At the dead of the night, a group of individuals came onto the scene and got into a certain room.
"Are all their bodies here?"
"Yes, sir, but-"
"What is it?"
"There is an extra one among them."
"So what the request said was, "Take all the corpses in here." It didn't tell us the limit of what to bring, only the minimum, or am I wrong?"
"No sir."
"If you know, then what are you waiting for? Get to work; we're leaving now."
"Yes sir."
And without anyone knowing, the dead bodies of certain individuals vanished that night, leaving nothing—not even a speck of dust—to indicate that their traces were there.
~~~~~~~~
After calming down from yesterday's event, I came back to check on them. I'm quite glad that I somehow calmed down, even if just a little.
Something good happened that time too. I was able to finish all the necessary components for the request ordered, and I only need to put it all together, then I'll be done.
"Hik, waaaa, uwaahh!"
As I arrived at the clinic, I heard a sobbing sound in the girls' room.
...knock knock.
Rushing to the room, I knocked on the door slowly before entering.
"It's me, Bolt. Can I come in?"
Then the door opened, and I saw the former proctor and the guys were also inside. In there, I saw Talia crying as she was comforted by Kim.
As that happened, a person who seemed to be a high-ranking official came out.
After they left, I asked the proctor what happened, since I didn't know what is going on.
"Sir, can you tell me what happened?"
I said in a whisper to not be heard by others.
Then he said, "It is best that we go out, and you guys come too."
He left after telling the guys to follow him.
We got out and took some distance from the girls' room. But he was not able to say a word because of a sudden interruption.
Bam
"Damn it, what are the officials doing?!" James exclaimed as he slammed his arm against the wall.
"Haa, calm down. Miss Talia will hear you."
"But sir, this is just being disrespectful.*
"What happened?" Getting annoyed about the conversation, I asked forcefully.
"I'll tell you. Last night, the corpses of the people we fought the other day vanished without a trace.*
"But what does that-." I then stopped my sentence and thought of a conclusion.
"Gibson's body also vanished alongside them."
"That's right."
"How could that happen? What about the guards there?"
"They didn't know; they were knocked out at the time it happened. And what's worse is that we didn't find any clue on how this came to be."
Hearing him say that led me to think about what happened during that battle.
"Did they mistake it for Kalea's body?"
"No Kaleas' body was also there."
"Eh? Her body was still fully intact?"
"I can't say fully intact, but a body of a high-ranking individual can survive heavy impacts, so it is quite normal for one to still be intact or just be dismembered."
"So they didn't make a mistake but deliberately took his body."
"Yes, they did. But for now, let's stop this talk here, and it would be best for you guys to get some rest. And as for me, I still have some work to do."
He left us with those words. And not knowing what to do, we gathered ourselves back in the boys' room.
~~~~~~~~
"This is stupid!"
"More like creepy and disrespectful."
"Are there any perverts out there that want to collect corpses?"
"Let's just stop thinking about this. As long as we come across that bastard who stole Gibson's body, we'll pummel him till he regrets his actions."
I stop them from having negative thoughts, preventing them from spiraling.
"You're right."
"It would also be better if they caught the culprit quickly."
"Yeah, that's for the better."
As we ended the talk about what happened, we changed the topic to what they would do after they were discharged.
"My sister and I still need to get to the Sage Academy's entrance exam. Good thing I'll be discharged tomorrow so I can line up and get myself another badge."
"You guys are going to be my juniors, huh?"
""Huh. You're going to be our senior.""
The twins spoke at the same time.
"You guys are going to take the exam."
"Yeah, we still have our badge."
"That's right, it's still here.*
"Lucky. But are you going to be okay, umm?*
Kurt then asked but was unable to continue, for he doesn't know which is which among the twins.
"I'm Dane and yes, even with just one working arm, I'll definitely pass. I'm just glad I still have my dominant hand."
"That's good; having positive thoughts is the best way to pass this year's exam."
"Oh, really? Then can you tell us about the contents of the exam?"
Kurt then pressured James about the Sage Academy's entrance exam.
But James shrugged it off and said that it would be up to the teachers and higher-ups of the academy to determine what the contents are, but it is still generally divided into three parts.
Which we also learned during our registration. It contains the written exam, the practical exam, and an aptitude test.
I am okay with the written and practical exams, but the aptitude one is a problem, although I had prepared something to prevent me from doing the aptitude test. And it is not against the rules since what I will be doing would be better for the academy since what it shows is more detailed than what they use for the aptitude test.
We continued to talk until we ran out of topics, after which I left and returned to the store to finish the remaining work.
The days continued, and the entrance exam came. I had already finished the order request, and I did some repairs to my armor and weapons.
And during those passing days, I checked up on James and the others, and they had already been discharged. As for Talia, she calmed down and vowed to look for Gibson's body and create a grave for him.
And now here I am, going to the academy, ready to take the entrance exam.
~~~~~~~~~
"Mr. Principal, there is a problem, and I think you should know it before starting this year's exam."
"What is it?"
"Look at the number of registrants from yesterday. This is the total number after carefully looking at the badges."
"Hmm, there are an additional ten registrants over yesterday's report."
"Yes, and because we don't know which badge is which since these are newly made and we don't know how to identify the fake ones."
"But we made sure the numbering is the correct one, right?"
"That should have been the case, but."
"But what? Don't tell the documents being tampered with."
"We don't know if they have, but after checking it all with the files we have and the ancient device, the computer, we came to the realization that all of the files for those extra students did in fact exist."
"That's impossible, although we can already make a copy of the ancient device that we are using, which is the core original of said device. So it is impossible for it to commit any mistake."
"That should be how it is, sir, which leads us to a scary conclusion. We have a traitor in our midst."
"You mean the new batch of teachers?"
"I believe so, but we also can't rule out that our old allies might have already been converted to the other side."
That's true now; this is a headache. How about those who input the information into the computer?
"We already checked them, and we found nothing wrong. Either they can hide the truth carefully with a certain artifact or they are being manipulated by certain types of spells."
"You may be right to keep investigating and be open to possible outcomes. Because there might also be other ways for that information to bypass our system."
"Yes sir, I will do as told. But what about the exam?"
"Continue the exam. Even if the intruders may get in. It will not be detrimental for us since we already know they are inside. We can also use them to uncover their secret agenda and stop their future attacks on us."
"Okay sir."
After their discussion, they then created a certain group made up only of trusted individuals.
Their goal is to know who the intruders are, what their goals may be, and possibly prevent it from ever happening.
What they did not know was that the tenth student who came out of nowhere was Dustin. And thanks to this, they found a tenth individual that was to be kept hidden from their watchful eye even though that person came in with complete and legal measures.
They also found out that a certain noble group formed by different countries is in cahoots with one another. And no one will know that it was thanks to Dustin that they found out who the tenth person is—not even the person himself will realize the contribution he has made.