“Agh!!! That bitch bailed on us!” the raven cursed.

“Eden, mind your language!” Arthur retorted.

Although they were late to the exit, they still managed to escape the greenhouse. But they weren’t safe at the very least.

Who would’ve thought the Vice Dorm Leader proceeded to chase them on foot with a smile on his face.

“Both of you are running pretty fast. Looks like we got a pretty athletic freshmen this year” Hanzel said, gradually closing in to the two boys who shrieked in fear as they forced themselves to run faster.

“Eden, run faster!” Arthur shouted at Eden when seeing the raven starting to slow down from fatigue.

“FUCK YOU ARTHUR! Wait, BUT WE STILL HAVE CLASSES AFTER THIS! WHY ARE WE BEING DRAGGED TO THE DORM?!” Eden asked at a sudden revelation of their odd circumstances. Technically speaking, their school time won’t be over until 4pm. So what on earth is going on.

“Don’t tell me that maniac bargained with the principal just for the damn event!?” Eden shouted angrily after thinking about it for a while. He can’t really rely on Arthur to think - the birdbrain would only make Eden miserable for his slow-processing brain.

The moment he turned around, Eden shrieked. Before he could react to the 3rd year student, he found himself wrapped with a rope that instantly pulled him back.

“Eden!” Arthur yelled but his luck ran out too as the same thick red rope coiled around him and the handsome blond boy had his face planted to the ground as he fell.

“Aediva~! Don’t run away from me too fast~” hearing what Fay said as she fly on a broom to chase after the Frost mage down the ground, made Aediva laughed out loud as she simply avoid the ropes flying her way. She noticed how the blond senior female grumbled, trying her best to not accidentally use magic on Aediva.

“You ran fast!” Fay complained, chasing on a broom and yet only able to still remain at a hair’s breadth away from the girl who was leaping over students and slipping through every bushes she could find. Not once but multiple times, Fay found herself stuck on trees because of the slippery freshmen.

“Oi, Aediva! What the hell is going on?!” Noticing Cath is awake, Aediva looked down to her chest - seeing the monster poking his head out, confused as hell after waking from his afternoon nap. They were at the greenhouse when he started sleeping, so why are they or rather, Aediva running from a noisy girl he doesn’t even know. Aediva is clearly enjoying this game of tag, by the looks of it.

“Ahahaha! Oop! Excuse me! Coming through!” Cath’s human partner said as she jumped onto the bench, avoiding the incoming rope that coiled around a poor random student in the way before jumping off to keep running. She laughed seeing Fay shouting something at her as the poor chaser lagged behind her.

It was then when she spotted her two troublemaker friends - their hands bound with rope as they followed with the Vice Dorm Leader of Efren Dormitories. She was about to plan to save them but then she saw their eyes glaring at her with malice.

A blatant danger!

Her boots screeched against the pavement as she turned around - finding she was now chased by the two boys.

“YOU ASSHOLE, WAIT FOR US!” Eden shouted.

“IF WE’RE GOING DOWN, YOU’RE COMING WITH US!” Arthur said.

“YOU TRAITORS!” Aediva screamed, moments before the two jumped towards her - pinning her to the ground. By the time Fay arrived, Aediva was already knocked out cold by the two spiteful boys who were betrayed first by the quick-witted girl.

Because of them, she had to actually come with the two seniors to the Efren Dorm. Passing through the portal in the academy’s teleportation hub, in the building near the Central Square, they reached the Efren Dorm pretty quickly. It was an alien feeling, to pass through a gate to another dorm since Aval Dorm where she lives is in the main campus itself.

That said, the moment she passed the gate, Aediva turned speechless. Wordlessly, she grabbed Cath’s head while he was bickering with Eden as Arthur was stuck in between them. Instantly the monster turned as speechless as she is when seeing the view laid out in front of them.

It’s not a dorm, but a castle. The huge edifice sparkling like rubies and obsidian. The rows of bushes in front of them are littered with gem-like flowers. And to think that’s just a peek of the actual garden…

“This is not a dorm…” Aediva murmured.

“It’s a full-blown castle! How big is this academy?!” Cath continued where Aediva left off - knowing her brain is probably fried from seeing so many things that could be sold to pay off her still-present debts.

“Hehehe~ It’s a dorm~ Well, it is a castle before but it’s a dorm now~” Fay said.

“It’s one of the eight castles of the academy. I’m sure you know that the academy is much bigger than it seems from the outside. Students can’t exactly walk back to their dorms since it takes a long time to actually get to their dorms on foot. You either use brooms or the portal gates” Hanzel explained.

“Come on~ Let’s go report to the Dorm Leader~ He doesn’t like to wait long~” Fay said, tugging at the ropes binding the three freshmen’s hands. Feeling powerless and tired, Eden and Arthur followed the older girl with long sighs. Meanwhile, for Aediva and Cath, they were busy looking at their luxurious, beautiful surroundings with gaping mouths.

“You know, this is like heaven compared to our dilapidated mansion” Cath commented - eyeing the bunch of plump, juicy-looking apples hanging on the trees around. Then, Aediva sighed when hearing Cath’s comment.

“Ours is a work-in-progress. You don’t have to go and make me think about where we’re practically living now” Aediva said, feeling a little down after being reminded of the fact that they are living in a rundown building the size of a mansion but still technically not restored to any glory. At the very least, it still has running water and electricity. Though the constant coldness that she had to endure every night plus her chilly body temperature is only making it worse.

“Tch. Ungrateful bastards” suddenly Aediva cursed the two boys in front of her, gritting her teeth.

“Ah?! You said something, ya damn monkey?” Eden barked at her.

“Yeah! How dare you complain when you have a dorm 100 times more better than Aval Dorm!” Aediva screeched, glaring at Eden as he turned his head around to look at the silver-eyed girl. It didn’t took long for them to start bickering with each other with Arthur too tired to even say anything about it and the two seniors just looking at the freshmen.

“You guys sure are carefree~” Fay said, stopping both Eden, Aediva and Cath bickering.

“All of you are going to be punished, you know” Fay said to them, her tone flat. While Aediva and Cath are both confused, Arthur and Eden were turning more paler than they already were.

“Punished?” Cath and Aediva parroted after Fay, tilting their heads.

The moment they stopped, Arthur and Eden are both pretty much dead and technically a pair of lifeless zombies. Aediva looked at the entrance of the dorm where a boy was waiting for them.

“... Who?” Aediva murmured.

“SALUTATIONS TO THE RULER OF RED! DORM LEADER DANIEL ASTATHIER!”

Hearing the announcement, Aediva and Cath almost jumped out of their skins. Are they seeing a king or a dorm leader who’s another student of the academy?!

“... I feel like I’m actually in a much deeper problem than I thought… This is going to be a pain in my ass…” Aediva murmured to herself.