Little Tyrant Doesn’t Want to Meet with a Bad End

While the crowd was panicking in the presence of a humongous nine-headed serpent in the grass field, Lilian Ackermann and Roel Ascart met eyes with one another, their gazes carrying a cold intent.

Don’t trust the Ackermanns.

Roel was suddenly reminded of the message he had seen on Ancient Treant Kayde’s body back in the Karon Forest. The warning left behind by his ancestor made him particularly wary of the Ackermanns, except for Paul Ackermann whom he had a good understanding of thanks to the game.

It was common knowledge that First Prince Lucius Ackermann and Second Prince Aubrey Ackermann were incompetent and unlikely to achieve anything significant, which meant that Lilian Ackermann was the greatest threat of all.

Despite it being their first time meeting one another, Roel could clearly sense cold hostility coming from her purple eyes. The fact that he was experiencing a pressure from her was more than enough to verify that he wasn’t just overthinking it.

Roel wasn’t too surprised by her enmity since she was the only female capture target whom he hadn’t encountered prior to this, which would probably mean that their relationship would be the default state as it was in the game. That being said, he had no intention of winning her goodwill.

After having brought Alicia, Nora, and Charlotte to his side, he didn’t think that Lilian alone could pose a threat to him after all. Besides, he believed that it would be futile for him to try to win Lilian’s goodwill since he didn’t have the necessary condition to pull it off.

In truth, despite Lilian Ackermann’s cold exterior, she was a hidden brocon, just that no one including her had ever known about it since she had never had a younger brother before… until now, that was.

In Eyes of the Chronicler, Lilian’s first impression of Paul wasn’t particularly good, but as time passed, her brocon nature would be gradually awakened. She would begin to show more care and concern toward Paul, allowing the latter to rise through the ranks without a hitch.

Roel had tried analyzing the matter, and his conclusion was that it might have been a rebound effect from the extreme lack of kinship Lilian suffered from a young age. Deep down, she harbored an unbelievably strong desire for family bonds, and Paul was her younger brother in name regardless of whether he was a pureblood or not.

Other than that, everything else was of secondary importance.

Given that Roel wasn’t her family member, it would be nigh impossible for him to win her trust. As long as he couldn’t break down the barriers surrounding her heart, there was nothing he could do that would win her goodwill.

The lack of this vital key left Roel with no choice but to give up on the notion of building up a friendly relationship with Lilian. For some uncanny reason, the latter also had the same thoughts in mind as she recalled the letter she had received from her father.

Don’t get close to the Ascarts.

This was an order coming from the emperor himself, so Lilian, as a princess of the empire, was obliged to obey it. However, by ‘don’t get close’, she didn’t think that her father was referring to physical proximity.

Obviously, if there was someone in the world who could cause trouble just by coming into proximity with Lilian, the Austine Empire wouldn’t have just sent a mere letter to warn her. Her father’s meaning should be referring to the emotional intimacy, or in other words, she shouldn’t befriend anyone from the Ascart House.

While she couldn’t understand the rationale behind this inexplicable command, she was intending to do as she was told and avoid any contact with the members of the Ascart House. Yet, she could have never imagined that Roel would actually appear by Paul’s side.

What is he scheming?

This was the first thought that arose in Lilian’s mind when she first saw the two of them together.

One was the illegitimate son of Austine’s emperor, brought back only half a year ago, whereas the other was the treasured successor of a marquess house from the Saint Mesit Theocracy. They belonged to two different worlds, be it their background or the environment they had grown up in. Lilian didn’t think that they even had a common language between them, let alone become friends within less than an hour since arriving at the academy.

The very fact that someone from the Theocracy was approaching an illegitimate son of Austine’s emperor was a huge cause of concern. Regardless of whether Roel was targeting Paul or intending to get close to her through Paul, it would be safe to say that he didn’t have good intentions in mind.

Having thought things out to this point, Lilian’s eyes grew even frostier. After a momentary exchange of gazes, Roel turned his attention back to the nine-headed serpent he had summoned and issued his order.

“Spit them out.”

The heads of the nine-headed serpent began wiggling a bit before spitting out two humans covered in viscous fluid. Needless to say, they were no other than Cron and Lyte.

Their clothes were tattered, and they lay unconscious on the grass field. Their current state looked a bit disgusting with sticky fluid coating their bodies. Despite their unkempt state, there weren’t any visible injuries on their bodies.

After the nine-headed serpent spat out the two of them, it began to retract back into the ancient staff under his control. It was also then that the members of the Enforcement Division arrived at the scene. Some of them warily surrounded Roel whereas the others quickly rushed forward to check on Cron and Lyte’s conditions.

