In one of the academy's offices.
A woman in strict business clothes stood in front of the desk where Wallace, a middle-aged man who was the academy's vice principal and her direct superior, was sitting. He was now hurriedly sorting through the papers on the desk.
At this moment, many people in the academy were beyond alarmed, because due to the unforeseen disturbances in the rift, it was decided to end the first part of the test and deal with the mass evacuation of students from the rift.
Unfortunately, from the moment the core of the rift suddenly disappeared, they lost control of both the rift and all the functions of the bracelets, making it impossible to automatically retrieve the students from there. Therefore, the academy had to go to great lengths to get all the students back safely.
Because of this, they had to cancel the second part of the test, which was supposed to test the students' personal strength through one-on-one fights, and reschedule it.
Noticing that Wallace had taken his gaze off the papers and was looking at her, Audrey gave the report she had come here for.
"We successfully pulled the last person out of the rift half an hour ago. No one was hurt except for one student."
"What? How could someone get hurt!? We definitely did our best to make sure such a thing wouldn't happen!"
Wallace clenched his fists in indignation, glaring at the woman in front of him. Perhaps because of his short stature or the fact that he was now sitting, but his gaze fell on her breasts. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself and placed his hands on the table, regaining his serious manner of speech.
"Which student was the one who was hurt?"
"One of the students in the Elite Class, Cale."
A few drops of sweat appeared on the middle-aged man's face when he heard about the Elite Class, but after hearing the student's name and not remembering anyone with that name, he exhaled and asked in a more carefree manner.
"And what happened to him?"
"You see, the last time the rift shook violently, he–"
"Yes, the rift was unexpectedly shaken while he was fighting monsters and he got hurt by them. It's a typical situation, so you don't have to waste my time."
Wallace quickly lost interest in her words and waved for her to leave before returning to looking at the papers on the desk. But he was soon distracted again by the voice of the woman in front of him.
"It's not quite like that, sir. He wasn't hurt by the monsters. He was squashed by his partner."
Wallace froze and raised his eyes to the woman in front of him, who kept a serious expression on her face.
"...what?"
Seeing that he didn't understand her, Audrey hastily explained.
"His partner, Donat, is from the Edodes family, and as you know because of their bloodline their weight is 'slightly' above the norm."
The man set the papers aside and rubbed his temples.
"Alright, give him a good compensation and give him some help to recover as soon as possible. I don't want another stain on the academy's reputation, understand?"
He drilled his subordinate with a stern look.
"Of course, we've already checked his condition, but it seems to be... more of a psychological problem than a physical one."
Wallace's face became even more sullen, but brightened as he remembered something.
"By the way, how's Grey doing?"
Knowing that Grey was the vice principal's favorite, Audrey immediately told her about him.
"Gray did a great job with the test as always. He even helped us evacuate people from the rift at the end."
At these words, the vice principal's mood improved and he laughed.
"He is truly a hero among men! I believe that very soon he will go on stage and shine the brightest. His mother will be proud of him."
"Why are you surprised? I told you a long time ago that even by Winderline standards Eliana has great potential and it's only a matter of time before she makes herself known."
A blissful smile spread across Amelia's face as she imagined something.
"I can't wait to see Ophelia's face when she has to admit defeat. Maybe she'll even..."
Before Amelia could go too far in her fantasies, Audrey corrected her with complicated emotion.
"It wasn't her, it was her brother."
As soon as Amelia heard this, her face froze and the cup from her hands almost fell onto the contract in front of her.
"Say again, what did you say?"
"It wasn't the student Eliana, it was her brother, Rain."
"Are you sure... that this is accurate information?"
Unable to accept this, Amelia continued to ask.
"Yes, that's the information that all faculty members received."
Seeing her friend's serious face, Amelia realized she wasn't joking, so she quickly walked over to one of the racks. Using detection magic, she pulled out one of the students' admission forms from there.
Amelia opened it and stared at the image of the red-eyed young man for a full minute, as if trying to find something in him.
"I can't see anything special about him, except for that handsome face..."
Amelia muttered before her gaze fell on the contract in disbelief. There, a single name was written in Ophelia's beautiful handwriting across from Eliana's name.
'How could she be so sure he would win?'
Initially, Amelia had mistaken Ophelia's confidence in his victory for another of her whims, but now she realized there was something else behind it.
While Amelia was trying to realize what it could have been, cutely rubbing the ends of her shirt with her fingers, her friend's voice reached her.
"By the way, he was the reason that caused all the problems with the rift."
"He was even able to defeat 'It'?"
Amelia's eyebrows crept up and this time she stared at the image of the red-eyed young man even longer, until something unusual flashed in her eyes and a smile spread across her lips.
"Rain Winderline... interesting."
Muttering something to herself, Amelia took hasty steps out of the office.
Audrey looked at her and swallowed.
"Oh no, she got that look again. I hope she's not going to go to his house right now..."
Audrey slowly shifted her gaze to a form with a picture of a handsome young man left on the table.
"I'll pray for him to be okay."
°°°°
By this point, Rain had already made it back from the academy and was now sitting on the couch in his room.
But he was by no means calm and a cold drop of sweat ran down his face as he looked at the Rift Master who had just transformed into human form.
'What the fuck?'