The Hero is An Academy Librarian

It hadn’t even been two hours since the Student Union dropped the request to remove Hildegard on the headmaster’s table, and Rosa had a feeling that it would be hard for the headmaster to refuse that order since it had been signed by both the Student Union as well as the Parent Teacher Association. But even still, that didn’t mean Mirio had any right to tell Hildegard about it yet! Hildegard was already under a lot of stress from her suspension, so if she learned that she was also about to be held back a year, then it was obvious that she would lash out angrily!

The Hall Monitors began leading Hildegard out of the room, and Rosa quickly called out!

"Wait. Where are you taking her?"

One of the Hall Monitors spoke up with a frown.

"Hildegard’s use of magic goes against the rules imposed on her by the school. This incident will be reported to the headmaster, and appropriate punishment will be dealt out."

The Hall Monitors continued to take Hildegard out, and Rosa quickly started to follow after them. But Hildegard stopped as Clement grabbed her by the hand and spoke to her:

"I don’t know why you’ve decided to defend that girl this much, but you shouldn’t forget that you are an educator to all the students of the academy. Ignoring the safety of everyone else for one student is the height of foolishness."

Rosa frowned and dragged her hand back from Clement’s grip!

"If you are willing to abandon one student, then what’s stopping you from abandoning all the others? Hildegard is my student as well, so I will defend her just like any other student, and I will appreciate it if you stayed out of my way."

Rosa shoved her way past Clement, and Clement’s face squeezed into an angry frown as he watched her leave.

....

[The Headmaster’s Office]

Up at the top of the tallest tower in Verati Academy, Headmaster Leonart was standing with his hands held behind his back while looking out on the massive school below him. There was a solemn expression on his face, and although he was usually a very cheerful and playful person, it felt like all the seriousness of his age was finally being displayed by his heavy scowl! Behind the headmaster, Hildegard stood with her hands bound with anti-magic chains, with a guard standing on either side of her.

Headmaster Leonart had just been briefed on the incident that happened recently in the student council room, and the headmaster was furious! Although what Hildegard had done was completely horrible and there would be very heavy punishment for it, the thing that really pissed the headmaster off was the fact that Mirio and the student council had gone behind his back to inform Hildegard about her potential removal from the school! Everyone already knew that there was a lot of pressure on Hildegard’s shoulders with the recent investigation, so Mirio informing her about something that hadn’t even been signed yet was completely unnecessary!

Leonart knew that the only reason Mirio had said all of that to Hildegard was because he wanted a reaction from her. Mirio had intentionally gotten on Hildegard’s nerves to make her lash out, and although it was a twisted thing to do, there was nothing Leonart could do about it since the plan had been executed so flawlessly!

Mirio was currently in the hospital wing of the school getting some treatment for a broken arm. And although his arm could be healed easily, the fact that Hildegard had thrown him out a window and injured him was going to be the biggest issue when the next parent-teacher conference is called! There were far too many people who had fallen for the charm of the angel boy, and Hildegard had way too many enemies. This incident was only going to make people support Hildegard even less!

The tension in the room continued to grow as the silence stretched on, and it wasn’t until more than five minutes later that Leonart finally turned around and spoke.

"I cannot begin to explain to you how disappointed I am, Hildegard. I hoped you would have better self-control, but I suppose I placed too much faith in you."

Hildegard finally looked up from the ground to give the headmaster a heavy stare! It looked like there was something she wanted to say, but the moment she saw Leonart’s hard look, she turned away again and remained silent! Instead, it was Rosaline who spoke up from behind!

"Headmaster, we can’t put all the blame on Hildegard. It’s obvious that she was baited into lashing out."

Leonart hummed as he placed his hand on his table and leaned against it calmly.

"I am aware that she was baited, but due to the circumstances, I think it was in her best interest as well as everyone else’s that she didn’t fall for that bait. By lashing out the way she did, she not only broke school rules, but she also broke a direct limitation placed on her by the law. You have committed multiple crimes today, Hildegard, and the only reason you will not be tried and prosecuted for them fully is because you are not yet an adult. But there will be consequences."

Hildegard’s hands tightened into fists, and Rosa gained a pitying look on her face as she quickly spoke up again.

"Headmaster, I don’t think this is fair. No one would be able to withstand the amount of pressure Hildegard was under, and given the circumstances, I believe she actually exercised a lot of self-control by only using her raw magic."

Leonart raised a brow.

"She threw someone out the window."

Rosaline stomped her foot angrily!

"Mirio is an angel with the ability to fly! Falling out of that window and breaking his arm is entirely his own fault! It’s obvious that he was just trying to paint Hildegard in a horrible light!"

And it was certainly working.

Leonart let out a calm breath as this thought crossed his mind. Although Leonart knew that Rosaline was right about Mirio’s actions, there was no denying that what Mirio was doing was working beautifully! Right now, there was already an unstoppable rumor mill tearing through the school about how the evil Dark Mage Hildegard attacked the prince of the student council and caused him to break his hand! No one cared that Mirio was an angel that could fly! All they saw was Hildegard’s crime and the potential consequence that would come from it! There was no need to use any more logic in judging her!

Leonart had hoped that Hildegard would realise the sort of position she was in right now, and held back more. This world wasn’t kind to mages with dark affinities, and there was only so much Leonart could do to protect one student!

Hildegard finally shifted around a little, and Leonart looked towards her as she spoke.

"Is it true, headmaster?"

Hildegard asked a simple question that could’ve meant many things, but Leonart didn’t need to be a genius to know exactly what she was asking about, and Leonart let out a calm breath as he tapped his finger on the table for a few seconds. Leonart was trying to decide if it was necessary to tell Hildegard about this or not since she was only a student. But Leonart eventually decided to tell her since this concerned her more than anyone else!

Leonart nodded once.

"The request for removal from studies was submitted to my table this morning, and it was signed by every significant stakeholder in the academy. I have enough power to refuse the order, but your actions today have made it infinitely more difficult to convince the stakeholders about why I refused it."