Angus went to the explosion site, but before he reached there, many staffs from the academy greeted him amicably. It seemed the news of his coming was already spread among them, making people didn't want to miss the opportunity. Usually, they would idolize people with strength far more than
them. Only some people who had equal magic power wouldn't bother to meet with
him.
Apparently, the man preferred his coming wasn't too glamoured because he liked when people acted normally. When he looked at the site, he could perceive how bigger the explosion at that time. Truly, it might kill any student here, but not enough to hurt him. Alicia told him on the way that
Baston actually was the one who blocked the impact, making her safe and sound.
Regarding this, the protection item given by the family clearly could also do it, but he was suspicious how Baston could block it.
"Did he block it with his magic or he had a certain item on him?"
From the information told by Alicia, it shouldn't be that Baston blocked it directly. He was indeed stronger than her, but not much. His nephew also explained that since she didn't saw him clearly, she only knew the danger had already passed. The explosion was terrible and she felt lucky that Baston
protected her. Still, what he focused on was Baston didn't get hurt at all too. He was unscathed from the beginning and that made Angus thought he also had some protection magic item on him.
The question was how could such a poor boy had a magic item on him. Even the merchant would feel the pain to buy it for their own children. It was because the price was expensive enough to make people think it was better to hire some guards to protect. He didn't believe Baston could buy it since he was poor. Either he had a backer behind him or he was a noble in disguise.
Angus wanted to question Baston, but he went to Alicia's room first to know more detail about the recent event. The noble girl
accompanied by her two knights began to retold the story today. From the moment
Alicia noticed Baston accidentally, chasing after the fat boy, and ended in underground room. There was no one except them, but Baston noticed a strange man with the face of clown at there. He was sitting at the chair back then with temperament of gentleman. Even though so, he was crazy enough when everyone heard what he said.
"At first, he threatens us with the bomb, so we can only play along with him," Alicia stated what happened back before.
"Yes, Master Angus. I believe he has enormous strength because we can't detect him before," the knight continued, "Because of that, I presume we can't act hastily."
The other knight nodded, "Not until he was occupied with his own game, I finally had a chance to call for a help. If not, I'm afraid we
can't go out forever from there."
"I see…" Angus pondered, "This man then just disappeared when I finally came, right?"
"Yes…" everyone nodded together.
"I already concealed my presence, yet he still could sense it…"
Angus was powerful enough in this kingdom, yet only some handful people who could sense his presence without him of knowing it. Usually, it could make a surprise attack, but since the man could see him easily, it
meant he was stronger than him. At once, he felt terrible because the enemy might just play around while he had to use his magic fully. What he didn't know was Baston actually didn't mean it because he thought it was already the end, so he made the puppet quickly disappeared from the sight.
He started to become curious and really wanted to meet with Baston again. The boy wasn't simple and he could see it with his own eyes. His treatment to him was unlike others who worshipped his strength. The man didn't waste anytime and soon, he asked Alicia to inform Baston about his request.
Meanwhile, Baston just got back to his comfy room and the old book gave a tremor, letting him knew there was a new quest on it. He actually wanted to sleep first, but his curiosity got best on him. Baston opened his book to the last page before he lamented his fate of why such a hard quest came upon him.
"Convince someone to make you less suspicious while being investigated…"
This someone that the old book stated clearly pointed to one person that he just met. It must be coming from Alicia's uncle, Angus. He had trouble to speak directly to him and suddenly, the new quest indicated that he must convince him in order to make himself less suspicious. Baston immediately
thought what would he ask about. Perhaps, it was about the cult, the matter of why he hid his power, or something else. Either way, it wouldn't do good for him.
"Knock… knock… knock…"
Someone knocked the door of Baston's room. The fat boy thought it must be Angus since the quest came exactly when he appeared. He breathed in and out, unlocking the door and opened it. Baston found Alicia was in front of him. He was surprised at first, but acting calmly so as not to make any expression.
"My uncle wants to meet you. Can you come with me?"
"I don't want it…" Baston thought, but he clearly couldn't reply it like that, "How about tomorrow morning? I have something to do today. Besides, there's not much time until the evening."
Alicia thought it was right, so she nodded, "Alright then, I will pass your answer to my uncle. By the way, he might ask you about
something. You don't need to talk about the cult because I never tell him."
