Chapter 92: Shameless Professor
Professor Hein’s thoughts were still untangling themselves when Nolan’s voice slid in beside him like a whisper with weight.
"Did you know they were a scam too?"
The words struck clean through the fog of his reflection. Hein blinked, his shoulders twitching slightly from the jolt. He turned, caught in a moment of vulnerability, then slowly composed himself, hands adjusting the hem of his sleeves like it could smooth out the disarray inside his mind.
"Yes," Hein finally replied, steady but a shade quieter than usual. "Yes, I knew."
Nolan tilted his head, brow rising in quiet amusement, but he said nothing, inviting explanation with a gaze as calm as a still lake.
So Hein sighed—a long, reluctant breath—and began to speak.
"It started four weeks ago. One of the interns in the Artifact Registration Office came across a relic that, by all initial scans, registered as Class Three. However, it lacked any resonance signature.
"That’s impossible. Class Three artifacts always echo—unless they’re illusions. So we dug deeper. Then came more reports. Petty ones, scattered, dismissed by city enforcers. A girl bought a familiar egg that melted into slime two days later.
"A merchant acquired a ’fire blade’ that turned out to be tempered copper under a heat enchantment. Isolated incidents... until the same names kept popping up. Ravas. Eastbank Consortium."
Hein’s voice darkened.
"Principal Duldor suspected something larger. But the scam was clever—they moved locations, changed names, wore mana-concealing talismans. I was asked to investigate... because, well, no one expects someone like me. I rarely leave my quarters. I don’t teach classes anymore. People forget my face, even if they remember the title. I’m the perfect invisible man."