「You've talked so long and I've listened so little… Now you want to talk more?」

Straf sighs out, staring at the professor's bespectacled face with his mouth aslant. The students leave, closing the door behind themselves.

「…I just want to ask you a few things, if I may.」

Wolfskopf adjusts his glasses, looking at Straf with a serious expression. Straf lets out a resigned sigh again, shrugging and spreading his arms.

「Fine. Ask.」

He replies, heavily scrunching his mouth to the side.

「…The headmaster told us about a bodyguard this term. Are you the bodyguard, then?」

The professor adjusts his glasses again as he asks, lightly tilting his head.

「I don't fuckin' know. Am I supposed to know if there's no other ones in this whole place?」

「There is only one this term… That I know of. And since you claim to be a bodyguard, that would be you, would it not?」

「I guess?」

Straf replies with a frustrated tone, spreading his arms once again, before placing them back in his pockets.

「Look, ask what you want to ask, and stop wasting my time. Just because I've got nothing to do until the evening, doesn't mean I don't have better things to do.」

He rushes the professor, staring at him, making no effort to veil the disapproval and annoyance on his face.

「Very well, I will get to the point, then… Were you a court mage before you took on the work of being a bodyguard?」

Wolfskopf lowers his head, nods, and adjusts his glasses once again before he lifts it back up.

「Nope.」

「Well, that was quick… Have you ever attended the Academy in capacity of a student?」

「Nope.」

With his hands in his pockets, Straf keeps dismissively barking out rapidfire replies.

「…Not even under a different name?」

The professor stares at Straf from above his spectacles' frames, and adjusts them as they continuously.

「Look, what are you implying? Why don't you just say it?」

Straf asks, and his eyes narrow in disdain. The two look at each other in a brief silence. Wolfskopf then adjusts his glasses.

「Pardon me, I did not mean to imply anything. I am simply surprised. Not often you hear of a mage that did not receive the Academy education to be so knowledgeable…」

Wolfskopf turns around, and walks up to the blackboard completely covered in his barely legible writings.

「…You know, most middling mages absentmindedly learn the concepts a spell requires them to, and they become sort of a one-trick pony. I was trying to nudge the students into thinking about why they learn the concepts.」

He says, one hand holding the other behind his back, as he looks up at his convoluted mess of arrows from his previous explanation of the derivative concepts.

「And?」

「And… You caught on quick. At first, I thought I had a genius in my class. Then, when you informed me you are not a student, I simply thought you are experienced on the subject…」

Wolfskopf replies, returning back to Straf.

「…And now I don't know what to think. I was hoping to get the students to make the connection between things like concepts of time and death, or at least ask why the base concepts are time, matter, and energy.」

The professor shrugs his hands, smiling a little at Straf's bored, annoyed face. A brief silence begins once more.

「…Can I go now?」

Straf asks with his brows raised, pointing one hand at the classroom door.

「Yes. Yes, I'm sorry for holding you up. I'm certain the headmaster is right about you, I just wish he shared with us why he thinks so.」

Wolfskopf nods his head, adjusting his glasses as they start slipping from the motion. Straf shrugs, and turns for the door.

「Ah, one more thing, Straf!… I'm working on another theory of mine. The existence of another base concept, in essence…」

The teacher abruptly calls out, just as Straf is about to open the door. He rolls his eyes, and looks over his shoulder.

「…What?」

Straf asks, in a very obviously displeased tone.

「I was just wondering. I have soft evidence of this new concept existing, but correctly identifying it is much more difficult than theorizing its mere existence. With your knowledge, I may as well consider you a peer…」

Professor Wolfskopf explains, once again waving circles with his hand, approaching a little closer to the door.

「…And so, what do you think it may be, Straf? This new concept?」

He asks, looking at Straf from beside the door, gently smiling at him. Straf lets out a tired sigh, aimlessly looking up and aside as he thinks. After a moment, his gaze returns back to the professor's spectacles.

「Probably nothing.」

Starf nonchalantly replies with a tight-lipped grimace, shrugging his arms. He then opens the door, and leaves, closing it behind himself.

「Hm…」

Wolfskopf nods idly, and begins taking slow steps back to the teacher's desk.

「…Nothing, huh?…」

He mumbles to himself, as he earnestly mulls over Straf's dismissive answer…

…

Around the same time, at the cafeteria…

「Is it really okay, Tisha? I should ask Straf to lend me some pocket money…」

Cycelia asks, sitting down with a food tray at the long table, along with Neela and Tisha.

「It's fine, it's fine… I'm rich unlike Neela, so treating you is not a problem in the slightest.」

Tisha sits down, and dismissively waves her hand with a smug smirk on her pale face.

「Hey! I'm decently wealthy!」

Neela protests, sitting down next to Cycelia.

