Chapter 101 Unexpected helper

'They used to say I was asocial, a complete loser, an outcast even. Someone like me was destined to just stay holed up and research for the rest of their life. Yet now, these priests are at a complete loss. They need the power and knowledge I've been working my entire life to get, they're so desperate.'

'Even if I was a hermit for the most of my life, it doesn't mean I can't hold a conversation. If they had known about how many souls I've spoken to, I would've outclassed any ordinary conversationalist. Their leader looks so bossy though, can't he just hold a normal conversation.'

"Sir Gilbert, putting our disagreements aside, we would like you to use your power to give us a chance to speak to the victim."

'I've never had this much fun, they're lost without me, aren't they? The investigation must've gotten stuck if the teacher's council is even asking me to not do anything that could complicate it any further. I'm always the last one to be contacted, but now they visited me almost instantly.

Too bad for them, I don't care about their stupid little hypocritical gathering of fools. If they wanted me to truly not do anything, they should've given me something instead of threats. Saying I'll get in trouble if I bother the priests, how unbelievable.'

Gilbert had unknowingly arrived at a perfect time. Vires had been talking and persuading the priests for quite some time, but as a teacher he still had his duties. Only Gilbert didn't bother following a normal curriculum, granting him the opportunity to visit them now.

"That's no problem, though I would like to ask to not record or write down anything about my formulae, please look the other way while I'm performing my ritual."

The priests looked at Gilbert with an untrustworthy look, "What are you all looking at me for? It's not that I'm going to dissect a baby, just materializing a soul.". Sadly, his rebuttal only made the priests look even more sharply.

"What's the price? Every dirty mage never does anything without asking for recompense, so tell me."

Although Leo wasn't the most wealthy man, he did have access to the Order of Light's treasury. He couldn't just take anything, and he would have to submit a form before receiving anything, but it was better than nothing. Leo had experience debating and haggling for a fair price due to all the as he liked to call them, dirty mages. To him, the worst thing Gilbert could've asked for was for them to stop investigating the possible ties to the demonic cult.

'They really are at their last straw if they brought up the payment method. Elam's letter was pretty accurate, but here it goes off track. But I guess I should follow the instructions somewhat, even if I don't understand it.'

"Don't worry, I'm not asking for anything special. A friend asked me for this favor, so I don't need anything from you. Now, if you could please just look away."

Leo was staring daggers at Gilbert, but he could only heave a heavy sigh before turning around.

'Hah! Look at them, following my every move, obeying every command. To think the so-called bringers of justice are subordinated to a necromancer, hihihi, how fun this is. I should go outside more.'

The priests were annoyed by the muffled laugh behind them. Leo was also bothered by the man, but knew it wasn't the time to start any unnecessary arguments. 'If the soul can give us the needed information about the killer, Duma and I can figure it out and hold the person accountable. When all things are said and done, we can go back to hunting this blasphemer.'

Leo wasn't the only one who harbored doubts and suspicions towards Gilbert, Duma, at Leo's side, was equally if not more annoyed. She was the one who created a sphere of protection to make sure the place of the murder wouldn't change much. Yet, now this necromancer, a man who goes against the Order of Light, was going to perform a ritual right at the exact spot she was meant to maintain.

Duma was a woman of the cloth, but that didn't mean she was cold to anyone outside her belief. Like Micheal, she wanted people to convert, but where Micheal would try to convince even the most brutal of enemies that there was a place for them, Duma wouldn't want to come near them. 'At least he didn't ask us to get outside the sphere.', she had created the bubble with an added bonus. The sphere would make the people inside always feel warm without adding extra fire magicules. She was very proud of her creation, among the priests in the expedition, only she and perhaps Micheal could create it.

'But comparing myself to Micheal would only lead to jealousy, I should focus on improving myself...huh? Is my spell malfunctioning?', it started out as a mere thought, but the warmth the bubble was supposed to provide was rapidly disappearing. The chanting of the necromancer behind them felt wrong, even if they couldn't understand the words. The feelings they gave would make any mage get cold feet. Figuratively and literally, the air and atmosphere got colder.

Duma looked at Leo, but he simply shook his head. The amount of magicules that were being introduced to the murder scene would ruin any further investigation. 'I guess we'll have to get lucky with the victim's soul, or we're stuck. The teacher's council told us that we have free rein, but nobody has any useful information. Only Micheal was able to figure out that the victim was a girl that wasn't the most popular, and she was a bit asocial.', her spirits were down, 'Oh Goddess, please show us the way!'

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Vires, one of the prime suspects of the murder, was actually giving class at the moment Gilbert was busy with his ritual. He was adored by his students and the school, he was their poster child so to speak. The students were still very pleased with his easy-to-understand lessons and fun humor on the side, yet the more perceptive of the students noticed something was off.

The lesson was concluded shortly after some time, giving Vires some free time. He still had loads of work to do, but decided to take it easy for now. The students left in a decent pace, but some were sticking around.

"What's wrong? I told you during the lessons, but I won't be taking any question for now. You can deposit them in the box if you're afraid of forgetting them. I'll look them over when I have a bit more time.", to any outside observer, he was doing fine. His smile and posture were both subjects of jealousy.

"We don't have any questions, Sir Vires, but we can tell that there's something wrong. You asked for a student to wipe the board, you had to consult your textbook multiple times, and there were other signs. You normally don't have these issues."

