Vol. 4 - Ch. 24 - Resolution of the case of exam paper forgery

The Adventure of a Boy with the Mind of a Middle-Aged Man

When I entered the council room next to the faculty meeting room, all of the professors of the Magic knight AC were gathered there.

Thw gathered Professors were divided into thier respective camps on the both side of a large U-shapes wooden table and glaring at each other as if they were looking at thier parent's murderers.

"Professor Shirabe!? You bastards! What does it mean to capture him when the suspicion on him hasn't been proven yet!?"

When the professor of the combat magic department saw me in shackles, he shouted in a loud voice as if he wanted to tear them apart, and half of the professors shouted in anger.

"Well, since everyone has gathered, let's begin the enquiry meeting about the unfairness method of this little boy"

Calmly Ignoring the storm of criticism, a white haired old man in armor stood in the exact center of the council room.

And outstretching his both arms, he said,

"Shirabe Ines Navarro here has forced his students to cheat in order to save his position as teacher!"

「「「In what way did he cheat!?」」」

Several professors from the aristocratic faction consented with deputy head unanimously.

"...... "

Honestly, I was speechless. Or rather, are they really not actors of a drama troupe from somewhere?

"Count Matthew Muru! Why don't you give an explanation about what happened this time to everyone?"

Matthew Muru stood up with a wicked smile on his face, gave a slight bow and said,

"To raise his evaluation, this brat gave a certain magic tool to Mia Cyrus who was anxious about her academic test. I hereby present the Quill pen"

And then he put the Quill on the round table that was in the dead center of the U shaped table.

"Demonstrate it, Count Matthew"

At the deputy head instruction, Matthew bowed politely and placed several blank white sheets on the table.

He moved his mouth to mutter something and the pen in his right hand began to move at high speed.

Then, After writing for a while, Mathew traced that with the feather of the pen a few times and all words disappeared completely.

(Oh, amazing)

I was a bit surprised by this. or perhaps more accurately, I couldn't keep my mouth shut.

If they have the technology to create a magic tool of that level, they don't even need to engage in some nonsense power struggle and just by patenting it or selling it as a new product, they earn a vast amount of fortune.

An organization that couldn't even accurately grasp the interest of one's faction doesn't have any future. Maybe the thing called noble lineage aristocrats is even more terminal than I imagined.

"As you can see. The brat there handed the Quill pen with this function to Mia Cyrus and made it possible for her to fill up the answer sheet. Though It's unknown if it's due to the malfunction of this Quill pen or that Mia Cyrus made a mistake in operating at the very end, the answer sheet was blank. Mia Cyrus falls into confusion at this fact and pounces upon the examiner. Then Cliff Millard, fearing that the series of cheating would be discovered, assaulted the examiner. This is the summary of this event"

He ended his speech full of confidence.

"How stupid to force a student to cheat when you see that they can't get passing marks!"

"I know really. Most likely, he must have used his wealth to get this magic tool. What else can be expected from the child of a lowly aristocrats, they can only use the underhanded means to cling to their aristocrats position"

"It's because there are such fellows aristocrats like him that lowly aristocrats and merchants are getting conceited. They should be punished severely to make them clear where they stands"

"Exactly! It's an insult to the pride and honor of the tradition of Knight Academy. The law of national defamation should be applied, and he should be executed together with the students!"

After that, all sorts of complaints and malicious remarks welled up one after another in the room. I now fully understand the extent of these peoples.

The plan they came with was the most boring and lowly among the one I could think of. However the tool they used to execute the plan was of the highest standard. Not balance, plan and the tool aren't of the same standard at all.

"So? Do you have any proof of that?"

I hurl a question at them which in a sense I don't need to hear.

"Proof is the existence of this Quill pen confiscated from Mia Cyrus"

"Fumu, however even if that's true and proved that Mia used it, I don't think it necessarily means I was the one who gave that to her. To begin with, I was kept in dark about joint examination question itself"

This time, it was the professors of noble lineage aristocrats who were saying all they wanted like [are you going to abandon your students while you yourself used underhanded means?] Or [you're not even unable to live up to your reputation as a teacher".]

Of course, they are scummy bastards. They have to politely crush my rebuttal.

"We searched your desk in the presence of executives and discovered the sheets of paper mentioning the joint examination questions and their answers of the S and G class. All the answers are the same as recorded in this Quill pen. You can't make an excuse anymore!"

You can't make an excuse huh? That's exactly what I'm going to say to you now.

"Ohhー, the documents recorded with the joint examination question of the S and G class and their answers are discovered from my desk and everything is same as the one recorded in that Quill pen, right?"

"That's right! I will now present those documents"

Matthew distorts his expression in triumphant fashion and makes a snapping gesture.

One of the staff members standing in the sideline placed several sheets of paper on the table that was precisely in the center of U shape.

"These are the mentioned documents. All of our claims have been verified by professor Oscar and professor Rebecca."

The two of them sitting in the exact opposite seat stood up and bowed courteously.

"Rebecca! Even you!?"

The Professor of the Combat department slammed his right fist on the table and gave Rebecca a piercing glare.

