"What do you mean?" Ashton asked Bella who was already in her sleepwear.
"Looks like someone was playing around with a bunch of potion ingredients and burned their entire room," Anna replied nonchalantly, "As a result, all of the students and servants were forced to evacuate. But the professors should have it all under control by now."
Ashton turned back and stared inside. If there was a fire, no matter how much the fire had been 'controlled', there should be smoke and soot coming out. However, Ashton could not see anything of that sort coming out of the building.
"It wasn't an ordinary fire, in case you were wondering." Anna replied as if she too had telepathic abilities, "The flames were blue, the purest any flame can be, this there's no smoke as flames only turn blue when sufficient oxygen is provided."
"Oh, I see. Any idea who did this?"
Anna shook her head, while her ponytail swung around like a whip, "The professors pulled a student out of the fire and headed towards the infirmary. Maybe it was that student?"
"Could be... oh wait, where-"
"Your servants are fine. They helped us a lot while evacuating... I think they are... there! They are standing with Professor Amaira."
"Thanks for the help," Ashton mumbled before hurrying off towards the slaves and the professor.
There could be only one reason why a purist like Amaira who considered humans as untouchables, would be talking to them. To find a way of causing more trouble for Ashton. At least that was the only reason Ashton could come up with.
'If I just walk in like this, they'll stop talking abruptly. I gotta sneak up on them.'
Thankfully, sneaking up on them was not as difficult as he had expected. More than a hundred people were in the vicinity and acted as the perfect cover for him to blend in while also listening to what those fckers were talking about.
"Hm... he is indeed an interesting fella. Not gonna lie about that." Amaira said, followed by the fakest laugh Ashton had ever heard in his life, "Can you tell me something more about him?"
"I'm afraid that's all we know about the master. After all, we have only been under the same roof for a couple of weeks at most." Duncan replied, his eyes were fixated on the ground and it seemed they have been for a long time.
Daniella was following whatever Duncan was doing. They might have been the mistress's servants, still, they were slaves who could not look any high levelled werewolf in the eyes. After all, they have been beaten up countless times for doing something much less before the mistress rescued them.
That fear, on top of what Ashton did to them, had scarred them enough to fear the werewolves for the rest of their lives.
"Are you sure you don't know anything more? Like his-"
"I think you already heard what they had to say, professor." Ashton saw the opportunity to start them and seized it, "Also, I can't help but wonder, what kind of information would you like to get from them. You're a professor, if you wanted, you could simply check the academy records for any info you might want about me."
Ashton could see his sharp tongue had left Amaira quite baffled. For starters, she had probably not expected him to jump in front of them so suddenly. Let alone throw a slew of questions at her.
"Professor? Are you okay?" Ashton smirked, he knew he had her cornered.
Whatever a professor would have wanted to know about a student was already listed in the records and all the professors had the authority to view that information. But since Amaira was so deadset about knowing something else about him, it was only natural for Ashton to be intrigued about it.
"O-Oh, it's nothing." Amaira hastily replied before waving her hand in front of her face, "Going into that fire must have done something... I think I should probably get some rest."
"G'night Professor!" Ashton exclaimed at the top of his lungs as Amaira hurriedly ran back to the administrative building, "Now you two-"
"I swear we did not tell her anything about you that she didn't already know-" Fearing Ashton's anger, Daniella immediately started blabbering and almost got to her knees to beg him for whatever reason.
"I heard you helped in evacuation."
"We'll never do it aga-"
"Good job. Both of you. You did the right thing." Ashton said with a warm smile spread across his face.
"Please forgive us, we'll- what?"
It took a moment for both of them to register what Ashton had just said. He had... praised them? Why would he do something like that? Was he high on something? Judging from his reaction to the whole ordeal, it seemed like it.
"What are you acting all surprised about?" Ashton scoffed, before slowly pulling Daniella back to her feet, "It might not seem like it, but I still have a heart that can praise and respect those who do me right. I'm not a cruel piece of shit unless you don't do something and force me into becoming one."
Both of them were stunned. They couldn't figure out whether Ashton was being serious or was it another one of his tricks. But Ashton had a way to convince them, now that they were under his slave contract.
'I guess, it's a good time to use that skill...'
[You are using the skill: Influence on your slaves.]
[Due to the low intelligence of the targets, the skill was successful.]
[The targets feel an enigmatic warmth towards you.]
[Your relationship has improved! Hostility towards you has been decreased.]
[Current relationship points: 2/100]
[Classification has changed: Foe ---> Neutral]
'Relationships? Why have I never heard of this before?' Ashton thought to himself as numerous prompts popped up in front of him, 'So, this means that using the [Influence] skill, I can also improve my relationship with others? This skill might turn out to be handier than I initially thought!'