I did not reveal Irene’s lie despite hearing the demon’s words.
I could not just come and accuse her of lying because a demon living in my mind said so, right?
Nevertheless, now that I knew that Irene could lead me to more clues about the fragment, there were several methods I could use to get the information I needed.
After Jazmine finished questioning Irene, Irene returned to the classroom.
“It looks like there are no more clues here.” Jazmine sighed in disappointment. “I expected it, but it’s still frustrating.”
I put on a thoughtful expression as though I had something in my mind.
It did not take long for Jazmine to notice my expression.
“Jane, is something wrong?”
‘Thanks for noticing…’
I smiled inwardly, but on the outside, I furrowed my brows while revealing what the demon told me.
“… It’s just a guess, but I think Irene was lying.”
Jazmine was startled.
“Are you sure?”
I hesitated briefly and shook my head.
“I’m not. As I told you, it’s just a guess.”
“Why do you think so?” Jazmine asked.
“Just a feeling.” I smiled wryly, unable to reveal the truth. “I was observing her the entire time, and I noticed that she seemed nervous about something. She was especially nervous when you asked her if she had noticed anything strange, as though she was trying to hide something.”
Jazmine fell deep into thoughts.
“Actually, forget about that. I can't confidently assert that she was lying.”
“No, perhaps you are right.” Jazmine’s expression was serious. “Now that I think about it, she certainly seemed a bit nervous. Perhaps she is really hiding something. Mmm, we should find a way to keep an eye on her.”
I smiled in my mind. Fortunately, my plan went well.
The thing about accusing someone is that most of the time, you don’t need proof.
I remember reading an article once about how humans tend to believe what they read or listen to as long as it seems credible enough, even without real evidence. Many scammers use this to take advantage of their victims, and this is the reason why baseless rumors about people can spread quickly, sometimes even causing terrible consequences.
This time, I took advantage of this to create a seed of doubt in Jazmine. As long as she doubts Irene's words, she will intentionally or unintentionally keep an eye on her.
If everything goes well, Jazmine will eventually discover something wrong with Irene. Hopefully, it will lead me to a clue to the fragment.
“What are you going to do?” I asked her.
Jazmine hesitated briefly and let out a sigh.
“We can’t accuse Irene of lying without proof, and we are not the police, so we can’t interrogate her or anything like that either. The most we can do is to keep an eye on her. If we are lucky, we could discover something.”
“Let’s hope so,” I replied while pondering the situation in my mind.
It is great if Jazmine can discover something. But if she can’t, I will have to investigate Irene myself.
I don’t want to do that, though. If I’m not careful, I could be discovered by the owner of the fragment.
If he realizes that I’m sniffing around suspiciously, he may connect the dots and realize that I own a fragment too.
After discussing the follow-up of Irene’s matter with Jazmine, we went to talk with Gerona’s remaining friends.
Unfortunately, we failed to discover any clues from them, and the demon did not feel any other trace of the fragment either.
‘I guess that Irene is our only clue now, huh?’
If only I could talk to Gerona. Perhaps she could tell me something else.
Now that she is in a coma, though, there is no way to ask her for clues about the fragment.
Let’s hope that she wakes up soon.
In the end, Jazmine and I headed back to the student assembly after an almost unsuccessful afternoon.
But just when we thought the day would end like that, several students passed by us in a hurry while running in the direction of the entrance.
“Quick, I heard that someone is fighting against the celers again!”
“Who is it?”
“It’s Gerald! He came for revenge!”
“That idiot. Why is he fighting them when he lost once?”
“How could I know? Anyway, hurry up or we will miss it.”
Jazmine and I looked at each other with serious expressions and followed the students worriedly.
…
At the same time, Gerald stood in front of the celers with a cold gaze.
Across him, a celer with whitish skin sighed softly.
“You again? I thought you learned your lesson after I beat you up last time.” He spoke in the distinguishable mechanical tone of his translation device.
“Fight me.” Gerald challenged him while releasing his mana violently.
But the celer was uninterested.
“Just get lost. I don’t want to lose my time with a weakling like you.”
