First Move, Checkmate: How Will You Respond?

Gwen stared at Victor, her eyes never leaving him.

She was in a state of panic. The failure of the Righteous Heart left her completely in the dark about whether Victor was telling the truth or not.

How could this matter have anything to do with demons?

“Demon? What is a demon?”

“I don’t know. What is it?”

Many people present hadn’t even heard of what a demon was. They were all clueless about everything that had just happened.

But everyone saw with their own eyes that Professor Devon was taken away.

Victor didn’t have the time or patience to explain to these people. All he needed was to make them doubt whether Devon had any connection with those things they had just seen.

“Do you know the location?”

Victor communicated with Veega in his mind.

“Not far, just on the hill behind the academy.”

Veega patted his own chest and flew back onto Victor’s shoulder, replying with confidence.

Victor knew that if Hennie was really influenced by the demon’s temptation, she would never let Devon Raser go.

The demon would gradually amplify people’s negative emotions. Hennie’s hatred was the best feed for the demon.

In the end, no matter what method was used, Devon Raser would definitely be taken away.

All he needed to do was to slightly manipulate public opinion, and the blame for the demon would fall on Devon Raser.

Victor had marked Devon Raser with a magic imprint. Even if the other party left the Royal Capital, Veega could sense the location of the magic imprint through the link they had established.

Finding that guy would be a piece of cake.

Now, Victor’s mission was accomplished.

All he needed to do was wait.

Wait until the demon showed its fangs, then he would deal with it himself.

Suddenly, Victor “suddenly” felt a wave of dizziness. He held his forehead and his body swayed significantly.

Because of the barrier’s influence, his figure was unsteady, as if he would fall down completely at any moment.

“Victor…”

Seeing Victor’s swaying figure, Gwen instinctively wanted to raise her hand, to go forward and steady him. But the surrounding gaze made her hesitate and stop.

Just at this moment, a knight standing next to her also seemed a bit faint and unstable. He bumped into Gwen’s shoulder.

Caught off guard, she staggered and ended up in front of Victor.

As she raised her head, she was met with Victor’s dizzy gaze.

Now Gwen was flustered. She was standing in the square, not knowing whether to move or stay still.

But just seeing Victor’s weak appearance, she gathered her courage.

“It’s just helping him up, he saved me after all. It’s nothing.”

Having found a reason for herself, she stepped forward, her hands holding Victor.

“Victor, are you okay?”

Victor, supported by her, couldn’t help but stiffen a bit, turning his head and looking at Gwen with a bit of surprise.

What’s going on?

He was pretending, wasn’t he?

Despite the influence of the magic circle on him, a Fourth Order Mage like him wouldn’t be in such a state.

But he had just ‘fought’ with the demon for a while. To others, it would definitely appear that his physical strength had decreased.

Victor wanted to explain, but after thinking about it, he decided to go with the flow and collapsed into Gwen’s arms.

Meanwhile, he pretended to sound very weak.

“Help me a bit…”

Don’t get me wrong, this is not taking advantage.

It’s just to clear his suspicion more thoroughly.

At first, Gwen was a bit hesitant to move in front of so many people, her face turned red in anxiety. But hearing Victor’s weak voice, her righteous and kind heart couldn’t help but explode with sympathy.

“Victor must be very tired…”

Despite being despised and slandered by everyone, he didn’t make any explanation.

Even if it would lead to misunderstandings from everyone.

Some relatively clear-headed mages took the initiative to ask:

“What exactly happened? What is this about the demon?”

“So, Professor Devon is the one with the problem!? How is that possible?”

“My brain is in total chaos, it feels like this barrier has affected my intelligence!”

“What are we eating for lunch?”

“No, why are Gwen, the Knight Commander, and Victor hugging in public?”

Gwen: “……”

“Silence!”

A member of the Knight Corps shouted, silencing the mages present.

Gwen knelt down, cradling Victor in her arms, trying to make him as comfortable as possible.

Then, she addressed the mages in front of her:

“Any questions will be answered one by one after the matter is thoroughly investigated.”

“For now, please stay quietly within the academy and wait for rescue.”

“And let Victor rest for a while!”

The many mages closed their mouths.

Some nobles who knew that the two were engaged were still puzzled.

It was said that Victor and Gwen didn’t get along, but how could this loving couple be said to have a bad relationship?

Who spread such rumors!

Pure nonsense!

Veega stood on the ground, looking speechlessly at Victor, who was pretending to faint.

Life is but a play, all depends on acting.

I wonder how you plan to exit the stage.

Suddenly, Veega lifted its head, squinting its eyes as if it had sensed something.

The faint blue light in its single eye scanned its surroundings.

‘Victor, stop sleeping for now.’

‘That girl from the Duke’s family is getting close to that thing.’

