Academy’s Undercover Professor-Chapter 297: World Tree Specialist (3)

“What... is that?”

Chris asked, but neither Ludger nor Bellaruna had an answer.

They were just as clueless.

At first, they thought someone was on top of the root—maybe a member of the Liberation Army, a black mage, or perhaps both. Given the nature of this place, any of them wouldn’t have been surprising.

But it wasn’t a person.

If it had been, Ludger’s sound magic would’ve detected them. The only thing that registered had been the World Tree root. If someone had foreseen that and deliberately hidden themselves, well... Ludger wouldn’t have had anything to say to that.

But that didn’t seem to be the case.

Which meant the silhouette atop the root wasn’t human.

And despite their wary observation, the figure didn’t show any sign of moving toward them.

“Thankfully, it doesn’t seem to be moving. In that case, we should be able to approach it more closely and confirm.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“We’re in a place where danger is a given.”

“More dangerous, I mean.”

“I factored that in from the beginning.”

“Well, that really leaves nothing to say.”

Despite their bickering, the two men—three, counting Bellaruna—were aligned in their decision.

And with Bellaruna’s overflowing curiosity, refusal wasn’t even on the table.

In the end, all three agreed to approach the root.

As they got closer, the blurry silhouette of the root became clearer.

And with that clarity came understanding of what the silhouette actually was.

“This is...”

Chris trailed off. Ludger narrowed his eyes. Bellaruna parted her lips in surprise.

What they had thought was a person turned out to be something protruding from the root itself.

Something.

That was the only word they could use.

It looked human—at least the upper torso of one—reaching desperately into the air, as if trying to escape. But not a single one of them could define what exactly it was.

“That’s... pretty disturbing. It looks like someone trying to claw their way out from inside the root.”

“I agree. It’s definitely not normal.”

A human-shaped upper body of a root, extending its hand into the air without eyes, nose, or mouth?

As the two men stared in discomfort, Bellaruna watched it without much concern.

“Is it okay to touch it? It’s not going to suddenly move, is it?”

“Are you scared?”

“Wh-What? This is purely about preventing any unexpected incidents!”

“It won’t move. If that thing were going to, it would have already—either when it was created, or when we approached it.”

“Hmph.”

“From here on, it’s your area of expertise.”

Ludger knew there was nothing else he could do in this situation.

The reason he had brought Chris and Bellaruna was because they were specialists when it came to plants—especially the World Tree.

Chris was the young head of the prestigious Benimore family, renowned for their alchemical knowledge, and Bellaruna, despite having been cast out of her village, was an elf deeply versed in botany.

Ludger himself had a decent knowledge of pharmacology, but not enough to rival either of them.

And that was something Ludger readily admitted.

“I’ll focus on reinforcing the perimeter.”

Chris nodded and approached the World Tree root.

He calmly took out his tools and began collecting samples.

Bellaruna gently caressed the surface, inspecting different areas.

Eventually, Chris placed his hand on the World Tree and activated his mana.

Ludger observed silently.

‘So that kind of magic exists.’

Green strands of mana flowed from Chris’s palm, soaking into the World Tree.

It was a diagnostic spell used by pharmacological mages.

Ludger had heard about it before, but this was his first time witnessing it.

He could learn it if he wanted to, but the spell only revealed the characteristics of a plant. How that information was used depended entirely on the caster.

In other words, without specialized knowledge of herbs, the spell was essentially a pearl necklace on a pig.

Eventually, Chris pulled his hand away from the root. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

“Did you find anything?”

At Ludger’s question, Chris shook his head, looking slightly defeated.

“I got information on its characteristics, but nothing conclusive.”

“Is it because the root’s dead?”

“That’s part of it. But more than that, someone’s deliberately blocked access to the information.”

Ludger blinked. “Is that even possible?”

“Surprisingly, yes. It’s my first time actually experiencing it myself, though.”

“So it’s rare.”

“Most living organisms store information internally—like how the brain stores memory. Plants are the same. For them, it’s rooted in the roots. Even if the cells die and decay, traces remain.”

“I see.”

