Chapter 133: Chapter 131: Meeting Kyle
The door opened again.
"Principal, there’s someone looking for you," Blanca announced as casually as if she were informing him that the weather was nice today.
Varek’s eye twitched.
"Didn’t I tell you to knock fir—"
The words died in his throat because the moment he turned around, he immediately felt all the blood drain from his face.
Standing in the doorway was a man wearing a pleasant smile.
A smile that Varek had learned long ago to fear.
"Hello, Professor."
For a few seconds, the room fell completely silent as he slowly turned his head toward Blanca.
Blanca stared back at him with the purest, most innocent expression he had ever seen.
It was also the most suspicious expression he had ever seen.
"Oh," she said as if suddenly remembering something. "I also came back to ask where the General’s room and the Duke’s room are."
Varek’s eye twitched again.
"They’re both in the left wing," he said through gritted teeth. "You’ll pass the General’s room first before reaching the Duke’s."
"Thank you."
Blanca smiled brightly.
The smile of a person who had absolutely no intention of helping him survive this situation.
"Have a good day."
She waved and turned around.
Varek immediately felt a sense of impending doom.
"Wait—!"
The door closed.
That little menace.
She definitely knew who was outside before she opened that door.
No.
She had probably gone out of her way to bring him here.
The man stared at him. "Let’s talk."
Varek didn’t say a word as he calmly stood up from his chair, walked towards the large glass window and opened it.
The man sighed. "Old man."
Varek paused with one foot already on the ledge.
"You know I can always find you, right?"
"I choose not to acknowledge that fact."
The man pinched the bridge of his nose as Varek climbed fully onto the ledge.
"Professor."
"Former professor."
"You still teach."
"Against my will."
"Let’s make a deal then."
Varek immediately became suspicious.
The last time this man offered a deal, he somehow ended up spending three sleepless weeks carving an energy stone that nearly drove him into an early grave.
"No."
"You haven’t even heard it yet."
"The answer is still no."
The man ignored him. "Let Blanca carve my energy stone and I’ll forget the sin you committed against me."
Varek nearly lost his balance.
’The absolute audacity of this man.’
He slowly turned his head.
"The only sin I committed was accepting your request in the first place!"
The memory still haunted him.
At the time, he had seen the payment and thought it was easy money.
It was the biggest mistake of his life.
Now every time he saw this man, his fight-or-flight response activated instantly.
And then there was the second problem.
’Blanca.’
Varek’s eye twitched.
’How exactly was he supposed to convince that little menace to carve anything for someone without losing half his lifespan in negotiations?’
The girl charged fees for breathing near valuable materials.
Last week she had somehow turned a job offer into a shopping list.
No.
Getting Blanca to agree would be harder than carving a mountain with a spoon.
The man crossed his arms. "So?"
Varek sighed deeply before finally nodding. "I’ve made my decision."
The man’s eyes brightened. "Good choice."
Clearly, he had already assumed victory.
Varek pointed at him. "My decision is to run away and hope I have enough time to deal with these damn problems."
The man’s smile vanished. "Wait—"
Varek stepped off the ledge and jumped.
The man rushed to the window. "OLD MAN!"
Several floors below, a furious voice immediately echoed through the academy grounds.
"I CAN FLY, YOU IDIOT!"
Students walking below looked up in confusion.
One of them pointed at the rapidly descending principal.
"Isn’t that Principal Varek?"
"Why is he escaping through the window?"
"No idea."
A second later, another student pointed toward the office window.
"Who’s that guy chasing him?"
"Also no idea."
Meanwhile, Varek was already soaring away at top speed.
For the first time that day, he felt peace that lasted exactly five seconds.
His OmniSync started pinging.
[You do know that the twins can catch you right?]
Varek almost flew straight into a tree.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Earlier....
I was so deep in thought that I honestly couldn’t tell whether I had walked into someone or whether they had walked into me.
One second I was busy contemplating how to survive a meeting with Soren, avoid Vesphyr, dodge the royal family, and somehow keep my sanity intact.
The next—
"Mate!"
Something solid crashed into me as the impact knocked the air right out of my lungs.
"OOF—!"
Both of us went down hard.
For a brief moment, all I could see was the ceiling then I became painfully aware that someone was lying on top of me.
A very heavy someone.
"Can you get off me?" I groaned.
The man froze.
I frowned and pushed against his shoulder. "Hello? Earth to stranger?"
He was staring at me.
"You really are heavy... Move already..." I muttered.
He finally seemed to remember that gravity existed and hurriedly climbed off me as he offered me a hand.
I accepted it and stood up, dusting off my clothes.
"I don’t know if we accidentally bumped into each other," I said, rubbing my sore shoulder, "but can you at least look where you’re going?"
The man continued staring.
I sighed. "Well, I guess I wasn’t paying attention either."
Still staring.
’What was wrong with this guy?’
I waved a hand in front of his face. "Hello?"
No response.
