A woman with light green hair, who had collapsed to the ground, whining about how pointless the self-defense class was.

And another woman with brown hair who had slapped her across the face, disrupting the class.

Watching the collaborator finally start making moves, I quietly confirmed my suspicions.

‘I had a feeling something was off from the first day, and seeing her cause this kind of disturbance makes me almost certain now.’

At first glance, it seemed like she was participating in the dagger training, but her real goal was to create a bad atmosphere and prevent the women from learning any self-defense skills.

This was a classic sabotage event carried out by a bandit collaborator in the Luminar Academy's Humanities Exploration Class. At this point, it was almost certain that she was the collaborator, caught in the act.

‘I’d love to kick both of them out of the self-defense class right now.’

But if I did that, it would likely cause others to leave as well. I had a feeling that about half of the women here shared the same doubts as the green-haired woman. If I kicked her out, it would create an atmosphere where people thought, ‘If I don’t want to do it, I don’t have to,’ and the other women who had some interest in learning self-defense would start dropping out.

"Teaching self-defense to the village women" was part of our graded assignments, and if I didn’t complete it properly, the bandit fight would result in many casualties. That’s exactly what the collaborator wanted, and I couldn’t allow that to happen.

‘On the other hand, siding with the brown-haired woman and scolding the green-haired one wouldn’t work either.’

Roughly half the women here probably agreed with the brown-haired woman’s aggressive stance. If I backed her up, it might encourage them to adopt her harsh attitude—criticizing the women who were slower to learn or giving a hard time to anyone who struggled.

That would also ruin the class atmosphere and stop me from achieving my goal.

“What’s your problem?! And what did I say that was so wrong?! Why do we need to waste time learning how to swing a pointless dagger?!”

“And what happens if the bandits attack again? Are we all going to get captured and killed together? Didn’t you hear what Ris said yesterday? You want to be taken and live the rest of your life as some filthy bandits' plaything?”

“Still, you didn’t have to hit me! What am I supposed to do? It’s exhausting as it is with all the village restoration work! Why waste our strength on something unnecessary?!”

“You’ll have to learn this eventually. Isn’t it better to learn while the academy instructors are still here? Once they leave, if the bandits come again, our village won’t stand a chance.”

“But did you really have to hit Mel?! There’s no need to make things this hostile…”

“I think Lisa did the right thing. Those bastards killed my father, trying to protect me. If I’d known how to defend myself, that wouldn’t have happened…”

The women were already starting to divide into two camps, each siding with either Lisa or Mel.

No matter which side I supported, the class would fall apart. The best course of action in this case was to punish both Lisa and Mel.

“Enough! Stop this pointless argument, both of you.”

“But she used violence first…!”

“She ruined the class atmosphere first…”

“The self-defense class will continue. But right now, both of you are preventing it from moving forward. So, I’m asking you to stop.”

“She started it…!”

“She’s the one…!”

Grab, grab.

“…Ugh, you bitches. Can you just shut up already?”

I couldn’t let this argument go on forever, so I grabbed both of them by the neck in front of everyone.

Sometimes you have to take a hard stance to restore order in a chaotic situation.

Choke, choke.

“Guh…!”

“Ugh…!”

“You dumb bitches. Can’t you understand what I’m saying unless I spell it out for you? Wouldn’t it be better if you just did what I told you before it came to this?”

Choke.

“How many times do I have to say it? You want to die when the bandits come back? Then go ahead and die on your own! Why drag others down with you? Should I just kill you here and now so you don’t have to sit through this damn class anymore, huh?”

Vigorous head shakes.

“And you, damn it. I get that you want revenge, but what does that have to do with my class? I’m here to teach you how to survive when the time comes, not train you like some academy swordsmanship professor.”

Choke.

“If you’re so confident with a sword, you should’ve enrolled at the academy. If you’ve lived your whole life in this village, you should act your part. You think you can suddenly get stronger just because you’re mad? If you’re that confident, why don’t you fight me right now? I’ll take you on without using any of my energy or magic. Let’s see if you can kill me.”

Vigorous head shakes.

“…”

Thud!

Coughing, gagging.

“Ugh…!”

“Cough…!”

After choking both women and unleashing my harsh words, the atmosphere in the self-defense class chilled instantly.

The two women I had grabbed were obviously in no condition to speak, and the rest of the class was too stunned by the tension to make any noise.

If I showed any signs of wavering now, I risked losing control of not only today’s class but tomorrow’s as well. I had to make it clear to everyone what the consequences were for disrupting my class.

“Both of you, get down on the ground.”

“…”

Slight hesitation.

“...Get down on the ground? Here?”

Thud!

“Kyaa?!”

“When I tell you to get down, you get down. See? It’s easy when you listen right away.”

“Y-Yes, ma’am…!”

The brown-haired woman immediately dropped to all fours, and only after I kicked her did the green-haired woman scramble to follow suit.

Now that I had dealt with the troublemakers—one of whom was clearly a collaborator—it was time to refocus on the self-defense class.

“There was a bit of commotion, but we’ll continue the self-defense class. Does anyone else have anything they’d like to say?”

“…”

Silent head shakes.

“If you don’t like something about the class, feel free to speak up. I’m happy to offer special one-on-one training. If you can beat me in a duel, I’ll listen to whatever you have to say.”

“N-No, nothing…”

“…”

With the class atmosphere finally restored, I continued the “Teach Self-Defense to the Village Women” assignment.

The events of today’s class had confirmed it—there was almost a 99% chance that a bandit spy was hiding among the village women.

The pattern fit perfectly with one of the three collaborator scenarios I had encountered while playing Luminar Academy. Based on the “Village Women” pattern, the green-haired woman was almost certainly the collaborator.

But even knowing that, I couldn’t just kill her on the spot. If I did, without definitive proof that she was working with the bandits, I’d be branded a murderer.

So, all I could do was share my suspicions during tonight’s meeting.

As everyone gathered in the men’s room after dinner, and I prepared to reveal the identity of the collaborator…

“It seems we’ve found someone who’s working with the bandits.”

Before I could say anything, Seraphine spoke up first about the search for the collaborator, forcing me to hold back my own revelation.