Chapter 69: The Hidden Listener

Now was not the time for Reysir and me to be bickering back and forth.

Especially since the topic had already drifted far from the original matter.

So, instead of responding to Reysir, I pretended to speak to him but actually directed my words toward Skadi.

“Anyway, Professor Skadi has already stood on the Judgment Platform and is currently carrying out her community service sentence, isn’t she? And she’s doing it sincerely, without trying to escape, even though she’s someone capable of hiding her presence and movements so thoroughly that no one would notice.”

Skadi could have disappeared after killing the guild master.

But instead, she cut that man’s throat and placed him on the Judgment Platform.

She also provided information on the assassination guild she belonged to the royal family, bringing down the organization.

In doing so, she avenged countless people who were killed by assassins from that guild, and in effect, saved many more lives that could have been lost in the future.

She could have used these merits to demand an exemption from punishment.

But Skadi willingly placed herself on the Judgment Platform as well.

To call her noble might be inappropriate, given she was an assassin.

Still, I believe Skadi is a person worthy of respect.

“Professor Skadi is already paying her dues, and none of the other professors have the right to punish her. In fact, they probably never even imposed private sanctions just because she committed murder in the past.”

“…If not that, then what?”

The expression on Reysir’s face was complicated.

His brows were furrowed in displeasure, yet the eyes beneath them gave me a favorable look.

He seemed somewhat resigned, but there was also an inexplicable sense of hope.

‘He’s trying to keep the conversation flowing naturally by adding suitable interjections. Looks like he’s caught onto my intent and is playing along…’

Still, I worried the image of Carvaldre might be overly glorified in Reysir’s mind.

But at this point, it was too late to stop what I was doing.

“Since scholarly professors don’t have any direct dealings with Skadi, the ones likely tormenting her are professors from the combat department. But even the skills they’ve honed their whole lives are meant for killing people, aren’t they?”

There are those who develop combat skills to protect themselves and their loved ones.

But that’s just an idealistic perspective.

Fundamentally, the purpose of combat techniques is to efficiently harm others.

“To become a professor at Valhalla Academy, one must have skills to match, and real combat experience is essential. You also need to build honor, which requires achievements. Whether it’s killing enemies on the battlefield, hunting down criminals, or fighting life-and-death duels by mutual agreement for some reason… most of them would have experience in killing someone, if not all.”

Some might argue how assassination could be equated with that.

‘But no matter how justified the reason, isn’t the weight of a human life the same?’

If you criticize Skadi just for killing someone, aren’t you forgetting the weight of the lives you’ve taken?

If so, they have no right to despise her.

“They went through hardships and edged out competitors just to barely become professors. Then, suddenly, a criminal appears and gets a professor’s position without any effort—that’s why they’re angry. But since they can’t challenge the royal family that appointed that criminal to the Academy, they’re just venting their anger on Professor Skadi, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, that could be it.”

“Even if those aggressors bring up Skadi’s past, it’s only to justify their own actions. I dare say their torment, which started as venting, has long since devolved into mere amusement.”

Bullies are always like that.

They begin to enjoy watching others suffer and submit, escalating the intensity of their torment for greater thrills.

As if addicted.

“That kind of behavior isn’t private punishment—it’s simply bullying. No matter what crimes Professor Skadi committed in the past, there’s no reason she should endure that torment. Besides, back then, she was merely a tool, so there’s even less reason.”

That should be enough to show that those aggressors are not rightful judges.

So now, I want to begin saying things that will ease Skadi’s guilt.

“You’ve seen Professor Skadi’s face, so you know she’s quite young. Considering her age, tell me—how skilled was she as an assassin?”

“Considering her age… her skill level is really absurd. No matter how talented, it’s hard to believe someone could reach that level so quickly.”

“So, despite her young age, she must have undergone extensive training for a very long time and been deployed countless times, right?”

“Yeah… probably.”

Thanks to Reysir vouching for Skadi’s skill, it was much easier to bring this up.

If not, I would have had to use the name of Duke Hard, claiming I heard from my father that she was the successor of the assassination guild leader.

It’s a relief I didn’t have to fabricate such a lie.

