Academy’s Undercover Professor-Chapter 253: The Truth of That Day (3)

The researchers confessed everything to Ludger about what had been happening in this place.

The Chorus of Steel.

A project to create horrifying strategic weapons—Automatons—designed for war.

And by implanting human souls into these Automatons, the goal was to give them more refined and autonomous movement...

While at the same time binding them to follow only their master's orders, unconditionally.

Originally, such a project was meant to remain strictly confidential. The researchers, even under duress, were forbidden to speak of it to outsiders.

But with the monster before them—who had just slaughtered all the guards inside the lab—gripping their lives in its hands and threatening them, no one could keep their mouth shut.

Nothing mattered more than one’s own life.

Of course, there had been one researcher who refused Ludger’s proposal, saying he could not speak—claiming loyalty as his reason.

Ludger killed him on the spot, in full view of everyone.

He said that if someone didn’t want to talk, they didn’t have to.

That such things didn’t matter to him.

Faced with that merciless and cruel display, the rest of the researchers spilled everything—even things no one had asked.

“Is that the end of the story?”

“Y-Yes. That’s really all we know.”

“I see. Comparing that with the documents here, it seems you haven’t left anything out.”

After hearing everything, Ludger nodded, seemingly satisfied.

“Then... what about us...?”

“Ah, right. Since you’ve told me everything I wanted to know, I suppose I should reward you accordingly.”

The surviving researchers’ faces brightened with hope.

“But before that, I have one last question. If you answer that, I’ll let you live.”

“Y-Yes!”

“The children you kidnapped and used for experiments. Do you remember their names?”

At that question, the researchers’ previously hopeful expressions began to harden.

“W-What... do you mean by that...?”

“You don’t know their names?”

Silence fell among the researchers.

Ludger turned to the others.

“No one? Not a single one of you?”

“W-Well...”

“I’ll tell you now—I hate lies. And I assume you remember what happened to the last person who lied.”

There had indeed been someone earlier who tried to deceive Ludger.

He, too, was now a cold corpse tossed into the corner of the lab.

At that reminder, the researchers glanced at each other.

They were silently asking if any of them remembered the name of even one of the test subjects.

“No one? Not a single person?”

“What the hell are you doing?! Try to remember! Think!”

“Damn it! That’s your job! I was only in charge of measuring vitals!”

“Useless bastard!”

Panic rising, the researchers began shouting at one another, pointing fingers, hurling curses.

But none of them truly tried to remember the names of the children used in the experiments.

Because they never wanted to.

Because they never needed to.

After all, those kids were just ones no one would care about—even if they died.

So they thought it didn’t matter.

“Ah.”

“R-Right...”

Realizing too late what they had just admitted, the researchers’ faces turned pale.

They slowly looked back toward Ludger, their eyes filled with terror.

Still seated, one leg crossed over the other, Ludger was watching them.

A cold smile stretched across his face.

“Thank you.”

A smile so icy it made their skin crawl.

“For not remembering their names.”

Immediately after, the writhing black shadow engulfed the researchers.

* * *

Hans entered the blood-soaked lab.

His brows furrowed as he looked over the corpses scattered about. Avoiding them, he strode over to Ludger.

“Is it all over?”

“Yes.”

“Still, shouldn’t we have kept a few of them alive? If we’re going to continue the experiment, that would’ve helped.”

“There’s no need.”

Ludger looked back at Hans as he spoke.

“I’ll do it myself.”

“...Is that even possible?”

“There’s still research material left here.”

Ludger unfolded the documents he’d taken from the researchers.

The experiment to implant human souls into Automatons.

The Chorus of Steel project.

It was already nearing completion.

If this were still the beginning stages, things would be different—but by now, Ludger alone could complete what remained.

“The reason they used children in the experiments was because a child’s soul is easier to implant into an Automaton.”

“Then, the condition of the body in that test tube earlier...”

“It collapsed due to the dissonance between the body and the vaguely extracted soul. But children are different from adults. Their souls are still small, fragile, and, more importantly—pure.”

