It seems all the preparations that need to be made are finally more or less complete.
After coming out of Veronica's room, Greg felt much more refreshed.
The heavy burden that had pressed on his shoulders for days seemed to have lightened considerably, and even the breeze blowing through the corridor felt exceptionally comfortable.
“Next, I'll go make one last preparation, just in case.”
Greg was just about to head down the stairs to the lower floors when he nearly collided with someone at the corner.
Looking closely, he realized it was actually Silvia.
Although she was only wearing a simple cream-white morning gown today, she still looked incredibly beautiful. Her pink hair fell over her back like a cherry blossom in full bloom during spring.
Greg greeted her subconsciously, “Good morning, Silvia.”
Silvia smiled slightly, her light purple eyes curving into two gentle crescents. “Senior Greg, it's actually almost noon now.”
Greg dazed for a moment, only then realizing that his conversation with Veronica had indeed gone on for a very long time. After coming out, he hadn't even noticed that it was already close to midday.
He scratched his head in embarrassment, while inwardly sighing with relief. Fortunately, Silvia didn't happen to see him walking out of Veronica's room, otherwise things might have become a bit troublesome.
He knew that the relationship between these two Saintesses was not very good.
If Silvia found out he had come out of Veronica's room first thing in the morning, who knew what kind of unnecessary misunderstanding it might trigger.
So he quickly changed the subject. “Are you on your way to do something right now?”
Silvia nodded gently. “Yes, I have some matters to attend to.”
Greg followed her lead, saying, “In that case, I won't disturb you. Go ahead and tend to your business.”
With that, he sidestepped around Silvia and quickly walked down the stairs, a trace of hard-to-detect guilt in his retreating figure.
Silvia stood in place, her gentle smile still on her face as she watched Greg's back disappear around the corner of the stairs.
Then, she slowly turned her head and looked in the direction of Veronica's room.
The smile on her face was still gentle, but the warmth in her eyes was gradually dropping.
She took a step forward and walked unhurriedly toward that direction.
...
“I always feel like Silvia was a bit scary just now... Could it be that the legendary 'pink on the outside, dark on the inside' trope is actually true?”
After reaching the lower floors, Greg finally relaxed.
He recalled the scene of meeting Silvia just now. Her smile, tone, and eyes had all seemed perfectly normal, but Greg still felt something was off.
But on second thought, he figured he was probably just being paranoid because of his own guilty conscience.
He shook his head, casting these stray thoughts out of his mind.
“Alright, I should go find Alice first and borrow that magic conduit.”
This was the final safeguard he had prepared for himself.
Although looking at the current situation, he probably wouldn't need that new magic conduit. His hostile forces were mainly the Crown Prince's faction, and there were only two people on that side he really needed to watch out for: one was the Empire's Prime Minister, and the other was the hidden Floor Boss of the third layer.
Meanwhile, his allies had already completely overtaken them in both quantity and quality.
Although Headmistress Olivia and his master, Luna, could not use their full strength due to the need to hide their identities, it didn't matter because he also had the help of Allie and Veronica.
So carrying this final safeguard was entirely out of respect for his -10 Luck stat.
“Knowing Alice's personality, she should still be in her room right now.”
Greg walked toward the instructor housing area, thinking that Alice would most likely be shut in her dormitory after the secondary defense ended to watch over the magic conduit. However, he didn't expect to see Alice surrounded by professors from various academies halfway there.
Her petite figure was exceptionally eye-catching among a group of professors who were half a head or even a full head taller than her, looking like a small flower surrounded by towering trees.
Most of those professors came from different magic academies, and they were currently talking over one another around her.
A middle-aged professor wearing round-rimmed glasses asked with an expectant face, “Instructor Alice, you really taught two great students! Greg, who got a perfect score in the secondary defense, and Victoria, who tied for second place—both are your students! How on earth did you teach them? Do you have any secrets?”
“Yes, indeed. If the students in our academy could be even a tenth as outstanding as yours, I would be fully satisfied,” another gray-haired female professor chimed in.
“Instructor Alice, please share your teaching experience with us! We all want to know how you managed to train two such excellent students at the same time!”
Surrounded by this group of enthusiastic professors, Alice had a slightly troubled smile on her face as she waved her hands repeatedly. “No, no, I really don't have any special secret... It's mostly because the students themselves worked hard...”
Greg noticed that although Alice looked a bit troubled, there was an unmistakable smile at the corner of her lips, and her amber eyes shone with happiness and pride.
She probably hadn't enjoyed this kind of treatment in a long time. After all, she was often given a hard time by some senior professors at the academy for being too young, so she was likely quite happy deep down right now.
Seeing this, Greg couldn't help but smile, and decided simply not to disturb Alice.
He circled to the side of the building, and after making sure no one was around, agilely climbed in through the window.
He had been inside Alice's room once before, so he was already relatively familiar with the layout.
He walked straight to a storage chest in the corner, opened it, and took out an exquisite, belt-shaped magic conduit from within.
This was a creation they had originally planned to showcase only during the subsequent academic research presentation phase, but now he had to temporarily keep it on him.
Although he hadn't told Alice about this, Greg figured that carrying it was just a safeguard anyway, and he most likely wouldn't need to use it. So telling her or not didn't really matter. He would just quietly return the belt after this was over.
Just as he was about to climb back out of the window, his peripheral vision caught a figure outside.
He discovered that it was Victoria, walking out of the Magic Tower's entrance all by herself.
She wasn't wearing her academy uniform either, having changed into a simple set of casual clothes. Her gray hair was tied into a neat ponytail, making her look like a noble young lady who had intentionally disguised herself as a commoner.
Greg felt a bit curious. Shouldn't she be seizing every moment to grind? How did she have the leisure to go out and wander around right now, and alone at that?
He thought about it. In any case, he had already done everything he needed to do. Next, he only had to wait for tomorrow to arrive, and there was nothing else left to prepare.
So, he decided to quietly tail her and see exactly where Victoria was heading.
Rate on N.U.
