After a fruitless search for certain professors, in the dimly lit hallway above the students' dormitories…

「…Son of a fucking bitch. Figures none of them were there. They must be in class.」

Straf remarks, reading through the headmaster's list of staff. He throws it into his [Portable Storage], then walks up to one of the doors in the hallway.

Thud thud thud!

「Wolfskopf, open up! I know you're in there!」

He shouts, banging his fist on one of the doors.

Thudthudthud!

「Yes, yes! Coming!」

A muffled voice replies through the door.

「Yes?…」

The door cracks open, and a man in glasses peers his face through it.

「Ah. You're the one who sits with those girls… What is it? I'm rather busy preparing material for my classes.」

When he sees Straf standing right outside with his hands in his pockets and his face in a tight-lipped grimace, he opens the door fully.

「The game is up, Wolfskopf…」

Straf replies with a cold glare, and walks into his room. Wolfskopf is forced to take a few steps back through the narrow entrance to avoid Straf bumping into him.

「Wh- What? What game?」

The confused professor asks, walking back while a frigid yet hostile face stares down at him.

「You know which. You are the one responsible for what's happening, and I want to know why.」

Straf says, practically walking into Wolfskopf's book-cluttered room. The resemblance to Cycelia's room is almost uncanny in its clutter, although since there is only one bed, there is a small bookshelf in the corner.

「For what's happening?… What do you mean?… Wait, are you- Are you perhaps accusing me of the curse and the barrier situation!?」

Wolfskopf asks with an outraged expression. Straf doesn't respond, and continues glaring at him.

「…That's preposterous! I was sleeping when it happened!」

He explains himself, spreading his hands in desperate attempt to convince Straf.

「Hoooh? Mighty convenient of you to sleep while something important is going on.」

Straf remarks, leaning down uncomfortably close to the professor's face. He stumbles backwards further, and his face becomes covered in drops of sweat.

「…Of course I was sleeping! It was nighttime! I had classes! Professor Welz woke me up, and informed me what happened!」

「Who's Welz?」

Straf asks, suspiciously narrowing an eye at him.

「Professor Welz! He's the Professor of Necromancy! He teaches the second year students on everything related to that! He told me to get up and come with him to the gate!」

Wolfskopf explains, only to be met with a cold glare in return.

「…So you dare to deny your involvement even now?」

Straf growls, taking another step towards him with a face of pure disdain. The professor shrinks, and adjusts his glasses while the handsome man towers over him, emanating an immense presence.

「I- Uh… I have no involvement… So… I s- Suppose so?…」

He meekly replies, and wipes the beads of sweat rolling down his forehead with the back of his hand. A long silence begins while Straf continues glaring at him, and the professor gulps.

「Tsk…」

Straf clicks his tongue, and turns to leave the small room while sucking air through his teeth. He lets out a loud sigh as he leaves into the dim hallway, and pulls the door shut behind him.

「Welz… Welz, Welz, Welz…」

Straf mumbles as he opens his [Portable Storage], and reads through the list again.

He looks at the headmaster's door in the distance, then counts the ones on the side. He throws the paper back in, and walks up to the fifth door from the headmaster's office.

Thudthudthud!

「Open up, Welz! Don't think for one second that you can hide in there!」

Thudthudthud!

Straf shouts, banging his fist on the door. The door swings open, and a panicked face of a boy no older than 17 looks wide-eyed up at him.

「Y- Yes?」

He asks, looking at Straf with a nervous, tight-lipped grimace.

「Where's that Welz guy? No, wait, more importantly, why does he have a little boy in his-」

「I am Welz…」

The young man replies while pointing at himself, cutting in. His brown hair covers most of his face, as if he was wearing a mop on his head.

「Huh? You? Bullshit. He's hiding in there, isn't he? I'll kill that son of a bitch-」

「Hyii!」

The young man lets out a whimper and shrinks in response to Straf's threat, while he's peeking over him and trying to catch a good look into the room. Surprised by the noise, Straf turns his glare downward.

「W- Why?」

The young professor hesitantly asks, pressing his lips together while his eyes barely glimmer through his hair.

「…So you did it, huh?」

Straf says, glaring at the scrawny boy in robes.

「D- Did what?」

「Do you think I'm stupid? Is that it?」

Leaning down, almost squatting down, Straf growls with a disdainful face. Professor Welz takes a frightened step back, shaking his mop-like head.

「Then stop fuckin' acting like it. You think I can't make the connection between a necromancer and a thing that will kill a little over a thousand nerds?」

Straf straightens out, towering over the young man, glaring at him with his hands in his pockets.

「H- Huh? But the only thing I've done regarding that is find out the nature of the current curse. I am not responsible for it!」

Welz replies, albeit shrinking away in fear of reprisal from Straf.

「Oh yeah? What were you doing when it happened? Where were you?」

Straf asks with a cold gaze, and almost poking the professor's face with his finger.

