While Kaizen was having a complete ntal breakdown in a dilapidated shed that slled like alcohol and broken dreams, Klaus Silver was standing in a line doing what he considered beneath his station as a demon king candidate, but necessary for maintaining his cover as a normal student.
He was currently waiting in the Departnt of Runic Studies.
Unlike the flashy Elentalists who had been granted massive towers that pierced the heavens like giant monunts to their egos, the Runic Departnt had been relegated to a squat, sturdy building that looked distressingly similar to a military bunker.
It didn’t have any floating crystals humming with power. It didn’t have eternal flas licking at the architecture. What it did have was efficient insulation and complete fire code compliance, which was apparently considered a victory in this departnt.
’Appropriate.’ Klaus thought while adjusting his collar with practiced precision. ’True power does not need to scream for attention. It whispers.’
He stood patiently in the queue, waiting to submit his enrollnt form to whoever was handling the intake process today.
The Professor of Runic Studies, Professor Thrain Lockforge, according to the information he had gathered, was apparently absent from campus. Rumor circulating through the student body suggested he was on so kind of Urgent Mission that required his imdiate attention, though Klaus suspected this was code for the professor simply not wanting to deal with the tedious enrollnt process.
So the intake was being handled by a Third Year student nad Belle who looked like she was being held hostage by bureaucracy.
She sat behind a cluttered desk, looking like she hadn’t properly slept since her freshman year and probably survived on coffee and spite. She stamped forms with the chanical precision of a golem that had been programd to hate its existence.
"Next. Na? Sign here. Don’t touch the ink, it’s acidic and will burn your fingers. Next."
Klaus stepped forward when his turn ca.
The atmosphere in the room shifted imdiately.
The students behind him, mostly nervous nerds and quiet types who probably spent their weekends reading ancient texts, stopped whispering excitedly about ink viscosity and reagent properties and started whispering about him instead.
"Who is that guy? He looks like a vampire prince from those romance novels."
"Is that Klaus Silver? The mysterious top scorer in the written exam?"
"So handso but so cold and distant. I’ve been watching him and he hasn’t blinked in three minutes."
Klaus ignored them completely and maintained his carefully constructed mask of icy indifference that he had perfected over decades of practice.
’Mortals are so easily distracted by symtry and bone structure.’
Klaus thought dismissively while keeping his expression neutral.
’If they knew the genuine darkness that coiled beneath this human skin, they would flee in absolute terror.’
He handed his enrollnt form to Belle with smooth efficiency.
She paused in her chanical stamping. She looked up at him with tired eyes. She adjusted her glasses.
"You have nice handwriting for soone who looks like they could kill with their eyes. Welco to Departnt of Runic studies. Don’t blow up the lab on your first day."
"I shall endeavor to keep any explosions strictly internal."
Klaus replied smoothly with that aristocratic tone that made everything sound vaguely threatening.
He stepped aside to let the next nervous student pass and claim their spot at the desk.
He didn’t leave the building imdiately though. Instead, he positioned himself near the wall with his arms crossed, carefully scanning the room with those crimson eyes that saw far more than any human could.
His red eyes swept thodically over the fresh batch of Runic students who had enrolled today. Most of them were completely unremarkable. Fodder for the dungeon grinder.
But then his thodical gaze stopped abruptly.
Standing casually near the window and chatting enthusiastically with a group of admiring students who hung on his every word was an Elf.
He was tall, even by the standards of his kind which were generally taller than humans. His hair was the rich color of deep forest moss, tied back in a confident ponytail that swished dramatically when he laughed. His eyes were a piercing light green that sparkled with what appeared to be genuine warmth and charisma.
He was effortlessly charismatic. He was radiant in that way that made people want to be near him. He looked exactly like the poster child for the prestigious secret elven club Verdant Court.
"And then I told the beast that if it wanted to eat , it would have to make a reservation first!"
The Elf laughed with that lodic voice that his kind were famous for, and the group surrounding him laughed along enthusiastically. They were completely chard by his presence and storytelling.
Klaus wasn’t chard in the slightest.
Klaus did sothing that would seem strange to any observer. He sniffed the air subtly.
Underneath the sll of old parchnt and industrial cleaning supplies that perated the building, there was another scent that most people would completely miss.
It was faint. So incredibly faint that even an S-Rank mage with enhanced senses might miss it entirely. It was hidden carefully under multiple layers of expensive elven perfus and protective wards that were designed specifically to mask such things.
But Klaus was a Demon. He knew intimately the sll of his own kind. He knew the distinct sll of the Abyss.
’Dark Magic residue.’
Klaus noted while his eyes narrowed by a fraction of a milliter.
It clung to the Elf like cigarette smoke clung to a smoker’s clothes after a long night. This wasn’t just the normal residue from fighting a demon once or twice during dungeon expeditions. This was the kind of residue that ca from steeping in that energy for extended periods.
’A warlock practicing forbidden arts? A spy planted by enemy demon forces? Or simply a fool playing with forbidden toys he doesn’t understand?’
The Elf turned slightly as if sensing he was being observed. For a split second, his light green eyes t Klaus’s crimson ones directly.
The Elf smiled. It was a perfect, polite smile that reached his eyes.
Klaus didn’t smile back at all.
He simply stared with that unblinking intensity, letting his gaze bore directly into the Elf’s soul like a drill.
The Elf’s smile faltered for a microsecond, a tiny glitch in the perfect facade he maintained, before he smoothly turned back to his admirers and continued his charming conversation.
’Interesting.’
Klaus thought while filing this information away for future consideration.
’The Academy is not as sterile and safe as it appears on the surface. There are rot spots festering in this supposedly perfect garden.’
He decided to drop the matter for now though. He was undercover as a student. He wasn’t the morality police patrolling for dark magic users. If an Elf wanted to dabble foolishly in the dark arts, that was ultimately his own funeral to attend.
Klaus reached up slowly to his chest.
He felt the distinct shape of a pendant hidden under his shirt against his skin.
He pulled it out carefully.
It wasn’t a fancy amulet covered in jewels or runes. It was a simple platinum-silver ring threaded on a gold chain.
He rubbed the cool tal thoughtfully with his thumb. It was cold and grounding, a physical reminder of his purpose here.
’I have my mission and my goals.’
Klaus reminded himself firmly while tucking the ring back against his skin where it belonged.
’Let the rats play their gas in the shadows. The King has arrived and is watching.’
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