4 "Summoning the Stubborn Servant"

The bright red light was an unexpected occurrence, as well as the strong gust of wind that came from the circle!

"What… What's happening?!"

"Educator Wallace, make it stop!!"

"The crystal ball is shaking!! The new student might get hurt!!"

"Make it stop now!! There's an intense mana surging in the summoning circle!!"

"If you don't make it stop now, who knows what might happen?!"

Ivory could hear the panicking Educators beside her, yelling at each other. The gusty wind started to terrify the crowd as well. She was told to hold onto the crystal ball and not let go. But now that she needed to let go, her hands were stuck on it!

"Look! A Servant was summoned!!"

A black-haired young man, with crimson-colored eyes, appeared in the middle of the summoning circle. He had fangs like a Vampire. Over his leather armour, he wore a black cloak, but the cloth appeared to have been damaged by fire. It was as if the man had just come from a bloody battle that he still had blood splattered all over him.

The gust of wind gradually stopped upon his appearance, and the Servant completely materialized because Ivory did not let go of the crystal ball. When she realized that it was all done, she felt very weak until her knees fell on the ground.

'What a strong aura,' Ivory thought. Even though she felt very weak, she was thinking positively, thinking about how high her chance of winning would be for the Servant Competition.

She thought of the prizes:

Two horse-drawn carriages of the top quality, with the horses being trained in the Castle's stables,

One hundred fifty thousand gold coins,

Ownership to a stone mansion near the Castle,

Two years unlimited supply of pork,

and... either a Royal Knight position at the Castle or an Educator position at Qawiun Academy.

Yes… All of these things might be possible with a very strong Servant!

While she was lost in her thoughts, the summoning circle stopped glowing, and the Servant looked around him, searching for his Master.

The Servant approached one of the Educators and kneeled down before him, "Master. I am at your service. Shall we do the Contract Ritual?"

"I am not your Master… I am Wallace, an Educator here in the academy..."

The Servant immediately stood up, embarrassed about kneeling down in front of the wrong man!

"You're not… my Master?" he still could not believe what Wallace just said.

Educator Wallace shook his head, "I already have my own Servant. Why do you think that I am your Master though?"

"Because your mana quality is great," the Servant looked around again and studied the faces of the Educators in the circle, not even noticing the young woman who summoned him. "Who is my Master, then?"

"I…" Ivory uttered, her knees still trembling from loss of mana, "I am your Master!!!"

The Servant turned to Ivory, who was still on the ground and in a terrible state, and glared at her, "Come again?"

Ivory gazed into his eyes and spoke in a loud voice, "I… I am the one who summoned you! I am your Master!!!"

The Servant raised his eyebrow and approached the helpless woman. He stared down and laughed at her, "You've got to be kidding me! A weakling like you cannot be my Master!"

"Weakling…?" Ivory struggled to stand up, but she couldn't, "But… I am your Master…"

"Ivory!" Lucius hurriedly came down after assessing the situation. He knelt beside her, helping her up before placing his arms underneath her thighs, and carried her like a princess, "Servant, this girl is your Master. You should be the one helping her in this situation!"

"Human, who are you to order me?" the Servant gritted his teeth, annoyed about how the human talked back to him.

"You insolent Ser-"

"Lucius… I feel… really weak…" Ivory had no strength left to hold onto him.

Upon seeing the struggles of the new student, Educator Wallace ordered one of the academy knight guards to bring Ivory to the clinic. He took Ivory from Lucius' arms and marched out of the Coliseum.

"Why the hell is she so weak," the Servant smirked.

Lucius stared angrily at him, "How insolent! You rejected your Master in front of everyone!" He was very mad at the Servant. He took pity on his new friend; she was full of life that morning, but then suffered terribly just by summoning a useless Servant.

"What I do is none of your business," he replied to him with a scornful look.

Educator Rosanna Flameberg, known for bloody red long hair, was observing them cautiously. She was wearing a spiral bandage on her chest under her one sleeved black hakama, exposing the tattoo on her right shoulder.

The educator realized that the Servant that Ivory summoned was not an ordinary one. Although the normal color of the summoning circle should be a shade of blue, it displayed a red one, and that means…

"You're a vampire, aren't you?" Educator Rosanna asked him as she played with her hair, and everyone who heard her was shocked.

Vampires, together with Werewolves, were punished by Goddess Destinia years ago because of the chaos that they had caused in the Silverblade Castle.

"How come… How come you were summoned?" Educator Wallace was dumbfounded. Was it also the Goddess's decision to bring the Vampire Class back?

"I belong to the Vampire Class. My name is… Sigmund," he said in a cold tone. "I do not wish to serve someone weak just like that girl. It's not befitting to someone strong as me to have such a frail Master."

"Why do you think Goddess Destinia let you be partnered with a weak Master like her?" the principal finally spoke, "This may be your punishment for all your past sins-"

Angered about his statement, Sigmund suddenly ran towards Sir Arthurdane to punch him and was lucky enough to dodge him!

"You seem weaker than what I expect you to be," Sir Arthurdane told him as he looked down on Sigmund, lying on the ground, "You can sense mana, but you're at a disadvantage in that state. It makes sense, though. If you don't accept your Master and perform the Contract Ritual with her, you will never unlock your power. For now, you are nothing but a human with fangs."

Sigmund glared at the principal, but he knew that he's right.

For Servants to use their powers, they must complete a Contract Ritual with their Masters. Every Servant had different ways of performing it, depending on their nature.

"Nevertheless, you're still that new student's Servant, so we have to look after you," Sir Arthurdane told him.

"I will never accept any help from you," Sigmund pridefully stood up and grumpily walked towards the exit.

"We should follow him," Educator Rosanna suggested. "He might cause trouble in the city."

The principal raised his hand to stop her, "Leave him be. He's still a human. Let him starve outside, so he can think about returning to his Master. For now, we should focus on the summoning ritual."

The summoning ritual continued, and the students were murmuring about what had happened in the Coliseum. They wondered what kind of mana Ivory had that made her own Servant despise her, and Ivory... became the talk of the academy that day.