Chapter 27: New Evidence

Chapter 27

New Evidence

Well...the value of this cultivating stone, especially to those obsessed with training or those who enjoy research and seeking knowledge, was immense. A cultivating stone that allowed its user to enter a time dimension—wouldn’t that be a priceless gift?

"Lord of the Setter family, may I know the reason for your visit?" The eyebrows of the acting director furrowed in confusion.

The unannounced intrusion and the casual offering of the cultivating stone suggested this was no spontaneous act of generosity.

Steven looked around before his gaze settled on Ellie, the freckled-faced woman, then the top-ranking noble nodded slightly as if to reassure her not to worry.

However, Ellie’s slender eyebrows were more puzzling than ever. She and the head of the Setter family were not personally acquainted, the familiar face to him was rather the old mage, which certainly made Ellie’s suspicions grow. She wasn’t naive enough to understand nothing.

"I must apologize, Professor Odin, for intruding without prior notice, and I did not intend to eavesdrop on your conversations. But I heard that there are some suspicions about the money spent by scholarship student Ellie, am I right?"

Ellie squinted slightly. Having decided not to reveal her abilities, but then the head of the Setter family came in to talk about it, she felt like she was truly in a crisis.

"Hmm? Lord of the Setter family came here because of this?"

"Yes, and that’s why I had to come at this time. Otherwise, scholarship student Ellie might find herself in trouble because of us Setters."

"Then speak," Professor Gwen interjected in the conversation between Deputy Director Odin and the head of the Setter family, Steven. The middle-aged man, full of authority, nodded and looked at Ellie with a gaze that seemed to say, "Trust me," and then spoke.

"From what I’ve heard, you already know that scholarship student Ellie has the ability to track the location of various targets, right? Therefore, someone from the Setter family who accidentally discovered this truth asked her to help with some tasks until completion."

"He disclosed this detail to us the other day, and it resulted in the Setter family wanting to initiate a special mission to the institution. I suppose Professor Odin might already be aware of the details of the mission sent by the Setter family... correct?"

When Odin heard this, his face turned red with embarrassment. It must be said that the mission sent by the Setter family had been dismissed as non-urgent; he was genuinely swamped with work. Thus, the missions from the major families were not his priority to handle.

"The acting director is overwhelmed with work; it’s impossible to review documents sent just yesterday. There are other matters to check first," Professor Gwen quickly interceded, saving the face of the institution’s leader. Steven wasn’t here to undermine Professor Odin anyway.

"That may be, but there’s still sufficient evidence for this matter, isn’t there?" Steven said, prompting Odin to search through the overlapping documents. It didn’t take long to find the Setter family’s seal.

He unfolded the mission document. Although it didn’t specify what they wanted the student to do, it clearly stated that they needed a student with botanic elemental powers. And who else in the institution has those powers? There’s only one student and one professor with that expertise. If it mentioned needing a student’s help, it meant they needed “Ellie.”

Acting Director Odin was not the only one surprised; all the professors present, including Professor Medik, were puzzled as well. He himself only knew that his student could disintegrate various objects. Who would have thought the Setter family knew about his student’s tracking ability before he did?

Actually, Medik, Steven, and the others had the same understanding. Steven had heard from Koross that Ellie had the power to disintegrate trees and students’ clothes, so to help her conceal her abilities, he issued a mission that didn’t specify what needed to be done. Perhaps this ambiguity was fortunate!

“As you can see, this should be proof enough that the Setter family had already taken an interest in scholarship student Ellie, and it connects to how she had money to spend. Or do you still not trust us? Then go ahead and check the gold coins Ellie spent. Those coins are undoubtedly imbued with the Setter family’s magic powers.”

“The Setter family does this; every time we give young ones gold coins, we embed them with magic powers to verify identity. Since we don’t have a special power like the scholarship student, we just cast our nets wide. If our youth spend a large sum at once, we can then track it.”

“I believe every professor here is well aware of this since the Setter family has always operated this way,” Steven continued, and all the professors nodded. While other spending by the Setter family might not be imbued with magic powers, the gold coins they gave their youth definitely do.

Often, they would send someone to inquire secretly what their youth spent money on, and all the professors were implicitly aware of this.

Ellie was slightly confused by this. She remembered using the gold coins she received from the Setter family, but those coins didn’t have the magic powers mentioned. However, seeing the mysterious smile on Lord Steven’s face, Ellie was confident that he was here to help her cheat in this situation!

"I think the family head has no reason to lie, so there’s no need to check the gold coins he mentioned," Odin said wearily.

If the family head of the Setters was affirming it this way, it meant the money issue was resolved, demonstrating that Nara’s suspicions were incorrect.