「Yeah, yeah… Think of your peasants, Neela! Yahaha!- Ah.」

Tisha cackles like a hyena, leaning away from the table as she throws her head back. When she opens her blue eyes, she notices a handsome man standing behind them, though he appears upside down to her.

「Is this seat taken?」

He politely asks, looking at each of the girls.

「Hey, he's not coming, is he?…」

「Huh?」

Neela asks, causing Cycelia's head to tilt in response.

「Neela meant your boyfriend.」

Tisha explains, leaning in towards Cycelia with her head propped up on her loose fist, grinning mischievously.

「Ah!- He's not-! It's complicated!」

Cycelia blurts out, and her face begins turning red.

「So, is he coming, or not?」

Neela asks, also leaning in, propped up on her hand.

「N- No… I don't think he is…」

She meekly replies, tapping her fingers together with a little pout on her face.

「Well, there you have it.」

Tisha replies to the man with a shrug of her blazer shoulders, smirking at him.

「You don't mind, right? Neela, Lia?」

She asks, turning her gaze to the two girls beside her.

「Nope, go ahead.」

「N- No, it's fine…」

Neela invites the man over, and Cycelia simply shrugs, keeping her head low.

「Excuse me, then…」

The man pardons himself, and sits down next to Tisha. He sets his food tray down, and starts eating without paying them much mind. The three glance at him momentarily, before Tisha and Neela turn their attention back to Cycelia.

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「Say, Lia… What's the story with your handsome guy?」

Tisha leans in further, and asks with a smug smirk.

「Yeah! How did you two meet? Is he just someone your father found for you?」

Neela closes in from the other side, looking intensely at Cycelia's face with her brows inquisitively raised.

「Huh!? Uh- Ah…」

Cycelia's eyes intermittently snap to them both. To buy herself some more time to answer, she begins idly eating her food.

「…Well, he kind of volunteered…」

She meekly replies, digging through her food with the utensils.

「He volunteered!? You mean he's doing it for free?」

Neela loudly asks in shock.

「Ah! No, he is getting paid! But he insisted on coming with me!」

Cycelia quickly walks herself back, waving her hands in front of herself to Neela.

「Huuuuh? Didn't want to leave you alone, did he?…」

Tisha asks, grinning as she slowly starts eating her food.

「Yes, well… That's how it is…」

Cycelia nods, shrugging her shoulders.

「Hmmm… That's how it is.」

Tisha replies with an amused scoff, echoing her words.

「That's how it is…」

Neela shrugs too, and digs into her food. The handsome man glances at them, and shrugs as well.

《Hmph. Young girls are sure carefree… Is the only thing they ever do all day, is discuss boys?》

He sighs, gently shaking his head while he leisurely eats his food. While the three girls next to him discuss something of no consequence, he takes a moment to look around.

With his head lazily propped up on his fist, he looks at the large windows flowing light into the grand room. Students just like him are going about their daily life in the Academy, discussing something with friends, reading from a book set aside by their trays, or simply relaxing after class. He sighs again, and resumes his meal.

《Would be nice if these peaceful days lasted forever…》

The handsome man thinks, lightly biting down on his fork. His wary eyes rise to gaze at the nearby table of Academy professors discussing something, while also having their meals.

《…But something is wrong. The professors and the headmaster are all on edge… We're not allowed to leave, too. I've asked the seniors, and this has never happened before…》

He turns his eyes away back to his half-eaten meal on the food tray.

The student glances aside at the three girls sitting next to him. Giggling, smiling, and talking, they are completely unbothered by the ominous atmosphere behind the scenes.

《Even if I can tell, it seems nobody here is aware there might be something more going on. Something they are unwilling, or afraid to tell us…》

The young, handsome man hastily finishes his meal while he thinks, and stands up from the table of giggling schoolgirls. They briefly turn their pretty faces to him, and the blonde one smirks.

「Huuuuh? You're leaving already? Not going to talk with us?」

She asks, leaning on the desk with her elbow.

「…I have to go study, sorry. Maybe some other time.」

He replies, softly smiling at all three, and departs to return the tray.

「Huuuuh? You're going to pick studying over pretty girls!?」

The blonde girl loudly asks while he leaves.

「Tisha, let him be…」

The brown-haired one chides her. He smiles at them over his shoulder, and shakes his head as he turns forward again.

《…I'll protect your peace too, even if it's for my own sake. But where do even I start?》

Deep in thought, he sets the tray down, smiling and nodding in thanks at the cooks. His face returns to his blank grimace, and he places his hands in his pockets while contemplatively looking down at the ground.

