The Return Of The Exiled Villain

”Attention!!!”

Ellen stood at the front of the classroom with a single projection hovering above her palm, displaying two words.

Sword Festival.

”As most of you are already aware,” she began, adjusting her glasses with one finger, ”our academy hosts its annual Sword Festival in one week. Participation is open to any student whose primary combat style falls under the sword classification.”

She let that settle for a moment.

”This includes single blade, dual blade, and any sword-based technique school regardless of affinity.” Her eyes moved across the room.

”It does not include catalyst-based magic, polearms, or...” her gaze passed briefly over Cassandra, ”scythes.”

Cassandra’s expression remained perfectly composed.

”Those who wish to participate will be registered under the Phoenix Class banner. Your performance reflects the class ranking.”

”I will be taking names now.”

She looked up and instantly saw multiple hands rise.

Vivienne. Sola. Reinette. Ysolde.

Several others from the sword-wielding half of the class went up without hesitation, some before Ellen had finished the sentence entirely.

Then Seraph raised her hand.

Ellen’s eyes moved across the raised hands, counting, before drifting toward the other side of the room.

The mages of the class sat with their hands at their desks, their classification exempting them from eligibility without requiring explanation.

And Gray...

Ellen’s gaze finally settled on him.

He was sitting with his usual posture, his hands resting on the desk in front of him. His hand was down, and didn’t move at all.

Ellen studied him for exactly one second.

”Gray,” she called out.

”I’m not participating,” he said, before she finished his name.

A ripple moved through the class.

”You use a rapier,” Reinette added immediately, turning in her seat.

”That qualifies.”

”I know.”

”So why aren’t you—”

”—I’m not participating,” he repeated with a final tone as if a conversation had reached its conclusion, regardless of whether the other party had noticed yet.

Reinette opened her mouth before closing it.

Ellen looked at him for a brief moment before she looked back at the rest of the room.

”Noted,” she nodded simply, and continued down the list.

Gray looked out the window as Gloria’s voice from the night before surfaced for the fifth time already.

’...Just don’t participate.’

Those words were bothering him quite a lot.

Ellen continued explaining a few more details about the Sword Festival until the final second of the class.

RRIIIIIIIIINGGGG!

”Dismissed.”

The projection dissolved, and chairs scraped against the floor as the class broke into its usual post-dismissal noise, conversations starting mid-motion, and the students getting out of the classroom.

Gray was stretching his arms lightly when something was placed on his desk.

He looked down.

A small crystalline card, no larger than his palm, etched with fine inscription lines.

Even without picking it up, he could feel the artifact’s passive output radiating against his fingers from two inches away.

It was an artifact above the Grandmaster realm, and it was also a rare passive type.

He picked it up.

The output was clean and continuous and required nothing from the wearer.

A defense seal of this classification didn’t appear in the academy’s catalogue.

It didn’t appear in most catalogues.

The craftsmanship on the inscription lines alone suggested an independent artificer of considerable skill operating well outside standard market channels.

He turned it over once and then looked up.

Maelis stood on the other side of his desk.

One hand rested lightly on the surface.

Her dark hair fell over one shoulder.

Her expression toward the rest of the still-emptying classroom was its usual coldness, but the moment his eyes met hers, it instantly changed into that ”sisterly warmth”.

”Like it?” she asked.

Her voice was quiet enough that it didn’t carry past the two of them.

”Where did you get this?” Gray asked curiously.

”A place,” she replied simply.

”That’s not an answer.”

”I know it isn’t.”

She tilted her head slightly, her eyes moving from his face to the card in his hand and back again.

Gray set the card back on the desk.

Maelis’ finger slid forward and stopped it before it cleared his reach.

”I’d like it back.”

”I know~”

He looked at her, and she stared back at him.

”Maelis... what do you want?”

”There’s a vendor in the fourth ward market district,” she explained instead with a wry and mischievous smile.

”Independent. Doesn’t advertise. The piece in your hand came from his private stock,” she paused slighly.

”He has three more.”

Gray’s eyes narrowed slightly.

’Three more... that’s enough to create three sacrificial puppets.’

[...Are you still planning to make spy puppets?]

Jasmine suddenly asked.

’Of course. Puppets are the best at being spies since nothing can sense them except by seeing them or by hearing their steps. And they can mimic the human’s personality if carefully configured.’

Maelis watched his expression with a deep sense of satisfaction in her eyes.

”I’ll give you the card. And take you to the vendor.”

”In exchange for?”

She smiled lightly, her finger lifting up to gently tug his collar.

”Spend the afternoon with me.”

”...A date?”

”It’s a transaction,” she said smoothly.

”You get a defense artifact above your current realm and access to a vendor most people at this academy don’t know exists.” She lifted one finger off the desk and examined her nail with complete casualness.

