The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　Shrek Holmes nodded slightly and said, "There's no need for a banquet, but it is certainly necessary to express my gratitude. I will convey it."

　“Thank you very much,” Lucia Artemis said.

　Only after Shrek Holmes nodded in agreement did she abruptly turn towards the ward and quickly enter.

　Shrek could feel her feet trembling; her expression was merely a forced attempt to remain calm.

　If he and Sister Lillian were standing in the infirmary right now, along with certain suspects, this "elf princess" might not be able to control herself.

　Putting himself in her shoes, Shrek Holmes always felt that it was normal for the victim's companion to be angry, no matter how angry they were.

　He then followed Lucia into the ward once more. Sister Kallian was explaining the condition of the grassland elf Dylan to another elven leader, Macmillan.

　Lucia Artemis arrived a step later, but Sister Carian deliberately added a couple more sentences of explanation, allowing her to understand the grassland elf's injuries and his current condition.

　"When will he wake up?" McMillan pressed. Sister Carlian shook her head. "Didn't I already say he can't wake up anytime soon? Forcing him to wake up will only cause further damage to his soul."

　McMillan exclaimed, "But he won't wake up. How are we supposed to find out who the killer is?"

　Sister Kallian glanced at him and said, "Is finding the murderer more important, or ensuring his safety?"

　“Of course, ensuring his safety is the most important thing,” Lucia Artemis quickly interjected. “But if the killer isn’t found soon, there might be more victims.”

　Professor Sylph said, "We will increase our vigilance."

　Lucia Artemis couldn't help but ask doubtfully, "Is vigilance really effective?"

　Professor Sylph glanced instinctively at the grassland elf, and her tone faltered.

　If the murderer is truly alone, then general vigilance will indeed be of no use and will only provide psychological comfort.

　“But at least we can get to the scene as soon as the crime occurs.” A pleasant voice suddenly came from the empty corner.

　Principal Cynthia St. Art appeared out of nowhere, her expression unusually serious. "Whoever committed this mistake, we assure you, they will be severely punished!"

　"What?! Students from the Elf Magic Academy have been attacked? Could it have been done by orcs?"

　Wittgold exclaimed instinctively.

　"Shh!" Robert quickly covered his mouth, looking around suspiciously. "Quiet down, the killer might be nearby!"

　Witt immediately shut up, and Robert pushed him back into the dormitory, turning to close the door. Witt then whispered, "What exactly happened? Which elf was attacked? How serious are their injuries? Could it be... like last time?"

　Robert blushed and quickly said, "How could this be the same thing? You would never guess that the one attacked was actually that grassland elf from yesterday!"

　"The one where the grassland elf and the rhinoceros man fought?" Witt exclaimed in surprise.

　Robert said solemnly, "Yes, it's him. I saw it with my own eyes; he wasn't in good shape. If the killer wasn't a multi-person perpetrator, then he's at least a champion-level expert!"

　“You mean champion level, like Darko, right?” Witt said.

　Robert said ambiguously, "As long as you understand. That's basically it. And based on my guess, the academy will definitely downplay this. They don't want the news that 'a contestant was attacked and nearly killed on the second day of the Academy Championship' to make headlines in major newspapers."

　“That was a nightmare!” Witt said.

　“Who says otherwise?” Robert said. “I suspect it won’t be long before the college issues us a gag order.”

　As he was speaking, the Sorting Card in his wallet suddenly vibrated. "See, here it is," Robert said with a hint of pride.

　He immediately took out his college card to check, and sure enough, it was a message from the college.

　The information was exactly what he expected, but the stated reason was not to alert the enemy.

　However, the college's gag order is not actually strict, and students can continue to spread the word without being punished.

　The purpose of doing this was simply to keep the matter out of the open. The subsequent investigation would not miss a single detail.

　In addition, the phrases "don't alert the culprit" and "don't approach the murderer" are meant to remind the students that the murderer is very dangerous.

　However, in this world, there are always those who are inclined to venture into dangerous territory. And within the Knights' Department of St. Marian Academy, such people are especially numerous. And the department with the largest number of orcs is the Knights' Department!

　Just as Witt had figured things out and was about to go out with Robert to investigate, they heard a loud argument between students coming from the hallway.

　What truly drew him to stop was one of the parties in the dispute, none other than the rhinoceros-like beastman who had been defeated twice by the grassland elves!

