Dressed in casual clothes, his hair long since graying, Ronems stood at the entrance to Furnace Alley and gazed at the ruins of his home, sighing helplessly.
He mourned both the loss of the residence he had so carefully chosen and the destruction of his collection.
Several books in particular had taken tremendous effort to find.
I'd only read them a hundred-odd times!
The thought that those books would never again accompany him to sleep made Ronems feel even worse.
Senior could tell the dean was in a foul mood.
If possible, he would rather not have appeared at such a time. But Professor Tairs was badly injured, and his friend Leonard was following that great source of trouble around. There was no one else but him.
"Dean, we've confirmed that it was Rude and Delton!"
"However..."
"Unlike our earlier assumption, Delton wasn't the mastermind behind this plot. Rude was!"
Senior braced himself and reported what he had learned.
"Rude was the mastermind?"
Ronems came back to his senses, surprise flashing in his eyes.
"Yes."
"According to 2567, your residence suddenly exploded while he was fighting Delton, but Delton showed no surprise at all. Clearly, Delton had expected it."
"Then Rude arrived at the site of their battle, and Delton treated him with great deference."
Senior nodded as he spoke.
"That's only 2567's account."
"I need more direct evidence."
"Also... the information 2567 previously obtained about Food Records pointed straight to Rude. There must be some connection between them."
Ronems reminded Senior.
"We have more direct evidence. Two squads of guards who rushed to the scene were attacked by Rude. Both squads were trapped in an illusion in an instant."
"That kind of strength is at least professor-level."
"And his speed!"
"Rude displayed unbelievable speed, beyond even that of a