"You're talking nonsense!"
"Raising your voice does not make you right, Mr. Bishory. Take your seat."
Maron firmly silenced the shouting Salery. At a board meeting convened at his suggestion, Salery was accused of helping his son Sony steal the Phoenix Blessing.
Salery had already been accused by other board members, but Maron was the first to formally accuse him and raise the issue. The other board members immediately backed Maron and Sony's confessions strengthened their hand.
Sony admitted that he had used his father to gain access to the Phoenix Blessing, but added that his father had not intentionally helped him. Still, it didn't matter because Salery's responsibility was to ensure the safety of the Blessing.
"We entrust the headmaster of the academy with the most valuable work in the history of the academy and he can't take care of it. As a result, we are losing what many of us have been working on for many years. Will you take responsibility and do something to make amends?"
Professor Kayusha had put his finger on what everyone here wanted to talk about. The Phoenix Blessing, called Project Nana, was so valuable that it could usher in a new era, and those who had been here for many years, like Kayusha, had been working on it since their student days.
Salery, who had risen feverishly to his feet, sat in silence, unable to offer any reparation.
"If you are not going to do anything to compensate for Project Nana, I want to vote for your removal from the headmastership," Maron said.
Under normal circumstances, the headmaster elected by the board would remain in office for five years, but in special circumstances, the board could convene and demand a vote, and if three-quarters of the votes were in favor of removing the director, the current director would be dismissed.
In the history of the Academy, such votes were rare. Only twice has the board exercised this right to strip immunity from criminal headmasters.
If there was enough evidence on the Rie affair, Maron would have used it to get the directorate instead of waiting for Sony and using the Phoenix Blessing as an excuse.
Maron's ambition, the purpose of what he was doing, was to become the new headmaster after Salery's dismissal and to gain access to the small library, which could only be accessed with the headmaster's permission. Then he could realize his goal.
According to the executive order, if there is no objection, after the dismissal of the current headmaster, the second headmaster would become director until the next elections, without the need for a vote.
"Then I call for a vote. All those in favor of removing Professor Salery von Bishory as headmaster... Those not in favor... It is unanimously decided to remove Professor Bishory."
Professor Domini's open vote was swift and unanimous. After the vote was over, Salery's shoulders slumped and he stared, not knowing what to do.
"If there are no objections, the executive order requires me to take over as headmaster until the next elections."
No one on the board objected to this. Maron's first act as headmaster was to explain the Rie affair to the board and to throw Salery into the dungeon opposite his son, saying that he had been involved in the death of a member of the academy. Thus he began to keep his promises to Yu Valarfin.
***
"Yes, I wasn't there, but I heard that's how the meeting went this morning."
Yurine hadn't eaten for a day, she was so hungry that she couldn't even focus on listening while she ate.
But at the mention of Rie's name, her ears perked up and she made Lylphia repeat what she had told her.
"Did you hear that? If you want, we can go and question Salery after breakfast."
"Yes, Yu. Let's do that."
She had a wonderful smile on her face that Yu saw for the first time. Her innocent and sweet smile, her rosy cheeks and eyes shining with hope were the best expression for a girl.
As she ate her breakfast, she wagged her tail cheerfully from side to side. When Yurine realized that Lylphia's friend sitting next to her was watching her tail, she sped it up even faster, making the girl who was following her tail dizzy.
Then she chuckled and moved her chair a little closer to Yu.
"Yu! Look! This is the best, I like this the best, you eat this!"
After she had fed herself, it was Yu's turn. She dipped her fork into the cheese on the plate and brought it to Yu's mouth.
"I already..."
As Yurine wagged her tail and looked at him with big eyes and a big smile, he couldn't refuse her, he opened his mouth and took the cheese.
The cheese was soft, melting easily in Yu's mouth, but most importantly...
"Yes, it tastes very good..."
Yu could taste now. Everything he ate tasted so good that the first time he realized it, he cried again and surprised both Lylphia and his sweet friend sitting next to him.
"It's hard to believe that you are the people who killed the Redchapel killer, you look more like cute siblings," said the girl sitting next to Lylphia. She wasn't with them at first, but when she saw Yu, she came and sat next to them.
"These things are easy for me because I have a superior intellect, but Sivina was the one who killed him."
He had to give Sivina the credit she deserved, while not forgetting to praise himself. He was not going to steal her success.
"Yu! Come on, eat some of this! They all taste so good! Yu!"
She dipped her fork in the olives and brought them to Yu's mouth again. Yu, who had nothing to do, ate them too.
"These too, Yu! These too!"
Tomatoes, honey, eggs, bread... Whatever was left on the table went down into Yu's stomach. They all tasted much better than anything he had eaten in the first world, but this was the first time he had eaten such a heavy breakfast. This breakfast would probably keep him full until the evening.
Yurine had linked her chair with Yu's chair and was holding his hand when breakfast was over. In the relationship between Yu and Yurine that Lylphia saw, all Yu's efforts were met with coldness.
Now Yurine was glued to Yu and was showing an abnormally intense interest. No one could have predicted that they would become like this.
"I'm on vacation right now, so I have nothing to do. If you like, I can stay with you while you interrogate Salery in case anything goes wrong."
"Are you saying this to hit on Yu?"
Lylphia's face suddenly flushed as her companion put her hand to her mouth to keep from laughing. Yurine narrowed her eyes and studied Lylphia.
"W-what makes you think that? I just wanted to help."
Lylphia crossed her arms under her chest and averted her eyes. Yu had a stupid smile on his face again.
"Try to understand her. It's normal for her to be jealous of a smart, charismatic, hardworking, successful and talented person like me."
"I didn't say I was jealous, think of it as protection."
First and foremost, Lylphia was completely unsuitable for Yu. According to Yurine, Yu deserved someone much more beautiful and elegant, nothing less.
After all, Yurine had already planned his future and it was her job to hunt down the little snakes that were trying to tempt Yu's mind.
She had a great idea to make sure Yu would always stay with her after they saved her mom, and after she sent Sharley away, they would live happily ever after.
"I don't think they'll let us interrogate alone anyway, but you can come."
"Hmm-hmm... What are you going to do?"
She turned to her friend and they started talking about things that didn't concern Yu. Yurine touched Yu's face while Yu calmly waited for Lylphia to finish the conversation.
***
Just like going upstairs, going downstairs was just as tiring. The dungeons located under the West Tower went so deep that Yu did not believe it was possible to reach such depths by human hands.
But because it was in a fantasy world, there were no excavation machines and the probable reason why they could reach such a depth was readily available, magic.
There were knights standing guard along the stairs they descended. They were lined up one after the other, a few steps apart. They had much more serious faces than their colleagues in other parts of the Academy.
"There are some really dangerous things down there, so please don't judge them for standing so hard."