Lance slammed the door to his office shut, or he would have if it were a normal door. It wasn't as if he could magically force the door to unfold in an aggressive manner, since the bracelet did almost everything for him. Instead, he yanked the chair out for Cerlius, stormed around to the other side of his desk, and put his throbbing head in his hands. The warm sunlight against his tired back did little to ease his dark expression.
"So," Lance said. He paused. Students usually tried to blurt out some sort of excuse or justification for their actions but Cerlius sat there with the same look he had in class, a searching, curious gaze which seemed to analyze Lance's every movement, an unsettling feeling as much as it was comforting.
"…So I've been giving you more leniency than the other students, since you are a special case, but there is a line and you crossed it." He took a deep breath and massaged his temples. "Or maybe someone else crossed the line. I don't know. Let's start with your side of the story. What happened?"
Cerlius's gaze was broken for a moment as he looked up in thought. "I suppose it started when Travis took my own fish and slapped me with it, repeatedly." He turned around and pointed to the dried blood on the back of his head. "He chewed the fish in a way so its bones would protrude out. That way when he slapped me, the sharp bones would tear through the skin."
"And did you provoke him?" Cerlius shook his head. Lance chewed on his lip. 'I better record this for a report to Trenton.' He lifted a paper from under an artifact, a red orb, and dipped his quill into an inkwell. "Did you know him previously?" Cerlius shrugged, glancing at the orb. Lance didn't even move his quill, still staring into Cerlius's black eyes. "I need verbal answers."
"I did not know him previously." Lance recorded both Cerlius's response and the dullness of the orb.
"Did you, at any point, experience any pain in your head such as a headache? Were you not restrained by the spell you're under like when you attacked me?" Cerlius shook his head, making Lance once again point to the orb. "I still need verbal answers."
Cerlius frowned. "I imagine you mean the spell that makes it so I must act in coordinate with the academy's benefit. No, I felt no headache…" The orb lit up red, making Lance's frown deepen. Cerlius held out a hand. "Wait. I didn't feel a headache from the academy's spell." They both stared at the orb, which went dim again.
Lance suppressed a sigh of relief. 'He's just a student. Why am I suspecting him so much?' He felt around his sore neck, where Cerlius's fingers had wrapped around only hours ago. 'No, I can't be biased. I'll just press him for a little more so that every single one of the instructors' suspicions will be satisfied. It's the least I can do. I of all people know how it feels to be in this sort of situation. Being impartial is the best thing I can do for him.'
"Do you wish it could have gone another way?" Lance asked as he pulled out some cups and filled them with tea. He offered one to Cerlius but he shook his head.
"Yes, I wish it could have gone another way."
"Good," Lance said, a slight smile forming as he recorded the response and the dullness of the orb. "You were just a victim of his actions. Do you know why you drew his attention? Why did he attack you in the first place?" A knock sounded. "Come in."
"I apologize," came a soft voice, muffled because of the door. "I am but a humble servant. I request that the door be opened."
"Granted." Lance rolled up his wet sleeve, allowing his bracelet to fly to the door, which unfolded to show a half elf girl with long white hair in a maid uniform. She curtsied and handed slip of paper to Lance. "This is the report from the student known as Travis. I had to write it for him due to his injuries."
Lance narrowed his eyes: "What sort of injuries?"
The half elf looked at Cerlius with a complicated expression, her green eyes going watery, but her voice was steady as she relayed: "Both of Travis's eyes were filled with oil. The academy's healer said an oil-based variation of the wave spell tore his irises apart, both putting him in severe pain and blinding him. In addition, he had been slammed back-first into the tile with enough force to crack several vertebrae. There are traces of mana at Travis's chest but the healer found nothing else."
Lance's heart sunk. "That's…unexpected. Cerlius, did you do this to Travis?"
"Yes."
Lance stared at the orb for a few more moments, hoping it would light up, but it never did. "And this was done in the name of self-defense, correct?"
"Yes." The orb lit up, painting Cerlius's uncaring face in a red light.
The servant bit her lip, one of her scarred hands tugging at her white hair. She took a deep breath: "Instructor. I think I may have been the reason why Cerlius acted out." The orb flickered off and a huge weight lift off Lance's chest. "I'm sorry." She bowed her head. "I was just doing my job as usual and he thanked me for it. Then Travis got upset and attacked Cerlius."
"He thanked you?" A blob of ink dripped over the paper because the quill hadn't been writing anything down amidst twists and turns. Lance cursed and restored the paper with a quick spell. Even if it did cost more mana to do so, it was better to save the paper then burn it and start over. All things could be reshaped, no matter how twisted they might become.
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