The Author's POV

"Have you called for me sir?" 

"Ah, Jeremiah, right on time" 

"Yes?" 

Putting the red book down, I smiled at Jeremiah who just entered the room. He was finally here. 

'You probably have no idea that I already figured everything out, right?' 

Seeing how carefree 'Jeremiah' was, I secretly shook my head. 

In all fairness, I sort of understood why he was being carefree. The rock he had used to replace the one I had wasn't supposed to break as easily as it did. 

The rock that Jeremiah had given me was in fact made of Voleum, a more inexpensive ore that although sturdy, did not hold a candle to Okluom. 

Even then, normally someone like me wouldn't have been able to break it.

Voleum could only be broken by someone whose strength was around <C> rank, which none of the people in the room were. 

The only reason I could break the rock was because of the small ring on my finger. To be more precise, Angelica. 

She was the main reason as to why I was late today.

Had it not taken me ages to convince her to turn into a ring, I would've never have been late to the meetup.

It was worth it though. Thanks to her I was able to confirm that Ivan had replaced the rock. 

'If only he knew...'

The more I looked at Ivan, the funnier he became to me.

Just the carefree look he had on his face that said 'You'll never find out until it's too late' made me want to laugh out loud. 

Jokes on him, I had a Viscount ranked demon on my finger.

Though she was keeping quiet and suppressing her energy, Angelica was a full blow Viscount ranked demon.

Exerting enough force to break the rock wasn't hard for her. 

"Right, Jeremiah, I have a task for you" 

Turning my attention back to Jeremiah, I casually glanced at the red book in my hand. Should be soon...

"Yes, please tell me exactly what I need to do" 

Curtly replied Jeremiah as he bowed down slightly. 

"I want you to..." 

—Bang! 

"Who here is bidder 17?"

Before I could finish speaking, the door of the room abruptly opened. A high-pitched voice echoed across the room moments after. 

"Huh?" 

"What?!" 

Startled by the sudden intruder, everyone abruptly turned their heads towards where the voice came from. 

"Instructor Jeffrey!? what are you doing here?" 

Emma shouted as she looked at Monica who had just entered the room. 

'Angelica, suppress all of your demonic energy' 

I urgently spoke inside of my mind. Angelica did not respond but I knew that she was doing exactly that. 

'If everything goes according to the book, Angelica shouldn't get spotted yet', I thought, as I looked at Monica who had entered the room. 

"Huh? It's you guys?" 

Looking around the room in confusion, Monica had a surprised look on her face.

It was understandable, who would've thought that the mysterious bidder 17 she was so angry at was one of her students. 

I would've been just as surprised. 

"Monica, stop!" 

"Monica!"

Moments after Monica entered the room, two more figures entered the room. Spotting Monica, they instantly appeared next to her and tried to calm her down. 

"Monica you can't just barge into other peo-Huh?!" 

"Miss Longbern?" 

Once again, everyone had a surprised look on their faces.

Especially since everyone was all too familiar with one of the people that had just entered the room.

Donna Longbern. Our class instructor. 

"Wait, isn't that Amber Rose!" 

Emma pointed out as she looked at the green-haired girl beside Donna. 

"What? It's you guys?" 

Stopping mid-sentence, Donna showed a similar reaction to Monica. 

"Donna, you know them?" 

Looking around Amber asked. In response, Donna nodded her head. 

"Yeah, they are my students" 

"Oh?" 

Amber's eyes lit up. 

"They are the famous first years you spoke so highly of?" 

"Well, more or less..."

"Who cares about that, I want to know who bidder 17 is!" 

Dismissing Donna and Amber, Monica fiercely looked around the room.

Like a hawk, she scanned the whole room. 

"Over here" 

Without even flinching, I pointed at Kevin. 

"W-what! Hey Ren! You're the one who made the bids" 

Kevin's eyes shot wide open as his voice raised a few pitches. Shaking my head, I looked at Kevin apologetically. 

'Sorry, but you'll be today's sacrifice' 

Ignoring Kevin, I pointed at Kevin's seat where the number 17 was engraved at the bottom. 

"No idea what you're talking about. Just take a look, your seat says 17 at the bottom. Mine says 15. Stop trying to shift the blame on me" 

"R-ren!"

"I see, so it's you, Kevin..." 

Looking at Kevin's seat, Monica smiled. It was a smile that sent chills throughout the whole room. 

"No, no, I swear this is a scheme devised by Ren!" 

Kevin repeatedly shook his head as his body shuddered. 

"Oy, why are you backstabbing me like this? ...I can't believe this. I'm disappointed in you Kevin" 

A hurt look appeared on my face as I looked at Kevin. To think he would sell me out like this. I was truly disappointed. 

"You!" 

Kevin clenched on the armrest of the chair and glared at me. I feigned ignorance to his glare. 

"Kevin, I'll see you in our next practice session" 

Calming down, Monica looked at Kevin for a good minute. After that, her lips savagely twisted upwards. 

