Guinevere probably wouldn't refuse a request from him since she's in his debt.
Well, it's not something complicated. All she has to say is what Adavire wants to hear.
Their conversation wasn't meaningless, however, as she's clearly gained a different outlook on life. If she were to meet a demihuman again… What would she do?
In any case, Guinevere and her share the exact same personality but the former has more experience so her ideology is different. She's long since gotten over her naivety and chooses only to save those who want salvation and seeks redemption.
He's curious how this will affect their first meeting.
"—Eh? What are you doing back here?" in the middle of eating, Morwenne said to him when he entered the office.
"You should spend time with your friends during lunch breaks, Morwenne."
Poor thing. Her friends won't even hang out with her in the office. She's too obsessed with work.
"Whatever…! Why are you back here? I gave you a mission!"
"That's why I'm here." He glanced around the office, noticing a door leading to the storage room, "We still have extra uniforms, right?"
"Yes? It's only for girls who bleed through their tampons or students who ruin their uniforms. How is this related to the mission?"
"Fallene seems to be the gyaru type who likes to be unique. This was the case down to even her uniform so I used that excuse to get her to come to the office alone with me."
"Gya—what? I suppose this won't arouse any suspicions. But I think they'll panic, knowing she's coming here alone where they can't see her."
"Hopefully that doesn't scare them off. Maybe they'll even meet up with her and order her to snoop around the office for some clues."
"That's very specific. Is her signature alone with someone else's?"
"Yeah. They're really predictable. Anyway, did you bring the contacts?" at his question, she nodded, "Alright. I'll put her under hypnosis the minute she walks in so that we don't take too long."
"You seem in a hurry."
"I am. Once we can identify who runs the academy's drug ring, this will all be over, right?" his role, that is. His brain isn't needed on the mission, only his ability.
"Yes. I'll handle everything after that. I have my own way of drawing that scum out. I might have to make a deal with them. If we catch a high-ranking member, perfect, but if we get some lacky, there will be more work to do. Aside from using the information they give us to cull the corruption in the academy, that is."
"Yeah, we'll have to draw the boss out too. If they were able to survive this long using the academy as a shield, they might have some competent thinkers amongst them."
"Why this drug specifically, though?" she asked, but came up with a plausible explanation while shaking, "Surely the demon cultists can't have influence in the academy…?"
"…"
Unfortunately, they might. He's not surprised she was able to come to this conclusion. That incident happened, after all.
"Arnoid…? Do you think they do?"
"You heard the reports of them turning people in mutated monsters. Maybe they might've figured out along the way that the drug is an easier method to make an army. The junkies, unconcerned about the consequences and only caring about the high it gives them, won't question the side effects at all."
"…My cousin was almost one of their demonic soldiers…" shaking, she gritted her teeth then buried her face in her hands. With a quiet sigh, she said softly, "I'm going to make them pay... I'll volunteer at the church and catch all of them…"
"Rachel didn't suffer any drawbacks so don't involve yourself any further, Morwenne."
"But!"
"I'm sure Ceru will lead everyone well and uproot this corruption. Putting your own life in danger won't make a difference."
She has a hundred thousand divine power, after all. Huh, come to think of it, he hasn't looked at her level recently. He should do that when he meets up with her again. She left the academy in a carriage with the bishop, who took her to the temple to get to know the place better as it's a place she'll see a lot of in the future.
"…You're right. Haha… I'm completely average in magic, so what chance do I have at fighting a demon cultist, anyway?" she laughed self-deprecatingly.
"You have a sharp mind. That can be used to outsmart them."
She would be equal to Olivia in intelligence. He knows this because, during all their conflicts in the story later on, it either ends in a stalemate or it's always either one of them one-upping the other. Since both have persistence right in their DNA, these battles never really stopped so it was a constant fight of one side loses but wins the next round.
The only thing Olivia is superior in would be her strategic mind. She's the Empire's greatest general, after all.
"Whenever you say something, it always feels like being splashed in the face with cold water."
"Is that supposed to be a compliment to tell me how good I am with words, Ms. Morwenne?"
She smiled silently.
Anyway, despite what he said…
'The signs and motivations are there so it would be a good idea to bring this up with Guinevere even if we can't find evidence of this. Ekterina might even be striking up a deal with them at this very moment after she recognized the potential of this drug.'
Maybe the demonic cultists might prefer staying hidden in the shadows, controlling the drug ring—patiently waiting until they can activate their army. But with the mana in the air, doing this will require the Perdition Core Terraformer.
