The Rewards

Felix tried his best not to smile, looking at the scroll. He didn't look good smiling anyway. The reward was something more than he had expected.

He again read to check if he missed anything.

' The House of Holzberg cherishes and respects your heroics. Without your efforts, we would have lost our youngest family member. As an acknowledgement of your bravery, we would like to reward you with the following.

1. You will receive 10 million Lira

2. You will each be given a weapon for your speciality and armour. The items you receive will however be only D-rank because of Arcadia's regulation.

3. You will be bestowed a special pass, which has the same benefits that the highest-ranked knights of our house get.

'

He finished reading and for a second, looked at Theo. The illusion was in effect and it was impossible to tell what Theo was thinking. Noticing Felix's stare, Theo asked,

"Is there something that doesn't satisfy you?"

"No."

Felix didn't have any complaints. Saving Tyson for a reward wasn't on the agenda, not for him or Lim.

"Are you satisfied as well, Mr.Lim?"

Theo asked as he took a sip from his cup.

"It's an honour to receive such gifts and privilege."

Lim was more than satisfied with it. However, he was confused by the special pass they received.

"Won't there be any complaints from the knights, to give such privilege to two students who have no connection to the Holzberg nobility?"

Theo shook his head.

"No, in fact, they were the ones who requested to give this to you."

Theo then passed two black cards with the symbol of a casino wheel. There was nothing else that said the card belonged to them.

Felix knew what to do. He just let his mana flow into the card, and the wheel rotated. His name appeared below the wheel, which meant if he was to use the special pass, all he had to do was pour mana into the card for verification. And the wheel would rotate with only his mana.

Lim looking at Felix did the same. This was new to him. As the Author he never had this many details in the story.

"Cool."

He muttered.

Lim was about to thank Theo again, when the knight behind him, spoke something in his ear. Theo nodded and said something back. Lim didn't try to lip read and for Felix, he was looking at his haunting face at the tea's reflection.

"It's a pity that our first meeting is rushed."

He walked towards the two, as they stood up and listened to what Theo had to say.

"The money will be sent to your bank account this week. As for the weapons, they will be delivered to your dorm. I hope the weapons are to your liking. If there is something you need, please don't hesitate at all. We won't hold back to give anything to my brothers' saviours."

He then reached out and grabbed Felix and Lim's shoulder.

"Again, thank you for saving my brother. But-"

The smile on his face was replaced with worry.

" I fear that my brother is still in danger. If possible, we wanted to take him back home, but studying here has been his dream. The Academy's defence has been fortified even more and the assassin may not enter ever again. But if anything is to happen to him again, please if possible help my brother again."

'Does he love Tyson this much or is this just a manipulation technique?'

But his Sense didn't activate so Theo's feelings were true.

"We would have done it even if you didn't request us"

Lim had to save Tyson's ass anyway, for the progression of the story like he wanted.

"You are a good man."

Theo patted Lim's shoulder. He looked at Felix to say something.

"I don't share the same sentiment as Lim, Sir Theo. I value my life more than others. But if I can carry him on my back and run away with my life, then I will not hesitate."

Felix wasn't the type to make promises just for the sake of pleasing someone. Once he reaches his goal and Tyson's life is in danger, he turns a blind eye to it.

"That is also what a good man does, Felix."

Theo said.

"Now, then I shall take my leave."

Theo shook hands with the two and left the room. He didn't bother looking at the headmaster or saying anything. Sebastian also let Theo go, without exchanging any words.

'They don't get along, more like they don't want to. Makes sense after what happened.'

Once Theo and his assistant left the room, Felix and Lim sat down.

"I didn't approve of his decision to let a knight protect Tyson from the shadows."

Sebastian said. Felix understood why Theo didn't bother saying his goodbyes to Sebastian.

Theo blamed Arcadia for letting an assassin in and Sebastian received the most criticism. He was the principal after all. On top of that, straight up declining his request, without taking any time to consider it, made it even worse.

Sebastian took the blame for the infiltration. It was unsuccessful but Tyson, along with these two was almost killed. He was ready to compensate the Holzberg but not let their knight enter the academy.

The other nobles, with influence in the academy, wouldn't allow it. There had been some cases in the past where an assigned knight turned out to be an assassin for other students from different nobility.

And if Sebastian allowed it for Tyson, others would also want personal guards for their children. If he allowed this to happen, Arcadia wouldn't be a place for learning anymore, but a place to keep other nobility in check.

"I am proud of what you did. I would have liked to throw a celebration and give you a medal of honours but the circumstances won't let me."

Sebastian even at this age, still loved the tale of heroes….too much at times. But this tale wasn't meant to be in the books.

'I prefer it this way.'

Felix had no problem without anybody knowing about this. To him, this was the best reward.

"We have reinforced our defences. However, I can't help but worry about the two of you. Your actions were for the good, but not everyone will be pleased with it."

Sebastian looked at those two. And they knew the gravity of what they did.

