First Move, Checkmate: How Will You Respond?

A dark figure squeezed out of the cracks in the wall, spreading like ink across the floor. It began to rise gradually, until it covered the entire room.

Startled, Hennie took a few steps back, unable to discern the creature in the black ink.

She hurriedly took out a box of matches from her bosom, ready to strike a light.

Just as a glimmer of flame sparked, before she could even lift her gaze, the flame was extinguished by the darkness.

“Why… again…”

“One or two instances of mockery… that’s not enough?”

Hennie asked, her emotions starting to crumble.

The dark ink shadow fell silent, just quietly staring at her.

Yes, just staring.

As if it could see through Hennie’s thoughts, it split open its inky black mouth. It began to speak, its voice pouring into Hennie’s ears like the sound of demons.

“I know what you need, little girl.”

“Just stay here, and wait for me.”

The voice abruptly stopped, and the darkness in the room dissipated along with the sound.

The entire office returned to an eerie silence.

Hennie lifted her head. She knelt on the ground, exhausted, her expression unreadable.

…

Soon, the ink shadow returned.

The suffocating black ink filled the room again.

It roamed freely, like a gust of wind, in and out of the Mage Tower.

Hennie lifted her head, looking at the ink shadow, and suddenly froze.

Only then did she realize that this place was the Mage Tower.

Only those with authority could freely come and go.

Why could this ink shadow appear here?

Before she could think further, the ink shadow in front of her began to take a distinct form.

She couldn’t clearly discern what it was, but she could vaguely see the creature open its big mouth and stir its arm vigorously down its throat.

After a series of gurgling sounds, the ink shadow extended a huge hand.

It pulled out three orbs of light from its stomach, which seemed like a beacon of hope in Hennie’s despair.

“Little girl,” the ink shadow began to speak, followed by a strange noise, “Umm…ugh…smack smack…”

“You need power, right?”

“I…”

Hennie trembled slightly. She didn’t know what was happening, nor did she mind how disgusting the scene before her was.

“Come, this is the power you need.”

“Touch it, then it’s yours.”

Hennie felt extremely uneasy, but every word from the ink shadow was filled with strong temptation.

As if possessed, she reached out her hand and touched the ball of light.

The ink shadow’s smile widened even more.

…

The next morning, Victor got off the carriage and stood at the entrance of the academy.

He was back.

Back to the academy after a long absence.

In fact, if it hadn’t been for Lia’s early morning tantrum that drove him out of the house, Victor had planned to stay at home for the morning.

‘Should I send her back to the territory?’

Victor thought, but then immediately dismissed the idea.

Even if he sent her back, Lia would surely shuttle back and forth between the Royal Capital and the territory due to business matters.

In the end, he wouldn’t be able to avoid her nagging.

Victor entered the academy and felt a gaze sweep over him.

It was the principal’s spell—Natural Sparrow.

During his third-order mage period, Victor couldn’t feel this force of nature.

Upon advancing to the fourth order, he clearly caught the discordant flow of mana in the air.

Victor looked up at the sky, where countless Natural Sparrows darted through the academy.

The principal’s gaze covered the entire academy.

The gaze quickly left him, presumably after confirming his identity.

The Royal Family had issued a decree, declaring Duke Rivierre and Victor innocent.

Of course, only a handful of nobles knew about the sequence of events that unfolded from the near volcanic eruption.

So Victor’s return did not cause a stir in the academy.

Victor walked naturally on the road, oblivious to the surrounding gazes, completely immersed in thoughts about how to transition the upcoming classes.

The students passing by Victor all had been excitedly looking forward to the new day, until they saw Victor with his ‘deadpan’ expression.

They stopped abruptly in their tracks, their speech faltering.

Victor was utterly unaware of how his appearance had caused a paradigm shift in the students’ perceptions.

“Who is that? Such an intimidating aura…”

“Yeah, as he walked past me, I almost thought he was going to drain my mana…”

One student quickly pulled the others away, lowering his voice and saying sternly:

“Are you guys insane!? That’s Victor Clayvin! We can’t let him hear us badmouthing him!”

“He… he’s that notoriously notorious bastard Mage!?”

“So terrifying…”

Victor walked through the campus, maintaining a poker face, breathing in the fresh air of the campus.

Soon, he encountered a displeasing incident.

The commotion ahead caught his attention.

It was the student dormitory.

A group of students was gathered at the entrance, and three students with faces as black as pitch, unconscious, were being carried out.

“Something’s not right.”

Veega whispered in Victor’s ear.

“These unconscious students have lost their ‘mana’.”

Hearing Veega’s words, Victor needed a source of information, so he spotted a man in a white coat.

It was the academy’s doctor.

The surrounding students felt a chill as they saw a figure walking past.

“What happened?”

Victor’s voice rang out, the doctor turned around to see Victor, and dropped his glasses in surprise.

Victor bent down to pick them up for him.

The doctor naturally knew who Victor was, not to mention his infamous reputation, the recent influential event circulating among the nobles of the Royal Capital was related to him.

But this man, whom everyone believed to be guilty, was declared innocent by the Royal Family.

Many Mages who didn’t know the truth couldn’t accept it.

