The moment Iodine's words left her mouth, Ezekiel immediately tucked tail and ran, realizing that he had been outclassed.
I didn't expect to meet a vengeful spirit here...
Gritting his teeth, Ezekiel wrapped his cloak around himself and tried to open the stairway door, but the old doorknob shook with difficulty.
Behind him, the little girl's hair began to raise as she floated towards him, anger evident in her eyes as her open mouth was like a black void coming at him.
Io!
I'm on it...
Iodine mustered up her strength again, and met the little Princess in the middle of the hallway, pushing against the red eyed spirit.
Because of how far Einsvuk was from Iodine's homeland, her power was limited. She was still capable of doing the same powerful abilities that an elemental spirit could do, but she tired more quickly.
"This damn door...!"
Ezekiel cursed as he violently shook the malfunctioning door, debating whether or not to just kick it down and run away before facing repercussions.
Poor, poor child...
Despite the dangerous situation before them, Iodine was busy weeping away in his mind while she restrained the little girl.
Is she using her mana to block this door..!?
Possible...
Imbuing his mana into his legs, Ezekiel's green eyes flared with a vibrant light as he stepped back to wind up a powerful kick.
At that moment, Iodine couldn't maintain a good resistance against the little girl anymore, and naturally faded back into Ezekiel's watch.
It's fine...
W-What do you mean by that, Io...?!
Feeling a chill run down his back, Ezekiel could feel the cold, corpse like presence draw closer.
Someone is here.
Suddenly, the door flung open, and the lights of the hallway turned on, blinding Ezekiel as he stumbled back.
"Urgh...!"
"Wow, my senior seems to be struggling."
Holding a lantern in one hand, and the other stuffed in his pocket, a cheeky faced Darvillion stood there, a grin stretching from one half of his face to another.
He only wore a simple black robe around his black pajamas, slippers still on his feet as Darvillion scanned the sight before him.
Sitting on the ground bewilderedly, the slightly flushed face of Ezekiel could be seen, his hair spreading out strands like a jellyfish. The green headband had also been dropped to the ground, loosely falling off his face from whatever he was doing in the middle of the night.
"I came down because I felt an interesting mana flow while I was sleeping, but it turned out to be just you."
Taking his hand out of his pocket, Darvillion scratched his head, an inquisitive expression on his face as he spoke aloud.
"Say, are you a pervert trying to spy on the sleeping top students?"
Darvillion's lips curled like a sly fox, as his black eyes curled into crescents, seeming to have already come up with a conclusion of his own of what happened.
"What? No!"
Stuttering at the absurdity, Ezekiel's eyes widened as he looked up, Darvillion's shadow towering over him, looking like a second devil with his eyes.
"Since you're a third year, it'll be alright if you were trying to use your spirit to take a peep at a fellow peer in the same year..."
Darvillion trailed slowly.
"???"
"But if you're aiming for the first year prude that also lives on this floor, then that's when things will get messy."
Still sprouting strange things from the hole in his mouth, Darvillion rubbed his chin.
"You see, my boss already had his eyes on him, and I don't think that prude will have any lovey dovey eyes for you. In fact, I don't think he likes older men..."
"Excuse me, but you got something terribly wrong here...!"
Shaking his head, Ezekiel quickly got up and stood up, his height now towering over younger Darvillion.
"I was led here by my spirit, right Io?" Ezekiel motioned towards his watch, looking at it for a sign.
"..."
There was a silence as there was no response.
"They say the first step is denial..."
"Agh, it's really not what it looks!"
Perhaps panicking, Ezekiel's hands covered Darvillion's mouth shut to stop it from spewing any other strange things.
"Mffhph, mpfffhh mphhffhh..."
Darvillion furrowed his brows, but uncreased them the moment he saw Ezekiel's embarrassed expression.
Ah, this guy isn't usually like this?
Going into thought, Darvillion realized that the spirit kid was usually cold and silent, just like that prude.
No way, is the nonsense I was spurting out earlier actually right?
Darvillion's eyes widened.
But the current third year top student is dating someone...wait, doesn't this guy hang out with that prude's roommate?
It was like a bolt of revelation had struck him, as the gaze in Darvillion's eyes darkened.
No wonder he's so flustered...
By now Ezekiel had already unhanded Darvillion, panting at the side, thinking that the worse was over from whatever was coming out of his mouth.
"It's still quite the gap isn't it..."
Darvillion said thoughtfully.
