The life of a newbie Alchemist isn’t exactly an eventful one. The basic classes in the first year curriculum are Object Creation, Potion Brewing, Supportive Magic and Field Training, which consist of mostly theories. Three days since my enrollment to this Department, and I still find myself having difficulty fitting into this new enviroment. None of my efforts work so far, since aside from the weird girl who’s also happened to be the Student Council President, no one else in this class bother enough to make acquaintance with me. Though, it doesn’t trouble me more than it should, since I’m not the social type to begin with. If they don’t want to make basic social interactions, then it’s fine by me. It’s not like unfamiliar.

However, being friendless is the least of my concern right now.

Deborah has been missing for three days. Ever since her meeting with the Headmaster, no one saw her around the castle, she didn’t even attend her classes.

Despite that, when I asked Iola and Caelan, they told me this isn’t the first time it happens. They said whenever Deborah is upset about something, she occasionally run away somewhere for a few days before returning. They also told me not to get too worried about her.

Well, my roommate just disappeared for three days straight, and they told me not to worry.

Still, they’re right...in a way, even if I get worried and try to do something, I’m still a new face in this world. Even if I know where she is, I’m not even sure how can I reach that place if it’s outside of this school. And since both of them are friends with Deborah longer than I have, I’ll believe them...for the time being.

And if you think about it, I can’t imagine the possibilty of that girl, that Deborah, get kidnapped by someone. Nope, not a chance.

With that in mind, all I can do right now is to continue my life here like normal, waiting for the day that girl returns. That still doesn’t make me feel any better, though. If this continues, I’m afraid I might do something stupid.

Today marks the fourth day ever since Deborah’s disappearance. Our Department has a Field Training class today. Even though it is called a Department, ours only has one class and our total number of students is more than thirty at best, including me of course. It’s a pretty sad sight when we get to the school’s backyard for field study and encounter a class belongs to the Magic Art in the middle of practicing, with number twice our class roster.

The place we’re going today is called Darkwood, a small forest located in the back of the school, but still within the castle’s walls. While many call it the castle’s garden, a small forest is still a forest in its roots. Numerous trees grew here and became the nest for various strange creatures to inhabit. It is also home to lots and lots of useful plants and some special minerals, which is the main purpose of today’s study session. We are tasked with the harvesting of several types of herb to prepare for the potion brewing class tomorrow. Due to the existence of aggressive monsters inside the forest, we are advised to only look for ingredients at the entrance of the forest and forbidden from going deeper than necessary.

When the field study class starts, several students divide themselves into small groups, with the inexperienced banding together with the more well-versed ones. There are of course some brave students who prefer to be left on their own devices, the peculiar student council president – Kardia Asphodel – is among those people, still being anti-social as usual.

But since I’m a newbie myself, of course I need to pester someone for help if I want to make any progress, so naturally, I ask her.

“You’re standing near me.”

Ahh yes, the usual greetings among the two of us everytime I try to make a conversation with her.

“You know what? This stopped being funny since the fiftieth time you said it.”

“Heh? I suppose so.”

Says Kardia as she subtly giggles. Well, she’s still a bit distant, but ever since the two of us became classmates, she has opened up a little, and began to tolerate my presence everytime I came up to her asking for helps. In a sense, she’s the closest one I have to a friend in this class.

“So, our job today is getting some herbs to make painkillers, right? What should we get?”

“Wasn’t that briefed to us earlier? You are so forgetful, Akuma.”

“It was? Really?”

It was?

“Yes. Mrs.Prophetissima explained earlier on the materials we should acquire before sending us to the forest.”

“Oh yeah, I remembered that part.”

Crap, I totally forgot about that.

“You are absent-minded lately. Did something happen?”

She sounds worried. It’s hard to see her emotions when she’s donning herself a veil over her head like some sort of nun, but her tender but confused voice says it all.

“I am? Well, maybe a little. Something did happen. But nothing serious. Really.”

Can’t let others involved to my problems. Yeah, need to keep remind myself that I totally do not worry about that girl. Yep, totally not!

“If you say so.”

Kardia turns her head to look at the forest. Despite this class being a field study class, she’s still wearing her funeral attire like it is everyday clothing, maybe it probably is. Kinda makes it a little jarring sight to behold, but in a sense, I guess that oufit kinda fits her. Don’t know why I think that way, though.

“The necessary ingredients are Hermit herbs and Blood flowers. If you have an encyclopedia on herbs and flowers, you’ll notice them right away.”