But life was more important, so they had to be polite to Victor on the surface.

“Victor… Professor, why are you here?”

“Answer my question.”

Victor’s expressionless face made him shudder again.

The doctor explained in a fluster, “There’s nothing wrong with these students physically, but they’ve fallen into a coma, which seems to be very difficult to wake from.”

“These three people are from the same dormitory. No one knows what happened. They were already like this when they were found by their dormitory neighbors.”

“We’re preparing to take them to the clinic for a mana check to see if there’s any problem.”

Victor nodded, moved aside, and the other party hurriedly left, feeling relieved.

‘Clearly, these people have no idea what has happened.’

When no one was around, Victor explained to Veega by his side.

“Draining someone else’s mana, this dirty trick easily reminds me of that filth.”

“It seems, their infiltration is fast.”

What Veega was referring to, of course, were those demons.

Victor was also helpless, encountering such a big issue just after returning to the academy.

However.

“If a demon appears, just deal with it on the spot.”

Let’s put the demon’s filthiness aside, which in itself, is enough to dampen anyone’s mood.

This thing, after all, does provide some experience points.

Victor paid it no mind and took Veega back to his office.

【Identity verification successful — Welcome back to the Mage Tower, Professor Victor】

After verifying his identity in front of the Mage Tower, with the teleportation circle lighting up, Victor stepped into his office.

The office hadn’t changed much since he left. The only difference was that the pot of flowers on the windowsill was missing.

Those were the flowers Hennie had given him. In truth, Hennie was quite fond of that plant and would often use watering it as an excuse to visit the Mage Tower.

“Did she take it back to her dorm to look after?”

Victor hadn’t been around these days, so naturally Hennie didn’t need to come to the office to find him.

Frequent trips to and from the Mage Tower were quite a haul. Taking the flowers back to her dorm would save her the trouble of the back and forth.

He sat down in his chair and noticed a few books were missing from his desk.

Likewise, those were left by Hennie. In her spare time, she would often flip through those well-worn books over and over.

Victor didn’t mind. Just like with the missing pot of flowers, he had a ready-made explanation for the disappearance of these books.

With no need to come to the office, Hennie must have simply taken the books home to read.

He pulled out the magic book he hadn’t finished reading yesterday from his bag, reading while passing the time.

He sat there until midday.

The sound of the flipping pages filled the quiet room.

Veega, who had been dozing off on the desk, suddenly knocked his head on the table, jolting awake.

“What? Oh, she hasn’t come…”

Midday was the time when Hennie most frequently visited the Mage Tower.

She would almost always bring a thick book with her, then cheerfully tell Victor about the lessons she had written that day.

Her visits would always wake Veega, who was trying to sleep.

So, waking up at this time had almost become a habit for Veega.

But this time, Hennie didn’t come.

Veega glanced at Victor, who was absorbed in his book, not lifting his head, seemingly lost in his own world.

Veega suddenly remembered that the little girl probably didn’t know Victor had returned to the academy.

Veega didn’t care either. Feeling sleepy, he dozed off again.

Time always flies surprisingly fast when you’re asleep.

In the afternoon, the sun’s faint glow angled in through the window, casting long shadows.

“Veega, it’s time to go.”

“Hm? Where to?”

The raven blinked in confusion as he was awakened, seeing Victor packing up his book in a daze.

“It’s time for class.”

“Oh, right.”

Veega fluttered up to perch on Victor’s shoulder.

To be honest, he was looking forward to the afternoon.

What would the timid little girl’s reaction be when she saw Victor?

Would she startle like a frightened deer and flee?

Or would she shyly avoid his gaze?

Or perhaps she would excitedly crowd around Victor, jumping happily, exclaiming:

“Professor Victor! You’re finally back!”

Regardless of her reaction, it all seemed quite interesting to Veega.

The teleportation circle descended upon Victor.

In the blink of an eye, both man and bird disappeared from the Mage Tower.

When they reappeared, they were already in the corridor of the teaching building.

The corridor was empty, with the occasional sound of teaching from other classes echoing through the halls.

Victor’s steps rang out clear and sharp against the silence.

Tap — tap — tap —

“So, building on the base of this spell circle, we….”

Suddenly, Victor’s steps halted.

He was staring ahead, his gaze deep and unfathomable.

There lay the location of the first class and, likewise, the voice of the professor teaching echoed from within.

Veega also stared straight ahead, its one eye fixed on the front, its voice void of emotion.

“This really is a predicament…”

Thump—Thump—Thump—

The sound of footsteps resumed, this time, however, they were somewhat heavier than before.

Finally, Victor reached the classroom door.

The sounds inside became even clearer.

At last, he pushed the door open.

Suddenly, the entire room fell silent.

“Who dares to enter during class time without knocking…”

The voice came to an abrupt halt, sounding as sharp and unpleasant as a duck whose neck had been strangled.

Victor looked towards the source of the sound.

His gaze locked onto the person standing on the podium.

“Looks like a pig…”

Veega muttered in his ear.

Victor didn’t respond, perhaps he tacitly agreed.

His face was expressionless, his tone flat.

But it made people feel an indescribable anger in his voice.

“Let me see, your name is, Devin…”

“Devon Raser, right?”