The "plan" continues~

"With that, we have a deal."

"Thank you for your cooperation, champion! Praise be the goddess! We will do everything in our power to support you!"

Zane breathed out and nodded bitterly, clearly of different opinion about the subject from the cheerful Cardinal Kelas as he shook his hand.

"Sure, as long as you will… huh…?"

Zane scoffed, looking away from the blond-haired man only to frown while staring at the large window behind the desk.

"What is it…?"

"...?"

The Cardinal, the headmaster, as well as the two knights got confused by Zane's reaction, and all of them turned to the window too…

"GRAUSHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

"?!!?"

And they did so with perfect timing to see a carriage-sized four-winged bird-type monster with the body of an obese pelican, the neck of a duck, and the beak of a heron, screaming its lungs off while clearly losing control over its speed and direction of flight, flapping desperately to slow down - but to no avail…

"!!!"

"GRAUSHAGH! USHAAAAGH!"

Of course, this resulted in the creature smashing right into the headmaster's office, showering everyone there in shards of both normal and stained glass. The monster toppled the desk, slamming all of its enormous wings against the walls and breaking the furniture while screeching horrifyingly, disoriented by the impact.

"Ch-champion! Please leave! We will take care of this!"

One of the knights called out while shielding Zane from being battered with the monster's wings while his colleague was doing the same for the Jade Academy's headmaster and the Cardinal.

"Sir Zane! Go! I'll pick you up as soon as this will be dealt with!"

"...okay."

The headmaster shouted, too, while creating a magic shield, and Zane saw no reason why he should stay behind to help them deal with the Four-Winged Howling Crane that spawned between level 55 and 62 in the wild… so he nodded and left, closing the door to the headmaster's office.

His plans have changed.

A lot.

And the first order of his new plan was to find Melinda.

Or rather caught up to her.

The monstrous servant rushed to the girl's dormitory, hoping that Adrianna wasn't hasty with packing.

"...huh…?"

"...?"

"...!"

And his hopes weren't misplaced as he made it to the entrance of the dormitory building at the exact time Melinda hopped down while holding onto Adrianna's shoulder.

"...what did you…? WAIT!"

Zane furrowed his brows and muttered before his eyes bulged out, and he gasped, turning right around towards the Academy's building where the broken window was perfectly visible, and the struggle inside the headmaster's office was still ongoing…

"I'm expelled anyway. Why not do something that deserves such actions?"

"!!!"

Melidna shrugged her shoulders dismissively, straight up admitting to the deed.

"Y-you threw it in!?"

"Gently lobbed it. If I threw it, the Academy would end up as a crater."

Zane gasped, but Melinda shook her head and corrected him lightheartedly.

"Miss Adrianna! Why didn't you stop her?!"

"..."

Zane called out in disbelief, turning to someone who should have a bit more restraint, but the brown-haired maid merely looked away in shame, not even trying to defend herself.

"Relax. I was kicked out, so we're getting out of the country, remember?"

"That's the case! You're not expelled!"

The gold-haired girl waved her hand dismissively, causing the monstrous servant to cover his face before exclaiming.

"I'm not?"

Melinda asked, raising her brows in surprise.

"No! I made a deal with…!"

"UWAAAAA-UNFGH!"

Zane called out but got interrupted by a pitiful scream from one of the knights, who got shoved out of the window by the rampaging Four-Winged Howling Crane and hit the ground hard, cracking the pavement in front of the marble staircase leading to the main building and spitting out blood from the cracks of the mouthpiece of his helmet.

"..."

"..."

"..."

The trio leaned to the side to examine the fallen more closely. After a second or two, they all looked up toward the headmaster's office in unison before returning to their original positions.

"As I was saying - no! I made a deal with the headmaster! You aren't expelled! You can attend Jade Academy without any problems!"

"...kghhh…!"

Zane returned to his talking point as if nothing had happened while the knight embedded into the pavement, spasmed, and coughed up some more blood, gathering the attention of the people passing by the gate.

Who knows?

If the gatekeeper was on his post already, then the knight might have received help.

"Aww! Thank you, Zane~! It wasn't necessary, but I'm happy you took the initiative~"

Melinda cheered out, lowering her head a bit and sending the monstrous servant an upward coquettish glance while fidgeting.

"Why won't they just kill it? There are four…"

Adrianna furrowed her brows, looking up at the headmaster's office before sparing a single glance at the fallen knight.

"There are three of them over there. It's not like that bird is a boss or anything… Why are they taking so long?"

The brown-haired maid corrected and finished her sentence, shaking her head with disapproval.

"Ah! That said! Thank you, young Zane. I am very grateful that you decided to cover up for my mistake."

"No, no. That wasn't a problem at all! You were in the right!"

"In the first place, that thing with the rude guy wasn't your fault, Adi!"

Adrianna flinched and hurriedly bowed her head to her colleague, making a troubled expression, which caused Zane and Melinda to correct the misunderstanding hurriedly.

"Don't you want to know what kind of deal I made?"

As Adrianna's expression brightened, Zane glanced over at Melinda and asked.

"Hmmm~ No. I like the idea of being surprised by you~"

The gold-haired girl tilted her head to the side with a focused expression before snickering and declaring cheekily.

"GRAUSHAAAAAAAAAG!"

"U-UWAAAAAAAAH!"

"CARDINAAAAAAL!"

The nice moment was interrupted by the screech of the bird-type monster that not only hadn't been slain but managed to make its way out of the window and was even carrying out a snack on the go in the form of the screaming blond-haired man whom the other knight and the black-haired headmaster were trying to pull out of its talons.

"...I have to help them out, or the deal I made might be off before it properly happens…"

Zane looked over his shoulder and sighed before lowering his head apologetically.

"It's okay~ We will wait it out in my room!"

Melinda giggled and grabbed Adrianna's arm, pulling her into the girl's dormitory.

"See you at the entrance ceremony."

"Oho~! Sure~!"

Zane called out after them, and the gold-haired girl perked up, instantly noticing the hint.

"Now then…"

With Melinda and Adrianna out of the picture, Zane turned around. He stared at the Cardinal, desperately punching the Four-Winged Howling Crane's feet, and activated his ability with him in mind.

The monstrous servant became a giant so fast as if he always was the height of the five-story building.

The giant Zane grabbed both the Cardinal and the monster, separating them with ease and returning the blond-haired man back to the headmaster's office through the broken window.

"Th-thank you! Thank you! Sir Zane! Praise be the goddess! Praise be you, her champion!"

"Sure."

Kelas began singing praise to Perseverance and his savior, to which Zane shrugged his shoulder before slamming the monster bird to the ground right next to the grunting knight.

"Oh, before I finish it, you might want to heal him up."

Zane was already raising his foot to stomp the Four-Winged Howling Crane down, but he stopped himself and pointed at the wounded knight, who hadn't even moved an inch since he fell.

"O-of course! You're as strong as you are merciful, oh great champion!"

Cardinal Kelas gasped and bowed repeatedly to the slightly annoyed Zane before actually healing the knight with his magic.