I waved harder.
Nothing.
I was beginning to wonder if the collision had somehow killed him.
I was about to leave him alone when I noticed something strange.
His hands were clenched so tightly that his knuckles had turned white, his jaw was tense, and he looked like he was actively fighting himself.
’Had I accidentally bumped into a lunatic?’
"You okay there?"
The man took deep multiple breaths before he finally calmed down.
"You really didn’t feel anything when we collided?"
"What?"
"When we bumped into each other."
I stared at him. "I’m pretty sure I felt pain."
His expression twitched. "Not that."
"Then what?"
For some reason, he looked disappointed, which only confused me more.
I frowned at him. "Apparently I felt something."
His expression immediately brightened.
"..."
I stared at him.
The more excited he looked, the more suspicious I became.
"I’m starting to feel annoyed."
The man dragged a hand down his face.
Whatever reaction he’d been expecting, apparently he hadn’t gotten it.
I frowned even harder by his reaction but I remembered something.
"Oh, right."
His attention snapped back to me instantly.
I ignored how weird that was.
"By the way, I don’t think I heard what you said before we bumped into each other."
The man was quiet for a second before answering. "I told you to move."
I nodded.
"Well, I’m sorry."
The collision had probably been both our faults anyway.
I gave him one last polite nod before turning around.
"Wait."
I turned around and looked at him. "Yes?"
The man hesitated for a moment before asking, "Do you know where the Principal is?"
I pointed down the hallway. "His office is that way."
His gaze followed the direction of my finger before looking back at me. "Can you accompany me?"
I paused.
That was a strange request.
Most people just asked for directions and left but this one wanted an escort.
Then again, today had already been filled with strange people, strange exams, and strange conversations.
At this point, escorting a random man to the Principal’s office barely made the top ten.
Besides, I had forgotten to ask Varek something earlier.
"Sure."
The man’s shoulders relaxed slightly.
’Why did it look like he just won a battle?’
We started walking down the corridor together and the silence lasted all of twenty seconds before it became unbearable.
At least for me.
"So..." I glanced sideways at him.
The man glanced at me. "So?"
"I didn’t notice earlier, but you’re not a student here."
"No."
"Nor an instructor."
"No."
"Nor a staff member."
"No."
"You’re either a visitor, a noble, a merchant, a criminal, or someone who’s lost."
He looked at me. "Those are very specific options."
"I like being thorough."
He hummed.
"So who are you?"
"Why do you want to know?"
I immediately frowned. "What kind of question is that?"
"A normal one."
"No, it’s suspicious."
His eyebrow twitched. "Why do you want to know anyway?"
I looked at him in disbelief. "Because we’re walking together."
He remained silent.
I pointed at him. "First, you crashed into me."
"You crashed into me too."
"Details."
"Important details."
"Second," I continued as if he hadn’t spoken, "you never apologized."
His expression went blank.
"Third, you didn’t even say thank you for accompanying you."
"..."
"And fourth, now you’re refusing to introduce yourself."
I folded my arms.
"So yes, I think I deserve to know who you are."
The man stared at me for several seconds. Surprisingly, the corner of his mouth twitched.
"Kayden."
I immediately brightened. "See? Was that so hard?"
He didn’t answer.
"Well, I’m Blanca," I stuck out my hand. "Nice to meet you, Kayden."
He looked down at my hand and for some reason, he looked like I handed him a priceless treasure as he shook my hand.
"...Nice to meet you too, Blanca."
I nodded in satisfaction as I tried to pull my hand away but he was still holding it.
I gave my hand a small tug.
Nothing.
A slightly bigger tug.
Still nothing.
’Was he lagging?’
"Ummm..."
Kayden continued staring at me.
"Hello?"
No response.
I waved my free hand in front of his face.
Nothing.
I narrowed my eyes.
’Was this another one of his weird reactions?’
"You can let go now."
That finally seemed to snap him back to reality as he immediately released my hand.
"Sorry."
I rubbed my wrist. "It’s okay."
The silence that followed was incredibly awkward, at least for him while I was having a great time watching him suffer.
Kayden cleared his throat as he looked away, looked back, then looked away again.
"You know," I said thoughtfully, "if you wanted to hold my hand longer, you could’ve just asked."
The man nearly choked on air. "That wasn’t—"
"Because that’s a very strange way of making friends."
"It wasn’t that."
"Then what was it?"
I waited for his response but he said nothing.
"You don’t know either, do you?"
"..."
"That’s okay."
"It is?"
"No."
We continued walking but he looked like he was suffering from a system malfunction.
After another few seconds of silence, I glanced sideways at him. "By the way."
He immediately straightened. "Yes?"
"Are you always this weird?"
The poor man looked personally attacked. "I am not weird."
I nodded thoughtfully. "That’s exactly what a weird person would say."
He looked like he wanted to bang his head against the nearest wall.
I smiled.
’Yeah. He’s definitely a weird person.’
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