“Strip this bastard and give me everything he has.”

Arckon heard the words, but his body refused to move, still frozen by the scene he’d just witnessed.

Eric, the boy who had terrified him with a single glare, was now lying unconscious on the ground, soaked in his own piss.

He hadn’t even understood what happened.

One moment, Eric was swinging his sword, looking like he had the upper hand… and the next, he froze, pissed himself and collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

Arckon glanced at Eric’s subordinates and they were just as stunned as he was.

A few minutes ago, they had been grinning with absolute confidence. Now… their faces were carved with pure and unfiltered fear.

“Arckon.” He heard his name again and looked toward Rael. “I said, strip this bastard down and give me the loot.”

Rael spoke as casually as if he were asking Arckon to pick a few flowers and somehow that made Arckon even more terrified.

Only now did he truly understand why the Demon King had chosen this boy as his successor.

Arckon nodded and forced himself to move, though his mind was still blank.

—

[Rael’s POV]

“Tsk, slowpoke.”

I muttered it under my breath, watching the boy I had so graciously saved from his bullies struggle to keep up.

I mean, he should’ve been kneeling before me already, worshipping me like a god. And instead he was standing there, blanking out like an idiot… not even following my orders properly.

Still, I ignored him for the moment and walked toward the five boys who had strutted in here so smugly beside that ugly bastard with eyes like pure shit.

The five bastards stood frozen, looking more terrified than sacrificial lambs.

And I hadn’t even hit them with Morvana’s aura.

They were out of range for that just like Arckon. So, they hadn’t felt a thing either.

But the sight of their oh-so-fearless leader pissing himself was more than enough to scare them senseless.

Still, I had to give them some credit for not running… or maybe they just knew it would’ve been pointless.

As I stepped in front of them, their bodies started trembling violently.

“Now, now, no need to be that scared. It’s not like I am going to eat you… or something.” I said with a pleasant smile. “As long as you hand over everything you have got, I’ll let you and your ugly-ass leader over there, walk away.”

I had no idea why, but my smile only made them tremble harder.

Hell, one of them even dropped to his knees and started crying like a baby.

What the hell?

Still, it made my job easier.

They fumbled with their storage rings and handed them over like obedient puppies.

Just in time, Arckon came walking toward me, only slightly more composed than the rest.

He dropped to his knees the moment he reached me and held out his offering two storage rings and a mana bracelet.

Damn, he might actually make a decent pawn.

I took my loot—I mean the ever-so-generous loot, and slipped it into my pocket.

“Go collect your boss,” I said, smiling. “And be sure to send me presents once in a while or I’ll have to pay you a visit in your dorms.”

This was absolutely not a threat.

I mean, it’s perfectly natural for new friends to exchange gifts every now and then.

Right?

The boys nodded frantically, trembling like leaves, then sprinted toward their boss, scooped him up and ran for their lives.

Watching the unconscious idiot being carried off, I was reminded once again just how potent the aura-storage effect of my monocle really was.

The aura wasn’t even the real deal, more like an illusion, something anyone with enough willpower could shake off.

But still… it was far too potent.

I couldn’t help wondering what would’ve happened if I had used the Demon King’s aura instead. Then again, wasting that kind of intimidation on a bunch of nobodies felt ridiculous.

A complete waste of perfectly good terror I could use somewhere that actually mattered.

And more importantly, I had no idea when I would see that bastard of a Demon King again… which meant once his aura runs out, getting more would be a problem.

But Morvana was different. I could use her aura, walk right back to her, call her “mom,” and refill it.

Sure, she was a pretending bitch… but that was the trick.

She was putting on an act and she didn’t realize I had already seen straight through it. Which meant she would keep performing for a while yet.

And I could use that act for all sorts of things.

Still, using aura wasn’t all I did.

I had also noticed the dip and usage limit.

I had used Morvana’s aura just for just a couple of seconds and it had already dropped by fifteen percent.

So, I had to be careful with its use.

—

After half an hour and wrapping everything up, I started walking toward the First-Year residential area, using the newest mana bracelet I had just received with great respect from a few very kind individuals after a perfectly polite conversation.

Damn, I hadn’t expected those bastards to be so stacked.

As I walked, I scanned all the donations I had received today. Which, conveniently, included a few small artifacts and some potions.

Arckon walked beside me—now fully clothed—his body still trembling after witnessing my generosity firsthand.

The mana bracelet showed me a faint thread stretching toward a direction, probably the residential complex.

Soon enough, the skyline opened up and countless buildings came into view.

The layout formed a wide circular district.

Along the outer ring stood the tall dormitories for low-ranking students, simple buildings with a single room allotted to each person.

Closer to the center were the mid-ranking dorms, offering two rooms per student and access to personal training facilities.

And at the very heart of it all stood twenty villas, each large enough to house a family of five.

Those were reserved for the top twenty students.

And I, conveniently enough, had been assigned one of the villas even if it was only temporary.

As soon as we reached the area, Arckon spoke, his voice low. “I will take my leave now, young master. This is my dorm.”

I looked in the direction he was pointing.

It was a tall building at the edge of the district, a low ranking dorm.

“Alright.” I nodded, too tired to care any further and continued toward the villas in the center.

It didn’t take long to reach them but then came the real problem:

“Which one of them is mine?”

But thankfully, I didn’t have to wonder for long.

Outside one of the villas, slumped on the street like some oversized ornament, was a crimson Bear nodding off.

Tsk. That fool.

I was sure Viola would’ve let him stay with her.

She had been assigned a villa too and those places had five or more rooms, plenty of space for him to wait in comfort.

But no… this idiot chose the street instead.

I walked up to him and patted his shoulder.

“Get up, Bearlo.”

His eyes snapped open instantly.

“Ah, you’re back, my liege.” He smiled like the fool he was before a small frown appeared on his face. “You look a… bit different?”

“Well things happened but why are you waiting here?” I asked, without bothering to explain all the toad trouble I had gone through.

Bearlo hesitated. “You would have had trouble finding the villa… so I decided to wait here, so you could find it easily.”

I sighed but let it go.

Then I walked to the villa door and pressed my mana into the knob. The lock clicked, and the door swung open.

A massive living room greeted me.

Everything a student could possibly need was already there—a couch, a kitchen, and four doors leading to the other rooms.

“Take any room on this floor,” I told Bearlo, already heading up the stairs toward the master bedroom.

The entire second floor was just that one room, complete with an attached training chamber and it was far larger than anything on the first floor.

Bearlo nodded and slipped into one of the rooms.

He was probably exhausted too.

We had only just arrived from the Forest of Unmasked today and a lot of shit had already happened.

I reached the second floor and opened the door of the lone room there. A massive bedroom unfolded before me, dominated by a luxurious bed in the center.

For a moment, I wanted nothing more than to collapse onto it and pass out. But I held myself back and headed toward the bathroom instead.

I needed a shower and I needed to look over the skills and changes I had gained before I slept.

It’s gonna be a long night.

But the moment I stepped into the bathroom and caught sight of myself in the mirror…

A curse slipped out immediately.

“What in the cosmic hell is this?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep