The Novel's Professor

Brandon sighed in relief. "It's a good thing the student turned out to be okay..."

Or else, it would be hell for the academy. No matter how great or amazing the teaching they would offer to people, a single student's death would screw the academy's reputation all up. The investors—along with the nobles would immediately reverse their decisions.

"... Deputy Head Brandon, would you mind explaining now that you're done?" an Arcane Teacher asked, suspicious. "What happened? Is the academy unsafe now? It's a good thing that it was a mere civilian and an average student, but if that happened to a noble genius..."

Most of the noble teachers wore am distressed expression on their face, imagining the scenario.. While the civilian teachers merely took the noble teacher's words with a grain of salt, not caring for the sublt snide remarks.

"...I suppose I have to clear that one up," Brandon turned his back, staring at the group of teachers. "None of you need to worry. It's already being handled by the academy."

"...Pardon?" the Arcane Teacher tilted their head.

"Are you deaf or just incapable of answering?" Brandon answered, his hand waving in dismissal. "It won't happen again, there was just something wrong with formation applied on the students. After this, Vice Director Greg and Director Guinevere will change them, so don't worry."

The Arcane teacher reluctantly nodded.

Suddenly, in the array of teachers, a brown haired professor with purple eyes stepped forward, raising his hand as he called out. "Deputy Head Brandon."

"..Hm? Who might you be?" Brandon shifted his eyes, staring at the brown haired professor.

Under everyone's eyes, Rio answered. "Arcane Teacher, Rio Salem. May I excuse myself for the moment? I have to go check on the students."

"...Uh..Rio..Salem...Gotcha!" Brandon tried hard to remember, taking a while before he exclaimed as he nodded. "Oh right, sure thing. It's not a problem, just be back quick."

"Hold on." an Arcane Teacher suddenly intervened. "How come he gets to excuse himself...?"

The other teachers nodded, similarly confused. In their understanding, no teachers could be excused unless break time. However, it was not break-time, but the test was still going on right now.

Rio was about to answer, but Brandon got ahead of him and answered for his behalf.

"I didn't say any of you couldn't excuse yourselves, did I? I just need a valid reason. In Rio Salem's case, he's the club advisor of the club joined by Eugene Pendragon and others. Since Eugene is coming out, he can check his student out."

All the teachers widened their eyes in shock.

Before all the attention would be directed to him again, Rio sneakily left the observation room as his presence vanished silently.

—

In the academy hallways, Rio marched steadily on his way to the examination room. While he was walking, a rough husky voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

[...That's strange. What happened to that student?] Faust frowned, his body diving out of Rio's body. [The student or that kid you were staring at... do you know what happened to him?]

"..I know." Rio nodded. "An Archdevil is threatening him to a contract.."

Archedevils. Unlike demons, has sapience and wisdom that of a human. If the demons were the main destructive force of the demon world, then devils were akin to the supporting force of the demon world.

Their purpose was simple — to instigate distrust and flourish the desires of beings in the world. Archdevils would come to a being with immense desire and lure them in a contract. The contract would grant immense power and authority to the being, but in return, the Archdevil would control the being's soul in all eternity.

If Archdevils were powerful as they were, how come they can't force out the contract to the being?

A contract can't be forced, it must be signed between two beings. The actual specifics of its reason was unclear — however, it was stated in the novel that mutual agreement is a must for the contract.

...If the Archdevil couldn't force the contract, they coerce the contract instead. Afflicting misfortune, insanity and diabolical intentions to the being.

They're not only hard to deal with but also hard to find. In fact, in the novel — once a person was discovered communicating with an Archdevil, the TAOJ would immediately throw the person in a confinement room.

For the TAOJ, it was better to be safe than sorry.

[...How do you even know that in the first place?] Faust asked in disbelief. He shook his head. [Nevermind, what's more important is their foreboding threat... you know what I mean, right?]

"Yeah.." Rio sighed, his head shaking. "After the Archdevils instigate distrust of the living beings inside a world, the demons would then send out their forces and invade the world."

In short — the Archdevil's arrival meant that the demon world was foreboding to attack this world. It meant a lot of things, and all those meanings were ominous.

