{Event #5: Dion Aster is called by a member of the staff affiliated with Cyrus and invited to a small tea party. The staff will then ask you various questions based on your actions of the day with your answers dictating what actions he will take.}

{In 165 endings you will be poisoned, in 91 you will be kidnapped and tortured, in 34 you will be shot with magic, in 27 you will be stabbed to death, and in 52 you will survive. According to an unconfirmed rumor, it is also possible that he will invite you to serve Cyrus.}

“How has your first day been Dion? I imagine the attention has been… eye opening?” A kind and elegant voice spoke up, a polite smile on the face of the teacher sitting in front of him. The man was a teacher and the younger brother of one of the board of directors.

He had slicked back black hair, square rim glasses, pale skin common among researchers, an unhealthily thin figure, and a polite smile on his face. At least it was polite on the surface. In truth, his nearly closed eyes and smile only gave him the appearance of a sly fox that couldn’t hide his disdain.

‘He’s not popular.’ Dion mentally declared blandly, an unamused smile on his face. He had never once heard good things about this character, Gideon Moris, among the fans and even a few of the game characters insulted him.

He was an arrogant man that tried and failed to place himself on a pedestal repeatedly. Like Cyrus, he enjoyed watching people fall into the depths of despair and the feeling of power that came with it. It did not help that he was a canonical pervert for many of his students.

“It has.” Dion replied calmly, his words short and blunt. He was trying to show that he did not want to be here and he was doing it extremely blatantly. It was rude but the man was not somebody that deserved his respect.

Gideon Moris had a career built upon lies. He had ‘invented’ a famous new alchemic creation that made it easier to transport mana from place to place however it wasn’t even his own invention. He had stolen it from one of his classmates a decade or three ago.

His career was built upon deceit, falsity, and undeserved arrogance born from his older brother’s position and his family name. The Moris family was quite powerful as a marquis ranked family with a fairly long history but their reputation was quickly declining.

They were rumored to have their grubby fingers dipped in drugs, theft, and all manners of shady businesses in the Holy Thenia Empire. If it weren’t for the current saint being a large sponsor of their work they would have long since been removed.

“I-Is that so?” Gideon spoke as calmly as he could, begrudgingly calming himself. Dion Aster was a man that he needed to add to their side. That or… remove. “Ahem! I just wanted to speak to you about something for a moment so you don’t need to be worried.”

“Please keep it brief, I have an appointment with the principal shortly.” Dion spoke calmly, his legs crossed arrogantly and his very body language screaming to Gideon that he was in the superior position.

Stolen novel; please report.

Truthfully, that wasn’t wrong. He may be a student in front of his teacher but his backing is the principal of the very school the teacher was employed at. Lucille may not be able to do much without enough evidence but that wouldn’t be an issue soon.

“I… understand. However, please stay at least for one cup of tea.” Gideon spoke elegantly, his wrath entirely eradicated. In its place stood expectation and desire, a cruel desire that wishes to see him bathe in despair.

‘It seems I’ve pushed him far enough.’ Dion thought to himself as Gideon poured out the tea, a special scent entering his nose. He had been using minuscule wind magic to enhance his sense of smell and the scent of poison was present in the tea albeit well hidden.

While it wasn’t a tea Dion was aware of personally its effects were probably something along the lines of a paralyzing agent that would stop his heart long enough for him to die without a struggle.

In all likelihood, Gideon already had a scapegoat prepared for his eventual ‘disappearance’. It was fairly likely that a student had seen them walking together to his office and Lucille would most likely have already become aware of it by now as a result.

“Of course.” Dion acceded to his will without pause, taking a small sip of his tea without an outward reaction. However that only lasted for a moment before his face distorted slightly, a grimace making its presence on his face known.

Gideon couldn’t help but smile inwardly yet a concerned smile appeared on his face in reality. While he didn’t have any talent in combat or fields of intelligence such as the alchemy he was famed in he was quite the skilled actor.

“Please! Call for a doctor!” Dion shouted in between deep gasps and coughs, mock fear and desperation in his voice as he fell to the floor with a hand covered in an azure glow on his chest, his body convulsing in place.

“Of course!” Gideon shouted, annoyed by the fact that he couldn’t see the despair encroach upon the young adult’s calm face that made him feel as though their social statuses were reversed.

However, his safety came before his desires in this case. If he was the one that brought the doctor to the body then doubt would be less likely to be placed on him and he could easily shift the blame to his prepared scapegoat.

Watching his teacher dash out of the room from the corner of his azure eyes Dion’s look of despair and his body convulsions all vanished into thin air. Rising to his feet he created a wall of wind in front of the door that nobody stronger than him could break.

Bringing out his phone which was quite a bit more advanced than he was used to and was still struggling to get used to he took his time tapping a few buttons until he finally found what he was looking for. A small vibration left the phone before a voice emerged from the device.

“Yoho~! I didn’t expect you to call me so soon Dio!” The energetic and undoubtedly young voice belonging to the surely famous Hero of Light Lucille Oran. However, underneath her excited voice was a hint of seriousness.

She understood Dion’s personality to know that he wouldn’t contact her for nothing meaning that something had happened. She expected it to happen soon but it happened much faster than she expected.

“Dio?” Dion repeated in confusion. It was obviously a nickname but why did she give him a nickname? Dion was already a fairly simple name to pronounce and it wasn’t all that long or burdensome either so it seemed strange.

“Yeah, it’s your nickname! We gotta let the world know that we’re close y’know?” Lucille said casually, obvious teasing intent in her voice. While it would surely have the effect she wanted it was clear that it wasn’t her main goal.

“In any case, as you may be aware I just had the displeasure of meeting Gideon Moris.” He continued, completely ignoring her groan of annoyance at him ignoring her. He had more important things to do than speak about nicknames.

“Mhm. How’d that go? Was he overly rude and condescending?” She asked him, worry obvious in her tone. Gideon was well known for being less than ideal to meet for both female students and the rare few commoners that had been added.

“No, I wouldn’t say so. He wasn’t welcoming by any means but he at least had the sense to not show his displeasure outright.” Dion assured her calmly, a small sigh of relief escaping from the Hero of Light entering his ears.

Among all the staff that could reasonably be an issue to Dion’s life, Gideon Moris and his older brother were the largest issues. Gideon wasn’t a huge issue since he was treading on thin ice with all the harassment reports against him but his brother was a different story.

“He did poison me, however.” Dion continued, a small upward curl of his lips betraying his amusement.