"...What?"

"...Really?"

"Yes, I’m almost certain."

Seraphine’s confident assertion about the search for a collaborator left both me and Gepmajo Segiquat shocked, causing us to ask in near unison.

Despite our immediate questioning, Seraphine nodded confidently and began explaining what she had uncovered about the collaborator.

"As I mentioned yesterday, the person I suspect most of being a collaborator is the orphanage director, Mr. Hankerton."

"W-Well, I think Mr. Hankerton being a collaborator with the bandits seems a bit far-fetched…."

"I did some investigating while pretending to volunteer at the orphanage today. I gathered rumors from the children about the orphanage, and even looked into how many kids come and go each month. I also took the liberty of reading through the ledgers in the director’s office."

Serista’s hesitant opinion was easily ignored as Seraphine confidently relayed the information she had gathered.

Naturally, given that Seraphine's information was more reliable, both Gepmajo and I couldn’t help but listen closely.

"So? What do you think?" I asked.

"No matter how you look at it, the orphanage seems suspicious. Despite being in such a remote village, it somehow continues to operate. The list of ‘noble donors’ also struck me as strange. None of the names matched any prominent nobles I know. I suspect they’re using fake names to avoid detection by any sharp-eyed investigators."

"I see… anything else?"

"What’s most suspicious are the children’s testimonies. According to them, one or two children are adopted from the orphanage each month, but none of the kids have ever seen the parents adopting them. Normally, even for nobles, when adopting a child from an orphanage, they’d at least want to see the child once before deciding. Even if they’re training them as a servant or knight, they would want to meet them at least once."

"But according to the kids, no one ever meets the children before adopting them. It’s all done through paperwork, which makes no sense. Especially for parents coming to such a remote village, you’d expect more involvement."

"True, that’s very odd."

"It’s clear that something shady is happening at the orphanage. Even if he’s not directly involved with the bandits, Hankerton is definitely running some sort of illegal operation. The odds of him being tied to a criminal organization seem high."

If what Seraphine was saying was true, then there was a strong chance that Hankerton was the bandit collaborator in the game as well. And given that Seraphine wasn’t the type to make baseless claims like Serista or Silena, her words carried weight.

‘The problem is, I’ve also found someone I suspect as the collaborator…’

In Luminar Academy, there were three possible suspects for being a bandit collaborator, and during each playthrough, you had to gather evidence to identify which one it was for the Humanities Exploration Class. Sometimes, the orphanage director Hankerton, who sincerely ran the orphanage, turned out to be a human trafficker selling the orphans into slavery. Other times, village chief Rombel, who cooperated with the Academy students to protect the village, betrayed them to ensure the village’s safety.

‘And the village woman I suspect has stories where she is both a collaborator and not.’

‘But what if...’

As the suspicious evidence piled up, a theory began forming in my head, when suddenly, Gepmajo Segiquat also claimed to have found the collaborator.

"After hearing Seraphine, this may sound strange, but I still think the village chief, Rombel, is suspicious."

"...What?"

"Based on the circumstances, he’s the most suspicious. From the bandits' ambush on our way to the village to how they seemed to know we were coming. It was like they had advance knowledge of our visit."

"That’s true. The only people who could have known the timing and route of our visit were our professor and Chief Rombel."

"If someone leaked that information, it would most likely be the chief. And thinking back, the way he so readily gave us the village hall to stay in also seems suspicious."

"What do you mean?"

"As students of the Academy, we’re the only ones in the village capable of putting up a fight against the bandits. If the bandits were to attack again, it would be easier to deal with us all in one place, rather than having us scattered across different homes."

"But assuming that is too reckless. You’re saying we should suspect everyone who’s been kind to us..."

"It’s unfortunate, Serista, but we can’t ignore the most likely possibility. Besides, my suspicions go beyond that. Yesterday, and today as well, Chief Rombel has been assigning the more physically demanding tasks only to the men."

Gepmajo Segiquat continued listing reasons why Chief Rombel was suspicious, and as his evidence accumulated, even Serista reluctantly nodded in agreement.

Listening to Gepmajo’s reasoning, I could recognize many of the behaviors that marked Rombel as the collaborator in the original game. With this amount of evidence, the game would usually consider the search over and progress the story, assuming Rombel was the traitor.

Seraphine’s findings about Hankerton’s corruption, Gepmajo’s suspicion of Chief Rombel…

"And actually, if I may add something from my self-defense class with the village women earlier today…"

And now, the key traitor I had discovered.

At that moment, I was sure the theory forming in my head could turn out to be true.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

The Humanities Exploration Class at Luminar Academy spanned 3 nights and 4 days in Bridget Village. The village was far enough from the Academy that it took 1 night and 2 days just to get there, so the duration of the class was naturally extended.

That meant if the bandits were planning something, it had to happen by the third night at the latest. As I mentioned before, the bandits’ goal wasn’t just to ransack this small village—they were after something much bigger. They wanted slaves—young, attractive ones at that.

Given their failure on the first night, the most likely attack would come when we least expected it—on the final night.

And so, on the third night, we were patrolling the village in groups.

We weren’t aimlessly wandering; Gepmajo Segiquat had assigned each group a specific area to patrol.

Gepmajo and his harem trio were patrolling the main road near the orphanage.

Natalie, Thomas, and Luke were patrolling near the chief’s house and the village hall.

And I was patrolling the residential area and the smaller path on the outskirts with Ethan and Agnes.

The groups were divided based on familiarity and combat ability, with Hankerton's orphanage being the most dangerous, and Chief Rombel’s side being the easiest.

‘Up until now, we’ve always assumed there would only be one boss among the three routes, and that’s how we divided the teams…’

But by now, both I and Gepmajo had started to realize that in Luminar Academy, all the branch bosses could appear at the same time if the story progressed without contradictions.

There were no contradictions that would prevent three different traitors from existing in this remote village: an orphanage director who sells children into slavery, a village chief who betrays outsiders to protect his own, and a woman filled with vengeful rage after barely escaping the bandits, all in the same story.

‘Of course, ideally, nothing happens…’

But based on the pattern so far, it was inevitable that something would.

"Hrk, gasp...!"

"...!"

Just as I was solidifying my expectations, the sound of someone struggling to breathe echoed from a nearby alley, and the three of us instinctively moved toward the sound.