Next morning, in Cycelia's room…

Cycelia wakes up. As soon as her emerald eyes open, she looks at Straf's empty bed, then shivers from cold under her blanket. She looks at his deformed pillow and blanket lazily thrown aside, and sighs.

《Where are you, Straf?…》

She looks blankly at the floor between the beds with sullen eyes for a few minutes. Cycelia lets out another large sigh, and reluctantly sits herself up. She slowly starts putting her shoes back on, tying them with a rough tug of the laces, and crawls on the bed towards the foot end. The inside of the baggage is now full of neatly stacked tomes, with some empty space seemingly ready to receive the clutter that's still on her desk. The end of the term is drawing near, after all.

Cycelia peeks out of her window at the pointy rooftops one last time. She finds nothing of note, other than the lightly damaged tiles from the close encounter with the vampire. She gets up, takes the flashlight in hand, and leaves her room with a tome under her arm. She descends the stairwell to meet Tisha and Neela as usual, but stops just before the very last step into the hallway. She takes a big breath, and exhales, forcing a light smile on her face.

「Lia. You took your sweet time today.」

Tisha says with a smirk as she approaches her and Neela.

「Sorry.」

She replies, smiling at her with a gently tilted head.

「It's fine, but…」

Tisha says, her voice trailing off as she looks at Cycelia's face with her brows furrowed.

「Hm?」

Cycelia turns her emerald-green eyes to her blue ones, and Tisha immediately breaks the eye contact, looking forward again.

「…Nothing. What did Straf say about those flashlight things?」

She asks with a quick glance over her shoulder as the three begin making their way to their usual meeting point with Damian, weaving through the morning crowd.

「Huh? Ahh…」

Cycelia's head perks up in surprise, then lets out a soft, troubled sigh as she lowers her head, still smiling.

「…I haven't seen him yet.」

She adds, shrugging her shoulders with the corners of her lips lightly turned upwards. Tisha and Neela look at her face as she replies, then at each other, visibly confused.

「Then why-?…」

Neela begins to ask, and Cycelia turns her attention to her. She quickly stops herself, and her voice softly trails off when she sees Tisha violently shaking her head out of Cycelia's view.

「Hm?」

「…Never mind.」

Neela shrugs her shoulders as Cycelia tilts her head. She looks at them both with a look of mild confusion, but then shrugs as well. They continue onward, and they spot Damian approaching the group.

「Ah, broke cowardly mercenary pants-shitter! Good morning!」

Tisha exclaims happily, waving her hand high towards Damian with a smug, duplicitous smile on her face. His face goes from neutral to frustrated in a second flat.

「Tsk… Is that all the titles for me that you could think of?」

He asks, looking at her with his mouth heavily scrunched already as he walks ahead of the girls. Neela and Cycelia gaze at each other, exchanging knowing, helpless looks.

「Nope… You're also mildly handsome, so you can add that one if you want.」

Tisha nonchalantly replies with an exceedingly smug tone.

「I'm not going to! Tsk…」

Damian barks back at her, and clicks his tongue again.

「No?… You're too humble.」

Tisha scoffs with a mocking sneer. He momentarily glares at her over his shoulder.

「And you're too much of a pain in the ass! I think the only moment you're silent is when you're sleeping, but even then, I wouldn't bet too much money on that!」

He exclaims angrily, and turns his head away with a huff from his nose.

「Ahhh… With a bet being mentioned… The term is ending soon, Damian. What are you going to do about it?」

Tisha smirks at his back, poorly hiding her smug tone of voice.

「What do you mean, what am I going to do about it?」

He asks, glaring at her. Her smirk turns into a grin.

「…You still haven't shown me a ghost.」

She says, narrowing her blue eyes as her head tilts lightly to the side.

「Shut up! A wraith counts!-」

「No it doesn't. A wraith is a memory, not a ghost. You heard what the headmaster said.」

Tisha nonchalantly cuts in, calm and collected unlike fuming and seething Damian.

「Gah! I'm not getting into this argument again! You just don't want to accept a loss!」

He snaps his eyes forward, peeling them away from her.

「Of course not… I haven't lost…」「Tsk…」

She replies, crossing her arms with a smug grin. Damian only clicks his tongue in response.

