Chapter 175: Truth (1)

Hoo, I let out a short breath.

In that state, I tensed my stomach and spoke in a clear tone to those who were looking at me with eyes full of heat.

“First of all, I am not Skull Mask, as you are curious to know, Vice-Dean.”

“Can you prove it?”

“Prove it?”

“Yes. From your perspective, it may be an absurd and ridiculous matter, but in any case, we have a situation where there is testimony and evidence that can be called decisive.”

The decisive evidence, of course, must be the photo someone posted.

“I can prove it.”

At those words, the people began to murmur.

The Vice-Dean, with a different light in his eyes, asks.

“Can you prove you are not Skull Mask?”

“Yes. However, I have a request to make as well.”

“A request? What is it?”

“As far as I know, Frey Academy has a duty to protect the rights and honor of its cadets before its duty to educate them.”

“That’s right. But it is also our duty to establish order on a chaotic campus. I hope for your understanding and cooperation.”

Vice-Dean Karad, it seems this man didn’t gain Bell Toro’s trust and become the head of the Academy for nothing; he seems to have caught on to what my request is.

But I’m not the type to just take a loss like a pushover either.

“For someone asking for my understanding and cooperation, you seem a bit too forceful.”

I looked around and continued.

“At this point, didn’t you all come here already thinking I was Skull Mask?”

The Vice-Dean, having nothing to say on this point, kept his mouth shut.

And for good reason.

The number of professors and the guards they brought with them to block the front was well over ten. In addition, this was the dormitory building.

Even though it was vacation, most of the cadets who didn’t go back to their hometowns were still here, and they weren’t the type to miss such a good spectacle.

As the current situation spread from mouth to mouth in real-time, the number of heads gradually increased, and soon I gave up counting.

In any case, the love for sensationalism is the same everywhere you go.

The Vice-Dean, who belatedly looked around, also hardened his expression, not having realized that such a crowd had gathered.

Even he, in his haste to resolve the problem quickly, hadn’t calculated this far.

‘Or he was really convinced that I was Skull Mask.’

“Are you asking for an apology?”

“Of course.”

I nodded at the Vice-Dean’s question.

I needed to be firm.

Because I planned to use this opportunity to imprint that I have no connection whatsoever to Skull Mask.

There’s no guarantee that this kind of shitty thing won’t happen again.

At the same time, I could feel the tense atmosphere gradually softening; my attitude was so firm and confident that they seemed to be slowly thinking, ‘Huh? This is strange. Is he really not him?’

Of course.

“This bastard, the more I see him, the more his arrogance knows no bounds. He can’t read the room and keeps acting up.”

There were also people like Allen Desico here, who hates my guts and thinks differently.

“You think we’ll fall for it if you act tough, you punk? You’re dead.”

Having made his threat, Department Head Allen snaps his fingers.

At the signal, the Head of Development, holding a search device, enters the dormitory with a few guards.

It’s obvious they’re going to search my room.

What if they find a skull shape or a staff with a night raven’s head on it, which could be called the symbols of Skull Mask, in there?

Then I would be confirmed as Skull Mask with no way out.

But.

‘I’m not an idiot, why would I have hidden it in there?’

The dormitory room is a place where anyone can pick the lock and enter if they set their mind to it; it’s absolutely not safe.

So I have never once kept anything related to being a thief in my room.

The place I chose was.

‘Subspace.’

All my thief equipment, like the Thief Gadgets for Skull Mask or Raven, is currently stored in my subspace.

A special space, separated from this world, that only I can open and close.

There’s no air, so living things can’t survive, and the inside is just darkness, making it seem like looking into a different dimension’s universe.

But it guarantees secrecy as well as convenience, so as long as I have mana, I can open it whenever I need to, regardless of the location, and take out and use the items inside.

“And you, open your subspace.”

“…….”

“You bastard. Stop with the tricks and open it quickly.”

Department Head Allen, who had come right up to my face, barks with a murderous expression.

Right. This man may look like a gangster, but he has reached the level of a mage in his own right.

‘There’s no way he wouldn’t know.’

Looking at the professors’ faces, it seems they had already discussed it among themselves before coming here.

I opened my subspace.

A pitch-black shadow that tore through the air and was revealed to everyone.

Department Head Allen, standing in front of it, took out a magitech tool and put it inside the shadow.

It’s a magitech tool called the ‘Expansion Rune.’

It has no special function, but when put inside a subspace, it ejects all the items inside.

Just like now.

Clatter!

All eyes in the area were drawn to the space in front of my feet.

The first things to catch my eye were the longsword I often use, the stiletto dagger I use as a backup, and other cold weapons.

Besides that, there were notebooks and other teaching materials needed for lectures, survival supplies, potion bottles, and herbs for off-campus activities and occasionally, some trash was mixed in.

That was all.

The things they were looking for, that is, anything related to Skull Mask, or even a scrap of a mask a thief might use, were nowhere to be seen.

“…….”

So the surroundings were engulfed in a heavy silence for a moment.

“Is there anything?”

I asked.

“Well. Is there?”

Department Head Allen was silent.

But his mercilessly crumpled brow told me his current mood.

With good timing, the Head of Development who went to search my dormitory returned.

Department Head Allen looks at him with eyes full of last hope, but.

“There’s nothing. Nothing at all.”

The Head of Development kicked away Department Head Allen’s expectations.

I put on a full smile.

“I told you. I have no connection to Skull Mask. Well, you told me I was dead earlier. So when do I die, Department Head Allen?”

