Chapter 96: Why Did We Make This Law?
Hildegard had already started shaking in anger the moment Leonart nodded, and she grit her teeth so tight that they started to creak! The two Hall Monitors standing beside Hildegard prepared themselves for any sort of attack from her, but Hildegard didn’t release any mana! Instead, she suddenly snapped and shouted in a loud voice that was completely unlike her!
"WHAT DID I EVER DO TO THEM!?"
Everyone in the room stopped in shock as Hildegard glared at the headmaster angrily!
"WHY DO THEY HATE ME SO MUCH!? I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING TO THEM! I JUST WANTED TO GRADUATE AND LEAVE THIS BLOODY SCHOOL BEHIND! WHY WON’T THEY LET ME HAVE ANYTHING GOOD! IT’S NOT MY FAULT I WAS BORN LIKE THIS! THIS MAGIC INSIDE ME ISN’T MY FAULT! RIGHT FROM THE MOMENT I WAS BORN, I’VE FACED NOTHING BUT HATRED! I WAS A CHILD! A CHILD THAT DIDN’T KNOW WHAT SHE DID WRONG, AND THEY STILL HATED ME! WHY DOES EVERYONE HATE ME SO MUCH!?"
At this point, Hildegard’s cheeks were stained with wet tear trails, but her eyes were still filled with an intensity that showed just how angry this entire situation made her! Right from the moment she learned what her affinity was, Hildegard had been taught that she was not welcome in society. People had looked down on her and treated her like a virus, and although Hildegard had gotten used to it, there was no way something that serious wouldn’t affect the seventeen-year-old girl!
Rosaline put her hand to her mouth and turned away as she felt a wretched sob tearing itself out from her chest! Although Rosa had been trying her best to protect Hildegard all this time, this was the first time that Hildegard would truly show just how much the situation was affecting her, and Rosa couldn’t stop her tears from falling when she saw the pain in Hildegard’s eyes!
Headmaster Leonart looked into Hildegard’s pained eyes with a calm gaze, and he couldn’t help but feel responsible for some of this. Headmaster Leonart had been around ten years ago when the laws concerning mages with dark affinities were created, and although the Headmaster knew that it was dangerous to mark children as dangerous individuals before they even got big enough to know what evil meant, Leonart had still agreed to create that law because of the things he had seen during the war.
Back then, seeing children on the battlefield was very common! Demihuman children began using their magic far quicker than human children, so even five-year-old demihumans were capable of harming a human that did not have magic! Things got even worse when the demihuman children possessed a Dark affinity! An affinity like Hellfire did not require any mana to be activated, so even a child that had not yet reached their full potential would be capable of opening the gates of Gahenna and unleashing Hellfire on a village or town!
And the moment Hellfire is unleashed, there is almost no way to stop it!
The laws had been created as a way to make humans aware of any dangerous demihuman around them! And although Leonart knew that some of the children with dark affinities would grow up surrounded by scornful and cautious glances for the rest of their lives, Leonart felt that this was necessary! Leonart believed that hurting one child to save an entire village was a reasonable trade.
But seeing the true effect of that law right in front of him now placed a lot of doubt in Leonart’s heart. Did Leonart really agree to this because he wanted what was best for the humans, or did he do it because he wanted to see some demihumans suffer for what they did during the war? Leonart did not know.
Hildegard was still breathing heavily while glaring at Leonart, and the tears falling down her cheeks had begun to blur out her vision! Leonart let out a calm breath as he forced his emotions away from his mind! Leonart could not allow emotions to rule him at this moment, and when Leonart spoke, it was with a calm tone that did not show any of the conflicting thoughts in his head.
"I understand where you’re coming from, Hildegard, and I sympathize with you, but there is nothing that can be done-"
"DON’T SYMPATHIZE WITH ME! I don’t care about your sympathy, and I don’t care about what other people say! I want to go to school! I want to graduate! That’s what I want!"
"Do not forget that you are still under investigation for murder, Hildegard."
"!"
Hildegard was suddenly shocked back to her senses as Leonart spoke in a hard tone, and Hildegard felt a wave of despair fill her body as she looked away! Even if Leonart decided not to sign the removal request papers, there was still no way Hildegard could get back to school since the City Guards hadn’t brought back the results of their investigation! There was a chance that Leonart wouldn’t even need to sign those papers because Hildegard would be taken away from this school and put in prison!
Hildegard suddenly slithered down to the ground and sat on her tail miserably before she rubbed the back of her hand against her eyes and sniffled! There was an air of defeat around Hildegard, like she was trapped in a tunnel with multiple pathways, and she was certain that she would die regardless of which one she took!
Hildegard did not know what to do, and at this moment she had finally accepted that she could never live a normal life. Hildegard’s plan had always been to finish her necessary education as quickly as possible so that she could run away to another kingdom and become a wildlife researcher! It had always been her dream to trek through the Teriani forest or move across the Silver Sand Desert while tracking wildlife. But all of that was obviously not going to be possible anymore!
Knock! Knock! Knock!
A calm knock suddenly came from the headmaster’s door, and Leonart looked up in surprise when he felt the magic signature of the person on the other side. Leonart stood straighter and dusted his clothes off before he told them to come in, and the door opened to reveal Librarian Percival!
Percival’s hands were in his coat pocket, and he had a calm aura around him as he trekked into the office. Everyone watched Percival curiously, and Rosaline frowned as she wondered what in the world the Librarian was doing here!
Hildegard felt a bit of annoyance rising in her chest when she saw Percival. The last time that they spoke, Percival had laughed at her admiration for Verati, and Hildegard decided back then that she didn’t like him at all! But at this moment, Hildegard was far too exhausted to even care! Every bit of emotion inside of Hildegard had been poured out during her earlier rant, so Hildegard simply turned away from Percy and slouched slightly while waiting for the headmaster to tell her what would happen next.
Leonart gave Percival a kind smile.
"Hello, Percival. What can I do for you?"
"Nothing much, really. I heard there was an incident recently, and since Hildegard’s case is still connected to the library, I thought it was necessary for me to be here."
Leonart almost scoffed in amusement when he heard this! It was obvious that Percival was just making excuses, but Leonart didn’t know what Percival’s actual reason for being here could possibly be, so Leonart could only accept Percival’s excuse with a nod. Percival turned to look down at the defeated Hildegard, and he spoke to Leonart.
"What exactly happened here?"
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A/N: Please Vote with GT!