***

I woke up 3 hours after Arthur and his group carried me out of the forest, or, at least that's what I was told.

Thankfully, someone picked up my sunglasses and put it on my face when I was knocked out cold.

'It must be Raun, I've got to thank him later'

I could still move my body, albeit stiffly. And I could feel my strength dropping to rank.

'It's probably the backlash of the skill'

Asides from the fact that I couldn't get rid of the Capture crystals in time before the professors retrieved them, I was frowning for another reason, which was—

"Why are you here?", I looked at the silver-haired student who was sitting on a stool besides me.

I could feel my arm getting drenched, as 2 serpents made of water coiled up my injured arm, slowly healing it.

"...Your injuries are minor so the nurse asked me to heal you so that she can go on her... nightly adventures", the student coldly replied.

"Weren't you also injured?"

"...No. I got rid of my enemies very easily", the student said with an expressionless face.

"Then why are you healing me and not other students?", I was confused. She should have nothing to do with me.

Well, now that I think about it, she did have something to do with me. After all, if words did get out that I defeated a ranked cultist[modern_footnote]calling people in the Darkest night organization 'cultists' now. (Because they literally are cultists)[/modern_footnote], she would definitely be the first person to meet me.

Unaware of my thought, the person in question replied. "...Everyone is either completely unharmed or dead"

Her reply was calm, too calm, even.

'Maybe she didn't know about it?', I thought. After all, she pestered Arthur for days on end just to have a spar with him as soon as she found out that he was the Hero of Light.

She had no reservations when it comes to fighting strong people after all.

I gazed at her with my eyebrows raised, since if she hadn't known that I was the one who killed the vice-leader, she wouldn't have bothered to heal me, or even meet me at all.

But I eventually gave up on trying to figure things out and accepted her explanation. After all, she was indeed telling the truth; Students were either protected by their escorts or killed by Void beasts.

There were little to no in-betweens. That was true even in the novel.

And it was within her character to volunteer to heal students.

One thing I didn't understand though was that Sylvia Adrancus - the student who was sitting besides me, was healing my arm slowly.

It wasn't that I couldn't comprehend why she would dedicate most of her water affinity to healing. In fact, I know full-well why she did so.

She deemed that her Ice and Star magic was more than sufficient for combat. Furthermore, she needed a way to extend her fighting time with opponents she saw as worthy by even a little bit.

Thus, she decided to use up most of her Water affinity for healing spells.

And...

...She found it to be very boring if her enemies died too quickly.

Yea, she was quite a sadist in the novel... and a masochist too now that I think about it.

The only downside to her Water magic was that she couldn't heal herself. Other than that, she could heal minor wounds almost instantly.

That was why I thought it was suspicious that she had spent almost half an hour healing my arm which only had some deep cuts in it.

Thinking more about it, I came up with an explanation. Could it be that—

'She almost exhausted her mana?'

Although she easily defeated the Void beasts in the novel, the cultists' attack, in reality, was very different from what it was supposed to be. The most obvious sign was the ranked individual targeting Arthur.

So it wouldn't be weird if Sylvia met a Void beast was so powerful that she was forced to use her Time magic.

'Yea, that makes sense', I came to the conclusion that I was getting too worried for nothing.

After all, I deliberately made sure to lower my strength as much as possible around her. Not that my meager amount of strength without using [S - Monarch of the Storms] could make her notice me anyways, but I could never be too careful.

It was then I suddenly felt a surge of mana, accompanied by a small and soft sound coming from somewhere within the room I was in.

{...ere}

I looked around confusedly. This was the 6th time this had happened ever since I've woken up. And I couldn't find the source of it no matter how hard I tried to.

After all, other than me, Sylvia was the only one in the room, at least as far as I could tell anyways.

"It happened again, do you really not feel it?", I asked Sylvia for the 5th time.

"Hm... No, I can't feel anything", she shook her head.

"Haaah...", I heaved a tired sigh and massaged my temples.

'Something's wrong with me', I thought. After all, dragons, especially Sylvia, had superior mana sense. And she had no reasons to lie to me either.

Maybe I hit my head too hard when I fell to the ground? Or maybe that my blood circulation being stopped for a split second messed with my perception? I wasn't sure.

"You know...", Sylvia suddenly spoke up.

"..."

"...I heard a rumor that Arthur killed a rank cultist"

Although I found it weird that Sylvia would suddenly say this to me, I couldn't help but to grin inwardly. After all, I was very delighted to know that Arthur had kept his promise to take credits for everything.

However, my happiness was short-lived.

"...But I don't think he was the one who did it. Rather, I think you're the one responsible for killing the cultist", Sylvia's words were akin to cold water pouring on me.

I sweated in nervousness, but I still managed to keep a straight face. "Why would you think that? I mean, it wouldn't make sense for me, a low-ranker, instead of Arthur, the first-rank to kill the cultist"

"...", Sylvia stayed silent as she stared at me intensely.

'Please buy it'

"..."

"I guess you're right...", she seemed to have no interest in the matter anymore and went back to healing my arm.

'Nice save, me!', I patted myself on the back.

...

It took another hour but I was finally fully healed.