“… They have only fainted. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with them.”

“Is that so? Carry them away.”

The enforcers breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that the two students were safe, and the heavy tension in the atmosphere alleviated a little.

Meanwhile, after retracting the nine-headed serpent, Roel turned his gaze toward the tower once more, and this time around, the enmity from the purple eyes seemed to have lessened by a fair bit.

Roel didn’t take the initiative to release Cron and Lyte out of the kindness of his heart. This was a gesture on his part to inform Lilian that he bore no hostility here as the enforcers maintaining order in the area all belonged to Lilian’s Purplerose Faction, evidenced by the ‘Purple Rose’ insignia embroidered onto the chest area of their clothes.

The high level of autonomy enjoyed by the students meant that they had to be responsible for some of the academy’s key functions too. Traditionally, the one who shouldered the important responsibility of maintaining internal security was the highest-ranking Ringbearer, which was no other than Lilian at the moment.

To put it in another way, the entire academy was her turf, and anyone who dared to mess around on her turf would be looking down on her. Unless Roel intended to confront her, he would have to take a step back here and defuse the conflict.

After the enforcers determined that both Cron and Lyte were safe and sound, the pressure exerted by Lilian on Roel lessened significantly, and she turned her eyes away from him to the ancient staff he was holding onto.

Is that a magic tool from the ancient era?

Recalling the faint threat she had felt from the ancient staff earlier, her purple eyes narrowed a little. It wasn’t easy for a mere magic tool to be able to incur her cautiousness.

It looks like the Ascart House has accrued quite a bit of formidable artifacts over its thousand years of lineage, but just what is so special about it that led to Emperor Lukas issuing such an order…

“Lord Lilian, how should we deal with that freshman?” a subordinate enforcer asked respectfully.

Lilian contemplated for a brief moment before shaking her head lightly.

Even though this incident had caused quite a huge commotion, the cause of it was Cron and Lyte flouting the academy rules by entering the grass field to oppress a freshman. On top of that, they were also the ones to make the first move. They were probably confident in their strength as Origin Level 4 transcendents and didn’t expect to meet with such a tough opponent.

Over the course of the fight, Roel had never cast any spell at all, and the summoning of the nine-headed serpent could be justified as a protective mechanism of the magic tool. He could easily shape himself out to be a victim of the senior students’ oppression, and everything that happened afterward was just self-defense.

There was also nothing to fault him on regarding the resolution of the issue. He had willingly freed the aggressors and cooperated with the enforcers afterward. It was impossible to pin anything on him.

It was clear that Roel had already thought things through from the moment he decided to make a move. In terms of strength and intelligence, he was far ahead of any of his peers. Even Lilian had a high evaluation of how he had dealt with everything.

“What a sly one he is… But it matters not.”

In the first place, it was the failure of the Enforcement Division that Cron and Lyte managed to sneak into the grass field. On top of that, Emperor Lukas had also issued an order to her to take care of Paul Ackermann.

Lilian glanced at the flabbergasted Paul as she made up her mind to use this matter to send out a stern warning to her two older brothers’ lackeys in the academy.

“Roel Ascart… It looks like there will be quite a few surprises for this year’s entrance ceremony.”

Lilian narrowed her eyes as she took one last look at Roel before finally taking her leave.

…

It took a while after Lilian’s departure before Roel’s thumping heart finally calmed down. He raised his arm to wipe off the cold sweat trickling down the sides of his cheeks.

That woman is truly terrifying.

He was able to quickly calm his breathing, but his face still remained grim. He had indeed planned to stay put and cooperate with the Enforcement Division, but it turned out that there was no need for him to make that conscious decision—he couldn’t move even if he wanted to.

The pressure exerted on him by Lilian Ackermann was simply too heavy. What Cron did appeared to be no more than a child’s play in comparison. For a moment there, Roel seriously contemplated whether he should summon Grandar or not.

A prodigy on Lilian’s level would undergo a qualitative change upon reaching Origin Level 3, growing at a rate far surpassing that of her peers. In fact, Roel reckoned that even the Origin Level 2 puppetmaster he had defeated in the Witness State wouldn’t be a match for her.

“Roel, no, big brother Roel! Thank you!”

A voice coming by his side brought Roel’s attention back to reality. He turned his head over, only to see Paul bowing to him with a face filled with earnest gratitude. Roel responded with a heartened smile, a natural response considering the brilliant green light glowing on the other party’s head.

(Affection Points +2000!)

(Affection Points +50!)

(Affection Points +30!)

(Affection Points +100!)

(Affection Points +80!)…

There are indeed far more benefits to being a good person than a villain.

Roel smiled to himself as he looked at the influx of numbers in the System.