Extra Of The Magus Academy

"Do we have an understanding? I want you to say it."

Ash's pale face was calm—a mask of no emotions—and he stared at Dustan patiently, waiting for the boy to admit complete defeat.

To surrender entirely.

"I-I understand…" He swallowed hard as he uttered those words.

Despite how enraged he was at Ashfelt for using him and jeopardizing the lives of innocent people, Dustan still valued his life above all else. He knew just how cruel this world could be—especially towards commoners.

He would be tortured immensely before getting killed in the most brutal manner.

There was also no guarantee that he would return to the normal world after death, so he couldn't take that chance.

As such, all he could do was behave according to Ash's commands.

The boy literally held his life in his hands.

"There's no need to look so nervous, Dustan." Ash heaved lightly and jumped to his feet. "This deal brings a lot of benefits to you as well."

"B-benefits?"

"Though you won't be able to see some of them quite yet, the most obvious one is a clear route to Alpha Class."

"What?"

"I'll make sure of it, Dustan… you're getting into Alpha Class." Ash revealed. "That's the first order of business."

"B-but why…?"

"I'm sure you already have an idea, but the situation between Alpha and Beta Class is really bad right now, and to protect my asset against what comes next, it's best I have you as close to me as possible."

The initial plan was to use Dustan as a bridge between Alpha and Beta Class, but there was no need for that anymore.

No bridge would be necessary in what was coming next.

'It's only a matter of time before the tension breaks out and the next storm appears in the Academy…' Ash sighed internally. 'It's happening a little earlier than expected, but I should be able to keep things stable until the start of the second arc.'

Once it got to that point, everything would explode in the most disastrous way.

"From this point on, Dustan… we focus solely on training and improvement."

Ash walked towards him and patted him on the shoulder. "Make sure to be ready for me every weekday by 5 AM in the morning, and by 3 AM on weekends."

"W-wha—?!"

"We're going to train and study very hard… absurdly hard… to make sure you're more than strong enough for Alpha Class."

"But wouldn't that cause even more chaos? The last commoner that came to Alpha Class was Elma, and look what she's been charged with… so wouldn't everyone be very suspicious of me if I make it there?"

With a broad smile on his face, Ash nodded.

"The Promotional Exams are still months away, so there's nothing to worry about."

Besides, after the next Promotional Exams, the rift between Alpha and Beta Class would be irreparable whether or not Dustan made it into the former.

'If I miss this window, it's likely that Dustan will never be able to reach Alpha Class ever again.'

That was why they had to train so hard and leave no room for error.

'We can't rely on the Familiars in our Transmigrator Souls, which means I have to improve my Lesser Wind Spirit and Dustan… especially Dustan… also has to improve his.'

The Magia Signature of Dustan's other Familiar was in the Recording Storage room, which meant he could get implicated in the murders if he so much as leaked that power out. In order to compete with the big dogs in Alpha Class, he had to make do with his limited sets of options.

'It will be difficult to bring him up to standard, but it's not impossible.'

There were also other concerns on Ash's mind, but the most important one had to do with Elma.

'She revealed the power of her second Familiar right when she attacked me, which will be sure to raise questions.' He sighed. 'If this was any other investigator, I could have some level of assurance, but Raven Nightshade is very thorough and it's only a matter of time before he gets to the bottom of things.'

Ash was curious about a lot of things, and in a certain twisted way, this was his way of probing at things.

'What will he do once he can't find the second Familiar in what is supposed to be Elma's only Soul? An explanation could be made that she used the Spell without a Familiar's assistance, but that kind of Spell shouldn't be possible for any Mage without the aid of a Familiar.'

He could already see how interesting, as well as bothersome, the investigation would be.

'But… it could yield positive results.'

At the moment, there was no way to tell—he could only wait.

Wait and prepare.

'The Exchange Incident will be here in no time… and I have to succeed!'

**********

[Weeks Later…]

Raven Nightshade sat opposite a certain cell, watching the prisoner before him groan and moan as her naked body dripped with blood and she begged for mercy.

His empty eyes were like a spiraling abyss… deep and dark without end.

Even as he witnessed her pathetic state and listened to her desperate sobs, he was not moved in the slightest. Instead, his mind was on a rollercoaster of thoughts as he struggled to comprehend the dilemma he faced.

'The higher-ups want me to execute this girl as soon as possible, and it seems her mind and body are already their limits… but I'm not even close to uncovering a satisfactory conclusion based on the premises that are available to me.'

For one, they still had no idea who thrashed the Record Storage Room.

The Magia Signature there was foreign—not in any records belonging to either student or staff—so it was most likely an outside source.

That meant there could be a breach in the Academy's overall security.

'But did that mean they conspired with the girl? Were they partners or did they use her? If that's the case, why isn't she ratting them out? Even Blackmail or threats on her family would not be sufficient motivation to keep her mouth closed after all the torture she has gone through already.'

That left a Soul Contract as the only reasonable option.

'But there's no sign of a Soul Contract embedded in her Soul, and on that topic… there's also no other Familiar accounted for besides her Fiery Salamander.' A bigger sigh escaped his lips.

'How weird.'

Something was clearly going on, but he didn't have sufficient information to uncover it.

'However, if we are to go through the process of elimination and search for a common denominator, there's a certain clue I am yet to explore… something—or rather, someone—connected to all of these events.'

This person was involved in the White Death Incident, ended up dropping out of the Academy as a failure and went through the rare process of Re-Entrance only to get transferred to Alpha Class where his relationship with the criminal Elma seemed to deepen.

A lot of students had already attested to their special relationship that seemed clearly beyond friendship, and after she was caught, she clearly had malicious intent towards this same student.

'I let her run loose to see if she would lead me to a clue before I stopped her, but it seems the rising star of the Apprentice Stage intervened before I could.' Raven Nightshade thought to himself.

Still, her actions already showed him enough… it pointed him to a person of interest.

'Ashfelt Zephyr… I'll need to look into him.'

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[End Of Arc 1: The White Death]

I hope you enjoyed this brief arc and the introduction to this series. If you did, please write a review for me and leave a positive comment so I know.

Thank you all very much, and I hope to see you all in the next Volume.

Prepare for Arc 2: The Academy Exchange Incident.