Chapter 75 - 75: Lady Rose Faction

Aron stood at the very back of the long queue that he found upon reaching the library entrance. Students of all ranks where lined up leading him to believe there was some sort of event taking place.

"What's all this about?" Without wasting time guessing, he tapped the shoulder of the student in front of him and asked what was going on.

"Tch, if you don't even know, then get los…" The young man that stood in front of Aron was irritated after being tapped on the shoulder, however, when he turned to confront the person who did that to him, he could only trail off until he could no longer be heard.

He looked up at Aron's towering figure and cold grey eyes that looked non too pleased by what he was about to say. Aside from Aron's intimidating looks, what really got the young man sweating like he had ran a marathon was Aron's cloak, the cloak of a rank four title holder.

"I-I'm sorry!" Realizing his blunder, the young man didn't hesitate to bow his head and yell out an apology, doing so caused the others lined up to turn their heads and notice Aron as well.

"I asked you a question." Aron's statement sent shivers down the young man's spine as his voice carried little patience. But the young man still hesitated to speak as if fearing the answer might anger Aron.

"...We're here to admire a woman," The young man confessed in a low tone before going completely silent. After hearing no response from Aron, he decided to look at him and saw Aron's expression had grown a lot colder.

He didn't know wether this young man in front of him was being serious or was hiding something, but it didn't matter as either option irritated him.

"Move," Aron ordered and, as if by instinct, the young man rushed away from the queue and left entirely. Without needing to say anything more, the other students began to move out of Aron's way no matter their rank.

When Aron finally entered the library, he found that what the young man had said held some truth. The library was filled to capacity with all seats occupied and other students even standing, but the majority of students weren't even looking at the books they held.

Their attention was instead drawn towards the reception where a beautiful mature woman stood. Despite the attention she was receiving, her cool, light green eyes were focused on a book in front of her. She had long, black glossy hair which fluttered ever so beautifully and slowly as the breeze from window carried it. Her dark, cherry lips were slightly parted and glistened under the natural lighting.

Her facial features aside, she had a buxom figure like no other. A more than modest chest while also having wide and curvy hips, highlighted perfectly by the elegant dress that hugged her in all the right places while showcasing much of her cleavage.

Most of men and even some of the women were absolutely glued to this woman. Aron's eyes glowed slightly and he narrowed her eyes towards her trying to inspect her mana. But from what he could tell—she was average, so the little curiosity he had all but vanished.

'They really chose to come spend their day staring at the opposite gender. I see no hope for this race,' Aron thought as he turned to find something of interest to read.

As he made his way to one of the shelf's and passed the reception, he obscured some peoples' vision of the lady and caused them to glare at him, this lasted only for a moment until they noticed his cloak.

From there, everyone quickly made way for him, clearing the entire shelf and squeezing themselves elsewhere. Once he made contact with the first book, his legacy ring began to record the knowledge of any and all books within a certain radius of Aron.

This operation wouldn't take too long, so he picked one of the books that caught his eye and went to sit and read. The last thing he wanted was for rumors to start that he, too, only walked in to stare at a body, so he chose to stay until he finished reading one book.

The only seats that were available were those where one couldn't see the woman, at the far end of the library on the upper floor. There he found a few students that looked to reading seriously. 'I suppose this is where the more sensible bunch reside.'

Once there, he quickly glanced around at the few students that were there before choosing to go seat by a sofa near the window. Once he sat down, the familiar woman on the seat opposite to him released a sigh. "They are many free seats present on the upper floor, may you please seat somewhere else? I'm in no mood to talk." Claudia, who was seated opposite of him, dismissed his presence without even looking up at him.

"I came to read, I have no intention of conversing casually with you," Aron replied rather bluntly, causing Claudia, who instantly recognized his voice, to look up at him. "Oh... I'm terribly sorry, I just assumed you were another student here trying to chat," she explained hoping she didn't offend him, but now it was he who looked down at the book without raising his head.

"Sounds aggravating. Seems a good portion of students just come here to observe each other, when I was told where I'd find the elite of my age group... I expected far more," Aron commented, Claudia readily agreed. "Yes, well, not everyone is mentally sound here, it would seem. I take it you came across the unofficial supporters of the Lady Rose Faction?" Claudia asked white rubbing her temples irritatedly.

"Lady Rose? The woman at the reception I take it?" Aron asked and Claudia nodded before explaining further.

"Yes, well, that woman is the librarian and although many first years are unaware, she's also a grand mage. Unlike Lord Yohan and Lady Belle, however, she doesn't have a faction of her known. From what my older sister had told me, she rarely takes part in academy affairs. As for the Lady Rose faction, I hear it's the name of a faction founded by one of the Rank Four Guardians of the academy, an avid admirer of Lady Rose."

"But as far as anyone knows, she has no lover and doesn't belong to any noble family, not much is known about her by students, actually. She spends many of her days in the library reading and rarely ever speaks. I, too, would ignore everyone if the amount of attention I received got to that point," Claudia explained, but Aron remained glued to his book.

"A grand mage without a faction, interesting,." Aron spoke his thought aloud before going silent, Claudia did likewise and she too just focused on reading her work.

After some time had passed, Aron finished reading his book and closed it. "I'll be taking my leave," he announced to Claudia who gave him a nod. "Feel free to come to this seat whenever you're in the library, I'm usually here and we could both avoid annoying company in the process," she suggested, however, Aron shook his head at the idea.

"I won't be returning here, the atmosphere on its own is just irritating. I'll stick to reading in my study. Oh, and Jin and Jagu have bought a venue where we'll gather for the first meeting later today," Aron added after remembering and Claudia instantly got up. "Dammit, why wasn't I told, there's so much to do, but, while you're here, may I ask you some questions on your preferences since I never got the chance to do so...?" As if he set off a chain reaction, Aron looked at Claudia who began to talk seriously without stop about matters concerning their faction.

With the library's knowledge secured in his legacy ring, he had no real agenda left to pursue, so he didn't mind answering Claudia's questions.. It was then that he began to acknowledge how much work she was putting in to establish the faction, and before he knew it, he too was actively participating and giving feedback on her ideas.