Mistaken for a Masked Munchkin

Javert's Iron and Justice (6)

Elsewhere, a restless mood hung over the faculty.

Purgatory.

After Floor 70, even Floor 80 had been cleared without authorization.

It had not been made public, but it was enough to make every professor furrow their brow.

"How in the world did this happen...?"

A faculty meeting.

Everyone gathered there was unable to hide their shock.

While they had slept through the night, Purgatory's security had been breached, and Floor 80 had been cleared.

The faculty could only stare at it with question marks over their heads.

"...Is this even possible? Floor 80 was cleared in a single night?"

"If it's Floor 80, isn't that a floor where a [Master] exists?"

"It should have been at least as strong as the Undead Dragon on Floor 70..."

"Come to think of it, it was the same back then. On Floor 70, the dragon was dead too, split in half."

The professors had no choice but to take this seriously.

Someone had done this.

The [special floors], the depths of Purgatory itself, had been cleared one after another.

The biggest problem was that they could not even begin to guess how.

"How was security that tight breached? After the last incident, we tripled the personnel assigned to Purgatory."

"According to the testimony of the squad members on guard at the time, they did not see so much as an ant overnight."

"Does that make sense? Floor 80 was clearly cleared..."

"We checked the security Crystal Orbs as well, but nothing was recorded there either."

"There must be a side path we don't know about! Nothing else explains this!"

"That is a reasonable enough theory. We must dispatch a search team at once and comb through every floor of Purgatory...!"

Opinions flew busily back and forth.

Meanwhile, one faculty member serving as the clerk organized the situation.

"There is a faculty member who encountered the culprit in the unauthorized Purgatory clear that occurred overnight."

Chief Investigator Javert.

Several faculty members' gazes briefly came to rest on her red hair.

The woman looked back with lifeless eyes, expressionless as always.

"According to Chief Investigator Javert's testimony, this incident was the work of a lone culprit. The culprit was wearing a robe that concealed their face, build, voice, and other identifying features, and also admitted to being the same person responsible for the Purgatory Floor 70 Unauthorized Clear Incident."

Based on Javert's testimony, the clerk explained the situation to the faculty in detail once more.

Of course, the words the culprit had thrown at Javert were not included.

She had not submitted a separate report on that.

Throughout the meeting, Javert only remained silent.

"......"

A blurred mind.

The woman found it difficult to focus on what was happening before her.

Through her dazed consciousness, several sentences repeated until she felt dizzy.

- "Why do you want to check?"

- "Is there perhaps someone inside this robe who must not be there?"

A suspicious figure covered in a robe.

And,

- "Precious things, beloved things, things you want to protect... If principles tell you to oppose them, must principles still be carried out even in such moments? If so, what are principles for, and what is carrying them out for?"

The boy who had looked up at her, full of concern.

Black eyes like the night sky.

Beyond them, herself reflected in pitch-black drops.

Javert squeezed her eyes shut, but the whisper only grew clearer.

- "If one becomes bound by principles and ends up opposing the things they love... I can't help but think that is ironic."

Ironic.

Why did that worthless word keep rolling around in her mouth?

Javert stayed quiet, without even trying to search for the reason.

She tried to strip away as much of that anguish as possible.

- "Investigator."

If she learned the answer, it felt like something would happen.

The principle she had believed so righteous would shatter into pieces.

It felt as though heaven and earth were shaking.

"......"

A sinking silence.

Even then, the meeting continued.

After the clerk's briefing ended, the headmaster was the next to speak.

"I understand that this is a rather confusing situation. However, the role we faculty members must take on has not changed."

Valter Droit.

The woman's adoptive father.

The gray-haired old man spoke.

His gaze seemed to pass over his daughter, if only for a moment.

"We will strengthen Purgatory's security. And the guidelines regarding the culprit remain the same."

An old voice.

"Kill on sight remains the principle."

The dry order rang in her ears.

Javert quietly listened to the meeting as if letting it flow past her.

***

That day.

After the day we had that clash, Javert seemed to start avoiding me in a strange way.

'She doesn't call me for work, and when I visit her lab, she's absent...'

She even stopped coming to class.

During Javert's lecture hours, only substitute professors showed up.

I didn't know whether she was consciously avoiding me or doing it unconsciously...

'It's a good sign.'

It meant she was shaken.

I kept looking for Javert.

To be precise, I asked the faculty around me for news about her.

That way, word that I was looking for her would reach her through their mouths.