"I'm simply full filing my duty as the chief executive"

Rebecca declared it as a matter of fact with an expressionless face without making eye contact with the colleagues.

"Professor Oscar and Professor Rebecca, is Count Matthew's claim that these answer sheets were in the locker of this kid true?"

When both of them nodded silently at the Deputy head's question, an uproar Immediately rose up as if the beans had popped out. Even the old professors that were with me began to voice their suspicions. Matthew and the Deputy head look at them with satisfaction.

Interesting. It's really funny and amusing.

"Everyone, please listen! There is one more fact we have discovered! Unexpectedly, the joint examination question paper of S and G class is made up by the professors of Sagami Company, which is managed by this brat! In other words, we can assume that questions were set up under the joint coalition of professors of the Sagami Company and this brat. So everything that this kid says is a lie!"

At the indictment of the Deputy head, the room once again buzzed.

Criticism like "outrageous!", "Cheater", "Coward" and "liar" hurled from the aristocratic faction's side.

"Say whatever you want, examination questions were originally made up by the professors in charge. Even if what you guys said is right, I don't think you guys have any right to criticize me even if I get my hands on the questions"

In response to my tedious looking unsightly words,

"Hmph! Did everyone hear!? This guy finally admitted!!"

Deputy head asked for other consent with a tone bouncing in pride as if to say "look, what I said was true". The aristocratic faction's Professors become more and more impudent.

Certainly, it's clearly forbidden to teach students about the exam questions itself and an automatic written magic tool is even more out of question.

However, the exam questions themselves were originally made up by the professor in charge. Among the people who are hurling abuses at me right now, I'm sure there are those who indirectly taught their students about the exam questions in the class or lowering the questions' difficulty.

No matter how unfair it is, something like I know the exam questions or my participation in creating them in itself is not illegal.

"The documents discovered from the desk of this brat mention joint exam questions and their answers, plus the existence of the Quill pen left behind by Mia Cyrus. I don't think we need to discuss what is truth and what is lie, this brat is guilty!"

The voices of approvals rose up one after another at the Deputy head's high spirited words.

"Old Sieg, you have to take responsibility for having faith in this fellow and receiving him as an assistant teacher!"

Matthew crossed his arms and even turned the flow of conversation to Sieg, who was keeping his silence until now.

"Do whatever you want"

Sieg replied bluntly with his arms crossed.

"If so, from the charge of S class, you areー一"

"Hold on Matthew, I'm extremely dissatisfied right now. If you want to have a blast with that monster, go ahead and do it. But I am not going to have anymore conversations with the self-destruction loving idiots. So shut up for a while!"

Mathew's cheeks twitched from being intimidated by the furious expression of Sieg. This guy Sieg, seems like he's a considerably capable person.

I didn't expect him to be so angry at those small fry who can't even play their role as villains properly.

Most likely, the deciding factor is the final game. Sieg, in his own way, had at least a minimum of trust in the Lord of military affairs Horus, Caesar and Sylphy. It was an uncontrollable urge to have that trust spat upon so easily. His dissatisfaction will most likely remain low for the time being.

Anyway Sieg emotions or anything doesn't matter now. Let's end this farce quickly.

"It should be enough now, right? I'm a bit tired from dealing with the idiots. Please end it quickly"

" "...... " "

Oscar and Rebecca nodded slightly at my suggestion and rose from their seats, carrying a wooden board to the U-shaped table.

"This is something we created based on a certain magic tool using life magic in joint cooperation with a certain company. Also, these are evidence rather than claims. Please check it"

Oscar took out a blank sheet from his pocket and put it on the front of wooden board. Everyone stared at the blank sheet overhang on the board.

After carefully investigating the several dozen or so images affixed on the board, half of the professor's face flushed like a red ogre and trembled with anger.

And the other half of the professors from the aristocratic faction were looking at Deputy head and Matthew bewilderedly with their faces ashen.

What was displayed was a picture. It's a camera that was recently created by my Sagami Company and it's already circulating in the market of Ruddle city. And the compact version of that camera was improved thanks to the life magic of Oscar, giving improvements like soundproofing features etc.

I and Oscar jointly developed it after coming to the conclusion that we need something like surveillance cameras to keep suspicious people and fraud in check.

"A, all of this is complete nonsense!!"

Matthew, the mushroom haired professor, was denying the authenticity of the picture with a gloomy and deathly expression for a while.

Not surprising. There were dozens of images.

In the first was the examiner whom Cliff had beaten, handing something like a ring to the Matthew image.

In the second was the image of Matthew's subordinate wearing a ring and hovering it above a blank sheet and another image in which letters can be seen.

In the third was the image of Matthew holding that paper and looking at it with a triumphant expression. In that paper were the S and G class common examination questions and the answers from Mia's answer sheet.

In the fourth was the image of appearance of Matthew receiving a Quill pen from a suspicious looking man wearing a black robe and even his face was hidden with black cloth image..

In the fifth was the image of Matthew handing a key to his male subordinate.

In the sixth was the image of that male subordinate sneaking into my professor's private room while looking around carefully and the image where he put the examination questions inside my desk and leaving quietly.