“I see. Then, thanks for your reminder. I’ll handle the rest alone.”

Since half of the students go deeper to the forest for better chances at completing their task, ain’t no way I’m gonna stay here and look after places others had already searched and ransacked.

“You intend to go deeper? I won’t stop you, but please beware that there are monsters living in this forest, along with herbs and flowers that have undesireable effects like the Spirit Calling flower.”

“I know. I still remember the important parts.”

However, if the monsters are actually dangerous as they sound, the school’s administrative committee would have already deal with them before they pose a threat. I think they left those monsters here in this forest because they think us students have enough combat prowess to defend ourselves. If so, then as long as I be careful, there probably won’t be any problems.

The gun is still in my pocket. My insurance. If I have that within me, then this should be okay.

“If you wish so, then please be safe on your journey.”

“Thank you for your concern.”

Kardia bows when I give out my goodbye. If Kardia ever comes my old world, she’ll probably effortlessly beat the girls of my country in a proper lady contest, and that’s saying something.

And so, I venture deeper to the forest, with a herbal collecting bag in my hand. The black cloak and straw bag combo makes me look like the Black Riding Hood. Most of the trees here are already dead, leaving only the empty dried husks of what they used to be. The only things remain on them are strange black leaves that haven’t let themselves fall to the ground.The cold Winter is coming, and yet for some reason, apart from the trees themselves, herbs and other type of plants are still growing strong as ever. Perhaps growing on such a hellish land such as the Demon Realm granted these herbs the strength to make it through anything, even the dreaded Winter.

This place is like a heaven for herbalists, but the atmostphere here makes it look like the Ninth circle of Hell. Cold and distant, eerie and devoid of life, aside from the silently growing herbs beneath the sun’s notice, hidden under the sea of black leaves above them.

Well, I think I walked deep enough. It’s time to start the search.

The first problem is to know the appearance of Hermit herbs and Blood flowers, and where to find both of them. Yet, here I am, empty-handed with no handy reference books to help. Seems hopeless alright.

But that only applies to the “me” before joining this Department. Ever since my joining, thanks to the help of Kardia, I have learned several nifty tricks, or to be precise, magic spells.

First, I need to acquire the necessary informations.

I close my eyes. Using my mind, I gather my internal soul energy within my body to stimulate my brain, particularly in the Temporal lobe. When the preparations are completed, I begin chanting.

“ᖷɿom ƚʜɘ bɘqƚʜ oʇ innɘɿ ƨoul, I ɔɒll ʇoɿƚʜ my bɘɘqɘƨƚ mɘmoɿiɘƨ.”

The moment I finish using the 「Remembrance」 spell, my memories begin to flood over all of my mind. However, they are all chaotic and endless, I can’t exactly see anything until I visualize my desired information, like inputting a keyword and sending it to a search engine. When I focus on the herbal encyclopedia, my memories take a surge, and send those relevant information stored in my memory bank to my awareness. As of now, instead being inside a forest, my eyes begin to play tricks on me, as they show me sitting in my room, diligently reading the new herbal encyclopedia given to me by the teacher, on the day before the field training.

「Remembrance」 spell can be called a “homemade Google”. It turns your whole brain into a database with your own memories as data. However, this spell doesn’t grant the user total omniscient of their memory. You can only access something when you have the slightest glimpse of it. You can’t remember something you had already forgotten. This spell only lets you connect the dots from the fragments of your conscious memories, let them live again through your eyes and that’s it.

This is a very useful spell, because I certainly don’t think I can remember the correct details of every science tv show I have ever watched.

Since I read half of the encyclopedia the very day I got my hand on one, the problematic part comes from in what page did I see the Hermit herbs and Blood flower. Since I have complete control over viewing this shard of my memory, it only takes several seconds until I find the information I need.

The Hermit herbs grow near the root of trees that have access to a great deal of sunlight. Like its namesake, despite leeching of the nutrition of the tree, they prefer to stay away from sunlight and only band together near the roots, away from any sort of attention. They are green in color, which might pose a problem if this forest isn’t so dead as it is, so it doesn’t take long for me to acquire the number required and store them to my bag.

That’s one thing done. However, Blood flowers are more problematic than Hermit herbs. In the lore, they are said to be normal flowers which were transformed to their aforementioned namesake when they bathe in the blood of people killed by monsters, with their grief turning beautiful flowers into the incarnation of their sorrows. Blah blah more magical stuff. Well, from the sound of its name, the first clue is its blood red-like color. The hard part is there are also many other types of red flowers in this forest, and Blood flowers often grow among other flowers, red flowers included.

That means I need another way to find it, by using my second learned spell.

“ ⅃ɘƚ ƚʜɘ ʞnowlɘbǫɘ oʇ olb ɘnliǫʜƚ my ƨiǫʜƚƨ.”

Again, I gather my soul energy in my brain, this time connecting my Occipital lobe to the Temporal lobe. After the spell, 「Analyze」, was chanted, for every object I look at, I gain a hunch telling me its properties. Like a tree made from wood and many other components. This spell gives me details about the components on objects my eyes can see, but only if I have prior knowledge on the components themselves first-hand. For example, I can only know a Rock [Item] is made from Rock [Material] if I have prior knowledge about Rock [Material] first. A kinda useless and obvious spell, which totally earn the nickname I made for it: 「Obvious Vision」.

Let’s get back to business. The Blood flower is special because it has a high amount of acetylsalicylic acid inside. It’s also another name for Aspirin in my world. Well, not many people have interest in chemical and medical stuff, myself included, but I’m a bit of a special case. To think that there’ll come the day my training to become the heir of a large medical and chemical corporation would prove to be useful in another world.

Going deeper in the forest, I stumble upon a place with bushes and bushes of flowers gathering in a small lot inside of the forest. It looks like a man-made garden rather than the work of mother nature. However, since no one is here, I’ll take it as my “First-come First-serve” privilege and begin the search for ingredients.

Within a bush of red flowers, I find several ones with high concentration of acetylsalicylic acid. Yep, these are Blood flowers alright. With this harvest, I have completed my task. Time to return.

It’s too bad that today I don’t have the chance to use my third learned spell - 「Distortion」. But no matter, I’ll get another chance eventually.

“Grhhhh!”

However, before I can return, suddenly, a bunch of growling noises come from nearby. After a second, several dog-like monsters jump out from the bushes. Though, rather than dogs, they look more like hyenas, if they happened to go through a make-up session arranged by Satan himself, that is. They have black burnt-like fur, eyes that are full of bloodlust and fangs in places they shouldn’t be. Their saliva keep drooling outside like a hungry beast before a tasty treat, which is obviously human meat made from me.

As much as I am afraid of this danger, the moment I grab my gun and draw it outside, confidence begins to fill up my mind. There are about five hyena monsters, while I have ten bullets left. This shouldn’t prove to be too hard, but I must be careful, else I’ll become their lunch. My thin body won’t taste that good, so I can’t let that happen, can’t I?

“Grahhh!”

One hyena takes a step behind to gear up for a lunging attack. The very moment it is done, the hyana runs swiftly toward my direction, baring its fangs outside in attempt to intimidate its prey. In response, I pull my gun toward the demonic hyena, ready my trigger at any moment to shoot the incoming monster.

However, before I have the chance to do so, a firebal suddenlyl comes from out of nowhere and hits the hyena. It gets burned to the ground. The burning hyena keeps howling when its life reaches its end, and the sound only gets weaker and weaker in conjunction with what little life force it has left. The scream of death. When it finally dies, what remains of the hyana is not a burned corpse, but a pile of ashes made from a former living being.

The remaining hyenas raise their alert when one of their own is gone. From a tree nearby, a person jumps out and lands on the ground. A girl clad in a black cloak, with red hair flowing down to her hips, accompanied by a beautiful yet slightly irritated stare. Her red eyes look intimidating, like a mighty predator staring down its inferiors. The hyenas slowly change their reactions from anger to downright terror. They run with tail between their legs the moment that girl takes a step forward. This place slowly returns to the silent garden it once was.

“Deborah.”

I break that very silent when the girl that stands in the opposite of me throws me a look filled with anxiousness.

“We are worried about you.”

However, that anxiousness suddenly turns into hostility. Her eyes sharpen, like how she put fear to those hyenas earlier. The only difference this time is those eyes are glaring at me, like I’m no different than the filthy beasts earlier.

I feel pressured, a very unnatural pressure. Unlike those hyenas which could only scare me because of the surprise element, Deborah, however, feel completely different. Her mere existence alone is capable of putting pressure on the atmosphere itself, bending everything within her radius to subject to her will and desire. It intimidates me enough to the point I have to obey my fear instinct and firmly grab my own gun, ready to fire at any moment’s notice, despite completely knowing the girl in front of me is far from an enemy.