"What strange and perverted preferences, that poor kid probably views you as a brother."
"Ugh, what are you talking about now..?!"
Ezekiel hurriedly shushed Darvillion, looking around hesitantly, trying to see if anyone had woken up from the commotion.
"I'm sorry but it's very concerning, so I will be informing the boy and administration about this..."
Darvillion looked at Ezekiel with sad, pitiful disgust.
"..."
Realizing that such a person wouldn't listen to him no matter what, Ezekiel quickly whisked Darvillion away out of the dormitories before any students were disturbed.
—-
"..."
The moment Viv stepped out of the bathroom, he turned to the left and saw a familiar little girl staring at him.
Stiffly walking back to his bed, Viv hesitated as he took a glance at the little princess.
Is it me, or is her hair all puffed up...?
An eerie gaze settled on him.
Ahem.
Viv pulled the blanket over his head, and turned away.
——
"It's been a while, but I hope you guys haven't been slacking while I was gone."
Ms Lilia's usual stoic expression was the same as she faced the class, some students groaning while others rejoiced.
Looking around the room, her eyes flickered on Viv, whose face was slightly haggard but relatively happy looking, if that was any way to describe a just as stoic faced person.
Finally, a capable instructor!
Walking into the classroom in the morning just to see Ms Lilia back felt like celebratory trumpets of the heavens playing in his mind.
"We will now begin to properly take notes."
No longer giving any more leeway, Ms Lilia commanded the opening of notebooks like a general commanding warships.
As Viv began to happy write down notes, the corners of his lips began to frown as an irritating thumping sound kept playing.
Dun Dun Dun
"What in the world is going on...."
The student who sat beside him, anxiously bit his nail, his silky red hair cascading off his forehead and fluttering with each time he paced his foot up and down.
"Kr...I swear it was easier when Mr Albert was teaching..." The boy groaned underneath his breath, frantically using the other hand to jolt down messy, disorganized notes.
"..."
Viv looked around the classroom for any available good seats, but found all of them taken up.
"Oh, I'm sorry...Am I being too loud...?"
The boy with red hair concernedly noticed Viv looking uncomfortable beside him, the pacing of his foot stopping.
"..Yes."
Vivillain wanted to turn away, but the boy had already begun talking again.
"Oh, I just realized. I don't think I've talked to you once during this whole school year..."
The red haired boy went into thought, before grinning warmly as he stealthily extended his hand underneath the table.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Roman."
—
"Why do you keep calling me to come talk?"
Ezekiel frowned, looking around to make sure no one could see what was happening in the secluded corner of the campus.
"Is it so wrong for an underclassman to ask an older peer to talk?" Darvillion smiled, his hands leisurely stuffed in his pockets.
They both wore the speciality magic uniform that were provided to all students in the course, and although there was an age gap, it was still relatively easy for Darvillion to locate Ezekiel in the nearby buildings.
"..Just tell me what you want."
"Would you believe me if I said I'm here because you made me interested in your weird tastes?" Darvillion tilted his head.
"Get lost."
Ezekiel turned to leave, but Darvillion quickly stopped him, realizing he had played around too much.
"Ahem, I want your spirit to take a look at this."
Darvillion held a jar in his hand, some sort of thick tree root stuck inside, floating around in a strange preservative liquid.
"...?"
"I always used to think you were quite frankly overhyped and useless due to your spirit being a rare elemental and you only coming across as average, but it seems i've been wrong the whole time."
Shaking his head, Darvillion handed the jar over carefully to the confused Ezekiel.
"I didn't expect to see an exorcist instead, which I think personally I think you should have revealed, but everyone always has some annoying reason or the other..."
"..What exactly is this?" Ezekiel stared suspiciously inside the jar, ignoring Darvillion's strange ramblings.
"Ah, about that, I don't really know."
He shrugged.
"Ask that spirit of yours to see if it's genuine life or artificial life, like those necromancer kinds."
Ezekiel wondered what in the world he was holding in his hand, but nodded his head.
"After this, you'll leave me alone right?"
"..Sure."
Not putting so much faith in Darvillion's half hearted response, Ezekiel called out Iodine to come examine the root.
It smells...
Smells? Like bad or good?
Strange...
Is it life from the world?
Yes...but not quite either.
What?
As Ezekiel tried to get an answer out of Iodine, she slipped away back into his watch to sleep, still tired from the strange the previous night's occurrence.