“With something as massive as the World Tree, it would have stored a tremendous amount of information. Someone like me can read that.”

“So in reverse, it’s also possible to seal that information.”

“Exactly. Which means there’s another expert here besides me.”

Ludger had a pretty good idea who that was.

It was likely the work of those black mages from the life-engineering faction Hans had mentioned.

When Ludger casually mentioned that, Chris nodded in agreement.

“Of course. If we’re talking about the life-engineering black mages who made the chimeras, then this isn’t beyond them. Those monsters they created were probably made using sap extracted from the World Tree.”

“Then there’s nothing else to uncover here?”

“Unfortunately, this is the limit of my abilities. I apologize.”

Chris admitted his shortcomings without hesitation.

Being stubborn wouldn’t change the outcome.

Which meant the analysis team had essentially completed its mission.

Just as they were about to consider heading back—

“Um...”

Bellaruna, who had been examining the root, was suddenly standing between the two men like a ghost.

“What is it?”

“I found something.”

“......”

“......”

Ludger and Chris turned to look at each other.

Then both turned to her again.

“What did you find?” Chris asked, a note of expectation in his voice.

“The root is dead, but inside, there’s still an immense amount of life force. I think the black mages are extracting it for their own use.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes. That human-shaped thing sticking out? It’s definitely not normal.”

“Not normal?”

Ludger asked, and Bellaruna nodded, speaking softly.

“Yes. It’s something fundamentally different from the World Tree. The way it looks like it’s trying to escape—it must have been forcibly embedded, and the rebound effect caused that shape.”

“But it didn’t come out.”

“The ones who forced it in probably sealed it from escaping. But I can feel it—it’s still trying to get out.”

All three of them stared at the human-like shape sprouting from the root.

They didn’t know what it was, but the thought that it was still trying to escape was deeply unsettling.

‘This definitely isn’t normal...’

Just as Ludger thought that, Chris couldn’t hold back his curiosity any longer.

“More importantly, Lady Bellaruna, how did you know that?”

‘Lady Bellaruna?’

Oh, come on.

Now he was even adding honorifics?

“W-Well, I’m an elf, you see. Elves can commune with the World Tree. We can instinctively sense a plant’s genetic structure.”

“Even with the information sealed?”

“W-Well, it’s hard for normal humans, but I’m an elf, so it’s possible for me!”

Bellaruna nodded vigorously, clearly proud of the convenient excuse she’d just come up with—whether she believed it herself or not.

Chris, however, stroked his chin, unconvinced.

“Hmmm. From what I’ve heard, even elves can’t easily read the World Tree’s information.”

“Wh-Where did you hear that? Who told you that nonsense?”

“From Professor Vierno. Do you know Vierno Dentis, by chance?”

“...!”

Bellaruna’s reaction to that name was explosive.

A name unmistakable to anyone who had ever studied plants.

Indeed, even as an elf, Bellaruna couldn’t not know that name.

The Dentis family had long stood among the most prominent lineages within elven society.

Ludger felt something off.

‘Wait a minute. If even elves aren’t permitted to read the World Tree’s information, and she reacted that strongly just now...’

He didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but as much as he tried to deny it, the question escaped his lips naturally.

“...Don’t tell me... you did it secretly?”

“...!”

Bellaruna’s eyes widened as she stared at Ludger.

She didn’t answer aloud, but her expression said everything.

‘Seriously?’

Bellaruna Petana.

The eccentric elf cast out from her village.

Ludger had originally thought she was exiled due to her oddball personality and how poorly she fit into the rigid structure of elven society.

But now, it was clear there was more to the story.

And it was serious.

Bellaruna had broken a forbidden taboo—one of the highest order—and that’s why she’d been cast out.

She had made unauthorized contact with the World Tree.

And if it was the World Tree, not just one in a small village but one from the Grand Forest Kingdom centered around the tree itself...

“Contact with the World Tree... Good grief, so that’s what happened.”

Chris nodded as if everything made sense now.

He too had heard of such matters.

“Elven society has a strict hierarchy, even within itself. There are rigid rules that no one may touch the central World Tree unless they’re from the leading houses that manage its roots.”

