“Come in.”

Caine walked into Headmistress Zeraphyn once more, and looked at her sitting behind her desk; she gestured at him to sit down, and he happily did so as she poured him a cup of tea as well.

It had an interesting aroma, it was a pleasant smell that immediately put him at ease, and as he took a sip, he felt himself relax, for the first time in a long time, which worried him to a certain extent; he put the cup down, reluctant to have anymore, and stared at Zeraphyn, who was holding in a giggle at his reaction to the tea.

“It’s nothing bad, it’s made from a herb gifted to me a few years ago, it is meant to calm your nerves, and I thought after your impressive fight today, you would enjoy being calmer.”

Caine smiled at her, although his eyes did not reflect it.

“I assume I didn’t come here to have some tea, did I?”

“No. No, you didn’t.”

The Headmistress stood up and walked to the window, staring at the cloudy sky with an unreadable expression.

“I had no intention of hiring you for this position. The only reason you are here today is because I was asked a favour by a Royal Guard, Sir Eteben. I had no intention of taking you seriously, you are just an adventurer, one out of a thousand. However, I was mistaken, and pleasantly so. You did far better than I could have ever imagined.”

“I appreciate the honesty, however hurtful.” Caine laughed. “But I am not any adventurer, I can assure you that there is none like me, not one single person is stronger.”

“Oh my, I never expected I would hurt the great Leonidas.” She replied, covering her mouth with her hand as she let out a soft chuckle, strangely pleasant to the ear.

Caine’s face remained unchanged, his smile only growing slightly bigger.

“Are you not curious as to how I know you are Leonidas? Not many people know your true identity, and Sir Eteben has not told me.” She asked, her piercing gaze focused entirely on Caine.

“Not particularly. Your crows kept staring at us after you left. I must admit, however, that I am not really fond of the surveillance. I really do hope the surveillance would stop.”

Headmistress Zeraphyn’s expression changed quickly, countless emotions and thoughts now clearly visible, ranging from surprise to indignation to a terrifying fascination. She twisted a strand of her silky white hair and remained silent for an uncomfortable amount of time, but Caine couldn’t bring himself to break eye contact with her.

He had faced countless monsters - in the shape of both demonic beasts and men - but not a single one of them felt as dangerous as the woman in front of him.

“Professor Caine, what do you think of the students?”

“I must admit I am disappointed. Not in the students, but in the Academy for letting them fall behind to such an extent. They are almost adults, and they just learnt about the New Gods.” Caine admonished her.

“I agree. Unfortunately, meritocracy in the Academy has changed since it first opened. It used to be about healthy competition among all the students, but now it has become this twisted thing. It is so deeply rooted in the foundations of the Academy I can’t remove it. Any decent Professor tends to leave within days when they learn they are assigned to the Tenth Class.”

“I see.” Caine decided to take a sip of the tea, now finding the atmosphere too strange. “It is a shame. From what I have seen there are some interesting students.”

“Who are these students you find interesting?”

“Silas and Myra from the Tenth Class are interesting; with the right guidance, they could be far stronger than most students here, but this place is keeping them down. The most interesting students, however, would be Kaiser.”

She furrowed her eyebrows as confusion overtook her expression. She took a sip of her tea, and then placed the cup on the coaster, but strangely, it had made no sound.

“Kaiser? The boy with no magic? You taught the Third Class today, Surely you must have noticed Aragon, the most talented human in the Academy.”

“Yes, Aragon is definitely talented, but Kaiser has more potential. He does not have any magic whatsoever, it doesn’t react to him, making him nearly undetectable. The amount of demonic beasts that rely on sensing mana is endless, and he could kill them as easily as I could.”

She wore a pleased expression now and carried on drinking her tea, with each sip, her face growing more and more relaxed.

“I see, but he has not shown any signs of any improvement whatsoever. He is quite hopeless.”

“I disagree. With the right training, Kaiser could kill almost everyone in this Academy.” he said, taking another sip of his tea.

“Even you?” She asked, her voice becoming slightly colder.

“No, not me. He might be able to kill some of the Professors, however. But I doubt he would be able to kill you… at least not by himself.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Headmistress Zeraphyn was strong, frighteningly so. Her affinity to spatial magic was far beyond what Caine had ever seen. Simply moving an object from one point to another was a commendable feat, but moving a person as she moved Professor McGrave - and doing it as effortlessly as she did - made her a prodigy, second to none.

Excluding Oliver, of course.

“It seems you think quite highly of me. I’m pleased.”

She stared at him, her eyes glowing faintly and guiding the mana from her core into her eyes, and stared at directly at Caine’s chest peeking into his own core.

Fortunately for Caine, Oliver has foreseen such an occasion and did manage to create an empty shell to mask a mana core, and while it may not actually be a working core, it was enough to convince most mages that the core was genuine.

However, the woman in front of him was not like most mages, and a seed of anxiety began sprouting in Caine’s mind as she stared at him.

“Is my core that int-” Caine’s question was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door behind him.

The Headmistress waved her hand, and the door slowly opened. A woman walked in, pointing at the Headmistress with a huge smile on her face, although the smile vanished and her arm dropped when she noticed she had the guest, looking away to hide her blushing face.

