Extra Of The Magus Academy

"There's more, Dustan."

Ash spoke softly as he brought something out of his coat pocket.

It was a small device, having the lens of a camera, but appearing so dark and inconspicuous that it could be mistaken for a black ball.

"Do you know what this is?"

Dustan squinted as he looked at the object, clearly not recognizing it. However, due to his influx of emotions, and the very aggravated state that had now consumed him, he didn't care about any of that.

Instead, he glared at Ash and spoke.

"Don't change the topic! You ruined lives and used me to do it… that's despica—"

"I'm not changing the topic, Dustan…" Ash smiled, returning to the bed as he caressed the ball in his hand.

Once his butt plopped on the slightly hardened mattress, he raised the ball up high.

"You might want to sit down for what I'm about to show you…"

Suddenly, a small buzzing sound echoed in the room—a phenomenon caused by Ash injecting some of his Magia into the black ball.

All of a sudden, a large screen was projected on the walls of Dustan's room.

It suddenly had the form of a movie theater, with the wall displaying the projected contents of a certain recording.

The recording of a particularly fortified room.

"W-what… in the world?" Dustan muttered to himself. "I… I know that place."

"Of course you do."

Ash smiled as he turned to Dustan, his eyes narrowing on the confused boy. "That's the storage room for the recordings… the room you sabotaged."

"N-no…"

"You're going to want to watch this part, Dustan."

Ash returned his gaze to the projection, where something interesting was happening in the stationary image of the room. A ghost-like figure passed through the walls, completely bypassing all the obstacles that prevented him from reaching the room.

Once inside, the transparent aura around him disappeared, revealing the intruder to be none other than Dustan.

"You successfully used the power of your High Grade Familiar to break into the room." Ash commented. "This reveals two crimes already: that you hid a special power you possess from the Academy and that you broke into the Academy's secure facility—both of which attract a heavy punishment, especially for a commoner such as yourself."

Beads of sweat began to form on Dustan's face.

"But, you know… that isn't the most interesting part about all of this."

More sweat poured out.

Dustan knew Ash was correct.

The true crime was what happened after this.

BOOOM!!!

Despite the absence of sound in the recording, the impact of Dustan's explosions could be felt from beyond the screen as he destroyed all the storage units within the room that held all the recordings of the whole building.

These storage units appeared like glowing stones, having a greenish black hue about them.

They were connected to the recording systems in all the prime locations of the Staff Room—both for security and regulatory functions. Ever since the White Death Incident, more emphasis had been placed on the room in order to guarantee security to the entire Staff Quarters.

The Student Wings also had a special room like this in their respective Campus Grounds, but as one would expect, their location was hidden.

"As you can clearly see in this recording, you destroyed school property worth a lot of money, which puts you in severe debt… and not only that, your actions could be construed to collaborate with Elma's murder of those guards and poor Gerald Lockwood."

"Y-you…" Dustan could only muster a lifeless stutter. "You told me that there was no recording device in that room."

"Yes, and you believed me… just as you believed that Gerald was the White Death."

"...."

Ash sighed, ceasing the projection by withdrawing his Magia.

A small buzz echoed and the images vanished.

"You know… if you were an avid reader of the novels, you would have known about that hidden camera. But, I already figured you weren't based on some of your actions and the stuff you wrote down in your journal."

"...."

"What arc did you stop at in the novel?" Ash asked him.

"I… how is that even relevant right no—?"

"Answer my question."

"I stopped… halfway through the Succession Wars Arc, and…"

"And?"

"I skipped to the end… and read everything else as an abridged summary."

Ash nodded, but still sighed.

'Elma would have been far more useful than this guy…' He let his thoughts flow. 'She's smarter, has thoroughly consumed the content of the novels, and she is willing to do whatever it takes to win.'

That made her far more capable than Dustan.

But, there was a reason he chose to keep the boy and eliminate her.

'Having a partner isn't bad… but what I require at the moment is a subordinate.'

Elma would always be an unpredictable wild card who would eventually turn against him if their interests didn't align.

Ash didn't want that at all.

'I want someone whose interests will be whatever mine is… and that means having a subordinate.' He let out a small smile. 'I guess Elma was just out of luck that I found someone who suited my tastes more.'

If Dustan wasn't a Transmigrator, he would have settled for her.

"Your gap in knowledge doesn't matter much to me, Dustan. I already know enough about this story that I don't need another well-read reader." Ash revealed to the still-shaken boy.

"W-what are you talking about?"

"We are still going to keep working together, Dustan. I can't just throw you away after we've come so far already… so unless you screw up or you give me a reason to, I'll keep this recording under lock and ensure no one sees it."

"...."

"I'm sure you already know what will happen to you if this recording gets out… so I suggest you behave and do exactly what I want you to."

Dustan felt a myriad of emotions, but none of those mattered at the moment.

All he could do was nod.