“Deborah?”

I let out a voice. Deborah doesn’t reply, nor does she drop her hostility down. Instead, I can feel some killing intents radiated from her glare alone. Deborah holds out her right arm toward me. The air pressure feels like it was crushed the very moment Deborah gathers her soul energy in preparation for some sort of spell. It’s like the light around her was warped, twisted like a child’s toy with her gathering of soul energy alone.

Doesn’t take a genius to know that the very target of her spell is obvious me, the one standing in front of her.

“Mɒɿʞ my woɿbƨ, Ƨɘɿvɒnƚ ! ᖷulʇill youɿ oɒƚʜ ɒnb odɘy my ɔommɒnb ! ᐴnɘɘl ƚo mɘ ɒnb dow dɘʇoɿɘ youɿ Mɒƨƚɘɿ!”

A flash of light comes from Deborah’s direction, accompanied by a strong gust of wind. Her spell has been successfully chanted.

However, nothing happens. Despite the flashy effects, nothing comes out from the spell she just used.

“Why didn’t you attack?”

This time, Deborah is the first one to open the conversation. Her hostility still remains, yet it seems like she has drop down her guard for the moment in order to talk to me.

“You have that wand in your hand, yet why didn’t you feel threatened? You can defend yourself with that thing, right? Then why?”

“You do know that I can read and speak Ancient Tounge, right ? That would mean I can read your spell and connect it to my memory database to know what is that spell. Isn’t that one of the abilities bestowed upon me as your Familiar?”

I answer. She just glare at me before replying.

“What Familiar…? If you know what spell that is, then connect the dots yourself!”

I gulp when Deborah shouted. What an awkward situation I’m in right now.

I know full well what that spell is. 「Absolute Obedience」. It’s a spell that takes away the free will of a Familiar and forces it to obey every single wishes and orders of the Master until the Master themselves decide to release it from its chains. And since I still have the urge to say something harsh to bash Deborah due to her intent to control me, that probably means her spell failed. Or rather…?

“What makes you want to control me?”

It’s not like much can be accomplished when one have control over me, though. I’m rude and physically weak, although maybe I can be good at massaging shoulders.

Deborah doesn’t answer. She still tries to keep her vow of silent while maintaining the aversion of her gaze away from meeting mine, like a guilty kid who can’t face her punishment at face value.

“What did I do to make you feel the need to gain complete control over me? Or maybe...I don’t think that would be the case here.”

Then there’s only one thing left.

“Are you trying to confirm whether or not I’m truly your familiar?”

Deborah shakes her body in surprise, with that simple gesture alone, there’s no need to ask for an answer.

“Does it matter that much?”

“It does!”

Deborah shouts. Now, she just looks like a wounded puppy.

“Why is it? Why do you have doubt when you yourself is the one summoned me here to be your familiar?”

“Because…I never intended to summon you in the first place! Your whole summoning process was a failed one, an incomplete one! Sabotaged, by me…to have an undesireable effect! Yet, of all the thing that needed to happen, you showed up! It’s like…a joke from fate itself.”

For some reason, a stream of fury keeps rising slowly inside my body. My fists clench in an attemped to hold them back, yet I can’t make it go away completely.

“If that was what happened, then in what right can you call yourself my familiar? You aren’t supposed to be here in the first place! Your whole summoning here was a mistake, my mistake…What awaits you here is just a world full of death and suffering, yet why? Why did you choose to persist, to stay in a place that is not your home, away from those who are close to you?”

"Because…I chose to.”

I answer. It’s just that simple.

“To be told what to do, how to live my life, who should I become…I’m sick of it. For once, my life is mine to decide, ain’t no way I’m gonna let that chance slides away from my reach. No matter what you say, being your familiar or not, I chose to stay here, and only death itself could tear my choice apart.”

Deborah drops her hostility completely, and replace it with anxiety and a sadden look.

“You’re really stupid, you know? Just what do this world has to offer to make you so persistent?”

“To be honest: Almost nothing. The food is terrible, like, absolutely terrible. More than half the people here are terrible, you included. The weather is terrible, since it’s cold most of the time. The scenery is slightly terrible, it has good parts and bad parts. It saddens me to say this, but I’ve always thought my world was terrible, until my arrival to this place. You guys really make my world looks like it’s a paradise, really.”

Deborah throws away her anxious face and just gives me a confused gaze.

