Deputy Head

**

[Irene's POV]

Being a graduate of Elderwinn Academy opens a door to many possibilities and generally branches out a mage's future for them. I have studied at this academy for at least half of my life, and I owed everything to it. I loved this academy so much that I even opted to return to it by choosing to work as a professor there.

Despite being one of the founding schools of magic in the world, the school has always been evolving and updating its knowledge so that it can keep up with the world since new knowledge and spells are being created, discovered, and experimented on every day. The facilities are top-notch and catered to the students for their needs, there's a huge range of libraries for research and gaining knowledge and the staff of the academy is generally skilled to be able to handle any of the students here.

Working here as a professor, I have no complaints about my colleagues since they are all professionals and do their work well. We educate our students to carry on their tasks with the mindsets of the mages and do it with pride. And of course, we professors take pride in our work as well.

However, the Deputy Head is different. Though he is a professor in the academy, he acts more like an enforcer than a teacher. When it comes to the security, safety, and well-being of the school, he would be the one in charge. While I was still a student in the academy, he was the newly appointed combat instructor for the school. And while most of the professors here do their job very well, the Deputy Head does his work flawlessly.

As a combat instructor, he also volunteered to be in charge of the disciplinary case in the academy. His method of handling a student's punishment is to have a little 'talk' with them. They somehow all ended up reforming and forcing themselves to not commit any bad behaviors. Bad students that have done so many despicable things all ended up doing good work and changing themselves to be better. There were even some who came back to thank him for punishing them.

The reason why he managed to climb up in the ranks of the hierarchy was because of his achievements during his time as a professor. When he was the Combat Instructor, all the students who learned under him grew at such a rapid speed that they became big shots in the outside world once they graduated.

There are always letters of gratitude written by his students that the school receives every year.

He was doing such a good job that he skipped being the head of the department and jumped straight to being the deputy head of the academy.

But the one thing undeniable is his strength. Though his past was clouded with mystery, it was confirmed that he was from the special forces unit in Mundi magicae before arriving at the academy. No one knows why he left except my grandfather.

I remembered one incident when I was still a student. An accident occurred due to a student experimenting with her magic theory in the forest. Because of this, it accidentally damages one of the orc's homes. The orcs took it as a declaration of war and tried to invade the academy.

But he was able to force an entire army of Orc to kneel before him with just a flick of his wand.

In the Orc's eyes, they know the difference between them is heaven and hell.

**

Red left the Headmaster's room while Irene was still arguing with her grandfather. Looks like the deputy head is someone hard to deal with, it seemed. Given that the reaction when Irene and the girls gave was not positive, Red already braved himself for the worst to come. From there, he sneaked out of the Headmaster's office and asked the girls to direct him to the deputy head's office. Traveling across the stairways again, this time, the girls showed him the way to the mirror that links to the office.

The girls all bowed to Red, thanking him again for saving them before heading off somewhere else.

Red finds it weird that the trio offered to bring him there. However, he just went along the dark and eerie hallway that awaits him. At the end of the hallway was a lone mirror with strange designs sculpted on the frames of the mirror.

The environment was dark and cold as well, feeling more like a freezer the nearer he was to the mirror. But still, he persisted onwards.

Upon touching the mirror, the mirror didn't react at first.

Red once again tried again, taping the mirror, hoping to see the warping effect.

*Tap*

Still, nothing happened.

As Red was about to leave, the mirror activated, showing an image of an office.

Cautiously, Red crossed over the mirror, finding himself at the entrance of a private office.

The entire room was dark except for one area, which had one lit candle placed on a table.

Across him was a man sitting down on his desk, sorting documents out.

"It's been a while since another awakener appears in front of me."

Swallowing his saliva, Red continued staying silent in front of the man while being cautious of the man's every movement. How did he know he was an awakener when this was his first time meeting him?

The man stood up from his seat, emerging from the shadows. That was the first meeting between one of the most important key figures in the future, but alas, that is a story for another day.

The man was tall and had a strong physique. His muscle was very defined to the point that the vein could be seen from just his shirt alone. The man was wearing round specs and a brunette slick back hairstyle. His age ranges from 30 to 40s.

With a cold gaze, he stares at Red, adding pressure to his presence and asserting dominance.

"I despised your kind, flaunting your strength just because you can. Do you know the amount of damage you people caused for the people in Mundi magicae?"

The man gave a very clear warning that he didn't like the outsider. Even without Ryong, he could tell. This man is an absolute powerhouse.

"Where did this monster come from?" Red asked Ryong and Blue as he can sense the Mana in the air, getting restless and uneasy.

"If you won't say anything, leave. I will rather be doing my work than talking to someone who's mute."

The man turned his back against Red and returned to his seat.

As much as it was scary to face this man. Red's other senses were tingling.

His palm starts to sweat.

His heart starts pounding louder and faster.

His breath starts slowing down.

His senses slowly heightened.

He was calm.

Red in general is what people would call a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. He always went with the flow and was generally pretty normal. He doesn't get angry easily and is generally pretty kind when it comes to others to the point other people would take advantage of him.

However, due to his unlucky streak, he was forced into dangerous situations where he was forced to fight again and again for his life and the emotion he would rely on when fighting would be rage.

Because of this, one massive change in his personality would be....his temper and ego.

*SWEESH*

[Drop]

The man immediately cast a spell as his battle instincts warn him something was wrong.

As his spell activated, something landed on the floor beside him hard.

*THUMP*

Slowly, the room started to feel colder as the man checked what landed on the ground.

It was a spear with a red ribbon tied around the handle.

The man turned his head around peeking at the assailant who lift his mask slightly to speak.

"If I win, I will become the new combat instructor of this school."

The man took those words as a declaration of war against him.