TRAITOR IN THE MIDST (I)

After an ear-piercing scream of a girl sitting in front of the dead boy, there was a moment of silence as young minds tried processing what had happened. However, unlike them, the young teacher, as well as Lynne, had their minds preoccupied with the matter of fact that someone was murdered on Academy’s grounds – no less in the classroom. As realization struck the minds of others, eighteen of them promptly got up on their feet, all racing towards the exit; however, just a blink later, the doors to the classroom suddenly closed and Magic circles appeared atop, dancing roundly, connected. The teacher had his arm extended forth, his face exuding seriousness. As others began screaming at him to let them outside, he clicked his tongue slightly before speaking.

“Silence!!” his voice reverberated against the walls, forcing all other sounds to come to a halt. “Nobody leaves until we figure out what happened!” with the absolute resolution in his voice, others had no choice but to comply. However, neither one moved an inch from their spots; some would occasionally glance at the dead boy, as blood kept pouring out from him, running down the table onto the ground. While others panicked, teacher began calculating what had happened – but Lynne, unbeknownst to others, had already began formulating his own ideas.

“It was him!!” one girl suddenly exclaimed, pointing at Lynne; she was roughly fifteen years old, had short, black hair, dark eyes and slender figure. Recalling back to the introductions, Lynne figured her name was Anna.

“Yes, it couldn’t have been anyone else but him!”

“Arrest him teacher!”

“How could you do this you scum?!” as other voices followed up girl’s accusation, Lynne frowned, slightly agitated.

“Me?” he exclaimed, pointing his finger at the topmost corner of the room, where he sat. “On contrary, I’m literally the only person that couldn’t have done it.” he said calmly, slight frustration apparent on his face.

“….” classroom turned into a circus of murmurs, and, despite Lynne’s claims, most people still firmly believed he had done it. Meanwhile, though, Lynne’s thoughts were far preoccupied to care.

As I recall, when he entered he seemed fine, Lynne’s thoughts raced as he recalled back the entirety of the thirty odd minutes of the class. So, he was killed in a thirty minutes window. Hmm, that girl, Anna, then that short boy Hayden, and that girl Elena sat closest to him. Considering how he was killed, it was most-likely poison. But what kind? What could possibly invoke that kind of reaction? Was it during the time they were casting spells? Before him, some girl, Anna I think, managed to cause wind to combust… nah, I doubt that’s it. After him some guy, Hayden I believe, created outward whirlwind… probably not.

“Everyone, calm down,” the young teacher suddenly said, sighing inwardly. It’s just like my luck for murder to happen while I’m teaching… “Sit down somewhere away from the boy.”

As others went to the upper rows and away from the boy, sitting down, teacher walked over to the corpse while Lynne remained standing, observing the situation with keen eyes. The teacher began examining the corpse, betraying his inner feelings via his expressions, and had quickly reached the same conclusion as Lynne: that the boy was killed by poison. He recalled only six different types of concoctions known to invoke such reactions, and all six required extremely rare and expensive ingredients. It was just his luck, as per usual, that three quarters of students in this classroom were filthy rich.

“Teacher,” Lynne suddenly asked, surprising everyone. “Do you see any puncture wounds?” although reluctant, the young teacher had to verify it, so he went back and re-examined the corpse. Carefully observing the places where it was most common to do it – such as neck, topmost of the back, and the thighs, he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

“No.” so it was airborne? They thought at practically the same moment; as their gazes locked, it was as if they suddenly gained a deeper understanding of one another.

It was not unusual for Lynne to be as perceptive as he was; after all, one could easily say that he grew up on streets, day after day. While he may not possess the top-notch people skills, his ability to see through lies and deceit weren’t on a novice level. He also occasionally read some detective stories that his father would give him, so he wasn’t unfamiliar with the acts of murder either.

It was a rather easy conclusion – this was assassination via poisoning. However, because of the lack of the puncture wounds, Lynne and teacher were baffled. Only other two means accessible were through air or ingestion of something; if it was air, then others would have been poisoned as well. If it was through ingestion, then he wasn’t killed here. However, because of the immense speed by which the boy died, it was practically impossible for him to have been poisoned anywhere else, as even teacher couldn’t think of a poison that lied dormant for extended periods of time before having such… vivid reaction.

The classroom fell into deep silence; while the teacher and Lynne lost themselves to the thoughts and possibilities, others also let their imagination run wild. Most still believed that Lynne was at fault; after all, the boy began bleeding shortly after Lynne cast his magic. It was possible that he purposefully cast something so bad as a distraction in order to poison the boy. However, teacher had quickly rejected this notion, as he was thoroughly focused on Lynne during and after the boy cast his spell. He didn’t even look at the other students, let alone cast or throw something at some of them. Lynne suddenly walked over to the teacher who was seated at his usual spot, and began conversing at low whispers.

“Who was he teacher?” Lynne asked; as there was no way to determine how he was poisoned, maybe he’d have better chance of figuring it out if he knew who he was and – in extension – who would want him dead.

“His name was Lionel Virmicht, son of Duke Virmicht,” the teacher answered calmly; perhaps sharing insights with another pair of eyes would lead to a quicker resolution of this mess. He had already contacted the Principal and the outer investigation had already begun, but it didn’t hurt to conduct one at the spot either. “He’s sixteen years old Novice, with relatively formidable background. His older brother is only seventeen but has already reached the rank of a Three Star Master, and is in the running for the next Arch Magus graduate. Other than that, I don’t know much. What are you thinking?” the young teacher asked at the end.