“Despite all that, you still choose to stay?”

“Well, demons don’t live in paradise, since I am a demon from now on, I have no reason to go back to paradise. And since I pity the fool who has to be your familiar, I guess I’ll keep this job for the time being.”

For once, the tense atmosphere disappears when Deborah sublty laughs from my earlier statement. That’s good, I don’t think a tense appearance would fit in any girl’s face, even if that girl is Deborah. Smiles are what girls should aim for, not a face that tells people someone just died in their house.

“You really are even more stupid than Caelan.”

“Hey, I am offended by that!”

Despite my protest, Deborah just keeps laughing. Right…this is starting to get annoying.

After a while, we let the silent take place in this flower garden when both keep trying to find the right words to speak. Deborah is the next to continue.

“So, you can get some benefits from the pact, yet can’t be controlled by the Master. I think this is the first time in history that appears a unique being like you.”

“I know I’m unique, you don’t need to praise me all the time!”

I laugh.

“I don’t think your uniqueness is a positive one, though. Anyway, I just thought of a way to confirm wether or not you’re my familiar. What to try it out? Though I warn you: This way is pretty risky for you.”

“What is your solution?”

While the last bit of her explaination may give me some anxiety, if this succeed, maybe that would erase the fear for the unknown that Deborah has within her. Right, this happened because I keep playing the mysterious being card, which led to this misunderstanding. Time for me to make amend.

“It’s pretty simple. I’ll try to send you back to your world, well, only a little, anyway.”

“What is your “little”?”

Does that means an arm and a leg?

“Just enough to get the feel, hopefully. Think of it this way: Let say that I’ll try to open a portal to your world, if you can take a glimpse and confirm that is your world, then that means you are indeed my familiar. But I need to be careful, if this works out too well, you may end up back to your own world again. And I’m not sure if I can even resummon you back here.”

Well, at this point, I begin to question myself what good would come from being her familiar. But I guess it’s already too late for that. While this plan sounds risky, and I fear the consequences when it happens to be a success and she accidentally sends me back to Earth for good, but like I thought before, if this could help erase Deborah’s fear, then why not?

“Let’s hope you fail this time as well.”

Never before have I ever wish for someone’s failure more than this time.

“Hey, I may not look like it, but I don’t like to fail, you know? One time is enough already.”

Deborah pridefully replies.

“You can make another exception. It’s always easy to fail, isn’t it?”

“Well, maybe for you.”

Without giving me a chance to answer, Deborah takes several steps toward me, standing there while staring at me in the eyes. Of course, since she’s taller than me, most of the time when we get face-to-face, I have to gaze up my sight to match hers. Kinda awkward standing near a girl taller than myself. Let’s hope my growth spurt hasn’t ended yet.

“Please close your eyes, and try to imagine how your world looks like. Think about your country, your home, your family. In order for this to work, you need to picture them as clearly as you can.”

“What are the signs when the spell works?”

I need to know in order to successfully bail out from the spell when it comes dangerously close to the point of success.

“You may feel “sucked”, or something like that. I’m not a Familiar myself, so I obviously don’t know. But I think when the time comes, you’ll know.”

“Very helpful advice.”

I reply.

“Just shut your mouth and get ready. Try to keep your focus. If I feel like the spell’s going to work, I’ll try to do my part and stop it as well.”

“Let’s hope so. May you fail this time.”

Deborah doesn’t answer. The chit-chat period is over with her silence, and we get to the main event. Deborah brings her right arm toward me, touching the center of my forehead with her index finger. Following her earlier instructions, I close my eyes, and try to picture my home as clearly as I can despite my will being against it. Deborah’s chanting can be heard, yet I can’t waver my focus right now to decipher what she’s saying. The air around us feel light and comfortable, it maybe a sign of soul energy gathering to become the resource for the spell.

As Deborah finishes her chant, I begin to feel lighter. Yet, I can’t drop my focus just because of a small feeling. Gotta focus gotta focus.

I begin to travel within the depth of my consciousness, starting with an overview look of the Earth. My mind let itself wander to vast seas of this beautiful planet, then it fly back to my home country, going through mountains, rivers, and cities. Its adventure only halts when the image of a beautiful white mansion comes up, with a garden almost as vast as the eyes can see. Expensive sculptures, old antiques and popular paintings are numerous and used to decorate the mansion, which makes it look more like an art museum than the house for a few to live in.

This was my home. With the way I can clearly see this place, maybe Deborah’s spell is working right now?