Moreover, they didn’t just implant souls—they refined them, shaping the result into a weapon that obeyed only their commands.

For that, the soul needed to be easily modifiable.

And a child’s soul fit that requirement perfectly.

“Even though the experiments with children didn’t always go smoothly, the successful prototype was completed only recently.”

“So the reason they kidnapped more people today... was because they were ready to mass-produce successful Automatons.”

“Exactly.”

Ludger answered while examining the research documents.

The one they called a success had a codename engraved: Beta.

From the position labeled Gamma onward, every entry was marked with a red line.

Most likely, those were failures.

Which meant that Arte’s younger sister, Shelly, could also be...

Ludger shook his head.

Saving Arte came first.

He gently laid Arte’s corpse into a test capsule.

When he activated the machine, green liquid began to rise within the chamber.

As the green fluid enveloped Arte’s body, Hans asked,

“Boss... will this work? No matter what, this child... she’s already dead.”

“Yes. She died. But her soul still remains. She isn’t completely gone.”

“Even so...”

Hans hesitated, debating whether to speak.

Then, after gathering his resolve, he voiced his concern.

“...The child who opens her eyes won’t be the same one you knew.”

“I know that.”

Ludger had already steeled himself for that truth.

Arte’s soul would be implanted into a prototype Automaton designated Alpha—a vessel that had been left empty.

Unlike the other researchers, Ludger wouldn’t carve or modify her soul.

But even a simple transfer would bring change.

Even if the soul were successfully transplanted and opened its ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) eyes, the being that emerged would likely not be Arte.

The soul would still be hers—but if it had changed,

Was it still her?

Or was it something new entirely?

Ludger didn’t want to answer that question.

He just wanted to believe.

That this girl would open her eyes again.

“So what do we do now?”

“We wait. It takes time for the soul to be fully implanted. We don’t need to touch anything. The machine will handle the process.”

“Then we’ll need to leave this place as it is for a while.”

“Once everything’s done, I plan to shut it all down. Until then, we have other places to worry about.”

Ludger recalled the names listed in the research logs.

The people who had approved this.

The organizations they belonged to.

The other hidden laboratories and factories beyond this one.

When Ludger listed them all out, Hans clicked his tongue in disbelief.

“They’re out of their damn minds. So those rumors about starting a war were actually true.”

It wasn’t exactly an era of peace.

The great powers were all desperate to claim more land and resources, constantly watching for a moment of opportunity.

However, with each faction maintaining a balance of power—and with the Empire looming as a colossal presence—the world had remained in this strange state of tension, everyone warily watching each other.

But if one side had been stockpiling this kind of force in secret, the story changed entirely.

The balance of global power would collapse.

“A legion of Automatons that feel no fear of death and are far stronger than ordinary soldiers...”

There were knights, beings more powerful still—but training a knight took an enormous amount of time and resources.

Automatons, however, did not.

While they still required resources, they could be mass-produced and deployed immediately.

The Chorus of Steel project was enough to tip the entire scale of war.

“If it had succeeded, that is.”

But this secret lab was now under Ludger’s control.

Of course, it couldn’t be hidden forever.

If no further reports were submitted, the higher-ups would sense that something was wrong and send someone to investigate.

“Hans. One week. We need to settle this within that time.”

“One week? Isn’t that a bit tight?”

“If we stir things up enough, we can buy more time. We draw people’s attention and spread the rumors as widely as possible.”

If a top-secret project hidden in the shadows began to go off track, those involved would scramble to suppress it by any means necessary.

But if it surfaced before they could intervene—

Then those involved wouldn’t be able to act freely.

“From now on, it’s a race. Whether we expose this to the world first, or they manage to cover it up—that will decide everything.”

“The field favors them. We’re fighting on their turf, after all.”

“But we’ll be the first to move. And we’ve got a reliable ally on our side.”

Ludger’s thoughts turned to Casey Selmore as he said this.

“So then, where are we heading next?”