“Eh, nothing really,” Lynne replied, sighing. “Maybe we should ask those who sat next to him about what happened just before he started bleeding?” he suggested.

“Ah, good idea.” the teacher nodded, turning toward other students. “Anna, Hayden and Elena, come down please.” the three youths were startled slightly but went down nonetheless, clearly terrified.

“W-what is it teacher?” Anna asked, casting suspicious glances at Lynne, as if to say ‘What did this scoundrel tell the teacher?!!’

“You three sat closest to Lionel,” the teacher explained. “Could you tell me how was he during the class?” the three were sent into short moments of thought before Hayden spoke up; he was a relatively short boy with brownish hair and green eyes. His clothing spoke grandly of his wealth and he nigh always wore an arrogant expression on his face.

“He seemed fine,” he began. “As if nothing was wrong.”

“Yes,” Anna confirmed. “I didn’t see anything odd.”

“Ah,” Elena exclaimed softly; she was a sweet-looking sixteen year old girl. Her hair lingered on until her waist, golden, and her oval-shaped face had nigh perfectly symmetrical features. Even Lynne had to admit to himself that she was rather beautiful. “I noticed something strange,” she began. “It was maybe five-ten minutes after the class started. He coughed a few times, and his nose seemed to have clogged because he breathed through his mouth.” eh? Airborne after all? Lynne thought, confused.

“Anything unusual just prior to the moment he started bleeding?” Lynne interjected after a short silence. The three cast a disdainful glance, but after the young teacher nodded towards them, they still fell into short thought.

“Sorry,” although Lynne asked the question, all three turned towards the teacher as they began answering, starting with Anna. “I… I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Me neither.”

“Me neither.”

As there was nothing else to ask, the teacher sent the trio back up. Where they had hoped to find some solid answers, only more questions popped up. From all they established so far, it appeared as if the poison was airborne, but for some reason it only affected the poor Lionel. Nobody else showed any signs of discomfort, so the poison must have been concocted specifically for Lionel. Unfortunately, as they lacked knowledge about the boy, it was hard to determine just what exactly the poison attacked – and, more importantly – how.

Lionel’s father, the teacher thought briefly. Was involved heavily with Count Linden in the overtaking of the throne. He’s also one of the prime pushers of the tax-increase reformations. Could it have something to do with that? Warning? Revenge?

Lynne’s thoughts, however, spiraled towards other spectrum. This is what coins can do!! Buy your way into Academy, buy extremely exotic poison, and kill someone without being found out! I wonder are those tales about Goblins and their sacks of gold true? If so, where do Goblins live anyway? Even amidst this chaos, he still couldn’t discard the immense value of gold.

“Teacher, can I take a look at the body as well?” Lynne suddenly asked. He was certain he’d turn his innards out, but he was still more curious than cautious.

“If you can handle it.” the teacher replied indifferently.

Lynne walked over to the corpse, first examining it from a safe distance of a few meters away before slowly approaching. Shortly after, he was a breadth away from the boy’s face, taking in any odd detail he could find. Fairly pale skin, somewhat dried out, unhealthy, dark red blood, somewhat odd scent, apparent, blue veins on skin, narrow nostrils, purple lips…

Taking into account all of these symptoms, Lynne could only come to a single conclusion: the boy was poisoned by at least eleven different types of invisible killers. It was enough to cause him massive confusion and inability to properly form the theory as to how the boy was killed. For instance, the unnatural color of blood can be attributed to Vylen, a very common low-toxin poison that’s usually found in your everyday garden. Lengthy exposure leads to darker blood, but can lead to massive blood poisoning if ingested directly and in large quantities. Then there was Iorl, rather ruthless and scentless poison concocted from the Iorl fish, which could be the cause of practically all skin symptoms. Then there was Kurg, one of the quickest ways to die if ingested directly, but far less potent in the airborne form. However, both narrow nostrils and purple lips and even odd scent of blood could be attributed to it. I figured learning about poisons would have turn out beneficial at someone point… I guess not just yet.

Lynne walked back to the teacher, confusion reeling on his face. Due to this, the young teacher didn’t even bother asking, and instead continued on with his own theory as to why the boy was murdered. The young teacher suddenly narrowed his eyes as he received a telepathic message from the Principle – something only best of the Magus could use – in regards to the boy.

“It appears as if the boy was heavily allergic to Ardenia,” the teacher spoke softly to Lynne. “As well as coal.” Coal!! Lynne suddenly exclaimed inside his mind. That strange scent was coal!

Almost as if struck by lightning, the young teacher suddenly found a new line of thought as to who could poison the boy and why it played out the way it did, and he figured Lynne had come upon something as well as two looked at each other. As I recall, that girl Yve carried strong fragrance of lavender which practically filled up the room. In addition, there was me with strong… body odor. This would explain his respiratory problems, as two extremely potent scents invaded his lungs. Due to the fact that he was allergic to Ardenia, it’s probable that he avoided gardens, and wasn’t used to the strong scent of lavender, and when combined with my… body odor, it could explain why his nostrils clogged. That’s exactly why it took so long for him to die after she poisoned him with coal-submerged poison!

“I think I know who killed him!” Lynne exclaimed excitingly, ignoring the fact that others could hear him.