A soft breeze grazed my skin, and the beautiful delicate strange crystalized blue leaves from the trees above gently fell down, as if snowflakes were fluttering across my face. "What a pleasant feeling." I thought to myself. Then I wiped away the fallen leaves that's been resting on top of my face for quite some time now.
I heave a sigh. "The breath of fresh air feels nice for once in a while. So, how's Master Irene?"
"Ms. Irene returned yesterday from her mission, and said, to expect a call from her," Clara responded.
"Roger that."
Lately, the pope has been dumping a lot of tasks on Master Irene's shoulders. From what I recall, her recent mission involves demons in the southern part of the continent—called Yorsa. I don't recognize the kingdom, but Master Irene said it's a kingdom inside a mountain. As for the actual mission, Master Irene didn't say anything to me as usual.
"What do you think of it? Could it be one of Master Irene's affairs?"
"Possibly."
"Keris... His name doesn't ring a bell nor does his family name. Does the organization ring a bell?"
"No."
"So, it might be connected to them. The major factions of the academy. They've been monitoring me every single day." Then I looked at Clara. "Polias faction is also one of them, right?" I muttered to myself.
"Yes."
"Blueforge, Helix, and Antiola, then now, Polias, that's like four out of six major factions on my ass then some other factions too. How complimenting to know that. I wonder if Ivory and the Paragon will also join in the rally?
They must be viewing me as a pushover." I leisurely rest my head on Clara's shoulder.
"Extract information?"
"Humanely?" I added.
Clara didn't respond.
"Thought so." I slouched on the bench.
"Young Master."
"Hm?"
"Ms. Irene also mentioned that her mark activated."
"The succubus mark?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Yesterday."
"Yesterday... Was it from the fight? No, the mark is for..." After realizing it, my face grimaced, then I looked at the sky above and laughed. "...Sly woman."
(It's that lady from yesterday... No wonder I felt prickly around her.) Diana remarked sternly.
"Ugh! I thought school life would be peaceful and filled with enjoyment, but I can't even lower my guard for a second here. Mmm!" I grunted and stretched my arms out.
"Let's go, Clara. We'll be visiting someone."
Clara slightly tilts her head.
"Obviously, Cytheria Karmeut. Isn't it a basic courtesy to reciprocate her greetings? We'll play her game." I grinned.
"Where's Polias faction at?"
"Are you sure, young master?"
"I'm bored, so why not? It's a visit to get to know her better."
Clara nodded.
Magic that controls the mind of an individual is considered forbidden and iniquitous in the contemporary world of magic.
The charm magic of succubuses that Clara or Master Irene possesses, rather than controlling the mind like a puppet, the charm magic seduces or manipulates the mind of the individual by inciting their lust. It has different varieties, if not through lust, greed can be used or any type of emotion. One of the most dangerous magic in existence.
In order to fight against mind magic, one must have an unyielding mind which sounds simple. However, as someone who experienced it many times through rigid training from Master Irene to train my mind. I would rather be stabbed a thousand times than withstand the mental torture of resisting my own lust.
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The territory was miles away in the far northeast. As we headed for the entrance, I was taken back by surprise. Today, the nostalgia that I had long forgotten returned. The faint sweet charming scent of spring tickled my nose. Looking from afar, pink clouds of petals embedded in pure white were dancing in the air. The pink-white flowers are clustered in a way that made me reminisce about the soft clouds in the sky that never seemingly spread out; all clustered on the twisted yet slender and smooth branches of the trees as they blossom all over the sky.
"Young master?" Clara asked.
Rather than responding, I stood there frozen as my mind and body felt the weather's an intoxicating and warm presence all over me. Tears welled in each corner of my eyes, then a single tear rolled down my cheeks, and soon after, countless tears streamed down as I reminisced my childhood memories.
"Nothing," I said as I wiped the tears off.
Clara hands me a handkerchief.
"Thank you."
'Aki, look! The sky is raining pink flowers! This means the spring has blossomed.'
'Whoa, it does! They're so beautiful!'
Reminiscing old memories really does bring tears to someone. "Well, sorry about that. I got caught up in the beautiful scenery right in front of me."
Suddenly, Clara caressed my head gently which took me by surprise. She's having a hard time reaching into my head because of the difference in height, so I rest my forehead on her delicate shoulder. I snorted and rubbed off the excess tears in my eyes.
"This should be the place. Let's head in."
Clara nodded.
As we strolled through the field of cherry blossoms, I recalled the words of my father from my past life. "Cherry blossoms remind me of our transient life, short yet beautiful..."
"The evanescence nature of life. They bloom beautifully in a short period of time, beautiful yet fleeting." I smiled softly while recalling the past.
"Young master?" Clara asked me again out of worry.
"Noth—"
Suddenly, the air became prickly, and soon after, I heard explosions erupting and clashes of metal nearby. Then above the sky, two different colors of mana clashed against each other. Analyzing it from afar, it might have been a brawl between two high-class students.
Clara and I followed the sound but on our way there, we saw an unconscious male dark elf wearing a butler suit beneath the blossoming tree. I pondered why a dark elf would be here. Beads of sweat are dripping down his forehead, his lips are dry, and from the look on his face, it looks like he's agonizing in pain. I didn't hesitate to touch his forehead and once I made contact, something stung me.
"Ouch! What the heck was that?" I exclaimed, shaking my hand profusely.
Then I narrowed my eyes. "I got electrocuted, what the heck?!"
Then I noticed a magic symbol embedded in his forehead, it's not an ordinary magic symbol because it's slave magic. Upon sighting it, it left me with disdain, whoever the owner must be a rich merchant or a noble. "Slave magic, huh...? A high-tier magic one too..."
