"…Thanks," she said quietly.
He blinked. "…You're welcome."
Vanyaa stared at the bed for a while.
It had been days since she slept in an actual bed.
She crawled onto it and buried herself under the blanket.
Alden gave her one last glance before turning away.
"Goodnight," he said softly.
She didn't reply. But under the blanket, a tiny smile formed on her lips.
He really isn't a bad guy.
After putting Vanyaa to sleep, Alden stepped into his room.
The day had been chaotic, to say the least.
But then again—when wasn't it?
Honestly, Alden was starting to enjoy the madness. Not in a masochistic way.
He wasn't crazy afterall.
Well, not completely.
But there was something addictive about this kind of unpredictability. These moments made him feel alive—like he was actually in a world, not just following some lazy no-lifer author's plotline.
His room was peacefully quiet, in complete denial of the chaos that had just unfolded.
He hopped onto the bed.
Let's see… What happened today?
First, he talked—not scammed, definitely not—with one of the most broken beings in existence: the Demon King.
Then, got thrown through a landscape so weird it could be featured in a painting titled "What the hell is this?" With some unidentified flying something.
Then came Amyra's friendship proposal.
Still not over that one.
Then Nyx… acting like someone who accidentally downloaded emotions for the first time.
And finally—ta-da!—he acquired a new servant.
A tiny packet of chaos in cat form.
All of this in just a few hours.
Even he, a certified chaos enjoyer, was feeling a little overwhelmed.
And that had to count for something… right?
He let out a long sigh, staring at the ceiling.
His thoughts drifted back to those shady bastards Vanyaa had mentioned.
The ones with the artifact.
They didn't sound like your average people. Just the fact they could sneak in a cursed artifact inside the academy was proof of their influence.
Ancient artifact sealed in glass, mysterious hooded figure, and a collar that latched on like it had a mind of its own?
Yeah. That was sketchy.
"Great," Alden muttered, rubbing his temples. "Just what I needed. A secret cult or whatever the hell they are, after my new accidental sidekick."
Vanyaa didn't even seem to grasp how dangerous that item was.
Or how not normal it was for a collar to fuse itself onto someone's soul.
That artifact is definitely one of the Cursed artifacts.
Those kinds of artifacts were very rare and held completely unknown powers and sometimes forbidden and twisted rituals.
According to the system window, what had happened with Vanyaa was also a ritual.
From the notification it was clear that the ritual had been lost in pages of history but that ritual had been twisted by that artifact.
Any kind of Master-Servant pact required consent. But this artifact had bypassed that restriction.
It didn't even ask Alden for consent.
What was the goal of those sneaky bastards in sneaking this artifact Inside academy?
Were they after someone perhaps?
But who could be someone so important that they were ready to waste such a priceless artifact?
Something is definitely weird.
He might've just stumbled into something bigger.
Alden turned his head, eyes narrowing slightly.
"Guess I'll have to prepare… just in case."
Right. There was also that.
The skill that had just formed after the weird binding ritual.
He hadn't checked it yet.
He summoned the system window he had dismissed previously.
The notification blinked at the edge of his screen.
[New Skill Acquired: Linked Resonance]
[Displaying information of skill – Linked Resonance]
Somewhere else within the academy.
Inside a dark room a meeting was being held.
Seven people sat around a circular table.
They seemed to be discussing something important.
A aura suddenly erupted within the room.
All the people except one sitting at the head position were crushed to the ground.
Their breathing became rough.
The one at the head seat raised just a single finger.
"It was just an easy task… one easy task."
"And you failed that too."
"You just had to collect that artifact and deliver that to me."
A cold distorted voice echoed. The person wore a plain white mask. It didn't even have any eyeholes or anything.
Just a single creepy smile was drawn on it.
"S…o….r….r..y...b…o…s…s"
One of the people closest to the head seat, the one who was feeling the full brunt of that attack muttered barely.
"Hahahahahahhaahahahahahhaha"
"Sorry? You dare to say that after losing an invaluable artifact to a single cat."
"Really? Do you expect me to believe that?"
"Moreover you just vanished, after that and didn't even see the cat."
"Isn't this all just a convenient excuse?"
The boss lowered their pressure, to let the man speak.
The man huffed but didn't lift his head.
"When I saw the bracelet vanish all of a sudden. I felt a spatial disturbance and thought it was Jeremy Voidforge—"
"At least try to make a good excuse." The boss interrupted.
The boss just cleanly moved their finger through the air in one swift motion.
The next moment a crimson arc erupted from all the kneeling men.
Within seconds everything turned silent.
The boss just clicked their tongue in annoyance before snapping.
A figure materialised out of thin air just beside the boss.
It also wore a similar creepy mask. The only difference was that it was black coloured.
"We have to postpone it till the tournament begins."
The black masked guy just nodded.
"Take care of these bodies and those two delivery guys who had come to deliver the artifact." The boss ordered.
The black masked guy nodded again.
"Is the Disciple Of Greed still going to attack the first year on the trip."
The black masked individual spoke for the first time. Their voices were similarly distorted. "Yes."
"Well at least I'll get to watch a free show." The boss muttered before vanishing in thin air leaving the black masked guy alone.