Immediately after, Sylvia stood up and gazed at me, seemingly wanting to tell me something; I could see a fiery glint in her eyes as she stared into my eyes, or rather, my sunglasses.

But, she soon closed her eyes in frustration and left the room.

'Weird', I thought, but I just brushed it off with a mental shrug.

'She had always been eccentric in the novel after all', I sighed as I also left the room and made my way towards the transfer gate.

I just wanted to get back to my dorm room and rest. Dealing with punishments for beating up the Imperial princess and a duke's daughter could wait until tomorrow.

Plus, I needed to talk with the headmaster too. I'm sure he wouldn't mind covering for his only discipline's 'father'

It was past mid-night, but the hallways of the Avaron branch in Duchess Evien territory was lively.

Hell, lively wasn't even the right word.

After all, I wouldn't exactly call knights and medics running around carrying mutilated corpses of students 'lively'. If anything, it was the opposite of that.

Despite the desperate cries of sorrows from students losing their siblings or friends, I could hear murmurs containing hints of surprise, awe, and even envy as I walked down the hallways.

-Hey! You know Arthur, the guy from our class?

-Yea, I do. What about him?

-He killed a ranked cultist!

-WHAT?

-The Imperial princess and duke Fertilus' daughter helped him though.

-Even so... to kill a rank...

-I know, right? I didn't believe it at first. But professor Ferden and the knights confirmed it!

-Wow! As expected of my beloved Arthur, he's a super genius!

Seeing that Arthur was indeed claiming to be the one who killed the cultist, and talks of me beating up the Imperial couldn't be heard anywhere, I once again sighed in relief.

'So you're still a bit smart after all', my evaluation of Arthur just went up ever so slightly.

It wasn't because he kept his promise of fully taking the credits for killing the cultist. I expected that much from him. After all, I didn't call him the ultimate pushover for nothing.

Instead, it was because he probably had enough intelligence to destroy the Capture crystals in the area.

Although it could have been Raun or even Marie suggesting him to do it, I still gave Arthur a silent thumbs up.

After all, he wasn't the kind that liked to tamper with evidences, regardless of the cause. Thus, I was sure that he would be depressed for the next few days because of his uptight personality.

'But that's none of my business'. I get to see Arthur suffering for a few days, and I was kept out of troubles. It was a win for me.

Furthermore, as I basically saved Arthur's group's lives, I didn't need to worry about Eleanor and Lucy leaking anything, since they weren't the type to make troubles for their benefactors.

Marie would listen to Arthur so I didn't really care; Amelia was unconscious so she didn't see anything. Even if she did, I was sure that Raun would make sure that she wouldn't tell anyone.

The only one left was Emily, but I didn't need to worry about her. After all, who would listen to the words of a nobody when the Imperial princess herself got me covered?

Thus, I stood in front of the transfer gate to Avaron's main building, preparing to walk through it. However—

"Hey! Are you a student?"

I turned around, to see a knight cladded in steel armor bearing Duchess Evien's coat-of-arms calling out to me.

"Yes?"

"Good. Come with me. I need details on what happened in the forest"

"...", I stared at the knight in annoyance.

Mistaking my look of annoyance for something else, the knight quickly continued. "Don't worry, you're not in any kinds of troubles. I just need you to answer a couple of questions so that we can identify the assailants"

I lets out a tired sigh and decided to just follow the knight.

Although he said that I just needed to answer some questions, I knew better than anyone else that I would have to stay here for the entire night waiting for the knights to cross-check my statements with other students'.

Thus, I didn't get the sleep I desperately needed that night.

***

A few hours ago, Sylvia heard that Arthur - one of the only students in her class that she took noticed of, had just killed a rank cultist.

Immediately, she ran to find Arthur to confirm if the rumor was true.

"Arthur", Sylvia tapped on Arthur's shoulder as she found him walking alone.

"Huh? Sylvia? What are you here for?", Arthur asked confusedly.

"Did you really kill a ranked cultist?", Sylvia got straight to the point. She wanted to quickly confirm if it was the truth.

Arthur stayed silent for a moment before speaking up. "Y- yes! I was the one who killed him"

"Are you sure?", Sylvia asked in a cold tone, which seemed scary from Arthur's perspective.

"Y- yes! I'm the one who d- did it!", Arthur gulped.

Sylvia looked at him in suspicion before shrugging her shoulders and walking away.

'He's lying', Sylvia was certain of this.

Her Eyes, asides making her expressions of emotions 'infectious', also gave her another ability. It was the power to peer into people's emotions.

She kept this power a secret from everyone. Not even her father or brother knew about it. After all, no one would want to be close with someone who could instantly see through their emotions, and by extension, their lies.

'Well, now that I think about it, grandpa knows about my abilities...'

However, even if her Eyes didn't let her see Arthur's nervousness and guilt, his bad acting immediately gave it away that he was lying.

Thus, she decided to do her own investigation.

The first thing she did was to check the Capture crystals. However, the professors had already retrieved all of them and were in the process of reviewing the footages.

'No big deal', she thought. After all, if she used her status as duke Adrancus' daughter, she could surely pressure the professors into letting her view the crystals.

