The problem was that the card had returned.
Lost cards usually disappeared.
Stolen cards were hidden.
Cards used for duplication were discarded.
And yet my speech restriction card had been tucked into a gap in the bulletin board in the Academy Central Corridor.
As if it wanted us to find it.
As if it wanted us to read it.
And written on it was a sentence that had not been there before.
"Those who can speak must learn silence."
"The Records Office is no exception."
Was this a threat?
Mockery?
Or was it truly an answer?
I stared at the card without saying anything for a moment.
There were times when words were necessary.
But there were also times when not speaking was more necessary.
Especially right after someone had written, "Those who can speak must learn silence."
Eveline spoke first.
"We need to catch whoever wrote this."
Clarisse immediately said,
"I agree. However, we will follow procedure."
"I know. I’m not saying we should beat them up."
"I will record that."
"Why are you recording that?"
"It is an important change."
Eveline closed her mouth.
At this point, even she must have realized it.
Clarisse recorded praise, too.
Martin Gray was writing down the exchange we had just had with trembling hands.
His temporary record was steadier than expected.
His handwriting was small but consistent, and whenever an unfamiliar term came up, he immediately checked it.
He did not shorten his sentences just because he was wary of noble candidates.
That was the quality of a good record keeper.
And in aristocratic society, it was a dangerous quality.
Liana looked at the card and said,
"This... is not the fifth principle."
Good.
She had identified the most important point first.
"The Records Office is no exception."
That sentence sounded plausible.
It sounded correct.
The Records Office should not be an exception, either.
But the moment we accepted a sentence secretly added to a card as a principle, we would lose ownership of the principles themselves.
Clarisse nodded.
"It is an unofficial sentence. It will not be registered as an official principle."
Seria said,
"But we cannot discard it, either."
"Yes."
Clarisse replied.
"I will classify it as an unofficial contaminated document."
Martin raised his hand.
"Should I write down the phrase ‘unofficial contaminated document’ exactly as is?"
Clarisse said,
"Yes. But add an explanation in parentheses. It is not an official principles document, and it is a document with third-party additions written onto the original card."
Martin nodded and wrote it down.
Adela Carmion was studying the card.
She did not touch it herself.
Keeping her distance from the card, she read it with only her eyes.
"The handwriting is different."
Clarisse asked,
"From the coercive document?"
"Yes. The coercive document imitated the style of an official demand letter, but the writer’s hand was rushed. This card was written slowly. The strokes are thin, and the endings are barely left behind. It is close to a fine correction hand."
"A fine correction hand?"
Eveline asked.
Adela explained,
"It is handwriting used to make corrections over a student’s answer sheet. It is written small and thin so as not to obscure the main text. Some learn it in the social preparatory class as well, but it is used more often in administrative offices and by teaching assistants."
Teaching assistants.
Administrative offices.
When those words came up, Kaiden’s eyes shifted slightly.
Arsene was listening too.
Seria looked at the card and said,
"The sentence itself is strange as well."
Clarisse asked,
"Which part?"
"‘Those who can speak must learn silence.’ Its structure is like an aphorism. If it were a rumor or a threat, it would be more direct. Something like, ‘Shut your mouth,’ or ‘Do not keep records.’ But this is trying to look like a lesson."
Adela nodded.
"And threats that disguise themselves as lessons are usually favored by people in positions of instruction."
At those words, a cold feeling sank into my stomach.
An answer sheet that had interrupted the lesson.
Someone was watching the principles we had created.
And rewriting them.
"If this is what you learned, then this is what I will ask."
Like that.
Eveline said in a low voice,
"So the culprit is a teacher?"
"We cannot conclude that."
Liana spoke first.
Eveline immediately fell silent.
Liana looked at the card.
"However, it may be someone imitating the language of a teacher, or someone attempting to exploit such a position."
Good.
Do not jump to conclusions.
Narrow down the possibilities.
Clarisse started to write, then stopped.
Then she looked at Martin.
