I looked at the empty classroom door before shifting my gaze back to Ayo.
"Soooo... do we start now?"
She scratched her chin, giving it a think, before shaking her head.
"Monday is fine. I'm... I'm busy today."
"With what? Pestering Alice again?"
"How do yo- No, of course not."
The girl's eyes widened a bit before shifting under my gaze. I could only shake my head in amusement before continuing.
"You don't have to do that anymore, you know? Especially with me around."
The girl still looked a bit shaken but nodded her head confidently.
"Of course, I'm well aware of that. Thank you very much. Also, for the record, I don't pester Miss Alice."
"Right..."
The girl quickly stood up from her seat, glancing at the door.
"I'm, uh... still busy. So, I'll see you on Monday."
With that, she walked out of the class.
I watched her leave in wonder at how easily a powerful person like her could be bought. Then again, I supposed it made sense with her personality and backstory.
Of course, that was a can of worms I wasn't planning to open anytime soon. I just needed her for protection at the moment.
Although she wouldn't be here to protect me today, I could manage pretty well on my own. Especially with Song feeding me info from the
inside.
What I wouldn't be able to handle, though, would be the bigger fish they sent. Vladimir, for example. Varic personally wouldn't stoop to the level of a peasant or do something as childish as bullying. But Vladimir absolutely could.
He was a thug. A pretty smart one, too. Ayo would handle him nicely. Still, I hadn't gotten any other messages from Song, so I was safe for
now.
I glanced over to her and found the girl surrounded by nobles. Well, mostly nobles; her peasant lackey sat right next to her.
Both looked pretty uncomfortable, though Song looked more tired than anything. She'd started inching closer to the nobles after our last talk.
It was perfect for my purposes, but I realized it probably had more to do with her engagement to Varic.
'Is engagement even the right word?"
When I'd last sent her a text about it, she replied rather simply:
'It's not been formalized!
Meaning whatever she was trying to do now was in a bid to avoid formalization. Though I couldn't exactly tell her plan; the girl was rather secretive with it.
Still, having her engaged to Varic wasn't exactly a good thing. Sure, it would allow me greater insight into whatever those Aurelius bastards were planning, but it'd also tie her directly to the interests and control of a Great Family.
It was a dangerous place to be, especially when we'd have to go against them afterwards. A looser alliance would be just fine for now; any info we missed could just be supplemented with knowledge from the novel.
Her current situation was still precarious, though; the head of the Aurelius family was an S-rank. I honestly couldn't imagine any way she could escape the engagement.
But I did know someone who could.
Ayo.
She'd managed to weaken her ties to her clan, the Oni. Or at least weaken their influence on her. If she could do that to a Great Clan, surely handling an engagement would be a piece of cake for her.
It was an interesting thought that I soon shelved as I caught sight of a person entering the classroom.
It was a girl. Long black hair, a light dusting of freckles on her cheeks, and warm brown eyes.
Ramona. Ramona Simons was her name. Or its name, to be more
accurate.
Yes. She was a Skinwalker.
At least according to the novel.
I only remembered the Skinwalkers in the novel by name, so I was forced to look their images up online. All in all, there were currently four Skinwalkers in the school.
Well, five if I included the Terror-rank monster. But its host hadn't returned from a posting outside.
Still, I'd tracked down the faces and identities of all the students
identified as Skinwalkers in the story. All that remained was
apprehending them.
Of course, they were all nobles. Minor nobles, but still nobles
nonetheless.
'What was wrong with me? Seriously...'
I turned my gaze away when the girl noticed me staring; hopefully, I looked like a fool just awestruck by her beauty.
'Fuck!
Them being nobles complicated things. I couldn't just take them out
like I did with the nurse. Their families had influence and would
definitely want some answers.
Capturing them was the only choice, and I certainly wasn't strong
enough to handle that.
These, unlike the nurse, were D-rank Skinwalkers. My last experience with D-rank monsters wasn't exactly the best. But I did know
someone who could help with that.
'Yet for now, I can't do shit!
I watched the girl step out of the class before releasing a breath I
didn't even know I held.
I could only thank my lucky stars that the Skinwalkers were all located in different classes.
Although they generally followed plans and wouldn't just start killing randomly, it was still pretty unnerving to be around them, knowing what was in their head.
Even worse, since I'd already disrupted the original timeline regarding the Nobles vs. Commoners, I couldn't tell if there were any changes in
their plans.
Which just meant I had to move all the quicker in stopping them. Then I could focus on whatever bullshit the nobles were planning for
me.
A notification popped up on my interface.
'Cadet Victor, your presence is requested in Miss Alice's office!
I wiped the annoying thing from my view; I couldn't count the
number of times the school system had been pinging me because of
it.
Of course, I wouldn't miss a summons from Alice, a bloody Paragon. 'Did it think I had a death wish?'
I sighed before standing from my seat. Instinctively, I turned back to
find Shin waving me over while talking to the new guy from the
cafeteria.
'Was it Gustav or what?"
I couldn't help but get a nagging feeling about him. I certainly didn't
recognize him from the novel.
'So where did he come from?"
I shook my head before sending Shin a message.
'Later, I need to do something!'
The wolfman looked confused but simply nodded, and I took it as a
cue to leave.
I had a date with a witch.
I stood before a simple metal door, the only door on this floor. Like all
good bosses, Alice placed her office at the very top of the building.
