Academy’s Undercover Professor-Chapter 337: Traces of the Theocracy (2)

“You certainly seem to have made yourself comfortable here.”

“I may look relaxed, but my heart has been far from it.”

Grander looked distinctly bored, but for someone who’d been staying put this long, she was surprisingly well-behaved.

If this had been the usual Grander, she’d have caused chaos out of sheer boredom. The fact that she hadn’t meant—

She’d had more than enough opportunities to relieve her stress.

Ludger sighed, thinking of Hans, who had lost large patches of fur from the ordeal.

“You could have gone easier on him. You know how much he hates it.”

“It’s all because some impudent brat made his master wait for far too long.”

“You say that like I begged you to wait around for me. I never asked you to come, and yet here you are, showing up uninvited and making it sound like I owe you something.”

Grander glared at Ludger, her eyes narrowing.

His calm, factual tone only made her more irritated.

“...Fine. I get it. Don’t glare like that. Why are you so worked up?”

“I’m not angry.”

“You clearly are.”

“I said I’m not! Do you want me to show you what angry really looks like?”

“Please don’t.”

In the end, Ludger raised the white flag first.

Well, what else could a wayward disciple do except bow his head first?

Once Ludger backed down, Grander let go of her irritation.

Perhaps even she felt she’d gone a bit far, as she muttered under her breath like a grumbling child.

“That boy Hans... he’s quite the specimen, isn’t he? I didn’t expect him to be able to transform into a chimera. I thought it was limited to ordinary beasts.”

“He can do worse.”

Hans turning into a chimera was hardly surprising anymore.

Ever since the incident with the Beast of Jévaudan, Ludger had suspected as much.

Grander’s eyes twitched at that, the thirst for knowledge flaring inside her—but she pushed it down.

This wasn’t the time to indulge that curiosity.

“Looks like the matter’s been handled.”

“Yes.”

“From the looks of you, it wasn’t easy.”

“If you realized that, perhaps you could’ve helped.”

Grander burst out laughing.

“Help you? Did I raise you to be so soft?”

“You didn’t teach me how to fight demons, at least.”

“Are you talking back now? Is this that rebellious phase I keep hearing about?”

“I’m a little old for puberty. I’m simply stating the obvious.”

“You managed just fine without my help, didn’t you? That’s all that matters.”

“That’s a convenient way of looking at it. There were several close calls.”

“Oh, stop exaggerating.”

Grander clearly had no intention of entertaining Ludger’s complaints.

He hadn’t expected sympathy anyway, so he cut to the chase.

“So, what did you think?”

“Think about what? Speak clearly. I can’t read your mind.”

“Don’t play dumb. You followed me all the way here just to see how well I’d do, didn’t you?”

There was no way Grander had come to the capital purely out of curiosity or whimsy.

Following him, sure—but enduring boredom just to stick around meant she had a purpose.

“The demon’s sudden appearance must’ve been unexpected for you too.”

“You’ve gotten frighteningly perceptive.”

“I’ve lived with you for over ten years.”

“Has it really been that long?”

“About thirteen years, if we’re counting by calendar. You picked me up when I was around seven.”

“Ah, yes. I raised you with such care. You were a cheeky little brat back then. And now you’re all grown up, talking back to your master. How tragic.”

“With care? Let’s be honest, you raised me harsher than anyone.”

“And look how strong you’ve become.”

Grander didn’t even try to hide how shameless she was being.

When she went all in like that, Ludger knew better than to match her energy.

If he tried, it would just end in a massive fight.

I lost my temper once, and we all remember how that turned out...

Thinking about that incident still made Ludger’s skin crawl.

Not because he feared for his life or was intimidated by Grander’s presence—

No, what really terrified him was when she teared up like a child, locked herself in her room, and refused to show her face.

That was back when Ludger was around seventeen.

He’d gotten fed up with her unpredictable behavior and fired back, logically dismantling every word she said.

He’d braced himself to get beaten to a pulp.

He had to say it, or the frustration would’ve eaten him alive.

Grander’s reaction had been... memorable.

Her eyes widened, fists clenched, body trembling—

She’d teased her student as usual, only for him to glare and bite back with fire. She was utterly flustered.

Ludger had thought, How long is she going to punish me for this? Will it be a few magic drills? Maybe a week of brutal training?

But then she teared up... and locked herself in her room.

Ludger hadn’t expected that at all.

What kind of {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} grown woman slams her door shut and refuses to speak like a moody teenager?

He’d been dumbfounded.

But part of him had felt relieved. At least she’s not nagging me anymore, he thought.

That thought lasted...

Until the silence stretched into a month.

How long did she stay in there? It was well over a month.

Grander, being a long-lived vampire, had no sense of time as humans did.

For ordinary people, even a deep sulk rarely lasted more than a week.

But Grander? She sulked for over two months.

At first, Ludger thought she was simply very angry.

But when two weeks passed... then three... he started to worry.

He didn’t think she’d died—she was too monstrous for that—but he began to wonder if something was truly wrong.

She was still his master, after all, whether he liked it or not.

Oddly enough, she’d still sneak out to eat the meals he left, only to vanish again.

He figured she was just incredibly stubborn.

But once the silence dragged past a month, Ludger realized something wasn’t right.