“That means she began assassin training at an age where she could barely distinguish right from wrong, forced into the work by adults. Was she kidnapped by an assassin who recognized her talent as a child? Or was she one of many orphans taken in and raised as assassins, with Professor Skadi among them? Maybe an assassin killed her parents on contract, then took the orphaned girl in and raised her…”

Even in the original story, it was never revealed how Skadi entered the assassination guild.

Because even Skadi herself—the one who should explain it to the protagonist—doesn’t know.

Her earliest memory is being locked in a secret room with many other children, endlessly undergoing training to kill.

“She didn’t choose to become an assassin. She simply grew up in an environment where becoming an assassin was natural, and her only perceived worth was being one. Naturally, she became an assassin.”

“……”

Reysir’s displeased expression had completely vanished by now.

Perhaps because he realized Skadi’s tragic past?

That’s a good thing. Just as much as instilling in Skadi a desire to escape torment, it’s important to prevent the relationship between Reysir and her from diverging from the original story.

“Even so, she realized herself that taking lives was wrong and made up her mind to quit.”

I looked Reysir straight in the eyes and continued.

“So…”

Even if others criticize Skadi without knowing her story, as the protagonist of this world, you—

“Should have sympathy and compassion for her, shouldn’t you?”

His golden monocular eye trembled visibly, shaken.

It seemed the point had sunk in properly.

With that kind of reaction, I could safely assume there’d be no hostility between Reysir and Skadi if they met later in the dungeon.

I exhaled in relief, averting my gaze from Reysir to once again scan the classroom.

Still, there was no sign of Skadi anywhere.

‘Could it be she already left the classroom and we were just wasting our time, mistaken…?’

If she was listening to our conversation, should I ask her to send some kind of signal?

***

While seriously considering this, Reysir suddenly asked, “By the way, how exactly have the professors been tormenting her? Surely they wouldn’t have mobbed and assaulted her, given they’re supposed to be professors?”

“I doubt that too. Skadi’s specialty is hiding, right? So the aggressors probably tried to inflict mental damage rather than physical pain.”

“…Huh?”

Seeing Reysir’s confused reaction, I added an explanation, worried he might think I was dismissing mental suffering.

“Everyone has different types of torment that are hard to endure. Since Professor Skadi withstood brutal assassin training, physical pain might actually have been easier for her to bear.”

But Reysir’s expression didn’t change.

My explanation was just an irrelevant afterthought due to a wrong assumption.

“No, not because of that… Why do you speak as if you’re just guessing? It’s confirmed that she’s been bullied by other professors, right? Didn’t you mean you fully understood how they torment her?”

“I purposely didn’t look too closely. It seems she no longer considers me a disciple… but if I found out everything, wouldn’t my pride as a professor be damaged?”

There was actually another reason.

If I learned exactly what torment Skadi endured, I’d inevitably compare it to my own experiences and measure the pain subjectively.

I didn’t want to do that, so I kept my investigation brief.

“What I do know is that someone maliciously revealed Skadi’s criminal status in the past, and only professors could have done that.”

“I understand that some professors dislike her. But shouldn’t a teacher’s criminal record be disclosed? Isn’t hiding it worse?”

“Yeah, it should be disclosed. So the malicious part wasn’t the exposure itself, but the timing.”

At the time, Skadi wasn’t hiding deliberately—she just did as she was told by those above not to say anything.

That’s a tangent without evidence, so I decided not to mention it.

“If that had come out at the start of the semester, it wouldn’t have blown up so badly. If you dislike a criminal professor, you just apply for a course change. Skadi could have calmly accepted it as her karma. But what if the revelation happened after the course was well underway and she’d grown attached to the students?”

“…She must have been hurt by the students’ sudden change in attitude.”

“Exactly.”

“And yet?”

“……?”

Suddenly, someone here reacted strongly.

For some reason, Reysir’s face suddenly turned icy cold and rigid.

I was about to wonder why when his lips slowly parted.

“And yet, they hurt you the same way?”

It wasn’t hard to understand what he meant.

Apparently, it was the same for Skadi.

Until now, there was no sign of her, and I was beginning to doubt if she was really hiding somewhere here.

“Of…….”

With a sigh, a human silhouette emerged from the shadow where there had been nothing.