A Person's Personality is Truly Fickle

Amy groaned and slumped over her desk. Sebastian also rested his head on the chair. The of them had just gotten chewed out by the professors and instructors for breaking the gymnasium's walls.

Normally, attacks would be aimed at dummies or other targets. The walls were only enchanted to prevent any strays from breaking them so having Amy, an Apprentice way above the norm, attack the wall at full power with one of her most powerful techniques was too much.

Even some of the instructors were only Apprentices after all.

"That reminds me. Sebastian, have you taken the Apprentice Advancement test yet?" Amy spoke in a lackluster voice.

"Not yet. I'm at the peak of Novice but I can't seem to surpass the wall to become an Apprentice. I heard that there were no considerations when taking advancement tests so taking it right now would be meaningless."

Among 『Inheritors』, advancement tests were common to take when ranking up. Though one could still be considered an Apprentice without taking the test, the benefits that come with being an Apprentice provided by the nations wouldn't be given.

Amy was perplexed, "you haven't reached Apprentice yet?"

"Well, I think so, yeah. Do you want to see?"

Sebastian held out his left hand to Amy. Once she held it, Sebastian began pouring in energy. With that, Amy could feel the quality of the energy inside the stigma.

"..."

Feeling her stare, Sebastian focused his gaze on her and asked, "what is it?"

"What level was your energy in when you fought Gilbert?"

"It just entered the upper levels of Novice."

Amy had a complicated expression on her face.

"W-what's wrong?"

"Sebastian, you..."

At that moment, the door was opened and several people walked inside.

"President."

Sebastian had seen these people before. They were members of the student council. The student council consisted mostly of women and sure enough, the only man inside the room was Sebastian.

Several of the student council members turned their eyes towards Sebastian. Some nodded their heads and some chose to ignore him but none of them greeted him verbally. But, one of them in particular, looked at him with hostility in her eyes.

"Jane, how much do the damages cost?"

The woman who looked at Sebastian with hostility, Jane, turned her eyes to Amy. The hostility in her eyes vanished as if it was never there and was replaced with admiration.

"The cost to the wall isn't that much but the fee for hiring another person to enchant the wall is what took most of the cost. It's a little short of 200,000 Aur."

Sebastian abruptly stood up at the cost but Amy didn't even bat an eye, "I'll pay for it out of my own pocket, don't inform my house."

Jane was about to nod but Sebastian cut in, "Amy, let me pay for it."

Everyone in the room turned their eyes towards Sebastian.

"Sebastian... I can pay for this myself."

"Still, I want to pay for it. This only happened because you were trying to teach me, after all."

Amy was conflicted. She didn't want Sebastian to spend any money on her mistake but it didn't seem like he was going to take no for an answer.

It wasn't like she was lacking money in any way. 200,000 Aur would make a dent in her budget, sure, but it wasn't an amount she needed to shy away from. However, to Sebastian, whose monthly allowance was only half of that, plus the profits he made by selling goods, it was definitely a huge sum.

"I don't think that's necessary. The president isn't someone who'd have empty coffers. I don't think she'd give you more favors if you pay for her either."

Jane glared at Sebastian.

It was an unexpected outburst. Amy frowned, "Jane, cease your words at once. Sebastian, though Jane's words were excessive and uncalled for, she has a point. I'll pay for it myself."

Sebastian returned Jane's glare with his own but still withdrew and sat back down.

Who did she think she is?

Feeling the tense atmosphere, one of the girls at the back coughed and walked forward with a small stack of papers.

"President, here are the reports that you've asked for."

"Thank you. You may all leave now."

The girls bowed and stepped out of the door. Jane frowned for a few seconds before following them.

"Sebastian, can you help me with these?"

Amy split the stack into two with one side being way smaller than the other. She handed the smaller stack over to Sebastian who took it without giving much of a thought.

"Alright, so what do I need to do?"

"Just take out all of the information that you think is relevant and then relay it to me. Don't worry even if I don't respond, I'll be listening."

Sebastian shrugged and began reading.

"About the budget for the organizations, the alchemists have asked for some more budget and promised interesting results, the weaponsmiths..."

They were the various names of the organizations associated with the school. Most of the organizations were mostly built up of students but some of them, like the alchemists that required years of practice, were mostly filled with alumni and outsiders.

In exchange for being sponsored by the school, students would get special privileges by joining, and they needed to pay back the school whether it be with advances in research, or by profits.

Once Sebastian finished, Amy pointed at the side of her table where the stack was placed before. In the short time that Sebastian read through the reports, Amy's stack had already lost a fair bit.

"I'm still going to be a while, are you sure you want to stick around?"

"Then, I'll go roam around for a bit. I'll come back in an hour."

"Alright."

With just a few short exchanges, Sebastian left the room and stretched his body. He had defeated a bunch of recruits earlier but it wasn't enough for him. He knew a place near the academy where he could calm his urges.

Sebastian went to Lyons' training ground. Normally, students wouldn't be allowed to go to such places but because Lyons had already permitted Sebastian, he could come and go as he pleased.

It was a simple place. Sebastian took one of the wooden spears from the rack and began to swing it.

A common but important routine, repeating the basics.

"Fifty... One hundred..."

Minutes passed and sweat began to form on his face but, the interval between his swings never changed. His breathing was steady and his eyes were focused.

"Five hundred..."

After reaching half a thousand, he stopped. Sebastian turned his eyes towards the gymnasium. Though he couldn't see the destroyed wall from his position, the sight was still fresh in his mind.

Sebastian set up one of the wooden logs at the center of the field and began striking with his spear.

After a few strikes, he added his stigma. Then, he wrapped the spear in flames but made sure not to set the log on fire.

"Monochrome Flame Thrust."

Sebastian's spear and arms were set on fire and he thrust forward.

The flames were of vibrant orange and the heat it emitted was enough to cause the log to become enflamed in just one quick instant.

"Hwooo..."

It would've left a huge crack had he not stopped himself before it hit.

The name of the attack had just slipped into his mind while he was attacking. He didn't know where he had gotten it from but it was a perfect fit for his technique.

He wanted to repeat it but no matter how much he tried to do it, the same feeling wouldn't come back to him. When he attacked, it felt like he was possessed by something and that allowed him to successfully create the technique.

"An hour should have passed by now."

Sebastian muttered and wanted to put the spear back on the rack but before he could even release the spear, it crumbled. All that's left was ash.

"...I'll apologize to instructor Lyons later."

Sebastian headed back to the student council room. He ran into the student council member who had given Amy the stack of reports.

"..."

The woman only glanced at Sebastian before turning her head away.

When the woman turned her back, Sebastian frowned before going inside the room. There, Amy had just finished reading the reports and leaned back on her chair.

"Did anyone come back while I was out?"

"Hm? No, it was actually starting to get boring. Anyway, I'm already done. What do you want to do now?"

"You must be tired. I'll take you out for a quick meal, then I'll get you home."

"Nn."

Amy stood up from her chair and locked the reports in the desk drawer.

Sebastian held her hand and gave one last glance at the drawer before walking out.

...

"So, you've completed your mission?"

"Yeah."

"Then, I'll give you the reward when I've confirmed it with the client."

Wisteria leaned forward on her desk and looked at Sebastian with interest. "Say, how did you manage to complete that mission? I was so sure that you wouldn't be able to with your innate nature. You trust people too much."

"Then, you should look again."

Trust people too much? Then, wouldn't he have been stepped over by Gilbert? Wouldn't he become a lackey of the students who had looked down on him?

"..."

Wisteria gave a mysterious smile as Sebastian left the room.

"He's more interesting than I thought."

She muttered.