A few days after the battle, Drakvary's academy points continued to increase, and Wein had heard that more and more challenges would come with each passing day. Now, he had received a letter from a king of the Velraptoris dormitory.
A position that hadn't occurred for several generations—"the dragon has flown," as some dormitory kings stated in their letters and articles.
Drakvary was now at the top of the provisional rankings. Wein was quite happy, but several problems continued to arise in his daily life, and what troubled him most was the loss of the figure who had nearly killed him.
According to Wein, if that person failed to take down Wein Arcveil, their next target might be another prominent noble—and possibly Sherlyn afterward.
But recently, there had been no solid information about their traces, and the academy was currently investigating the matter.
Still, Wein was curious about what was happening and who was behind this mystery. He couldn't stop thinking about it.
Wein had an idea—starting by investigating the figure and either eliminating them or reporting them to the authorities.
Wein lifted his pocket watch, intending to call a friend, and pressed the button on the watch before the signal was sent out.
He only waited a few seconds before his friend answered the call. "Morning, Glen!" greeted Wein.
"Ugh! It's too early, ha… ha… ha." Glen laughed, and Wein chuckled as well, realizing he needed to focus.
"Glen, I want to ask you something!" After managing to suppress his laughter, Wein pulled out some papers containing a list of names.
"Seriously?" Glen laughed again before taking a deep breath. "What do you want to ask?"
"Glen, do you know anyone who likes mysteries? Or someone who solves problems?"
"What? Why are you asking this so suddenly?" Glen replied, then continued, "Yeah, I think there is, but I'm not sure they'd be interested."
"Can you tell me their name?" Wein asked curiously, pressing Glen to answer.
"Are you sure? That person's kind of talkative, and I don't think you could handle their nagging," Glen joked.
"Yeah… So, who is it?" Wein kept asking, clearly eager to know who Glen would suggest.
"Aria Everdisch."
"Wait, what? Her?"
"You're surprised, aren't you?"
"Alright then. Better than nothing. I suppose I'll write her a letter directly."
"You're even using a letter? I can't believe you're this serious about it, Wein."
---
"So, why did you call me?" Aria asked sharply yet softly.
The two of them were now in the neutral meeting room. Wein and Aria sat comfortably in chairs, and Wein handed over a sheet of paper he had written by hand.
Aria accepted it and then carefully examined it. The paper contained a statement about that mysterious figure, according to Wein Arcveil, and his desire to conduct an investigation.
After a few seconds of reading, Aria finally understood, nodded, and smiled before lowering the paper from her view.
"So, you want me to be the detective, and you'll be my assistant?" Aria exclaimed. Wein quickly shook his head in disagreement before opening his mouth.
"It's the other way around. You'll be the assistant, and I'll be the detective," Wein corrected, then reached into his pocket.
Wein extended his hand, dragging a sheet of paper across the table with his hand while pressing it down.
"Read this," Wein said as he handed over a small square paper, old and yellowed, with an unpleasant ink smell.
She took it after Wein lifted his hand from it, and her eyes carefully scanned the ink on the paper.
Aria's first reaction after reading it was shock, and as she pondered the date and time, she grew even more surprised and stared tensely at Wein.
"So... you want to find the answer to this date written here?" Aria asked stiffly as she returned the paper to Wein Arcveil.
"More or less," Wein replied quietly, then pulled out additional evidence—a glass bottle containing powdered residue and another filled with green acidic liquid.
"This, powder from the veil, right? And this water, from acidic mist," Aria identified immediately at a glance, clearly already knowing a lot.
The room fell silent for several minutes. They had started investigating, and the room was locked just for Aria to work. Wein planned to leave for a while due to his promise to the Velraptoris king.
"So, when do you plan to leave?" Aria asked sharply, using several lenses to identify the chemical substances in the items Wein provided.
"Maybe in a few hours, just to get some fresh air," Wein said as he read several documents.
"By the way, did you see the article posted by the Pyraenix dorm?"
"Oh, no. I haven't seen any articles these past few days." Wein finally put down the documents and replaced them with a book.
Wein then looked at Aria and spoke. "What was it about?"
"You know, sometimes they like to exaggerate things. They wrote about a masked person with monstrous power."
His reaction was laughter once Wein realized that the article was about him.
"Even the so-called hero laughed when he heard it," Aria said after placing down a glass bottle containing a thick, dark green liquid.
"I almost killed you back then—if you hadn't taken off your mask, I don't think there would be a Detective Wein here." She chuckled and couldn't stop laughing.
"Yeah, I remember the tense feeling when your sharp eyes intimidated me, and your hand was already on the trigger."
---
"Is that the Velraptoris dorm?" Glen asked, accompanying Wein Arcveil to a friendly meeting held on the bridge across from Velraptoris dorm.
They had intentionally chosen a public location so that Wein and Glen wouldn't suspect anything if Velraptoris had plans to harm Drakvary.
That was the bridge in question, and two people were already waiting in the center of it.
Wein and Glen quickly arrived. Before approaching them, Wein whispered something to Glen and asked him to hold the pocket watch just in case.
When they arrived, a girl with pink hair and eyes the color of cherry blossoms greeted them, accompanied by her female assistant.
"Narisa Florence." She smiled at Wein and extended her hand for a handshake before starting the meeting.
Wein returned the handshake and smiled warmly before introducing himself. "Wein Arcveil, pleased to meet you."
Wein walked with Glen following behind until they reached the center of the bridge, leaning on the railing comfortably.
"Shall we get straight to the point?" Narisa asked, avoiding direct eye contact after sensing the mana energy Wein used for intimidation.
All three of them could feel the aura but chose to remain silent until Wein finally spoke. "Go ahead, I'm listening."
Narisa then turned to her companion and requested something until her assistant handed her a paper filled with numerous paragraphs.
Once Narisa was ready, her hair blew in the western wind, covering her milk-white face—she was stunning, a secretary of the council no less beautiful than Loraine.
Narisa handed the paper directly to Wein, and Wein lifted it to cover his face as he read.
Wein read and absorbed the content, from the title to the last paragraph on the first page, with two more pages remaining.
He was so focused that several minutes passed. Wein finally lowered the paper and returned it to Narisa.
"I refuse," Wein said, cutting Narisa off before she could speak.
"Wait! This will even give you more compensation than what's written here." Narisa protested and stepped closer to Wein for no apparent reason.
"Even double that amount won't be enough to take him there," Wein explained, closing his eyes to think more clearly.
"Damn it." Narisa cursed, growling in frustration and stepping away from Wein Arcveil once she realized something was coming.
Wein widened his eyes as his nose caught a foul scent and his skin began to burn. He needed a few moments to realize they were enveloped by a mist.
"Wait, what is this?" Narisa asked, glancing at Glen and then Wein. She suspected the two, but they were victims too.
"No idea, but this mist is quite deadly," Wein said as he backed away from the railing and started coating his body with mana.
A dark gray mist appeared. It looked like smoke, but it couldn't be—it was thinner and had a different feel, followed by a foul stench and then another spreading smell.
In their view, the mist wasn't just plain gray; there were tiny particles like dust that became visible in the light, like stars scattered across the night sky.
At first, they suspected one another, but this mist seemed to be a power designed to kill slowly. Glen opened his eyes and used his ability to detect the mist around them.
After completing the detection, his eyes widened, mouth open—but he held his breath to avoid inhaling the particles.
"This, this... it's Radiation Mist!"