Suddenly, my mind is clouded by another image.

The image of a man, a sharply-dressed, bearded old man holding a Cuban cigar in his left hand.

At that very moment, I feel a large pain from inside my mind. It’s like my very soul is being sucked away by an unknown force. Is the image of that man the very cause of this? I don’t know, but I want him to get out of my head as fast as possible.

“Arghh!”

I grunt. Before I know it, I toss Deborah’s hand away from my head. My body is sweating heavily, like it just came out of a sauna or something. Despite that, Deborah doesn’t make any extreme reaction, aside from a bright smile that has going on longer than I could even know.

“To think you’re right for once…Your world is indeed beautiful, so a paradise truly exists.”

If she says so, then does that means she saw the images that just went through my head?

“I don’t think you’re wrong when making such comparison between both worlds. And…wait, are you okay?”

The smile of joy when she found a new world turns into a worried face the moment she actually notices my heavy sweating and panting breath. While it’s not that bad, this feeling however isn’t exactly pleasant.

“I’m alright, really…Anyway, are you finally happy now…? Does that confirm my existence as a Familiar of yours?”

If it’s not, then all of these efforts are friggin wasted.

“Yes. With this, it’s already cleared now. You are indeed…my Familiar.”

Despite the context of her answer, Deborah’s reaction doesn’t get brighten even just a bit, more like she becomes a bit more sadden by this revelation. Weird girl…

“Can I ask a question? Who is that beared man?”

“!!”

Of all the thing she has to see, she just has to see him!

“I don’t know! I don’t know him! And don’t you ever dare to mention him again!”

I shout. I angrily shout like a brat throwing a tantrum. I feel like I just used all of my remaining breath and strength to empower that very shout. Or should I say it’s more like a pent up hatred that has finally found its way to be let outside?

Deborah looks surprised. She doesn’t reply, nor gives out any other reaction, simply standing there like she’s trying to find a suitable word to say or an appropriate action to take.

“What is going on here?”

Before Deborah gets her chance however, outside intervention finally finds its way here. From a nearby bush, a girl clad in black walks outside, with clothes covering almost every inch of her body. Of all the people, Kardia just has to come to this place.

“Akuma? What’s happening to you!?”

Kardia notices my sweating and weakening body. It’s such a bad timing when Deborah just happens to be standing nearby. From an outsider’s look, this could turn out pretty badly, like Kardia’s reaction with a quick glimpse of the scene.

“You…What did you do to him?”

Kardia turns her head to the direction of Deborah. I don’t know if my eyes are playing tricks on me, but the flower bushes around her are wilting away with every steps she takes. It’s like almost eveything around her have their life force drained away, with the very ground itself turning to the deadly color of grey.

“You, who are you?”

Despite the peculiar occurrence, Deborah doesn’t look like she’s gonna back down. Does she intend to face Kardia head on? Of all the timing, why would they want to fight at this moment? Damn it!

I’m tired of all of this!

“Stop it…both of you!”

I shout, using what little left of my strength.

“This is just a misunderstanding, Kardia. Deborah, no need to get so worked up. Damn, I really need a rest right now.”

“You know this woman?”

Great, now even my ears are playing tricks on me, because I swear both of them are saying that line at the same time.

“Anyway, I need to heal you back to normal first. Stay still a little.”

Says Deborah.

“That won’t do. Healing magic is just temporary first aid that could cause long term effects. He needs proper rest and medical treatment. I’ll take him back to our class and get him treated there.”

Both girls exchange glances yet again. As a man, isn’t this the time I have to say something?

“Fine, that would probably better. Take him away as you like. You have my permission to do so.”

Suprsingly, Deborah backs down first, while her eyes still look like they’re thirsting for a fight.

“I appreciate your consideration for Akuma. Please excuse us.”

Kardia comes near me and gives me her shoulder to rely on. This girl is surprisingly thin, judging from what little contact our bodies have. From behind, Deborah can only look to our back before leaving away from this place.

While things did get a bit hectic, today is still a pretty memorable day. I get nursed back to normal after drinking several freshly made potion by my teacher. Later at night, Deborah comes back to the room after getting herself an hour long lecture from Miss Walpurga with something along the line of “un-lady-like behaviour”. Aside from that, nothing “bad” really happens afterward. Things will probably back to normal just like how it used to be.

...Let’s hope it will. But I can’t shake a feeling that something bad will soon to happen.