「I was in the library. I was reading on ghouls-」

「Because you want an army of ghouls, you son of a bitch!」

He then outright accuses Welz, shouting in his face.

「No! I already know everything that there is to know about them! I refresh myself on the basics to not skip out any details! It's important if I am to share my knowledge! I can't teach people wrong things!」

The professor strongly denies, shaking his head again. His hair flaps around, and he stares at Straf with huge eyes that reflect the blue light from the hallway.

「…Do you not realize that I already know that you're responsible?」

「H- Huh?」

The professor blinks, furrowing his brows. Straf stares at him with a cold glare that refuses to do anything, but pierce through his very being.

「Yeah. So let me ask you this again… Do you think I'm stupid?」

Straf growls out a question, and the professor is quick to shake his head in panicked denial.

「So, did you do it?」

He adds, spreading his hands.

「T- The curse?」

Welz asks, tilting his head. Straf replies by only spreading his hands further, and adding a little inquisitive tilt to his head.

「…Are you going to do something to me if I say no?」

The professor gulps, and hesitantly asks. Straf doesn't reply, and silently places his hands back in his pockets while still coldly glaring at him.

「…I didn't do it. I don't have a grudge against anyone, let alone the entire Academy. Everyone has been nice to me here…」

Welz says, lowering his head. His face sinks entirely behind the curtain of his hair.

「Yeah? So why did you wake up Wolfskopf and tell him to come with you?」

Straf asks, pointing at the young professor again.

「Huh?」

「You think I don't know about that? I know everything. Go on, explain yourself.」

「The headmaster rushed into the library, and told me to wake me everyone then hurry back to the gate. I woke up Professor Reise, Professor Wolfskopf… Everyone who was sleeping.」

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Welz explains, gesturing heavily with his hands, pointing in the general direction of the stairwell and the doors behind Straf.

「Tsk… Where's Reise?」

Straf asks, and the young professor points directly at a door behind Straf.

「That's his room, but I'm not sure if he's there… Then again, he's been sleeping quite a lot recently. I hope he's okay.」

Professor Welz says, and lowers his hand. Straf backs out of the doorway, and unceremoniously slams it shut in the professor's face.

Thud!

He turns around, and walks right up to the old professor's door.

Thudthudthud!

「Reise! Come out! I know what you did!」

Straf exclaims, slamming the door with his fist.

Thudthudthudthudthud!

He continues, and waits a few moments.

「…Is he not here?」

Thudthudthudthud!

「I know you're in there! Open up!」

Straf shouts at the door, and waits.

Crrrrreak.

Just as he's about to hit it again, the door seemingly opens by itself. Straf furrows his brows, and looks down. An old man's shiny, nearly bald head glitters in the dim light, and the man's squinting eyes look at him.

「Er… Yes?… Who might you be?」

Professor Reise hesitantly asks, tilting his head.

「I know what you did. Why don't you tell me why?」

Straf nonchalantly replies, glaring at the old professor.

「Huh? Why what?…」

Reise looks at Straf a dull, fish-like gaze, and his jaw hanging slack.

「Your confused old man act isn't going to trick me. You know what you did. I want to know why.」

Straf points down at the tiny old man, glaring at him. The professor blinks, and turns his slack-jawed gaze away, thinking about something with greatly furrowed brows.

「…Does it have something to do with the bathroom?」

He asks, looking at Straf with the same, confused face.

「Wha-?… You tell me.」

Straf's head perks up in momentary surprise, but he quickly recovers, and growls a demand while pointing at the old professor's squinting face.

「…I didn't notice the lid is down again, did I?… Oh dear…」

Professor Reise asks as he grows deeply troubled, and rubs his balding head.

「…What?」

Straf asks with furrowed brows, no longer able to maintain the facade.

「Err… Ah… This is really embarrassing… Please let the janitor know that I did not do it on purpose. It's just I can't see if it's up or down, and the spectacles aren't of much help anymore… Oh dear…」

Professor Reise explains himself, throwing his hands up in shame and pacing around on the spot while grimacing.

「…What the fuck are you talking about, old man?」

Straf asks outright, spreading his hands, shaking his head in confusion.

「You are here because the toilet was splashed, no?」

The old man asks, tilting his head with his jaw slack again.

「Wha-?…」

The two stare at each other in prolonged silence, both deeply confused.

Donnnnnnnggggg… Gonnnnnnnngggggg… Donnnnnnnnngggggg…

「Ah? Ah! Ahh!」

Professor Reise looks at the ceiling, then begins scrambling around the room in panic, searching for something.

「Oh no, I was supposed to have classes today! Where was it!?…」

He says, swiveling his head left and right while Straf simply watches with his brows furrowed, and his mouth slightly open in disbelief.

「Ah! There it is!…」

Thud!

Reise exclaims, grabs a thick tome underneath his arm, and rushes to the door. Straf lets him slip past, and the old man loudly swings the door shut behind himself.

