"M-master! You did it! You did it!"
"??? Birdbrain! Sh-shut up!"
Butch, on the other hand, chirped out in amazement the moment its eyes locked in on Amelia, making her flinch and try to hush it as her initial reaction.
The bird-like fae flew up to its master and rested on her shoulder, hopping right up to her neck and nuzzling against it, grateful for being saved.
"Wait! First things first. Is everyone alright!?"
At first, she breathed out and patted her fae's little head in relief, but then one look around reminded her where she was and how she should act, making her call out.
There weren't many students who remained, and many members of the Academy's staff were starting to show up to see what in the world caused such a commotion. There was so little time for Amelia to salvage as much of that disaster as possible, to at least make it all appear similar to how things went in the story.
So she began shouting commands as if everything was under control... that is, until she finally noticed something on the ground.
The initial sound of something hitting the ground hard right after murky blackish-red fire caused the water sphere explosion… the cause of it was the teacher, who instantly rushed into action and received a point-blank hit.
Most of the skin on her face was bright red and peeling off, scalded severely, and her body convulsed with uneven spasms as if she was being electrocuted every few seconds.
Her half-open eyes flashing whites suggested she was unconscious, and honestly, Amelia prayed that she was because the pain must have been horrible.
"!!!"
The sight made Amelia falter and take a step back.
That was someone she was certain was more powerful and experienced than her.
But ended up in a state like that anyway.
Once the Academy's staff members understood the situation, or at least the gist of it, they took over the situation, properly instructing and taking care of everything.
After confirming that Amelia and Justin were alright, the one staff member who approached them rushed over to the others, giving first aid to the gravely wounded teacher, and missed that the girl started shivering.
She realized that her reaction towards the creature within the flames wasn't just panic-induced misunderstanding.
Her spells not having any significant effect, her contracted fae being caught so easily… whatever had shown up within those flames wasn't just a monster of gedwyld.
It just had to be at least a lesser deofol.
Despite having lesser in their names, lesser deofols were already much more powerful than monsters.
Despite the stories and actual reports of mages as low as the fourth and fifth tier coming out alive from the encounters with lesser deofols, it was a well-known fact that to be actually safe during an encounter with one, a mage had to be at least of a 7th tier and above. Only 7th tier defensive spells guaranteed protection from lesser deofols' magic, and only the 7th tier offensive spells could deal an instant fatal blow.
…the teacher in charge of the presentation was a 7th tier mage, but since she believed that she was dealing with only a dangerous mishap with handling spells and used a 6th tier defensive spell, she must have been the most confident in…
…and that very spell exploded right in her face…
Amelia, being a 5th tier on the brink of entering 6th one, managed with her defensive spells, but the teacher, who never expected her spell to explode, received all of it point-blank.
But then… how…?
How did the lesser deofol who just brushed off 5th tier ice spells just freeze over…?
"..."
"!!!"
Suddenly, although Amelia couldn't exactly explain it, she felt someone's gaze on her, and she flinched, straightening her back as if she was prodded by a red-hot iron.
"...!"
"..."
And she ended up making eye contact with none other than Rotsard Vallhall staring down at her from the window of one of the empty classrooms of the main building.
"..."
His cold, beastly yellow eyes seemed to pierce right through her, and as silly as it was, Amelia ended up taking a step back, lowering her head, and covering her chest and waist with her arms while her face turned red from the embarrassment, even though she wasn't exposing herself.
But felt as if she was.
She exposed how useless she was when the situation really mattered.
And he must have seen it all...
Wait… what…?
"!"
Amelia furrowed her brows and jolted, straightening her back again.
Did… did that mean that HE was the one who helped her…!?
No, that didn't make sense!
Rotsard Vallhall, as he was in the story, wouldn't be able to do a thing against a deofol, and he would definitely not be able to exert enough authority to make Amelia feel embarrassed over her own shortcomings!
The wounded teacher was transported to the hospital wing, together with dozens of students who were too slow to use defensive spells or simply didn't even think about it at the moment, for treatment.
The scene was taken over by Syon, who jumped out the window and rushed to the main stage, banning everyone from even approaching the center with the frozen remains between the broken pieces of the long table.
Of course, Rotsard had already asked him not to mention his involvement and instead to give the achievement to Amelia… and the vice headmaster, although hesitant initially, got bought off easily the moment the bleached-blond-haired youth expressed his willingness to test out other spells from the classic magic system that he technically should not be able to use…
On the other hand, there was Saria…
Everyone present for the presentation agreed on one point... The whole disaster started because of her.
She was so blatantly ignorant of the warning given by the teacher, but didn't suffer any direct physical consequences.
Her fault would be seen as lesser if she had been one of the victims being treated in the hospital wing, but the silver-haired girl had the audacity to come out unscathed as her contracted fae stepped in and saved her.
Honestly, the efficiency of her fae sure did make the whole thing even more suspicious…
In the end, not only Saria's reputation suffer a heavy blow, but so did her title as a genius and a young prodigy of the Vallhall family. After all, someone else showed off amazing prowess with ice while she did nothing when it mattered.
That caused the silver-haired girl to act just like her character in the story, she spiralled down the path of petty pride, and instead of improving, she stubbornly attempted to act the same she did in Vallhall's castle.
The wake-up call would come in the form of rather abysmal grades she would achieve in the midterm exams… although there was a bit of time before that.
…a bit of time in which Rotsard would have to deal with a certain inconvenience he honestly wanted to ignore, but just couldn't, as it simply wouldn't ignore him anymore…