Chapter 87: Annoying Sir Lycanoid

"Four days."

"Guess I took a bit longer than expected," he mused.

"Are you okay now?"

"Yes, I am. I’ll take my leave now, and thank you," he said, turning toward the exit.

"Sir Lycanoid will be waiting for you in the Staff Building, third floor,

He nodded once before stepping out of the hall.

_____________

Declan had been to the Staff Building once before, so finding it didn’t take long, even without a map.

Taking the elevator, he was dropped right in front of a golden door.

He raised his hand to knock, but before it even touched the surface, the door slid open on its own and shifted smoothly into the wall.

Declan stepped into the darkness.

The door shut quietly behind him, and he looked forward, finding a ring-shaped halo inscribed into the ground that stretched into the distance, ending at a seat positioned opposite a large golden desk.

FLICKER!

Golden rays of light flared across the room, and Declan’s heart skipped a beat.

Looking straight at him through the darkness from behind the massive desk were those golden eyes, each gleaming with a serpentine slit.

"Sir... Lycanoid?" he called out, but silence was the only response.

"I just came for my devices and—"

"Declan Ezra."

The instructor’s deep voice cut him off.

"Sit," he ordered.

Declan’s eyes moved toward the chair before the desk.

’I feel like I’m in trouble. Did I do something wrong again?’

He wondered silently, though his expression remained calm as he stepped forward and took his seat.

The chair was comfortable, but Declan did not feel comforted.

The golden gaze, sharp and serpentine, stared down at him from above.

"Five of you went for the expedition," Sir Lycanoid began.

"Emiris Emrisial. Penelope Toiran. Zeke Andrews. Van Tourisma. And you."

"Zeke Andrews and Van Tourisma died," he continued, something Declan already knew.

"Penelope has sunk into a depressive state ever since she was told what happened. She’s more or less half-dead now."

’Deserving of it,’ he thought silently.

"The only two survivors were Emiris and you."

"I believe you are aware of this already, aren’t you, Declan Ezra?" the instructor asked quietly.

"I am," Declan replied.

"How do you feel about it?"

Declan paused for a moment before answering.

"I think it’s unfortunate, the deaths of Zeke and Van."

"Do you feel regret? Remorse for their deaths?"

"I don’t," Declan replied curtly.

"Why not? They were all students of X Guard, just like you."

"That’s correct, but I do not know them deeply enough, either from school or from the mission, to feel regret over their deaths."

"Emiris blames himself for their deaths, yet you say you feel nothing at all," Sir Lycanoid said, the golden light in his eyes flaring.

"There wasn’t anything I could have done at that moment, and I’m not the type to spend time regretting situations beyond my control."

Lycanoid’s gaze deepened.

"Perhaps Emiris feels regret because he thinks he could have done something... though I would argue he was just as helpless as everyone else."

"Their deaths are, just as I said, unfortunate, and it’s better left at that."

A hard stare-down occurred between Declan and Sir Lycanoid as crushing pressure descended upon the room.

Declan had absolutely no idea why this was happening at all.

Was the academy blaming him for the deaths of the others on the mission?

Or did they expect him to be upset that two strangers he barely knew had died on a mission he was part of?

Students died every day in the academy, whether due to challenges, vengeful fights, or even bullying.

Some students didn’t even survive the torment of protecting the points they had clawed their way toward earning from the grasp of thieves.

And it was X Guard itself that had allowed all of this to happen, probably to instill that indifference toward death in its students.

Why else would they turn a blind eye to most of the students’ complaints and the endless footage of violence posted on the Xnet?

And now they wanted to hold him accountable?

"Now that you’ll be moving to the second year..." Sir Lycanoid began, "we need to talk about some of the crimes you’ve committed during your three-month stay as a Newcomer."

"And what is that?"

"Here."

Sir Lycanoid tapped his fingers on the table twice, and a holographic light appeared in the darkness, revealing footage of Declan jumping off the school walls and moving into the wastelands.

’Guess they have cameras around,’ he mused silently, though his expression barely changed.

"Offences do not go unpunished, Declan Ezra," Sir Lycanoid said.

"At the end of the year, all offences, bullying, thieving, and the rest are counted as negative Metric Marks deducted from a student’s total metric score."

