Overlord: Start from the Goblin Lair.

Chapter 247: Timeliness of Documents

"We have no right to interfere with the family businesses of our students," said Elden, who was about eight-tenths full. He put down his cutlery, took out a fine cigar from his pocket and lit it. "War always brings all kinds of problems. There's nothing we can do about it."

"But the purpose of my visit today has nothing to do with this. Let me introduce to you two of the most outstanding students in our academy's newest class: Shiva and Gordon."

"According to our training plan, the top ten students in each session will have the opportunity to go out for practice during the summer vacation to assist the instructors in completing their projects. I will lead the first and second students in this batch, and the practice location will be chosen in the fantasy land."

Elden said, pulling out a stack of documents and handing them over: "This is our application for permission, the details of the project and the planning process, as well as the final evaluation criteria."

"If you are interested, you can fill in your evaluation and opinions on them in the 'anonymous evaluation' column on page 7 of the document after the practice is over."

"Anonymous..." Ron looked at the female student Shiva, and then at the boy Gordon - they were sitting at the same table to eat, how could they be anonymous?

A certain delusional land lord, Mr. Ron, who wishes to remain anonymous?

And this topic... Ron's eyes shifted to Elden, trying to read some joking meaning from the expressionless dwarf's face.

"The target you are going to study is a ghost woman?!"

"That's right," Elden looked at Ron suspiciously, "As the lord here, you should have had some dealings with this kind of creature, right?"

"In the papers published in recent years, I found that there might be a ghost gathering in the Delusion Land - a small group of three ghosts - they have become more active in recent years. I hope to conduct some research on them with your help."

"I think this shouldn't be too difficult, since we don't plan to trade with the witches or dissect them. It shouldn't be too dangerous if we just observe them from a distance and have simple communication, right?"

"What does this expression of yours mean?"

Elden might be a very old-fashioned and rigid dwarf, but that didn't mean he didn't know how to read people's expressions. Seeing that Ron and his companions' expressions were becoming increasingly strange, Elden couldn't help but ask for clarification.

"You wouldn't... hire them as your consultants, would you?"

Thinking of the young man in front of him getting along well with a group of goblins, the dwarf had a bad feeling and added quickly: "Don't worry, you can take a close look at our plan and other documents: we have absolutely no intention of harming them! If you really recruit them, we can pay an additional fee..."

"Mr. Dean, this is not a matter of money," Ivy said, looking embarrassed, "It's just that the witch you are looking for may... no longer exist."

"No more?"

Shiva immediately questioned: "But this is impossible! Although the ghost woman will change her life form to adapt to the environment, or move to another place based on the form she wants to change, she will generally live in a fixed place for hundreds of years or even longer to accumulate the materials needed for the next transformation!"

"And that document was written by a scholar two years ago. No matter what, it is impossible for the witches to leave within two years, not to mention an entire witch gathering!" "The document from two years ago, even if it is about experiments, can be overturned, not to mention the observation of living things," Ron snorted, looked at Elden and asked, "Mr. Dean, with all due respect, the validity of the document you found is no longer valid."

"My Lord, didn't you listen to me?" Shiva stood up excitedly. "You may be a spellcaster, but you have never studied in the academy, and you may not understand the series of properties of the documents. The contents of the documents that have been reviewed by the Elden Academy and published within one or two years are very accurate, and there will be no problems!"

"Moreover," the female student took out her own notes and showed Ron the several pages of references at the back of her unfinished paper, "Please take a look! This is the result of many years of work by dozens of scholars. There are so many experts' perspectives corroborating each other. How can you question the 'timeliness' of our topic?"

"Of course, I'm not criticizing you, but you're not an academic, so your understanding of the research field needs to be improved..."

"Not an academic?"

Ron was so angry that he burst into laughter. He stood up and looked at the student who was five or six years younger than him. He felt it was ridiculous.

He has spent almost half of his life in the academy. If it weren't for the explosion in the laboratory next door, this proportion would have undoubtedly continued to increase!
He is not an "academic"? !

"Shiva," Elden signaled his students to restrain themselves. After all, Ron was the lord here, and he had already experienced this last time. "Sir, I apologize for my student's slip of the tongue..."

"It's okay, it's okay," Ron waved his hand. "There are always times like this. I just remembered some similar experiences in the past."

"Your name is Shiva, right? What you said makes sense. After all, I haven't read your documents, so I have no right to comment on them."

"But I know a little more about the current situation of hags than these documents say," Ron sat down again, "because just a few months ago, the 'hag gathering' you called no longer existed."

"There were three, actually four witches. Now there is only one left. I had a short cooperation with her, but because of her breach of contract, she is now hiding deep in the Delusion Land. So what Ivy said is right. The witches you are looking for are indeed 'gone'."

"There's only one left?" Elden was a little surprised. "Are you sure? The words of the witch are not to be trusted. Did you hear this rumor from some witch?"

"When a witch is alive, she can deceive people with words, but her corpse won't do that after she dies," the Lord of the Delusion Land crossed his legs in front of the three "academicians" who came from afar, "not to mention the most powerful one among them, not even a corpse is left."

"You don't mean to say—" Gordon's eyes widened and he pointed at Ron with a trembling finger.

"Yes," Ron glanced at the dazed Shiva and laughed, "The deaths of those witches are directly related to us. We are witnesses and have been deeply involved."

"Ms. Shiva, you should understand now that your documents are indeed out of date. They are from the last few months."

(End of this chapter)