[Sigh, you know... I'm getting restless each second. Who knows if they would invade before I pass on my legacy?] Faust depressingly said. [You know, you should be more distressed then me! Aren't you going to create a perfect legacy or something?]

"Don't worry, I know when they will invade." Rio replied calmly. "In my estimation, I should be able to pass on your legacy and create my legacy at the same-time before it happens."

[How do you even know that...?] Faust frowned. [You know what, nevermind. Also, after this shitty exam, we're going to finally solve that corrupted energy problem of yours.]

After saying that, he hurriedly returned back to Rio's body.

Rio nodded, his body stopping in-front of a wide two way door. This was the room where the students gathered in the first day.

He grabbed the silver-white badge on his coat, slotting it to the device in the side of the wide door. After a few seconds, a beep rang out as the device returned the silver white badge to him.

Click—!

The wide door opened for Rio, letting him see the interior view of the room. The room was as large a football field. In the middle, a tall dimensional portal was situated while several security staff were standing in guard.

Rio darted his eyes around the room, his gaze stopping near the portal. Beside the portal, an intimidating bald headed man and a familiar ashen gray haired man were discussing something with each other.

It was the Deputy Head of Security, Larkinson and Director Guinevere.

While Rio was staring at them, a curious voice suddenly resounded in the room.

"Huh...? Aren't you a teacher? Why are you here?"

Rio shifted his eyes to where the voice came from, stopping his gaze to a burly blonde haired man wearing a white coat. He nodded, replying. "Deputy Head Guile, I'm here for the injured students."

"Oh, one of them is your personal student or something?" Guile said. "In any case, they're already in the medicational room and in the process of getting treatment. You arrived too late."

"Is that so..?" Rio pursed his lips, nodding his head. "I'll be going to the medicational room then."

"Sure, goodluck." Guile yawned, his hand waving in dismissal.

Rio turned his back, ready to walk away. However, before he could take a step forward—a familiar voice stopped his steps and called out to him.

"Is that you, Salem?" Guinevere called out from a distance, his brows raised. "What brings you here...?"

Rio reluctantly turned his back again, sighing. He didnt really want to interact with the man for the moment. "I was here to check on the students... but knowing they're already in the medicational room, I was just about to leave."

"I see, but you should wait a for half an hour atleast. They might still be recovering," Guinevere advised. "In the meantime, come over here. I want to ask your thoughts about this."

Beside him, the bald headed man narrowed his eyes in confusion.

Rio raised his brows, nodding in compliance. He walked to the two figures, his footsteps resounding in the room.

"Director..." Larkinson asked, staring at Rio. "This is?"

"I suppose you weren't at the meeting at that time," Guinere mused. "He's Rio Salem, the new Arcane Teacher in the academy."

"Right, I let my subordinate attend that meeting." Larkinson nodded. "I couldn't attend. It was an emergency, unfortunately."

"That's fine. It was just two new arrivals anyway, him and the eldest daughter of the Skye Family." Guinever explained. He raised his hands, displaying a broken smartwatch. "In any case, what do you think about this... Rio?"

While they were talking to each other, Rio arrived at their position. He stared at the smartwatch for a while, taking a long time to answer. "... There's a formation covered around it, but its been tampered with by someone.'"

"Indeed, it's hard to notice but..." Guinevere suddenly moved his hand. At that moment, on the side of the smartwatch, blue lines of glyphs shone brightly. "The formation is inscribed on the smartwatch. If you look at the glyphs carefully, one of them seemed to be reversed."

"As such..." Guinevere continued, his finger pressing the smartwatch. A faint blie barrier erupted, only vanish seconds later. "The effects doesn't active as intended. I'm curious, who could had tampered with it?"

Larkinson nodded, his brows furrowing in confusion.

"Why not check the security cameras?" Rio asked. "It should be easy to know who the perpetrator is."

Of course, he knew the perpetrator. It was the Archdevil itself. But he wasn't going to bluntly tell that. He had his own plans... beside, he would look suspicious with his answer.

"It's already been done." Larkinson answered. "Unfortunately, in all the camera footage... none had shown the student meeting someone."