"He used Blood Magic, a disciple of the Blood Tyrant..."
"It’s possible he’s from the Liberty Mage Alliance..."
Gunther weighed the pros and cons, realizing it was urgent to make contact with the Liberty Mage Alliance. If it was the latter, it would be yet another weakening of the Royal Family by the Holy See; if the former, the situation would become even more troublesome.
Bruce was able to resist the temptation of the Thousand-Eyed Demon, indicating the Blood Tyrant had placed a heavy bet on him. His plots were certainly no less grand than those of the Thousand-Eyed Demon, and he had to be treated with caution.
"I hope it’s the latter, otherwise it would be too troublesome."
Gunther sighed as there were many troubles lately. That morning, when he contacted the Papal State, many countries had shown signs of the Devil’s coming.
The chaos and the cloud of war were inseparably linked. Great turmoil was on the rise, and a new era had begun. Unfortunately, the Holy See still wasn’t ready.
Gunther glanced at the Crucifix on the wall and complained in a low voice, "Why couldn’t it just appear directly instead of making us go look for it one by one."
The knight Valkyrie stood sword in hand, teaching Wayne and Veronica the Dragon-Slayer Sword Technique. The moves were wide and required great arm strength from the user.
Wayne certainly met the standard, and to his surprise, Veronica’s arm strength also met the minimum requirement.
"Hard to tell, with your short little arms, even your middle finger is shorter than others. How come you have such strength?" Wayne marveled, recalling how she seemed light and easy to push over when he had first met her.
It made sense, though; all the disciples of the Sun Goddess were strong, lacking in nothing, especially strength.
Males were , and females were no exception. After the curse, Veronica had the physique of a typical muscle champion.
Flattered by Wayne’s praise, Veronica placed her hands on her hips and proudly said, "It’s all thanks to Veronica’s training. I often wrestle with her, and gradually, my strength increased."
Ah, it was strength gained through being beaten up!
Wayne rolled his eyes, seeing nothing to be proud of there.
Half an hour later, a black luxury car pulled into the garage—it was time for dinner, and the afternoon’s knight training came to an end.
The butler Philark opened the car door and helped the future Mrs. Claris out. He found Wayne and whispered a few words.
Wayne’s face tightened, and his brows furrowed deeply, "Been followed, by whom?"
"Not sure, I didn’t see the person following, but I felt the gaze watching us, all the way from Evanston Women’s College, it was always there," Philark spoke in a hushed tone.
Although Philark was no Mage, as a former Windsor Intelligence Personnel, he had extensive experience in counter-surveillance, far stronger than Wayne, a second-hand spy. He took Gunther’s suspicion of being followed very seriously.
"They’re tracking you or tracking..." Wayne glanced briefly at Claris.
"On the way to Evanston Women’s College, I didn’t notice those looks," Philark responded.
Wayne raised his hand to his chin and murmured a few instructions to Philark, who frowned and said, "Master Wayne, won’t that be too offensive?"
"Keeping it will always be a hidden danger. I don’t like leaving crises to be dealt with later. Discover it immediately, eliminate it immediately."
After dinner, claiming to be unwell, Wayne excused himself from tonight’s lessons.
As an apology, he personally drove Claris back to the college that evening.
You don’t have to go to class, so why drive all the way back to the college?x2
Veronica poked her head out, suspecting Wayne took her elder college sister for a drive with the agenda of a date. Although Claris found it strange, she said nothing and followed Wayne into the car.
In the back, the trunk held knight armor.
Wayne drove from the city area, where the dim streetlights cast a hazy mist, winding through the eerie and shadowy trees along the roadside.
"Wayne, this isn’t the way to the school," Claris reminded him.
"I know, I didn’t plan to take you back to school tonight. I took you out for a date," he said.
Claris’s face turned red as she waved her hands, declining Wayne’s offer, feeling that Wayne should be dating Veronica or Veronica, and it certainly shouldn’t be her.
She was bad at refusing friends, stammered a few sentences, which, translated, meant, "You’re a nice guy, but I’m not good enough for you."
Receiving an unexpected "nice guy" card, Wayne felt somewhat disgruntled. He stopped the car under a streetlight and started to sway in his seat.
"Claris, you’re too blunt. Although I was just joking, I feel quite struck now," he said.
Relieved by his words, Claris relaxed. It was a good thing it was only a joke; otherwise, she wouldn’t have known how to face Veronica or Veronica.
With everything being so chaotic, she preferred to stay out of it and be happy as just friends.
"Wayne, why are you constantly swaying?"
"My back is itchy. By the way, Claris, have you noticed anyone strange these past few days?"
Wayne gestured and stared intently at Claris’s face, then at her chest, ", leering, and obviously up to no good."
Surprisingly, there was one, and not just in the past few days, but for quite a while.
"No, Wayne, you’re not a pervert," Claris laughed at his tease.
Wayne asked a few questions and realized that Claris was too complacent, living too comfortably between school and Wayne Manor, her life circumscribed by respectable people, with almost no sense of defense, and a serious lack of awareness of danger.
Given her nature, it was fortunate she was in an all-girls’ college. If she were at a co-ed, she’d have been swarmed by flies by her first year.
That shouldn’t be the case, considering she was the most reliable person when she was a cat.
Claris hadn’t noticed anyone following her, so Wayne decided to reveal the truth: "Philark has discovered someone following you. He is a professional butler with strong counter-surveillance skills. Even he just felt the gaze and didn’t find the target, which suggests that the stalker is no ordinary person..."