「…Ahh, I wonder… What should I do with him when he's my slave, Neela?」「Khrhk!…」

Tisha suddenly asks, turning her smug smile to the other two. Damian bares his clenched teeth at her, then turns his attention to Neela, whose eyes are now darting between the two.

「Huh? Wha-? Why are you asking me?…」

She says, unwilling to take either side or even imply who won, or is winning the bet.

「'Cause I never had my personal slave before. We only have miners, laborers, palace servants… I bet dad will be surprised to find out I passed the term and brought a slave in tow!」

Tisha replies with the diagonal braid above her brow proudly raised high, grinning at Damian.

「I bet he doesn't even care you keep flunking term after term! You just never shut up, and your father must be tired of your yapping at home as well, so he's glad to send you away!」

He shouts, pointing at her smug face before angrily turning his head forward again.

「What should I do, what should I do?… I think I'll have you be my mobile chair.」

The northern princess hums to herself, still grinning. A few moments pass before her blue eyes narrow at Damian's back, and she makes another remark.

「I'm not going to carry a chair around for you. You're out of your mind.」

He replies, just barely veiling his frustration.

「Hm? No, of course not, that'd be a bother…」

Tisha scoffs, spreading her hands, smirking with her eyes closed in a face of pure smugness.

「…I said you will be my chair. Whenever I feel like taking a seat, you'll get on your knees and-」

「As if!」

Damian's veil of peace breaks, and he shouts at her over his shoulder. His reaction is enough to get a tiny chuckle out of Tisha.

「Well, it's not like you'll have a say in the matter… But it's good to see that you're warming up to the idea of being a slave.」

She shrugs her shoulders, spreading her hands again, shaking her golden head with a massive grin before she places her fists on her hips with her head held high.

「I am not even going to humor it!」

He exclaims, and turns his head forward once more.

「Oh, keep telling yourself that… Perhaps a footrest?…」

Tisha utters out, holding onto her chin between her thumb and finger, appearing to ponder something.

「Tisha… Isn't it enough teasing Damian already?」

Neela chimes in, looking at her with her brows lightly furrowed in disapproval.

「Hm? Teasing?」

She utters out in reply. Her head tilts almost automatically, and she blinks at Neela and Cycelia with perplexed blue eyes and a confused expression too real to be a mere act.

《…She's serious?…》《…She's serious?…》

Neela and Cycelia think at the same time, visibly cringing as they gain a peer to peer link through their mutual eye contact.

「Ahhh… Still… The term sure flew by, huh?…」

Cycelia chimes in, looking up at the magic lamps levitating above as they pass underneath them.

「Yeah… A lot of stuff has happened, so it was hard to keep track of it all-」

Damian nods in agreement, though he continues looking ahead.

「Not for me! Time flows super slow during the lectures, and having to pay attention when reading sucks!」

Tisha blurts out in response to Cycelia, cutting him off. He clicks his tongue, but remains otherwise silent.

「I thought it felt really slow too… Probably because we couldn't goof around in the Academy town as usual.」

Neela says, looking at Tisha.

「Yeeaaah… I always told you, we are the definition of smart but lazy, Neela!」

With her arms crossed, Tisha proudly nods her golden head.

「…So the threat of death is the only thing that can get you to study?… Good grief…」

Damian remarks, staring at Tisha with an incredulous look in his eyes, before turning his gaze forward and shaking his head in disbelief.

「It's a pure coincidence.」

Tisha casually replies, shrugging her shoulders.

「Now I really feel bad for your father. No one deserves a daughter like this.」

「Oh, don't worry, you'll get a chance to meet him and tell him how unworthy daddy is of me.」「Geh!-」

She scoffs, grinning. Damian recoils, and his face snaps towards her once more.

「That's not what I meant, stupid! You must be cursed, because I'm getting a headache because of you again! Shut up!」

Damian exclaims, and picks up the pace as the classroom draws near. Tisha lets out an amused huff out of her nose and turns her blue eyes to her friends, who are looking at her with fatigued faces…

…

During free period between the lectures, in the cafeteria…

Damian and the girls are about done with their meals, and the cafeteria slowly begins clearing of students as they trickle towards the kitchen counter to return the trays. Damian abruptly lets out a loud yawn.

「Nyahhghh… Damn it…」

He makes a lazy effort to cover his mouth with a fist, and clicks his tongue in his mouth a few times as he stares idly at his leftovers. The girls turn their heads towards him, halting their idle chatter.