《What can a boring, average Academy student like me even do?》

The handsome man lets out a resigned sigh, with a little awkward smirk seemingly directed at himself. He walks out of the cafeteria, and heads across the entrance foyer to the library. The Academy's library is vast. The gigantic bookshelves tower over all, requiring tall ladders to reach most of the books here. In the corner of the room there is dedicated reading area tucked away. Nearly all of the round tables are full of students reading their tomes, except one.

「Ms. Aria, hello again…」

The handsome student calls out to the lone, massive hat sitting at the empty table.

「Hm? Ah, Mr. Damian… Is your eye okay?」

The woman lifts the brim of her hat with her hand to look at him. She returns a smile, and her beauty-marked eye narrows a little as she asks.

「Yes, please don't worry, I'm well used to horseplay…」

Damian replies, dismissively waving his hand in front of his handsome, softly smiling face.

「May I sit here?」

He asks, pointing his hand at one of the chairs. Aria's brows rise, noting his empty hands.

「I don't think I even have the right to deny you… But I don't see a tome.」

She remarks, shrugging her shoulders.

「Ahahah… Well, truth to be told, I've wanted to talk with you for a bit, Ms. Aria. What are you reading?」

The handsome student pulls the chair out and sits down, chuckling softly with an amused, guilty grin. She pulls the thick magic book up, bracing its bottom against the table to let him see the title.

「Shouldn't you be talking to girls your age, young man?」

「Ah. Treatise on Shields and Barriers, huh?… I thought you shied away from the usage of shields, Ms. Aria?」

Damian tilts his head with a smile, ignoring the teacher's sarcastic smirk and remark.

「There are certain right applications for them… I thought I've told you to call me just Aria… Mr. Damian?」

Aria lifts her brows, looking at the handsome student with a mildly annoyed gaze.

「Ahahah… Well, I can't do that, Ms. Aria… I'm much younger than you, after all…」「Khrhk…」

He explains with a grin, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. The hatted professor stifles a grunt through her clenched teeth, and her eyelid twitches.

「…It'd be disrespectful, I think.」

Damian innocently shrugs his shoulders, and Aria returns to reading her tome. A few moments of nigh-absolute silence pass.

「…So? What did you want to talk about?…」

She asks as her gaze raises up from her book.

「…Or was that an excuse, and your goal is older women, after all?」

Aria adds, lowering her eyes back to the tome, and flips a page.

「Ahahah… I don't have an ulterior motive like that, Ms. Aria… I wanted to ask if the situation changed at all. I wanted to know if you know, when we'd be able to go to the Academy town again.」

He asks with a light smile and a neutral expression, leaning in a little on his elbows towards the big-hatted teacher. Her eyes rise up again, and the two look at each other in brief silence.

「…No. You will be informed of it if something changes. Is that all?」

The hatted professor bluntly responds, bearing a cold expression on her face. They maintain a prolonged eye contact, again in silence.

Gonnnnnnggggg… Donnnnnnnggggggg… Gonnnnnnnggg…

The bell tolls. Aria places a bookmark string at the page she was just reading, and loudly claps the tome shut. She stands up, and looks down at the handsome man for a few seconds, while the echoes of the bell die down.

「…Is there something you're not allowed to tell us, Ms. Aria?」

Damian casually asks, smiling softly up at her.

「…You have more important things to focus on than the Academy's interior workings, Mr. Damian. Why don't you focus on your education? Take it up with the headmaster if you don't like it.」

With her fist on her hip, Aria coldly replies and walks away, heading out of the library. He silently watches her leave, still sitting in his chair, smiling a little.

《…That is an awfully specific thing to say, Ms. Aria…》

The handsome student thinks, and lazily stands up. He places his hands in his pockets as he too heads for the exit…

…

In Professor Wolfskopf's class, in the afternoon.

The professor drones on and on about magical concepts, the history of spell shortening, and the nature of incantations. Damian listens, although most of it is the information he already knows. He lets out a wistful, troubled sigh.

《…Something bad is going to happen if I don't act. But I can't sink my entire year at the Academy by chasing a ghost, can I?… What if I'm wrong, and it's something completely innocent?》

With his head rested on his hand, he thinks. His finger taps his temple, and his eyes gaze wanders outside the window for answers.

「Hm?」

《Who is this guy? Is he a student? A professor?…》

Damian thinks, looking through the window at the person below. The figure's entire body is obscured by a green cloak, and its face covered by a dark metal mask depicting a wolf's face.

Suddenly, staring directly up at Damian through the window, the mysterious person gestures throat slitting with his thumb, and points at him.

「…Huh? Is that a threat?-」

The handsome student's brows furrow, and he tilts his head. His eyes then widen with a shocking realization.

《Wait!… Did I ask too many questions?… Do I know too much!?》

Somewhat unnerved, Damian places his hand on his face, and stares down at his table, deep in thought…