Vale raised his brows as he looked behind him.
Although the place was crowded, it wasn't to the point that someone would just bump into you. He couldn't help but feel suspicious about this as he observed the young girl in front of him.
She wore a uniform with a single star on her right chest so Vale could guess her year.
She had short red hair, a pale complexion, and was quite chubby compared to other female students at her age. Nevertheless, Vale felt that this girl wasn't simple. His Extrasensory Perception Spell was warning him, and he wouldn't ignore that.
"I… I'm sorry… I wasn't looking." The young girl said as she apologized to Vale. However, she looked at the young man she had bumped into and noticed that he wasn't buying her explanation, so she pointed to a nearby stall.
"The Fortune Telling Club is giving a free service to the first 15 first-year students to visit their Club... I was too focused on their signage. I'm sorry."
Vale looked confused at this as he looked in the direction she pointed.
Indeed, he saw that the Fortune Telling Club members were doing free divination for a few students. They seemed to be using what was similar to Tarot Cards, which was quite interesting.
He even saw Leonore assisting the students that were lining up.
"Are you planning to queue in their line?" Vale asked as he stepped back to give way to the first year.
"N-no, Senior. I'm just curious whether they're really capable of divination like the Mystic Arts Practitioners or they were just having fun." The student said in a soft voice. She certainly didn't want to offend the members of the Club, so she was being careful.
"Well, it's not impossible that their divination can be accurate at times since they were performing some rituals, and they also call for mysterious existences to help them with their prophecy. It's a different method from the Mystic Arts and the Holy Arts, but they're certainly capable… I heard they were called the Dark Seers in our Faction."
The young girl's eyes lit up after hearing Vale's answer. She couldn't help but feel that he was knowledgeable.
"I see… So it was like that." She nodded at this and looked at the young man once more, and asked. "May know what club you are in, Senior?"
At this point, Vale couldn't help but smile as he introduced himself. Perhaps, he can even recruit this mysterious girl before going to their stall.
"You can just call me Vale. I'm just a second-year student… I joined the Battle Arena Committee. Do you want to check my Club?"
Vale said as he used his Divine Sense to check the status of the girl.
Soon, a surprising feedback came from the spell.
Dark Arts Practitioner with 4 filled Spell Lights.
'Ahh?' Vale was stunned as soon as he discovered the number of Spell Models recorded by this girl.
This was unexpected since first-year students were only allowed to record two Spell Models before entering the Academy. After all, they are worried that the students wouldn't have enough Spell Lights for the three Academy-Exclusive Spells and Branch-Exclusive Spells.
Of course, Vale didn't show that he noticed it and just acted normal.
Thankfully, the girl was interested in the Battle Arena Committee, so he invited her to check the stall with him.
At this time, he already learned of her name. It was Celina Vermont.
That's right. The Vermont of the Vermont Academy.
He wasn't exactly sure, but she seemed to be related to the legendary Morgan Vermont of the Dark Arts Faction. This may also be the reason why she was allowed to have four Spell Lights.
As a matter of fact, she might've even recorded the Darkness Manipulation and Light Absorption Spells already.
"Whoa~ You brought a first-year?" Nadine looked at Vale in shock.
Even Benedict and Bailey couldn't help but respect Vale's dedication to the Club. To be honest, they didn't care if they had a recruit this year since many of the members still had several years before they could graduate.
It doesn't really matter if they have a year or two without any recruits. Nevertheless, a new recruit would certainly make their clubroom lively, so they were happy to see a new face.
"Ahem… She hasn't decided yet, Senior Nadine. It's up to you to persuade her." Vale replied to Nadine.
Nadine raised her chin on this as she felt confident recruiting people. She shifted her attention to the girl beside Vale and suddenly froze.
"…"
Her eyes blinked for a moment as if she wanted to see whether she was seeing the right person.
"Aren't you Celina Vermont? You're the Student Representative of your batch, right? You're supposed to be in the Student Council. Are you still looking for another club?" Nadine asked.
This was the first time Vale heard about this, as he couldn't help but look at Celina once more.
"Yes, Senior Nadine. I heard that there weren't that many tasks in the Student Council anyway."
Celina then paused for a moment as she seemed to be hesitating to say something… Nevertheless, before the others could ask, she took a deep breath and continued. "If it's alright, can I hear more about the Club from Senior Vale?"
Nadine's eyes lit up after hearing this. "Of course! Vale is one the finest students of his batch."
Benedict and Bailey also gave Vale a knowing smile as they nodded in agreement.
"Ahem… The three of us plan to take a break, so you can use this place to chat." Nadine said as she stood up to give her seat to Celina. The other two club members also followed and immediately left the stall for Vale to manage.
'Seriously… Have these guys forgotten that one of our members' life is in danger?' Vale couldn't help but shake his head at their carefree manner.
Anyway, this was also something he liked about this Club, so Vale had just accepted the task.
As soon as the Seniors disappeared, Vale sighed as he used his Darkness Manipulation to isolate their surroundings. He didn't feel satisfied even with this, so he also used his Extrasensory Perception Spell to sense if there was anyone trying hard to listen to their conversation.
After doing all of this, Vale finally faced the young girl and asked curiously. "Alright, Celina… No one can hear our conversation in the little dome that I made. You can tell me now why you approached me."
Celina's eyes widened. "Ugh… Was it too obvious?"
Before Vale could even answer, she continued. "Anyway, it's not really important… I want to meet you and am also interested in this Club."
"You want to meet me?" Vale asked.
"Of course! You weren't aware of it, but the status of your Strands was out of proportion! You've also made a deal with the Headmaster to return your Shadow in consideration of your future talent. However, I'm here to change that…"
This time, Celina was already speaking in a haughty voice as she continued. "I want you to give me that Shadow and serve me. Become my Personal Shadow Knight!"
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