Valerius Vale, the Head Guards, and Selenya Vale returned to the Academy. Valerius used the system to inform several students to come to the Principal's office, then he and the Royal Guards went to the principal's office and waited for the students to arrive.
When Valerius saw more than five students gathered, he addressed them:
"I'll call you one by one. You can all wait outside the office. I'll ask for you by name."
All the students nodded and left the area.
Uria and Adelind sat outside the office.
Adelind's head was hanging low, staring at the ground. She had never lost anyone in the past, but now all her subordinates at the café were gone, and the café itself was destroyed to nothing, leaving her completely alone.
Adelind had never imagined she would lose all her close subordinates and her café without warning. If she had known this was going to happen, she would never have started the café business or competed with others.
Now Adelind didn't know what to do. She had no one here she could depend on except for Arin Verdya. Her eyes were still wet and red, with tears continuously falling.
Uria was still crying, remembering all the time she had spent with the slum children and Kael. Now the slum had disappeared, and Kael's body couldn't be found.
"Sob... sob... I should have stopped Kael... sob..." she whispered through her tears.
Uria had always thought about eliminating the slum organization, but now they had also disappeared from the mana shock wave, and not a single person from the slum was alive anymore.
All the children had died in the shock wave, all the adults had perished in the shock wave. While Uria was crying with her head buried in her hands, cupping her knees, she heard a voice.
"What happened, Uria?" Aeren asked.
Uria looked back at Aeren and tightly hugged him, crying even harder. Aeren looked at her with cold eyes but did nothing.
"Aeren, you're alive... sob... I thought... sob... you d-i-e-d... sob..." Uria cried against Aeren's chest while he continued looking at her with cold eyes.
"Uria, calm down and look at me," Aeren said emotionlessly, staring with cold eyes.
Uria looked into Aeren's cold eyes but didn't react to his coldness—she had seen it so many times that she was used to Aeren's cold gaze.
"What happened? Tell me," Aeren asked her with a polite tone despite his cold eyes.
While Aeren was speaking with Uria, Adelind Zenc was called by the Principal.
Adelind entered the principal's office and saw two people: one looked like a knight, the other appeared handsome and gentle, wearing clothes more expensive than what normal nobles could afford.
Principal Valerius looked at Adelind, and guilt emerged in his heart. He was the strongest here yet hadn't been able to protect his students and the people around him. Valerius looked at Adelind Zenc again and said:
"Please sit here, Student Adelind."
Adelind looked at the chair and sat down.
"I'm sorry for your loss, Student Adelind. But please cooperate with us," Valerius said, but received no reaction from Adelind.
Adelind didn't even look at Principal Valerius.
Not knowing what else to do, Valerius sighed and said again:
"I'm sorry, Student Adelind Zenc. It's not your fault, and we will definitely find the culprit. Please trust us."
Adelind looked at Valerius, wiped away her tears, and said:
"I'm sorry, sir. Please ask away."
"Thank you, Adelind," Valerius said with a polite and soft voice.
"Can you tell me where you were on the day of the accident?" Valerius asked with a serious expression.
"I was with Arin, training with him in his room."
"Hmm, okay." Valerius knew about their marriage proposal and didn't ask further about their relationship. "Do you have any enemies or foes who might want you dead or want to destroy your new business?"
"No, I don't know of any. I had recently come to the capital and hadn't grown much to begin with."
Valerius looked at his report, nodded, then looked at the guards and signaled that if they had any questions, they could ask. The Head Guard acknowledged his signal and spoke:
"Ms. Adelind, I'm Head Royal Guard Tanmya from Verdias Kingdom. I came here on the king's orders as part of this investigation."
Adelind saw Tanmya and nodded.
"Did you notice anything suspicious around your business that looked different from usual?"
Adelind thought for a moment and said,
"I didn't see anything unusual, but I always had the feeling I wanted to leave that place."
"Hmm, you wanted to leave that place?" Tanmya thought to himself—maybe she had sensed future danger. Perhaps she was more talented than she was given credit for; she is the future of Verdias Kingdom and he thought for a moment and asked,
"Did you feel any danger from any person or around your people?"
"No, I didn't," Adelind said firmly.
Tanmya nodded at her words, didn't pursue the matter further, and asked the next question:
"Do you suspect anyone who might seem suspicious to you, or any suspicious activity?"
Adelind looked at Head Royal Guard Tanmya, thought about the destruction of Callie City she had investigated, and said,
"I suspect that the city's destruction and this case are connected. I think there might be people behind all this destruction. I'm not certain right now, but I want to search for them. I believe that person is the reason for all the destruction." Adelind spoke firmly and confidently.
Valerius and Tanmya had suspected the same thing but didn't have evidence or know their location. If they could do this much without fear of Valerius, it meant they had more power than what the Royal family and noble families thought.
"Yes, we think the same, but we haven't been able to find their location," Tanmya said, looking at Adelind.
Adelind stood up and said more firmly:
"I want to help too. I want to destroy them. Let me join the investigation."
"I can't decide this, Ms. Adelind—"
Before Tanmya could finish his words, Valerius gave her a quest through the System.
"Here, an S-rank Quest from the academy. Now you don't need permission—you can join this investigation," Valerius said with a polite smile, looking at Adelind.
Adelind heard the notification from the system.
Tanmya sighed helplessly but said nothing, because Valerius had the authority to assign cases to any student he wanted, and the King of Verdias Kingdom had granted this authority as part of students' practical experience.