Tsk, that’s why I hate relying on others for my payback.

With those kind thoughts, I exited the room and made my way down the hallway toward the lift.

There were countless office rooms belonging to other professors scattered along the corridor but I ignored all of them.

My mind was still lodged firmly in the fresh memory of my little “conversation” with that bastard Azriel.

I couldn’t let him survive anymore.

Yeah, earlier I had talked about neutralising him but that had never really meant killing him. Most of the time, I just wanted him out of my way.

A peaceful negotiation or maybe a little bruised pride, nothing too dramatic.

But now, I know the truth.

His hatred wasn’t rooted in ideology, rivalry or any logical grievance. It came from one of the stupidest, most irrational emotions in existence:

Love.

The emotion which makes people unstable, deranged and impossible to reason with.

I mean, I have already been killed once by a deranged bastard who thought I slept with the love of his life.

I am not exactly eager to relive that tragedy.

Thankfully, this time the woman in question isn’t a married one, at least there’s that.

Azriel’s obsession was aimed at Arza.

I mean, if he had been obsessed with someone else… let’s say Morvana, even though that’s impossible with her being the Demon King’s wife, but if that were the case, I could have neutralised him easily.

A few fake reassurances and some well-placed lies and I could have twisted that obsession into loyalty and turned him into a very convenient pawn.

But Arza was different.

She was my fiancée and no matter what I said to him, he wouldn’t listen.

He couldn’t be reasoned with.

I couldn’t even lie and say my relationship with Arza was fake and that I was just using her or had no interest.

If he really was in love with her, hearing that would only make things worse and more importantly… if any of that somehow reached Morvana, that would take a turn straight into the worst possible timeline.

People driven by obsession don’t respond to logic, they respond to delusion and Azriel was already halfway down that path.

So, I have to put him down before he comes and bites me in the ASS at some crucial time.

—

Within five minutes, I was finally standing in front of the lift and immediately cursed under my breath.

Why the hell do these bastards have an obsession with such endlessly long hallways?

For a building this massive, they seriously had only four elevators and of course, three of them were already stuffed to the brim, leaving only one with a few people inside.

An old man with a warm, harmless smile… and two women practically glued to him, arms wrapped tight around him with their massive assets pressing into him like they were trying to suffocate the poor guy with affection.

“Are you coming in, young man?” The old man asked kindly.

Both women looked at me in a synchronized cold stare, the kind that said, enter and die. But naturally, I wasn’t the type to be intimidated by such weak threats.

“Ahh, yes,” I replied smoothly and stepped inside.

I pressed the button for the first floor while the old man tapped the one for the third.

The building had seven floors, each floor stuffed with different elective classes and the last two floors reserved for professors and their research labs.

A whole tower of stress, basically.

“So, are you a first-year student?” The old man asked, his voice dripping with warmth and that extra-sugary smile of his.

“No, sir.” I replied without missing a beat. “I am a wandering immortal warrior who came here to slay a Ghost King that infiltrated the academy… and save the world from his terror.”

I mean, what kind of dumb question was that?

I was young.

I was clearly wearing the academy uniform.

Obviously I was a first-year.

He seemed like a genuinely kind old man, so I doubted he would mind a little joke because for some reason, I just can’t stop myself from joking sometimes.

Probably my trickster genes getting overly excited and trying to get me killed.

I really need to work on that.

The old man, just as I expected, didn’t get angry at all.

He simply chuckled.

“Hahaha, maybe I am the Ghost King… oh brave warrior and you just walked into my trap.”

Damn. He was even more friendly than I thought.

Before I could respond, the elevator chimed and the doors slid open. He stepped out, still grabbed by the two women glued to him in the exact same unnatural position.

“You seem like an interesting kid.” He said with a pleasant smile. “Do visit me sometime. You might have talent in puppeteering.”

As the elevator doors closed, I just stared in surprise.

Because I finally noticed it, a faint, glowing mana thread stretching from the old man’s fingers… straight into the two women beside him.

Puppetry?

Only now did it click why those women never moved, never blinked, never spoke…

“…Holy shit.”

They weren’t women at all.

They were puppets.

Fuck, how were they so realistic?

The skin, the eyes, the breathing motions, that wasn’t just expert craftsmanship… that was terrifying craftsmanship.

But it also gave me an idea.

I could use that.

Those mana threads looked very similar to how I control my Cards of Arcana… So maybe learning puppetry could actually help me increase my control over them.

If that was the case, then that old man wasn’t just creepy, he was useful.

With that thought, I decided I would pay him a visit sometime… and maybe even join his elective class. Assuming he had one.

—

As I was lost in thought, the elevator chimed and the doors slid open. Standing on the other side was a boy with white hair and red eyes.

I recognized him instantly.

Varek Ashen Noctharion.

White hair and crimson eyes were the unmistakable markers of the Demon King’s lineage and there were only four or five people in the entire academy who had them.

So yeah, recognizing him wasn’t exactly difficult.

He smiled at me, clearly, recognizing me just as fast.

I mean, the Demon King did announce me as his successor in front of the entire realm… so the only ones who wouldn’t recognize me were the clueless idiots who lived under rocks and minded their own business.

“Good morning, Rael.” He said politely. “Hope you received my greeting from a few days ago as well.”

Naturally, he didn’t bother hiding the poison lacing his words, especially since the greeting he sent me two weeks ago was blowing my house.

A few of the underlings behind him burst into laughter, acting like he had just delivered a legendary joke.

All except for one woman beside him, who was staring at me.

No, scanning me.

Her eyes were dragging over my entire body in a way that was… creepy, uncomfortable and very, very weird.

I ignored the woman’s creepy scanning and flashed Varek a bright, innocent smile of my own.

“Oi.” I said casually. “Your fly’s open.”

Varek immediately glanced down at his pants, only to see them perfectly closed.

“Damn,” I continued, smiling sweetly. “pretty fast reaction for someone trying to hide something they don’t even have.”

I leaned in just slightly.

“Do you know what that is?”

“Balls.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, all of his lackeys froze mid-laugh.

The woman beside him actually smiled in amusement as if she had been waiting for someone to say it.

Varek’s face, on the other hand, twisted into an ugly frown but I wasn’t done.

“You know,” I continued lightly, “just hanging some plastic toys around your lower half doesn’t magically mean you have them.”

I patted his shoulder gently.

“So please, grow a pair before trying to greet me.”

I walked off without a hint of hesitation as I could see a few of his underlings choking on their laugh before looking away in terror

This bastard already tried to kill me on day one… so it’s not like I was creating a new enemy here.

He was already an enemy and I was simply replying in his own language.

And it’s not like he could actually do anything to me.

Varek was smart and the trick to dealing with smart people is to act stupid.

If I had reacted meekly or normally, he would have taken it as an invitation to push harder, to escalate and try cornering me.

But instead, I gave him the kind of response only a reckless idiot would give, which he knew I wasn’t. After all, I didn’t report Rio even after that bastard blew up my entire house.

So now, he would waste time overthinking it.

Wondering where my confidence came from, who might be backing me, whether a trap was waiting and in that uncertainty, he would avoid attacking me directly…

…unless he somehow got backing from someone really strong.

Which, honestly, I highly doubted.

“…..”

…Until a sudden realization smacked me in the face.

I was in the First Year Building and seniors weren’t allowed here unless someone specifically summoned them.

And I had already pissed off a love-obsessed professor who was one emotional crack away from full-on villain territory.

The threads snapped together in my head instantly.

Wait.

What if that bastard Azriel summoned Varek… to kill me?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep