Several days passed.
Fortunately, during that time, there were no incidents of being attacked by ghost stories or anything of the sort.
It was just the endlessly tedious issue of the delinquent circle, Scar, dragging on.
Since that day, I, along with Lorne and the other faculty members, had continued to patrol the academy’s surroundings, arresting them on sight and throwing them into detention.
Yet, despite our efforts, the delinquent circle Scar refused to crumble.
Thus, what unfolded between Scar and the academy’s faculty was nothing short of an all-out war.
And in the midst of it all, the state of the academy only grew worse by the day.
When I first took up my post, Everlight Academy was undeniably a prestigious institution, living up to its name with luxurious and grand educational facilities.
It looked like something straight out of a movie set— the very epitome of a Western fantasy academy.
That was the image of Everlight Academy I remembered.
…That’s right. Remembered— in the past tense.
Because now, the academy was nothing like that.
Vulgar words and crude phrases scrawled in paint across the academy’s walls.
Theft and violence committed by delinquent students in places where the teachers’ eyes couldn’t reach.
The students’ faces no longer held any trace of vitality— only fear and exhaustion remained.
And even that was only because the faculty and Lorne tirelessly fought back against the delinquents, keeping things from spiraling further out of control.
It was as if, in just a few days, the place had become an entirely different world.
No matter how much their influence had grown recently, how could they act so brazenly?
…This was definitely strange.
While the existence of a violent delinquent circle could serve as a spice in the genre of romance fantasy, I’d never heard of one having this much of an impact.
Could this phenomenon be tied to a ghost story?
I broke out in a cold sweat, recalling the nightmare of the infinite loop ghost story, but soon shook my head.
No. This incident was different from supernatural phenomena like time rewinding or people being replaced by grotesque entities overnight.
Sure, the delinquent circle’s scale was unbelievably massive, and they were shockingly vicious— but at the end of the day, they were just ordinary delinquents.
They weren’t inhuman entities, and their actions were typical of troublemakers, far removed from paranormal occurrences.
If something being slightly larger in scale made it a ghost story, then every incident in the world would have to be suspected as one.
And above all else…
[Mucia Leoforte]
[Classification: Human / Male / Student]
[Gift: ???]
[Characteristics: Once a wayward youth, he strayed down a twisted and misguided path, only to rise again as the leader of Scar— Everlight Academy’s long-standing shadow and troublemaker.]
No matter how much I observed, the suspiciously unremarkable status window left me bewildered.
For now, I shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
I’d proceed carefully and keep watching.
But contrary to my worries, the operation to dismantle the delinquent circle Scar soon reached its conclusion.
After relentless investigation, Rone and I had finally uncovered Scar’s hideout.
The hideout they discovered was the old academy building, now out of use.
The dilapidated and abandoned structure was even filthier and more covered in graffiti than the ruined First Main Building of the academy had been in recent days.
Amidst the wreckage, delinquents who had skipped classes had taken up residence in the hideout.
“…Who would have thought the hideout would be right here in the old school building? This is what they mean by ‘darkness under the lamp,’ huh?”
Rone muttered with a grave expression as she observed the delinquents’ hideout from afar.
Seeing her like that, I couldn’t help but share her concern.
…Except this isn’t just a case of “darkness under the lamp.”
No matter how you spin it, this isn’t just about something being hidden in plain sight.
This isn’t just any location— it’s the academy’s old school building.
Even if it’s no longer in use, it’s still technically one of the academy’s facilities.
And just like the currently used First Main Building, the old school building is by no means small.
Yet, despite being taken over by delinquents and used freely, no one noticed?
And these delinquents, boldly settled in the old building, went completely undetected until Rone and I just happened to pass by and “accidentally” found them?
Everything about this was unnatural.
No— come to think of it, everything had been strange from the moment Mucia first led his underlings to invade the academy.
No matter how you looked at it, it made no sense for a prestigious academy to have hundreds of students involved in a delinquent group.
At the time, I thought maybe it was just a dramatic device, something plausible within the genre of a romance-fantasy novel.
But…
No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn’t recall any mention in the web novel of a delinquent group like “Scar” attacking the academy.
At first, I assumed it was simply because it had been so long since I’d read the web novel that I’d forgotten.
Truthfully, I barely remembered any of the original story from my past life.
But no matter how much I thought about it…
Not only was there no mention of a delinquent group attacking the academy, I couldn’t recall any scene where such a group even existed.
Almost as if they had never been part of the story to begin with.
So, was this phenomenon really just an urban legend, as Elaine said?
But according to the teachers’ meeting, “Scar” wasn’t some sudden emergence— it was supposedly a deeply rooted delinquent group with decades of history.
