Oknodie has an eye for recognizing the value of people.
And she has her own criteria.
Existing reputation, academic divisions.
Public perception, societal standards.
Oknodie does not trust the judgments of others.
She evaluates people solely based on her own standards.
Those close to her, regardless of upper or lower class, are all talented individuals.
At the same time, it’s hard to assert that those qualities are separate from their sinister reputations.
Even if one is a butler of the foundation, they must have surpassed her unique criteria to be by her side.
‘There was also an incident where the Pierrot Masked Group, a subsidiary organization of the foundation, was smashed by Oknodie and Professor Destroyer during an outing for the Arcadia Princess.’
Oknodie prioritizes the value of the individual over affiliation.
After witnessing her benevolence, Jezel began to harbor some doubts.
Is it possible that Jonnas Wahyhiemhai is not as malicious as Oknodie’s sensors might suggest?
Just as people like Ishtar emerged as righteous warriors, not everyone within evil organizations might be evil.
‘Yes, there’s a slim possibility.’
Let’s find out more about Jonnas Wahyhiemhai.
Of course, the subject is a professor.
The information available through official channels is limited.
How natural it is to operate through the shadows.
Activating the real information network of the dark trading company outside the academy.
━━━
【Official Identity Verification Request Result】
[Source] International Registry of Magical Individuals
[Target] Jonnas Wahyhiemhai (Male, 32 years old)
[Address] Duchy of Deutsche – Goathel – Munich Fortress North Gate 22 (found to be false)
[Past History]
Ages 0-6: Originates from Munich Freepass Orphanage
Ages 7-13: Active member of the Munich Adventurer’s Guild
Age 14: Developed the world’s first warfare magic [Pinball] at the 5th stage of metal manipulation
Age 15: Officially registered at the Yellow Magic Tower
Age 16: Officially eliminated [Elder Golem] as a target of the gold medal-grade
Age 17: Special appointment at the Wahyhiemhai Foundation
※ All seven items above were determined to be false upon investigation.
━━━
I’m not disappointed by a lack of initial progress. Instead, if his identity had been revealed this easily, I would have regretted the foundation’s infamous reputation.
━━━
【Dark Trading Company Official Report】
[Source] Information Department of the Dark Trading Company
[Target] Jonnas Wahyhiemhai
[Affiliation] Wahyhiemhai Foundation
[Past History]
Ages 0-15: Record expunged
Ages 16-20: Confirmed enrollment at Gift Academy
Ages 21-23: Unknown
Age 24: Presumed affiliated with the foundation. During this time, previous identity was laundered.
Age 25: Involved in the Talande Kingdom transport train fire disaster.
Age 26: Involved in the Piherman naval ship sinking incident.
Age 27: Involved in the mana stone mine collapse disaster.
Age 28: Involved in the malfunction catastrophe of magical weaponry during the Troy War.
Age 29: Demoted to butler for missing the youngest executive promotion course due to an unexplainable disciplinary incident.
Ages 30-32: Presumed to have trained the foundation’s elite scholarship student ‘Agassi’ three times.
January 33: Trained the foundation’s masterpiece, Chief Scholarship Student Oknodie.
September 33: Appointed as a professor at the Gift Academy.
[Count of Casualties]
Estimated number of casualties linked directly or indirectly to Jonnas Wahyhiemhai: 3,825
Estimated economic damage to various nations caused by Jonnas Wahyhiemhai: 7.5825 billion gold coins
━━━
However, I wasn’t expecting such tremendous investigative results either.
7.5825 billion gold coins.
Even Jezel, who handles substantial sums, was overwhelmed by that staggering estimated damage.
‘If converted to points, that’s 758.25 billion points. Is it truly possible for a single person to cause such an amount of destruction…?’
Even a suicide bombing by a madman would hardly inflict such damage.
Even if one were to explode alongside enough explosives to destroy a building, considerable defensive magic circles are usually installed at significant facilities.
Calculating the most valuable buildings that could be destroyed with explosives, they hardly amount to the value of 100 gold coins.
Comparing him to simple suicide bombers, the danger posed by Jonnas Wahyhiemhai is equivalent to about 75 billion suicide bombers.
