The Villainess Returns with a System-Chapter 154: Amos Visits

Meeting a teacher after graduation can be an interesting interaction, and, depending on the relationship the two shared, such interactions can cause the relationship to either bloom or fade away.

The relationship between Vivian and Amos was much more complicated than that, starting as very academic and strictly professional, but, as they were teacher and student for three years, and Vivian learned a lot from him, they eventually became somewhat close.

After the graduation day scandal, Amos Morgan conducted his own investigation, refusing to accept the shameful result that stated that one of his students sexually assaulted another, and a third student killed him for it.

After investigating, he found many traces of magic used all over that night, a magic that his house is famous for: Formation Magic.

A Formation is a huge network of spells that covers a certain area and applies some application to those who are given access to that formation by their rings. For example, the main formation of House Morgan’s main estate allows the House Lord to instantly teleport anywhere across the mansion and estate, even to a legendary chamber known as the Merlin Retreat, a place where some of the most advanced tomes of magic are hidden. Other uses include emergency teleportation for all members of the House in case of an emergency, wide-range communication across the entire estate, and an alarm system exclusive to the sentries, along with many other powerful and secret applications.

There was also another Magic Formation applied in the Royal Academy, an imitation of the one from the main house, but still powerful in its own right. And since the sorcerers of House Morgan were tasked with maintaining such formations, Amos Morgan had access to the Crux Nodus, the secret point of maintenance where the formation can be both powered and monitored by its admins.

There, Amos entered the log and discovered a teleportation pattern at the time of the incident, even though he was not looking for it. This serious matter meant that a member of House Morgan was present at the exact time of the incident as it took place.

Identifying the member was not difficult; he simply memorized the Spell Ring’s runic pattern and cross-referenced it with the Administration Log to find out who that potential witness—or maybe suspect—would be.

However, that was when the runic pattern seemed missing from the logs, indicating that the user was illegally using the formation, which also meant that one among the admins had given access to someone who may or may not be a Morgan.

Since this was the most likely lead for Amos, he started to interrogate his fellow admins, and most of them claimed ignorance, while others seemed rather disturbed by his questions, one in particular lashing back at him for intruding into matters he should not stick his nose into.

His hunch proved to be right, and, as he almost found out the identity of that intruder, he was summoned directly by the Provost, Count Albert Morgan, and was given an official command to cease all investigation. Amos became emotional and questioned the Count harshly, which led to the latter taking action against him, demoting him from a 1st-class Professor and revoking his entire access to the formation.

Amos realized that he had gotten too close to the truth, and so he returned to the main house and plotted to continue his investigation in a radical way. He made a list of suspects from inside the House, all of whom Count Albert would have a reason to protect fiercely, then sent a junior member whom he trusted to peek through the Archivum Custodum, the tome where all these ring names and their users’ names were recorded, as well as much information about them.

Once the result came, it almost drove Amos to madness, and he knew he could no longer stay in House Morgan.

Ronald Morgan was the perpetrator of such an atrocity; he was the one who assaulted Isadora Wellesly that day in the academy.

Why? Because of his Ring’s Quirk, as it seemed.

The ring’s name was Loversbane, and, from the sound of it, that ring was both inherited and very ancient, to the point that there were no records of its first-ever user. However, some of the names of the people who used that ring were all some of the most powerful Patriarchs and Counts in the history of the House.

The devil, however, was not just in the details; it was rearing its ugly head from the get-go.

"You said what?"

The moment Vivian heard from Professor Amos what he revealed to her about Ronald Morgan, she jumped out of her seat, eyes wide with a mix of anger and shock.

"Ronald was the one who assaulted Isadora Wellesly. His ring’s quirk demands sexual partners to draw power from," Amos spoke again what he said before.

His face had darkened as he kept reminding himself of the reason why he had been drinking heavily the past few months, unable to forget or forgive the crimes of his kin.

