"We have a change of clothes in the bathroom closets. Your belongings are there as well, along with your two storage rings. We did not inspect anything within for privacy reasons. The Inquisition was pushing for a search, but due to Princess Solaris’s stern opposition, it was postponed for three days."

"I don’t know the specifics, but I believe Headmaster Eclair will explain the rest," the doctor added.

After he checked off all the items on his holographic tablet, he tapped the screen, and it blinked out of power.

He stood up from his stool, fixing me with a weary look."Take care. I wish to never see you again."

"Haha, yes. Thank you for taking care of me as well," I replied with a wry smile.

I retreated to the bathroom and opened the closet beneath the mirror.

Inside, I found a plain, white, puffy-sleeved tunic made of high-quality silk. It was stitched with gold embroidery along the cuffs and collar, mimicking the prestigious color scheme of the Excelia staff uniforms.

I pulled it on, the fabric feeling cool against my skin. It felt incredibly off to me the fact that complimentary clothes this simple could still feel so lavishly expensive.

Back on earth, I was completely used to wearing plain, ordinary clothes. Even the clothes I have in my closet right now are synonymous with that lifestyle.

I grabbed my belongings, which honestly weren’t much anyway. There were only two storage rings. The one Solaris had given me to secure our supplies, and the other was my personal storage ring that housed my Loom.

I pulled out my phone, squinting hard as I pulled up the Excelia map.

Thank god this thing has a search feature. If it didn’t, I would be completely lost before I could even take a single step outside this room.

Even after spending half a semester here, I had only explored maybe twenty percent of this place, and that was being incredibly generous. The campus was essentially a small city.

Finding my way around with my vision reduced to that of a retired, senile old man was going to be a nightmare without some assistance.

Speaking of assistance... I would have loved a shoulder I could lean on right about now.

Someone like Nagi, or even Finster.

"How preposterous. The primordial color of Black, wishing to be lent assistance by a human," Verde scoffed in my head.

"Don’t be jealous. I still consider you my second biggest patron." I said while rubbing my right eye and navigating the sterile corridor.

"JE-JEALOUS?!"

"How—how DARE you!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I was just pulling your leg." I thought back, suppressing a smirk. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

The nurse in front of me suddenly looked at me weirdly.

Fuck did I fail to suppress it? How embarrassing.....

"A-ANYWAY! This is why you always lose to Ao and Rouge in a battle of words. If even this fragmented mind of mine can ragebait you, how much more those two?" I thought back to Verde while speedwalking past the nurse.

I stepped out of the hospital building, only to find that the sky wasn’t exactly welcoming me back to the land of the living.

It was still raining....

Sticking to the covered walkways connecting the structures, I hurried along, occasionally glancing down to squint at the map on my phone to make sure I was still heading in the right direction.

"I... was not ragebaited," Verde hesitantly muttered after a long silence.

"HAh........Are we still on that?"

"Don’t you know that in the process of your eternal development, accepting when you are wrong is a core part of it?" I retorted.

"But I have never been wrong in my life," she stated confidently.

"Therefore, since my judgment is absolute, every action I take naturally aligns perfectly with my grand purpose thus It is impossible for me to deviate from what is right."

Then, since you are always right, you must have known that there is no single correct path in life, right? I teasingly countered, stepping into the massive glass atrium of the central spire.

"O-of course! I naturally do!" she shot back defensively.

So, accepting a pointer or two from a fellow primordial color wouldn’t be a bad idea, right? I pushed.

"Are you suggesting you point out my flaws to me?"

"Uhh... yeah?"

"Umu, umu... tempting," Verde mused, her tone shifting to one of deep contemplation.

"Considering the primordial color of Black is the most sensitive to flaws in the universe—destroying them to keep the cycle turning—it makes sense. You might have lost your memories, but your instinct to sense imperfections would naturally linger," she said aloud without a pause.

What the hell was this girl talking about? This wasn’t even mentioned anywhere in the novel or in any of the author’s side notes!