I moved my hand to knock when a calm voice interrupted me.
"Come in."
As I pushed the door open, a familiar scent of vanilla filled my nose. It was followed by a wave of warm orange light.
A small fireplace crackled in a corner of the room, shining its soft light
on the rows and rows of books lining the numerous shelves. The shelves didn't only hold books, though; some held half-filled jars,
plants, and other items, but what caught my eyes the most were the dolls. Stitched rag dolls lay strewn across the shelves, with no apparent thought given to arranging them. Yet all of them, regardless of their place or position, had their button eyes locked in one direction.
At me.
'Definitely not creepy. Not at all!'
"How long do you plan on standing there, Cadet Victor?"
I suppressed a flinch, drawing my eyes back to the center of the room. There, the familiar doll-like witch sat behind an elegant wooden desk, casually sifting through some documents.
'Wait, documents? She has paper?'
'And the books, too!'
It hadn't clicked when I saw them earlier. To have so many books
piled here, Alice had to be filthy rich.
'Then again, she's a Paragon. Of course she is!
Not wanting to annoy her any further, I quickly took my seat on the
chair opposite her. It was wonderfully soft, yet somehow it didn't even look half as comfortable as the one she sat on.
The woman shifted her attention from the document, leveling her
brilliant eyes at me.
"Do you know why I've called for you, Cadet?"
I had an inkling, but I couldn't be sure.
"Because I was almost late to the last class?"
"So you do remember."
Right before I could begin going into my well-prepared excuse, she
raised her palm.
"There is no need for that. I am well aware of your... circumstances."
'Is she talking about my flaw?"
Well, it wasn't really that big a secret anyway. I was pretty sure most
of the people around me already had an inkling. Plus, she was close to
Evanka; the Seer could've dropped some hints.
She continued.
"I called you because of Lady Evanka."
'So it was about her!
"That mark she left on you is a sign that you are one of her own. I
know not what deal you signed with her, but you owe her a big favor,
as I am sure you're aware!"
"Of course, Miss. She has my utmost gratitude."
I answered with a small bow. There was no need to argue, especially
with a being that could quite literally squish me like a bug.
She nodded her head slightly.
"Very well, then. You can start repaying her now."
I raised my head to meet her gaze. "And how exactly am I to repay the Lady?"
There, her forehead wrinkled a little in concentration before she
finally sighed.
"Not much as of now. Just keep a lookout on your fellow cadets and
staff. Any strange signs or behavior are to be reported to me. The Lady fears something horrid lurks among us." 'Horrid? Like the Skinwalkers?'
I'd planned on finding a way to bring them into the conversation eventually, too. After all, Alice, and maybe Kaito, were the best I could
rely on for capturing those monsters.
'But Kaito's an ass!
So Alice was basically the only option.
Still, I couldn't have her suspecting me too much.
I put on the best half-confused, half-terrified face I had. I couldn't tell
if she was buying it; still, I continued.
"Something horrid? If it's from Lady Evanka, then surely it must..."
She stared at me, dead poker-faced.
'Yeah, she isn't buying shit!
Still, I could turn this around.
A look of realization slowly dawned on my half-terrified face, and I
began unsurely.
"I... I think I might have an idea about what you mean, Miss Alice."
This finally got a reaction out of her as her eyes squinted. "Continue."
"Right. I've been noticing things, strange behaviors in a few cadets. I
might sound crazy, but they don't act right. It's hard to say exactly what's wrong; it might be the way they walk, or talk, or even act in general. But something about them rubs me the wrong way." Alice looked to be in concentration; the little intrigue she'd shown earlier had turned into something much more serious. "And how did you find this out?" "People watching." "People watching?"
"Yeah, I like watching people and how they act. Like a human zoo."
Of course, I was just bullshitting now; my knowledge came solely
from the novel.
"What's a zoo?"
'Right, wrong world!
"Just a silly term I like using."
She wisely chose to comment no further on that.
"Tell me their names. All of them."
I gladly did as she asked. After which, she fell silent. Her eyes grew
distant as a blue light flashed through them. She blinked before looking back at me. "Are you sure of what you say, Cadet? All these cadets are nobles.
Think
this through thoroughly."
I knew what she was implying. Nobles being nobles, if I ever made the mistake of accusing them of something as treasonous as being Skinwalkers without them actually being Skinwalkers, there would be hell to pay.
Still, I was sure of my choices; Alice just needed a little more
convincing.
"I am. I had doubts at first. So I did some testing, using my Gift. It
helped me survive the Skinwalker back in the hospital. It helps expose irregularities. Those cadets are definitely irregular." Her eyes squinted in suspicion.
"You knew these cadets had the same irregularities as a Skinwalker,
yet you took this long to report it?"
"I never said they had the same irregularities. Theirs was weaker and
somewhat different from the nurse in the hospital. It's why I was so hesitant at first."
Of course, once again, it was pure bullshit. I'd never tested any of
them due to fear of tipping them off, given how paranoid those
fucking parasites could be.
I had no doubts it was them; they'd been infected before I even came
to this world. And lower-ranked Skinwalkers couldn't switch bodies
willy-nilly.
The part involving a weaker response from [Error Sense] was theoretically plausible.
So it was, all in all, a completely logical explanation.
Alice no doubt had her reservations, but this much was enough to
move her to look into it.
She covered her mouth in contemplation for a bit before looking back
at me.