It maybe hard to understand from each images alone but if you joint them together and think about it, it was clear that Matthew used the ring's magic tool and erases the letters from the answer sheet of Mia, depicted them once again into the blank paper and instructed his subordinate to put that sheet into my desk locker. Or rather, it's clearly screaming this no matter how you look.

"I have never heard about the Magic tool that can cut out a person's appearance and project it onto the paper! This is a trap to set me up!!"

You know what. The ring you guys used that can copy and paste letters and the Quill pen's function of automatically recording them is a bigger cheat and seems fishy. Even I am unable to analyze the principle behind them for now.

"No, I have heard rumors that Ruddle has already developed a magic tool that can project the thing, people or the scenery on the paper"

A silver haired young man with swept black hair style, Lennox Laflaris, put up his hands in his chin and denied the words of Matthew.

"That's right. It's just recently I have come to learn about this when the madam of an acquaintance showed me Ruddle's special made paper that can copy the appearance. Apparently it's trending in Ruddle"

A professor from the aristocratic faction sitting next to Lennox expressed his simple impression.

There were also several professors among the aristocratic faction that were watching from the sidelines, not engaging in conversation. He must be the same as Oscar and forcefully selected as professor this time due to the fencing of the pure-bred aristocrats faction.

"You guys, are you going to take his side!?"

When one of the aristocrat from the aristocratic faction shouted in a fit of rage at Lennox and others,

"Anyway, I'm a professor at this academy. Nothing more, nothing less. I don't plan to take anyone's side. Besides, I'm just stating the truth. Why is it a problem?"

"Lennox, you bastard!!"

Matthew looks at Lennox with a furious expression. A bit delayed but the room buzzed once again.

Almost all of the professors of the aristocratic faction hurled abuses at him, doubting his sanity, but a few of them began to act like it's someone else's affair and opt to remain silent.

"Anyway, can you even believe in the magic tool that this brat's territory took part in!?"

Deputy head spit out his typical line with his whole face dyed in dissatisfaction.

"Deputy head, even the professor Oscar, who has been recognized by the Ex-Emperor, has participated in the development of this magic tool this time. I think you need to have some concrete evidence before judging this as false, no?"

When Deputy head turned his sharp eyes at Lennox, as if he's looking at his parent's enemy,

"For argument's sake, even if there's a magic tool like that, how did you take this image? You would normally be noticed if you take an image from this close!!"

Deputy head's doubt about this point was reasonable. After all, remote control of the camera in modern science is common knowledge but this world doesn't have that concept. However, we haven't added this function in the camera this time. The reason for this isn't some scientific explanation but something more fundamental and direct.

"It was taken by him"

I snapped my fingers and a man appeared out of nowhere while stroking his trademark loach beard.

When they saw the armband in his right a,

"Y, You, are you from the research division!!?"

Dean Riot rose up from his seat enthusiastically and shouted in a disarray.

"Yes. I thought about what if you guys asked for credibility and so on, so I also had the lord of domestic affairs cooperate with me who was visiting the academy just then. Of course, His Majesty was also happy to support this plan"

"No way...... "

When I said this, Matthew's face was dyed in the color of despair. In short, the plan was doomed to fail from the beginning.

I instructed the Spy to contact Emperor George and lord of domestic affairs Immediately following the incident, and proposed this plan.

Apparently, the Lord of domestic affairs guessed that some kind of trouble will happen for sure, so he was in the middle of his visit to the academy accompanied by his trusted subordinate, Count Hakuro. He lends me his subordinate in order to end the farce this time swiftly.

On the one hand, because the examiner beaten by Cliff was being questioned by the academy Dean and the executives, the contact with Matthew came afterwards, so there was enough time to come up with the plan.

I offered a concealment grimoire to him, and Count Hakuro, who can no longer be perceived after signing a contract, secretly listened to the conversation between Matthew and the aforementioned examiner. And as evidence, he took photos of the whole ordeal.

When the individual practical exam was over, in the recess before the beginning of afternoon team battle, I presented the photographed images to Oscar and Rebecca, one of the executive officers and asked for their support.

Both of them agreed immediately and promised to cooperate, though Oscar was specially mad at the misuse of life magic he majors in apparently and I had to made various accommodations between us.

After that, Count Hakuro trailed the man in charge of execution similarly while making himself disappear with the concealment magic and took the photo of the crime scene.

"Count Matthew Muru, you are hereby arrested on charges of forgery of official documents and false accusations"

Saying this, when Count Hakuro knocked his palm a few times, the door was opened with a great momentum and guards surges inside.

"W, wait a minute!"

Matthew screamed and struggled violently in order to escape from the restraints of the heavy armored men.

"I have heard the scummy plan of you guys with my own ears. No rush, I will listen to your excuse slowly later. However, not only His Majesty the Emperor and lord of domestic affairs who participated directly in the matter this time, but even the retired Emperor who came to know about this matter is extremely furious. It's hard to say if he can survive safely."

Matthew finally collapses and stops resisting when he learns that he was denied even by the Ex-Emperor, who is his spiritual support.

Vol. 4 - Ch. 24 - Resolution of the case of exam paper forgery

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