298 Knowledge Seekers (1)

Four chapters here... So sleepy..

...

On the way to Chorius's club, Bloed noticed that Aya and Prince Calisto were behaving strangely. It was as though… They were about to meet something dangerous?

Their strange behavior was so obvious that Liu Ying and Regina also noticed it. In the end, Liu Ying could not help but pull the cat girl's sleeve.

"Aya, what is wrong?"

Aya did not reply immediately. She instead looked stealthily towards the front of the group, where Chorius was, before speaking with a soft tone that Bloed and Liu Ying barely heard.

"Actually, I know a bit about Mr. Chorius's Club."

"Is anything wrong with it?"

"… I'm not sure, but I heard the people there are crazy." Aya said after a bit of hesitation.

Bloed and Liu Ying were startled.

"Crazy? What do you mean?" Liu Ying asked.

"As I told you, I'm not sure," Aya shook her head. "Father gave me a rundown about the most important clubs in Academy City before coming, and he mentioned [Knowledge Seekers] on it. He said that they are a group made of crazy people that pursue the truth of magic, and apparently, they make all kinds of experiments, even experiments in people." By the end of her speech, Aya was slightly pale.

"She is right." Prince Calisto intervened at that moment with a look of fear. "I even heard they kidnap people for their experiment!"

Bloed, Liu Ying, and Regina Put on slightly weird expressions.

Instinctively, Liu Ying glanced at Bloed, aware of the fact he used living people for his experiments just a few days ago.

"… It can't be so bad, right?" She could not help but say.

"Of course not," Chorius replied from the front. "We are not a kind of evil cult or anything like that."

"M-Mr. Chorius!" Aya and Prince Calisto jumped in surprise, making the bird demigod (in the shape of a human) chuckle slightly.

"Why are you surprised? I'm a demigod. Obviously, I can hear your conversation."

Aya and Prince Calisto blushed in shame.

Fortunately, Chorius did not take their words seriously and just explained with a smile.

"We indeed experiment in living people, but it's always with their consent. Plus, these experiments are generally very safe, like testing the power or effects of a spell. As for the rumor about us kidnapping people, that is nothing more than a stupid lie. Academy City will definitively not allow something like that."

Aya and Prince Calisto smiled awkwardly.

However, Bloed thought that their words were a good way to know what to expect.

After all, rumors exist due to something. Even if it's exaggerated that they kidnap people for their experiments, it's probably true that they are a bit crazy.

And Bloed was increasingly sure of his predictions when he saw the building of the club.

A big, wide, and beautiful building, with several young men and women going in and out of it each minute.

At first sight, it seemed like a nice club.

… Save by the fact it was completely isolated. There were at least fifty or so meters until the nearest building.

Moreover, when people walked near to the building, they hurried their steps, as though afraid of something coming out of it and eating them alive.

Bloed was speechless when he saw that. No matter how he looked at it, this club was not normal.

"It's my club," Chorius said with a warm smile. "Nice, right? I'm sure you will like it. It's ranked sixteen in the city, so it's definitively a top choice if you want to choose a club."

Bloed and the others were about to agree. But at that moment–

*BOOM!!!*

An explosion came from inside the building.

Bloed and the others were startled. Before they could react, a ball of flames burst out of the building followed by the screams of pain and fear of several young men.

"Hurry up! Stop the fire!"

"We need to extinguish the flames!"

"My arm! Help!"

"Vice-president! Someone fainted here!"

"We have several injured!"

Bloed and the others watched agape as a lot of young men rushed out of the building, filled with dust and injuries of varying degrees.

Most astonishingly, the people inside the club seemed already used to it. In fact, the way they went about treating the injured seemed as though it was not the first time something like this happened.

"M-Mr. Chorius, w-what was that?" Prince Calisto asked nervously.

The middle-aged man smiled awkwardly before coughing and calling out to someone.

"Andre! Come here!"

"Huh?" A young man in the crowd lifted his face and looked in Chorius's direction. He then left whatever he was doing and came running towards here excitedly.

"Teacher! You are here! Mm? They are?"

"Newcomers. I was going to introduce the club to them."

"Newcomers!" Andre's face lit up immediately. "That is great! Many of our members were injured in recent experiments, so we are short-handed right now! As expected, teacher knows what we need!"

Bloed and the others could not help but twitch their lips when they heard that.

For some reason, they got the feeling the young man was looking at them as materials for his experiments.

"You are…" Bloed could not help but ask.

"My name is Andre, nice to meet you. I'm the vice-president of the club."

"I see," Bloed put on a strained smile. "By the way, are you alright?"

The young man was startled. But soon, he seemed to realize something.

He looked at his left arm, which had been dangling powerlessly all this time, and smiled gently. "Don't worry, things like this happen all the time. It will be fine in a few days." He then took a suspicious vial from somewhere in his clothes and drank it.

"… A potion?" Liu Ying asked curiously. "Are you an alchemist?"

"I am," Andre said proudly. "This potion was something I created personally. It dumbs the pain, fatigue, and sleepiness, plus improves concentration and invigorates the body. I don't want to brag, but I have not slept for one week and I still feel as new... Just a slight occasional headache."

Liu Ying's expression stiffened.

Not just her. Aya and Prince Calisto were also looking at the vice-president with slightly scared looks.

Even Bloed could not help but take a step back.

He admitted he sometimes went too far with his research, but even he was not so crazy.

Perhaps feeling that Bloed and the others were going to run away at this rate, Chorius coughed and changed the topic.

"Anyway, can you explain to me what happened?"

"About that… We were experimenting with the [Explosion] spell just now. We wanted to increase its power and reduce its area of effect at the same time. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful. This time, the spell went out of control and injured some members. But you don't need to worry, something like this is normal. They will be alright after some days."

Once more, the group cringed.

So a spell going out of control and injuring several students was normal? What was abnormal then?

Andre, however, was completely oblivious to the group's thoughts. Instead, his face suddenly lit up in anticipation.

"By the way, do you want to see the spell? Come with me, I'll take you to the laboratory. You can take this opportunity to see the facilities of the club."

Bloed, Regina, Liu Ying, Aya, and Prince Calisto looked at each other with awkward expressions.

"I-I'm not feeling very well right now, maybe later?" Prince Calisto took a step back.

"… I-I need to protect the prince, so I can't go right now." Aya looked away.

"There is no way I'm entering that crazy place." Liu Ying was more direct, refusing immediately.

In the end, the vice-president directed his gaze full of anticipation to Bloed. Moreover, Chorius also looked at Bloed with a similar gaze.

Sighing, Bloed decided to risk it.

"Okay, I'm going with you. Will you come with me, Regina?"

"Of course. I can't leave master alone in such a dangerous place."

Bloed thought he saw Chorius look away when Regina said that.

"It's not so dangerous, you will be fine."

Bloed was not completely sure about that.