In human academia, the World Tree was simply regarded as an ancient plant species that had existed since antiquity.

But elves still revered it as a sacred tree—a divine being.

Naturally, if someone unqualified so much as touched it, the reaction would be extreme.

If Bellaruna had been revealed to be from a prestigious house hiding her identity, that would be understandable.

‘But with how badly she’s sweating... she probably really is just some regular elf who touched the World Tree without permission.’

Frankly, it was a miracle she was still alive.

Maybe the elves had shown mercy and simply exiled her instead of executing her.

“So how many times did you make contact with the World Tree?”

Ludger asked.

Bellaruna replied in a tiny crawling voice.

“...Twice.”

“Not even once, but twice?”

“No, wait... maybe three times...”

“......”

“Four times...?”

Ludger squeezed his eyes shut.

Even Chris—who’d claimed that Bellaruna could chew on a bug and still look beautiful—looked visibly taken aback.

At this point, the mere fact that Bellaruna was still breathing felt like a cosmic joke.

“I-It’s okay! I only got caught once!”

“......”

“......”

So, in summary: Bellaruna hadn’t been exiled because of her eccentricity.

She had been thrown out because she’d accessed the World Tree’s knowledge without authorization—something on par with a rank-and-file soldier walking into the high command’s top-secret war room and browsing through classified files.

Ludger shot a piercing glare at her.

A silent but firm: Why the hell didn’t you mention something this important until now?

Unable to meet his gaze, Bellaruna shrank her shoulders and averted her eyes.

It was Chris, instead, who responded to Ludger’s reaction.

“Why are you glaring at her like that? Lady Bellaruna may have broken a rule within elven society, but this is the human world. You don’t have the right to judge her for it.”

‘Easy for you to say—it’s not your problem.’

From Ludger’s perspective, it was a problem. Who knew when the elves might show up hunting for a rogue member who touched a forbidden relic?

Things were already messy enough with the Black Dawn. Adding elves into the mix would only complicate matters.

‘Assuming she really was only caught once and just got exiled for that, we’re lucky. But from # Nоvеlight # the looks of her, she’s definitely hiding more.’

Perhaps encouraged by Chris’s support, Bellaruna spoke up again with newfound courage.

“Y-Yeah! Besides, I’ve totally repented since then. What matters isn’t the past—it’s the present, right?”

“...Fine. Let’s put the contact aside. Then what do you think that thing trying to escape from the root actually is?”

Ludger gestured at the humanoid shape protruding from the root.

With Ludger choosing to let it slide, Bellaruna brightened and answered eagerly.

“I’m not entirely sure, but it’s definitely not normal. Even though the World Tree is dead, its residual life force is astonishing. And that thing—it wasn’t overwhelmed by that power. It was actually trying to get out.”

“Then do you think it’s going to move?”

“That’s just a remnant. A trace of the power inside trying to push outward. It won’t move.”

“So then...”

“Yeah. The actual body—whatever that ominous power is—it's still sleeping within the root. And the Liberation Army and those black mages are trying to extract and use it.”

Ominous power.

At that, Ludger narrowed his eyes.

Bellaruna wasn’t the type to call something that unless it was really unsettling.

If even she was calling it that...

As she spoke, a thought suddenly struck Bellaruna. Her eyes lit up.

“Come to think of it, this does remind me of something.”

“What do you mean?”

“There was a similar power once. When I compare the two... yeah, it’s nearly identical.”

“You know what this power is?”

“Yes.”

Bellaruna nodded with a grave expression.

“That is the power of a demon.”

At her words, both Ludger and Chris sucked in a sharp breath.

A demon.

A being thought to exist only in myth—reduced to legend and superstition.

Ludger, calmly collecting his thoughts, finally spoke.

“And how do you know that? That’s not something you’d learn from touching the World Tree.”

“......”

Bellaruna fell silent.

Ludger’s eyes thinned into a sharp line.

“...Don’t tell me you saw that too... without permission?”

More sweat trickled down Bellaruna’s cheek.

Ludger let out a deep internal sigh.

So much for World Tree specialist.

She was more like a habitual World Tree trespasser.