Entering the luxury bus, I made my way through the empty seats and to my section, where an exquisite gift basket full of various expensive candies, chips, and beverages sat, with an attachment that said, "From the Museum of Magical Artifacts."
... my tastebuds.
Even though I had technically done no work to prevent the museum from being robbed on the outside, I had literally defended their subspace from being robbed by the djinns and taken care of 11 of them!
Of course, I had stolen the subspace instead, but who would you rather have stolen from you: a bunch of djinns with evil ulterior motives or an innocent student like me?
Surely, I was entitled to have part of this gift basket.
"... Would Irene really let me take anything in the gift basket?"
Imagining Irene slapping away my hands every time I attempted to reach for a snack, I realized that there was no way in hell she would let me within a 10-meter radius of the gift basket.
Well, if there was a gift basket, to begin with...
Grabbing the gift basket from our section, I put it between my arms and strolled to the bus's exit like nothing had ever happened.
You know, even though it was my choice to work in the shadows where no one would notice me, some recognition was nice!
Walking down the bus stairs, I noticed Alya at the entrance alone, blocking my exit route.
In the awkward situation where one had to move first, I decided to be the rude one as I started walking down the bus stairs, forcing Alya to move out of the way.
No matter how much I concealed the gift basket, the vibrant colors of the candy stood out, so Alya inevitably saw it as I descended down the stairs.
Seeing the handwritten note on the gift basket, Alya turned and stared at me.
Even though I didn't have to say anything, I felt compelled to give an excuse as her gaze locked onto me.
"...I'm going to share it with the others."
"If you're innocent, you have nothing to hide."
I think she might be worse than Ruby... ??? What does that even mean?
Ignoring her, I exited the bus and was going to walk to the luggage compartment to store the gift basket, but Alya just stood there outside the bus, staring at me.
Then, as I slowly walked towards the cafeteria, glancing behind me to see if Alya was still watching, the worst possible thing happened.
Ruby walked out of the hotel doors, stared at me for a moment, adjusted her gaze to the large gift basket hidden between my arms, and grinned before asking me.
"Oh, and what might that be, Ren?"
Employing my overly sarcastic tone, I replied.
"Oh, you'll never believe it! The museum WE saved earlier kindly decided to gift us a basket full of treats!"
Copying my tone, Ruby responded.
"Oh really! How kind and respectful of them! Were you just about to inform us of this kind and amazing present."
"Of course! I thought this treat would go perfectly with our breakfast!"
Walking up to me, Ruby examined the gift basket before grabbing it from my arms. Looking at the gift basket, now her hands, I whispered.
"You know, you're an asshole, right?"
"Are you sure? It sounds like you're projecting."
To make things even worse, at that moment, both Zach and Irene walked out of the hotel, seeing us and Alya near the bus.
Getting on her tippy toes, Ruby whispered directly into my ears.
"Don't worry, we'll give you the candy you deserve."
"... just say none."
After the gift basket tragedy, I reentered the bus, brushed past Alya, and sat back down in my section.
"... who even cares about some stupid treats? I'm rich now; I can get them anytime I want!"
The bus trip back went relatively well. Both Zach and Irene were exhausted from yesterday's treatments, so they didn't talk. And every time Ruby tried to make conversation, I glared at her with the utmost contempt.
Drinking water, which was the only thing I could have with my tastebuds burned to crisp, I stared out the window and finally saw the familiar city of the academy.
Crossing the bridge, I picked up my phone and texted Raven.
[Ren: I'll be coming by today.]
[Raven: Oh, so now, you decide to warn me? What changed?]
[Ren: Don't worry about it.]
[Raven: You say that knowing DAMN well, that just makes me worry more.]
[Ren: ??? Like, what do you want me to do about it?]
[Raven: You're just going to say no to whatever I suggest, aren't you?]
[Ren: Of course not; a good boss always listens to their employees.]
[Raven: Be more specific; don't just say vague things and expect m-]
[Ren: No can do! It's a good thing you're a co-owner and not an employee.]
Putting down my phone, I exited the bus behind Ruby and immediately headed to the academy gate to exit.
After taking a train to the outskirts of town and entering the seemingly abandoned warehouse that we called our headquarters, I saw Raven sitting down, working on drawing more circles.
"... you're not good at hiding it all, are you?"
"Whatever do you mean, boss?"
