Keanu stepped out of the makeshift interrogation room with a pale face. The wooden door closed behind him with a clicking sound. He leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath to steady himself.

He couldn’t believe the amount of questions and the meticulousness with which the two Water Riders from the Academy had applied.

While trying to uncover the secrets surrounding Professor Iakopo, they had almost uncovered his own. Keanu had almost ruined his own mission because of Professor Iakopo.

His heart couldn’t stop pounding, especially as he saw Talia pushing herself off the wall and coming in his direction.

They were all back in the main villa, which they used as one big dorm.

Professor Iakopo was being held in its basement after the girl who had attacked Takai had been moved to another cell since she was considered way less of a threat than the man. Keanu looked at one of the oil lamps on the wall, wishing for a second he could douse himself and light his troubles away.

Every day, his mission became more and more stressful.

And he wasn’t making any real progress.

He coughed the mold from the walls out of his lungs and nodded at Talia, trying to smile at her.

He was still kind of afraid of what the girl had done for the sake of practicing a new Skill.

But that couldn’t interfere with his real mission.

Other students shuffled around nervously. When Keanu emerged, all eyes momentarily turned to him, probably wondering what questions had been asked and if any new ones had surfaced after they had asked the others.

“How did it go?” Talia asked in a low voice, her blue eyes searching his face for any clue of the outcome.

He ran a hand through his hair.

“It was... intense,” he replied in a low voice. “They asked about everything - our training sessions, the monsters we encountered, Professor Iakopo’s behavior. They also… ask about personal stuff.”

“Personal stuff?” Talia frowned.

“Background, family, and so on and so forth. I don’t think they’ll ask you, though. They know who you are,” Keanu said, almost slipping a frustrated groan.

“They really think he’s a Cultist?” Talia frowned.

“It seems to be the case,” Keanu shrugged.

Talia furrowed her brow in thought.

She opened her mouth to respond, but a stern voice called out from the doorway before she could.

“Talia Solara,” the Water Rider investigator announced. “You’re next.”

Talia squared her shoulders, exchanging a quick glance with Keanu before walking towards the room.

As she passed through the doorway, the investigator closed it behind her and sighed. The room only had a single table and three chairs.

Two Water Riders sat on one side, their faces impassive.

To Talia's surprise, Mira sat on the other side of the table.

The older student’s presence was unexpected, and Talia couldn’t help but wonder what caused it.

“Please, take a seat,” one of the Water Riders said, gesturing to the empty chair.

Talia sat down, her back straight and her hands folded in her lap.

She could feel Mira’s eyes on her.

The Water Rider, who had spoken, a middle-aged woman with graying hair pulled back in a tight bun, leaned forward.

“Miss Solara, we’re here to gather information about the events that have transpired in Placid City, particularly concerning Professor Iakopo’s conduct. Please understand that this is a serious investigation, and we expect nothing but the truth from you.”

Talia nodded, her throat suddenly dry.

“I understand,” she managed to say.

The second Water Rider, a younger man with sharp features, spoke next.

“Let’s start from the beginning. Can you describe your interactions with Professor Iakopo?”

“All of them?” Talia was confused.

“All of them?” The woman asked back.

“I took the Initiation Test with Professor Iakopo,” Talia said.

“Let’s start there if you think it’s relevant.”

Talia took a deep breath, organizing her thoughts.

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She was acutely aware of Mira’s presence, and in that moment, she made a decision. If Mira was here, Talia needed her to believe she was also fully behind the man's arrest.

“Professor Iakopo purposefully targeted me from the start. He tried eliminating me twice during the test.”

Talia proceeded to explain what the man had done, and the two Water Riders on the other side of the table glanced at each other, taking notes.

“Professor Iakopo has been... intense,” Talia began, choosing her words carefully. “I know he’s always been a demanding instructor with every student, but he’s had it out for me since I arrived here. I’ve also barely seen him.”

Talia said all of this because she fully believed that Professor Iakopo was on his way to a conviction no matter what.

She fully believed Mira was involved in this, even though she didn’t know whether the two investigators here were also on the wrong side.

And if that was the case, she couldn’t appear suspicious.

Not if she wanted to be able to do her own bidding and follow her own plans.

The female Water Rider nodded, making a note on a piece of paper before her.

“We have been told you visited his quarters when he was away. Did you find anything worth of note?”

“Excuse me?” Talia frowned.

Mira told them, Talia realized, cementing her own understanding of the girl from the Kane Family. Mira must have planted it and knew I'd find it.

The female Water Rider leaned back in her chair, her expression thoughtful.

“Miss Solara, when you visited the man’s study, did you ever come across anything suggesting Professor Iakopo was involved in... less than savory activities?”

Talia felt her heart rate increase.

This was the moment of truth.

She could feel Mira’s gaze boring into her, watching for any sign of deception.

Taking a deep breath, Talia made her move.

“Actually,” she said, “I did find something strange in Professor Iakopo’s office.”

The room seemed to grow even quieter if that was possible. Even the sounds from the hallway outside seemed muted.

“Go on,” the male Water Rider prompted, leaning forward.

Talia swallowed hard, then continued.