Martin wrote quickly.
"Lady Liana Bell: Possibility of a teaching position or imitation of such language. Not a conclusion."
Liana checked the sentence and nodded.
The distributed record was gradually beginning to work.
It was slow, cumbersome, and inefficient in a way that was thoroughly unaristocratic.
But right now, that slowness was a shield.
Kaiden said,
"Martin Gray."
Martin’s hand stopped.
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Before you first found the card, did you see anyone suspicious near the bulletin board?"
Martin’s face stiffened.
Silence.
Ah.
He had seen something.
Martin did not answer immediately.
He tightened his grip around his pen.
A noble was questioning him.
And a prince, at that.
It was not easy for a scholarship candidate to defer an answer to a question like that.
But Martin slowly said,
"I will organize my answer."
Kaiden’s eyes smiled ever so slightly.
"Permitted."
Martin took a breath.
"I did not see a person. I saw a glove."
The corridor fell quiet.
"It was a black glove. One button near the wrist was missing. It was touching the lower right side of the bulletin board. I did not see the person’s face. At the time... I turned my head because I did not know whether I was allowed to look."
He quickly added,
"I am not concluding who it was."
Good.
Martin had learned as well.
Separate what he had seen from what he did not know.
Without Clarisse saying a word, Martin wrote it down himself.
"Martin Gray: Observed a black glove at the lower right side of the bulletin board. One wrist button missing. Face unconfirmed. No conclusion regarding identity."
Eveline looked at Martin.
"Well done."
Startled, Martin looked at her.
"Pardon?"
"You saw something, but you said you didn’t know who it was. You did well."
Martin became even more flustered.
Whenever Eveline praised someone, it had the effect of making the person being praised even more anxious.
Adela looked at the card and said,
"Black gloves are common. Black gloves with a missing button are less common. But we cannot apprehend someone based on that alone."
Seria added,
"Gloves can be borrowed, discarded, or have their buttons deliberately removed."
"Then it means nothing."
Eveline said.
"It has meaning."
Liana said.
"The location the glove touched—the lower right side of the bulletin board—is the same place where the card was found. The glove does not point to a person. It confirms an action."
Clarisse nodded.
Martin wrote it down.
Now the girls were handling the clues themselves.
Rather than hastily seizing a person, they separated actions, locations, and objects.
That was the shape of a lesson.
The problem was that the other side was participating in that lesson as well.
Arsene said in a low voice,
"Black gloves... The servants of House Berhardt wear black gloves as well."
He had raised a fact that put his own side at a disadvantage.
It might not have seemed like Arsene.
But it was.
He was proactively managing the record.
"We included ourselves among the possibilities, too."
Later, those words would become a shield.
Clarisse said,
"Recording this. House Berhardt servants may wear black gloves. Need to verify whether any have missing buttons."
Arsene nodded.
Kaiden smiled lightly.
"Then the imperial aides should be checked as well. They wear black gloves too."
The corridor froze.
Imperial aides.
He had included even the people around the prince among the possibilities.
That meant the board was getting larger.
Kaiden said casually,
"If we are to be fair, we must include what we dislike as well."
He was right.
Which made it even more unpleasant.
Adela examined the edge of the card and said,
"There is dust on it."
Clarisse asked,
"Dust from the bulletin board?"
"No. It is closer to chalk dust. And it has the faintest blue tint."
Martin asked,
"Is there anywhere that uses blue chalk?"
Adela looked at me.
"Teacher?"
Why was she looking at me?
No, I knew.
It meant I was supposed to know about educational supplies.
I thought for a moment.
"Among the preparatory candidate classrooms, the magic theory room uses blue chalk. It is for marking mana circuits. Ordinary classrooms use white chalk."
Clarisse said,
"We need to check the access records for the magic theory room."
Seria said,
"Teaching assistants, fine correction handwriting, blue chalk. Clues connected to lessons keep repeating."
Liana said quietly,
"Someone is constructing this incident like a lesson."
