"Thank you..."
As I thanked him and looked at the man's face, I froze. My hand trembled as I reached out to take the book.
"Why are you shaking so much?"
The middle-aged man looked puzzled as he handed me the volume, but I mumbled a vague excuse and took it.
Once he turned and left, I let out a long sigh of relief while watching his receding back.
"Whew... I forgot he was here."
The man was Ancano, a Thalmor agent dispatched to 'supervise' the magical activities and research of the college.
Between his arrogant attitude, his status as a Thalmor spy, and his biased belief that all non-elven races are inferior, his reputation within the college was bottom-tier at best.
If that were the end of it, he'd just be another eccentric asshole. The problem was that Ancano is the primary villain of the Winterhold Community College questline.
Late in the quest, Ancano succumbs to the temptation of the Eye of Magnus's power and activates it. The resulting catastrophe leaves the city in ruins and leads to the death of Arch-Mage Savos Aren.
'Maybe I can change it.'
Since I knew the entire sequence of events, I might be able to prevent the tragedy before it even starts.
However, I was conflicted because breaking Choi Ha-neul's hypnosis was also an urgent task.
'If I leave him be, that incident is going to blow up eventually.'
And it wasn't just the professors here; there were scores of students. If they got caught up in the fallout, the body count would be staggering.
"Hmm..."
'I can't just look the other way when I know a massacre is coming.'
After much deliberation, I decided to go find Savos Aren immediately. Besides, if I resolved this mess and boosted my standing with Savos, wouldn't he be more likely to give me a clue on how to break the hypnosis?
"Ahem..."
Arriving at the Arch-Mage's quarters, I cleared my throat, feeling a bit of nerves.
Just as I was organizing my thoughts on what to say and reaching for the handle, the door opened on its own.
The Arch-Mage's room unfolded before me. It was a surreal space—vivid green trees that looked like miniatures of a World Tree and spheres of light floating freely to serve as lamps. It had that typical 'mystical wizard' vibe.
Taking the self-opening door as an invitation, I stepped inside and found Savos sitting at his desk on the right.
"Greetings, Arch-Mage..."
He was sitting with his legs crossed and fingers interlaced over his knee. On his desk lay a book written in a language I'd never seen before.
"What is it?"
I got straight to the point.
"—And that is Ancano's scheme..."
"..."
He remained silent for a while after my explanation, stroking his beard with a troubled expression.
'He doesn't think I'm lying.'
He looked at me—observing my steady gaze and controlled breathing—and finally spoke.
"It is true that he is Thalmor and that his reputation here is unfavorable, but we cannot simply brand him a traitor and expel him based on rumors alone."
He was right. Especially since Ancano had the backing of a massive organization like the Thalmor, we couldn't just throw him out without repercussions.
"In that case, I will find the evidence myself."
Refusing to give up, I declared firmly while thumping my chest.
The Eye of Magnus was a monumental artifact. A snake like Ancano wouldn't try to activate it without some sort of preparation.
And as a Skyrim veteran, I already had a plan.
"Evidence? Hmm... If you find any, do bring it to me."
Savos seemed skeptical, but I immediately put my plan into motion.
Returning to the library, I found Meriden Eloise busy gathering information, with books stacked like towers on her desk.
She was even wearing a pair of magnifying glasses from god-knows-where. I sat down next to her.
"Find the book you needed?"
"No..."
She shook her head with a bitter smile. I wanted to tell her about Ancano's plot, but I hit a snag.
'Wait, how do I explain this to Eloise?'
Choi Ha-neul would believe me because she's from the same Earth and knows this is a game, but Eloise would just think I'm crazy.
Urging her to investigate Ancano out of the blue would feel completely unnatural no matter how I sliced it.
"Was there something you needed?"
When I hesitated after calling her name, she looked at me inquisitively. Well, if honesty wouldn't work, lying was the only way.
"The Arch-Mage personally requested that we investigate Ancano. It seems that fellow is planning to bring ruin to the college."
"What!?"
Shocked by the news, Eloise dropped the book she was holding and gasped. The sudden noise drew stares from everyone nearby.
"Shh—"
I put a finger to my lips, signaling her to calm down.
"An investigation into Ancano, all of a sudden? More importantly, why us?"
Eloise lowered her voice, and I calmly spun a new excuse.
"He said... there's no one in the college as trustworthy as we are..."
"Trustworthy?"
"Yeah. He said he wouldn't trust anyone but an honor student like you with such a task."