“I saw a strange red powder on his desk. It looked like the same substance I saw used in a summoning ritual on my home island.”

She paused, letting the implication sink in.

“The ritual was performed by a Cultist.”

The effect of her words was immediate.

The Water Riders nodded to each other.

“Are you absolutely certain about this, Miss Solara?” the female Water Rider asked, her voice sharp.

Talia nodded solemnly.

“Yes, I’m certain. I recognized it immediately. I just wasn’t sure whom to tell.”

“Well, that’s another piece of damning evidence,” the woman sighed.

Talia looked back quizzically.

“She’s the Kraken Slayer’s daughter,” the male Water Rider said. “If we can’t trust her…”

The woman nodded back and turned toward Talia.

“You’re trustworthy enough to share something with, and you saw it with your own eyes. We’ve found ourselves traces of the same substance in the Professor’s study. There were attempts to conceal it, but we specialize in finding traces like those.”

“That is…” Talia let her words trail.

“You can go for now,” the woman said, rubbing her face. “What a mess.”

Talia stood.

“It’s been a pleasure meeting you,” the woman said. “I knew your mother. She was the greatest pride of the Academy. We miss heroes like her. Especially in situations like this one.”

Talia attempted a smile, seeing that Mira was still surveilling her every reaction.

“I wish I had met her,” Talia said sheepishly. “Thank you for your service.”

The older student’s expression was unreadable, but a glint in her eye made Talia uneasy.

She had played her part, hoping to convince Mira of her ignorance while seemingly cooperating with the investigation.

Now, it was time to have her own investigation.

* * *

The two Water Riders hurried behind Mayor Boro, who had his own copy of Professor Iakopo's mana cuffs, and a shopkeeper who claimed to have found something terrible.

“If he’s a Cultist,” the male Water Rider said, “why didn’t he fight back? That’s why we told Principal Kaimana to send more men. Imagine if he had rebelled.”

“Maybe he still has some honor left,” the woman replied with a shrug.

“Listen,” the man said, “Iakopo could have killed both of us. This was stupid. I still don’t understand why the Principal didn’t dispatch an Elder to accompany us. Or two.”

“You should stop believing all the rumors,” the woman groaned. “Iakopo is not that strong.”

“He used to be a Promised Slayer,” the man rebuked.

“No one’s seen the man fight in two decades,” she replied. “He disappears every now and then, but it’s probably because he’s a Cultist. Maybe some Promised Slayers became washed-up Water Riders.”

“Did they?” He said skeptically. “Well, at least we got him in cuffs.”

“We’re here,” the Mayor said with his round face flushed, and he gesticulated wildly as he spoke to the investigators.

The moon hung low in the sky, casting long shadows across the abandoned buildings and overgrown lots.

Finally, they had arrived at what appeared to be an old warehouse near the docks. The smell of salt and rotting fish was strong here, making them wrinkle their noses in disgust.

Mayor Boro fumbled with a large key, his hands shaking slightly as he unlocked the heavy padlock on the door.

“You have to see this,” Boro said, carrying down the hallway. “It’s worse than we thought. Much worse.”

The group hurried past the doors.

They followed the Mayor inside the poorly illuminated building.

“Prepare yourselves,” Lana warned, her voice trembling. “What you’re about to see... it's such a terrible thing."

The door creaked open, and a wave of cold air washed over them, carrying a sickly sweet odor that made their stomach turn.

The Water Riders produced small globes of light, illuminating the warehouse's interior.

What the two investigators saw made them gasp in horror.

Laid out in neat rows on the floor were dozens of bodies, each covered with a thin white sheet. The outlines of their forms were clearly visible, some distorted in ways that spoke of terrible deaths.

“By the Deep,” one of the Water Riders breathed, his face pale in the ghostly light.

Mayor Boro stepped forward, his voice shaking as he spoke.

“We... We found them scattered throughout the city. Hidden in abandoned buildings. We brought them here to… we wanted to show them to you before we buried them.”

Lana moved to one of the bodies and gently pulled back the sheet, revealing the face of a young woman.

Her skin was pale and waxy, her eyes mercifully closed.

But the marks on her neck drew everyone’s attention - angry red lines that seemed to twist and swirl in fractured patterns.

“Space Water,” the female Water Rider said, her voice barely above a whisper. “These are the marks of Space Water. I can still feel it, too.”

The woman felt her blood run cold.

Space Water was Professor Iakopo’s Affinity, a rare and powerful form of Water Magic.

She didn’t know anyone else who had mastered it.

So, if these victims bore the marks of Space Water...

The male Water Rider turned to Mayor Boro.

“How long have you known about this?”

Boro wrung his hands, his eyes darting nervously around the room.

“We... we only just discovered the full extent of it. At first, it was just a few bodies. We thought maybe it was the work of monsters that had escaped the Placid Cave. But then we found more, and we noticed the patterns...”

The Water Riders exchanged a look.

The male investigator turned to address the group.

“This changes everything,” he said, his voice heavy with the weight of what they had discovered. “If these deaths are Professor Iakopo’s doing, then we’re dealing with something far more sinister than we initially thought.”

“We’ll alert the Academy at once,” the woman said, shaking her head.