"What are you hiding...?"
"N-nothing…" I stamred, avoiding eye contact with Aria.
As Aria's hands gently pried mine open, a look of surprise crossed her face. Her eyes widened as they fell upon the bruise on my neck.
"Wha—why are you hurt?" Aria's concern was palpable as she delicately touched the bruise. I could sense the worry and anxiety in her touch, as she used her mana to relieve the pain.
anwhile, Louise let out a sigh of relief in the background. Apparently, she had interpreted the situation differently.
The bruise on my neck, ant to be a hickey left behind by Elena, was successfully concealed.
I breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that I had managed to cast a premature mana bullet to my neck without their notice.
While I continued to cover my neck, contemplating the potential reactions if they had seen the hickey,
Carefully, Aria touched the bruise on my neck and asked, "Does it hurt?"
"Maybe a little? Haha"
I chuckled nervously. In the panic of intentionally bruising my neck, I hadn't gauged how much strength I used.
However, Aria's extrely worried expression and Analise's prompt retrieval of first aid suggested I might have gone a bit too far.
"L-let's get inside first," Louise suggested, carefully guiding indoors.
Phew, for now, mission success. Just as I thought I had escaped the situation, sothing suddenly choked from behind, causing to stumble.
"Adrian?"
"Adrian…!"
Louise and Aria were both surprised and quickly rushed to my side.
I touched my neck and could see black chains wrapping around it, being pulled from behind.
Looking back, I saw ralda gently tugging on the chains, her still-hazy dark green eyes fixed on .
"I won't let you abandon , master...!" she declared in a crazed voice, smiling coldly at .
It seed like this night was about to get longer and more complicated than I had expected.
….
In a certain popular restaurant at Estelle Academy, a particular custor was causing quite a ruckus, and it all boiled down to one reason.
'Food'
"P-please, miss, stop!" pleaded Greg, the owner and head chef of the restaurant, watching a very beautiful woman gulp and swallow her 200th plate throughout the night.
"Hahaha, what are you talking about, master! One must fill their stomachs to the brim after a very successful raid! Don't you agree, boys~~~?!" she said, laughing heartily.
"Ohh!"
"Yes!"
"The pretty woman is right; chill down, master, and enjoy the mont!!"
"Huwahahahaha!!!!"
They all scread and partied up, chugging down their beers.
"Ah, I ran out?" said the woman, her hazy ashen-gray eyes and pinkish-reddish cheeks indicating that she was completely drunk.
"Bring more beer!!!" she suddenly scread upon realizing that the mug in her hands had run out.
Although one might perceive this as normal custors enjoying their al after a wondrous and successful adventure together.
One could possibly say that, if it weren't for the fact that this wasn't a pub or one of those taverns with makeshift bars.
This was a high-end fine-dining restaurant, for Goddess's sake! and this whole group of adventurers, led by the woman laughing at the center, was the one who wrecked the entire 5-star experience for the place.
Greg had wholeheartedly developed this beautiful and graceful restaurant, even when it was rated as one of the lowest of the low in the past.
This restaurant grew into the 5-star establishnt it is, and he loved this place very much.
Right now, he watched with his very eyes as the very place he prided in was being destroyed by so drunk old adventurers and one crazy witch!
The people who reserved and even was all ti loyal custors of his all left monts ago when things got loud from his new found custors.
Although Greg wanted the adventurers to leave, he couldn't do so as they were actually paying twice the normal fee and were diligently cleaning up each plate they ate.
Additionally, they were really strong; even from a glance, Greg could tell they weren't your typical adventurers.
If only they didn't bother the other custors, Greg would've let them be.
Greg could only sigh and cry in the corner as he watched his whole place go down.
The conflicting emotions of financial gain and the destruction of his beloved restaurant left him torn.
Every cheer from the adventurers celebrating their conquest felt like a stab in his heart.
He wished there was a way to enjoy the monetary benefit without sacrificing the ambiance and reputation of his fine establishnt.
"Don't worry, Mr. Owner… hahaha, we're about to leave soon. I'll pay you three tis the amount as compensation, okay?" said Mila, a cute and beautiful young girl, to him with a gentle smile as she patted the shoulder of the downtrodden owner.
She quickly approached her boss, her blonde twin tails swinging and bouncing with her every tiny step, joining the laughter-filled group of sweaty-looking n.
Still unable to believe she had dragged these muscle-headed adventurers here, Mila called out to her boss, "Boss!"
"Mila! You're here! Co, let's celebrate!"
"Celebrate my ass! Let's get out of here. Look what you did to the place, and are you drunk? You're a sword master for the goddess's sake. Why the hell are you drunk?"
This was a legitimate question, considering that a sword master's body is almost completely immune to almost all sorts of status ailnts such as poison and a whole lot of other things. This was especially true for a sword master at Siena's level, whose auras were practically embedded in their flesh and bones.