Vires wasn't sure he should be afraid of his student's remarkable perceptiveness or proud of their caring nature. The few left behind were his best students, if he had to ask someone for help, it would always be these very ones.

"Heh, well, I don't think I should involve any of you in my personal troubles, though I do appreciate it. Let's leave the grown-up problems to the grown up, shall we?"

"Oh please, that's sophistry, and you know it, we're all already legal adults according to the country's laws. Besides, even if we weren't "grown-up", we have already decided among ourselves that we would help you out."

Vires didn't know what to think. For once, he was debating whether to trust his students or not. His face mimicked his turbulent feelings and the students caught that.

"Sir Vires, we aren't forced to help you, but we feel obligated due to our own feelings. You have helped every single one of us out of the dumps and brought us to the limelight. You might not know, but we have secretly been meeting up and figuring out strategies to win the school competition to show that you are the only teacher in this school worthy of praise. We are prepared to even sign a soul-contract if that would make you feel more at ease."

"No, no, no, a soul contract has terrible repercussions when one breaks it, haven't I taught you that? I will never bind you to a soul contract, even if that's what you want!"

"Isn't this more proof of what we are willing to do? Please, just this once, let us be the one to help you!"

"..."

Vires was in a furious debate, he didn't want to shackle the students down with such an evil contract, but doing nothing to secure his safety would also be disastrous. He looked up, the faces of the students were determined, making him think back to the time when he was as adventurous as they were. A sad smile appeared on Vires' face, 'I can't win against these kids.'

"Fine, I'll tell you, but please, do not tell anyone what I'm about to say."

"You can trust in us, sir!", the leader of the students, Eliot was certain that he could help his teacher out. He was the strongest one of the class and perhaps even the entire school, his flaming red hair and toned body made him feared and respected by many. He came from a poor family of lowly nobles that were about to lose their status, but thanks to Vires' help, Eliot could become one of the more prominent characters of the school.

His family gained notoriety again, and it was all thanks to his beloved teacher. Now that very teacher looked as if he was about to break down. He steeled his heart for what was to come.

"As you know, there was a murder not too long ago," to which the students nodded, "and I'm one of the prime suspects."

"What? How could that be true!?", the students were flabbergasted, there was no way Vires could've ever done such a thing. He was known as the caretaker, not the murderer.

"Are you sure there's not someone framing you?! Every teacher is probably jealous of you, it wouldn't be strange if one of those sleaze bags wanted to get rid of you!", Eliot was passioned about saving his savior, but reality proved to be a bitter mistress.

"Ha..", a small laugh escaped Vires' mouth, "if only it was so simple. Even I have to say that all signs point to me."

"I don't understand, aren't the investigators priests of the Order of Light? Aren't they meant to stand on the side of justice?", even though Eliot was taking the lead, his sentiment was shared among his fellow supporters.

"It's not that the priests are untrustworthy... Look, someone asked me to hand a letter to a girl, not long after she died."

"Shouldn't we then hunt for the person who gave the letter in the first place?", Eliot was sure that there was a solution to this whole debacle.

"Did you think I wouldn't have thought of that? I immediately asked the teachers' council to take action, but the student who asked me got asked by another student, and so on. The lead ends at a homeless man who said he got paid to give the other instructions. But by who remains a mystery."

"Couldn't you just force the answers out of him instead of simply asking?", some students turned their heads at that retort, not completely satisfied with the way Eliot was thinking.

"I wish, we tried to show the man our power and strength to convince him without actually harming him, but the man was so scared of the true perpetrator that even when we threatened him, he still didn't dare mention anything. He just had this look in his eyes that it was better to lose an arm to us than his life."

"Dammit, can't we just hold that homeless man accountable?"

"Eliot!"

"What?! It's better than to have sir Vires take falsely accused and prosecuted!", some students disagreed with his method, even if that seemed to be the only available option.

"Wait, what did that letter say?", one of the students noticed that the problem could be solved if the contents of the letter revealed the origin of the murderer.

"And that's where I made a mistake.", Vires had kept quiet for some time, due to the student's internal discussion. His eyes looked downward, his head held low. "When I heard the screams of the girl, I rushed to the location, but when I arrived all what was left was a steaming corpse and a single letter."

Eliot and his fellow students were listening attentively. Vires always had a way with words, his charisma was overflowing. Eliot was the one paying the closest attention, he really wanted his teacher to escape the clutches of this mysterious mastermind. 'So when he arrived, he was so distraught by what he saw, the murderer could escape? No, even then he could've easily captured him, no? Or was he so touched?'

"You see, the letter that was on the ground was intentionally placed there."

"To make sure it would be found by someone, right? What did the letter say?", Eliot wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"It was a love letter, from me to her", the revelation made the students upset at first, but angry after realizing what was happening. Eliot was furious, but his anger was being held back, Vires wasn't done with his story after all.

"When I realized that someone was clearly trying to frame me, I burned the letter out of fear of what would happen if someone found it. When the priests investigated me, they saw through my lies and knew I had tampered with some kind of evidence."

'He's terrible at lying after all, sir Vires was always someone who was pure at hart, always looking out for the student's benefit. If only he could be a bit more like the other teachers who lie through their teeth, although I guess that's what makes Vires who he truly is.'

"Don't worry, sir Vires, I'll make sure that the true criminal will be taken in. Your secret lies safe with us!", the surrounding students were all supportive. Some didn't like putting others at risk to save Vires, but they also understood that if they had to prosecute a homeless man or Vires, the choice was made quickly.