Behind one of the Lation Academy lecture hall buildings was a small opening. Not many students frequented the place because of how suspicious it would make them look. After all, one's reputation as a mage was important. Even if they didn't intend to attract positive attention, they very well knew not to attract negative instead.

"I- I'm sorry! I have no idea who it was!" the first-year student who had been slammed to the wall said. Lifting the freshman by his collar using one hand, Alec turned his head toward Evan.

"Should I believe him?"

"Maybe?" Evan said, his arms crossed, looking around to see if anyone was nearby.

"Look. Even he is not sure, and let me tell you, he is quite the kind one."

"It was in the dark, the person was wearing a hoodie and using both face and voice-concealing spells!"

"Huh. Those are some interesting spells. Was he there before you were?" Alec asked.

"Y- Yeah..."

"Don't be too strict on the kid. Whoever is doing this, they seem to know their thing."

With a sigh, Alec let go of the freshman and stretched. The student, on the other hand, immediately took off, leaving Alec and Evan alone.

"The dealer is too careful. I don't know what to do," Alec said while massaging his face with both hands. Evan patted his shoulder.

"They will slip, one way or another."

"How do we know that? Tsk..." – Alec clicked his tongue and crossed his arms. – "You should have seen the expression on Edward's face. He looked like a fucking Hannya mask."

"Hannya mask?"

"Never mind."

As the duo were finished with their daily questioning, they decided to go back to the headquarters, which in this context was the student council.

"We are not making any progress this way," Alec said while chewing on his thumb.

"Maybe we are. It's hard to say."

"Have we gotten any leads? No. I don't like sitting around and doing nothing. It's not my type of thing."

"I know. Still, the success of our approach can't be measured by outcome. One moment, you don't know anything, the other, someone confesses something important."

"Still..."

"And, do you even have any idea on what to do?" Evan asked. "It might be better to keep to what might work instead of blindly trying things out."

"I don't know... However, we are not really being discrete, won't the dealer get scared and stop dealing?"

"The dealer has been more active lately though."

"That is probably because of the illusory training," Alec said. The illusory training area was filled with people trying their best to make it to the higher scores. Many were buying potions to increase their regenerations. And since the dealer's products were more potent than the market stuff, it sold like hot cake.

"Now that you say it, how was your run? I assume you have been using that trick too. I used it myself."

"Yup. Didn't really want to expose my score so early on."

"Makes sense. Though, it might have been better if it didn't become this widespread so quickly."

"What can you do? Leave an exploit and people will start abusing it," Alec answered while turning a corner. "And it's not like surrendering right before your score is calculated is a genius idea. Oh, who is your partner by the way? You still haven't told me."

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"It's Lea."

"Lea?" Alec repeated, confused. Lea was one of the disciplinary committee members. A girl about a head taller than Alec himself. He hadn't particularly noted them to be close with Evan. "Are you two close?"

"Not yet."

"Oh?"

"No comments."

"Whatever you say," Alec said while raising his hands in resignation. He had no intention of digging into Evan's personal matters if he didn't intend to talk about it.

While they kept chatting, the duo reached the student council room. They entered without knocking and made their way toward Edward's table. The rest of the council members were akin to ants, working like crazy as always. To be honest, Alec would rather be on the brute force side of the council than the bureaucratic one. Intimidating innocent students was kind of growing on him.

"Welcome, you two. It's nice to see you working hard as always," Edward said. His greeting was overly formal, as he seemed to like being that way while around others.

"You specifically can't say that. I can't bring myself to think I'm working hard when you are wasting away on that table. Oh, by the way, We failed today, too."

"This dealer of ours is too proficient. He doesn't leave any traces."

Edward's face crumpled into a frown.

"I have learned of that too. Accursed heathen, probably has been dealing for a long time. It must have slipped under my nose. It might cause complications if similar problems to what I had happened to other students."

'Oh god, I hope not,' Alec couldn't help but think. 'Let alone the potion, many might have contracted demonic taint after the incursion.

Even if aware, Alec didn't have an option. Edward having the taint appear on his arm was like a blessing. What if it was somewhere more private? It was essentially impossible to search every student in detail.

Still, there was a semi-solution to the problem.

"How did the meeting with the school committee go?" Evan asked.

"They agreed to allocate a budget for the search. You can hand me a list of the people who have consumed potions to get them checked. Professor Emma will be leading the medical checks, so you can rest well," Edward patted the table. "Let's go to the back room, shall we?"

Nodding, Alec and Evan followed Edward. The student council's back room was used mostly for recreation. However, it was also a good way to talk about more secretive stuff away from the eyes.

Once all three settled down on the two couches,– Edward on one, Alec and Evan on the other– Alec took out an incense and placed it on the table.

"What for?" Edward asked.

"It helps relax the mind, the recent topics are a bit disturbing, that's all."

"Don't worry, I like the smell. The woody scent reminds me of... Anyway," the student council muttered with a reminiscent smile. Inhaling the incense deep into his lungs, he continued. "The professors were baffled when they learned about the demonic taint."

"I wouldn't be surprised. It is an awkward occurrence after all," Alec shrugged.

"What did they say after the initial bafflement?"

"They were mostly worried about the possible consequences. If a demonic incursion were to occur, the results would be... non-ideal," Edward said with his eyes closed, his hands massaging his temples. "Once a demonic incursion starts, the nearby human’s psyche will start weakening. It's like a rot, being in their accursed presence is enough to cause you to start festering. Unless you have a particularly strong soul, obviously."

What Edward meant by soul was his mental fortitude. Alec had gotten used to him occasionally using divine terminology like that. Though, he still had no idea what the particular religion he believed in was. It seemed to be blocked by the anti-meme too.

"If it is so dangerous, why didn't the authorities take more drastic measures?" Evan chimed in.

"They are worried that the information will leak. Panic and fear will amplify the problem. For now, we have to take out the source," Edward explained. "I really hope you can dig into the matter more and figure out the dealer’s contact. If you figure it out, you can act like a buyer and catch the dealer red-handed."

"Mm."

"Understood."

Both of them nodded. While deciding on their own, they could discuss it at length. But if it was Edward proposing something, it was better to do it without question. Even if something went wrong, they would just be moving under orders.

After bidding their farewells, Alec and Evan left the student council room.

"I would like to ask you to deal with what Edward said," Alec said while they were walking down the corridor.

"Hm?"

"Find the dealer's contact information. Then we will catch him together. Though, we might want to outsource the buying process. We are in the disciplinary committee, after all."

"Oh, yeah. The dealer might become suspicious. Sure, I will look into it. Though, what will you be doing?"

"I have to prepare for a mana brain ritual."

"You are getting another?"

"No, I'm the one doing the ritual, not the one getting. My mana would get all fucked up if I tried getting another."

"Huh... Great. Who is the one getting the mana brain?"

"Like I'd know..."

"Ah, the classic. Anyway, good luck then," Evan said with a smile. Shortly after, Alec went his own way, leaving him alone.

"Ugh..." he suddenly grunted. He took a deep breath and grabbed his chest. 'Damn you Alec! My heart was about to explode there... Anyway, it's good that he gave me the task.'

Leaning against a wall, he slowly slid down and sat on the ground to calm himself.

'Now that I am the one dealing with the investigation, I should be able to set something up. Hopefully, it will win us the time necessary...'