping his sword, left the training grounds with a tense expression.

  "Hey there! Haderian!"

  Leaning against the main gate was indeed Leo.

  "Grr! You, Leo!"

  As soon as he saw him, Haderian's face hardened, and he raised his sword in a defensive posture. Leo, as if he had been waiting for this, charged forward with his gauntlet.

  *CLANG!*

  A loud noise rang out as metal hit metal, and sparks from the friction between the gauntlet and sword flew dramatically to the ground.

  The two locked in a stalemate, neither willing to back down even slightly. Beyond Haderian's trembling sword, Leo's face could be seen, equally exerting himself.

  "Oops! This isn't right."

  "Ugh! What's not right?"

  "Let's talk!"

  "Talk? In this state?"

  And at this moment, the Free Research Club members were watching the entire situation. Well, just Ned and Calia to be precise. The members had set out to find Leo as soon as Ned's impromptu training ended, and they had discovered and followed him for about 20 minutes.

  From the Swordsmanship Department's training grounds onwards, they needed to be agile to avoid detection, climbing over walls and crossing rooftops. So Rin, Shulmaier, and Elrunt were left behind, while Ned and Calia continued. Calia surprised Ned with her nimble movements, requiring no additional help. The two climbed onto a warehouse roof and quietly began their surveillance.

  At first, Leo and Haderian squared off as usual upon meeting. This was normal if anything could be considered normal.

  But suddenly Leo said, "Let's talk," and after that, they really did just keep talking? This went on for 30 minutes. Calia, who had never before had to lie uncomfortably on a dirty roof for so long, almost shouted out loud due to her diminishing patience.

  ***

  And so, back to the present.

  "What? What did Senior Leo just say...?"

  Ned quickly covered Calia's mouth as she asked the question.

  'Don't talk so loudly even from this distance.'

  Calia reluctantly nodded at Ned's warning. The conversation between the two men below continued for quite some time.

  Every time Leo said something, Haderian would flinch in surprise, and each time this happened, Calia would complain, only to be silenced by Ned's hand over her mouth.

  As time passed, Haderian gradually regained his composure, in contrast to Calia who was losing her patience. Then suddenly, he extended his hand forward. Leo grasped it and slowly shook hands, nodding his head. Haderian also nodded with a meaningful expression. Calia whispered quietly to Ned.

  'What is this? What does it mean?'

  'It looks like they made some kind of deal.'

  'A deal?'

  'Let's talk at the club room. First, we need to retreat without being detected.'

  The retreat was easier than expected. Even though it was a training ground, it was still just a student facility with no surveillance, and while the infiltration process involved climbing high obstacles, getting out just required jumping down lightly. The two rejoined the remaining three who had been keeping watch at the bottom of the wall, and headed toward the library instead of the Engineering Department building to avoid Leo.

  ***

  The top of the library, Rin's room. When the five gathered around the table, the room was completely full.

  "So, what was the content?"

  Elrunt was the first to speak. Calia shook her head, saying, "We were too far away to hear," but Ned, on the contrary, held his head up stiffly.

  "I learned 'lip-reading' so I can understand just by looking at lip movements!"

  The members responded with praise: "As expected of a thieves' guild member!"

  "So what was the content?"

  At the repeated question, Ned wrote a few words in a notebook on the table.

  [New, Experiment, Rin, Deal]

  "What is this?"

  To Calia's question, Ned scratched his head.

  "That's all I could make out... ouch!"

  The scream at the end was due to Calia pinching the back of his hand. Rin pulled the notebook toward herself and said:

  "Anyway, we can only speculate based on this for now."

  "That's right."

  Elrunt agreed.

  "It seems that the words 'new' and 'experiment' here might be related."

  They connected words as they usually did, added new words to branch out, and drew several assumptions. Their hypotheses were as follows:

  [Hypothesis 1: Leo wants to conduct a new experiment, and needs Haderian's cooperation. He proposed Rin as a bargaining chip for this.]

  Shulmaier strongly denied this.

  "Leo. Not that much of a jerk."

  It was a somewhat ambiguous defense. It sounded like "He's almost a jerk, but not quite," which was subtle, but it was definitely a denial.

  [Hypothesis 2: The new experiment requires Rin, but Leo judged that she wouldn't cooperate willingly. So he hired Haderian as an intimidation factor to force compliance. A monetary transaction followed.]

  Shulmaier had nothing to say about this hypothesis 2. So all the members tilted their heads in confusion. Does this mean it's acceptable? What exactly is his moral standard?

  [Hypothesis 3: In fact, they have been making deals continuously from before, and this new deal targets Rin and is related to Leo's experiment.]

  This time, Ned shook his head.

  "This is a complete conspiracy theory. I know from often 'promoting' such rumors in the guild, and these are almost always nonsense."

  [Hypothesis 4: Leo is planning an experiment to create a new Rin. So he made a deal with Haderian, who would inevitably be interested in such an experiment.]

  As everyone was about to comment on this seemingly far-fetched hypothesis, suddenly there was the sound of a doorknob turning.

  *CLICK*

  The person who opened the door was none other than Leo.

  In this unexpected situation, everyone froze. Leo calmly walked over and looked at the notebook on the table. He quickly moved his eyes and instantly grasped the situation.

  "Hehehe! All wrong!"

  He shouted toward the door.

  "Hey! Come in!"

  Then a sturdy man with a sword on his back, Haderian, entered. Everyone was once again shocked into silence. And Haderian's subsequent statement was even more shocking.

  "Nice to meet you. I'm Haderian, hoping to join the club."

  "What?"

  "What?"

  As everyone jumped up and started stammering their own responses, Rin's small room instantly fell into chaos. As usual, Haderian showed excessive respect to Rin, who felt uncomfortable and hid in a corner, while Calia blocked his way, creating tension.

  In addition, Ned instinctively took a defensive posture following Calia, Elrunt checked if his chess set was safe amid the confusion, and meanwhile, Shulmaier was meticulously marking X's on the hypotheses written in the notebook.

  Next to him, Leo, who was carefully reading the notebook, muttered.

  "...Create a new Rin? What does that even mean?"

  -To be continued-