With that, the beautiful noble girl went ahead and back to her dormitory. Baston didn't think much but this information from her was very useful to him right now. Since Angus didn't know about the cult, then he didn't
have to. This nonsense cult didn't need to spread far because it was a fake one told by himself. Still, Alicia must tell him about the recent event happened so the perpetrator was still in the mystery. He could say a certain criminal organization did this, but once Angus asked what its name, it would be his doom.
The one kept asking and Baston was the one who kept answering. Just by this occasion, he didn't have initiative to win this
investigation. If he answered too much, Angus would then ask more and it would
reach the point when he couldn't answer anymore. Baston felt he needed to take the initiative, but just in front of Angus, his presence already overwhelmed him enough.
Judging by this plot, he must redirect the conversation into something else. He could start by explaining more about why he needed to hide his strength in this academy. In this case, he would need to create another
drama, lying as much as he could. Although it might be easy to talk about lies, it would be useless in the man's presence. He had a hunch that this time, his performance would be the worst one since he ran the quest.
The evening came and Baston went for dinner. Along the way, he heard many rumors about him. He didn't know when it started, but it was regarding Alicia. The fat boy worried that someone might be jealous over his contact at many days before, but when he eavesdropped one of them, he realized it was just today when the noble girl came personally to his room.
"Hey, do you know that Alicia just come into Baston's room today?" one boy talked to his friend.
"What? What she wants to do with him?"
"I don't know, but there was a rumor that he blackmailed her."
"Damn, is it true?"
"No, my source says that Baston has a dealing with her. Perhaps, she wants to make him a fake boyfriend when she goes back to her family on vacation," another boy commented.
"I'm still handsome than him!"
"I'm also not only handsome, but slimmer than him!"
One by one, exaggerated rumors sprouted out of nowhere. When the beauty of the class came to your room personally, the best anyone could think was it involved a romantic feeling. But since Baston was a fat boy, plus he was a poor one, the students didn't believe that Alicia had a feeling for him. At best, there must be something insidious and Baston was the bad one
here. Before he was being persecuted, Baston had already fled away to the small
restaurant when he took his free dinner.
While Baston rescued himself, Panto was hanging out with his lackeys. He also happened to hear some rumors about Alicia and Baston, but he never thought it would be like many whispered about. There was no way they developed romantic feeling because as far as he knew, they had a contact because the same interest about the cult.
Panto guessed Alicia wanted to give Baston about some information she collected. She could convey the message through her servant, but perhaps of the importance and secrecy, it was better to come personally as
not to leak the news. Regardless, it made this kind of rumor where both of Alicia and Baston had a tryst. Sooner or later, her suitors would confront him and it would make so much trouble.
"What can I do now?"
The boy was thinking that he might have a possibility to block them if the suitors came from the merchant side and lower. As for the
noble one, he could simply ignore it since it was already out of his control. Nevertheless, it was better to see what Baston's reaction first.
As usual, Baston got another coupon after taking dinner at the restaurant. This time, he kept it tightly inside his pocket so it wouldn't
get stolen again. When he reached the dormitory, everyone curiously stared at him, but since it was already night, there would be only a few students around. Locking the door, he started to formulate what he should say when Angus really asked something.
If his opponent was someone with the same age, it would be easier. Yet, because he now dealt with someone older with strong magic, he couldn't be sure if he could control his expression. Actually, he had a better way, but it would be found out anyway. The plan was to use the puppet to have a chat with Angus since it didn't have many expressions on its face. If he was being pressured, he wouldn't show any fear nor hesitation. It could only work if he as the puppet master was in the same room.
"If only our place can be exchanged…" Baston thought.
The puppet was already coming out and he looked emptily at the old book. His mind was hovering between the page, thinking what he could do right now. He pressed his finger on the last page, wishing that he could go
inside the book while looking around without anyone knowing. Slowly, he felt his fingers entered the book, making him shocked.
"This…"
One by one, his body part was like drown into the book until he assimilated inside of it. By then, he could look around but he was unable to move. He ordered the puppet to carry the book before he finally had a way to move around. The happy smile quickly came around his face because this time, he might do it well.
Since he could hide his body into the book, he felt it was very useful if somehow, he wanted to hide from anyone quickly. But the condition was he couldn't move, so it had its own advantage and disadvantage. When he got back to outside, it was positioned beside the book so if it accidentally went somewhere, it would be bad if he needed to go out. He had to pick a quiet place to come up or his secret would be revealed.
"Alright, I think I can do this…"
With the old book, he could make sure the questioning tomorrow would work well. As for what Angus wanted to know, he couldn't predict it absolutely. He could only try to come up with any excuse whenever Angus
asked about it.