jdhmnovel Chapter 134 : Chapter 134
Chapter 134 : Chapter 134
Chapter 134 : Master Class
As Harlan stepped off the elevator, Quest spoke immediately.
"Good, everyone is here. Thank you for responding to such a sudden summons. This matter could not be postponed."
He forced a smile as he scanned the few faces gathered in the Doom Society.
"A concerning situation has arisen at the Academy. Before deciding on our future direction, I wanted to share the situation with you all first."
Before Harlan could even take two steps into the Sky Lounge, Quest gestured for people to take their seats.
Harlan looked around with a puzzled expression and confirmed that only a few regular members were present.
His eyes brightened noticeably the moment his gaze landed on Sal and Divinity.
Neuro, sitting in a high-backed armchair, gestured for Harlan to sit on the sofa opposite him.
"For safety reasons, we only invited a small number of people this time. Please understand."
As Harlan took his seat, Neuro spoke.
Alastair was sitting at one end of the sofa, resting his right arm on the armrest and holding a whiskey glass.
"Alright, since Harlan is here too, explain now. What is all this about?"
It was evident from his rough tone that he wasn't particularly pleased with the emergency summons.
A subtle anxiety flitted across his face.
Quest sighed and pointed towards Neuro, but the telepath shook his head and sent Quest a meaningful look.
Quest grimaced, then clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention.
"Bastion has infiltrated the Academy."
At those words, the room fell into chaos in an instant.
Alastair choked and coughed, straightening his posture, and Harlan, who was just about to sit on the sofa, jumped back up.
Liam and Dawn stared blankly at Quest, while Scry turned his gaze toward Divinity as if to confirm what it meant.
On the other hand, Neuro remained seated, slowly swirling his whiskey glass as if lost in deep thought.
"And above all, I have already been infiltrated."
Quest added as he walked slowly towards the bar.
He reached over the counter and picked up a glass without even looking, as if he didn't need to.
Sal wondered how often he must have repeated that action for it to become so reflexive.
"Neuro and Erica interrogated one of their spies. The results confirmed that Bastion was carrying out organized slander against us. They are brainwashing students in the Controller and Healer classes, and by the end of next year, there is a possibility that close to a hundred students will be turned."
Alastair stood up abruptly, his face flushed red with anger.
"Quest, the students you're talking about are my disciples. I absolutely cannot tolerate them being treated as spies so blatantly!"
Before Quest could answer, Neuro snapped his fingers.
"Erica, show him."
Sal looked at Alastair, who stood rooted to the spot, unable to understand what was happening.
The glass dropped from his hand and fell to the floor with a thud, rolling sideways and leaving whiskey stains on the exquisite carpet.
Alastair groaned and reached for his eyes, but it looked as if he was clawing at the empty air in front of him.
Sal shifted his gaze to Erica.
She was using her ability.
Sal examined Erica's threads out of curiosity and was surprised by their complex form.
It was a sight like a maze of giant circuits with beads of light flowing through them.
Just as Sal was about to deactivate his ability, he noticed that her threads were separated from each other.
Two threads were operating simultaneously.
'Does Erica have two abilities?'
He wanted to look further into that unfamiliar sight, but Alastair's low growl snapped him back to reality.
"Don't put things in my head without permission."
Alastair had his fists clenched tight.
Seeing him so distinctly different from when they used to laugh and joke together, Sal felt extremely uncomfortable just being near him.
Alastair blinked a few times, then exhaled deeply.
Standing there for a moment, he bent down and picked up the glass that had fallen on the floor.
"Wester... Templeton..."
Alastair muttered to himself and sat on the edge of the sofa.
He spun the empty glass in his hand, then looked up at Neuro.
"Since I was there when Barry Francis planted illusions within illusions, I admit I can be deceived too. But... why go to such lengths to persuade me? If the goal was to make me believe the Controllers were corrupted, why call everyone here? If it was just to deceive me alone, this effort wouldn't have been necessary."
Alastair put the glass down on the table.
"In the end, isn't the goal here not to shake me, but to dig for information about the Controllers in my class? What if I speak up for no reason... and end up digging the children's graves?"
After spitting out those words, Alastair remained silent.
Just as Harlan was about to speak, Neuro raised his hand to stop him.
Alastair shook his head, looking down at his glass, then muttered in a low voice.
"The problem is... despite the clear testimony, why am I defending Wester Templeton? That could mean I've already been influenced. But... what if all of that is built on some lie?"
Sal blinked in surprise.
Without any guidance or explanation, Alastair had seen through the essence of the situation on his own.
When Sal turned his gaze to Divinity, she was smiling at Alastair.
Tactics Professor Alastair stopped muttering for a moment and chuckled to himself.
With a cynical laugh, he leaned back and settled into his seat.
"I had to peel off the layers of lies one by one. That kid set up the board quite elaborately."
Alastair glanced at Neuro and tapped his temple.
"Can you pull up suppressed memories from the conversations I had with that bastard? Use my office as a reference point. I'll guide you myself."
Then Quest approached with a filled glass and placed it quietly in front of Alastair.
"While they proceed with the work, I would like to have a frank conversation with you all."
Quest grimaced while gripping the back of Neuro's chair.
"Miss Divinity and Mr. Argento are the ones who caught Wester Templeton. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have even known what was happening right in front of our eyes. Wester Templeton comes from a family of Bastion sympathizers and was brainwashed even before coming to the Academy. He has been leaking information about students to his family, including details about Mr. Argento's Skill Master and Mythos Crafter abilities. He also directly contacted Mr. Francis as a recruitment target and classified him as a top priority candidate. It has also been confirmed that he has already persuaded and drawn in a significant number of Controller and Healer class students. His method was spreading false information about our Academy's policies. A prime example is the lie that we suppress students' ability growth and seal their potential through registration procedures."
Harlan whistled looking at Quest.
"Cunning. Since every student goes through the registration process, it becomes a shared experience. When they see students with greater potential during that process, feelings of inferiority naturally arise. But what if someone says that was manipulated from the start? It gives them a reason they can't help but rebel against. So it must be true that the Bastion bastards are claiming they have a way to amplify students' abilities?"
Sal looked at Harlan in surprise.
Because it matched exactly what Divinity had seen in her foresight.
Barry and Divinity had run several simulations of him being recruited by Bastion Controllers.
Although information was limited, they were able to figure out the decisive selling point Bastion used when recruiting.
Unfortunately, almost all simulations revealed that Barry was a double agent.
They could never figure out how they found out.
All scenarios ended with Barry's death, disguised as an accident.
Sal thought that perhaps the first foresight Divinity saw of Barry, scenes where he didn't reveal his ability, were what kept him off Bastion's radar.
Since the fact that Barry could handle illusions became known, most of Divinity's foresights concluded with scenes of him losing his life to monsters in dungeon raids or on a floor of the Tower.
The biggest problem was that Barry accepted such results too nonchalantly.
He merely said that dungeons and the Tower were still far in the future, and there was plenty of time to change fate.
Quest cleared his throat and looked at Harlan.
"That is correct. Their false information is designed to provoke the anger of alienated students and make recruitment much easier. When I fell into the trap, those bastards siphoned off Q-Credits and funneled them to students whose loyalty could be bought regardless of ability. Many students we identified as being under Bastion's influence are currently living in luxury dorms, spreading that wealth and influence to other students. If a student sees such a life firsthand, it would be easy to mistake the second-year Controllers as capable beings worth following. We concluded that we must not let them find out that we already know their plan. Also, we decided to monitor and watch them."
Quest gave Divinity a glance and continued.
"Thanks to Miss Divinity kindly lending her ability, we were able to check various future possibilities. In the worst case, students who weren't completely brainwashed could be sacrificed. According to what was revealed in the foresight, the Controllers would dispose of those suspected of being whistleblowers. Deaths were all disguised as accidental accidents rather than murders, with students being lured into dungeons and never returning."
Quest looked at Barry with sympathetic eyes and continued.
"Mr. Francis volunteered to infiltrate their group and act as a spy. To find out more about their movements and operations. He ran several simulations with Miss Divinity, but the results were not good. I oppose this proposal and wish to share this issue with you all. Do you have any opinions on what would be the best way to deal with the Bastion group?"
Barry smiled and stepped forward.
"It seems my proposal wasn't conveyed properly. What I mentioned was receiving training in espionage and disguise. A free Master Class special lecture to prepare me to deal with Controllers. If that saves us from disaster and even gives me a chance to receive professional training, I will gladly jump into their midst. The foresight about my death that Divinity saw is actually ambiguous in context. It's highly likely it was an illusion I created to deceive them. I trust my ability. That doesn't mean I'm arrogant enough to think I'm the best. That's why I'm requesting additional training before executing it in earnest."
Sal couldn't help but laugh at Barry's logic, and he wasn't the only one.
Harlan slapped his knee and burst into laughter.
"Like a true opportunist! I like it. But pushing our problems onto a student feels very reluctant. I hope this isn't rude to Mr. Francis, but I wish we could find another way to obtain information without putting anyone in danger. for example, if we sit you, Neuro, at the back of the classroom with cloaking equipment, wouldn't we be able to quickly identify the problematic Controllers?"
Neuro blinked and looked at Harlan with a troubled expression.
"Are you telling me to go into that class and read their minds? I understand we are discussing serious issues like casualties or the collapse of Quest Academy... but honestly speaking, I don't want to look inside teenagers' heads. It's all fights, sexual thoughts, and monsters. incessantly."
Erica glared sharply at her father from where she stood against the wall, but he didn't notice and shook his head, rejecting Harlan's suggestion.
Neuro smiled and pointed at Alastair.
"I don't think we'll need to use such means. It seems our Tactics Instructor Alastair has found a much easier way to gather information."
As if stimulated by those words, Alastair slapped his own face hard with both hands, making everyone flinch.
Alastair shook his head, picked up the whiskey glass, and downed it in one go.
He stood up abruptly, adjusted his vest, and turned towards Quest.
"I already know all the places where those bastards gather to hold meetings. Eavesdropping is not even a problem."
Everyone in the room except Neuro and Erica looked at Alastair as if dumbfounded.
Only those two smiled.
Alastair burst into bitter laughter.
"Those brats, really shameless aren't they! I thought it was a solid team made of talented kids I painstakingly selected, but it was all a deception in the end. Those bastards were all in my Master Class. They were discussing their plans right under my nose."
Barry cleared his throat, drawing the room's attention.
He pointed at himself and gave a playful grin.
"Then how about inviting me to your Master Class?"