'Why did you let that one handle the interrogation?'

Lee Han, who had been resting from exhaustion, glared at the knights and shouted with his eyes.

If they knew Professor Voladi was right beside them, they should naturally have known to be discreet. Instead, they had made the evil-god worshiper Juzen’s former background and every grudge he held spill out.

Of course, the knights had not expected Ibinta to be so good at extracting information either.

At most, they had thought Ibinta might uncover the location of a temporary evil-god worshiper hideout...

-W-We did not know the interrogation would go that well either!

'And you call that an excuse?'

Professor Garcia and Professor Kirmin cursed inwardly.

Were these really the same veterans who constantly boasted that they had fought for hundreds of years?

Just let them try boasting again!

“D-Did I say something wrong?”

“Continue.”

It was Professor Voladi who reassured the frightened Ibinta.

-Stop, you idiot!

“If you do not shut your mouths, I will report you to the Principal for treason!”

“N-No...”

When the Death Knights and Lee Han threatened Ibinta so viciously, tears welled in Ibinta’s eyes despite the mismatch with that fierce-looking face.

Ibinta was genuinely terrified.

Even apart from being the Skull Principal’s servants, these knights were monsters one had to be prepared to die against when encountering them in a dungeon.

Each Death Knight was an elite undead monster that boasted terrifying destructive power.

Moreover, the mage beside them was a mage of House Wardanaz.

...That fact alone made Lee Han even more frightening than the knights in Ibinta’s eyes.

Ibinta’s fear spread to the former companion as well. The mercenary who had once been Shoemaker of asked in confusion.

“Hey, what is going on? You said I would be spared if I tal—”

Shk-

As the mercenary spoke, something suddenly protruded from the middle of the chest.

Astonishingly, it was a blade.

“?!?!!”

Despite the blade passing straight through the body, there was neither pain nor blood. The mercenary had not even noticed it happening. The horrifying sight nearly made the mercenary scream.

“Do not move.”

Professor Voladi offered a considerate warning.

The dimensional blade currently piercing the mercenary’s body had been precisely fixed so that it caused no damage, but the instant the target struggled, the entire body would be torn apart.

“Continue.”

“Continue... continue... continue what?”

“What you were saying.”

The mercenary blinked.

The Death Knights beside them had issued a firm warning not to say another word, but the mercenary could not possibly obey.

Refusing might mean being killed by these undead knights later, but obeying them meant the mage who had just embedded a blade through the mercenary’s body might churn up every organ right now.

“I-I do not know much about Juzen either. What I said earlier is almost everything. And...”

“Be precise. Tell me everything without leaving out a single detail.”

Professor Voladi spoke with a faint trace of irritation.

It was only mild annoyance, yet even that was enough for Professor Voladi to dominate the entire atmosphere. Even the knights did not dare intervene and merely watched cautiously.

The mercenary revealed everything one detail at a time: what had been witnessed earlier, how Juzen and the other vampires from the western nobility held deep grudges against House Bagreg, and how the order’s current situation was so urgent that they likely would not dare act on those grudges.

“But Juzen changed that decision, did he not?”

Professor Voladi pointed out Juzen’s actions.

Evil-god worshipers were fundamentally masses of irrationality, making them difficult to predict through ordinary logic.

They could devote everything to restoring their order, only to disobey orders and act however they pleased because of some minor emotional shift.

The mercenary had no particular response and merely nodded.

“That... is true.”

“There are more survivors than expected. That may be why.”

With that mutter, Professor Voladi withdrew the blade. Professor Garcia and the knights sighed in relief at the sight.

Lee Han, however, immediately shouted.

“...Everyone, restrain Professor Bagreg!!”

“?!?”

For a moment, Professor Garcia could not understand what Lee Han meant.

Had this ambitious student finally decided to seize a professorship before taking the Principal’s position?

But there were already plenty of open professorial positions even without doing that...

-Ah!

The knights nevertheless reacted faster than Professor Garcia. They understood what Lee Han was worried about.

Clatter!

Chains of yin formed in midair and shot toward Professor Voladi. But Professor Voladi was no longer there.

A relatively weak spatial spell had slowed the chains for only an instant, but that instant had been enough to escape.

-Damn battle mages!

The Death Knights ground their teeth.

An experienced battle mage was more troublesome to face than a mage of greater attainment. Such people knew precisely how to use every low-circle spell.

“Professor! Let us talk for just a moment!! It will only take a moment!”

Lee Han called out while charging telekinetic force to maximum output in one hand. The hamster was dumbfounded by the shameless sight.

'Is that bastard really a disciple?'

“We can talk later. Spend the remaining time on self-study.”

At the voice from behind, Lee Han immediately spun around and tried to immobilize the speaker with telekinetic force.

“Do not be fooled, Wardanaz!”

Professor Kirmin screamed.

That was a trick Professor Kirmin frequently used.

As expected of an irritating friend, Professor Voladi had learned such things perfectly and was now putting them to use.

When Lee Han turned, Professor Voladi’s form behind him melted away.

A simple illusionary clone combined with the emission of mana and sound had effortlessly deceived Lee Han’s senses. Lee Han felt ashamed.

'I fell for a trick like that!'

“Professor Garcia, open your spirit sight! Voladi will escape through a dimension!”

Professor Kirmin shouted and completed the labyrinth of deception spanning several dimensions that had been prepared from the beginning. For now, the important thing was to obstruct the friend’s escape by any means possible.

