Chapter 181. Troublemaker

Succubi Chapter 181. Troublemaker

I leaned back slightly. “What happened?”

Leon was already halfway through annihilating his first tray, so he didn’t answer. Adrian paused mid-chew.

Evelyn opened her lunch box neatly before speaking, as if the act of arranging her meal gave her emotional stability.

“The usual,” she said.

That phrase did not comfort me.

“The usual?” I repeated carefully.

She nodded. “Ares made a scene again.”

“Not as big as yours though,” she added gently.

“What happened?” I asked quickly. “Did he kick Leon again?”

Leon looked up, mouth full, offended.

“He didn't kick me,” he said through food.

Evelyn shook her head. “Not him.”

She took a bite calmly.

“But the instructor.”

I froze.

“…He kicked the instructor?”

Adrian choked.

“Valor’s instructor???”

Evelyn held up a hand.

“No. Just let me explain first.”

We collectively exhaled.

“Ares saw you fight,” Evelyn continued, looking directly at me. “So he demanded the same chance to prove himself.”

I blinked.

“Prove what?”

“That he could withstand the instructor too.”

I stared.

Valor instructors were not subtle.

They did not do warm-up taps.

They did impact.

And Ares challenged him???

“What happened then?” I asked.

Evelyn’s lips twitched faintly.

“The instructor rejected his challenge.”

Silence.

“…Because?” Adrian asked.

“Because,” Evelyn said carefully, “he wasn’t you.”

I made a stupid noise.

It came out somewhere between “huh?” and “what?”

I frowned deeper.

“Why are they concentrating on me?” I muttered. “This doesn’t make sense.”

I hadn’t petitioned for attention.

I hadn’t submitted an application for reputation.

I just fought Elise because she told me to.

That was it.

Before anyone could respond, a blur of sleepy energy approached at moderate velocity.

Sera.

She did not walk.

She drifted.

Like a hamster with divine rights.

She slid into the empty seat beside me without asking permission, eyes half-lidded, hair slightly messy like she’d just woken up from an interdimensional nap.

“Most battle academies,” she said in that soft monotone of hers, “are interested in rare students like you, Anomaly.”

She picked up a piece of Leon’s bread without asking.

“This academy is the same. So it’s normal. Don’t worry. They just want to know how far you can go.”

I blinked.

“I see…”

Evelyn nodded. “Since Ares got rejected, he was mad.”

“That tracks,” Adrian muttered.

“So he tried to prove himself and ended up knocking down some students,” she added.

Sera raised her hand lazily like she was in class. “So I got summoned by the instructor to help heal them.”

I turned toward her. “I always wonder… why does the academy give you that kind of assignments while you’re also a student like us?”

Sera puffed her chest out.

Very slightly.

“Because I’m a genius.”

Evelyn didn’t even look up. “Lazy genius.”

Sera nodded seriously. “Although I always look sleepy, you can count on me.”

She said it like it was a formal declaration. Like the academy should engrave it on a plaque somewhere.

Adrian leaned back in his chair, folding his arms. “I guess what Ares did was a big thing,” he said thoughtfully. “I mean, challenging a Valor instructor and knocking some students? That’s not small.”

He glanced around the cafeteria briefly, then back at me.

“But why didn’t we hear a thing?” he continued. 

He frowned slightly. “It’s like it got buried.”

Leon, mouth full as usual, added without hesitation, “Because Evan's battle was better than Ares’s.”

I blinked.

He kept chewing.

Unbothered.

Like he hadn’t just dropped a social grenade on the table.

“More epic,” he added.

He said it with complete sincerity.

Just factual.

Sera snorted softly. “Yeah. His was shouting and ego. Yours had dome tremors and mana pressure.”

Evelyn nodded subtly. “Spectacle matters.”

“Poor him,” I muttered. “Maybe he just needs a good stage with spotlight.”

We laughed.

Soft.

Genuine.

A shadow stretched across our table.

A voice… smooth, layered with dramatic weight, cut through the courtyard.

“Sadly,” it said, “that chance came to you… not him.”

I froze.

We all did.

Slowly…

I looked up.

Callahan.

Of course.

Monocle glinting under the light like it had its own mana core.

Long coat flaring slightly despite the wind being nonexistent five seconds ago.

Yes!

Wind.

Out of nowhere.

A perfectly timed breeze brushed his hair and coat like the academy itself had hired a cinematographer.

Adrian whispered, “Why does he always enter like a hero?”

Leon nodded respectfully. “He practices.”

To be honest, he looked cool. If you didn’t know his real personality, he seriously cool.

Callahan stepped forward, boots clicking sharply against floor.

His eyes locked onto mine.

“You handled Instructor Elise’s output,” he said smoothly.

It wasn’t praise.

It wasn’t criticism.

It was a statement.

I didn’t respond.

Didn’t smile.

Didn’t shrink.

Just held his gaze.

Callahan adjusted his monocle lightly.

“You have accelerated faster than projected.”

There it was again.

Projected.

Like I was some kind of statistical chart pinned to a faculty board.

I swallowed the urge to sigh and instead tilted my head slightly.

“Professor,” I said, keeping my tone casual, “you… also put extra attention on me?”

The cafetaria noise dimmed around us.

Not literally.

Just in my head.

Callahan’s lips curved upward, slowly, deliberately.

He folded his arms. Coat settling around him like a dramatic curtain. Chin lifted just enough to reflect light at a heroic angle.

“Yes,” he said.

No hesitation.

No denial.

“Yes. You are an anomaly after all.”

This time, it wasn’t playful.

It wasn’t teasing.

It was measured.

Serious.

I studied his posture.

Relaxed but intentional.

Observing but not aggressive.

‘Is he going to make me fight him again?’

His gaze shifted.

Down.

To my lunch.

His serious aura cracked instantly.

“…Is the cafeteria making luxury food now? Why it looks fancier than my lunch?” he asked.

I blinked.

“Oh. My lunch?”

He nodded slowly, eyes fixed on the neatly arranged meat and herbs like they were divine revelation.

“Lilith made it,” I said.

Silence.

Something in his face twitched.

A fracture.

A micro-expression of envy.

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