First Move, Checkmate: How Will You Respond?

“Victor, didn’t you go to the academy today?”

“What’s wrong?”

Victor sat at his desk, holding an advanced magic book as entertainment.

He flipped through it, responding to Lia’s words.

“I’ve handed my affairs over to my assistant. She can handle it.”

Lia looked at his relaxed attitude, holding her forehead in frustration, and sighed.

“You’ll see for yourself.”

She pulled a letter full of text from her pocket and tossed it onto the table in front of Victor.

Victor glanced at Lia, who seemed helpless, slowly closed the book, and picked up the letter.

After reading it carefully, Victor’s eyebrows furrowed.

—

“Professor Victor, it has been over seven days since you last came to the academy.

Have you encountered any difficulties?

Or do you find the work of teaching too dull?

If you can’t return to the academy.

Then the academy will retain your professorship and wait for you to return to the academy to reassign it.”

— Royal Magic Academy, Rachel Azure.

Rachel Azure, it’s the dean’s name.

As the only fourth-order Saint Mage in the Royal Capital… well, now there are two.

In short, the dean’s energy is all invested in the development and construction of the academy.

Official letters like this are automatically sent by the dean’s ability.

[Natural Sparrow]

This is a magic created by the dean himself.

The Natural Sparrow is formed from the elements in the air. It could be a leaf or a speck of dust in the air.

These natural objects accompany the dean’s will and are used as his tools.

The dean naturally doesn’t have enough time and energy to understand all the things happening to Victor recently.

He could only feel that—Victor Clayvin, had not been back to the academy to teach for about seven or eight days.

So, the [Natural Sparrow] automatically activated, sending him this official letter, which was obviously a reminder.

“Victor, it’s time for work.”

Lia stood by, looking at Victor’s poker face, which showed no change.

The title of professor was about to be taken away, but he was still so calm.

She said:

“The letter had arrived at the doorstep before I came back tonight.”

“So, you attended the morning meeting today, and for the rest of the time, you have been relaxing at home? You didn’t even step out of the house?”

“……”

Actually, it’s not like he’s been staying at home all the time. After all, he did visit Gwen’s house.

Victor was silent for a moment, put the letter back on the table, aligned it with the edge of the table.

Looking at Victor’s leisurely appearance, Lia was so angry. Didn’t this man have any concept of work in his eyes?

She couldn’t help it anymore and began to vent her emotions to Victor:

“Do you know how much I have given for your professorship…”

“I’ve been away from home for too long. I want to stay at home a little longer.”

Before Lia could finish her words, Victor interrupted her.

“Although it’s impolite to interrupt you, I think it’s necessary to explain.”

“By the way, I want to tell you earlier.”

“I’ve been missing for too long, thank you for taking care of the house.”

“……”

This time, it was Lia’s turn to be silent. She seemed to have half a sentence stuck in her throat, a bit embarrassed. Her mouth corners were slightly upturned, but she was obviously trying to suppress it.

She simply turned her head, pacing in the room, mumbling:

“Ha…haha, what’s going on…”

Victor was somewhat self-aware.

His disappearance these days has indeed caused some problems for the Clayvin family.

But it also presented an opportunity.

After all, Victor had many enemies. Although Lia had eliminated some of them, there were still many who had been hiding, fearing Victor and never exposing themselves.

When Victor disappeared, and even news of his death spread, these people surfaced one wave after another, all targeting the Clayvin family.

Lia clearly understood that they were here to settle scores.

Concerned about these people hiding in the shadows and posing a future threat to the Clayvin family, this situation was actually a blessing. After Victor left, she finally had the opportunity to deal with all of them.

With Leon’s help, they secretly destroyed countless shops and as a result, obtained many valuable goods.

In summary, in recent days, the Clayvin family managed to make a small profit, filling the gap.

Of course, there was still some hardship in the open.

There were indeed many businesses taking advantage of this opportunity to compete with the Clayvin family business, which was an undeniable fact.

And they couldn’t easily resist this open attack, due to its significant implications.

Especially the newly opened Prop Shop, which was already doing poorly in business. After this incident, no one came to patronize it anymore.

Indeed, the fantasy was wonderful, but reality was cruel.

Who was the one who made the solemn promise that it would definitely make money?

Lia glanced at Victor, her eyes filled with obvious disdain.

“So, what was the result today? You’re definitely fine, I’m asking about the Duke.”

Victor glanced at her and said,

“We held on.”

Lia was puzzled, frowning and asking,

“Isn’t there a long-standing grievance between you and the Duke?”

She was referring to the incident where Victor confessed to Erica Duquois.

“How could the Duke, who is a slave to his daughter, possibly develop a good relationship with you?”

