“Who spread this? Tell Monash to investigate thoroughly!”

“Yes.”

Athena nodded, her face betraying nothing.

In her heart, she knew the source of this matter was likely Headmaster Monash, who had inadvertently chatted about Dean Lauren’s past in the student union office, and then one of Ranch, Hyperion, or Frey leaked the information.

And most likely, it leaked to a rather terrible person.

Oh, so she knew what was going on.

But Athena said nothing.

The morning sun streamed in from the side window, perhaps especially dazzling after the rain.

The beam fell directly on Lauren’s profile, making his gaze appear even more profound and stern.

“…”

His eyelids twitched slightly, his expression shifting from calm to serious, his lips pressed into a tight line.

Athena sensed the change, too, her hands pressed against the folder, remaining silent.

The only sound in the office was the ticking of the clock on the wall. The steam rising from the coffee on the desk seemed to slow as well. In this atmosphere, time seemed to slow, each moment exceptionally long.

“No wonder our school’s reputation has been declining in recent years.”

Lauren calmed himself for a long moment.

He always felt that the atmosphere of the school had been getting worse recently.

Although the school’s atmosphere had always been problematic, with even the dean of the Alchemy Institute being imprisoned.

“By the way, did Ranch agree to Adams’ challenge? What happened?”

Lauren always knew that blessings never come in pairs, and misfortunes never come alone. At times like this, he was especially worried about what surprises Ranch would bring him.

“…”

Athena was silent for another moment.

Frey was secretly exerting his strength, while Ranch was directly closing the net.

Athena hesitated, thinking about how to organize her words to describe the course of events to Lauren.

In this brief moment of silence, suddenly, a melodious and loud ring pierced the closed space—

It was Dean Lauren’s office communication terminal.

It was a historical magic device. Its base was heavy black lacquered metal, with thick, winding lines connected to the main communication terminal of Ikorette Academy, allowing it to be transferred to Dean Lauren’s office at any time.

Lauren frowned slightly in confusion, slowly raised his hand, picked up the receiver from the base, and gently placed it to his ear.

“Juliana? What do you need from me?”

He didn’t understand why Juliana would contact him so early in the morning.

“…”

The other side of the line was silent for a while, as if wondering why Lauren would ask this question.

“How did Ranch and Adams’ duel go?”

Juliana’s voice was still as cold and aloof as ever, but with a slight hint of expectation hidden within, especially concerned about the outcome.

Lauren looked up at Athena.

He saw the hesitant expression on Athena’s face.

Lauren felt that something was very wrong.

He knew that Adams’ relentless pursuit of Ranch was just asking for trouble!

But Lauren really didn’t expect that Juliana would care about this competition even more than he did.

“I just got back to school and haven’t learned the details yet.”

Lauren quickly explained to Juliana.

“…”

Juliana hesitated again for a while.

“Adams hasn’t reported the battle situation to me for a whole day.”

Juliana’s voice was somewhat puzzled.

Logically speaking, Adams should have contacted her as soon as possible about such a high-stakes gamble, regardless of whether he won or lost.

But there had been no news for a whole day, as if he had lost contact.

“…”

Cold sweat began to break out on Lauren’s forehead.

“Juliana, don’t worry, I’ll go see what’s going on right away.”

The information coming from the other end of the receiver was clearly not good news. As the conversation deepened, Lauren’s expression gradually became serious, his brow furrowed, and his originally leisurely eyes were now full of worry and confusion.

“Okay.”

Juliana replied decisively.

But soon, she added a sentence at the end of her sentence,

“Regardless of winning or losing, I hope you can keep your promise.”

“What promise?”

Lauren felt more and more that something was wrong. He asked twice into the receiver, but by the time he asked the question, Juliana had already hung up the communication.

“Where is Adams?”

The first thing Lauren did after putting down the receiver was to look at Athena and ask, with both determination and deep fear.

Athena was already hesitant in her speech, and he didn’t have time to listen to her slowly.

“Seventh floor atrium.”

Without time to ask Athena for specific details, Lauren’s figure immediately disappeared from the office, leaving only the slight hum of the ancient magical device in the office, and the swaying shadows cast by the sunlight from the window on the desk.

…

In the sky above Ikorette Academy, shadows of birds often swept across the normally blue sky like gusts of wind and rain.

However, in the high altitude at this time, wind swirled around Lauren, his figure seemed to turn into a feather in the wind, uniting with the wind, soaring rapidly.

The school’s buildings quickly shrunk in Lauren’s view. He flew over the red-brick and green-tiled buildings, the ancient oak trees and lakes, and instantly saw the Learning and Education Building.

Lauren’s black coat fluttered in the wind, the corners dancing like ghosts in the night.

His face was firm, his eyes shining with light, as if he could see through everything in this world.

The wind rubbed against Lauren’s cheeks during high-speed flight, bringing a slight heat, but he didn’t care about it. He had only one goal in his heart, and that was to go to the seventh floor of the atrium as soon as possible to see the situation clearly.

The situation wasn’t actually that bad.

He was upright and not afraid of gossip.

Although there were some rumors.

But he wouldn’t go to the Yaroran Kingdom specifically to find Juliana.

There was no official business that required him to make a trip in person, and dating was even more absurd.

Even if he took a step back ten thousand times, even if he really saw Juliana, the two of them could never go on a date.

These rumors would surely disappear without being attacked.

What he needed to figure out most right now was what Ranch was up to again.

Lauren was flying along the sky above Ikorette Academy, intending to directly ascend to the rooftop of the Learning and Education Building, when he suddenly caught sight of two familiar figures.

Ranch and Hyperion were steadily walking and talking with a young student he was not very familiar with, on the broad stone path leading to the Sage Institute.

Lauren’s heartbeat accelerated slightly. He decided to stop the wind magic, gradually reduce its power, and let himself land gently.

As his feet touched the ground, the storm surging from under his feet began to shrink slowly, eventually turning into nothingness.

He landed lightly on the ground from mid-air, and then Lauren looked directly at the three students in front of him.

Ranch was still as calm as ever, very candid every day.

And Hyperion’s eyes showed a hint of alertness after seeing Dean Lauren, seeming a little guilty.

Next to the two of them, there was a student that Lauren didn’t recognize. He looked very uneasy, but he didn’t seem to be from their school. He should be a student from the Yaroran Royal Academy academic exchange team, and he looked like an honest person at first glance.

(End of this chapter)