Their heroics now made them a target, either to be careful of or be eliminated, and the latter was most likely. They were the reason the plan failed and the assassin or whatever organisation she worked for, would come for them.

" I wanted to assign a knight to the two of you and Tyson but even as the headmaster that is not within my powers. It has too many risks and politics involved."

Sebastian felt useless. All he could do was watch and wait as the events unfolded in his den, with him without able to do anything.

"I should stop ranting and bore the two of you."

Sebastian then turned towards his assistant.

"Ellen, can you bring me their rewards?"

Ellen nodded and walked towards the desk to her left. She returned with two small boxes and placed them in front of Felix and Lim.

"The Academy has decided to reward you with 1 million Lira, along with some items and these two enhancement pills each."

Sebastian said.

"Thank you."

Lim and Felix replied in unison.

"Are you satisfied with this?"

Sebastian was worried that what he gave was lacking. After all, what Theo gave was way better.

Lim opened the box and looked at the pink-coloured ball the size of a peanut.

"I am satisfied with the rewards. We never expected a reward in the first place. Even a 1000 Lira as a reward would have made me happy."

He was lying that 1000 Lira would satisfy his money-craving mind, but what he received was going to help him a lot with the plans he had

As for Felix, he pushed the box away and shook his head.

"I'm sorry headmaster but I don't want any of this."

Lim turned towards him at lightning speed and frowned. Ellen and Sebastian however had no change in expression.

"Like Lim said, we didn't save him for a reward but if I am getting one, then I want something else than this."

Felix had been thinking of this for a long time. The academy wouldn't let him have it in the normal case but now was his only chance.

Sebastian nodded as he wondered what Felix wanted for him to reject all this.

"What do you want, Felix? If possible, I will get it to you as soon as possible."

Felix folded his arms, his eyes glued to the cup.

"I want a separate alchemy room all for myself."

Sebastian was a bit surprised. The request he made was a bit difficult, but not impossible to grant

"Are you sure about this?"

Felix nodded. Sebastian turned to Lim. He just shrugged it off and didn't have any idea what Felix was thinking.

Sebastian tilted his head and closed his eyes.

"Is my request too much, headmaster?"

Felix asked.

"No, we can create a private alchemy room just for you," Sebastian said. "Along with the room, you can take these rewards too."

Felix shook his head.

"I don't want this, instead I have a question. "

Lim was confused. What could Felix ask that had the same weight as these gifts?

Sebastian nodded.

"Go on."

"The assassin, Ms Green, she was an imposter, wasn't she? " Felix said, "Someone else killed her and took her place, in such a perfect manner that it bypassed the academy's defence."

This was the thing that bothered Felix more after fighting that woman. He thought about it daily and had come to a conclusion. Sebastian was the only one who could affirm his guess.

Ellen's eyes grew wide. She gulped and looked at Sebastian. He was chuckling.

Sebastian stopped chucking and his eyes turned cold,

"You're right. The assassin did take the place of Ms Green."

"Master?"

Ellen interrupted. She was worried that these two should hear this.

"They aren't ordinary students, Ellen, they will figure it out on their own. Telling them might be better for us and I can't deny his reward"

Sebastian replied

"Once you saved Tyson, I sent some capable people to check on Ms Green's house. They found her dead on her bed, with a hole in her skull."

Sebastian's aura grew colder.

"I had interviewed her before. She was shy and sometimes would be aloof in the middle of the interview. But once I asked why she wanted the job, everything about her seemed to change. I love teaching, she said to me with the brightest of smiles. I was pleased to have her, but the poor soul- she didn't deserve it."

Felix nodded. He didn't know the woman, but there was a loss of innocent life. Her dreams were stripped away from her.

'May her soul be at rest.'

Felix couldn't do anything about that but he felt odd when he saw her for the first time. the timidness she had, felt somewhat artificial. The orientation was on his mind so he didn't think about it.

'If only I acted that time, maybe we would have never been locked in the first place.'

Lim found this new information fascinating. He never gave it much thought after Tyson was saved. It was something he had never written and didn't bother racking his brain around it. He felt dumb not having figured this out. But now that he knew one thing bothered him.

"I can understand how someone might be able to replicate another person's face, height, body, voice, and even fingerprint. But how did they manage to pass the mana print test?

Lim had made sure that even though fingerprints could be altered by magic, no one could replicate others' mana prints. It was the very essence of their mana core. And if someone could, they wouldn't sneak in, but destroy the entire academy with a snap of their fingers.

Sebastian was impressed by how quickly Lim caught on to this.

"We took her mana print the first time she came here for the job interview. And when she arrived after that, she took the test again for security reasons. She passed the test. We even have the footage of it, and testimony of three other professors at the test site."

'Then how?'

Felix wondered for a while, and then it clocked.

"Someone from the inside tampered with the Mana Oracle. Then that means-"

Felix looked at Sebastian as he nodded.

"There is a traitor among us."