As the first believer who contributed power to Veega, there was a very clear one-way connection between Veega and Erica Duquois.

Veega could sense where Erica was at any time, but Erica couldn’t feel Veega’s presence.

Under this one-way connection, it instantly noticed that Erica was approaching the back mountain.

‘That girl is my only believer right now, don’t let her die.’

Victor naturally knew what Veega had revealed in front of Erica, and had gained a believer by using the excuse of saving him.

‘Truly troublesome.’

Victor replied to Veega in his mind, then ‘struggled’ to open his eyes.

“Gwen, reach… inside…”

“Huh? What???”

Gwen was stunned, her face turning red, her speech stuttering.

“Vi…Victor, you…you…what are you saying…”

“Inside my coat, there’s my potion.”

Boom!

Like a huge bomb exploding, Gwen’s brain instantly went blank.

She realized that she had misunderstood and quickly shut her mouth, reaching into Victor’s coat.

With a thought, Victor transferred the blue potion from the Player’s Backpack to his coat.

Gwen soon found it, took it out, it was a small blue bottle.

“Is this it?”

She looked at Victor, the style seemed almost identical to the potions Victor had given her before.

Only the color was different.

She was about to hand it to Victor, but realized that Victor was now so weak that he couldn’t even lift his arm. She hurriedly brought the potion to Victor’s lips.

“Victor, open your mouth.”

Victor opened his mouth, and Gwen slowly poured the potion into Victor’s mouth.

After doing all this, she sighed with relief, looked up and saw countless people staring at her.

Including her own Knight Corps.

Gwen blinked her eyes, asking the surrounding knights.

“What are you all looking at me for?”

“No, nothing, Commander.”

The knight said somewhat awkwardly.

“It just feels like… Viscount Victor, um… is really lucky.”

“Huh?”

At this point, Gwen finally realized what an absurd thing she had just said.

However, Victor, who was in her arms, moved slightly.

Gwen didn’t have time to think too much. She looked at Victor in surprise as he supported himself on one hand to stand up, appearing to regain his vitality almost instantly.

“Vi…Victor? Are you okay?”

“Thank you, Gwen.”

He stood up and straightened his coat.

Everyone was once again stunned.

Wasn’t he on the brink of death just a moment ago? How did he suddenly recover?

What kind of miracle potion did he drink? That’s insane!

Even if this was a performance, he should have played it up a bit more!

Suddenly, Victor named a few individuals.

“Professor Nair, Professor Disong, Professor Gaia…”

Those called out were among the few third-level Mages in the academy.

These professors collectively looked at Victor.

“Professor Victor, what is the matter?”

Victor explained simply.

“As you can see, the Academy has been sealed off by demon powers.”

“It won’t be long before our strength is completely depleted. Then, each one of you will become a meal for the demons.”

At these words, the mages shivered. The professors whose names were called quickly stood up.

“If you don’t want to sit around waiting to die, then help me break the seal.”

Hearing Victor’s words, the professors looked at each other, somewhat helpless:

“Professor Victor, our mana is constantly being drained, we can’t recover.”

“We want to help, but we’re powerless.”

As the words fell, Victor pulled out several bottles identical to the one he had just drunk from his coat, accurately tossing them to the mages.

They hurriedly caught them, before they could even see the color of the potion, Victor suddenly said:

“Drink it.”

They all thought of Victor who had previously drunk it, hesitated for a moment, and then all tilted their heads back and drank it.

Soon…

“Huh?”

“Uh?”

“What?”

The reactions of the mages were similar. Without exception, they looked at their bodies, which were glowing with a faint blue light.

Their mana had recovered by about half in an instant.

“This is a miracle potion!”

They initially doubted whether Victor was putting on a show.

A show? No way!

He didn’t need to put on a show, sincerity is the best killer move.

While the professors were still immersed in this wonderful feeling, Victor’s voice leisurely came.

“One thousand Ducats a bottle.”

“The Knight Corps are all here watching, don’t try to dodge the bill.”

A group of mages were stunned on the spot.

“How much? A thousand Ducats?”

Hearing this, many students and some mages present showed difficult expressions.

But the professors who had drunk the potion almost unanimously said,

“That’s too cheap!”

“Professor Victor! Sell me a few more bottles! No, ten bottles! Twenty bottles, please!”

“Professor Victor, you say, where are we going now? If you ask me to go east, I will definitely not go west! If you ask me to catch a dog today, I will not chase a chicken!”

“I’ve always disliked that pig Devin! No more words, Professor! Today, regardless of whether it’s a demon or not, I’m with you!”

Seeing the professors getting excited as if they were injected with chicken blood, those who were sober on the scene were all puzzled.

Gwen was still kneeling on the ground, not reacting for a moment.

After a while, she tilted her head and blinked her eyes.

“Huh?”