The celer ignored him and turned around to leave while the rest of the group followed him.
But all of a sudden, Gerald moved.
His mana exploded as he accelerated violently, reaching almost the speed of sound in an instant.
He was much faster than when he fought the celer a few days ago. Moreover, his mana was much stronger too. Surprisingly, he had become a Tier seventh Awakened!
Such progress was astonishing. It was as though he had used his previous defeat as motivation to become stronger.
Even so–
*Clang!*
His rapier did not reach the celer.
Without turning around, the celer created a transparent barrier behind him that stopped Gerald’s blow completely.
“It’s useless.” The celer’s voice was indifferent, but it failed to hide the contempt on it. “Even if an insect becomes stronger, it’s still an insect.”
Following his words, a powerful and invisible force struck Gerald’s body, dragging him away as he tried his best to endure the sudden blow.
The blow was so strong that several students watching the battle were forced back just by the shockwaves.
But shockingly, Gerald did not receive any injury.
Besides being forced a few meters back, he was virtually unharmed.
The celer raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“… Quite good. I thought one attack would be enough to defeat you.”
Gerald raised his eyes and glared at him with eyes full of resentment.
“This is just the start.”
Immediately, his aura erupted.
His mana began to increase like crazy, almost doubling in an instant. Gerald then compressed all that mana and put it on his rapier before dashing toward the celer.
This time, his speed was even faster than before. He was so fast that only a few students managed to follow his movements.
“Interesting.”
Smirking, the celer released his mental energy, creating a powerful forcefield around him that slowed Gerald down as he extended his hands in Gerald’s direction and clenched them slowly.
But just then–
“Stop.”
An ice-cold voice sounded, freezing the entire place.
All of sudden, a black-haired girl appeared between Gerald and the celer. At the same time, gravity increased several folds, making the expression of all the people present change and forcing Gerald and the celer to stop their attacks.
The black-haired girl, Jazmine, looked at them and snorted.
“In the name of the Student Assembly, I ask you to come with me.”
I did not reveal Irene’s lie despite hearing the demon’s words.
I could not just come and accuse her of lying because a demon living in my mind said so, right?
Nevertheless, now that I knew that Irene could lead me to more clues about the fragment, there were several methods I could use to get the information I needed.
After Jazmine finished questioning Irene, Irene returned to the classroom.
“It looks like there are no more clues here.” Jazmine sighed in disappointment. “I expected it, but it’s still frustrating.”
I put on a thoughtful expression as though I had something in my mind.
It did not take long for Jazmine to notice my expression.
“Jane, is something wrong?”
‘Thanks for noticing…’
I smiled inwardly, but on the outside, I furrowed my brows while revealing what the demon told me.
“… It’s just a guess, but I think Irene was lying.”
Jazmine was startled.
“Are you sure?”
I hesitated briefly and shook my head.
“I’m not. As I told you, it’s just a guess.”
“Why do you think so?” Jazmine asked.
“Just a feeling.” I smiled wryly, unable to reveal the truth. “I was observing her the entire time, and I noticed that she seemed nervous about something. She was especially nervous when you asked her if she had noticed anything strange, as though she was trying to hide something.”
Jazmine fell deep into thoughts.
“Actually, forget about that. I can't confidently assert that she was lying.”
“No, perhaps you are right.” Jazmine’s expression was serious. “Now that I think about it, she certainly seemed a bit nervous. Perhaps she is really hiding something. Mmm, we should find a way to keep an eye on her.”
I smiled in my mind. Fortunately, my plan went well.
The thing about accusing someone is that most of the time, you don’t need proof.
I remember reading an article once about how humans tend to believe what they read or listen to as long as it seems credible enough, even without real evidence. Many scammers use this to take advantage of their victims, and this is the reason why baseless rumors about people can spread quickly, sometimes even causing terrible consequences.
This time, I took advantage of this to create a seed of doubt in Jazmine. As long as she doubts Irene's words, she will intentionally or unintentionally keep an eye on her.
