As Long As He's Satisfied

Lotus shook her head, "Not so easily. In case you've forgotten, that guy is in one of the most intimidating dorm at the moment. If he acts recklessly to the students there, do you think the one responsible for their well being will just sit idly and watch it happen?"

Riddle nodded with a frown, "Malleus Draconia won't just let it happen. He's also one of the strongest mages in the world for a long time."

Lotus nodded, "Unless the guy can bend space and time, his power system and speed can't rival against a top mage who's trained by one of his kingdom's strongest general."

"Wait, what?!" Cater looked to her shocked to have heard this.

"P-Peony... How did you come across this information?" Trey pushed back his glasses in place with a shocked expression as well.

"Haven't you heard?" Lotus chuckled dryily, "The walls have ears. It just so happened that I had gone to visit Lotus's parents for materials when I came across this news from some old noble's house in the capital. Apparently, he's retired now, but he's still running around to see the sights outside of the Valley of Thorns. Nobody could catch him for a long time too, even in the past during the warring eras."

"Seriously?" Cater looked to her in disbelief, "Say, do you think he's in our history books?"

"Huh?" Lotus raised a brow, "But, haven't you learned about him in your second year?"

"Really?! Who is it?!" Cater stared at her excitedly.

"Cater..." Trey whispered nervously and glanced over to Riddle.

Seeing Riddle giving him a disapproving glare, he muttered nervously, "N-Never mind."

Lotus gave a small smile and said, "It's fine for you to just know this little about the general. Besides, I've heard that, out of all the disciples he's taught, Malleus was his best student. However..."

She sighed, "I believe not even Malleus can catch up to him at the moment."

Riddle looked to her in surprise as she said this, "There's something that even he can't achieve?"

Lotus nodded, "Of course. Just like how wisdom can not be inherited and magic requires time to recover. Nothing is absolute from the beginning. Laws are born from chaos, but laws can also give birth to chaos. When laws become unbendable, it would call more harm then good. There are laws in this world that were instilled to protect others from certain circumstances, but, when the period of trouble is over, the law would either collect dust or harm others instead. That's why there are amendments. I've learned from a small village that they used to have amendments that changes according to the era of time and circumstances. Some became stronger while other disappeared. But, because the process took too long to change, there was many riots which led to an end to the government years later. I believe some of the kingdoms have adopted that method, though..."

"So, you mean to say that they are laws that were created to adapt to times and changes?" Riddle said curiously when he heard this.

Lotus nodded her head, "They couldn't recklessly change it, so it required a lot of consideration and approvals before change could occur, but there was so many amendments made and taken down that it became more than a thousand. The problem was that they continued to approve and approve that the entire system crumbled upon them. Turns out the process to approve laws was too loose and it became their downfall. So, like I said, laws can give birth to chaos and can be born from chaos. What's the most important is time and effort. Right now, Malleus can surpass his mentor, but that can change in the years to come. As you can see, Malleus seems to be around the same age as everyone on campus right now, but you can't forget that he may be a few hundreds of years older than us."

"What?!" Cater's eyes widen in surprise when he heard this.

"Hm? Did you forget that Faes have a long lifespan? Those who are strong have a longer lifespan from my studies. Malleus may just get stronger by the time he inherits the throne from his grandmother or maybe a little more time after. Who knows if he may be stronger than the general mentor by then. It may seem unrealistic and unusual to say this before you, but he's still young and is still learning other matters aside from what he already knows now." Lotus said, "It's just ashame..."

"A shame?" Riddle looked to her in confusion.

"All that power and status have made him estranged from most students." Lotus said with a sigh, "I've took a look at him today and found that he's actually pretty lonely. I suppose it makes sense when those who still around him have the role of bodyguard to him and have been with him for a long time. He tries to interact with other students and take them into consideration, but that just makes others idolize him and idolizing is not the same as befriending."

"I think I see what's going on here..." Trey nodded with a frown, "But, why can't he just reach out to others, then? Is there a reason he's not doing that?"

"That..." Lotus sighed, "may sound even more unbelievable, but... He's not good at socializing with others well. From interacting with him today, it's clear that he's rather awkward around others of his age appearance. Unless it's Lilia, Silver, and Sebek, he isn't as close with others. Perhaps, the only person outside would be Ren and Yuu."

"Wait, Yuu?!" Riddle looked to her in shock, "And he's actually getting along with him?"

Lotus nodded with a sigh, "Everytime this happens, Grim is never around. He wasn't even around to see Malleus score in the Magift tournament. I've watched from a distance before, so I can see that Yuu doesn't know who he is, which is why they're so close. It's not like the freshman, Ren, who is also close to Malleus because he grew up around him."

"Eh?!" Cater gasped, "How come... Ah, wait..."

As if a thought dawned upon him, Cater's eyes widen upon realization before he said hesitantly, "Don't tell me... He's not... doing this on purpose, is he?"

"Hm? Do what on purpose?" Riddle looked to Cater in confusion.

"I think Cater means that Malleus is purposely not telling Yuu his name, so he won't feel pressured from meeting him." Trey responded bluntly.

"So, it's like that..." Riddle thought carefully and nodded, "I see now... If it's like that then it'd make a lot more sense... Since it's like this, then it'd be good to just let it be."

"Huh? You mean, we're not going to tell Yuu?" Cater said with a look of surprise before he sighed in defeat, "Still, I can understand where you're coming from. Since it's so difficult for that guy to get along with someone new, it would be bad to ruin it for him by telling the supervisor..."

"I agree." Riddle nodded, "I don't want to get involved with his matters as well, but, with this, I can better grasp his behavior and choice of words now. Still... that doesn't explain why he is always absent from the dorm leader meetings..."

Lotus looked to him in surprise as she asked, "Huh? How often are these meetings? Are they very important?"

"Of course!" Riddle nodded, "Dorm leaders need to prepare for future events and report anything out of order in the dorms to the headmaster. It's something that we have to attend once a month. If not, at least, the vice-dorm leader will have to attend in our place. Usually, Lilia would appear in his place, but sometimes he doesn't arrive at all."

"O-Once a month?" Lotus looked to them in shock, "Could it be..."

"What? You know something about this too?" Riddle looked to her curiously.

"Not really." Lotus shook her head and shrugged, "I just have an inkling, but maybe his sense of time isn't correct..."

"Huh?"

"He's a fae." Lotus sighed, "Faes have a long life span, just like we cultivators do. So my guess is that he can't tell the correct date in his mind and his internal gut is mistaking a month for a year or so. Lilia often traveled to many places as an ambassador, so he's come across many human events. I'd doubt he would make a mistake when he's also representing for the Valley of Thorns outside of the country. As for Malleus, he is the Valley of Thorn's sole heir. So, he probably never leaves the castle, much less the country. Does he know that he has to adjust to match with the time frames of other mortal humans? Probably not. After all, he's never even left the kingdom before till now."

"That..." Riddle thought for a bit and muttered, "That does sounds like something that could happen... It would also explain why he continues to miss the meetings..."

Lotus nodded her head and sighed. Who knew that the poor fae would have this much trouble acclimating to his new environment? He still hasn't finished acclimating and he's got one more year left before graduation!

"He must be doing well in school, but as for relationships..." She couldn't help but sigh again nervously, "He's still got one more year left, but..."

She recalled the smile on Yuu's face when he mentioned Malleus as Tsunotaro and their meeting afterward from the butterflies. She shook her head and smiled, "Well, as long as he's satisfied with it..."