There was nothing surprising inside Ludger's suitcase.
—Just some clothes and books.
Other than that, there were also some documents and miscellaneous items.
'I thought there would be something greater.'
I put the textbooks, magic books, and theses together as one, then put them aside, and I sorted away the clothes appropriately.
In addition to magic books, there were many other books—such as popular novels and essays by famous scientists.
He really read all sorts of things.
Other items were some letters, identification cards, and personal belongings.
Even though they were his belongings, there was only a small pipe to be used as a portable pocket watch or magic medium and a wallet containing money.
I checked his identification card and documents one by one.
'Ludger Chelysie. A man from a fallen aristocracy of the Northern continent's small kingdom of Queoden. He doesn't have any siblings, and his parents are both dead.’
‘It's not bad.’
Although he was a fallen aristocrat, he would not be greatly insulted anywhere because he had a nominally aristocratic title, and there was no one to recognize him because he had no family.
'Let's see… it's an extremely fancy record. He submitted 12 theses to the magic tower, and he was the youngest wizard who climbed to 4th rank? He even served as a military officer?’
‘As expected of a Sören teacher.’
I didn’t expect that he would have such a record at a young age.
'Is he teaching magic casting and its following as a specialized subject? So the main subject is mana release and elemental attributes.’
Given that magic casting was a specialized subject, there was a high probability of me teaching actual combat in the subject.
I opened the letter and looked at its contents.
If there were any conversations with his acquaintances, I had to catch his small habits and learn them.
'There's not much in the letter.'
Letters that were believed to have been exchanged with his acquaintance only consisted of formal conversations such as his soon-to-be appointment at the academy, book recommendations, or what happened somewhere.
‘I don't think there was anyone he was close to when he was serving in the military.’
‘Did he have the style of a nerd student?’
Given that there was little personal content, he didn't seem to be that close to the person he exchanged letters with.
‘What's left now is…’
To go over the fundamental contents of the subject to teach to the students after the semester started and the information about how Sören Academy was and how it worked.
For the moment, it was necessary to travel around the land and learn the topography of Sören.
Gurgle gurgle.
As I was about to go outside right away, I had no choice but to pause at the loud sound from my stomach.
‘Come to think of it… I haven't eaten anything since I got off the train today.’
'Let's start tomorrow.'
‘I'm mentally exhausted because so many things happened today.’
‘Let's eat first and rest well today.’
* * *
* * *
Two weeks passed after that.
In the meantime, I had been walking around every corner of Sören Academy to understand the geography of the place.
As I expected when I first saw it, the enormous land of Sören Academy was simply beyond my imagination.
'People didn't think highly of Sören for no reason.’
I sat on an outdoor bench in a quiet cafe and enjoyed the peaceful scenery.
I had finished checking the rough picture of it, so I was only thinking about the upcoming classes.
'Is it because it's almost time for the school to start? I see students more often.’
Students in Sören Academy's uniform were seen walking around. The uniform design looked cool for boys and pretty for girls.
It was said to be a uniform made by a prestigious designer in the Empire.
Perhaps because it was an academy that taught magic, some of the students flew on brooms or moved on strange mechanical dolls.
I thought it was a good time to see young people laughing and talking to each other.
Every day had been a fierce war since I came to this world, and such children live their blessed lives thanks to their natural talents and environment.
“Hmm.”
Two female students who passed by peeked at me and began to whisper among themselves.
Well, if I spotted someone I hadn’t seen before school started, I'd be suspicious as well.
I took a sip of coffee while being unnecessarily self-conscious of my surroundings.
‘I should go back to the accommodation after drinking it all and prepare for the orientation in a week.’
As soon as I was about to get up after drinking all the coffee that was left while thinking about it, a woman walked up to the table next to me and sat down naturally.
The moment I thought she was just a new customer, she spoke to me in a small voice that only I could hear.
"I'm glad you're safe. Why didn't you contact us for two weeks?"
“…?”
My instinctive intuition stopped me as my head was about to turn around unconsciously.
—Tap.
I naturally put the empty cup on the table.
“…”
‘Is she talking to me?’
I looked around.
If I responded when she didn't even talk to me but to someone else, what could be more embarrassing than that?
But no matter how much I looked around, there were no other people in my surroundings—there was no sense of presence either.
The only people sitting at the outdoor table were the woman sitting next to me and me.
‘It means she is talking to me. Or would it be more accurate to say that she talked to me?’
She continued speaking as I remained silent.
"I was worried that you encountered some troubles. The other members are also wondering what happened to Mr. First Order."
“…”
Members…
First Order…
Someone who was worried about me at the first meeting…
I couldn't know the details of the situation by that alone, but I could only be sure of one thing:
‘I'm in a lot of trouble now.’
***
‘What?’
I fiddled with the handle of the coffee cup in my hand.
I had just been drinking coffee while enjoying the atmosphere at the outdoor table of the cafe, but suddenly a strange woman had come up to me and talked to me.
Everything she said to me was unusual.
She spoke to me about members of something in a polite tone that regarded me highly.
A mentally ill person? No. She was being honest.
Then did she find the wrong person? No, she found the right one.
-She was there to see a man named Ludger Chelysie, not me.
As soon as I understood the situation, my mouth moved naturally, as if it was a well-polished gear.
"I had some things to check for a while."
"Do you mean something in connection with the terrorist incident? It was just an accident. No one knew that the rebel forces would attack the train where Mr. First Order was in."
"The other things as well. I need to find out the overall information about Sören."
"Didn't you receive any information in advance?"
"That's not enough. There's a big difference between what I only hear and what I actually see."
"I… I see."
The woman nodded her head as she was seemingly convinced.
‘Whatever.’