The woman was beautiful, her face was delicate and the expression she wore was charmingly gentle. Her black hair flowed down her back like a river, accentuating her green eyes.

Caine smiled at her, but she avoided his gaze, hiding herself behind the Headmistress, who was holding a laugh herself as she found the woman’s reaction humorous.

“Professor Caine, this woman here is one of our nurses, Luna. Luna this is our newest faculty member. Caine, otherwise known as Leonidas.”

The woman, Luna, finally looked at Caine, her cheeks still slightly reddened, although now she was managing to look at Caine, making his stomach feel slightly heavier for some reason.

“Headmistress.” Caine called out to her. “I don’t recall ever receiving an offer to work, nor do I recall accepting any offers.”

“Oh, I thought we may as well ignore those needless formalities. I mean, I doubt you would refuse an offer, right?”

“I just might. I believe before any decisions are made, we ought to discuss the pay.” Caine spoke, half playfully, half seriously.

“Ah yes, I have not forgotten that you joined mainly for the pay. The pay is two hundred gold coins every fifty days, and that is on top of the lodging and food allowance we will be providing.”

Caine looked at her, dropping the mask of confidence he had been wearing the whole time, alongside his jaw, and just looked at her. Two hundred gold coins would have been enough for his family to live in their hut without ever working again.

And now he was being offered that amount every fifty days.

“Yes. I will start right now if you’d like, I’ll teach all the classes, and I’ll clean the entire Academy myself. Yes. I’ll work here.”

“That will not be necessary.” Headmistress Zeraphyn suppressed a laugh. “You will just be in charge of the Tenth Class. You will be covering Combat Training and Mana Manipulation starting from next week. We have other Professors for general classes.”

“Vey well. I look forward to working with you.” Caine stood up and extended his hand out to her.

“That is great to hear. I also look forward to having you work for me.” She shook his hand, her eyes looking as bright and friendly as ever, although there was an overwhelming sense of superiority and seriousness in her voice.

“My very good friend here, Luna, will show you around the capital. Feel free to ask any questions you may have.”

Luna went to seemingly protest but let out an almost inaudible sigh and left the room.

“Don’t mind her, she’s a bit shy, but she warms up to people quickly.”

The two exchanged some pleasantries and after a short farewell, Caine left her office, the doors opening and closing on their own as Caine walked through them.

Outside the office, Luna was waiting for Caine, leaning against the marble wall.

She had long black hair, almost reaching her waist; she seemed really shy in the office, but now she was smiling brightly as Caine, looking directly in his eyes, once again making his stomach feel heavier somehow.

The closer Caine got, the more he realised how everything about her was beautiful, from her soft skin to her bright green eyes, to her charming smile, and Caine couldn’t help but smile in return.

Luna extended her hand, and Caine grabbed it, bringing it to his lips and kissing it. He let go of her hand, and looked at her, seeing her face instantly turn completely red.

‘Damned Master.’ He thought.

“Mrs. Luna, my apologies. My Master had told me this is how you greet beautiful, noble women in formal settings. I did not mean to make you uncomfortable.” Caine slapped his forehead, and then stared at the ground in embarrassment, wondering why he would ever listen to his advice when his Master was nothing short of a battle-hungry monster.

“It’s alright, Sir.” She said, her face still flushed. “I was just taken by surprise.”

“By the way, it’s Miss, but feel free to call me Luna.” She added smiling, his stomach feeling heavier once more.

“Alright, Luna, I’m Caine it’s nice meeting you.”

Luna turned around and gestured at Caine to follow her. He watched her walk before joining her, looking at her graceful figure as she walked, but what surprised him the most was the absence of noise in her steps. He found it fascinating, but when he realised he was just staring as she walked away, he quickly joined her side.

As they walked, Caine absorbed the mana directly in his eyes, and tried to peek directly into her core, and what he saw left him perplexed: her affinity and sensitivity to mana was subpar, and the mana in the atmosphere barely reacted to her presence, and even the mana in her core was scarce at best.

She turned out to be an extremely fascinating presence, after all, how could such a weak mage work for the great Arman Academy? She was a nurse in the Academy, but it was still surprising since her healing mana could not realistically provide any realistic support to an injured student.

Looking at her, Caine also began wondering about his own mother, Lisa. How in tune was she with mana? Although he hated admitting it, he didn’t remember much about his parents, he had long forgotten the sound of their voices, but before everything happened, he always thought she was an outstanding mage, being able to heal so many people in that disgusting village.

But was that actually true, or was he simply seeing his mother with the eyes of an ignorant child?

Truthfully speaking, he never really cared about whether his parents were strong or weak, he still loved them regardless, and it made little difference since learning the truth: it didn’t matter how strong a human was, in front of a Demigod, they would have been weak.

And Caine swore to never be weak again. After all those years, he still blamed himself for what had happened, still carrying the guilt of having caused his parents to die, and the emptiness he felt that day never truly disappeared; while he managed to fill the void - somewhat - he still felt a very part of his being was empty to this day.

Revenge is the only thing that could fill the void.

“Uhm, Caine?” Luna called out to him. “Are you alright? You look… angry.”

“Sorry.” Caine replied smiling at her. “I just have one of those faces. I am actually very happy.”

Truthfully, he was actually really happy. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt very relaxed and felt as if there was nothing that could possibly go wrong.