At those words, everyone fell silent for a moment.
Constructing an incident like a lesson.
Setting a question, leaving behind an answer sheet, and punishing those who got it wrong.
When we created principles, the other side tested those principles.
When we established records, the other side defiled the Records Office’s seal.
When we deferred an answer, the other side wrote that we must learn silence.
This was not simple slander.
Someone was driving people into a corner while borrowing the form of education.
I looked at the system window.
[Incident Structure Updated]
[Simple Slander -> Educational Pressure Incident]
[Clue Axes: Disguised Sleeve / Coercive Document / Forged Ledger / Speech Restriction Card / Blue Chalk]
[Caution]
[The opposing side observes the rules and reacts.]
Observes and reacts.
It was not like they were an AI.
No, I should stop thinking things like that in this world.
I would only drive myself insane for no reason.
Just then, the Records Office assistant came running back.
The assistant had really done a lot of running today.
He stopped before Kaiden and bowed.
"Your Highness. An urgent official notice from the administrative office."
Kaiden accepted the notice.
The seal was from the Academy Preparatory Candidates Office.
He broke the seal and read it.
The corner of his lips lifted slightly.
Not good.
That expression was not good.
"Interesting."
Please say it was uninteresting.
Kaiden handed the notice to Clarisse.
Having become an interested party, Clarisse did not make a judgment.
Instead, Martin read the title.
"Implementation of a Temporary Admission Preliminary Hearing for All Preparatory Candidates."
The corridor stirred.
A preliminary admission hearing.
It was a procedure that had not been on the original schedule.
At least, it had not taken place at this point in the early part of the original story that I knew.
Martin continued reading.
"Reason: Reassessment of candidate qualifications due to recent confusion over principles of dialogue between candidates within the Academy Central Corridor, issues in records management, and the spread of rumors concerning clues involving a disguise in the Cathedral Wing. Time of implementation: Tomorrow, nine in the morning."
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning at nine.
Eveline said in a low voice,
"Are they joking?"
Liana’s face hardened.
Seria closed her eyes.
Adela was examining the format of the official notice.
Clarisse said nothing.
Arsene stared at the notice, lost in thought.
Kaiden was smiling.
I looked at the wording of the notice.
"Confusion over principles of dialogue."
"Issues in records management."
"Clues involving a disguise in the Cathedral Wing."
Everything we had just prevented today had come back as grounds for a hearing.
Someone had been waiting for this flow of events.
No.
They had been creating it.
The system window appeared.
[New Event: Temporary Admission Preliminary Hearing]
[Targets: All Preparatory Candidates]
[Key Danger: Failure by the Four Candidates in Public Questioning Will Accelerate the Ruin Route]
[Preparation Time: Less Than One Day]
Not even a full day.
Four people.
Every one of them was dangerous in a different way.
When Eveline was angry, she became a sword.
When Liana was pressured, she became a sacrifice.
When Seria was cornered, she became venomous words.
Adela cut people apart as though they were clothes.
And I had to get all four of them through the same hearing chamber before nine tomorrow morning.
I had thought the academy came later.
I thought I would tutor them a little longer, cut off the ruin routes one by one, and enter once we were prepared.
I was wrong.
The academy was coming to us.
In the name of a hearing.
Kaiden said,
"Leon Cart."
"Yes."
"We have one night."
More precisely, we did not even have a full night.
He looked at the four young ladies.
"Can you teach them?"
I looked at the four of them.
Eveline wore the face of someone ready to fight.
Liana wore the face of someone not ready to endure.
Seria wore the face of someone preparing to cut herself down.
Adela wore the face of someone who had already begun dissecting the problem.
And I said,
"I have to teach them."
Kaiden smiled.
"Good. Then tonight’s classroom will need a sign over its door."
I did not reply.
The classroom without a sign was over.
Now everyone was watching.
Including whoever had interrupted the lesson.
In that case, tonight we would have to create a classroom that could not be hidden.
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