　“Robert…”

　“Witt…”

　The two quickly exchanged a glance, then immediately slowed their pace and headed upstairs.

　But the orcs' ears are incredibly sharp.

　As soon as Witt and Robert approached, the arguing men suddenly fell silent.

　Witt and Robert immediately pretended to ignore them and continued walking uphill, only to see that the two people who had been arguing earlier were actually orcs!

　One of them was a rhinoceros-man, and the other, surprisingly, was also a lion-man.

　The Lionmen are a noble race among the current Orcs. Even without royal blood, they are still superior to other Orcs.

　This is because the current king is "Lionheart".

　Even if the lion-man kept quiet, he couldn't hide the contempt in his eyes. Witt vaguely remembered that it was a senior player who had appeared in yesterday's exhibition match; in short, it was very powerful.

　Then, the two walked to the practice room on the eighth floor of the Knights Academy tower, and then came back down.

　The rhinoceros orc and the lion orc had vanished. "Robert, what do you think?" Witt asked. Robert raised his right hand, pinching his chin with his index finger and thumb, and said with a wise expression, "I originally thought that the orcs wouldn't be foolish enough to attack the elves at this time. But they might be trying to take advantage of the situation. The more unlikely something seems, the more likely they are to do it. That way, they can escape suspicion."

　"You mean..." Witt's eyes widened in surprise.

　Robert nodded cryptically, then whispered, "Let's go down first, be careful the walls don't hear us."

　Witt looked strange, but still followed Robert downstairs. A moment later, the two left the Knights' Tower and ran straight to the infirmary.

　The extent of the grassland spirit's injuries will determine the severity of this incident. But since a gag order has been issued, it's definitely not a simple matter.

　Adding to this, having just witnessed the "loud conspiracy" between the rhinoceros orcs and the lion orcs, the scales in their hearts have begun to tip.

　But when Victor and Robert finally arrived at the infirmary, they ran into Lucia, the "elf princess," and another team leader, McMillan, who were walking out of it.

　The two instinctively shrank back into the corner and saw the grassland elf being carried out of the infirmary on a stretcher.

　After two more steps, the stretcher disappeared completely, and only the sound of footsteps could be heard moving.

　"The victim is being moved!" "Where are they taking him?"

　"Why is his face covered with a white sheet? Could it be that he's already..." "Oh no, how could that be? We'll ask Sister Kallian later."

　"What are you two doing here?"

　"Ah!" "Ah!"

　Robert and Witt turned around abruptly and were startled to see Darkimon appearing behind them at some unknown time.

Chapter 1174 Darkdemon Continues to Follow Up (4k)

　With such a big thing happening at the academy, how could Dark not know... Well, he really didn't know.

　If it weren't for the diligent little devil flying in to report, he would probably still be leisurely enjoying his early morning coffee.

　That's one of the biggest advantages of being a student.

　Professor Sylph, who also stays up late, is already busy with her work, while her student, Dak, has only just gotten up.

　"So, you guys are playing detective house?" Dark couldn't help but glance at Robert, hesitating to speak. "Hey, what's with that look?"

　Robert, sensing something amiss, widened his eyes and said, "Don't worry about it, Robert. I just wanted to say, can I join you?" Darke smiled and patted Robert on the shoulder.

　The attack on the grassland elf was no small matter. But he found that he couldn't be serious whenever he was with these two.

　Witt, standing to the side, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a strange sense of support in his heart.

　It wasn't that he was timid, but every time Robert dragged him into doing something, he would always mess things up. After this happened so many times, he couldn't help but feel uneasy.

　The same thing, with Dark by his side, brought him a great sense of security. Therefore, upon receiving Dark's application to join the team, he replied without hesitation, "Of course, in fact, you're very welcome."

　"No, I'm the captain!" Robert muttered subconsciously, but no one paid any attention to his opinion.

　Dark smiled and nodded, saying, "Let's go to the office first, organize the information properly, and then make inferences."

　In short, we can't let these two guys run around freely.

　From Dak's perspective, he would actually prefer to leave these matters to the professors—that was originally the responsibility of the college professors. And now that he had resigned from his professorship and was just an ordinary student, it was already quite good that he could refrain from causing trouble or interfering with the process.

　In addition, it is important to remain vigilant and prevent this terrible incident from happening again.