This is confusing.
“Ah! That guy’s the academy’s ‘stuck-up prick’!”
Ah— crap.
My thoughts had spiraled for too long.
One of the delinquents loitering near the old building spotted us and shouted, rallying his comrades.
Since the old building was their base, we were quickly surrounded.
“Professor Allen! Get behind me!”
The moment we were encircled, Rone swiftly stepped in front of me, shielding me protectively.
And then, with a battle cry from the delinquents, the brawl began.
Unsurprisingly, even outnumbered, Ronne held her own against them.
“Even on the day of my first lecture, and the day after, I easily took down Mucia and his underlings without much trouble.
But that doesn’t mean I was entirely optimistic.
This time, the delinquents who emerged from the old school building were far greater in number than before, and some among them were even armed with wooden clubs or metal pipes.
On top of that, this time, there was the added penalty of having to fight while protecting me.
Perhaps even in such a situation, Rone might have been able to pull off a victory, but I had no intention of testing her limits.
The moment the fight began, I immediately pulled out a one-time-use firework, no larger than a fist, from my pocket.
Without hesitation, I set it off into the sky.
The firework released a bright orange smoke as it shot upward, soon forming a long, clear smoke signal in the sky— almost as if pointing directly to the location of the old school building.
“Allen & Co.’s products are the beeeeeeest in the world!!”
A primitive form of a signal flare.
It wasn’t as if I had accepted the scouting mission without any plan.
Though it’s embarrassing to admit, I’m a selfish person— if I hadn’t had some kind of safety net to secure my well-being, I wouldn’t have obediently taken on such a dangerous task.
In other words, the reason I readily accepted the risky role of a scout was because I had at least one reliable backup.
Fortunately, the teachers’ self-defense squad arrived at the old school building in time, before Rone was put in serious danger.
“Teacher Allen! We saw the signal and came right away!”
“What the—!? This is…!!”
They were stunned to see the unexpectedly large number of Scar delinquents, but that was all.
Unlike their panicked state during the first attack, this time, all the teachers were mentally prepared.
The Scar delinquents gathered in the old school building were swiftly and effortlessly subdued by the faculty.
And just like that, Scar— the deeply rooted delinquent circle of the academy— was dismantled.”
.
.
.
“…So, with all the key members of the circle— effectively its core— now captured, Scar can be considered effectively dismantled. And as for the students currently detained, they will face disciplinary action based on the severity of their offenses, while the executives who ran Scar will be expelled without exception. The only lingering concern is that Mucia, the leader of the delinquent circle, managed to escape, but even taking that into account, Scar’s days as a delinquent organization are effectively over.”
“…I see. So, in the end, this whole ordeal is completely over.”
With all the incidents tied to the delinquent circle Scar now resolved, I relayed the summarized report from the faculty meeting to Rone.
I wasn’t obligated to inform her, but considering how she had taken the lead in capturing Scar’s members over the past few days, I couldn’t exactly treat her as a complete outsider.
Besides, after working together these past few days, we’d grown considerably closer.
Yet, even upon hearing the news that Scar had been completely dismantled, she seemed strangely listless.
“Are you alright, Miss Rone? You seem a bit down.”
“Ah, no. Why would I be down? We just took down the delinquent circle that’s been ruining the academy these past few days.”
“Well, that’s good to hear. Ah— my apologies, but I should get going now. Dealing with the aftermath of disbanding the delinquent circle is going to keep me even busier. To be honest, the only reason I came here was to find you, Miss Roney.”
“…I’m also feeling a bit tired, so I think I’ll head back and rest for now.”
“Come to think of it, you’ve been running around nonstop for days without a break. The fatigue must have built up. Miss Rone, make sure to take it easy and get plenty of rest for the time being.”
With that, I bid her farewell and returned to the faculty office to handle the aftermath.
…I suppose my suspicion that this might be tied to the rumors of the supernatural was just baseless worry.
After all, Scar’s members were subdued and detained without any sign of paranormal phenomena, and the process of disbanding the delinquent circle proceeded smoothly without any notable irregularities.
It seems the series of incidents tied to Scar really were just ordinary occurrences.
I let out a sigh of relief and picked up a stack of documents.
Even with the delinquent circle disbanded, there was still plenty of work to do.
Graffiti, property damage across the academy— the list of reparations seemed endless.
And so, the academy returned to its usual routine.
.
.
.
…That’s what I thought.
“From now on, Everlight Academy will be under the control of our ‘Kro’!! Everyone, get on your knees and bow down right now!!”
At least, until another criminal organization— far beyond the scale of Scar— attacked the academy again.