Lia couldn’t figure it out. Did Victor use some method to coerce the Duke?

It wouldn’t be inconsistent with his style.

“There are some things that require me to do so.”

“In any case, you don’t have to worry about the shop for the time being.”

Upon hearing Victor say this, Lia had some guesses and inquired,

“Do you want to use the Duke’s influence to promote the reputation of our goods?”

Victor tapped the table.

“Initially, I did have this idea, but I don’t intend to use the Duke.”

“After all, he doesn’t have a good reputation now.”

Even if the Duke’s charges were cleared, his actions in front of everyone were indisputable facts.

Under such conditions, the good reputation that the Duke had accumulated over the years was largely destroyed in the Mage circle in an instant.

And the magic potion mainly targets Mages.

If they use the Duke’s reputation, they might as well close the shop now.

“It’s better to use his daughter.”

“What are you planning now?”

Lia was puzzled again. She really couldn’t understand Victor’s actions, shrugged, and didn’t care that much.

After all, she only cared about the results.

As if remembering something, she said,

“Oh, by the way, Gwen contacted me today, saying she wanted me to pass on some things to you.”

“Hmm?”

Victor was a bit puzzled, just listening to Lia’s equally puzzled words.

“She said her sister told you to watch out for the ‘dirty things’ infiltrating the Royal Capital.”

“Her sister? ‘Dirty things’? Is that all she said?”

“Yeah, that’s all.”

Lia looked at Victor’s complicated expression, and gave him a white look.

“Fine, continue with your book then. I won’t disturb you anymore.”

With that, she swiveled her hips and left the study.

Victor didn’t even lift his head, lost in deep thought.

“Gwen’s sister…”

In his memory, there was only one: her eldest sister—Caifla Delin.

However, this character never appeared in the main storyline.

Because she had already died before the main plot, during the prologue.

Died from…

“A demon invasion.”

Victor closed his eyes.

In the first chapter of the game plot, the Carenthia Empire was invaded by demons.

A large number of residents turned into mindless zombies, all controlled by demons.

And countless small demons wandered the streets.

They were scattered all over the Carenthia Empire.

In the early stage of the game, the newbie monsters that players needed to kill were not slimes, but these small demons.

For the players, these small demons were nothing more than ordinary experience points.

Until the mid-phase, when the players had defeated the mid-phase demon boss of the first chapter, the Carenthia Empire returned to normal.

What was that demon boss called again?

“Let me think…”

“Greed Demon—Yem.”

“Hey! Kid, you’ve just inadvertently uttered something quite unfriendly.”

Veega suddenly started chattering on his shoulder. Just hearing the real name of this thing, it, as an evil god, got goosebumps all over.

“So what? A demon? How do you know the name of this thing?”

Veega’s single eye stared intently at Victor, asking.

“Just a casual mention.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Veega didn’t believe his lie at all. Casually mentioning such a disgusting thing?

Yes, disgusting, very disgusting.

As a strict deity, Veega hated the filthy demons the most.

Victor curiously glanced at Veega. That thing was indeed very disgusting, but it was beyond his expectation that it could make an evil god feel nauseous.

“Aren’t you an evil god? I thought you and other demons would have a lot in common.”

“Why would you associate gods with demons?”

Veega lifted its head proudly, as if to tell of its noble status.

I, a god, play for keeps!

“So, the dirty thing that the little girl mentioned, is it this thing?”

Veega seemed disgusted, saying, “Why don’t you lock me in a cage, deal with it, then let me out?”

Victor looked at it and shook his head.

In Veega’s eyes, since Victor had uttered the name of that thing, it meant he knew something.

“I haven’t confirmed it yet.”

To tell the truth, Victor also despised this kind of thing.

Different demons have different methods, but without exception, they would rely on various human emotions to satisfy themselves.

The Greed Demon, Yem, its tactic was…

“Exploiting other people’s greed, time and again giving them what they desire.”

“Until they can’t repay, it would plunge the greedy ones into an abyss of endless depth, making them repay a thousand-fold.”

Victor opened his eyes.

“Truly disgusting.”

……..

In Victor’s office, Hennie was packing her belongings.

She was ready to leave.

Leave this academy and go somewhere else.

The only person who cared about her was no longer here.

Her dream had also been burned to the ground.

Hennie had no regrets left.

“Young lady, you look very unhappy.”

A deep, magnetic voice echoed in the darkness, causing Hennie to spin around suddenly.

There was nothing there.

“Another prank?” she wondered.

Hennie thought it was ridiculous that someone would still be in the mood for pranks at this time.

“Oh, I’m sorry, darling, you don’t seem to be doing well,” the voice continued.

“Is there anything I can help you with?”