Felice knew there was no point in asking further; she wouldn't get any more answers. What surprised her was how much Cathis had already revealed. She had narrowly escaped disaster, yet her heart was far from at ease. Warwick Village—this was all her fault. If she hadn't killed the dark dragon, she wouldn't have provoked Lysador's retaliation! Unable to find her, he had killed the villagers who possessed the dragon scales instead. That had to be it!
Her own arrogance was to blame. Opening the interdimensional portal, looting the dragon's lair, and acquiring a trove of rare materials—she had been so elated with her success that she had overlooked the consequences. Her mishandling of the situation had cost an entire village their lives. This was never what she had intended!
"She's not telling the whole truth," Cathis remarked. "Her presence in the Dusky Marshlands wasn't a coincidence. Someone gave her information, and she hasn't revealed who."
"She can't be the person we're looking for," Flen countered. "She's just an unfortunate student, an orphan, caught up in this mess. This whole situation was an accident; she's being used, perhaps without even realizing it."
Cathis sighed, leaning back in his chair with visible fatigue. "Let's hope you're right. But Lysador will find her sooner or later. It doesn't matter if she's innocent or not—just the fact that she was in the marshlands will make her a target. For a spatial mage like him, tracking an incident involving a low-level scroll is child's play…"
Flen turned to gaze out the window. "She's my student. Even if it's Lysador, I won't back down! May the god Leoh protect us…"
Felice was unaware of the rest of their conversation—nor did she have the energy to care. Dragging her heavy steps, she arrived at Lahar's laboratory, where she found Alpha chatting happily with Lahar, oblivious to everything.
Now it was clear to Felice: Lahar's earlier conversation had been a test. If she had concealed her visit to the Dusky Marshlands, she wouldn't have even passed this hurdle!
"Lahar, you liar!" Felice burst into the lab, furious, grabbing Alpha and storming out.
Lahar seemed to have anticipated this reaction. He simply watched them leave with an amused smile.
Felice dragged Alpha out of the teaching area, her emotions an uncontrollable mix of sadness, anger, and frustration. Her eyes reddened as tears welled up. Alpha noticed her expression and, recalling some of the words he had learned, asked, "Are you crying?"
Felice wiped at her eyes. "I'm angry! And yes, being angry can make you cry!"
"Oh," Alpha replied, wisely keeping his mouth shut and following her in silence.
After a long stretch of walking in silence, Felice suddenly remembered something. "Did you feel weak just now?"
"No," Alpha replied honestly.
"Are you sure?" Felice stared at him like he was some kind of anomaly.
"Really, no."
"Good!" Felice exhaled in relief. That was a good thing. Perhaps Alpha's physical strength was so low that even the distance rule couldn't be bothered to affect him. In fact, the distance rule imposed weaker restrictions on lesser familiars. Some people even summoned flies or mosquitoes as scout familiars, and these could traverse multiple countries without issue.
Thinking of this, Felice glanced at Alpha again and thought to herself, But he's a bit too big to compare to flies or mosquitoes…
"Lahar asked me to go back to his lab tomorrow…" Alpha muttered, almost to himself.
"You're not going!" Felice snapped. As if there wasn't enough trouble already. Did he really think he was human?
"The distance between your dorm and his lab is less than five hundred meters…" Alpha began.
Felice glared at him dangerously. "Are you trying to negotiate with me?"
Alpha fell silent.
Felice sighed. "Do you really want to go?"
Alpha hesitated but then nodded. "He said he'd teach me spatial magic…"
Felice fixed her gaze on him. "You want to learn spatial magic?" This was a demon—why would he want to learn human techniques?
Alpha looked her in the eye boldly. "I do."
Felice gasped in disbelief, then exhaled slowly as if making a difficult decision. "You don't need to learn from him. I can teach you!"
Alpha looked unimpressed, his response lukewarm. "Okay…"
Felice exploded. "What do you mean by that? Do you think I'm not good enough? Do you even know who… who picked you up?" She nearly blurted out that she had summoned him, but thankfully stopped herself when she noticed someone watching nearby.
"Isn't this Felice? So, you're finally back," a haughty voice called out.