「What's up, Damian? Didn't sleep well tonight?…」

Tisha asks, tilting her head.

「…The vampire kept knocking on your window?」

She adds with a smirk growing into a grin and her eyes narrow.

「Tsk… You're really going to start this again?…」

Damian's expression turns sour again as he glares at Tisha. He turns his eyes back to the sparse scattering of chopped vegetables, a shallow pool of gravy, and smears of mashed potatoes

「…I couldn't sleep, so I was thinking about the curse.」

He replies through a large sigh.

「Again? It's already floe down the stream.」

Tisha declares, throwing her hands up with a mildly perplexed look on her face.

「What?」

Damian asks, furrowing his brows at her. Though only he lets out a confused utterance, Neela and Cycelia appear equally confounded.

「…It's like your saying, water under the bridge. Why do I know your sayings, but you don't know mine?」

Tisha explains, and places her fists on her hips as she asks Damian with an indignant tone.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

「Why would I know some obscure northerner sayings? Good grief… Center of the world, aren't you people?」

He remarks, shaking his head.

「That's it! First thing when we're there, I'm teaching you our culture! You will no longer be a weak, southern, so-called man by the time you're free!」

She declares, crossing her arms with her head snobbishly held high, and lets out a loud huff out of her nose.

「Again with this… My headache's gonna make a comeback at this rate…」

Damian grumbles, resting his temple on his fingertips with an exasperated sigh.

「…Did you figure anything out, Damian?」

Neela abruptly chimes in, tilting her head at him. His eyes snap to her, much softer unlike his usual sharp gaze at Tisha.

「Nhh… I don't know. I just had this thought in my mind…」

He lets out a troubled groan, rubbing his temple, staring at his mostly empty tray.

「What is it?」

Cycelia asks, blinking her emerald eyes at him.

「Why weren't you sick?」

「Ah!-」

Damian asks, staring at Cycelia's face. Her eyes immediately snap wide open, and she tries her best to hide her surprise.

《I regret asking!》

「Ah- Um… Uh… Well, I was always in good health, so you see… Um…」

Cycelia's eyes dart towards everywhere but Damian as she taps the tips of her index fingers together, struggling to keep a nonchalant expression.

「…Well, I'm just sturdy! And- And- And… And I actually was beginning to feel kind of bad by the time Straf dealt with it!」

《It's technically the truth!》

She proudly declares with an awkward smile, and her index finger extended. Damian blinks at her, staring at her face in silence.

「…You're not blaming me for the curse, are you?」

Cycelia asks with green puppy eyes, shrinking a little. Damian turns his head away with an almost amused huff.

「No, of course not… We know it was the wraith, after all…」

He says with a ridiculing smirk on his face as he looks at his tray.

「…But Neela got badly sick. Haven't you?」

Damian asks, turning his gaze to Neela instead.

「Yes… It was pretty bad.」

「Do you have a history of handling diseases poorly?」

He asks with furrowed brows, and Neela turns her eyes upward in deep thought.

「…I suppose so. I was constantly sick as a child. It got a little better, but it really doesn't take long until I myself start coughing after someone coughs near me.」

She says with her index finger lightly pressed against the side of her chin.

「Right. I figured that much… But what about her?」

Damian says, glaring at Tisha but refusing to name her.

「Hm? What about me?」

She asks with her arms crossed, staring back at him.

「Tsk… Don't play dumb… Alternatively, please tell me that you are just playing dumb.」

Damian replies, letting out an exasperated sigh.

「Hey.」

Tisha utters out, and her blue eyes narrow into a glare.

「You were cursed too, weren't you? Weren't you feeling sick as well?」

「Hmpf… That little wouldn't knock me out, unlike you, you sad excuse of a man.」

She replies, turning her head away. Her tone is audibly upset, and she is either very poorly hiding it, or not attempting to at all.

「Tsk… Just tell me… You were were feeling bad, right? How much longer do you think you could've withstood it? I was already considering smashing my head on a wall after a day or two.」

「There's still time…」「Hey.」

Tisha replies, scoffing with a light smirk. This time it's Damian who lets out a peeved utterance before giving up.

「Fine, whatever-」

He says, shaking his head.

