Academy’s Undercover Professor-Chapter 319: The Apostle in the Texts (1)

Ludger looked around.

The hospital room he was in now was a special ward reserved for his use alone.

And yet, Zero Order had entered such a place with unnatural ease.

There may not have been guards posted at the door, but the hospital itself would surely have maintained ironclad security.

The very fact that Zero Order had bypassed it so effortlessly only reaffirmed how elusive and ghostlike he truly was.

But Ludger didn’t tense up like before.

Back then, he hadn’t known—but now, he was certain.

“So, why did you come to see me?”

After all, Zero Order had no intention of eliminating him.

Even knowing that he wasn’t the real John Doe, Zero Order had silently observed his conflicts with the other First Orders.

There was only one conclusion Ludger could draw from that.

—Zero Order wanted something from him.

Especially if he was willing to come personally like this.

Ludger didn’t yet know what that “something” was.

There hadn’t been a single clue from Zero Order to deduce that far.

But maybe, here and now, he could finally find a clue.

Perhaps sensing that challenging gaze, Zero Order smiled as if pleased with Ludger’s changed attitude.

He walked over to one of the chairs in the VIP room and sat down casually.

It was a private room, after all, so there was even a small table set up for refreshments.

Ludger also sat up from the bed.

Since he was still in the same clothes, it didn’t seem like the hospital staff had done much to him.

The last person he remembered before passing out had been Mandelina—so this was likely a courtesy from the First Princess Aileen.

Ludger sat down across from Zero Order.

Through the half-drawn curtains, bluish moonlight spilled into the room.

“It’s quite the perfect atmosphere for a quiet chat, isn’t it?”

“......”

“If it were up to me, I’d take you out for some fresh air and stargazing. But I’m not so heartless as to drag out someone who’s recovering.”

“Cut the nonsense.”

“Mmh. Fair enough. If the person involved isn’t in the mood, there’s no point babbling on.”

Zero Order accepted Ludger’s informal tone as if it were natural.

It was as if he fully understood Ludger’s personality and had taken it into account.

Before diving into conversation, Zero Order raised a hand to the mask on his face.

With a click, he removed the mask and gently placed it on the table.

“......”

Ludger looked at the entire sequence with a surprised gaze.

That the man who had always hidden behind a mask would suddenly show his bare face in front of him?

Aside from the surprise, Ludger didn’t miss a single detail of Zero Order’s appearance.

As if determined not to overlook the real face behind the mask.

What had been hidden beneath it was... surprisingly ordinary.

He had expected some horrifying monster—or perhaps some other grotesquely twisted being.

But the real Zero Order looked no different from any normal person.

No—he was more than normal. He was stunning.

Fair-skinned, with hair so dark it seemed to swallow the moonlight itself.

The curls were trimmed to a moderate length, and his features were so gentle they seemed almost soft.

No one would guess that this face belonged to the leader of the Black Dawn Society, the one manipulating the world’s darkest schemes from behind the scenes.

“You look rather surprised. But if we’re to have a proper conversation, it’s better to do it face to face, don’t you think?”

Zero Order smiled at Ludger.

But now that they were facing each other directly, the smile was unreadable again.

“You’ve had a hard time. I’ve been watching everything from afar—Liberation Army, black mages, and even demons.”

“Weren’t you the one who planned all that?”

Ludger asked directly—wasn’t it he who had revealed the underground facility to the black mages and allowed them to continue their experiments?

Zero Order reacted like someone who had already known everything.

He gave a light chuckle and shrugged.

“So that’s what you were thinking. That’s a bit unfair. I didn’t order any of that.”

“You didn’t?”

“Of course, I did know that beneath the capital lies a dead World Tree, and that a demon is sealed within its roots.”

He knew.

That single word gave Ludger a strange, unnameable feeling.

Zero Order had clearly drawn a line—he only knew up to that point.

“But I swear, I wasn’t the one who leaked that information.”

“Then it must’ve been Nicolai.”

“Right. Nicolai is specialized in gathering intel. I never told him to do anything, but I suppose he was secretly scheming on his own.”

“You let him do it, even knowing?”

