'Did she predict the amount of time I will take to learn this?' Noah wondered silently before extending his aura around the house.
It took him a few seconds but Noah was able to sense Zuki's presence outside his house. If he guessed currently, the principal had been standing outside the house undetected for quite some time.
Zuki, the principal of Zikarth academy, seemed to be waiting for Noah to come outside.
Though Noah wanted to go back and get some sleep, he knew that talking with Zuki was a bit important for him.
After all, Noah wanted to ensure that he and Erika wouldn't be bothered by Zuki in the future.
[ New quest received. ]
[ Unnamed Quest
- show Zuki, the principal of the Zikarth academy who the boss is, thus preventing him from interfering with your life.
Reward: Some more explanation on the current timeline
Time limit: 1 hour. ]
'Ayame certainly found a pretty good timeline with just a perfect timing for quests.' Noah observed. However, the question was, who was assigning him these quests?
He stood up from the floor and directly teleported outside the house. Noah directly appeared behind Zuki and waited for him the notice his presence.
It took Zuki more than two minutes to actually realize that someone was standing behind him.
"I didn't think you would come to meet me," Zuki muttered in a calm voice yet internally, he was shocked by how easily Noah snuck up on him.
He could tell that the teenager hadn't even been trying hard to do that. Zuki decided to up his guard to the max as he had no idea what Noah wanted to do to him.
"I had to come to meet you after you have been following me," Noah smiled. "Though I have to admit that whoever is tracking me has quite some skill. You almost managed to slip under my radar."
Zuki's body suddenly stiffened when he heard Noah's words.
'How did he realize that I had been following him? I used the best person available for the job to make sure that my aura was contained until and unless I decided to reveal my position myself…' Zuki thought while looking at Noah with a bit of fear.
Despite being the principal of the strongest academy in the kingdom, Zuki felt nervous and a bit intimidated by someone half his age.
But if Zuki had known that Noah had been purely bluffing, he would've coughed blood like a Chinese young master being face slapped.
'I guess living for that long has much more benefits than I initially thought.' Noah inwardly smiled.
One of the biggest abilities that he had focused on developing was bluffing. No matter how powerful you got, bluffing was an ability that would always pull you out of tight spots.
"I would definitely like to meet that person if he arrives in the area," Noah added as Zuki's hurriedly restored his emotionless face.
"I am here to offer you the opportunity to join the Zikarth academy. Since we didn't get to talk after the graduation ceremony, I thought this was the best place for us to discuss this."
"You thought that discussing such things at three am right outside my abandoned house was the best thing to do?" Noah raised his eyebrows in surprise. "That's the lamest excuse you could come up with."
Zuki sighed as he realized that trying to offer things to Noah wasn't going to work. His second plan had been to kidnap Noah and threaten him but after meeting him personally, Zuki dropped the plan.
"Then wish you and your mother the best of luck." Zuki declared and turned around. He was about to leave when Noah gently placed a hand on his right shoulder.
"You said what you had to so it's only fair that I do the same." Noah smiled as Zuki suddenly felt an enormous pressure weighing him down.
Zuki reluctantly turned the other way as he looked straight into Noah's eyes. The pressure on his shoulder stabilized yet it was still heavy enough to completely numb his arm.
"I don't know what happened between my mother and you in the past but it better stay in the past. If you try anything funny or harm anyone close to me, you will neither stay alive nor die." Noah said calmly before lifting his hand off Zuki's shoulder.
"Stay away from us."
Noah then directly teleported back to Izzy's house, leaving Zuki alone.
'What's wrong with this generation…' Zuki silently thought while fixing his clothes.
He then started walking while thinking about going back to the academy. Initially, Zuki had been planning to stay in the city until Noah finished his exams but after meeting him in person, he realized that it was better to leave the city instead.
He had already dropped the idea of using hostages against Noah but after hearing his words, Zuki decided to think of some other way to make Noah ally with him.
'One day, you will beg to join me.' Zuki silently thought. 'After all, spirit magicians are monsters who, without any allies, would be hunted by others.'
***
Noah teleported to the guest room with hopes of taking a peaceful shower.
Noah loved late-night showers due to how calming they were but when he appeared in the room, a surprise was awaiting him.
"Looks like you came back from a little walk." Erika smiled white being seated on the bed.
Her eyes took a quick glance at Noah from head to toe before fixing on his face.
"Whenever you enter the house, I get notified about it. What were you doing there at three am?" Erika questioned.
"I was talking with Zuki there. He had been following me ever since I left the house and confronted me there." Noah admitted before sighing. "He wanted me to join his academy."
"He is still alive?" Erika immediately asked as her voice perked up. She clearly found the concept of Zuki dying joyful.
"Yes, he is still alive. I had to leave him alive for the time being because he had someone powerful supporting him. I bet that another spirit magician was helping him." Noah replied before launching into an explanation of his meeting with Zuki.
Erika listened to his story attentively before sighing in the end.
"He won't bother us now until and unless he comes up with a new plan. You scared him temporarily." Erika said proudly.
"I guess. Who is the person supporting him though?"
"It's someone from the academy itself. Maybe you will meet him in the future." Erika replied as Noah nodded and walked away to the bathroom.
'Maybe I don't need to worry about him.' Erika slowly thought while lying down on the bed.
Erika had been internally surprised when she had heard that Zuki had been intimidated by Noah. When she was Noah's age, she couldn't have managed to do such a thing.
'Oh well, he is not what I used to be. It's better this way…' Erika thought with a sigh before she rolled in the bed and tried sleeping.
Unfortunately for her, she dreamed about the life she had tried to bury deep inside her heart.