「…Maybe a few days more. It didn't feel worse than just a bad cold at first, but then it kept getting more and more awful.」

Tisha replies, cutting off his exasperated grumbling, much to his surprise.

「…Yeah, I figured you were just acting tough.」

Damian nods, looking like he both expected the answer, and was also taken aback by it.

「So what!? I fully accept that I may not be as tough as man-!」

「That's pretty impressive.」

Damian cuts her off, lightly nodding his head with no hint of sarcasm in his voice. Her head perks up, and she is visibly grimacing, unsure how to respond as she stares at him.

「Well, thanks…」

Tisha says quietly, turning her head the other way with her arms still crossed.

「…Then Professor Reise got badly sick as well. Professor Aria was acting like nothing is wrong too. Then even the headmaster fell ill…」

He remarks, rubbing his chin with his brows greatly furrowed at the table. The girls stare at him, and a prolonged silence begins.

「…Well, we've spent here long enough. Let's go prepare for the exam.」

Damian casually declares after a long silence, and stands up with his tray, causing Tisha to click her tongue in disappointment as they join him on the way to the kitchen counter with trays in hand…

…

A few hours later, outside one of the classrooms…

Donnnnnnnnngggggggg… Gonnnnnnnnggggg… Donnnnnnnnnggggg…

The classroom door opens, and students come pouring out. Damian is the first of the four to leave, and the girls trail right behind him.

「Hmmmnnnnghh!… Just a few more and the term is done!」

Tisha says, moaning loudly as she stretches in the hallway. Damian briefly glances at her chest as she's sticking it out, and quickly snaps his eyes away.

「Yeah… I'm going to go deliver that letter now. See you tomorrow-」

「Wait, you mean you haven't yet?」

Tisha asks with her brows furrowed, halting Damian's departure. He turns around, and awkwardly rubs the back of his neck, looking aside.

「…Yeaah, I didn't really feel like it. I mean, would you? Headmaster Corvus made it pretty clear he doesn't care about speed… They're chatting by student mail, after all.」

Damian apologetically explains himself with a troubled grimace and a slanted mouth, throwing his hand up and shrugging his shoulders.

「I'll go with you then.」

She says, and comes a few steps closer.

「Geh! Why!? Do you think the headmaster's gonna kill me, or something!?」

He recoils, jumping the equal distance back with his arm as a barrier.

「Hm. He might.」

Lightly tilting her golden head, Tisha replies with a smug smile and her hand on her hip.

「We'll come with you too, then.」

Cycelia says, approaching behind Tisha along with Neela. His eyes briefly glance over all three, and his shoulders slump as he lets out a resigned sigh.

「Tsk… Fine… But we'll have to go through the dormitories together. Since you're girls and I'm the only man-」「Up to debate.」

He shrugs, and turns in the direction of the dormitories. Tisha cuts in with a quip and a smug smirk.

「Shut up already! Good grief… Anyhow, we'll deliver the letter through the girls' dormitories, I'll go back to my room through the other door. If we run into anyone, that's how I'll explain it away.」

「Sure. And I'll tell 'em it's a lie and that you wanted to secretly go to my room with all of us.」

Tisha replies with a smug grin. Her face is met with an angry scowl over Damian's shoulder, but he remains silent, stomping angrily towards the dormitories…

…

Twenty minutes later, in the ominous hallway to the headmaster's office…

The runic automata infrequently pour in and out of their highways on the way to somewhere, causing Cycelia to shiver at their sight. As they approach the door, Damian's brows furrow.

「…Oh yeah. Professor Arkeis was handling it pretty well, wasn't he?」

He remarks, staring at the ground ahead of his feet, deep in thought.

「Handling what well?」

Tisha asks, leaning aside a little to get a better look at his face.

「The curse. Was he in the infirmary at any point?」

Damian replies, looking at her as he reaches for the first door. The girls stop just ahead of it, and look at each other while he walks into the narrow entry corridor.

「…I don't know?」

She says, and walks in right after him, with Cycelia and Neela following closely behind.

Knock knock.

Damian knocks on the door to the office proper, and waits. Then waits.

「Don't tell me he's already-」

「…Enter!…」

The headmaster's muffled voice coming through the door cuts him off. He pushes down on the handle, and opens it.

「Headmaster. I have a reply for you.」

Damian says, looking at Corvus at his desk with a pile of thick, yellowed tomes stacked on its side like a tower.