"So his power comes from... violating women?" Vivian asked with a pale face.

"..."

The silent stare Amos replied with gave Vivian a confirmation she could not help but shudder from as she sat back in her seat.

"That... bastard!" Vivian could not help but gnash her teeth. "So, we know of Isadora. There must be others, right?"

The mention of that made Amos avert his face with a clear dejection.

"Professor! There are others?"

"By estimating the description of his ring’s power, there should be at least four or five for his current Sorcerer level."

"God!" Vivian covered her mouth before quickly asking, "Then, how is no one speaking up? Where is Isadora right now? If we can make her testify, she... we can reveal that Ronald is a criminal, the crime covered by Edmond, and all he was doing was covering the shit done by Prince Liam and his cronies."

Thinking of freeing Logan, who was just arrested by Edmond, Vivian started hatching her own plan, but, to her dismay, Amos simply shook his head.

"That would not be possible. The House of Wellesly has sent Isadora out of Elgard, fearing disgrace. She should be halfway across the world by now."

"Wait... that should not be right, Professor." Vivian frowned as she noticed something. "Should not his power grow if only he had his victims close by?"

"My thoughts exactly, Miss Vivian," Amos said with a firm, slow nod. "When I visited the Wellesly manor, they said that Isadora left on a ship."

"Who was in her escort?" Vivian asked.

"Two knights and a personal maid," Amos replied.

"There are many scenarios that could have happened here," Vivian thought. "They could have sent her off like they said, then Ronald sent people to catch her. Maybe she was sold to the Morgans from the start... or maybe she was controlled by him."

"Given the situation, everything you said is possible," Amos affirmed.

"Can’t the Kabal look into this?" Vivian asked.

"I cannot relocate Kabal resources into launching my own investigation, Vivian. While we all share a lofty goal, the Rite’s main focus is on the major cases right now, with the relentless pursuit of the Crown Prince."

Amos and Vivian exchanged glances, and the weight of their shared predicament hung heavy in the air, each grappling with the seeming futility of their grinding gears.

"What’s up with that, anyway?" Vivian then spat a sudden question as she diverted the subject. "Why is the Crown Prince himself working on a case of insurgency?"

Amos stared at Vivian and shrugged his shoulders.

"Come on, I do not need to draw a Tarot card to tell that you are hiding something," she said.

"You can do that?" Amos was taken aback.

"I can. Quite the nifty trick, I learned," Vivian said, calling out a large tarot card out of nowhere like a magic trick. "It is not as fancy as your Mirror Magic, but it is very reliable."

"Heh!" Amos shook his head. "The old me would have scolded you for doing something as pointless as Tarot, but, after seeing what I saw, even Magic is not as arcane as people would think."

"Alright, you are dodging my previous question and making me curious about other things. Be straight with me. Why is Liam himself pursuing you?"

Amos stared blankly at Vivian, but, seeing her stare back with obvious audacity, he felt like he would not win against her in a staring contest.

"Because the Royal Family thinks that we are harboring an enemy of theirs."

"What sort of enemy? You are all secessionists; there is no point in having a particular enemy here."

"How about the Descendant of Mordred?"

Vivian froze all of a sudden, eyes wide and mouth agape. It took a whole minute of realization to recover from the numbness that blanked off her brain signals.

"Sorry? I thought you said the Descendant of Mordred."

To Vivian’s disbelief, Amos only shrugged, indicating that it was what he said.

"Mordred? Firstborn of King Arthur? Destroyer of Camelot? Archtraitor of the Round Table? Agent of Blackthorn? Slayer of Sir Gawain?" Vivian recounted all that she knew of Mordred.

"That very same," Amos confirmed.

"But that makes you an enemy to... everyone. A descendant of Mordred means that not only is he an unholy enemy, it means that he is a true Pendragon, and, unlike the Dukes of Harland, he has..."

"A claim over the imperial title of Great Elgard."