Are you kidding?

"Miss Vivian, how may I help you?"

"Oh, will you still be acting?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

I got so flustered by her sudden confrontation that I completely forgot to use my bastard persona while talking

"Child, I know I look very young and beautiful, a delicate damsel, but believe me, I have a lot of experience; I know when someone is lying to me."

"...Sigh~ damn it."

I can't believe another teacher found out, This is a problem, a big one, If I'm not careful, someone else might figure it out

"You admit it?"

"Since you already know, it's useless to lie."

"Haha~ good decision, I won't ask you whatever you're doing; I'm just in charge of teaching you, What you do with your life is not my problem."

"Then why did you come to confront me?"

"Because I resented the idea that you thought you were tricking me, it was a hit to my pride, you know?"

"Just because of that?"

My mind went blank when she said her reason—how big was her pride?

"Well, there was another reason too."

"Which one?"

"Be my disciple."

...

..

.

"Eh?"

"Be my-"

"Yes, yes, I heard you the first time, but why would you do that, and why do you think I would accept?"

"I told you, kid. i'm very, very experienced; although it may not seem like it, i'm always attentive to all the students in my class, and you're the one who always pays the most attention, Do you think i didn't notice you were taking notes too?"

"Ugh..."

"Haha, how cute~ trying to trick me."

She said and then patted my head as if I were a kid, which was weird because I was a head taller than she was

"And besides, you like magic, don't you?No, you don't just like it; you love it."

"..."

"I could tell from the way your eyes were shining hungry for knowledge in every one of my classes that you were passionate about every subject, no matter how small it was, When you didn't understand something, you held back with all your might not to ask, but I'm sure after my class you would check your notes to understand that thing you didn't understand in class on your own."

That surprised me a little, I was really holding back with everything I had not to ask; after all, that would ruin my character, I'm supposed to be a dumb, rich kid who doesn't pay attention to the class

When I got back to my dorm, I would pull out all the notes I had taken and study them to understand what I didn't understand, Sometimes I used to be at it all night long and I would have kept going if Livia hadn't told me to go to sleep

"You reminded me of my Youthful days; I'm not saying I'm old now."

"That clarification at the end wasn't necessary."

"Anyway, in short, I want you to be my disciple because you have the passion and the potential to absorb all the knowledge I teach you."

"But I'm not a mage; isn't it silly for a mage to take a warrior as his disciple?"

Even if I have the potential to learn everything she teaches me, there's really no point if I can't use it

"Hmp, that doesn't matter at all, knowledge is useful no matter who you give it to, besides, it suits me better if you're a warrior."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you that when you advance my disciple~"

"When I agree to become your disciple?"

"If you don't accept it, then I will spread rumors that you are a brainiac who loves magic."

"Are you blackmailing me?!"

"Ay, of course not~ only if you don't accept."

"That's the same thing."

"Then do you accept?"

"Sigh~ okay. I accept, I'll become your disciple."

This could be useful, magic is a very wide field, it could be useful for me when facing a mage or in some other situations, and as for the rumors...I really don't think she will do it, but if she does, surely no one will believe her, but it could lead to some problems

"Great!~ now I have a disciple!From now on, you have to call me master!"

"But you're already my master."

"Haha~ exactly."

"..."

Did I really make the right decision?

"Shit! I'm really late!"

Because I was talking to the teacher, I completely forgot about the class with Professor Lucius, Livia should have already arrived a long time ago.

"Mm? where to?"

"I'll explain later. but I have to go now."

"Well, take care, disciple."

I didn't bother to answer him and started running towards the training ground.

***

"You're late!"

Professor Lucius said as he folded his arms and looked somewhat annoyed.

"I'm really sorry, I met Professor Vivian on the way and I had some trouble."

"What happened?"

I asked Livia, who was no longer wearing her maid outfit but one more suitable for training.

"Sigh~ she knows."

"...Shit."

"Shit, yeah."

"Mm, if it was Vivian, then it's to be expected, she's like a snake, it's very hard to trick her."

***

"Achu!"

Vivian, who was sorting out some papers for the next class, sneezed.

"Mm, I wonder if some cute boy is talking about me?"

She wasn't entirely wrong

***

"What are we going to do?"

"Don't worry about that, I already made an agreement with her, in exchange for becoming her disciple, she'll keep quiet."

"Her disciple? but you're a warrior and she's a mage; what could she teach you?" 

Livia asked confusedly, and rightly so; even I didn't know why she made me her disciple.

"Well, Vivian was always very exentic, don't expect logical behavior from her, but she never does anything randomly, she must have a reason. Anyway, that doesn't matter now; let's start with her training."

Professor Lucius said as he clapped his palms together, creating a gust of wind.

'What a monstrous force'

"First, I want you to run around the field until I tell you."

"That's it?"

"Haha, of course not; you'll have to run while you hold this."

Suddenly, a huge pressure fell on us, along with a feeling of extreme danger; it was as if death were breathing down our necks.

'What the hell is this!?'

Livia and I did everything we could not to faint, and he wanted us to run while holding this pressure?!