However—

"We can't disclose the information", professor Anna Ferden said in an apologetic tone.

"Even if duke I'm requesting it as duke Adrancus' daughter?"

Professor Misha suddenly interjected. "Sorry. But the higher-ups warned us to not tell anyone about what happened in those footages"

Upon seeing that the professors weren't lying, Sylvia heaved a dejected sigh and left the room.

Just as she left the room, however, she suddenly stopped in her tracks as she heard Anna's louder-than-usual voice.

"Misha, which one are you going to take?"

"Huh?"

"The students in the footages. They're impressive, no? Especially the one that killed the ranked cultist. So who will you personally teach?"

"Mmmm..."

"I've already chosen student Arthur Kilvillain and Raun Serus"

"Tch, I was about to choose Arthur too"

"So, who are you going to choose?"

"I guess I'll take Theodore Gray. He's the only one left after all. Plus, I want to see how he can use ranged Lightning spells. Not to mention that he managed to k—"

"A- Alright, I get it! So out of the outstanding students we have seen in the Capture crystal's footages, I'll take Arthur and Raun as disciplines, while you take Theodore, correct?", professor Ferden said in a loud voice.

"Huh? That's right? You don't need to be so loud though, I can already hear you clearly"

"Tch, you don't understand anything, do you?"

Sylvia's ears perked up as she heard this. She was sure that professor Ferden was deliberately letting her overhear this conversation.

'...Arthur is already eliminated.... So there's only 2 suspects left,... Raun Serus and Theodore Gray'

Sylvia was getting excited. She felt like a detective solving a crime.

It was the same kind of feeling that she often got when she roleplayed as detectives with her mother back when she was... still... alive...

'...'

Snapping herself out of melancholic thoughts, Sylvia quickly made her way to one of the suspects, Theodore Gray.

...

When Sylvia laid eyes on Theodore Gray, however, she suddenly recalled that—

'He's the same one who's immune to my Authority!'

However, she wasn't too sure about her guess at the time. Thus, this was also the perfect chance to confirm it.

"Excuse me, can I heal this student?", Sylvia said as she tapped the shoulder of a nurse.

"Huh? Sure! He's not that badly injured anyways so watch over him for me!", the nurse said in an excited tone as she left the room.

'...So much for saving people', Sylvia thought; The nurse was obviously just happy to be able to take a break. She didn't even check if Sylvia could really use healing-type magic or not.

'But it's works for me', she couldn't really complain, as it just made her job easier.

...

Sylvia couldn't care less if using her Authority: six whole times in a day was extremely taxing on her mana reserve, as—

'He's really unaffected', she thought as she saw no changes in Theodore's attitude towards her.

Although she was excited to find another student who could resist her Authority, even at close range, she still had to find out whether or not he was really the one who killed a rank.

Thus, she decided to—

"You know..."

—Bait him.

Sylvia stared at Theodore intensely. No, rather, she peered into his very soul for any fluctuations in his emotions.

"...I heard a rumor that Arthur killed a rank cultist"

Sylvia could see that Theodore was feeling immense joy despite him keeping a stoic face.

'Interesting...'

She didn't know if he was happy that his friend survived an attack from a rank, or he was glad that the actual person that killed the rank managed to remain hidden.

She didn't care, as she knew next words would give her the answers she wanted.

"...But I don't think he was the one who did it. Rather, I think you're the one responsible for killing the cultist"

"Why would you think that? I mean, it wouldn't make sense for me, a low-ranker, instead of Arthur, the first-rank to kill the cultist"

Despite still keeping a poker face, and countering her claim with a seemingly logical explanation, Theodore's extreme state of anxiety couldn't be kept hidden from Sylvia's Eyes.

Thus, she now saw Theodore not as a human being, but as—

'Purple...'

—A deep shade of purple.

Sylvia saw emotions as the ever-changing colors of one's soul. The colors didn't represent one's disposition, or even purity. Instead, they each represent an emotion.

And Theodore's now deep-purple soul told Sylvia that he was in an extreme state of anxiety and nervousness.

Thus, Sylvia had now confirmed that he was indeed the one behind the death of the rank cultist, and, by extension—

'...A worthy opponent'

All Sylvia wanted to do at that moment was to jump at him and request for a fight, but she barely managed to hold herself from doing so.

After all, he was still injured at the moment, so he couldn't really give her a satisfactory fight. Furthermore—

'Father will definitely scold me if I started a fight out of nowhere again'

—She shuddered as she thought back to how scary duke Adrancus seemed when he scolded her.

Thus, desperately holding in her urge to pull out her scythe and challenge him, Sylvia clenched her fists in frustration.

"I guess you're right...", it was her last words before she left the room.

...

As Sylvia sat down on her bed, she couldn't help but to bury her head in her pillows in excitement.

'Just maybe... he will be the one...', Sylvia thought as her body became more lethargic. It had been a long day for her, fighting dozens of Void beasts at once.

However, that wasn't even a satisfactory battle in her mind.

She needed a fight, a desperate fight for survival that her father could never allow her to have.

After all, she knew that only such a fight could help her suppress her rampaging magic Eyes of Emotions, even by a little bit.