Meanwhile, at the far distance, the battle continued on, unyielding to lose to one another. I completely ignored it as the person in front of me was far more interesting than the fierce battle itself. Strangely enough, there's also magic on top of his slave mage that's implanted in the dark elf that seems to be a seal of some sort.
The slave magic that's on him was different. I've seen them countless times, as I encountered many of them back when I was working as an adventurer. Unlike in the world where I came from, there are certain places that allow slavery. It's sickening, but that's the reality of this world. What's more sickening, is the fact that the temple allows this to exist.
Slaves are not cheap as the only people who can buy one is the rich merchants and nobles.
I touched his forehead again but coated my hand. "Tch. He's burning hot. This is not a simple fever."
"Young master." Clara walked in front of me, putting me behind her.
"Hm?" Heeding my attention toward the sound of footsteps, I saw a woman leading a group of people behind her, approaching me at an alarming rate. She's not happy, to say the least. Above anything else, she's not human, given that she has purple skin and massive horns with an odd tattoo symbol on her forehead. Then, the slave mark resonated with the woman in front which led me to believe that she was the master.
Clara and I took a few steps back.
Instead of us, she kicked the living hell out of the poor dark elf's face then she looked at us. "Fancy meeting a visitor here. I would like to apologize for the unsightly display of my Alfonso. However, right now, we're not welcoming any visitors. As you can see from my right, a duel is transpiring between our faction and another group."
'Bullshit, there are only two people fighting over there.'
Unexpectedly, they all prepared their weapon and their spirits.
"What?" I raised an eyebrow.
"We'll kindly escort you out. Trespasser." She said with a cold grin.
"This bitch..."
In response to the imminent fight that will transpire as of right now, I distanced myself away from them by leaping in the branches and dragging Clara with me. I hurriedly coated my body with quintessence. "She's bad news."
Clara slightly nodded.
"Let—Boom!"
On our left, a massive eruption of mana ensued and we almost got caught by it, but luckily enough, Clara and I leaped back through the branches in order to dodge it. The woman and her group also scattered away to evade it. As a consequence of the explosions, the entire field of pinkness was covered in smoke, making it difficult to navigate. Then through the smoke, I saw a man holding two katanas in each hand, imbued with white mana, as he cut through the thick smoke.
The thick smoke made it difficult for me to identify the man, but I can see him fighting another man that's equipped with two crescented blade weapons in each hand. Both of them are relentlessly exchanging attacks against each other. Then, the wielder of two katanas whirled around, and a white dragon manifested from within his blade that lunged into his opponent, but the other guy cut through it effortlessly with his strange crescent blade weapon. Shortly after, their weapons clashed and their mana erupted yet again, clearing the thick smoke.
"What an intense fight," I muttered.
A while later, once the smoke subsided, I finally saw the two monsters fighting and I recognized one of them. The one with two katanas was none other than... "Geh! Shin?! Why is Shin Morino here? Out of all places, I met him again here."
Then out of the blue, the tree that Clara and I were standing on was sliced in half by Shin, and because of it, Clara and I got separated. When I landed on the ground, surprisingly, the protagonist's girlfriend Ami had her back against the tree clutching her abdomen in pain. She took notice of me and said, "You? What are you doing here?"
"I was about to ask the same. Why are you fighting in the first place?"
"None of your business."
"It does. I'm caught between it."
Ami clicked her tongue in disdain. "... Just some disagreement."
"Which led to a fight? Wow."
"Look who's the one to talk to, I recently heard what you did yesterday."
"Wow, words go fast."
"I work for the Student Council, it's normal."
"Really? That's surprising. But still, there's a difference between this and that. My fight is not just some sort of conflict of interest. I'm pretty sure your man also experienced the same, getting ganged up by your girlfriend's admirers. I did what I needed to do. They instigated a fight, so I accepted it wholeheartedly. They literally begged to get beaten up. You won't understand since males like us are stubborn creatures."
Ami fell into silence. "... I wouldn't say the same about the females too. They're also stubborn. And, about you dealing with that stuff, it's rather the opposite, I'm on the same boat because I'm the one dealing with his myriad of admirers."
"Seriously?! Don't tell me he also has a fan club built for him?!"
Ami nodded.
"Damn! Lucky bastard! Where's mine?! Where's the flock of girls screaming my name?!"
Ami looks me dead in the eye.
"Come on, can't I crack a joke?" I smiled ear to ear.
"Uh—"Ami paused for a brief moment and averted her gaze away. "... I... you al..."
"Hm?"
"So, why are you here?"
"Well... Once you tell me why you're here then I'll tell you."
"This guy... Okay, you're persistent. Just some discussion."
"Oh! Spicy~! What is it about?"
"I won't disclose that to you." Ami frowned.
Then I pulled her by the collar to save her from the vines that rose from the ground. "Be careful," I said.
The caster of the magic had a condescending smile on her face as she approached us at a snail's pace. The first thing I noticed was her height, she's tall as a giraffe. I admit, I was a bit intimidated because of her height and also because it was my first time meeting a woman that's taller than me. Then I noticed a glowing wooden stick in her right hand.
"Tch! Get away from here..." Ami glared at me. "... We're in a duel, so don't interrupt!"
"You should've said that in the first place—"
"Little Ami, we're not done yet." The tall woman said in a completely high-pitched tone which was unexpected for me. I don't know the reason for it, but it was really unexpected.
As she said that, her eyes slowly drifted to me and her eyes widened. "You!"
"Yes, me?" I pointed to myself.
"Weakling!" She raised her voice.
"Huh? Excuse me?"