Without looking up, Felice knew exactly who it was—Sarah, a top student in the combat branch of the Spatial Magic Department. Sarah was a girl with purple curls, delicate features, and a doll-like appearance. She wore a puffed princess dress, which earned her the nickname "Little Princess Sarah." Unfortunately, she wasn't a real princess. She was the only daughter of Wildt, the First Marquis of Flandre. Wildt had risen to his title after numerous military victories over the neighboring Hayar Kingdom in two decades of conflict. His immense military power made his influence second only to the king, and Sarah had been utterly spoiled.
Although Sarah was already twenty years old, she still acted like a girl of fifteen or sixteen, her emotional maturity stunted by excessive indulgence. Her personal magical skills were only slightly above average for her age, thanks to her family's heavy investment in her education. However, Sarah had two powerful familiars: Hedusa, a mid-level demonic Evil Eye with formidable hypnotic abilities through its gaze, excellent for disrupting enemies in combat; and Fust, a mid-level Fire Demon with natural flame-manipulation powers so strong they rivaled the fire magic of high-level demons. Both demons had been purchased by her family at great expense. Their contracts were inscribed in eighth-grade dragon crystals and embedded at the head and tail of the Marlan Staff.
The Marlan Staff was a powerful magical artifact that negated the energy decay between master and familiar. Once belonging to a woman named Marlan, the staff had been sold for fifty million gold coins on the black market after her death. Wildt bought it as a gift for his wife, who then passed it down to their daughter.
With this staff, Sarah's combat abilities reached the level of a seventh-tier mage. To ensure even greater security, Sarah's mother had a blood-binding inscription engraved on the staff. This meant that even if the staff were lost, Sarah could summon it back with her blood. Such a lost art required an enormous price to perform, which was why magical artifacts of this caliber rarely remained unclaimed.
Because of the staff, Sarah was nearly unbeatable, at least among the students. Few dared to provoke her. Yet one person never paid her any mind—Felice. Unfortunately for Sarah, Felice always wore her non-combat badge on her arm, leaving Sarah no way to act against her powerful combat abilities.
But this time, Felice, who always kept to herself, seemed to have a follower. Even more unusual, Felice appeared to care about him.
Felice noticed the way Sarah was eyeing Alpha and knew trouble was brewing. Because of her unique situation, Felice had no intention of forming deep connections at the academy, which often left Sarah at a loss. But this time was different. Felice had her non-combat badge, but Alpha did not. Without any official documentation, he was only verbally considered Felice's assistant. Technically, familiars of non-combat mages were also protected from attacks, but Felice couldn't admit Alpha was her familiar.
In two days, Alpha's assistant certification would be processed, and he would receive a blue non-combat badge. For now, however, he had no such protection. Even if he had the badge, not wearing it in the designated position made him fair game.
Flandre Magic Academy did not prohibit free combat outside of certain peace zones. As long as damages were compensated for, fighting was allowed—and with Sarah's wealth, she never worried about paying for damages.
Felice knew she had been targeted and had no choice but to greet Sarah. "What brings you here, Little Princess?"
"Just curious to meet your new friend," Sarah replied, twirling her staff.
"He's not a new friend; he's my assistant. I hope you won't make things difficult for him," Felice said, knowing her words would likely fall on deaf ears.
Sarah laughed loudly. "You? With an assistant? I suggest you keep him out of sight until his assistant badge is processed. Without a non-combat badge, he's an easy target."
As Sarah spoke, her usual gang of combat students surrounded Felice and Alpha.
Felice knew there was no escaping now. Using high-level Wind Soar Magic in public would expose her strength, which she wasn't ready to reveal. The priority was to ensure Alpha didn't get attacked—who knew what would happen then? She quickly unfastened her own non-combat badge and tied it to Alpha's arm, pulling him behind her.
Sarah laughed even harder. "Felice, you gave up your badge for him? You must really treasure him! But since that's the case, don't expect us to go easy on you!"
As soon as Sarah finished speaking, her followers launched various attack spells at Felice while Sarah began summoning her familiars.
Felice knew the danger of Sarah's familiars. If they were fully summoned, it would lead to an all-out battle. She immediately tore apart three third-tier Wind Shield scrolls, deflecting the incoming magic, and then activated a third-tier teleportation scroll that transported her and Alpha back to her dormitory. The two vanished instantly.
Sarah stood there dumbfounded. So this is how non-combat mages fight? Wind Shields and teleportation? Furious, she screamed at the first-year dormitory area, "Felice! I'm going to kill you, you coward! Don't you dare leave your dorm!"
Ignoring Sarah's tantrum, Felice calmly locked her door.