As someone who had to fake doing schoolwork for my parents, I knew exactly what to look for, and with my enhanced eyesight finding the clues was just easier.
"You started working as soon as I texted you, didn't you?"
"... no."
"Your pencil has barely been touched, and there are only 3 papers beside you. "
"I'm a slow writer."
Recalling how I had made similar excuses in the past, I gave Raven a break and headed to the back of the room where the painting was hung on the wall.
"what the hell are you doing now, boss...?"
Wasting no time, I jumped into the painting, ignoring Raven's screaming behind me. I felt my surroundings distort before stabilizing to reveal the area of my previous fight.
Using my eyesight, I examined the entire room before finding some faint scrape marks on the floor.
Following the scrape marks, I saw the test subject I had left behind in the fight lying face-down on the floor. His horns were almost out of color; only a faint red was visible.
Observing his body, I was somewhat disheartened to realize that Corruption of The Night had no effect on him as, besides the wound applied by daggers, there was no other damage done to him.
Well, then, I guess that begs the question: what do I do with him?
I could just kill him... but Raven has been complaining about having too much work recently. This djinn was persistent enough to live this long, so maybe he was a harder worker than Raven!
Walking to the barely conscious djinn, I yanked him upwards by his horns and stared him in the face.
"Well, you have two options now. Either die or work for me."
At this point, if Raven had those two options, I think he would have chosen to die...
Unable to speak due to lack of water, the djinn simply stared at me with a pained expression.
"Do you want to live?"
Immediately, the djinn mustered up all his strength and nodded his head until I finally gestured to him that I understood.
Using my mana, I created a mana contract with the same terms as Raven's, except there was no time limit, and he didn't get any percentage of the company.
Or, in other words, he was my servant... that didn't get paid.
Mustering up his mana, the djinn released a blood-red form of mana towards the contract, causing it to shine a bright purple instead of white before disappearing into the air.
Putting the djinn on my shoulders so that his horns didn't poke at me, I headed to the exit of the sub-space before jumping into the painting once again.
Right in front of the painting stood a bewildered Raven examining it. Then, his expression soured as he noticed me—and our new guest.
Without giving any time for Raven to speak or even react, I said.
"Meet your new assistant."
Leading the djinn to the kitchen, I immediately gave him water and food. Usually, you're not supposed to eat this much after not eating for a while, but he was a djinn, so it didn't affect him.
As the djinn loudly gulped down the water and food, Raven hesitantly walked toward the kitchen before quietly whispering in my ear.
"b-but, h-he's a djinn."
"So? Aren't you evil too? You've been scamming people in the black market for ages without any regrets. How are you different from him?"
"THE HORNS, maybe that's how we're different!? How is scamming even comparable to killing, boss."
Patting Raven on the shoulder, I responded.
"You'll get over it."
it wasn't a lie; as the boss of the black market in the original timeline, Raven frequently got his hands dirty
Seeing the djinn having regained enough energy to at least speak, I asked.
"So... introduce yourself."
Showing no hesitancy or surprise at his current situation, the djinn responded in between taking massive sips of water.
"I-I'm Zeng; I don't really have any hobbies, but I do enjoy swordsmanship."
"Alright, Raven, your turn."
"... I'm Raven, and I'm a... co-owner of a business with Ren over there."
"I'm Ren, and I enjoy swimming or diving."
Employing the mana contract's power of the djinn having to listen to my commands, I said.
"Alright, Zeng. You're in Raven's hands. He'll show you the ropes and teach you some things. Listen to him."
"... Why do I even try?"
Leaving the sullen Raven and Zeng, who were still gulping down food, I waved goodbye and headed back to the academy.
While I did want to stay in the warehouse, security in the academy would be getting tighter due to the incidents, so even with my fake club card, re-entering the academy after 8 would be difficult.
Nodding my head to the security guards, I headed inside the academy and towards my dorm building, but to my surprise, there was someone familiar waiting for me outside the dorm.
In front of my dorm building stood Ruby... with the gigantic gift basket from earlier!
Seeing me, Ruby ran up to me with a grin and said.
"Don't worry, I'm shameless too."
She had hidden the gift basket from Zach and Irene!
Bowing my head, I said.
"You're my savior."
I had almost forgotten that she was also a villain; why would she share the gift basket with the others?
" *PFFT* Well, let's go have a feast!"
[A/N: Would appreciate you guys drop a review; if we get enough, I'll drop an extra chap tmr as well.]