Neither Arnold nor Morwenne are idiots so this is just them putting two and two together. As mentioned before, the motivation to approach them is there.
In an uncertain future even he's not aware of, he's worried about what else he'll uncover if he digs deeper, whether into this or other things.
"…By the way, a letter arrived for you earlier." Saying so, she rummaged in the desk, "I was going to give it to you after classes ended but since you're here now—"
After retrieving it, she slid it over to him.
"A letter from an anonymous party?" there was no sender.
"What are you scheming in the shadows this time? Is it related to the mission?" she looked at him suspiciously.
"No, it's nothing like that. Some monsters were spotted at a property I bought recently so I commissioned a party to wipe them out."
He quickly opened it and read it.
--Sir Nova, we've finished with the preparations for the joint party quest. I thought it would be best to send a letter since you couldn't come to the guild lately.
'Ah, right… I promised to come every day but couldn't keep that promise…'
--We've also managed to recruit foreign parties, some with S-rankers, due to Ms. Alice's connections. They said we can rendezvous in a port town on the way. They would also like to meet with you before we head to the Wood Elf country.
'I hope they have some useful skills that aren't physical combat related. Close combat isn't what we need more of right now.'
--That leaves the important part. I know this is unprofessional to bring up in a letter to report to the Guild Master but please check inside the envelope to find another letter.
'Hm?' he looked inside again, spotting a smaller folded piece of paper. After taking it out, he opened it up.
--I know you're busy. But I wanted to show you the progress I've made in my training. And also, you promised me one request when you left last time. So, when you have time, please come to the guild so that we can talk.
There was a small face that looked like ":("at the end, which tickled his heart strings. She sounded quite upset in the letter.
'Elora should take priority so I'll head there by the end of the school week.' He's curious how much she's improved. Granted, as she has a ridiculously powerful class, training shouldn't be that difficult since she can technically cast every tier of magic so long as she can control the spell and has the right amount of mana.
He's very curious how much stronger she's become. But since it's not that easy to increase your mana pool, he doesn't have high hopes of her being able to cast big spells in the higher tiers.
When he closed the letter, Morwenne was standing over him.
As if respecting his privacy, she only leaned down after he was done reading.
"W-What is it?" spooked by her face so close to his, he leaned back.
"I've always wondered how your ocular ability works. It's only been heard of in legends until recently since there hasn't been a single incident of anyone using them in recent years."
"Oh… Want me to use it on you?"
She gasped and hugged her body for some reason, "So that you can violate my body!? I know that you can control people with that eye of yours!"
"But you just said you're curious… We can also test if the eye contacts work properly."
"What? I told you already they went through rigorous testing to ensure they work even as prototypes." She huffed, strongly against the idea he brought up.
A knock came from the door, "…I'm here."
**
"Hello, Ms. Fallene. My name is Morwenne von Valeblanc and I am the president of the Student Disciplinary Committee." The president introduced herself.
Glancing between Morwenne and him, Fallene hesitantly shook her hand.
"Hello… I-Is it really necessary to change my uniform today…? I could just come with a regular uniform tomorrow…"
"That won't do. We have inspectors from the education department coming after lunch break. They always come during the first week of a new term to make sure everything is operating smoothly. You will be sent here regardless to avoid being seen by that personage. If they saw you, the academy's prestige would be impacted."
Defeated, arms and head hanging low, she sighed, "Yes, ma'am…"
'What's this? Where did her energy go? Did her contact downstairs tell her to not act so brazenly again to avoid standing out?'
Bit too late for that. Her in-game illustration's character design screamed "MAIN SIDE CHARACTER!". For the most part, she was an important NPC for the Beast Kingdom questline.
Even until her marriage and first child with Luke, she maintained that gyaru look of hers. Well, not the flashy highlights or thousands of jewelries. Just the tanned skin, ridiculously long colorful nails and blonde hair.
What was her original hair color anyway?
He had some useless thoughts as he observed the girl.
"Follow me to the storage room, dear." Morwenne gently placed a hand on her lower back then gave Arnold a glance.
He nodded then went over to her desk. Then after the two went into the storage room, he rummaged in Morwenne's desk and found the magic contacts.
Afterwards, he went to the mirror nearby, activated his Halo, then put one contact in. Then he infused Aether into the eyes, making it glow.
"Hmm, it stays the same even under activation of the eye's abilities. Fortunately, there isn't a glow around the contact." After confirming that, he took it off.
Waiting for about five or so minutes, the duo came out of the storage room. Fallene was in a new uniform at last and looked like a proper student.