”I get your company for a few hours.”

”And if I find the vendor myself.”

”You won’t.”

”I could.”

”You could spend considerable time and effort trying,” she agreed pleasantly.

”Or...”

Her finger returned to the card, sliding it a single centimeter in his direction.

”You could simply come with me this afternoon.”

Gray looked at the card and at her finger resting beside it.

He looked at Maelis and noticed how she had the confidence of someone who already knew the answer and was simply waiting for him to arrive at it himself.

But well... he really couldn’t refuse her this time.

The puppets he wanted to make would be really useful, and he needed some kind of defense artifact strong enough to protect them against at least a few strong opponents.

And the defense artifact she showed was at least at the Great Grandmaster realm. Maybe the vendor would have an artifact at a higher grade than that.

He picked up the card.

”Main gate,” he stated flatly.

”One hour.”

A clear happiness passed through Maelis’ eyes that she thought of suppressing.

”I’ll be there in fifty minutes!”

She straightened, picked up her bag, and turned toward the door with perfect composure, her expression cooling back to its default the moment she faced the rest of the room.

Several girls moved out of her path automatically.

Gray looked at the card in his hand.

At least, a Great Grandmaster passive defense seal.

He pocketed it.

From across the room, Cassandra stood with her bag over one shoulder. She had not moved since dismissal.

Her eyes were on the door Maelis had just walked through, and then they moved to Gray, and her expression was composed and even, giving absolutely nothing away.

She held his gaze for exactly one second.

Then she left without a word.

Without anything else to do, Gray left, walking towards the courtyard, but on his way, his communication seal started ringing.

”Dududu~, duudduuu~”

...It was Ronan.

He tapped it without slowing his pace.

”Battlegrounds,” Ronan’s voice came through immediately, carrying the barely contained energy of someone who had been sitting on something for too long.

”Come. Now. I have to show you something.”

”What is it?”

”Just come! I can’t explain it, you have to see it, just... come, okay? Come alone.”

Gray looked at the sky briefly.

”Fine.”

He changed direction and headed directly towards the battleground. It didn’t take long for him to get there and quickly spot Ronan.

He was waiting by one of the pillars.

”You came!” he said, as if this was something surprising.

”You asked me to.”

”Right, right.” He grabbed Gray’s sleeve without ceremony and started pulling him toward the far corner of the battlegrounds, behind the equipment storage structure where the sightlines from the main courtyard were fully blocked.

”Okay, so. Listen. Something happened last night and I’ve been waiting all morning to show someone, and I couldn’t show Leon because he’d make it weird and Adrian would just analyze it to death and—”

”Ronan.”

”Right. Okay. Here.”

He stopped, releasing Gray’s sleeve and turning to face him with the expression of someone about to present something they were extremely proud of.

Gray waited.

Ronan rolled his shoulders once.

Cracked his neck.

Then stood very still for exactly three seconds with his eyes closed and the focused expression of someone concentrating on something internal.

Then his body changed.

It happened quickly but not instantaneously, a visible progression that moved outward from his core.

Scales emerged across his forearms first, catching the light with a deep iridescent sheen that shifted between black and gold depending on the angle.

They spread up past his elbows, across his shoulders, along the sides of his neck.

Then the horns.

Two of them, rising from just above his temples with a slow, deliberate solidity, curved slightly backward, the same dark gold iridescent quality as the scales.

Only that.

Just the scales, the horns, and Ronan’s extremely pleased face wearing them.

”WATCH THIS!” he had announced, approximately two seconds after the process started and before it had finished, apparently unable to contain himself.

He stood there now in full display, arms slightly spread, chin lifted, radiating the energy of someone waiting for a specific reaction.

”What do you think?”

”Cool, right? The scales came first, around midnight, and I woke up, and they were just there, and then this morning the horns showed up, and I think, I really think—” he reached up and tapped one horn with his knuckle, producing a faint resonant sound.

”—that if I keep cultivating, I’ll probably get wings eventually, right? Like that’s the next step obviously, scales then horns then wings, that’s just how it goes, and imagine—”

He spread his arms wide.

”—Imagine me with wings. In combat. Flying. Nobody would see that coming from me specifically—”

”Ronan.”

”—and the scales are actually pretty tough, Leon hit me this morning, not about this, just normally, and it hurt less than usual, so there’s clearly a defensive component already, which means—”

”Ronan.”

”—by the time I fully awaken it I’ll probably be basically—”

”Ronan.”

He stopped.

”What?”

Gray looked at him with shining eyes.

There was a strange delight...

The particular delight of someone watching something they had been waiting for arrive exactly on schedule.

’...He finally awakened the bloodline of the Dragon King.’

His lips slowly curved into a devilish grin.

Ronan blinked.

”...Why are you smiling like that?”