"Y-You didn’t see me!"
[Speed Boost]
Vivianne detonated the air beneath her feet as she tried to escape. The powerful gust of the explosion launched her far away, leaving the unconscious student lying on the ground behind her.
"I don’t really blame her..."
My mouth twitched, sure... what she did was the smart thing, hell, I would even do the same thing in her shoes.
But that doesn’t at all mean I would tolerate a previous student of mine running away from me without paying me back for my services.
BEEP!
’You called, Cael?’
"Can you allow me to talk to Vivianne for the day?"
CRACK!
I heard a vase shatter through the transceiver the moment I spoke those words.
’I hope I misheard you there...’
"Let me explain... basically..."
I explained everything to Evelina, from the reason why I started to train her to the price she had to pay in order to be trained.
I needed to make sure to leave no detail missing if I wanted to not get killed by her the next time we meet.
My heart couldn’t take it if she suddenly hated me.
’To repeat... this is just to increase your social standing, right?’
"Yes, nothing more."
I replied through the transceiver, kneeling down beside the unconscious student and checking if he had anything useful on him.
If I were stuck here in the meantime, it wouldn’t hurt to check if he had anything useful I could potentially use in the future.
’F-Fine... but... ugh, nevermind.’
I could hear Evelina’s reluctant agreement through the static, along with her ordering a servant to clean up the shattered vase.
She didn’t at all want to accept, but as pragmatic as she was, she had no choice but to accept, really.
It would hurt her as well if her ’servant’ were literally hated or unpopular throughout the academy.
Besides... if anything did happen, well, Vivianne’s family was weak enough that she could easily crush her if she dared to lay hands on me.
And she made sure to tell it directly to me on the transceiver.
’You got that?’
"I got everything, love you."
’You’re ridiculous.’
Evelina sighed, ending the call.
Now I have another problem, this time, finding where the hell Vivianne even went, but... with how much wind magic she used to escape from me.
It shouldn’t be hard to track her. I would be a disgrace as an S-Rank and a student if I couldn’t find a literal wind mage who radiated that much magic from her escape.
[Profaned Step]
"I should have lost him, right?"
Vivianne hid between two academy buildings, leaning back against a wall as she tried to catch her breath. Even with wind magic, the sheer speed she was going at would be enough to tire anyone. Even with her newly gained stamina from the training.
"It’s rude to run, you know?"
EEK!
Vivianne immediately jumped when she heard my voice echoing behind her, already stretching her palms toward me as she attempted to cast another spell.
[Wind—crack
I moved fast, grabbing her wrist and disrupting her casting with a simple hint of chaos magic within her system.
"You know... if that misunderstanding alone was enough to make Evelina kill you, how much worse do you think it’ll be for you if you try to harm me?"
I snickered, whispering in her ear.
But... I underestimated how much Evelina had affected her that day.
Because the moment I made my threat.
She fainted and fell backward, and I had to literally catch her by grabbing her hand and back to keep her from hitting the floor.
And here I thought I trained her to stand up for herself.
"Did you hear about the—?"
A group of female students somehow passed the alley the moment I caught her from falling.
It was just my luck... what the hell did I even do to deserve this today?
"W-What are you doing to Lady Vivianne, you creep!"
The girl beside the one who spotted me moved first, a fireball already prepared and ready to launch at me the moment I moved a muscle.
But...
[Profaned Prince]
"Sleep!"
If my words were powerful enough to affect a dog, it sure as hell would affect a human, and while it was still a weaker version of the demon prince modifier, it sure as hell was enough to knock out a group of C-Rank and below students.
And besides, it was mostly psychological; I could just leave them lying on the open ground without anyone being able to track it to me.
I’d let the other students who find them handle cleaning up my mess.
"As for you..."
I stare at Vivianne’s unconscious face, even from her muscles alone, I could still feel the tension and sheer fear she felt when I mentioned Evelina’s name and possible punishment.
"She isn’t a villainess for nothing."
I nod proudly, still glad that even if Evelina was more merciful this time around, she was still feared, and it should stay that way, because if it doesn’t? Well... I’d have to do something about that, didn’t I?
But I’m getting ahead of myself!
"Praise convenient teleportation..." I snickered to myself as I teleported us away from this sketchy alleyway surrounded by unconscious students.
The last thing I needed was for anyone to see me again.
[Profaned Step]
FWOOSH!
[Dark Step]
The moment I left the area, however, Kevin immediately appeared to replace me, his eyes filled with a burning curiosity as he still held the dark magic book tightly in his hands, now worn from constant use.
"Gotcha!"
He yelled out, but was shocked to find nothing but a few unconscious students.
He even looked around to confirm if there was anything else.
"T-That’s strange... I swear I just felt some weird disturbance around here..."
Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his nose, disappointed that he detected the disturbance too late, and that the likely source of it was now gone.
But...
"That’s weird..."
He kneeled, inspecting the unconscious students, immediately feeling a small, strange energy gather at his fingertips the moment he touched their hands.
"It’s master’s energy..."
He grinned at the revelation, licking his lips.
This was a perfect time to start an experiment.
SLAP!
"No!"
He hit himself hard in the face, realising that what he was thinking probably crossed a line at some point. Besides... these were still unconscious students who had barely done anything to him.
The least he could do was bring them to the medical district and then ask if he could test them for something after they woke up.