Alice was left in a rather horrible mood for the remaining week after the training-ground incident. She didn't feel guilty, but she felt as though she should have. She felt sad about taking a life and yet knew that it was inevitable. Her old life told her that killing was wrong, but this life instead said that life was worth nothing more than dirt.

The controversy and hypocrisy of it all left her feeling like shit. Thankfully, her Teacher must have known something was off with her, and he tried his best to take her mind off of things by swamping her with work.

After having advanced to become a rank 1 magus, Alice's powers now allowed her to use more... risky methods. Before, if she had used them as an acolyte, she might have accidentally hurt herself. Now, it wasn't a problem anymore, and with her improved brainpower, if it could be called that, a lot of complicated procedures came easier to her.

Hence, although the guilt and depression at what had without a doubt been the death of an innocent person still sometimes resurfaced, it was easy to suppress it and gradually let it pass by simply having too many other things in her mind at all times.

Having become an official Magus, Alice was now allowed to visit the reserved areas that she couldn't before, which were usually the homes of magi and other 'secret' locations. While she wasn't very social, she still did the polite thing and greeted and got to know many of the Fire Mausoleum's magus professors.

It was through these meetings that Alice soon realized something that left her feeling quite a bit cautious, and that was that most magi, with a few notable exceptions, ranged from being abnormally quirky to full-out insane.

When she saw Loki the following day, the man explained to his traumatized student that it was actually quite normal for magi to be abnormal. In fact, he even directly told her that it was likely that she herself was developing some sort of mental issues, just that they weren't manifesting themselves yet.

He was very open about sharing his experience, and Alice was torn between traumatized at hearing about how some magi were so insane that they had to resort to suicide to end their suffering and curious at just how society even functioned with such powerful and insane individuals running around.

"Hm?" As Alice was reminiscing slightly while tinkering with a potion, something that she hadn't done for quite some time, she suddenly felt a short, almost unnoticeable flare of spiritual energy coming from outside her door.

Her own residence had still not been finished constructing despite the academy's best efforts, so she still lived in a room that had been kindly leased to her by the academy. It used to be another magus' home, but the unfortunate person had been found dead some years before her arrival, the cause of said death not being declared to the public.

But back on topic, she wasn't expecting visitors today. Or any day, for that matter. She was a rather secluded person, and other than her teacher, few people would dare to come to visit her without an official invitation.

Her eyes narrowed, her own spiritual energy inspecting the situation outside. She felt that the aura of the magus outside was rather familiar, and with the person, there were also 4 acolytes whose auras smelled of fear.

She took her time putting all of her tools away before opening the door, still dressed in her lab coat. A short man with feathers instead of hair stood before her, a large grin on his face.

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However, seeing the man's eyes confirmed her suspicions as to who exactly this weirdo was to Alice. After all, she only knew of one person with such abnormally large eyeballs.

"Kekeke, greetings, Fire Princess. I come bearing gifts, as some of my friends told me that you seemed displeased by my actions. I do hope for your forgiveness." The short weirdo said, giggling as he spoke. Alice looked at him with a poker face, but inwardly, she felt slightly disdainful of the man.

Still, it wasn't appropriate for her to retain a grudge like this. Besides, she'd come to terms with what had happened, and shooting the messenger wouldn't solve her problem.

"I do not require... gifts. I never held a grudge against you, fellow magus." She said directly, glancing at the four trembling acolytes behind the owl-magus, all of them trembling and not daring their heads.

"Skree, really now? I am very glad about that. Oh well, I suppose my pretties will have a nice dinner tonight, then." The magus said, looking satisfied. He turned to leave, but Alice quickly stopped him.

"Wait, wait. I retract my statement, I would very much love if you would just leave your 'gifts' here." She spoke, flinching inwardly at the thought of what might happen to them otherwise.

She recognized the acolytes. They included the boy she'd smashed to the ground back when she was just registering at the fire academy, and along with him were three girls who had also been part of that group.

"Oh? Keke, alright then. They're yours to do as you please, then." The magus screeched, his voice grating Alice's ears enough to cause her brows to twitch.

She nodded, watching the magus as he stalked off. When he was sufficiently far away, she turned back to the four idiots who had somehow gotten caught in this mess

To be honest, Alice had completely forgotten about their existence, and she guessed that the magus had investigated a bit into her past and found that they had 'offended her' in the past. And apparently, that was excuse enough to basically give these poor idiots the death sentence.

Letting out a sigh at the unfairness of it all, Alice walked back into her temporary home, motioning for the acolytes to come in with her, which they did with great reluctance.

Once inside, she sat down on one of the couches and stared at her fellow academy compatriots, as calling them fellow students wasn't exactly appropriate anymore.

"So, you idiots landed yourself in a lot of trouble. There are laws against magi abducting students like this, how did he grab you?" She asked after letting the acolytes settle themselves in. Surprisingly, it wasn't the boy who spoke, but one of the girls.

Perhaps it was because she looked even younger than them, but she didn't seem as tense and fearful as she had been when the owl magus was around as she spoke. "He bought us off of our teachers. They willingly gave us to him in exchange for some magic crystals, those bastards!" She spat out, fury filling her eyes.

The others all silently nodded, with the boy even clenching his fist hard enough to draw blood. Alice stared back at them with a slight surprise. She'd gotten lucky, it seemed, with having such a reliable teacher.

She thought it was nothing but rumors before this, but apparently, some of the teachers in the academy truly treated their students as nothing more than experimental subjects and property.

She exhaled loudly, and then, she spoke, "Well, whatever. It's not my business. If you go out now, you'll probably just be enslaved by that magus once more. Hence, from now on, you'll be working for me. If I ever need you to do some errands, I expect you to obey without question." She said, causing the acolytes to perk up happily.

"Yes, mam!" One of the girls immediately shouted, excitement and hope shining within her eyes. They all knew that Alice was offering them a chance at life, and all of them immediately grasped it, regardless of how they felt inwardly.

Alice nodded at their enthusiasm, feeling quite indifferent about the whole thing. Rising to her feet, she retreated back to her lab, leaving behind the acolytes to settle themselves into her (temporary) home.

If she could prevent needless death, she would. However, even as she thought this, she also laughed at herself inwardly, knowing full well that she wasn't selfless enough to step out of her comfortable life just for some randoms she didn't know.