'I can't give her time to forget.'

I had to make her keep thinking of me.

The advice I had thrown at her, and the provocation I had left on Purgatory Floor 80.

I would not give her time to rest.

I would make her agonize without end.

And just like that, four days passed before I knew it.

"Well... in the end, I didn't even run into her once for four whole days."

Javert had truly hidden herself like a ghost.

I waved the white flag of surrender.

A few students nearby had also started asking questions.

After all, it had already been several days since Javert had stopped coming to her own classes.

- "Sir Viktor! Do you perhaps know where the Chief Investigator is?"

- "It is nothing serious, I was simply wondering if something had happened to her!"

- "Someone as diligent as her would never cancel class for no reason."

- "Sir Viktor, you are her Direct Aide, and you see her often, so I thought you might know!"

Ranne asked with a bright face.

- "Hmm... Uh, w-why could it be? Javert is skipping class."

- "She doesn't even take days off, and she always works..."

- "For her to suddenly do that, I-I'm a little worried."

Alice showed concern.

- "What...? You don't know what happened either?"

- "You're the one who's at least kind of close to that investigator, aren't you?"

Caitlin tilted her head.

Seeing so many people search for her showed how much trust she usually had.

The woman was someone who always did right by her students.

Separate from how frightening and cold she was, many students recognized that attitude.

'Even in the original story, the procession mourning her was especially long...'

That meant she had been that respected as an educator.

Even if she herself did not know it, Javert was someone who treated precious things as precious.

Right now, she was hidden behind the shell of a principled person, but I was sure a warm nature had melted inside her.

'Poor woman.'

The woman's heart was coated in steel like a shell.

So the color of her heart could not be seen.

The woman seemed to believe her own heart was silver, but I believed she, like everyone else, was also red.

"......Still, today is the climax."

I quietly breathed out.

My even breath scattered along the lonely corridor.

The corridor around Purgatory Floor 80 was especially cold.

White breath bloomed in little clouds.

[The air is cold.]

"It is."

The silver bat wriggled on my shoulder.

I answered in a soft voice.

My bare face was not even covered by a mask.

My calm steps were heading into the heart of Purgatory.

As I tasted the chill in my breath, Her Highness asked in a worried tone.

[You did not bring Lua today either.]

"I feel bad."

[Fortunately, she seemed to be sleeping deeply.]

"That's a relief. If she'd said she wanted to come along, I honestly would have been in trouble..."

Because I wasn't confident I could keep from making her cry. Not today.

I smiled with a bitter taste in my mouth.

Her Highness only nodded.

Srrrng-.

My fingertips toyed with a dagger.

It was the weapon I had used to clash with Javert a few days ago.

[Are you not going to wear the robe? Last time, you seemed to wear a robe that hid your identity...]

"It's fine. Today is a day when I don't need something like that."

[Why?]

"Hmm, well..."

Before I knew it, my feet had reached the entrance to Floor 81.

I stopped in front of the heavy door.

My breath cooled in the cold air, and only a short murmur engraved itself like the main point.

"Because it's the day I bring one grand finale to a close."

Click, click-.

Even though my own steps had stopped, the sound of heels did not stop in my ears.

I did not look back.

I only slowly brushed my hand over the door to Floor 81.

Soon after, the approaching footsteps stopped a short distance away.

"Ahem."

Only then did I turn my head.

Standing across from me was a woman in a crisp uniform.

"......"

"......"

We were silent for a moment.

Neatly tied red hair.

Eyes like summer greenery.

The woman stood there, her pupils wavering.

"......Student Viktor."

Her lips parted belatedly and pronounced my name.

As if answering that call, I returned a warm greeting.

"Chief Investigator."

Javert had been carrying out a covert mission in Purgatory.

That was why her lectures had been sparse over the last few days.

And I had appeared despite knowing that.

Even knowing she was following behind me, I walked all the way to the end of the corridor.

"Right now, this is..."

"It's a good night."

A sudden remark.

I neither explained nor denied this situation.

"Student Viktor."

"No."

"......"

"Shouldn't you call me something else now?"

The Purgatory Floor 70 Unauthorized Clear Incident.

The Purgatory Floor 80 Unauthorized Clear Incident.

The culprit behind both incidents.

At the same time, a condemned man under a death-on-sight order within the academy.

"Congratulations."

"......"

"You finally uncovered the culprit's identity."

"......"

A corridor where white breath bloomed.

Javert and I stood at the center of that gloomy space.

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