"Let's hurry up and get out of here, stop playing around"
"Look at the poor owner over there—"
As Siena nonchalantly brushed off Mila's persistent nagging, the atmosphere around them suddenly shifted.
A palpable tension filled the air, causing Siena to abruptly halt in her tracks. The carefree expression vanished from her face, replaced by a focused intensity that sent shivers down Mila's spine.
"Hmm?"
"What's wrong, boss?" Mila questioned, trying to make sense of the abrupt change in Siena's deanor.
"Did you not feel that?" Siena replied, her voice low and grave.
"Feel what?"
Mila furrowed her brow and surveyed the restaurant, initially detecting nothing unusual.
She entertained the thought that soone might be covertly observing them, but a thorough scan within a two-hundred-ter radius revealed no signs of suspicious activity.
"I don't sense anything, though?" Mila said, but the gravity of Siena's expression hinted at sothing more significant. It wasn't long before Siena provided an unexpected answer.
"Demons…." Siena declared, her tone solemn, and she set aside the beer she was having and released a pulse of her aura in the air.
"Well, isn't this interesting?"
Mila's body involuntarily shuddered at the ntion of demons, her recent encounters with them still fresh in her mory.
"Demons? Here? At Estelle Academy of all places… How?" Mila questioned, a mix of disbelief and concern etched on her face.
"I don't know, but I can definitely feel it" Siena stated decisively, swiftly rising from her chair.
Without hesitation, she tossed a bag of gold coins to the fallen chef as a form of compensation and made her way out of the establishnt.
"Hey, wait for !" Mila exclaid, abandoning her confusion as she hurriedly followed Siena, the sense of urgency in her boss's actions overriding any lingering doubts.
Greg was shocked by the amount of gold inside the bag, but… "Couldn't she have taken them away with them?"
Greg sighed as he watched a bunch of adventurers laughing out loud while chugging down every food or beverage in sight.
…..
"Boss, are you sure about this?" Mila questioned with a hint of skepticism in her voice.
"I an, this is Estelle Academy, you know? I doubt even you, or any master assassins out there, could sneak in without being noticed, let alone a demon. I'm sure the saintess would notice imdiately."
Estelle Academy wasn't rely an academic institution; it was a fortress designed to harbor the continent's most talented and powerful individuals.
Renowned mages and warriors, now serving as professors or guards, populated the academy. It stood not just as a center of learning but as one of the safest cities on the continent.
The high-ranking and important individuals residing and studying within its walls, including foreign princes and princesses and figures of great significance like the saintess of the Church of Light, made it a hub of political and magical power.
The academy had beco a bastion of security, not only due to its prominent residents but also because the slightest mishap could potentially trigger international conflicts.
It was fortified with an array of defenses, ranging from magical barriers to skilled guards, ready to counter any unexpected attack or incident.
The safety asures were extensive, with specific protocols in place to handle supernatural threats, including demons.
Even the head of the guards Klaus made a visit to them just the other day, even though they thought nobody noticed them when they entered the academy, further solidifying the academies detective asures.
Fortunately, Klaus didn't rat them out to the church though, as it was public knowledge just how bad Siena's and the church relationship were.
"Are they here for the saintess? If not the principal?" Mila questioned, her voice tinged with concern and uncertainty.
"Well, I'm not too sure myself," replied Siena, her expression pensive as she stretched back her hands. "But one thing I do know, this disgusting mana that I can feel in the air only belongs to one race."
"Demons…"
"Yes"
Mila's eyes widened slightly at the confirmation. The ntion of demons brought back mories of recent encounters, and she couldn't help but feel a shiver crawl down her spine.
"How many?"
"Hmm… I can only feel one for now"
"Quite a powerful one at that"
Hearing that there was only one sohow relieved Mila's trauma for a little bit, she truly didn't want to rember even a single mont of that demonic lady they faced back at the forest.
'Was she even a demon to begin with?'
Even the infamous blood monarch was there.
Fortunately, the hero ca to the rescue just in ti, avoiding unnecessary conflict between three godly beings.
"What are you going to do, boss?" Mila inquired; her gaze fixed on Siena.
"Are you going to kill it?"
"Hmm? What are you talking about, Mila? Of course not!" Siena responded with a nonchalant tone, surprising Mila with the unexpected answer.
"Huh?"
"How could I possibly miss a chance that has been thrown right at my face?" Siena grinned mischievously.
"What chance?" Mila asked, perplexed by her boss's cryptic words.
Siena's smile widened.
"This demon—I'll capture it and use it to train my idiotic disciple. Fufu. It's about ti I teach that kid how to deal with these things without relying on that stupid blessing of his" Siena declared proudly, her confidence unwavering.
Mila could only stare blankly at her boss, a mixture of surprise and acceptance playing on her features.
Siena's unorthodox thods were well-known to her, but this decision to capture a demon for training purposes still caught her off guard.
She sighed in acknowledgnt, resigning herself to the fact that her boss, with all her barbaric ways, had a unique and effective approach to handling supernatural threats.
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