To the headmaster's office we go~

The very next day, early in the morning, before the start of the first lecture, Melinda was called to the headmaster's office.

To say that she wasn't feeling too good would be a gross understatement, but she did not try to come up with some excuse to ditch the summons.

Melinda didn't even slick back her hair, embracing the fluffiness in hopes of diverting the attention from her worn-out-looking face.

Since she wasn't afflicted with the bleeding or hemorrhage status effects, the bleeding from her ears, eyes, nose, and mouth stopped the previous day before she returned to the dormitory, but the wounds were still there, not festering but not healing either.

The royal hydra's claw firmly stuck in her side constantly drained her health, but the gold-haired girl had no intention of removing it.

At least not until she would get all the benefits that the item had to offer or if her life would be in actual danger.

The previous day, she got quite a lot of monsters, increasing her overall HP enough to make up for the difference that the claw was making, and she fully intended to go through the same process after the lectures were over.

But first, she had to go through the unexpected summon while fully deaf.

"...oh, wait. Adi mentioned that she would notify the Academy's staff about it, so that must be the reason~! They just want to figure out how to act~!"

Melinda stopped in the idle of the hallway and spoke up, clasping her hands together.

"...hmm… the difference sound makes is that big…"

…and then she immediately added, looking at her palms. She couldn't hear either her own voice or the sound of clapping, which made for a surreal experience.

And she knew she must have done both slightly too loudly because, upon looking around, she found a few other students and even one teacher staring at her with disturbed expressions.

"Hmm? Oh, don't worry. This isn't some wardrobe malfunction or a breast pad slipping off; it's just some bandages."

Playing the fool, Melinda glanced down and commented about the bulge under her shirt, right under her ribcage, hiding the wound with the Royal hydra's claw sticking out, disturbing the line of her perfectly slender torso.

She wasn't certain how loud she was when announcing that, but she also wasn't particularly bothered by it, so she didn't provide any additional context and simply continued walking.

Surprisingly, the headmaster's secretary wasn't at her desk in front of the office door, but considering the relatively early time of day, this wasn't particularly suspicious.

Believing that it was an arrangement so that the secretary would not attempt to eavesdrop on the conversation, Melinda approached the door, knocked, and opened it with little to no delay between the two activities, entering the room as if she owned it.

"Student Melinda Fenrioette arrives as per the headmaster's wish."

The gold-haired girl announced herself as she closed the door behind her back.

"Oh?"

When she turned to face the headmaster, she couldn't help but to release a soft gasp of surprise upon discovering the headmaster of the Jade Academy, Castor Vendroin, in person…

… prostrating himself before a much larger older gentleman with a grim expression and a rather tyrannical aura surrounding him.

Judging by the clothes donned by the grim man, he must have been at least a noble.

And judging by the show the headmaster Vendro'in was putting up, he must have been at least a high noble with very, very good connections.

"Pardon the intrusion, my lord. Humble exchange student Melinda Fenrioette is at your service. This one has been within the range of yesterday's catastrophe and has been rendered deaf for the time being. Should this one excuse herself until you are finished?"

Melinda stared down at the headmaster - in particular at the fragment of his face that she could see that turned ghastly pale - before she looked up at the other man and greeted him with the most courteous curtsy even though she wore pants and not a proper dress.

"..."

"!!!"

The stranger opened his mouth for a moment before closing it and glaring down at the headmaster with more than enough intensity to make him tremble like a dry leaf in the storm.

After a couple of seconds, the older gentleman stepped away from the headmaster and approached the gold-haired girl.

"Young lady Fenrioette. My name is Sigurd Em'raldio. I'm the father of the current Empress of the Emeraldios Empire. Although the circumstances could be better, I am pleased to meet you finally."

"...!"

The gentleman introduced himself, lightly raising his index finger and causing light blue letters to appear in the air in front of him for the girl to read out of.

"The pleasure's mine, your majesty. Since I learned about the exchange program between Diamondium kingdom and Emeraldios Empire, I have secretly hoped to have the chance to meet the Emperor of Emperors. It's such an honor."

Melinda did her best to not flinch after receiving the revelation, to mask her surprise she curtsied again this time bowing her head much deeper as she changed her greeting accordingly to the situation.

Sigurd Em'raldio. The one person born with the very special royal-type ability, Emperor, in the last millennium. His ability worked similarly to Gargantuan, only that it was said to always affect all stats of its wielder in addition to increasing their natural healing ability as well as the number of experience points received for killing monsters.

It was said that Sigurd didn't fancy Diamondium kingdom and the Fenrioette family in particular. It has been written down that before ascending the throne he voiced a complaint about his ability not being recognised as the strongest because the existence of Fenrioette bloodline.

In short, although small, there existed a possibility of the need for Melinda to take out the Royal Hydra's claw immediately to ensure her survival…

Just in case.

But as Melinda was having such thoughts with her head down, she was unable to notice the gentle look on the older man's face when he looked at her.