If everything goes well, Jazmine will eventually discover something wrong with Irene. Hopefully, it will lead me to a clue to the fragment.
“What are you going to do?” I asked her.
Jazmine hesitated briefly and let out a sigh.
“We can’t accuse Irene of lying without proof, and we are not the police, so we can’t interrogate her or anything like that either. The most we can do is to keep an eye on her. If we are lucky, we could discover something.”
“Let’s hope so,” I replied while pondering the situation in my mind.
It is great if Jazmine can discover something. But if she can’t, I will have to investigate Irene myself.
I don’t want to do that, though. If I’m not careful, I could be discovered by the owner of the fragment.
If he realizes that I’m sniffing around suspiciously, he may connect the dots and realize that I own a fragment too.
After discussing the follow-up of Irene’s matter with Jazmine, we went to talk with Gerona’s remaining friends.
Unfortunately, we failed to discover any clues from them, and the demon did not feel any other trace of the fragment either.
‘I guess that Irene is our only clue now, huh?’
If only I could talk to Gerona. Perhaps she could tell me something else.
Now that she is in a coma, though, there is no way to ask her for clues about the fragment.
Let’s hope that she wakes up soon.
In the end, Jazmine and I headed back to the student assembly after an almost unsuccessful afternoon.
But just when we thought the day would end like that, several students passed by us in a hurry while running in the direction of the entrance.
“Quick, I heard that someone is fighting against the celers again!”
“Who is it?”
“It’s Gerald! He came for revenge!”
“That idiot. Why is he fighting them when he lost once?”
“How could I know? Anyway, hurry up or we will miss it.”
Jazmine and I looked at each other with serious expressions and followed the students worriedly.
…
At the same time, Gerald stood in front of the celers with a cold gaze.
Across him, a celer with whitish skin sighed softly.
“You again? I thought you learned your lesson after I beat you up last time.” He spoke in the distinguishable mechanical tone of his translation device.
“Fight me.” Gerald challenged him while releasing his mana violently.
But the celer was uninterested.
“Just get lost. I don’t want to lose my time with a weakling like you.”
The celer ignored him and turned around to leave while the rest of the group followed him.
But all of a sudden, Gerald moved.
His mana exploded as he accelerated violently, reaching almost the speed of sound in an instant.
He was much faster than when he fought the celer a few days ago. Moreover, his mana was much stronger too. Surprisingly, he had become a Tier seventh Awakened!
Such progress was astonishing. It was as though he had used his previous defeat as motivation to become stronger.
Even so–
*Clang!*
His rapier did not reach the celer.
Without turning around, the celer created a transparent barrier behind him that stopped Gerald’s blow completely.
“It’s useless.” The celer’s voice was indifferent, but it failed to hide the contempt on it. “Even if an insect becomes stronger, it’s still an insect.”
Following his words, a powerful and invisible force struck Gerald’s body, dragging him away as he tried his best to endure the sudden blow.
The blow was so strong that several students watching the battle were forced back just by the shockwaves.
But shockingly, Gerald did not receive any injury.
Besides being forced a few meters back, he was virtually unharmed.
The celer raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“… Quite good. I thought one attack would be enough to defeat you.”
Gerald raised his eyes and glared at him with eyes full of resentment.
“This is just the start.”
Immediately, his aura erupted.
His mana began to increase like crazy, almost doubling in an instant. Gerald then compressed all that mana and put it on his rapier before dashing toward the celer.
This time, his speed was even faster than before. He was so fast that only a few students managed to follow his movements.
“Interesting.”
Smirking, the celer released his mental energy, creating a powerful forcefield around him that slowed Gerald down as he extended his hands in Gerald’s direction and clenched them slowly.
But just then–
“Stop.”
An ice-cold voice sounded, freezing the entire place.
All of sudden, a black-haired girl appeared between Gerald and the celer. At the same time, gravity increased several folds, making the expression of all the people present change and forcing Gerald and the celer to stop their attacks.
The black-haired girl, Jazmine, looked at them and snorted.
“In the name of the Student Assembly, I ask you to come with me.”