“I won’t deny that. Still, given Nicolai’s usual habits, this time felt more like a ritual.”

“So you’re saying he’s not the kind to escalate things this far.”

Zero Order didn’t argue that point.

“So, you watched me bust my ass, and now you’re here. What, came to give me a pat on the head?”

“If I said you worked hard, that would just be mocking you. I came to check how far the work has progressed. And there are things I need to tell you.”

“Work, huh...”

Ludger thought about the task Zero Order had referred to.

He had said he was looking for someone.

That was why John Doe had been sent to Seorn.

And now that John Doe was dead, Ludger had ended up inheriting that job.

“The person you’re searching for... is it the owner of the Judgement Seat?”

Ludger was the first to bring it up.

Zero Order’s bright yellow eyes narrowed slightly at the words.

He tried not to show it, but that reaction confirmed Ludger’s hypothesis.

“Have you found them?”

“......”

Ludger stared back at him, face full of expectation—and answered.

“No.”

“Then how do you even know about the Judgement Seat’s owner?”

“I read about it in a text. It said that when the world falls into chaos, a Saint will be born. The Judgement Seat is the Saint’s authority.”

“Why bring up that particular old text now?”

“Because such texts usually mention a counterpart.”

Ludger recalled Basara.

And he hadn’t forgotten the warning Basara gave, either.

Even while conversing, Ludger was continually reviewing, organizing, and reconstructing information in his mind.

How had Zero Order learned about the underground facility?

Where had he heard that a demon—Basara—was sealed within the dead World Tree?

And most of all, he had watched all this unfold—then appeared, using the pretense of a conversation.

“Am I wrong? The demon in the text... or should I call you Apostle?”

“......”

For the first time, the smile vanished from Zero Order’s face, replaced by a frosty blankness.

“......Basara told you?”

“Of course not. Even at the brink of death, he didn’t reveal the identity of any other Apostles.”

“Not because of some kinship, I’m sure. Maybe he just wanted to see you struggle. But he did tell you they existed. That was clue enough.”

“I won’t deny it.”

“Haah. Damn. I really didn’t want to reveal that part.”

Zero Order looked genuinely disappointed that one of his hidden cards had been exposed.

“But you don’t seem that shocked for someone who’s just guessed my true identity.”

“Is that something I should be shocked by?”

“What? Hahaha! You really are amusing. I knew I wasn’t wrong about you.”

Zero Order, who had now casually confirmed himself to be a demon.

Ludger, who accepted that revelation without blinking.

There was something undeniably eerie about the interaction between the two.

“The Judgement Seat knows my identity, doesn’t it? That’s how you figured it out?”

“Yeah. If the demon in the old text was looking for something, it could only be that.”

“Heh. Most people wouldn’t even bother with such texts. But now that we’ve come this far, there’s no point hiding it anymore. You’re right. I’m searching for a candidate who bears the Judgement Seat.”

Zero Order had chosen the word candidate, not owner.

It might seem minor—something easily brushed off—but Ludger didn’t miss such subtlety.

“Why are you looking for them? Is it to eliminate them?”

“Is that what you think—because I’m a demon? I’ll decline to answer that part. I have my own circumstances to consider.”

“Whatever the case may be, my answer is still ‘no.’ Searching for the bearer of the Judgement Seat is too far-fetched a notion to begin with.”

“Yeah, I figured you’d say that. It’s not something you can find so easily. They might not have awakened yet, or could appear out of nowhere at any time. But one thing is certain—the candidate for the Judgement Seat is definitely at Seorn.”

There was conviction in Zero Order’s voice.

There was no way a mere book of records could reveal that the candidate was at Seorn.

Which meant he must have used some other method—some Apostle-specific means—to find out.

“So let me ask one more time, just to be sure. You really haven’t found the Judgement Seat’s candidate?”

The way Zero Order stared straight into him carried a kind of pressure that defied resistance.

Like insects crawling across his skin—an involuntary shiver.

Zero Order was clearly suspicious of Ludger right now.

Had it been anyone else, that moment alone would have exposed a fatal gap.

But Ludger had weathered far too many storms.