"Right now I'm pressuring them with my mana, but it's also mixed with killing intent; we'll keep doing this for every day from now on until they can hold out for an hour!"

He put on a smile and said that this time did look evil.

"Now run"

***

"Ha...ha...ha...ha."

"ha...ha...ha...ha."

Livia and I were lying on the floor covered in sweat and struggling to breathe.

'This is crazy'

I knew it would be hard from the beginning, but I didn't think it would be so extreme

"Mm, you managed to hold on for 15 minutes; that exceeded my expectations."

15 minutes exceeded your expectations?!

"Unfortunately, we don't have much time today; we'll leave it here, I want the two of you to come every day after your classes."

"O...kay."

" Fine..."

Although it was hard as hell, we knew that this would be very beneficial for us, so we would gladly accept whatever he threw at us

After that day, my routine changed quite a bit, In the day, I would do the same as usual, annoy some people, not go to class and generally act like an idiot.

But after the classes finished, Livia and I trained with professor Lucius in secret, running through the field holding his pressure, When we fainted, he would throw cold water on our faces and after resting a little, we would run again, We could hold his pressure for an hour after two weeks of arduous training.

He was quite surprised by our progress, saying that he expected us to be completely used to it in a month.

Then he took us to the next step, Under the same pressure, we had to swing our swords for another hour before stopping, and although it seemed easy in reality, we had to put all our concentration in not fainting under the immense pressure. It was not enough just to move the sword up and down; we had to do it with the correct technique that Professor Lucius indicated. If we did it wrong, then we had to start again.

After training with Professor Lucius, I was going to learn from Miss Vivian; she taught me a lot of things in a short time.

Things like sealing magic, barriers, curses, and even a bit of his research on ancient magic and runes.

Everything he taught me came with his personal touch, like more efficient ways to circulate mana, calculate formulas faster, and even shorten them to cast some spells faster.

It was all first-level knowledge that definitely gave her the qualification of crazy genius for magic, and if I'm honest, I could also be classified as a crazy magic lover. Everything she taught me was super interesting, and Miss Vivian said I looked like a kid waiting for his new toy every time we moved on to a new topic. She teased me a lot for that, but I learned to tolerate her teasing.

Kein, on the other hand, became friends/rivals with Leticia Pendragon, a beautiful woman with blonde hair, long eyelashes, and green eyes.

Since Leticia is a Pendragon, the family in charge of protecting the members of the royal family, she wanted to know if Kein was worthy to be at Beatrice's side, so she challenged him to a duel. The duel was an impressive spectacle, and Kein became immensely stronger compared to our duel, a totally abnormal growth.

But he was still no match for the sword of a Pendragon, who were known for possessing the most powerful sword techniques of the empire. Leticia, using her techniques, put Kein against the ropes; if it were not for that mysterious power within him, he would have lost. Even using that power, the fight ended in a draw.

From then on, the two saw each other as rivals to be overcome and constantly trained together.

Kein also gained extreme popularity after tying with the one who was considered one of the greatest prodigies of this era, which brought him both good and bad things.

For example, a high-level nobleman of whom I don't even remember the name, jealous of his success, began to cause him problems along with his faction. The guy was not as dumb as he seemed, or well, at least he was trying. He put together a sinister plan, which was to kidnap Anisa, who, I emphasize, is the younger sister of the student council president. Nothing nice will happen to us when we get caught.

But well, the plan is to kidnap her and leave a note for Kein to come and get her alone, then ambush him among all of us to hit him until he is crippled so he leaves the academy, Yep, he wants to ambush and cripple the guy who was able to tie with Leticia Pendragon, one of the greatest prodigies of this era.

Don't expect too much from the poor noble villain, I guess he spent sleepless nights to create this malevolent plan, Let's give him some credit.

And well, here I am, with an unconscious Anisa on my shoulder as I make my way to the hiding place where I must leave her

"Sigh~, I want to sleep."

This all came at night, right after my classes with Professor Lucius and Professor Vivian, so I was out of energy and dead tired.

I walked through the dark and gloomy forest behind the academy's territory, although it was a little scary the moonlight that illuminated a little through the leaves of the trees gave me a feeling of calm, which was a little weird considering I was carrying an unconscious girl on my shoulder

-Step

But at that moment, I stopped, I could see someone in front of me, and it wasn't one of my partners in crime or a ghost.

Long silver-colored hair, beautiful blue eyes and pointed ears.

'What is one of the heroines doing here!? this didn't happen in the novel!'

The beautiful elf approached me and when the moonlight illuminated her face, I could see that she had a warm and friendly smile.

'What? why is she smiling? she doesn't seem to be here to stop me, I know she is a very gentle woman, but when she sees someone in a situation like Anisa's, she wouldn't have that smile on her face and act so relaxed.'

I think it's from being lost in my thoughts or being too tired but she was already close to me as she looked at me with the same smile as before

"Hello, Mr. Arthur."

She greeted me with a sweet voice that could calm anyone down.

"You know, there's something I've been meaning to ask you for a long time."

Oh no

"Why you?..."

It can't be, right?

"You do all these things; you're not really a bad person, are you?"

...

..

.

Are you kidding?