Eloise was constantly stressed out by the massive workload and difficult assignments at the college.
While everyone struggled, she took it particularly hard and was always near the bottom of the class rankings.
Arch-Mage Savos Aren was generally a gentle soul, but he was notoriously strict when it came to evaluating students.
Hearing that such a man personally considered her trustworthy and an 'honor student,' she couldn't hide her joy.
"An honor student... Me? Okay! But what about Ha-neul's hypnosis?"
"Don't worry. This won't take long."
It was time to show off some 'multi-playthrough' veteran intuition.
**
"Just as I thought."
"It was true..."
Eloise and I spoke as we reviewed the library's loan records.
Normally, this was Urag gro-Shub's domain, but I'd managed to talk my way into the archives using my Speech skill.
Every single book Ancano had checked out was related to ancient artifacts and the Eye of Magnus.
The timeline was even more damning: he started checking these books out the exact day Tolfdir brought the Eye of Magnus to the college.
"Let's go report this immediately!"
"No, this isn't enough."
It was a good find, but it didn't count as concrete proof of a crime. He could easily argue he was just curious about the new artifact.
"Then what do we do?"
"Follow me."
I tucked the library record into my tunic.
"If we get caught, we'll be suspended!"
"That's why you're going to keep a sharp eye out."
"Ugh..."
I infiltrated the faculty living quarters and sneaked into Ancano's room.
The door was locked, obviously, but I managed to slip a soul gem through a tiny crack and opened a short-range portal to step inside.
Since it was the middle of the day, the quarters were empty, making the process relatively smooth.
"Not this one, hmm..."
I rifled through Ancano's bookshelves and drawers, praying for a breakthrough.
"What's this?"
I found a thick book with a small lock attached to it.
It was strange; it didn't even have a cover or a title.
—Sshhhk!
Seeing a potential lead, I summoned an Elven-style Bound Dagger and shattered the lock.
"Ha! Bingo."
I let out a soft exclamation after skimming the pages. I'd finally secured the evidence. But just as I was about to signal Eloise—
The sound of conversation drifted through the door.
"What are you doing in front of my room?"
"Oh... th-that is! I've recently taken a deep interest in the Thalmor!"
Realizing Ancano had returned at the worst possible moment, I frantically tried to tidy up the room.
'Did this go here?!'
I had to shove books back into the shelves so fast that I didn't have time to verify if the order was exactly right.
—Clatter!
'I'm screwed!'
"Wait, I thought I heard something in my room?"
"I-it must be a rat!"
In my frantic cleaning, I'd knocked a crystal ball off the desk and onto the floor.
"Could someone have broken in?"
"Of course not...!"
"Move!"
—BAM!
Though Eloise tried to buy as much time as possible, Ancano pushed past her and threw the door open.
"Hmm..."
But inside, there was no sign of a struggle, nor any intruder.
"See? I told you. Anyway, I'll be going now!"
Eloise made a highly suspicious exit, but Ancano didn't seem to care. He looked around the room.
The window was locked from the inside, and the door lock showed no signs of tampering. It was a perfect 'locked room' scenario.
Furthermore, the bed, the desk, and the shelves all looked pristine. But that cleanliness only fueled his suspicion.
Looking closely at the bookshelves, he realized the arrangement of the volumes had changed. Certain someone had searched his room, he tore through his drawers.
"Ha..."
Realizing his journal was missing, he immediately stormed toward the Hall of the Elements.
I ran to Savos's quarters and slammed the book down.
By the way, the reason I managed to escape that locked room was thanks to the Invisibility Potion Camilla Valerius had given me back in Riverwood. I'd slipped out right as Ancano opened the door.
'Camilla, you're a lifesaver!'
"This is..."
"These are the library loan records. As you can see, every book Ancano has taken since Tolfdir brought the artifact is related to it."
"And for the final blow, look at this."
The book I'd taken was indeed Ancano's journal. It detailed his obsession with the Eye of Magnus and his conspiracy to seize the artifact for the Thalmor.
'Seriously, why does everyone in Skyrim write their secret master plans in a journal?'
"We have to stop him immediately."
Satisfied that the journal hadn't been forged, Savos stood up from his chair. I prepared myself to assist in Ancano's arrest.
However—
—K-BOOM!!!
At that moment, a massive explosion rocked the college, and Savos and I both felt a colossal surge of Magicka ripple through the air.
========================
The website for reading paid chapters is available on my Patreon. The number of chapters on Patreon: 70
Link: patreon.com/UltraMagnus_T