Chapter 112: The Investigative Report
Those few days in the library were the most peaceful that Hildegard had ever known! In barely a week, Hildegard had come to adore that library, and Hildegard felt so much love towards everyone in the library that she began to wish that she didn’t ever have to leave anymore! If Hildegard was allowed to spend the rest of her school year learning from this library, then she wouldn’t have any issues with it at all! But it was obvious that the days were not going to last forever. Hildegard’s stay in the library was only a temporary thing, and before long, the City Guard finally came back to the school and announced that they were done with their investigation.
....
[Main Assembly Hall]
In the large Assembly Hall within the academy, all the Academy professors as well as a few parents who had a large stake in the school were seated and waiting patiently for the Headmaster to appear. Earlier this week, they had all gotten a message from the headmaster asking them to appear for a meeting, and although they didn’t know exactly what this meeting was meant for, they all had a suspicion that it had something to do with Hildegard’s murder case.
Percival was seated up on the balcony with the other professors, and he had a calm look on his face as he waited for the meeting to begin. All around him, the other teachers were murmuring and gossiping about what this meeting could be about! The teachers here were all aware of the things Hildegard had done, and most of them had been surprised when the headmaster ended up not giving Hildegard any punishment for hurting the Student Council president!
"I heard Verati was the one who absolved Hildegard. Apparently, he believes she’s innocent too."
"Really? I thought Verati didn’t involve himself in anything academic-related."
"Yeah, this is the first time he’ll come out to make a decision like this."
"Do you think maybe Hildegard is also innocent of killing those kids? If Verati thinks she’s innocent. It has to be true."
"At this point, I’m really not sure. We’ll just have to wait and see, I guess."
Many of the teachers were torn on what to believe at this point. Even though many of them had already decided in their hearts that Hildegard had to be guilty, there was a part of every person alive today who held Verati in the highest regard. And this meant that they took Verati’s opinion very seriously! So if Verati believed that Hildegard might be innocent, then wasn’t there a chance that it was true?
So even though many of them believed that Hildegard was guilty of killing those students, they had no idea how things would go here, and they were all staying unusually quiet as they waited for the headmaster!
Beside Percival, Rosa also looked unsure of herself as she waited. Rosa was tapping her feet on the ground like a drum, and Percival told her to relax after the tapping started to get too loud.
"Sorry, I’m just a little nervous."
Rosa smiled apologetically, and Percy chuckled in amusement! This was definitely more than ’a little’ nervous. But Percy just told her that it was fine, and Rosa managed to relax a little. Rosa turned to face Percy fully and asked.
"How do you think the investigation went?"
Percy shrugged.
"I’m sure it went well. If it didn’t, they would’ve probably arrested Hildegard by now. I’m sure the headmaster just wants to announce Hildegard’s innocence to everyone at once."
Rosa felt a surge of relief going through her body when she heard that, and she nodded thankfully! Even though Rosa wasn’t sure if Percy was right or not, just hearing what he said was enough to make her feel calmer.
But Rosa didn’t know that she really didn’t have to worry at all because Percival had already put things in place to make sure the investigation went in Hildegard’s favour. After hearing Hildegard’s story in the library the other day, Percy reached out to Viva, and he informed her of what he had found out. There was a boy among the victims who used Synchronization on Hildegard, and just like Percy predicted, the mortician had found the defect in the mana core of one of the boys when he analysed it!
So now, even though the City Guard didn’t know exactly what had caused the explosion, or how the boy had managed to gain the Hellfire affinity for Synchronization in the first place, they were at least sure that Hildegard hadn’t caused the Hellfire voluntarily, and that was enough for them to remove all the charges levelled against her.
Down on the stage in front of them, the headmaster and some other stakeholders all took their seats, and Percy noticed Viva and some other officers joining the headmaster on the stage. There were a few words exchanged between Viva and the headmaster before the headmaster and Viva moved forward together towards the podium.
"Ah-hem. Hello everybody. Thank you for being here on such short notice. But as the major stakeholders within this academy, I felt it was necessary for you all to be the very first informed of the investigative report made by the City Guard. I have with me Lieutenant Viva, one of the officers who led this investigation, and she will be the one leading the rest of this meeting. Thank you."
Headmaster Leonart gave a short, clipped speech that showed just how serious things were at that moment, but even though everyone else could only see the headmaster’s intensity, Percy was able to see through the speech, and he knew Headmaster Leonart was only trying to put up a front! In truth, Leonart was absolutely ecstatic at this moment, and it was taking all of his effort not to smile and announce the news to the stakeholders himself!
Viva came up to the podium, and she put down her folder like some sort of announcer, and Percy just leaned back in his seat with a nonchalant smile on his face! It was obvious how this entire meeting was going to go, and the only reason Percy was staying back was because he wanted to know how exactly Viva solved this case!
....
[The Great Library]
Back at the library, Rita and Hildegard were in the middle of their usual lesson in the reading room upstairs. Since all the teachers were at the meeting, school had already closed for the day, and the students had returned to their dorms, so there was no one in the library at this time. Rita was trying to teach Hildegard the basics of anti-magic runes, but after seeing Hildegard bite her pen for most of the class, Rita decided that this was pointless.
"You should relax, Hildegard. Worrying about the result isn’t going to change anything."
Rita finally spoke up a few seconds later, and Hildegard jolted in surprise as she realized that she had completely zoned out from their class! Hildegard blushed in embarrassment, and Rita smiled at her before reaching over to pat her shoulder.
"Percy told me he won’t let anything happen to you, regardless of what the results are. So just relax. Everything will be fine."