「Ahh! Late for the first day of the term, too! How shameful!…」

The professor says, quickly running towards the stairwell as fast as his stubby legs will allow.

「…But it's the fucking free period, old man!」

Straf shouts with his arms spread, but Reise ignores him, and dips into the stairwell. Straf sighs, throws his hands up in resignation, and pulls the list of staff out of [Portable Storage].

「What a waste of fucking time…」

He grumbles, shaking his head as he walks towards the stairwell, skimming through the last. He throws it back in, then reaches into the purple vortex and pulls out a wooden smoking pipe.

Straf places its neck in his mouth, then pulls out a plaid pattern deerstalker. He sets it upon his head, adjusts it so it sits snug, and descends down the stairwell…

…

Around the same time, in the headmaster's office…

Knock knock.

Two knocks sound out through the room from the door.

Knock! Knock!

Two louder knocks sound out again. After a brief moment of silence, the door opens.

「Headmaster?…」

Professor Aria says as she pulls the sides of her hat towards herself, and squeezes into the headmaster's office. She looks around, and Corvus is nowhere to be found.

「…Is he out? Strange.」

She remarks, then looks aside at the door to the headmaster's personal room. She lightly knocks, just barely loud enough to be audible. There is no response.

「…Headmaster?」

Aria says, opening the door and peering inside. Corvus is in his bed, covered by a blanket, and his round spectacles sit on the nightstand beside it. She squeezes in, and walks up to the bed.

Immediately, it becomes apparent that the headmaster's breathing is sickly. Each breath is strained and wheezing, and each breath out sounds like a dying gasp.

「Corvus?…」

She quietly utters out, and slips her glove off her hand. Aria then gently places her bare palm on the old mage's forehead.

《…He is burning. Did he wake up today at all?》

She thinks, feeling for his temperature with a greatly concerned expression on her face.

「Mnhh…」

He softly groans out, as his bushy brows move a little. Corvus clicks his tongue in his dry mouth, and groggily opens his eyes, looking at Aria while she puts her hand back in her glove.

「Meira?…」

Corvus asks, almost confused, before blinking a few times, and fully opening his eyes.

「Ahh… Aria, I'm sorry… What time is it?」

He asks, sitting up with a little groan.

「It's a little past afternoon. You have a fever, Corvus. You should head to the infirmary-」

「Afternoon? Ahhhh… It was meant to be a little nap…」

Corvus groans in frustration as he hastily throws the blanket off of himself, and begins slipping his shoes on.

「Corvus, if you are sick, you should stay in bed-」

「Nonsense, Aria… It's just the curse, I'm not sick.」

The headmaster shakes his head, cutting off Aria's every suggestion. He fondles the nightstand for his glasses, but Aria quickly uncrosses her arms and hands them to him.

「Ah, thank you…」

He nods, and puts them on his nose.

「…Even if it's not a disease, it's still a strain on your body.」

Aria says, stepping out of his way while he gets up and heads for his office. She squeezes the doorframe, following him through.

「I have responsibilities, Aria. I can't just lie in bed all day…」

The headmaster smiles at her over his shoulder, approaching his desk while she looks back with a face of severe disapproval…

…

Roughly ten minutes later, in front of the Cursefire Brazier…

Straf arrives with his deerstalker on, and his pipe in his mouth. Damian and the girls are already waiting. When he sees Straf coming, Damian bounces his back off the nearby wall, and approaches him.

「Okay, I think I've got an idea where to look-」

「About that…」

Damian cuts Straf off, speaking over him. Straf's brows rise, and he grabs his pipe's head, pretending to draw in puffs of smoke into his mouth.

「…I think our search was doing better without you.」

「Damian!」「What?」「Don't get ahead of yourself, pants-shitter!」

Neela and Tisha exclaim in outrage, while Cycelia furrows her brows in confusion.

「Hmmm?」

Straf humms, and continues pretending to smoke his pipe.

「If we're working on the same goal, then we should split up! We can cover more ground that way!…」

Damian loudly explains, turning around spreading his arms while the girls look at him with outraged faces. Straf snaps his fingers.

「…Elementary, my dear cliche machine. If pants-shitter is so great, he'll find you the perpetrator in no time. I have a plan…」

Straf says with a smug grin on his face, pointing at Damian. He turns back around, and looks at Straf.

「…You go look in places where it's bright and there's people, and I will go to the shadiest and spookiest places I can think of.」

He says, spreading his hands before returning one to his pocket, and the other to his pipe.

「I'll come with you in that case-」

「Nope, you four stick together. I'll need you to trip into a secret passage switch, or something like that…」

With her brows furrowed in concern, Cycelia takes a few steps forward, but Straf immediately shuts her down, halting her with his palm outstretched towards her.

「Let's go, gang!」

Straf snaps his fingers, and turns away from the group, chuckling with the neck of his pipe between his grinning teeth.

「Elementary!…」

He exclaims as he's walking away. Damian and the girls look at each other with a mixture of anger at Damian, and confusion caused by Straf…