Professor Garcia, who had been twisting points throughout reality to prevent teleportation magic, hurriedly opened spirit sight. The opponent was so resourceful that they had to prepare for several different methods at once.

Lee Han focused on spirit sight as well.

At that moment, a familiar angelic voice rang out loudly.

-What is this... Stop!

'Apazragon!'

The angel’s voice made Lee Han’s heart drop.

There was no reason for the thoroughly methodical Professor Voladi to suddenly attack the angel now.

What could the purpose possibly be?

“Voladi seized the angel’s dimension!!”

-To think a mortal would steal the Dimension of Divine Radiance and Total Extinction...!

Through Professor Kirmin’s shout and the angel’s cry, Lee Han immediately grasped the situation.

The Dimension of Divine Radiance and Total Extinction was the celestial dimension Apazragon secretly used to follow Lee Han.

That shadow-like dimension, where reality transformed into a hazy concept, was ideal not only for covert observation but also for escape.

From the moment the angel had revealed the dimension and boasted about it, Professor Voladi had already been calculating how to use it.

“Apazragon! Chase!”

-That mortal seized the Dimension of Divine Radiance and Total Extinction...

Apazragon tried to whine, but Lee Han had no time to listen.

However exceptional Professor Garcia and Professor Kirmin might be, even they could not block an entirely unexpected method like this.

“If you lose Professor Bagreg, I will summon every dimensional being I know and have you exiled to the farthest, most remote place imaginable! Chase, you bastard! Catch Professor Bagreg no matter what! You brought that dimension here, so you deal with it!”

Apazragon, a celestial who had spent an entire lifetime quietly focused only on the self within the dimension of the celestial race, learned the meaning of “unreasonableness” for the first time.

Apazragon attempted to enter the stolen dimension again.

However, just as the intruder found it difficult to interfere with Apazragon, Apazragon also found it difficult to interfere with the intruder.

Professor Voladi had already extended so far into the distance that even the information trail was difficult to grasp.

At this rate, by the time Professor Voladi returned to the material world, the distance would easily be more than ten kilometers.

“Professor!! The truth is, I entered that dimension because I intended to challenge the King of the Flame Giants, not because I was chasing Juzen!! Please come back first!!”

Even knowing it was already over, Lee Han shouted loudly.

Naturally, there was no possibility that the vanished Professor Voladi would hear him.

And honestly, it was not a particularly convincing claim either.

Even if Professor Voladi had heard it, Lee Han doubted it would have been believed.

“Damn it...!”

Lee Han found it difficult to accept that all of this had happened in such a brief instant.

To think a momentary lapse in attention had caused everything to unfold like this.

He felt like striking every one of those evil-god worshipers, followed by the angel, at least once each.

“Calm down, Student Lee Han.”

Professor Garcia comforted Lee Han with concern. Professor Kirmin joined in as well.

“This is not your fault, Wardanaz. Professor Bagreg is the one who acted independently.”

“How did you know Professor Bagreg was going to escape?”

“Professor Bagreg said there were more survivors than expected.”

“???”

Professor Garcia did not understand.

Professor Kirmin, however, let out an exclamation.

“I see! That was it!”

“...Could someone explain it to me as well?”

“Ah. My apologies, Professor Garcia.”

Professor Kirmin turned toward the confused colleague.

Not everyone at Einroguard was an expert in Bagreg studies.

Wardanaz or Professor Kirmin might understand, but Professor Garcia still lacked experience.

“In other words... among those evil-god worshipers, there are more survivors who personally hold grudges against Professor Voladi than expected.”

“That is true...?”

Professor Garcia still did not understand. Professor Kirmin kindly broke it down into a diagram.

“I am Professor Bagreg’s disciple. If Professor Bagreg travels separately, they will focus their attention on Professor Bagreg. They would hardly have enough attention left for a mere disciple like me.”

'That deserves full marks in Bagreg studies.'

Professor Kirmin thought inwardly.

Unlike Professor Kirmin, whose senses had grown dull—and [N O V E L I G H T] who had therefore reacted too slowly to Professor Voladi’s earlier words—this disciple had maintained keen instincts through recent and brutal study.

In Professor Kirmin’s prime, even a single clearing of the throat had been enough to read every emotion the friend possessed...

“Ah. Is that why you brought up the King of the Flame Giants?”

“Exactly.”

Professor Kirmin answered for Lee Han with regret.

Professor Voladi had probably realized, the instant the story was heard about the disciple pursuing an enemy beyond the dimension, that the disciple had acted to eliminate the remaining grudges against House Bagreg.

Perhaps that had been the final push.

Once Professor Voladi knew, that personality would never remain still.

“Thinking about it now, we should have restrained Professor Bagreg immediately back then...”

“......”

Professor Garcia looked utterly sick of them.

'Can these people not simply sit down and talk calmly?'

Professor Bagreg, the disciple, and the friend all read dozens of conclusions from a single clue and acted before anyone could say anything.

It was exhausting.

Could they not simply sit down and resolve things through a calm conversation?!

However, Professor Garcia could not bring the complaint to voice.

The two people who had lost a friend and a teacher looked profoundly dejected.

“...Please cheer up, both of you. Professor Bagreg will not do anything too reckless.”

“You think so?”

“Of course, Student Lee Han.”

“What about asking His Highness Uman to place a bounty on Professor Bagreg...”

“...That does not seem like a particularly good idea.”