"That is why many of them never make it into the second year."

"Offences," Declan said. "Are defined by the academy as actions that go against the rules."

"There are clear aspects of the rules that state bullying, killing, and thieving are against academy conduct, though most of them go unnoticed."

"I’m not surprised if they’re eventually punished later."

"My offence of going into the academy wasteland isn’t mentioned or hinted at anywhere in the rules."

"So whether we can even call it an offence is another debate entirely."

The golden glint in the instructor’s eyes sharpened.

"But still, let’s say I accept that going to the wasteland is an offence. How did you plan to punish me? Deduct my Metric Points?"

"Yes, actually. I’m going to deduct from your Metric Points," he said, a mocking grin appearing on his lips as if the decision had only been made because Declan had mentioned it.

"I’m going to the second year as a reward for an expedition done well, not because of Metric Points."

"So what use are those points even?" he asked, wiping the smirk from his face.

"You don’t seem to be taking this seriously..." he said, and Declan felt lost for words.

"Taking this seriously? What the fuck is there..."

At this point, Declan paused, reframing his tone.

"With all due respect, Sir Lycanoid, I don’t think you understand how this academy works," he said, and a sharp glint crossed the man’s eyes.

"Oh, really?"

"You’re telling me people kill others and only get points deducted, and I’m supposed to be worried about jumping over a wall?"

He said it in such a way that the stupidity of the situation was painfully obvious.

"Is that all the recorded offences against me?" he asked, glancing at the holograms showing different angles of his jump.

"That’s it," Sir Lycanoid replied, tapping the table as the hologram disappeared.

"So... can I get my card and device back now?" Declan asked.

For whatever reason, he didn’t want to remain in this room for a second longer.

"The academy has a couple of anomaly reports about you that I would like to discuss," Sir Lycanoid suddenly said, reaching into a drawer and bringing out a file.

At the top of the file were the words:

Achievements and Records in Newcomer Year

Declan’s eyes briefly caught a note at the bottom:

The content of this file rightfully belongs to the student.

"You have some anomaly power."

"A Mech Module that the academy never ordained," Sir Lycanoid said, lifting the file and showing several images of Declan in the training room or on the Challenge rankings, where he had fully transformed into his Darkthar form.

"And according to Emiris, you unleashed some powerful transformation module that allowed you to kill the bone giant that was easily able to slaughter both Zeke and Van,"

He said, and Declan simply listened quietly.

"This transformation you only unleashed at the last second, after Zeke and Van’s deaths, and you were also close to death."

"So, I have every reason to believe you did that to protect the secret of this anomaly power of yours."

"Perhaps if you weren’t hiding it, you could have unleashed it at the start of the battle, saving both Zeke and Van."

Declan’s eyes narrowed.

"But that, of course, is another debate for another day."

"According to your reports, you could not have fused with this Mech Module before your entrance into the academy, as you only fuse with a Core within the academy."

"And on the topic of that, it says you also have never fused with a Mecha Module from the academy, meaning right now, you should have no Mech Modules at all."

"Yet here you are, obviously fused with one."

"I want to know where you got it from, Declan Ezra."

He stared directly at Declan and Declan stared back, leaning forward slightly before speaking slowly and quietly.

"First of all,... you’re blaming me for the deaths of Zeke and Van."

"Just as I should. They died on the expedition because you were trying to keep your little dark secret."

"And not only that, Penelope has lost her head while Emiris blames himself."

"You’re the only one who got out unscathed and unaffected, not even in the least."

"Isn’t that suspicious?" Sir Lycanoid asked.

Declan hummed.

"Suspicious because I was strong enough to survive?"

"Suspicious because I was smart enough to realize I’m not responsible for their lives?" he asked, watching the instructor falter for a moment.

"And second... you’re reading my information from a file that, according to X Guard Academy, only I am supposed to see first."

"It makes me wonder, is it the academy that wants to know it... or just you?"

Sir Lycanoid raised an eyebrow.

It was true that students were supposed to see their own files first, but what did it matter?

The kid was only a Newcomer.

"Actually, it is my personal interest, though I trust the academy will not mind..."

"No,"