　So, let's start by getting back to the two people who are most likely to mess things up.

　Mathematics Office.

　After locking the door, Dak sat down on the sofa and said, "Now we can begin."

　Robert suddenly felt as if he were being interrogated. But he quickly shook his head, dismissing the inexplicable feeling.

　Then, after gathering his thoughts briefly, he began, "As far as I know..."

　After listening carefully, Dark listened briefly and then explained, "In other words, you were doing your morning exercise when you heard someone scream, so you rushed to the scene. But by then, upperclassmen from the sports club were already examining the victim. You didn't know who the first witness was."

　Robert, the "first witness," frowned and immediately tried to recall carefully, "I remember there was a girl standing next to the senior from the sports club, looking a little lost."

　Dark's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "What year are you in? Which house?" Robert replied, "You're wearing the uniform of the second-year Fools' House." "Second-year Fools' House?" Dark asked, "Do you remember the specific features?"

　Robert thought for a moment, then suddenly looked up, pointed to the area below the corner of his mouth, and said, "Here, there's a very small mole here."

　“Yes, it’s Cathy Kipling from the House of Fools. I can call her over,” Dark said, then added, “if she hasn’t been called away by the professors.”

　After an incident, it is perfectly normal to first question the first eyewitness.

　Dark took out the professor's card and used the new feature Professor Cazell had added—single messaging—to send a message to Cathy Kipling.

　Cathy Kipling wasn't a very noticeable person in her second year. In fact, her grades were below average, and her appearance was merely cute. She was the kind of person who would be hard to spot once she was lost in a crowd.

　But Dark was, after all, their former math professor, so of course he couldn't possibly not recognize his students.

　Surprisingly, Cathy wasn't summoned. After Dark sent her the message, she chose "yes" from the "yes/no" options—which is naturally a newly added feature.

　Dark thought for a moment and guessed, "Is it because Shrek Holmes is there?"

　Robert immediately said, "It must be! It was Holmes who took the prairie elf to the infirmary."

　Dark nodded and said, "So, those two orcs you ran into at the Knights' Academy... did you hear what they were saying?"

　At this point, Robert immediately became interested: "What else could they be talking about? It's definitely not something good. Maybe the lion-clan beastman discovered the rhinoceros-clan beastman's bad deeds and started cursing him on the spot."

　"Hey, Robert!" Witt quickly stopped Robert from continuing his daydream. "I remember it was the lion-clan beastmen who were mocking the rhinoceros-clan beastmen. As for the reason, it could be related to this incident, or it could be because the rhinoceros-clan beastmen were ridiculed for their two consecutive defeats."

　Robert immediately turned and glared at Witt: "Witt, that's not what you said!"

　Witt immediately shut his mouth and looked straight ahead.

　He suspected that Robert possessed an aura of assimilation, capable of drawing those around him to his level of thinking and then defeating them with his rich experience! Otherwise, it would be completely inexplicable that he initially thought the two orcs were "loudly plotting."

　—Just how stupid is that?

　As for the darkest place under the lamp

　The principle... what good is it anyway!

　How could the elves rule out the orcs' suspicions simply because "even orcs aren't that stupid"?

　They might even say things like, "Orcs are so stupid," "It's obviously something an orc would do," or "It's definitely an orc."

　However, orcs... probably aren't that stupid.

　Vitgot subconsciously conjured up the image of Professor Nini, a Behemoth hybrid, in his mind, and quickly shook his head to shake it off.

　Even among orcs, there are sages, witch doctors, and prophets; they certainly cannot be generalized.

　There must be something wrong with the thought that led him to that conclusion.

　"While it may not be relevant, this is indeed a very valuable piece of information. The orcs might actually be plotting something."

　Dark wrote all the information down in his notebook, then got up to open the door. Cathy Kipling happened to be walking to the door and was slightly startled when she saw the office door suddenly open.

　“Come in and we’ll talk.” Dak invited her into his office and began asking about what had happened that morning.

　Cathy Kipling sat up straight, looking very nervous, but still told him everything she knew.

　She didn't find the victim this morning on her way to the library, but rather on her way to exercise.

　But the route she took was a familiar one.

　Although it was still early, it wasn't like no one was passing by. "Were there any other witnesses?" Dark asked.

　Cathy shook her head, and said nervously, "No. When I found him, I was all alone."