“……Hey.”

“Oh? What. Is it now?”

“…….”

“But are you really going to kill me? Hmm. It’s absurd enough that you suspected your student of being a villain instead of protecting them, but now you’re even threatening me like this. Department Head Allen. I’m just curious before I die, but are you by any chance a professor?”

Tremble-

It was trembling like crazy.

His beard.

His eyes staring at me were unshaken, but that’s what made it more terrifying.

The place that should have been the white of his eyes was bloodshot from burst capillaries and that look was 100 percent pure rage from the man named Allen Desico.

‘He’s fucking scary. I should stop provoking him here.’

If I pushed him any further, given his personality, he would definitely try to kill me.

Then I would have no choice but to use the power of a thief, not a cadet.

And that would make all the effort I put into creating this situation meaningless, wouldn’t it?

As I said, everything I’m doing right now is all a show.

A kind of smokescreen to block off all of people’s suspicions towards me in the future.

“That’s enough, Allen.”

Fortunately, the Vice-Dean stepped in at the right moment and pulled Department Head Allen back.

Allen, who was on the verge of losing his mind to anger, quickly cooled his head and let out a sigh.

“……Hoo. Understood. I’ll get you next time.”

Of course, he doesn’t just back down without a growling warning.

Well, I cleanly ignored it.

It’s not the first or second time that man has given me shit.

I gave him a smile and then turned my head to meet the Vice-Dean’s eyes.

“As you’ve confirmed, I don’t handle or possess any items that could be seen as belonging to a thief. But that doesn’t prove that I’m not Skull Mask, does it?”

“That’s right. You could have hidden them in some secret place we don’t know about.”

Right.

It’s normal to be suspicious like that.

“So I’m going to clear my own name, but anyway, if I prove it, will you grant the request I mentioned earlier?”

“The apology, you mean? Of course. If it is revealed that you are not Skull Mask, I will not only apologize but also take responsibility and compensate you for all the losses you have incurred due to this incident.”

Oh, really?

I didn’t ask for that much.

As expected of the Dean’s friend, he’s quite generous.

“You promised.”

“I do not lie. Isn’t that right, Baron?”

“Yes. I heard it as well.”

Baron, who was next to him, nods.

And he looks at me with the corners of his mouth faintly raised.

The man who was extremely serious just a moment ago has now regained his usual composure.

“Right. So how do you plan to prove it? Are you going to catch the Skull Mask yourself?”

“No. I’ll show you that next time I have the chance. The one I’m going to catch right now is someone else.”

“Who…… Ah, don’t tell me?”

That ‘don’t tell me’ is probably right.

“Are you perhaps trying to catch the person who posted the photos?”

I smiled.

“Yes. After all, he’s an easier target than Skull Mask.”

“Hoh.”

The Vice-Dean looks at me with interested eyes.

The other professors nearby also cast similar gazes in my direction.

Meeting their gaze one by one, I took out an item I had prepared in advance from my pocket and held it up high.

It was none other than my photo that had been posted on every bulletin board yesterday.

“Well then, from now on, I will explain how this photo was doctored.”

***

Time flows back to yesterday when the photo first spread.

After Yuria and I discovered the photo and realized this doctored picture had been spread all over the campus, I contemplated how to resolve this situation.

But no matter how much I thought about it, maybe because my intelligence was lacking, no suitable countermeasure came to mind.

No.

Honestly, it just sucked.

I had risked my life and run around like that to avoid being suspected of being a thief, but people were falling for it hook, line, and sinker because of one photo?

What about my efforts?

My image?

‘Fuck. Are they all chimpanzees or something?’

When I thought about it, it wasn’t particularly strange.

Even modern people, who carry around smartphones, a treasure trove of knowledge and information in a civilization far more advanced than this one, are so easily swayed by propaganda.

Anyway, for me, it was a problem that needed to be resolved as soon as possible, so that night, I went to Lunatic to seek the help of collective intelligence.

But what was this?

The case was resolved more absurdly than I thought.

“What. This is my photo.”

When I gathered the family and took out the photo, that was the first thing Dayle said as soon as he saw it.

“What? Is that for real?”

“Yeah. To be precise, it’s a photo taken with a camera I made.”

“A camera you made?”

“Hey, I told you before. That I have a camera Luis told me to make. This was taken with that. Here, take a look.”

Dayle raised his finger and pointed to the small initial stamped in the corner of the photo.

[R].

“What is it?”

“Hehe. My signature. This signature is always stamped like a watermark on the works I create.”

“Cut the crap.”

When I asked what it meant with a dumbfounded look,

“You might not remember, but I told you I also ran a workshop when I was an artifact thief. The alias I used then was ‘Reed.’ I took the first letter and stamped it.”

He went on to explain the camera’s function, saying it had the ability to combine two photos into one.

In simple terms, it was a camera with a composite function, like Photoshop.

“How about it? Cool, right?”

As I watched him boast and babble, a sudden surge of heat rose up, and I smacked the back of Dayle’s head.

Paak-

“Keok! Ah, why’d you hit me!”

“Because I’m about to get screwed because of that, you bastard.”

I hit him one more time and asked.

“So where is that camera now?”

Dayle rubbed the back of his head and answered.

“Sold it.”

“What? You sold it? To whom?”

“Umm. I don’t remember well. His appearance was probably…….”

Listening to Dayle’s description, I was soon able to recall a cadet who perfectly matched the characteristics.