“There’s another abandoned mine elsewhere. But unlike this place, it wasn’t designed to conceal a secret lab. It’s a bit different.”

“Different how?”

“It’s still an active mining site. Rare metals are still being extracted there.”

Hans recalled hearing something similar before.

“A rare metal mine... but I thought it was shut down because it stopped yielding anything?”

“That was a ruse. They’re still mining rare metals there. And those metals were used here—to produce the Automatons.”

“Then something doesn’t add up. Even if that’s true, rumors about rare metals are bound to spread. How have they kept it hidden so well?”

Mining rare metals required more than just a handful of workers.

It took a large-scale labor force. Controlling that many people and keeping the information hidden should’ve been virtually impossible.

“They don’t use humans for the mining.”

“Don’t tell me...”

“Exactly. You’re thinking it too.”

Ludger spoke the word Hans had been hesitant to say.

“Demi-human slaves. They’re using illegally enslaved demi-humans to mine the rare metals.”

* * *

In front of what was once known as the largest rare metal mine in the Kingdom of Delica—

Hans stiffened after receiving intel from a rat he had sent in.

“...It’s true. From what I could confirm, there’s an enormous number of people inside. Mostly demi-humans—beastkin and dwarves.”

“They must’ve been kidnapped and forced into slavery.”

“They’re insane. Demi-human slavery was abolished long ago.”

“If they cared about that, they wouldn’t be kidnapping people for live experimentation either.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Damn it. A state committing atrocities like this... what’s the difference between them and black mages?”

Hans kicked at a nearby tree in frustration.

He’d seen plenty of horrors in the underworld, but using kidnapped children for experimentation was something that still disgusted him.

“So what now?”

“What else? We know what we have to do.”

“Sure, I know that much. But unlike the Automaton lab, this place is heavily guarded and on a much larger scale.”

Unlike the lab, which didn’t need many people, the rare metal mine required significant manpower.

The slaves did most of the mining, but the force stationed there to suppress potential uprisings was far larger than expected.

“What’s the plan?”

“First, we go inside. Who knows what else they might be doing in there.”

With their minds made up, Ludger and Hans entered the mine.

The tunnels had been blocked midway through to give the impression that the place was no longer in use.

But the two of them already knew the location of the hidden passage and didn’t fall for such a cheap trick.

They walked for some time through a concealed tunnel hidden behind a wall.

Eventually, the path ended—and a vast chasm opened up before them.

“This is the place.”

Using levitation magic, the two descended slowly.

At the depths of the mine, only darkness surrounded them. They couldn’t see a thing.

Clang! Clang!

Then, faint sounds began to echo from the distance.

The sound of metal striking metal. Hans spoke up.

“Boss.”

“Yeah. This way.”

Quieting their footsteps, the two followed the noise.

Eventually, a distant glow of light came into view.

What they discovered was a massive underground mine.

Inside, demi-human slaves were digging, still unwashed, filthy.

And above them, guards with guns watched over their every move.

“There’s a disgusting number of them.”

Hans clicked his tongue in disbelief at the sheer scale.

The slaves were one thing—but the number of armed guards alone easily exceeded a hundred.

“Yeah. And it’s not just soldiers here.”

Ludger’s sharp gaze turned toward a particular spot.

Unlike the gun-toting guards, a man in loose robes with a staff at his waist stood among them.

A mage.

“This... might be tougher than expected.”

As Hans began to fret, Ludger looked in another direction.

‘...Hm?’

He didn’t know why.

He just saw it.

Among the slaves, one stood out—a small figure.

It appeared to be a young girl, but given the location, she had to be a demi-human—and judging by her build, definitely a dwarf.

She was swinging her pickaxe diligently, but secretly, she was stashing fragments of ore into her pocket.

Her movements were so subtle that the guards didn’t notice—but Ludger did.

“Hans.”

“Yes, boss?”

“We might be able to get some help.”

“...Huh?”

Hans turned to Ludger, confused by what he meant.

“I’ve spotted an interesting one.”