It took two months and twenty-one days after their fight for Grander to speak to him again like normal.

That’s right.

Almost three months.

Even now, thinking about it made Ludger break out in cold sweat.

If she had just screamed or blown something up, fine.

But acting in such an irrational and out-of-character way had made him the one to grow anxious.

Which is why I never went against her past a certain point again.

That had been his first and last act of rebellion.

The memory was burned into his brain.

“...Why are you looking at me like that?”

“No reason.”

“Oh, please. That’s the face of a weary caretaker saddled with a troublesome elder. Anyone can see that.”

“......”

It seemed Grander, who had lived with him for over a decade, could still read him like a book.

When Ludger didn’t deny it, her expression shifted—eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

Not out of amusement, but irritation.

It was the kind of look she gave when she wasn’t enjoying the conversation.

Ludger quickly changed the subject.

“The Lumenis Church has made a move.”

“It’s not like that’s the first time they’ve stirred,” Grander replied, feigning indifference though she clearly caught the weight of Ludger’s words.

“This time’s different. It’s not a local branch—they came directly from headquarters.”

“Headquarters? You mean from the Theocracy of Bretus? Last I heard, they’d shut their doors tight.”

That “last” time had been twenty years ago.

“They haven’t been active again for long. Their recent movements have only just begun.”

“Then I suppose they came to investigate the incident. After all, a demon manifested right in the capital.”

“Yes. And not just anyone—a priestess came personally.”

“A priestess?”

Grander didn’t know much about the hierarchy within the Lumenis Church.

Frankly, she’d never needed to. To her, they were all the same—vermin worshipping a false god, regardless of title.

“A priestess holds one of the highest ranks in the Church. They’re said to be ‘the human closest to the divine.’ Even the Holy Sovereign and High Archbishops defer to them.”

“‘The human closest to the divine,’ huh. How arrogant.”

“She was hand-picked and raised by the Holy Nation itself. And more than that... she’s been conditioned—ever so subtly—with a compulsion. One that makes her incapable of disobeying an order from someone with the blood of the Holy Sovereign.”

Grander stared at Ludger.

“So you met her.”

“I did.”

“Did she find out who you are?”

“Not yet.”

“You figured out the compulsion, which means you must’ve exploited it somehow.”

“I only implanted a minor suggestion. There were too many eyes around. It’ll buy me time, but not much more.”

“A suggestion won’t be enough in the long run. How did you end up crossing paths with her?”

“The meeting itself was coincidence, but she was the one who initiated contact. I believe she sensed my blood instinctively.”

Ludger hated his bloodline. But that didn’t mean he denied its existence.

In fact, just as he’d used that bloodline to plant a suggestion in Priestess Remria, he saw no reason to hesitate if it could be used to his advantage.

“I told her not to speak of our meeting to anyone. But the delegation accompanying her... there were too many witnesses. They may not have heard the entire conversation, but they’ll suspect something.”

“Couldn’t you put a suggestion on the others?”

“It only worked on her. The others will stay quiet for now because their priestess isn’t reacting—but rumors are bound to leak out eventually.”

“Would’ve been simpler to just kill them all.”

Ludger blinked, stunned.

“...Are you serious? You want me to slaughter an entire delegation inside the Imperial Palace?”

“Tch. You really are soft. Don’t you have the guts?” 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

“You’re the one being reckless. You might get away with that sort of thing—being the greatest mage on the continent and all—but I can’t.”

“Even so, the priestess likely already suspects something. Suggestion or not, all you did was keep her quiet. You couldn’t stop the unease from settling in.”

Grander tilted her head, her expression oddly intrigued.

“You’re giving her a lot of credit.”

“If she were an idiot, I wouldn’t be worried. But this is a woman groomed and honed by the Theocracy itself. If she reached the position of priestess, that alone proves her competence.”

“Ah, yes. I vaguely remember now. The Church used to take in orphans under the guise of ‘support’ and do all sorts of shady things to them.”

The infamous Inquisitors of the Theocracy—considered the most insane zealots even within Bretus.

Religious fervor so intense it crossed into madness, born from children raised and molded by the Church from a young age.

“Yes. Depending on their potential, the Church assigns them to appropriate roles.”

Those lacking talent became menial workers or servants.

The slightly more capable were trained as priests or sisters.

The truly exceptional became holy knights or inquisitors.

And the priestesses—those who reached that position—were the rarest of them all, possessing extraordinary potential.

Children born with brilliance...

Ludger thought of his own students at Seorn.

Kids gifted in magic.

But not just talented—they pushed themselves, worked hard.

He wondered...

What if some of this year’s new students hadn’t been born with magic?

Would they have ended up like the children taken in by the Theocracy?

Ludger recalled a scene from twenty years ago.

Children in white robes, their expressions blank, silently following priests down sterile corridors.

Huddled together, they looked more like lab rats than children.

Suddenly, he remembered one girl.

She had been ordinary. No particular gift.

Slow to learn, soft-spoken, gentle. She struggled to keep up, often getting punished by the priests for her poor performance.

But she was the only person Ludger had been able to open up to back then.

What happened to her?

She wasn’t tough. She didn’t have exceptional talent. Maybe she’d grown up to become a simple priest or nun.

...Catherine.