Chapter 236: A False Alarm

“Okay, you’re coming with me.”

I grabbed Kevin by the collar and teleported us to the forest where I first trained him. I let him go, crossing my arms, my face doing a terrible job of hiding how baffled I was by what he’d just said.

“Was that a new spell?” Kevin asked, eyes wide at the teleportation I’d just used. “Incredible… you’ve only been gone a few weeks and you’ve already learned a new power, Master!”

At this point, it honestly feels weird that he’s impressed by me, considering the achievement he just pulled off.

What did he mean, he recreated profaned magic? I don’t care how advanced his formula is, there’s no way he should be able to make profaned magic without chaos and divine.

I needed answers.

“Shoot that tree with a fireball. Now.”

“Got it!”

He raised his hands, palms aimed at the tree. Magic gathered just beyond his fingers, condensing into something that wasn’t quite light, wasn’t quite dark…

It was purple.

The exact same color my profaned magic used to have.

“What the… hell?”

BOOM!

Kevin’s fireball slammed into the tree, obliterating it and leaving me completely stunned.

That was…

That was actual profaned magic.

H-how…?

I know I should be proud of him for this, knowing that one of my ultimate weapons just discovered such a powerful element. But after the incident with Beelzebub, anything involving chaos magic is under heavy suspicion now.

Especially when it didn’t happen under my supervision.

Evelina’s succubus is fine—I made that contract myself, and I’m sure Evelina double-checked everything before accepting it from me.

But Kevin…?

If the reason he has chaos magic is because of a demonic contract, then I absolutely need to see it.

“Did you make a contract with a demon?” I asked, my voice coming out sharper than I intended.

“A demon…?” Kevin repeated, brows shooting up in genuine confusion. “N-no. I’m not good with contracts, so I didn’t even try.”

Huh.

Okay… another question.

“What about gods? Did you come into contact with any of them?”

Kevin only shook his head at that, and… even with my trained eye, I couldn’t see any sign he was lying.

He seemed sincere. And he’s definitely not the type to lie to me.

Did he actually just create profaned magic without…

Wait a second.

…Why am I being so rigid about this?

I literally created my own magic, didn’t I? So who’s to say profaned magic doesn’t have other ways to come into existence?

Maybe I’m just being an idiot.

Besides, dark and light are still completely opposite elements—and so are the gods that govern them. Technically, it still counts as profaned if I factor that in…

So…

I looked back at Kevin—specifically at his hands, still radiating profaned magic. The moment he noticed, he spread his fingers wider, letting me get a better look.

He really is a good student… which makes the idea of him lying even less believable.

I don’t really have a choice. I guess he really did just recreate profaned magic.

That kind of hurts my pride, to be honest.

But…

“Hey, do you think you could teleport to the Cold Iron District from here?”

Maybe I’m overestimating him a bit.

“The slums? No. I tried. From this distance, using profaned magic to teleport there would be too much for me.”

“Oh?”

Well, I guess I was worrying over nothing. His so‑called profaned magic was still way weaker than mine—the one that came from both divine and chaos.

That’s… actually kind of reassuring.

Thinking about it more, I don’t even think what he used should be called profaned magic. If anything, it felt closer to something like “Penumbra” than real profaned. Maybe I really did overreact.

But with Beelzebub involved, I think I’m allowed to overreact a little. I have to be careful in case he ever reaches someone close to me.

“You got me worried over nothing…”

I let out a sigh.

“Worried? What do you mean?”

“I thought you did something stupid.”

To be fair, I’ve been ignoring him for a while now. Maybe it’s about time I actually start training him, so he doesn’t end up as a complete glass cannon.

Or… I could just delegate.

Yeah. That honestly sounds much better.

Besides, I still need to study for the exam. My photographic memory is helpful, sure, but I’m not going to rely on it completely. There’s a reward on the line.

I’m not about to wing this like I did with the entrance exam or the first half of the semimonthly.

“Anyway, you should go visit Vivianne.”

“Vivianne? Why?”

“I want you two to train together.”

“Y’know, Master, you’ve never actually trained me even once, y’know?”

CLAP.

I flicked his forehead—hard enough to sting, not hard enough to leave a bruise.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“Don’t question me. Besides… all your breakthroughs came from me, didn’t they?”

He wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t mean I was going to admit it properly. For now, I’ll just gaslight him into thinking most of his progress is thanks to me. It’s not even a full lie.

And who knows, maybe I really will train him.

…Eventually.

For now, Vivianne can handle him.

I’ll have to visit her tomorrow after I finish reviewing today anyway. And it’s already getting close to evening, judging by how low the sun is sinking.

About time I give my body some rest.

“Oh, right, I almost forgot!” Kevin called out just as I was about to teleport away. “Evelina had me complete some tasks while you were gone. I figured you’d want to know, considering your… interest in her.”

Calling it an “interest” was putting it mildly, but honestly, I didn’t really care. I trusted Evelina enough to give my students assignments.

The only deal I’d made with Kevin was that I’d teach him if he agreed to serve Evelina, after all.

I guess he was keeping his end of the deal.

And I’m also glad Evelina was using him. It means I picked the perfect pawn, since she didn’t even bother asking for my permission before giving him orders.

She’d meant it when she said it: what’s hers is mine, and what’s mine is hers.

Maybe I should ask if I can borrow her spies sometime and have them take a few orders from me…

“See you later.”

“Wait, you brought me here just for this!?”

“Yeah, bye~.”

[Darkfire Step]

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