I had originally just wanted to establish an equal standing with her so I could include her in my plans. But hey, if she wants to interpret my bluff as some profound cosmic debt, then be my guest. I’ll gladly make you my cosmic sugar mommy, I thought to myself.

"Ummm, yes! For real! for real!" I replied half-assedly.

I genuinely had absolutely no idea what this pathetic primordial was blabbing about, but I needed to ride this wave of her misunderstanding. If I didn’t play along, I’d drown in her suspicion.

As we bickered, I moved from one massive structure to the next.

Even through my hazy vision, Excelia was breathtaking. It was a bizarre, sprawling contradiction of futuristic magitech and ancient tradition.

Sleek glass skyscrapers with floating holographic readouts stood alongside traditional stone temples dedicated to various weaving arts.

Because it was during peak class hours, the pathways were mostly empty of students, but there were plenty of school staff clad in crisp uniforms hurried about, tending to the campus’s automated defense systems and barrier maintenance.

Are they tightening the defences because of the recent incident, or are they just putting up a face because the men from the palace are coming along with the inquisitors, I thought.

I ignored them for now and continued my way toward the main school building. On my way, I spotted a distinct, blurry crimson-haired silhouette.

It had to be Professor Zmey.

Strangely, she seemed to be in distress, backing away from someone. I considered going over to ask what was going on, but the moment the form of a well-built man appeared, calmly walking toward her, I already knew the scene.

She was definitely running away from another pile of tedious paperwork and had probably dumped it on Professor Heather’s desk again.

Heather, thoroughly unhappy about this, was likely planning to double her workload as a punishment. Classic Heather and Zmey shenanigans.

If I could record this right now even through the foggy lens of my blurry eyesight, the shippers on Reddot would absolutely lose their minds.

Suddenly, Zmey seemed to notice me and shouted my name.

I immediately spun 180 degrees and speed-walked away from there.

All I could hear behind me was her dramatic scream of "Traitor!" echoing through the walkway. But hearing that word was precisely the reason I needed to get the hell away from her.

If I got caught in whatever hurricane those two professors were brewing, I’d end up buried in faculty paperwork myself, and I already had enough problems to deal with.

Using that close call with Zmey as the perfect motivation, I quickly located the elevator my map app was frantically flashing at me.

"CLING!"

The elevator doors chimed softly and slid open on the 40th floor. I stepped out onto a plush, heavily carpeted hallway that muffled every single one of my footsteps.

Schwarz, this suggestion you are offering... what is the price for it? Verde asked in my mind.

I walked forward, squaring my shoulders, until I was staring directly at the massive, intricately carved double doors of the headmaster’s office.

"Let’s talk about the price later. I feel like even you won’t be able to hide your presence even if you’re inside my sea of consciousness if we keep conversing." I thought, my posture stiffening as I stared at the door.

I let out a loud cough to announce my presence before raising a hand to knock.

"Creak......"

Before my knuckles could even graze the wood, the heavy door swung open on its own.

I looked inside and, just like the countless wallpapers of Eclair I’ve downloaded, the room was enormous.

The luxury of the space is currently overshadowed by a significant amount of clutter.

Books were stacked everywhere in uneven towers that leaned against desks and shelves. Some were toppled down like dominoes, and most were left open face down on the floor with handwritten notes stuffed between the pages.

Clothes were scattered carelessly across chairs and couches without any attempt to hide them. Personal belongings filled nearly every corner. Hair accessories, empty cups, expensive-looking perfumes, half-folded uniforms.

Even several pieces of lacy underwear and tools for sexual indulgence were left completely exposed without the slightest hint of embarrassment.

She sat in the middle of it all completely relaxed, almost excited by my reaction.

I slowly looked toward her.

Unlike before, she was now dressed properly in clothes befitting the headmaster of this academy. A dark fitted uniform wrapped tightly around her figure with golden details running along the sleeves and collar.

Still, the outfit failed miserably at hiding how dangerously attractive she was.

Then our eyes met.

"GULP..."

A chill crawled down my spine so sharply it felt as though icy fingers were tracing directly against bone.