"My teammates are Miller Chris, Alvin Vincent, and Adele Clarkson."

After stepping down from the ring, Charles whispered to Rebecca.

"As you wish, Sir Charles!"

"By the way, after you win first place, Violet Academy will reward you with a bonus of 200,000 gold coins, which will be delivered to your residence tonight!"

Two hundred thousand gold coins... What a pleasant surprise!

Charles thought, surprised and pleased. With this, he could once again trade for something valuable from Mammon. After securing the True Vision Eye and the Red Dragon Heart in previous deals, Charles had come to see Mammon as reliable—as long as he offered a worthy sacrifice, Mammon wouldn't cheat him.

Though, he still wasn’t sure who was actually getting the better end of their deals.

Charles no longer had the energy to entertain the noble young masters and ladies flocking around to flatter him. With a polite smile and a quick word of thanks to the blue-blooded nobles offering their congratulations, he squeezed through the crowd, eager to retreat to his manor for a nap. The comfort of his quiet estate—and the loyalty of his maid Lorgar—seemed far more appealing than the hollow praise of these high-society hangers-on.

…

Meanwhile, in the office of the Violet Academy dean,

Sean Turing stared in surprise at the scarred man before him. Then he broke into a big grin and went over to give him a hearty hug.

"Hill! I can't believe you're back in the capital!"

Sean Turing and Grant Hill had been friends since they served together on the battlefield, though Sean had been stationed there mainly for the prestige. Grant, however, had made his name in earnest.

"Sean, I'm retired," Grant said solemnly.

"About time!" Sean replied with a laugh, setting down his teacup. "So, what now?"

"I'm going to be a teacher."

Sean nearly choked on his tea. "You—a teacher?" The idea seemed absurd. "You’d fight anyone over a misplaced comma! Are you serious?"

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But when he saw the look on Grant’s face, he knew he was. This wasn’t a joke.

"Is that why you’re here? Are you hoping to teach at Violet?"

"Yes, and I want to teach Charles West."

Sean blinked. Charles West... the freshman victor. He remembered Charles well—just that morning, they had stood together in the arena.

"What interest do you have in him?"

Grant’s scar twitched as he asked, "Did you notice anything... unusual? About his eyes? Or his heart?"

Sean thought back. "I'm not sure about his heart, but I did notice his eyes. He looked at me as if trying to gauge my strength, though he wasn’t strong enough to succeed. I sensed a kind of… curiosity in him."

Grant’s fingers twitched, his face drawn tight. "Sean, do me a favor."

"Name it."

"I want to teach him."

"Are you really serious about this teaching business?"

…

Later, when Charles woke from his nap, he found that dusk had fallen. Leo was mending his clothes, muttering in frustration as she worked. Finally, she held up the tattered robe with a sigh.

"Master, your robe is beyond saving. Please be more careful next time! This was a very expensive garment."

"I know," Charles replied, a little sheepish. "I didn’t expect that kid to let loose with lightning. I'm not happy about it either, trust me."

"By the way, three things happened while you were sleeping," Leo informed him.

"First, Miss Miller Chris stopped by to invite you to the team dinner this evening. Second, the Duke sent you a letter—it's on the bedside table."

Charles turned, noticing the letter sealed with the Duke’s gold crest. He picked it up and asked, "And the third?"

Leo smiled mischievously. "Your brother, Okogie, came looking for you. I sent him away."

Okogie? What could he want? Normally, he wouldn't leave just because Leo told him to. He would have barged right in to wake him up.

"Did you… scare him off?"

"Me? Touch a young master of the West family? Perish the thought," Leo said, her eyes gleaming. "But a little fright doesn’t hurt, right?"

She pulled out a crystal recording orb showing Okogie sitting on the floor, wide-eyed and trembling.

Charles felt a chill. Leo had served him so long he’d almost forgotten she was a fifth-order undead.

He tore open the Duke’s letter and read it carefully. When he finished, Leo looked at him curiously.

"What did the Duke say?"

Charles shot her a look. "A maid doesn’t pry into her master’s business, does she?"

A flash of green danced in Leo’s eyes, but she stayed silent.

"All right," he finally relented, smirking. "The Duke congratulated me on winning and mentioned he’d heard good things about me. And he invited me to a noble’s banquet tomorrow."

"A banquet," Leo mused, frowning. "Is that all? No reward for your first place?"

"He did say one thing. From now on, I’m to represent the West family at Violet Academy."

Not that he needed the reminder. As the only West family member at the school this year, everyone knew he was the one to watch.

Still, he was pleased. A noble banquet meant networking opportunities, something he could use right now. Holding the first-place title would make him even more attractive to these elites.

But before he strategized further, there was the team dinner with his new teammates—the Chris, Vincent, and Clarkson families, who were aligned with his mother’s side.

A glimmer of ambition sparked in Charles’s eyes. With these new connections, he was on the path to securing the influence he needed.