‘I remember now. The magical weapon mishap during the Troy War. That incident surely…’
A rebellion arose in the Kingdom of Troy, accused of being a hub for biological experimentation, claiming to right the wrongs.
Countries quietly supported the rebels with mana stones necessary for the activation of magical weaponry through various channels.
The dark trading company was involved in many of those illegal transport routes, and I still remember it.
‘The post-incident investigation revealed that concealed mana stones hidden among the mana stones caused the weaponry to malfunction. Ultimately, the rebel leadership was annihilated in a single night. The individual involved with those mana stones was none other than Jonnas Wahyhiemhai…’
Though Jezel might not know all the details, she figured the flow of things in other incidents would have been similar.
This man is dangerous.
Such large-scale incidents don’t just happen by coincidence without clear backgrounds.
All of these calamities were artificially instigated by the Wahyhiemhai Foundation.
Can we truly expect “Agassi” cultivated by such a person to grow up as a proper human being?
‘I’ve become even more convinced. Your Mana Refinement Technique. No matter how valuable it may be, it can cause severe abnormalities in a student’s body at any moment.’
Jezel made her decision.
She would submit this report to the academy.
There are plenty of ways to use it if she retains it.
But it’s dangerous.
Jonnas Wahyhiemhai is not someone you can easily manipulate.
Connections to the incidents remain mere suspicions; the actual criminality is still ambiguous.
Simply possessing the ability of [Metal Manipulation] can lead to the creation of all these incidents, and the presence of circumstantial evidence merely suggests his involvement in all situations.
That alone provides ample reason to expel Jonnas Wahyhiemhai from the academy to protect the elite talents of various nations.
At least, that’s what Jezel believed.
However, the academy showed no response to anonymous tip-offs.
‘Why? Is the academy indifferent to the fact that a terrorist remains a professor? Wouldn’t his causing a disaster ruin their reputation?’
She wanted to question it.
Yet, the moment she protested, her identity as the informant would be revealed.
Thus, she chose to use a third party.
One of those numerous first-years from the dark trading company.
That was the beginning of a new incident.
“Has anyone seen Dobi?”
“Where did he go?”
“No idea. He wasn’t even around during lecture time.”
“The guys living in the common dorm should know.”
“He didn’t come back for dinner, right?”
Following the anonymous tip-off, Jezel planned to protest through an agent.
The agent he sent disappeared overnight from Gift Academy.
*
“Does anyone have eyes on Dobi-kun?”
Neither the employees of the dark trading company nor Dobi’s friends had a single person say they saw him.
‘Could that guy Jonnas have done something?’
The possibilities were overwhelming.
That man has seen his face already.
Even if he tries his best to control his murderous intent, there would have been plenty of opportunities for him to glimpse it.
It wouldn’t be surprising if he placed a spy on her.
When the subject being monitored dares to leak information to the principal, he could silently appear and kidnap the student.
What might happen to a student kidnapped to keep them quiet? The only thing that came to her mind was a grim imagination.
‘External personnel won’t be of any help in investigating what’s happening internally.’
A list of numerous students full of names and personal details.
Looking over [Dobi]‘s information pulled from the file, she spotted minor grievances linked to him.
Of course, investigations regarding simple grievances would be sufficient through the general information department operating on campus.
What she truly wanted to know was not just simple grievances but if it involved offenses committed by Jonnas Wahyhiemhai.
What she needed was finding evidence to bolster her suspicions into certainty.
But who could manage that?
Estimated casualty count: 3825.
Estimated economic damage: 7.5825 billion gold coins.
Digging into the secrets of this dangerous individual, who carried a bounty of 758.25 million points was far from something a mere second-year could handle…
The opponent was a graduate of the Gift Academy.
Moreover, a former elite executive of the foundation turned notorious terrorist.
If Jonnas truly is the criminal, inadequate skills might just serve to add another victim to the tally.
Jezel pondered.
She needed a competent person.
Someone who could trail, surveil Jonnas, and extract information without getting caught.
Of course, Oknodie was out of the question.
Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to rush over to Jonnas with a simple message.
Trustworthy individuals must also be excluded.
For similar reasons, the possibility of leaking information exists.
Someone tight-lipped.
A reliable person.
Only one figure came to mind.
“Jiang. I need your assistance.”
