Chapter 76 - 76: Disaster Approaching

After Aron parted ways with Claudia who left to make preparations for the meeting, he left the academy and returned to his residence.

Once there, he made his way to his room, sat cross legged on the floor and took a deep breath. Upon doing this, the air in the room seemed to have grown heavy and suffocating as a bluish mist began emanating from his body.

The pace at which it was doing so was far more rapid than past times when he meditated. By the time evening fell, the mist had ceased emanating from him and he slowly opened his eyes.

'As I thought, calming an urge makes it easier to then rid myself of the luna mana since I don't need to constantly fight the urges like before. However, the rate is still far too little and I can't always satisfy my urges... at least not here.' Aron let out a helpless sigh and stood up before stretching his arms.

It was hard to classify his discovery as an advantage or disadvantage. On one hand it was good that satisfying his urges made it easier to expel the luna mana, making him even stronger, but on the other hand almost all his urges were ones that could cause far too much attention to be drawn to him.

Worst case scenario: he becomes hunted by numerous forces, making it even harder to find a way to Limbo. Before he could ponder the matter any longer, he turned towards the door and narrowed his eyes. "Enter."

Anastasia, who stood on the other side of the door and was about to knock, was slightly taken aback. 'Is he always this vigilant?' Anastasia thought to herself as she walked into his room.

Most mages who were sensitive to changes in the environment needed a high level of control to do so passively which she thought Aron did. Little did she know he was just capable of sensing any foreign mana that came within a certain range of him.

"I didn't think I'd see you so soon." Aron turned to Anastasia and stated while walking closer to her. He came to a halt just a few inches away and looked down at her, but this time his aura wasn't as fear inducing as the past times she met him.

"I have a report..." As per usual, Anastasia's demeanor was nowhere to be seen. She couldn't even face Aron as she spoke, if one saw her like this they'd think she was naturally timid.

"Go on." Aron brought his hand to Anastasia's face and made her face his before bringing his head closer and locking eyes with her. His cold, grey eyes made her feel like he could peer into her soul, like all her secrets were exposed.

This was the power of a powerful gaze, it would make one more willing to speak so as to quickly get out of the uncomfortable situation. A tactic used not only by beasts but by individuals of many other races, humans included. Anastasia could only helplessly part her glossy, pink lips and start revealing what she had come to tell him.

Meanwhile at the academy, many of the students had left the premises and returned to their residences. Some belonging to factions, extra-curricular groups or receiving private tutorage from professors.

In one of the corridors, a single figure could be seen sensually strutting through with full confidence, the sound of her steps resounded loudly throughout the empty corridor before she came to halt near two large doors which lead to the library.

Anyone who saw her in Galos City would immediately recognize her, be it for her beauty, status or power, everyone knew the name Lady Belle Ettenheim.

Without bothering to knock on the door, she walked in casually and was met with an eerie silence. Without the students, the large dimly lit library was without noise. Belle showed a small frown upon entering and scanned the surroundings while a subtle look of disgust formed on her face.

She was someone who enjoyed being surrounded by beauty and luxury, the ancient looking library although clean was still unsightly to look at for her.

Her gaze soon stopped upon the only figure still present in the library, Lady Rose who was standing near a table with numerous sheets of paper and books laid in front of her. Before she could be noticed, Belle wore her usual smile and approached Rose before clearing her throat to get her attention.

"What is it?" Rose replied indifferently, not even trying to hide her irritation in her voice at Belle's disturbance. Her voice was clear, mature and sounded strict but was still very pleasing to the ear. "I do sincerely apologize for interrupting, I just came to check in on you, after all, you've made it a habit to avoid your duties as a Grand Mage. I just thought I'd give you some friendly advice." Belle chuckled beautifully and spoke in a polite manner but her words still came across with a different meaning.

"The thoughts of lesser minds do not appeal to me in the slightest. Leave." Unlike Belle who at least pretended to be nice, Rose was as blunt as could be and didn't mince her words nor did she face Belle even once.

To Belle, who loved to be the center of attention and did her best to gain it, Rose was like a stain she just couldn't get rid of. She held lower status than her, almost never appeared in public, was rude to everyone, and didn't even form a faction.

Despite all this, Rose was as popular as Belle, be it with students or professors and thus, she felt her aim to become Arch-Mage was threatened.

"With an attitude like that you'll never be selected as an Arch Mage, you know?" Belle chuckled and advised, but Rose remained unimpressed with her words. "Then so be it, so long as I have my library and care not for anything else, especially the political games of a child seeking acknowledgement." This time, Rose's words were enough to spark a reaction from Belle.

She clenched her fist and her aura caused the room to shake violently for a moment. Rose didn't react to this and continued to focus on the papers laid before her.

"Tch. If you have no interest in bettering the academy or its affairs then announce resignation as a candidate for the seat of Arch-Mage to the public by the end of this week, or I'll be forced to compete seriously, you may even lose this ancient library you love so much." Belle slightly calmed down as she suggested this before turning away and leaving.

Rose raised her index finger and flicked it slightly, causing all the books that fell due to the shock to return to their original places. "Seems she's grown impatient, however, if this report proves to be true then the coming months are sure to be quite noisy. It was only a matter of time, I suppose..." Rose sighed as she stared at a sketch of a creature.

Back in Aron's room, Aron had moved away from Anastasia and was now rubbing his chin after hearing Anastasia's report. "An internal conflict...."