"What did she say?" Darvillion's eyes shone with a burning curiosity, wanting to hear the answer to this strange variable.
"..I don't know."
"Hah?"
"My spirit wasn't sure either, now excuse me, I have more important things to tend to."
Handing the jar back over to Darvillion, Ezekiel quickly weaseled his way out of there, as he saw a familiar figure in the distance.
"Elva!"
He shouted, his eyes curling into crescents as he waved his hand noticeably to catch Elva's attention.
As Ezekiel left Darvillion in the dust, an impatient and disappointed expression crossed his face. His mouth was quirked up in a somewhat annoyed expression as he leaned against the wall, watching another lead towards this mystery be cut short.
Maybe after the contract is up, then I'll have to confront him on how exactly he managed to manifest 'life' itself.
—-
Elva had managed to run into Viv coincidentally as break time occurred for most first year students in the surrounding area.
For some reason, he looked more haggard than usual, and clung close to him, forcing Elva to buy him lunch.
However, Elva didn't complain, so he merely hummed happily as he brought food from the school's cafeteria workers.
The usual glances were directed at them, but they were now both used to the strange sensation. Tossing a steamed bun over to Viv, Elva struck up conversation as they ate on the grass.
"Anything happen?"
"I've met too many people.."
The response came unusually quick, as Viv bit the steamed bun with a sour expression on his face. In the direct light, you could see the eye bags that had been forming under his eyes for quite a while.
He had made a few comments about it in the past, wanting Viv to rest more, but of course nothing really changed. Day by day, each time Elva saw him it seemed to get worse much to his concern.
"Oh, well that sounds interesting, were they nice?"
Still not knowing that Viv had been taking daily night trips, Elva assumed that the unsocial guy he knew was talking with classmates for presumably the first time since they arrived.
"No."
Viv shuddered as he sighed, thinking of what unpaid labor he'll have to do again tonight.
Elva seemed to prattle on about his life, but the sound grew muffled as Vivillian began to deeply ponder his current circumstances.
Nowadays, he seemed to meet all sorts of people and encounter strange things. Not only that, the motivation to wake up during the night and leave was growing less and less by day.
If it weren't for that book, "Celtine's Knowledge and Record of all Discovered Magic Types", Viv would probably let the school burn for all he cared.
Collecting bookmarks and studying during the day...turning into some street rat delivering messages at night...what a life that he's been caught along in.
..
However, letting the school burn down was just a passing dark thought, as Viv certainly was a fickle person. Because a few hours later he found himself contently sipping free hot chocolate after school hours in the quiet library.
What a nice school, after working so hard sipping a hot drink like this is truly refreshing.
A purr seemed to almost escape him as he sat on a comfortable chair on the second floor of the vast book collections.
After diligently keeping up with bookmark scouting, he was now considered an "excellent member," a rank up from a certified one.
There were only 7 stages of library ranks, and Viv only had 3 stages left.
A truly record breaking speed almost never seen before in Einsvul history, just accessing the second floor as a first year was a testament to his sheer willpower.
Excellent members usually comprised of most senior of seniors at Einsvul who visited the library occasionally. This was usually the bottle cap for the casual library enjoyer, and beyond this level were when the library tryhards were prone to be found.
I'll definitely achieve the top rank in a few year's time...heh.
Enjoying his early break and reaping the benefits of his hard work, a deep and eerie chuckle came from the small boy.
Some of the much older seniors on the second floor gave him glances, quickly writing him off as just another library weirdo and returning back to work.
So many new people that I've ran into...I'm wasting too much space remembering each and everyone.
An unhappy thought interrupted his relaxation, as his eyes squinted open.
Why was I even keeping track of them in the first place? How useless, let's just forget every unimportant person.
Coming to this conclusion, Viv happily manually deleted all the extras he didn't know in his brain.
I see relaxing days ahead...
——
"I told you we have to get this shipment out by today!" A man cursed at another one, kicking a helpless trashcan nearby to vent his frustration.
"But we can't ship it today if the family's dog is hunting around these parts! It's too dangerous!"
"If our clients say they want this gunpowder, then we get them their gunpowder. We already accepted the extra quick delivery fee."
I should sew my mouth shut so I never jinx myself again.
Another trashcan got kicked, as the yelling grew louder.
Scratch that, if I couldn't speak then I wouldn't be able to curse anything.
Huddled inside the last remaining and standing trashcan, Viv held back the urge to hurl from the smell as he stayed as still as he could.
I want to retire from the Black Market.