The Golem Mage

The next day arrived quickly, and even as everyone prepared to go watch the loser’s battle, Alec still hadn’t come out of his room.

The Dean, the Grand Dean, and Terran were beginning to grow worried, so they asked Agnes to go and call him.

Fortunately, when she went to check on him, he was already awake, standing by the window which was covered by a dark shade. Seeing him like that made her feel strangely unsettled, yet even then she couldn’t read what was going on in his mind.

They had all thought he might have disappeared during the night, but here he was.

“Alec, your presence is required by the Grand Dean,” she said.

“Hmm, old man Alderic… I’ll come now,” Alec replied as he came into the light.

As he did, Agnes caught a full glimpse of the tattoos on his body: the Sangurion bat spread across his back, the Eclipse Fenwolf on his left arm, and when he turned, the image of a horned drake stretching from his lower back toward his abdomen.

“Alec, I wanted to ask—” Agnes began, but Alec already knew where she was heading. He raised his hand and gently shook his head, pointing toward the door.

“They would hear what you’re about to say, their mental presence is covering the whole room. Don’t worry about the clan, they’ll be fine. All I need you to do is stay here and wait for me,” Alec mouthed to her silently.

Agnes nodded immediately, understanding his intention.

If Alec had allowed her to speak out completely, then the three powerful figures waiting outside would have heard as they were still spying on his room, and if Alec mouthed his reply to her because he clearly didn’t want them to hear it, to them outside it would look as if Alec had ignored her question which would have only made them more suspicious, as they knew Alec would not ignore such questions.

This way, what they would see is Alec stopping Agnes from speaking, as if he didn’t want to hear anything about what had happened to his clan, and they would think he was putting on a strong front while actually grieving inside.

With that, they walked out together, with Alec quickly pulling on a T-shirt as he realized everyone was already waiting for him outside.

“We’ll be moving out soon to watch the loser bracket match, and as the captain of the War God Mage Academy team, it’s only natural for me to ask if you’ll be coming with us,” the Grand Dean said.

“I don’t think I feel like going,” Alec replied calmly.

“I’ll stay back and focus on my cultivation. I’ve realized that even though there are many things I want to do, I still lack the strength to truly change anything.” He said this while looking at Old Man Alderic, who slowly nodded in agreement.

“I believe you understand that whatever is happening is not your fault, you don’t need to burden yourself too much, we are doing everything we can to help transport some of your clan members out of this situation. Hopefully, by the time this is all over, we will have saved enough of your clansmen to continue your clan’s legacy,” Old Man Alderic said.

Alec cupped his hands toward him in respect.

“Thank you very much for your support.”

After that, he turned to his teammates and apologized for not being able to watch the battle with them before heading back toward his room.

“Terran, I don’t trust that boy. Stay behind and keep an eye on him,” the Dean said quietly before leaving, Terran nodded, as he didn’t particularly care about attending the battle anyway, he only came to pass the information.

_ _ _

The War God Mage Academy team soon separated from Old Man Alderic and the Dean as they headed toward the VIP area while they moved towards the reserved area for the qualified teams to watch the matches.

When they arrived, they realized that the representatives from the other qualified teams were already present, though they themselves had brought the largest group.

Out of the five teams, however, only two captains had shown up.

One was Dragov, the captain of Bloodline Academy, who had clearly been hoping to meet Alec, and the other was Hoshino Ren, the captain of Shinsei Academy.

When Dragov Dragonmir realized that Alec wasn’t among the members of the War God Mage Academy team, he walked over to them and asked.

After being told that Alec wouldn’t be coming, he immediately made his way out of the viewing stands, as he seems to have little interest in watching the battle if Alec wasn’t present.

After he left, the War God Mage Academy team was finally allowed to take their seats, all under the scrutinizing gazes of those already present, many of them were trying to figure out what they had missed about this team.

Every time people expected them to be eliminated in the next round, something unbelievable happened, and they qualified by decisively defeating their opponents. It was almost amusing.

No one had paid them much attention before, but now none of them could afford to maintain that attitude. After all, no academy could reach this stage by luck alone.

“Agnes!” Arthur called out, as the members of Alec’s inner circle who sat close to her all turned to her at once, they believed something important must have happened when she went to call Alec.

“He said, ‘Don’t worry about the clan, they’ll be fine. All I need you all to do for me is to stay out here and wait for me,’” Agnes repeated.

“Wait for him… it seems my doubts were right,” Arthur muttered, as he felt an urge to head back to Alec’s room immediately, but he restrained himself, as he also had a feeling that any move he made now could ruin Alec’s plan.

He couldn’t explain it, but he strongly felt that they were being watched, and the last thing he wanted was to interfere with whatever Alec was preparing. As much as he wanted to stand beside his friend and brother, he forced himself to hold back.

“We’ll wait for you, boss,” Arthur finally said, staring up at the sky as he released a sigh he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding.