A sword was coming my way without any hesitation but with my quick reflexes and intuition, the sword only managed to slice the air instead of me.
The greatest defense was the best offense, hence I immediately swung my hand vertically to the arm that was holding the sword.
Thud.
In contrast to my expectation, I couldn't make the arm drop the sword let alone break the bones. It was like I hit a metal ingot rather than a person's flesh.
'Physical enhancement of knights? If I can't break it, then I can just grab it.'
Quickly grabbing the wrist before the attacker, the bleak-eyed girl, swung her sword again to split me in half, I tensed my muscles and threw the girl to the ground.
The bleak-eyed girl couldn't resist my pull with her not-so-stable footing and crashed to the floor. Breath espaced from her lungs as she coughed.
I didn't give her the time to recover.
Steeping onto her wrist which was still tightly holding the sword, I inflicted enough pain for her to cry out.
She didn't let any sound, let alone cry out. Her expression didn't change at all.
"Why did you attack me?" I questioned as I gave strength to my foot.
Creak!
Bones in her wrist creaked as I caused a serious fracture. If it didn't get any treatment quickly, her career as a swordswoman was as bleak as her eyes.
Yet, the bleak-eyed girl didn't answer. Her eyes were like that of a wild beast. For some reason, she lost her rationality and acted with her instincts. Though, there was no change in her expression. She was like a corpse or a golem.
I doubted for a moment if she was a living human or not because of her unchanging expression.
Fortunately, her eyes were expressive enough for me.
"Tch!" I clicked my tongue. I hated the people who abandoned their intelligence and rationality and acted like animals.
'Though it feels like this rationale loss was triggered by something.'
I didn't know if I was lucky or not. The bleak-eyed girl attacked me like a wild beast. Her intelligence, a person's greatest strength, wasn't available for her, hence it was easier to beat her before she injured me. However, even while she didn't have rational thoughts, she was still pretty strong for her age.
"Sigh..." I let out a sigh as I looked around.
Even though the fight ended even before completely beginning, there was a noticeable sword slash on the wall and a part of the floor was caved in because of me throwing the girl to the ground.
'I hope they won't cut this from my pay...'
My only thought was about my pay. I was going to get an extra salary as I began to work as an assistant professor, but it would be sad to lose that additional salary in the first month.
'If there is no evidence, then there is no culprit either.'
Calling my spiritual mana forth, I processed it with an earth magic circle and filled the wall that was slashed by the bleak-eyed girl.
'It looks like it patched with shit.'
Sadly, my earth magic circle wasn't good enough to repair walls, at most I could do was patch it like this. However, I could cover the patched wall with illusion magic to look like it was before.
Regardless of my earth or illusion magic, the damaged wall and floor would be found out one way or another.
Magic wasn't absolute. If I manifested earth through magic, the manifested earth would turn back into mana with time. Maybe in a day, week, years, decades, or centuries.
However, some amount of time was enough for me to save my pay. Everything was for my pay!
Kicking the bleak-eyed girl's head and causing her to fall unconscious, I grabbed her by her nape as if she were a kitten before pushing her shoulder-length black hair away, and willing my spiritual mana.
With my thought, the space around me bent and I disappeared from the academy with the bleak-eyed girl in my hand.
'I should have asked her name... '
*****
After teleporting to one of the houses that I bought under a pseudonym, I threw the bleak-eyed girl on the couch. Then I settled into a chair and inspected her condition.
Her wrist was a mess, her clothes dirty, and her hair stuck to her face.
'There is still time for to heal her wrist. I should first spe— no, question her before deciding to clean her up or heal her wrist.'
After assessing the bleak-eyed girl's condition, I glanced around the house which I probably came to just once.
The reason why I teleported here instead of my room in the academy was because the bleak-eyed girl was a female while I was a male. I had teleported Lars to my room because even if I found out, there wouldn't be a problem but this changes when a man and woman are found in the same room. Plus, the woman in question was beaten by me and is currently unconscious.
I could solve the misunderstanding that would arise, but it would be a huge hassle. So, this was the easiest choice.
'What a pity. I could read her memories right here, right now if my mind wasn't infected by Lars' mind.'
My mental power was quite close to rock bottom and I was also currently suppressing the infection of Lars's idiocy.
Hence, it was highly risky to dive into someone's memories again.
Though reading her surface thoughts wasn't a problem. I was planning to read her mind anyway as she was the other person my intuition signaled for me to read her mind.
'Let's see what thoughts pass in your mind, depressed girl. Are you just a usual depressed teenager or a real deal?'
A small, anticipated smile unknowingly found its place on my face.