Situations like this had grown tedious long ago.

“No. I still haven’t found them. In fact, I only recently became aware that there was a candidate at all.”

“Hm. Alright. Let’s leave it at that for now.”

Fortunately, Zero Order didn’t seem interested in pressing further.

“You must have questions too. Basara probably gave you hints. Like about the Apostles, for instance?”

At last, they were getting to the important part.

Ludger adjusted his posture, ready to hear what came next.

“As you know, we’re the ones you humans call demons. The calamities that defy the will of the Radiant God Lumenis and plunge the world into chaos.”

“You sound oddly proud, considering how you’re describing yourselves.”

“We’ve earned the reputation. But as you also know, we are not demons. We call each other Apostles.”

“Apostles, huh.”

Apostles—messengers or agents sent by a god.

Basara, too, had desperately called out to his god just before he died.

Ludger didn’t ask whether Zero Order had a god he worshipped or whether there was a god other than Lumenis.

And Zero Order, seeing that, gave a knowing chuckle.

“As expected. You’ve already caught on to the hidden truths of this world.”

“To some extent.”

“Right. Ludger Cherish—so what do you feel when you look at this world?”

“......”

Ludger closed his eyes for a moment.

Zero Order waited patiently, silently observing, giving him the time to respond.

Finally, Ludger opened his mouth.

“A cage.”

“A cage?”

“Yeah. This world is a birdcage, veiled in thin, densely woven iron bars. It’s beautiful, yet revolting. Vast, yet absurdly confined. We’re trapped inside it—unable even to recognize that our freedom has been stolen.”

“I thought so...”

Zero Order nodded in satisfaction.

“That day—when I first saw ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) you in front of the burning warehouse—I knew right away. That you were different from the others.”

“Different, how?”

“You’re human, but you see the world as we do. From a perspective others can’t perceive.”

And that alone made Ludger qualified.

But Ludger dismissed those words with a scoffing smirk.

“Even if I see the world that way, I have nothing in common with someone like you—who stirs up chaos from behind the scenes.”

“Yes. I understand that. When I look back on the path you’ve taken, it’s clearly different from mine.”

Zero Order spoke as if he knew Ludger’s past.

Not just bluffing.

If it was Zero Order, he probably did know.

Just as Ludger had hidden cards, so too must Zero Order have cards he hadn’t revealed yet.

Especially considering he wasn’t a mere human—but a demon.

“But someday, you’ll have to make a choice. As you already know, this world is too harsh for one person to navigate alone.”

“So you’re saying we should join forces?”

“Is that how it sounded? Honestly, that would be even better.”

“......”

Ludger stared hard at Zero Order’s face.

The expression directed at him was filled only with goodwill.

Was it because he’d finally found someone who saw the world as he did?

Or was there another reason?

Ludger didn’t know. And even if he asked, he doubted that man would answer.

It was then—

—that a third voice cut into their conversation.

“How long are you two boys planning to go on chatting like that?”

The voice came from the window.

Both Ludger and Zero Order instinctively turned toward it.

There, seated casually on the open window ledge—though they hadn’t even heard it open—was a woman.

She wore a corseted adventurer’s outfit that left her shoulders and collarbones bare, suited for ease of movement.

Tight around the waist, black leather boots reaching up to her thighs, and a parasol held in one hand.

But the most eye-catching thing was her hair.

Medium-length, split sharply down the middle—one half pure white, the other jet black.

Ludger had never seen her before.

No—was she even human?

“Didn’t I tell you to wait outside, Helia?”

Zero Order finally spoke.

“I was waiting. But you said you’d be right back, and you never showed. I got bored, so I came myself.”

The woman called Helia said this as she turned her eyes to Ludger.

Her golden irises gleamed, as if she’d just found something amusing.

“So, you’re the human who brought down that Basara?”

“......”

Ludger’s expression stiffened at her words.

She spoke to Zero Order informally and hadn’t made a single sound until she opened her mouth.

Every action hinted at her true identity.

I figured she wasn’t ordinary...

But to think another Apostle would show up here.

Helia beamed and waved playfully at Ludger.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Helia—your new fellow First Order starting today.”