Morwenne grabbed a form off the table and handed it to her, "Fill in your measurements and bring this back to me tomorrow so that we can get you a uniform that will fit properly."
"Thank goodness, the chest area is a bit too tight." She said in relief before taking the form. She then took a glance around the office, probably noticing the mess with all the boxes and stacks of paper laying around.
"Is the SDC in need of helpers after school?"
'Oh, you sly fox.'
"Not necessarily. But during our long sessions, we do tend to cause quite a mess." Despite knowing what she was after, Morwenne didn't immediately refuse her.
Whether she also wanted to use Morwenne as some stepping stone or be close to Arnold, they weren't sure. One of her goals was definitely to snoop around the office to look for evidence.
But Morwenne isn't stupid enough to keep all the SDC investigative work here.
"I heard we can build credit by helping out."
"It doesn't amount to going to class daily, which is about ten credits, whereas doing chores every day awards you with two credits that will expire if you stay out of school another day. So, don't make it a habit of skipping school. They are only a thing so that you can use them to get access to cram school."
"Eh!? You have to pay credits for cram school!?"
"Doing chores shows commitment and responsibility, which is what cram school seeks from you so it's quite strict. You need those qualities for the academy, after all. Just don't slack off or take too many days off then you won't need to worry about seeking more help. Anyway, you can start next week."
"N-Next week…? Uhm, I-I don't mind starting tomorrow, haha—"
"I appreciate your commitment to help but you should get used to the school first and see if you can find other student bodies you'd like to be a part of. There are many clubs that focus on recreational activities instead of actual work, like what we do."
"Yes… Uhm, I'll get going—Eh!?" Before she could put her hand on the knob, Arnold grabbed her by the shoulder and forced her to face him.
Then he activated the Halo.
The same pattern appeared in her pupils.
'I'll refrain from reading her memories for now. That might take a lot of Aether I can't recover with my small reserves of internal energy.' Just activating the eye drained quite a bit, to the point where he felt lightheaded.
But it should be okay if it's one person.
Lian should still be in the Thalivielle Kingdom so he'll just go find her when they depart.
"…" he noticed Morwenne waving her hand in front of the girl's face, a curious glint in her eyes.
"Fallene, what do you think about Morwenne's body?"
"EH!?" said person in question exclaimed like an idiot. Before she could even yell at him for saying such nonsense, Fallene spoke.
"I… I don't really like girls with large breasts so… Senior Morwenne has the perfect… body… Athletic, toned legs, shapely medium… sized breasts… I could barely control myself in the storage room… I can tell by the smell of her armpits and the sweaty scent coming from her feet that she hasn't washed in two days and—judging by the smell in the office—has been held up in the office for that same duration… I want to pull off her socks and lick her feet… I want to lick her armpits…"
'As expected of a demihuman. They are freakier than humans, well, most humans anyway.' Even Arnold was weirded out by the descriptive explanations.
"—I want to lick her vag—"
"Stooooop!!!!" Morwenne, face as red as a tomato, covered Fallene's mouth, "Y-You bastard! W-Why!?"
"What? You wanted to know what the eye can do. One ability is that I can release her innermost thoughts and desires. What do you think? Want me to try it on you to see what your desires are?"
A dark cloud appeared on her face, "I'll kill you if you do that. Make her stop talking. NOW."
"…Alright. Fallene, forget previous instructions. Your mission is to continue on your day as normal and do exactly as was planned before our meeting."
Hesitantly, Morwenne removed her trembling hands from the girl's mouth. Fortunately, she stopped talking.
"Yes…" she faced the door and was about to leave.
Arnold slapped her butt before she could leave to test if anything attacking her can undo the mind control. The only limitations he knows of is that there's a 2-hour limit but he can turn the Halo off at will and the countdown only goes down when it's active.
The Halo takes a lot of Aether to use so he hopes to only use it once she's in the basement. He doesn't have the internal energy to waste, after all.
She gave him a side glance with a poker face, as if to ask if she could leave.
Clearing his throat, he let her go.
"Y-You really haven't changed. T-That was sexual harassment!" Morwenne screamed with a fearsome glare on her face.
If she knew how he's killed many people before and still sleeps soundly at night, she would know he doesn't care about that.
"You can always report me."
It almost looked like steam was about to come out of Morwenne's head.
"Geez, calm down. I won't do it in front of you again."
"You shouldn't do it at all!!!"
He sighed, he'll probably get an earful if he continues staying here. Fortunately, the bell rang signaling the start of the second round of classes so he quickly left, promising to update her with any info he gets.