Ellie didn’t have her own money and didn’t steal from the village, but it’s also not concluded whether she received money from Nara or not. However, now that the money issue was no longer relevant, it showed that Ellie had no reason to silence Nara by falsely accusing her.

"If things have come to this point and my student has proven herself to be without issues, then..." Medik looked toward Nara, who was behind Lucien. Lucien pressed his lips together and moved forward to shield his disciple until their eyes met fiercely.

"Even if your student has no issues, it doesn’t eliminate the possibility that your student could have falsely accused mine," Lucien continued to argue, causing Medik’s beautiful face to flush with anger.

And yes! He was indeed very angry.

“You!”

"Professor Medik, may I then speak about another piece of evidence?" Ellie interjected.

Regardless of how much her teacher argued with the other party, it was pointless. Lucien had to stand on one leg to support the heroine to the end. Well, who made him one of the heroes who was blindly devoted to the heroine?

"Another piece of evidence?" Regan, who was most interested in this matter, felt that scholarship student Ellie was becoming even more intriguing.

She hadn’t revealed all her evidence at once but had many cards up her sleeve. It wasn’t just that she was well-prepared, but the fact that she had managed to bring the family leader of the Setters himself here to clarify this matter suggested it was no trivial matter. What exactly was her relationship with this prominent noble?

"Yes, Professor. Here, I trust Professor Regan and Professor Gwen the most. Besides, if it were you two, no one would suspect that I had committed a disgraceful act like framing someone else. Could the two professors please check my room?"

"After my class with Professor Regan, I didn’t go to my room. Instead, I went straight to the Botanical Building to deal with the friend who I thought was the sincerest to me and who was waiting for me there."

"However...I saw through my purple mushroom that Nara had left something behind," Ellie continued, causing everyone to furrow their brows simultaneously. She wasn’t asking them to check for lingering magic power, but for some other kind of evidence?

Lucien’s brows knitted together. In fact, he wanted to disappear along with his light elemental power and personally deal with Ellie’s room. He felt that Ellie was so confident that his disciple had indeed left something behind. If everyone discovered that item, there would be no more excuses left.

Certainly, Lucien couldn’t do that. If he were to disappear now, it would only make him appear even more suspicious. Therefore, Lucien could only wait to see what the evidence mentioned by the other party was.

Nara herself didn’t understand what she could have left in that room. She had only entered to check where Ellie might have hidden the money or if there were valuable items that could be converted into money. After finding nothing of value, Nara immediately left and headed to the Botanical Building to appear inconspicuous. Yet...she was also scared of this close friend of hers.

Ellie had changed significantly. The foolish girl who had been deceived by her multiple times, why did she become so clever and strategic upon arriving here? She was so confident that she had covered all her bases, yet the other party had managed to bring influential people to her aid so promptly!

It was as if the person before her wasn’t the friend she truly knew!

"Ellie, you didn’t...plan this from the start, did you?" Nara felt a growing fear after reflecting on it. She didn’t know why, but Nara felt that this friend of hers was no longer like the friend she once knew. Ellie’s unpredictability frightened her!

Nara didn’t want to allow the two professors to proceed with Ellie’s request any longer. She truly feared that the outcome would turn out as Ellie expected, and ultimately, it might result in her being expelled!

If Ellie heard this thought, she would likely retort. When Nara claimed she was lying and stealing, why wasn’t she afraid that Ellie, who did nothing wrong, would be expelled from the institution? Yet, herself, who had invaded someone else’s room, was now fearful of the consequences!

"............." Ellie didn’t respond. She looked at Narra, who was struggling desperately, with a weary look. Despite feeling embarrassed, Nara had to fight with all her might. She couldn’t back down any further. If she backed down and it were proven that she had indeed rummaged through Ellie’s room, the consequences would cause her great pain.

"What if Ellie was the one who threw Nara’s belongings into the room in the first place?" Hearing Nara’s words, Professors Gwen and Regan almost wanted to laugh out loud.

Nara’s anxious behavior only heightened suspicions about her. Lucien looked at his direct disciple, who he personally selected, with a cold gaze. Yet, as a responsible professor, if it turned out that Nara had indeed intruded into someone else’s room, it would also mar his own reputation.

"And what if...the Setter family has a magic device that could reverse the images? Would there be any other excuse then?" Steven frowned in displeasure. This scholarship student was truly detestable. It was clear that she should give up, yet she continued to make various other excuses!True, if this situation involved someone else, he might not bother with such nonsense. However, it had happened to someone important to them! How could the Setter family watch their benefactor being mistreated!