I let my mouth run its course.
"Then did you take care of your duty well?"
"Yes, of course. I've completed all the assassinations of the Academy's key figures before I came in here—even though most of them were employees."
‘What, assassinate the Academy's key figures?’
I almost jerked for a moment, but I managed to hold it in.
"And in the meantime, a traitor was found in the organization, so I took care of it."
‘What? Traitor? Taken care of?’
I swallowed without realizing it when she told me about a traitor.
"Disposal, huh. How did you do it?" I asked without showing my confusion.
"They pulled out their limbs and crammed them into their mouths. The rest of their torso was fed to wild dogs. I didn't see it myself, but I heard it from other members. We can say that it's the appropriate death for a traitor."
“…”
…They were crazier than I thought.
However, my mind became calmer in that kind of situation.
As the surrounding air sank heavier, I could feel the woman sitting next to me shivering.
"I… I'm sorry. I should have seen it myself and reported it…!”
"Forget it. Why did you suddenly come to find me?"
"Th-that. They said Mr. First Order came here, and we haven't heard from you in the last 15 days…”
"So you moved on your own at this important moment?"
I was analyzing the situation while I was talking.
She called me First Order, not Ludger.
Given that First was in front of the name, it was highly likely for him to hold a quite high position within the organization.
I trusted that and tried to bluff a little, and I guess that was the right answer.
"Hee, heek! I'm sorry!"
"Be quiet. Do you want the people around us to be suspicious?" I replied in a cold voice to the woman who was about to bow her head to me.
"Hmp. So, sorry…”
"Don't even say sorry."
“…”
"Yeah, it's already time to check it out anyway. How many members are gathered now?"
“Pa-pardon?”
"How many of our members are here?"
“Ah!”
She looked around as much as she could and spoke with a low voice.
"Currently, 31 members of Third-Orders and seven members of Second-Orders have been successful in hiding here, and the other First Order came in first as planned and is already settled down."
"Hmm, that's enough."
While nodding curtly, I sifted through the information I had gathered as much as I could.
‘I have noticed that there is one more person named First Order besides me and that there are almost 40 of them.’
‘Although they are not large in number, their ability must have been extraordinary, as they were able to plant this many people in Sören.’
‘Fortunately, this woman in front of me doesn't even question my identity.’
Rather, she showed me fear and respect as well as the sight of amazement in the meantime.
‘As expected, Mr. First Order!’ It seemed obvious that she was thinking so.
Looking at her like that, at least I could use something in order to gain something else.
"I see. I'm done checking, so I'll get up now."
"Oh! You can come to the designated place for our secret meeting later on."
‘A meeting place? There was a place like that too?’
But there's no way I could ask a question like, 'Where is it?' right then.
While I was thinking about what to do with it, a good idea came to me.
"Come? Did someone like you just talk to me about coming or not?"
I deliberately lowered my voice and gave her a cold look, and I could see her face turning pale.
That bluff might have worked properly, as she shook her body like a baby squirrel and desperately made excuses.
"That… that's not it. I… I'm just…”
"I don't want to hear excuses. If you need a secret meeting in the future, I will be the one to decide. The same goes for the place and time. Do you understand?"
"U-understood."
"If there's anything you really need to tell me, I'll only allow it if I was called for by a First Order like me or higher than that."
"If… if it's higher, then is it from the Zero Order?"
‘So there's a Zero Order.’
I had said it just in case, but I was right.
"Yeah, don't bother me with trivial things other than what that person said. Do you understand? This is a warning."
In other words: I'm telling you to behave well.
I said so and got up from my seat.
I was about to leave without looking back, but she called me from behind.
I stopped in my spot and turned my head slightly to stare at her.
"What?"
"That, that… How are you going to call us…?”
The moment I heard it, I realized something.
‘Come to think of it… I didn't explain anything to her properly.’
‘But I can't tell her something that I also don't know right away.’
"…Do I have to say it myself?"
"Heek! N-no! I made a slip of the tongue."
"I'll let it slide this time."
At the end of my sentence, I walked out of there in quick steps.
***
Thump thump thump!
Upon returning home, I hurried up to the bedroom on the second floor and took out the suitcase I had put in the closet.
After scattering the letters in Ludger's suitcase on the bed one by one, I realized that my anxious imagination eventually became a reality.
"…Hah, damn it."
The strange sense I felt while reading the letters…
Why did they have to exchange letters in such formal words to an acquaintance who had no family?
Why did a man with such a splendid record withdraw himself from his own private life to the point where it was close to mysophobia?
—All those questions were finally answered.
‘These weren't normal letters in the first place.’
I scanned special sentences of some specific words that were written inside the letters. The strange sense that I felt instinctively was that there was a certain pattern to those sentences.
Right…
It was a ‘cipher’.
—Their own cipher that they used to keep themselves from getting caught by the others.
Throwing away the letters, I reread his identification papers.
‘He’s a fallen aristocrat? He doesn't have a family? And—what’s more—he's from a small foreign country that's very far from the empire?’
The whole thing was fake.
Even the fancy records of his past were all lies.
The existence of Ludger Chelysie was an identity created by someone who spent a lot of their time on it.
Why didn't I know? Why didn't I doubt it?
Why did I naturally accept such an 'overly ideal' identity?
'Then, the Ludger I met on the train…’
He was a member of the secret society that hid in Sören Academy.
He was even an executive who had the title of First Order.
‘And now, I'm wearing his mask.’
As I lost the strength of my legs, I flopped onto the bed.
“Crazy.”
The identity of Ludger Chelysie that I thought was ideal for starting a new life… was actually a dangerous nuclear bomb more dangerous than any other ones.
‘I’m totally screwed.’
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