「Hmm… Mr. Damian… And the young ladies. I understand why Mr. Damian is here, but why the full accompaniment? Has something happened?…」

The old mage remarks, spreading his wrinkly hands with a light smile on his face as he asks.

「No, headmaster. Our rooms are on the way anyway, and we thought we'd keep him company.」

Cycelia replies, peeking her head out past Damian as they approach the desk.

「Hm. I have to say, that is wise. Two panicked students came to me saying that they were almost murdered by the vampire.」

「Wha-?」「Really?」

Damian recoils in shock, and Cycelia blinks in surprise at the headmaster.

「Yes… Luckily, Straf appears to have scared him off before he could harm either of them. If you are to go anywhere from here on out, it's best if you do so in a large group… I see you have the flashlight.」

With his fingers interlocked and a troubled expression on his face, Corvus nods, looking over each of them for a second or so at a time. His aged eyes drop down to Cycelia's hand.

「Ah… Yes. It's my lucky charm now…」

She holds it up, and nods with a smile.

「I see… Mr. Damian, you have a message for me?」

「Yes, headmaster…」

Damian nods, and holds the envelope out for him.

「…He said he really does not want to see us again. I would not be surprised if you received a scathing letter regarding myself next.」

He adds, shrugging his shoulders as he glances at the girls. Headmaster lets out a series of amused huffs out of his nose in a stifled chuckle.

「Well… I will take whatever Professor Arkeis has to say with a grain of salt, and keep that in mind, Mr. Damian.」

Corvus says, warmly smiling at the handsome student.

「…It's hard to believe that you both look similar, but you're so much nicer than him, headmaster.」

Tisha chimes in, peering past Damian with a nonchalant expression.

「Hm?…」

The old man furrows his grayish-white bushy brows, and lightly shakes his head in confusion.

「Similar… In what way? If you are talking about my skin being weathered and wrinkled, well… There is no escaping time, Ms. Tisha.」

Corvus asks, spreading his hand with a lightly amused smile as he looks at her.

「No, I don't mean it that way, headmaster… I mean that you both have long and whitish beards…」

She replies, shaking her golden head and hand to clarify. The headmaster's old eyes widen.

「…Well, that rotten bastard is more like gray.」

She adds, grumbling to herself quietly.

「N- No… You must have been seeing things, Ms. Tisha. Professor Arkeis is as black as a raven…」

Corvus lightly shakes his head in denial, and his shaky hand moves to pinch his glasses' frame. All four look at each other perplexed with their brows furrowed.

「…In fact, it is an inside joke here at the Academy that Professor Arkeis is kidnapping bad students to sacrifice them to demons, so that he can keep his hair black forever. H- Ha ha ha…」

He adds lightly grinning at Damian and the girls, but his grin is visibly off and tinged with nervousness, as is his light chuckle.

「No… Headmaster, it wasn't black at all.」

Damian says after glancing over his shoulder at them, looking at Corvus with a serious but deeply confused face.

「He has a short, black beard-」

The headmaster insist after nervously swallowing.

「No, headmaster, it was just a little shorter than yours, and completely gray. But his is more like a rectangle, and yours is pointy.」

Cycelia shakes her head, blinking at him with her emerald eyes.

Corvus places his hands down on the desk, and straightens out, looking at them all. His face drains of color, and he appears as if he aged five decades in an instant.

「…That is not Professor Arkeis!」

He exclaims, and shoots up from his chair. He rushes for the door in a hurried step.

「What!? Then who is he?」

Damian exclaims as he and the girls chase after the headmaster.

Thud!

Corvus violently yanks the door open, slamming it into the wall as he storms out.

「Headmaster!?」

Cycelia says as they trickle behind him through the narrow corridor. He takes the exit to the female dormitories, and walks out into the dim hallway.

「I should have known… I should have known!…」

The old man repeats in anguished anger through his teeth as he continues speeding for the stairwell, clenching his fists. Just before entering it, he grabs onto its threshold and swivels his head to them.

「Get Aria and the other duelists. Immediately! Tell them to go to the demonology study!」

He commands Damian and the girls with a shout, then sinks into the stairwell at a rapid pace.

Thudthudthudthud! Thudthudthudthudthud!

They look at each other in momentary confusion, before they all nod and fan out, smashing their fists against the doors…