Leaving the Academy

Lando listened to the teacher droning on from the podium, feeling a strange sense of amusement. His current situation felt just like a high school student in a Japanese anime: even when the world outside was on the verge of destruction, the saviors of the world still had to go to class during the day!

When he first arrived in this world, he was a stranger in a strange land. To understand the world and acquire knowledge as quickly as possible, the academy was the best place to go, which was why he had engineered his identity as a genius awakener.

Once he had mastered most of the world's knowledge, crafting the persona of a genius student was only natural in order to gain Prince Jige's trust and obtain more intelligence on the "Dark Cult."

However, things had progressed to the point where maintaining his student status at the Central Academy served no other purpose than adding an extra layer of disguise. It was a complete waste of time.

Lando turned his head to look out the window at the youthful atmosphere of the academy. Although it felt nice enough, he knew the time to leave had arrived.

Thus, once a person falls into a routine, they always tend to forget their initial goal. If this were Cthulhu's world, he would probably play his role so deeply that he forgot his original identity entirely. Fortunately, it was not too late for him to wake up now.

Having figured this out, Lando's mood lifted considerably. When he went to see Claire while humming a tune, the latter asked with a strange look, "You're in a good mood. What happened?"

"Nothing much, just figured out a few things."

Seeing that Lando was not going to elaborate, Claire did not care what he had figured out.

"Based on the information we have now, where do you think we should start?"

Lando replied without a second thought, "Naturally, with the bishop who caused the tragic massacre of the town."

"Mm, I was thinking the same thing. According to our deductions, that 'deity' should be severely injured right now. The tragedy that occurred in Roel Town has a very high probability of being an attempt to gather restorative energy through a ritual, which at the very least indicates that this behind-the-scenes 'bishop' knows far more than Prince Jige."

"Right, and precisely because of this reason, Roel cares deeply about this bishop and has been secretly investigating him, so the intelligence on him is relatively detailed."

"Then it's settled. Primary target: the legendary powerhouse of the Tolansxi family."

That's right, the one who caused Roel's hometown to be utterly destroyed back then was none other than the Tolansxi family's legendary powerhouse, Bridger Tolansxi, one of the bishops of the "Dark Cult."

Over the years, Prince Jige and Bridger were clearly both bishops, yet their relationship was extremely hostile. Aside from their own conflicts of interest in many areas, Roel's secret instigation behind the scenes accounted for at least a small part of that reason.

"Very well. Since the target is set, let's go handle our school withdrawal procedures now. The excuse will be... going out for practical training. How about that?" Lando said.

"School withdrawal procedures?" Claire looked somewhat blank, not quite understanding Lando's meaning.

Heh, conventional thinking kills people!

"Look, our purpose in infiltrating the academy has been achieved. Isn't staying here now just a waste of time? Just find an excuse and say we're going out for practical training. Keeping this identity is enough; who knows if it'll come in handy in the future?"

"..."

Claire finally understood what Lando meant, but his remaining in the academy was less about hiding his identity and more about maintaining a mutual check and balance with Headmaster Dominic. Now that the two of them had finally reached a temporary tacit understanding, if he abruptly removed himself from the headmaster's line of sight for a long time, he would likely immediately incur the headmaster's hostility, ruining many of his plans.

The deity behind the "Dark Cult" was important, of course, but subduing the Blind Spot clan was tied to his issue of obtaining dependents after becoming a Grand Arcanist, so that could not be taken lightly either.

With a somewhat awkward expression, Claire explained his current situation with Headmaster Dominic, though he naturally did not spell out his ultimate goal.

So you never actually intended to go after the target we just agreed on, and planned to use me as a pack mule from the very beginning?!

Lando looked at Claire with a blank expression.

"So I'm going alone?"

Claire nodded, "If I leave for a short time, I can still deceive Dominic, but if it takes too long, I will definitely be exposed."

With a gloomy face, Lando said, "You actually planned to make me your 'pack mule'? Heh! Well, it's not entirely out of the question, but..."

"But what?"

"You've got to pay up!"

"..."

"You might not be able to go in person, but you can't shirk your share of the effort, can you?"

"What do you want? I'm very poor!"

"Rest assured, as long as you let Little Gray follow me, it will represent you."

"Impossible, absolutely not, don't even dream about it!"

Seeing Claire's intense reaction, Lando curled his lips. According to his original plan, the two of them would join forces to investigate the "Dark Cult," and if they truly encountered any danger, there would at least be someone to take the fall. Lando still held a trace of wariness toward that mysterious, unfathomable Grand Bishop suspected of surpassing the legendary realm. While it wasn't that he had no way to deal with him, using his anticipated methods would probably come at a rather heavy cost.

"So, you're planning to reap the benefits without doing any work?"

"Little Gray is out of the question. I... I can offer you other help. I have a few other legendary-level undead." Claire said with a guilty conscience.

"Ha!" Lando sneered, "You think ordinary legends would be of any use to me?"

"..."

"I want Little Gray, hand it over!"

After a long session of sharp verbal sparring, Lando finally wrangled temporary usage rights for Little Gray from Claire.

Just then, the sleepy little gray bone dragon, snoozing in Claire's pocket, opened its eyes just in time to see its master handing it over to Lando.

Little Gray: ? ? ? ! ! !

Claire's hand, stretched out halfway, froze, unsure of how to explain the current situation.

Lando smiled as he stepped forward to take the little gray bone dragon, saying, "Little Gray, your master has sold you to me. From now on, you're my pet. My intelligent core is also named Little Gray, but first come, first served, so how about I change your name? Why don't I call you Little Black from now on?"

Then, quite predictably, Lando was greeted by two ruffled "fury-balls."

After a flurry of chaos for quite a while, Claire finally managed to explain the situation to Little Gray. As he stroked the claw marks on his face left by the enraged Little Gray, he couldn't help staring resentfully at Lando.

Don't look at me like that, I didn't steal your wife!

Lando stroked Little Gray, who was still sitting on his shoulder sulking, and dropped his joking demeanor to say, "I'll keep in touch with you at all times, and you'd better be prepared as well. If I truly encounter unexpected situations, I hope to receive your support."

"Rest assured, since we are already a temporary alliance, I naturally know what to do."

"Alright, I'm off." Lando's figure gradually faded and disappeared.