Chapter 28: Consequences

They returned to the academy grounds at dusk—Noah walking calmly, Lys beside him, her face still flushed, head slightly bowed.

Trailing behind them floated the three Legendary Spirits—now compact, silent, hovering like tame guardians.

By the time they reached the central courtyard, a crowd had gathered.

More than twenty professors stood waiting, many with expressions of disbelief.

Among them: Darius, arms crossed and watching intently; Professor Al, brow furrowed beneath his perfect mustache; and Professor Trinity, eyes wide with barely contained fury.

Trinity was the first to speak—voice echoing across the courtyard.

"WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU HAVE DONE, LYS!?"

"Have you even seen the state of the Training Grounds!?"

Lys flinched, instinctively lowering her head.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen…"

At that moment, a familiar voice cut through the tension.

Adler Vos Vogelsong strolled in casually, hands behind his back, that ever-present half-smile playing on his lips.

"Now, now," Adler chuckled. "Let's not be too hard on the poor girl. I'm sure she had her reasons."

Trinity snapped back immediately.

"I don't care about her reasons—students could've been killed today by flying debris and wild spells from those Spirits!"

Adler laughed, eyes gleaming.

"But no one was, right? Our students were quite fast—some even faster than us."

He threw a knowing glance toward Noah.

Then, turning back to Lys, his tone softened slightly.

"And besides," he continued, "it seems things worked out in the end, didn't they, Miss Lys?"

Lys swallowed, cheeks still pink.

"Correct… thanks to Noah, I was able to form the contract."

Trinity's eyes widened.

"You formed a contract with a Legendary Spirit!?" she nearly shouted.

"That's madness—you'd be the first in history!"

Lys hesitated, voice small.

"Actually… not just one."

Trinity blinked.

"You said it succeeded, didn't you?"

"Correct," Lys whispered. "But not with just one. I… I formed a contract with all three."

There was a beat of stunned silence.

Then Trinity fainted outright—her knees buckling.

Before she could hit the ground, Darius stepped forward smoothly, catching her with one arm across her back.

Adler burst out laughing.

"I see! Well, congratulations, Miss Lys. It was only a matter of time before this happened."

"But you still put the entire academy at risk… so a punishment is unavoidable."

Lys bowed her head low.

"I understand… and I'm truly sorry. I didn't mean to endanger anyone."

Adler waved lightly, still smiling.

"Come with me to my office—we'll discuss it further."

"...Yes," Lys said softly.

As she turned to follow Adler, Noah raised a hand in a casual wave.

The three Legendary Spirits remained floating quietly beside Noah, staying behind as if naturally drawn to him now.

Noah crossed his arms, eyeing the three Legendary Spirits hovering obediently nearby.

"Alright," he said smoothly. "I know you can understand me just fine now—since we've got such a nice, firm contract. No need for Lys to be the middleman anymore."

His smile sharpened.

"So you know what to do. Time to start fixing everything you broke."

He clapped once.

"Come on, let's go—one, two—move it."

Gaia and Aqua reacted instantly—moving with smooth, swift grace toward the damaged areas.

Fire, on the other hand, dragged itself stubbornly along the ground, sparks flickering angrily.

Noah sighed, voice dropping into a mock-patient tone.

"I see. You're going to make me do this, huh, little one?"

At those words, the Fire Spirit immediately straightened—then bolted forward, moving even faster than the others.

Noah grinned.

"Good, good. That's more like it. Hehehe."

Just then—a voice cut through the air.

"So, would you mind explaining what exactly you were doing?"

Noah blinked, turning.

A familiar figure approached—white hair, eyes blue as the ocean, a head shorter than him.

Cordelia Ross.

The other player.

Noah raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

Cordelia frowned. "What do I mean? What did you do? How did you resolve this? Cael was supposed to fight the three Spirits—and they were supposed to retreat for now. Instead, I'm hearing that three Legendary Spirits have formed a contract with Lys? How is that even possible? In the no—"

Before she could finish, Noah's hand clamped gently over her mouth.

"Shh."

He grabbed her wrist and tugged her away from the crowd—under their usual meeting spot beneath the Cercis.

Once there, Cordelia pulled free, glaring.

"Are you going to let me go? I think it's fair I ask for an explanation, no? You realize you've just thrown the entire narrative to hell, right?"

Noah leaned casually against the tree.

"I know exactly what I've done. Relax. It's not that big of a change."

He smirked slightly.

"Last time, yes—Cael defeated them. But that way, Lys was never able to contract them."

Cordelia crossed her arms.

"Exactly. And that was how it was supposed to go. Cael would have contracted them afterward."

Noah shrugged.

"Correct. But you also know Cael isn't here anymore, right?"

Cordelia fell silent.

Noah's smile widened.

"So I did the next best thing. Since I'm just a normal human with no special talent, the smartest move was to convince the Spirits to form a contract with Lys. And that's what happened."

Cordelia shook her head in disbelief.

"But how did you even manage that? You're not supposed to be able to handle three Legendary Spirits!"

Noah gave a lazy grin.

"Why does everyone always think you have to fight to solve things? I did it the adult way. I negotiated."

Cordelia stared at him.

"You what? Negotiated?"

"Well… more or less," Noah admitted.

"We reached an agreement. Though… they were under a bit of pressure, so it was only natural they accepted."

Cordelia narrowed her eyes.

"What did you do?"

Noah's grin turned wicked.

"Nothing too unusual. I just threatened to kill Lys right in front of them. That way, they wouldn't be able to form a contract with the greatest Spiritualist alive."

Cordelia's eyes went wide.

"YOU DID WHAT!?"

"Don't shout. That's annoying. It worked, didn't it? Why complain?"

Cordelia ran a hand through her hair, exasperated.

"You realize you've just rewritten the entire story I knew, right?"

Noah shrugged again.

"I've told you before—it's a game. It has multiple endings. I'm going to reach the best one."

Cordelia stared at him, mouth open.

"You really don't care where the story goes, do you?"

Noah's voice was cool—confident.

"Of course I care. I'm the protagonist now. You too, actually. If someone's going to read about us like they did for you—might as well make it interesting, right?"

Cordelia stared for a moment longer—then let out a long, exasperated sigh.

"Agh."