Conquering The Novel

—Swish

We were immediately teleported back to the academy in Ivica's office.

!?

"I used an artifact to teleport us back here," Ivica explained, seeing my puzzled expression.

"...Oh, I see," I sighed audibly as I emerged from my thoughts.

"But the downside of this artifact is, it requires a significant amount of mana to activate it, however, that amount of mana isn't much of a deal to me because I have an abundant supply of mana," Ivica explained as she walked over to the sofa.

And as she sat down, making herself a cup of tea, she motioned me toward the sofa across from her.

I walked over and sat on the sofa she had designated because it appeared she wanted to talk about something.

"Ah, and don't worry about your demon slave; I've already teleported her to your dorm room, it would have been difficult for you to explain her existence in front of all those high-ranking individuals, right?" Ivica made a remark, as she poured another cup of tea and handed it to me.

"...."

I was wondering why I couldn't hear Irethiel's useless remarks and why there is peaceful silence around me!' I reflected inwardly before speaking.

"I really appreciate that," I said with a smile.

As I was truely grateful because I don't want anyone else to know about Irethiel for the time being, and it is already problematic that Jessica now knows about her existence.

"I won't ask you why you entered that mysterious gate by yourself, because I believe you know what you're doing and I also assume you know what problems you now have to face in the future," Ivica said solemnly.

"...Of course I know what I'm doing," I responded , seeing Ivica being serious.

"All right, then, before it's too late, let me give you some advice...," Ivica halted for a moment before continuing.

"I suggest you should exercise caution around Jessica now that she knows you have a demon as your slave, because she can be very unreasonable and biased when it comes to innocent lives.

Though she can go overboard at times, unfortunately, she is also the only person in the entire Hero organization you can trust.

You may be wondering why I am telling you this, but I just want to let you know that Jessica is not your enemy, but rather she can be a potential ally of yours in the future," Ivica explained and took a sip of her tea.

"...All right, I'll keep that in mind," I replied calmly.

"Good, but watch out for her, because people driven by heroism are far too easy to manipulate. Even I took advantage of her to become the Academy's Dean," Ivica said with a chuckle.

"...."

'Well, if she's easy to manipulate, that's good for me,' I reasoned to myself before sipping the tea.

"Ahem, Alright, now let's get to the next part," Ivica said, pausing for a moment to keep her teacup on the table in front of us.

"I'm not sure if you know this, but it is part of my duty as an academy Dean to keep an eye on the entire campus for safety reasons, so I obviously know the behaviors of the students who attend here."

There was a brief silence after she said that, but I already knew she was keeping an eye on every student here at the academy, especially those in our special class.

"So... Why are you telling me that?" I inquired curiously.

"Well, I wasn't supposed to show you this, but I think it's important for you to know about it," Ivica said as she activated a hologram and played a video that appeared to have been captured on a camera.

"...."

...

I was taken aback for a moment when I saw the video footage, but I quickly recovered because the scene I witnessed wasn't all that surprising to me.

The video footage was of a blue-haired girl—specifically, it was Livia's footage from her training grounds, in which she was repeatedly stabbing an ice sword at a dummy, and the dummy had the features of...Ziona Madlock!

[You bitch, stay away from him! He's all mine! He's all mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! ....]

While stabbing that dummy, she kept repeating the same sentence.

'It appears to be the video captured following the meeting I and Ziona had with Erina,' I speculated.

"...."

"You didn't seem disturbed by that scene; if I were you, I would have been terrified seeing someone like Livia has that crazy obsession with me," Ivica said, smirking.

When I heard Ivica's remark, I preferred to remain silent.

"I'm not sure if it's a love obsession or something else, but I knew how her parents raised her like she was a robot, it was as if she was being programmed to be successful in everything she did.

But then you appeared out of nowhere and broke that code by defeating her during the entrance examination, which was also new for her, and I believe that's when she became obsessed with you," Ivica said and chuckled.

"...."

"...Could you please tell me if my training room has cameras as well?" I asked, ignoring her earlier statement because I already knew pretty much what she meant.

Cough!—

"So what I wanted to say is that Livia is a good addition to your future team, and as she is obsessed with you, she will definitely join your squad," Ivica said, dismissing my previous question.

"...."

"Let's move on to the next student you can add to your squad!" Ivica paused for a moment before continuing.

'.. Did she make a list of students who might join me in the future?' I paused to think.

"The next student is Ziona Madlock aka 'The abandoned Princess'. Even after being abandoned by her family, she sparked new waves of change among the beast people, as many young beast people inspired by her began using weapons and ignoring their haughty fangs and teeth.

I heard King Madlock is pretty mad and is blaming Ziona for this," Ivica said, and started laughing again.

!?

I remained silent because I was surprised by her unusual behavior.

Huuuu!—

"Seeing as you two share some similarities and are supposedly good friends as you spar together, I think she'll join you as well," Ivica said, pausing in her laughter.

"...Don't you think having Livia and Ziona on the same team will be a problem?" I asked as I was curious to hear how she would respond.

"Hmm, yes, I think you're right, but I believe you can deal with it in some way or other," Ivica responded nonchalantly as she leaned back on her sofa comfortably.

"...."

'Well, what exactly was I hoping for from her,' I thought, shaking my head in disappointment.

"Ah and there is Diana as well, If nothing goes wrong and she is properly guided, I believe she will be one of the strongest elves to ever live.

Her only drawback is she constantly compares herself to Livia, though the competition is good, but she can take it too far at times due to her personality; I just hope she doesn't end up doing something regrettable...

And then there's Lucas Eugene, whom everyone regards as humanity's weapon due to his holy fire, which can be lethal to both demons and vampires.

The problem is that he has the same personality as Jessica and Tania, making him easy to manipulate and, in the end, just a tool of someone else.

And I believe you are aware of the individual I am referring to, who has complete control over Lucas," Ivica paused to await my response.

"...Are you talking about Ayla Eugene?" I asked.

"That's correct! Ayla Eugene is a dangerous young lady; I was astounded when I first saw what she did, and she was only 5 years old at the time.

Well, I won't go into that story now, but you got the gist of what I wanted to say to you, right? She has complete control of what people believe is the so-called humanities weapon," Ivica warned.

Of course, I knew what Ayla was capable of, and the fact that she has complete control over Lucas is also why I can't make a direct move on her.

"Hmm, Who else is left? Ah Right there is Claude and Kevin, they just act like normal teenagers, despite Claude's maturity, but I think they'll be fine once they've matured enough.

And Erina Valdemar is the ideal example of a born monarch; depending on the circumstances, she can be both ruthless and benevolent.

While Zerix is .....

...

...

...

Ivica continued to give me her opinion on the student for another hour, while I sat there and listened, still not understanding why she was telling me all of this.

"This is all I could do to assist you, Ares..." Ivica eventually stopped speaking, and there was a brief silence among us.

"...Erm, Can I ask you why you told me about all this?" As I rubbed my brow, I inquired.

"...."

Ivica remained silent for a moment as if deliberating before speaking.

"...It's because this is the last time we'll see each other, Ares," Ivica informed, smiling wryly.

!?