Emperor's Reckoning

"Huh?" Renduval noticed Lyon opening the door with a smirk on his face.

"Oh? Were you listening?" Lyon jested before he closed the door.

"No?" Renduval frowned.

Lyon shrugged, "Well then, serve yourself."

He walked past him before Hilde grabbed his shoulder.

"Lyon, you... you didn't kill him, did you?" asked Hilde as she furrowed her brows.

"What?" Renduval turned. "What are you talking about?"

Hilde was waiting for Lyon's answer.

"What are you talking about? There is no way he could kill the headmaster," said Renduval. "Could you?"

Lyon sighed before he looked at Hilde. "I don't kill on a whim, alright."

He smiled before he left them alone. Hilde was looking at his back before she heard Renduval ask.

"He couldn't right?"

"With him, it's a matter of would or would not," said Hilde as she followed him along.

"What..." Renduval couldn't believe his ears. He had never thought that someone would exist. The network that the headmaster had was enormous to the point not a single elder knew whom he knew. He might have a connection with Paradise or people of interest that couldn't be fathomed by normal minds.

"Crap!" Renduval immediately rushed downstairs and caught up with Lyon.

Meanwhile, back in the headmaster's room.

"The cat has nine lives," the headmaster muttered before he smiled. "He didn't even drink his tea."

The old man stood up with his hands behind his back. He slowly approached the only window in the room and looked outside with his weary eyes.

The yard was fully packed with alchemists, circling the carcass of the kunpeng. The magnificent beast was slain cleanly, their parts were still intact, every part except its brain.

The headmaster contemplated before he turned around and sighed. "He is clearly not joking, as wise as he is, he must have known that anything can be broken without enough force, even if it's brute."

Back in the library, Lyon was closely followed by Renduval as he took as a troll in the corridor and looked at the halls of books that were magical for the common folks, but nothing for him.

"Damn, there is nothing that's compelled me to read here," Lyon sighed. "Or maybe I'm just not the reader type."

"You never read, Lyon," said Cecile from the comfortable couch.

The passing alchemists were frowning at this auburn beauty due to her blatant manner but the latter didn't even bat an eyelid as she closed her eyes. They had never seen outsiders being so carefree in this place. There were hardly any cultivators that could enter this sacred library but here was one without any care for the world. They would have wanted nothing more but to berate here, however, the circling news made them hesitate.

Elder Anna was openly interested in hiring them in search of her ingredients, the Hundred-Petals Flower. It was among the rare ingredients that were hardly making an appearance, let alone find one.

"Really?" Lyon replied before he muttered. "Hmmm, I used to read about stuff back on earth, well, sexual stuff... meh, I guess I'm not really cut it for this kind of thing."

Lyon raised his brows as he noticed Lumina was sitting down peacefully and reading a book with a red thick cover. He smiled seeing Lumina was enjoying herself, however, it turned into a frown as an alchemist was sitting down beside her.

Hilde's eyes opened wide (Shit!). She immediately rushed and went past Lyon to the latter's surprise.

"Hi, my name is Yuh, I see that you are interested in the history of alchemy what a coincidence," the azure cloaked alchemist said, "I too am an enthusiast of the history of alchemy."

"The alchemy art is nothing but beautiful and bizarre occurring, currently, we only scrape the surface of the aaaa— What are you doing?!"

Hilde pulled his cloak and his entire being away from Lumina who didn't even bat an eye and flipped the next page.

Hilde glared at the alchemist, "I'm saving your whole future, get out! Don't bother her! Got it?!"

"W-What? This is, this is, this is the library of the Alchemy Union! Who are you to tell me to get out?!" said Yuh as he frowned.

Hilde let out a long sigh, "Just don't bother her, do you want to get beat up by her boyfriend?"

"What? Who is the boyfriend?" said Yuh as he frowned before he notice a familiar young man was looking at him with a smirk. "Oh... ok."

"En, En, I... I understand," said Yuh as he turned around before making a huge gulp. He had seen the very same person choking the headmaster under everyone's eyes. The fact that he was still here and the headmaster didn't get mad proves a point that he couldn't possibly ignore.

"Sorry!" the guy ran.

"Phew~" Hilde let out a sigh of relief before turning around caught Lyon was chuckling at her. "W-What?"

Hilde blushed before she walked away from his glance.

"Heh," Lyon smirked before he approached the beautiful woman with jade hair.

"Mind if I sit here?" Lyon asked.

Lumina's eyes were fixated on the book that she was reading. She turned another page but she nudged the empty chair beside her with her foot.

Lyon grinned before he pulled the chair and sat down beside her. He rested his arms on top of the table before leaning his head against it. His eyes were ravishing the beauty that was focused on the book. He smiled until Lumina asked.

"What are you looking at?"

Lyon closed his eyes, "I'm looking at one of the most beautiful women in this world."

"You think that low-class flattery worked on me?" Lumina turned another page.

Lyon didn't even see a hint of blush on her face as he grinned. "Low-class, high-class, what's the point if someone doesn't know the meaning behind one's word."

He smiled as he held her hand and closed his eyes. He unhurriedly rubbed her hand before he slumbered to the free land of imagination.