"B-but..."

"No, buts. You better not be late for our next session. I'll be sure to take good care of you" 

Monica quickly cut Kevin off. There was no room for discussion. 

"pff..." 

Staring at Kevin who was at a loss for words, a small sound escaped from my lips as I tried my best to hold my laugh back.

"Ren!"

Sitting next to me, Kevin heard everything. The veins on his forehead bulged as a result. 

"Ah, Jeremiah, I still haven't finished what I wanted to say" 

Ignoring Kevin, I leaned back on my seat and leisurely called out Jeremiah who was sneakily moving towards the exit of the room. 

"Hm? What are you doing over there Jeremiah? Are you leaving?" 

"Ah, I thought that it was best if I left" 

Scratching his head in embarrassment, Jeremiah stopped moving. Droplets of sweat appeared by the side of his face. 

"Hm? Weird..." 

"Heek!"

Monica's brows knit suddenly knit. Turning around, she appeared before 'Jeremiah', startling him.

Ignoring his reaction, Monica took a good look at Jeremiah. 

"Ah, Madam Jeffrey, I'm a bit uncomfortable by your stare, may I please go..." 

"Shut up and stop moving" 

Monica's tone became grave. Instantly the atmosphere in the room became sullen. 

Noticing the atmosphere Donna and Amber looked at each other in the eye. They did not say anything. 

Though Monica was always childish, whenever she was serious it meant that something big had happened. 

'Got him'

Looking at Monica who was staring intently at Jeremiah, I knew that Jeremiah or to be more precise, Ivan, was trapped.

Monica and Jeremiah had shared quite the history together. 

Not a romantic one, but one of pure hatred from Monica's side. 

Jeremiah had stolen from Monica before. Not once, but multiple times at that. 

With how naive and childish Monica was, she wasn't the hardest target to steal from. No, in fact, she was a thief's best friend. Especially since she was filthy rich. 

As such, Ivan always tended to target Monica. 

Whenever there was an event with Monica in it, Ivan would infiltrate the place and steal whatever Monica got. 

If Monica had to count how much she lost because of Ivan, she would estimate the value to be at around half a billion U.

An absurd figure. 

Her hatred for Ivan ran extremely deep.

She tried utilizing all of the resources she had to catch Ivan, but like a slippery eel, he would always end up slipping away from her grasp.

This time things were different though. With Ivan next to Monica, he was pretty much done for.

With Monica's special ability, it wouldn't take long for her to recognize him. 

If before Ivan could run away it was because he never got too close to Monica.

As Monica's ability was quite well known, he knew that he should never get too close to her.

This was why he never serviced her privately. If he was next to her, the chances of him getting caught were extremely high. 

Unfortunately for him, I was here.

Knowing Monica's personality quite well, I knew that she was going to come here to let bidder 17 have a piece of her. 

The one bidder who had forced her to use all of the money she had saved up for the past few years. 

Taking advantage of this, right as Monica bought the last item, I instantly called Jeremiah. 

I wanted to let the two meet.

Fortunately, as of now, everything proceeded smoothly. 

"Should be here..."

Standing up, I muttered in a low tone as I moved toward a certain area of the room. 

"It's you!"

Right as I leaned back on the wall by the side of the room, Monica's high-pitched voice once again resounded across the room. 

'Looks like she finally recognized him...' 

Opening her eyes wide, Monica instantly forgot about Kevin and threw a kick in Jeremiah's direction.

Bang—! 

Like a broken kite, Jeremiah flew all the way to the other side of the room and crashed against a wall. 

The wall I was next to. 

"M-miss, you can't kill an innocent man because of your anger! Oh no! Jeremiah are you okay?"

Pretending to look startled, I quickly crouched down towards Jeremiah and tried to check his pulse.

In reality, I was peeling his mask off. 

Because of how I was positioned, no one saw what I was doing. to them it just looked as though I was helping Jeremiah. 

That was far from the truth though.

With one swift movement, I removed the mask that was on his face and put it in my dimensional space. This all happened in a matter of seconds so no one was able to notice anything. 

"Don't touch him, he's dangerous" 

Appearing next to me, I felt a slight tug on my shoulder. I soon found myself pushed back a couple of meters. 

"O-oh, what why?" 

Staring at Monica, I asked in a flustered manner. 

"Take a look for yourself", Monica said  as she nudged her head forward.

"W-wait his face is different!" 

Looking down towards where Jeremiah was, I opened my eyes widely and pointed at Jeremiah. 

At the moment, with the mask now gone, his real face was laid bare for everyone to see.

I wasn't the only one who noticed this as the whole room suddenly became quiet. 

"Ivan Rankvick, It's been a while hasn't it?" 

Breaking the silence, Monica muttered in a low tone. Hints of pure rage could be felt from her voice as she spoke.

Crack. Crack.

Cracking her knuckles, Monica crouched down and stood at eye level with Ivan who was slowly regaining consciousness. 

"How about we catch up for old times sake...."