Chapter 14: Carrot Head (1)

Author's note: From now on, I will use "layer" instead of "rank."

Baran got ready and left his dorm room. He had already gotten quite used to his room.

Tristan, on the other hand, was getting ready alone in one of the dorm rooms normally shared by three people.

Angellica had just woken up and was preparing to take a shower.

Of the three, Baran arrived at school first, followed by Tristan, and finally Angellica.

"Good morning, Baran and Tristan," Angellica greeted the two handsome boys chatting together as she approached them.

"Good morning. Do you know Tristan?" Baran asked in a neutral tone.

"Yes, we met when we were little through our families," Tristan answered instead of Angellica.

"I see…" Baran replied in a very indifferent tone.

As the three of them walked into the school, some eyes were fixed on them. Although Baran was annoyed by it, he decided to ignore it and even tried to get used to it. Then he turned to Tristan and sized him up.

Noticing this, Tristan began to check himself. 'Do I have something on me?' he thought involuntarily.

"Tristan, which catalog are you in?" Baran asked after a few seconds.

"I'm in the Corrupted Energy catalog," Tristan replied.

"But your energy…" Baran paused, thought for a moment, then continued. "If you want, we can speak to the Headmistress. So it doesn't cause problems later on."

"Huh… A-are you sure? If you do that, you'll be late for class," Tristan asked in a surprised tone.

"After yesterday, I never want to see another math class again," Baran countered.

"Alright, if you say so," Tristan said, and the two of them headed to Headmistress Sophie's office.

"Angellica, you tell the teacher I'm with the Headmistress," Baran said, thereby sending Angellica to class.

Tristan tried to hide his nervousness, while Baran seemed rather happy to be skipping class as he knocked on the Headmistress's door.

"Enter," came an authoritative voice, and the two of them stepped inside.

Sophie was mildly surprised to see Baran and Tristan together.

"Headmistress Baldwin, I'd like to change Tristan's catalog," Baran got straight to the point.

"Baran, you can't just change people's catalogs on a whim. Even with your connections," Sophie refused firmly.

Baran, with a sweet smile, turned to Tristan.

"Tristan, why don't you show her your energy?"

"O-okay," Tristan said, and after Baran's words, he released the small amount of demonic energy he'd been training since yesterday. Yes, it was still very little, but compared to before, at least it was detectable now.

Sophie kept her composure. Seeing someone using demonic energy wasn't surprising to her—after all, she herself was a demonic energy user.

"Well… Baran, that's still not a good enough reason," Sophie said, rejecting the request again.

Baran let out a deep sigh and looked at Sophie.

"Headmistress, Tristan's main energy is demonic energy," he said.

Sophie fixed her eyes on Tristan and began examining his energy. Sure enough, it was just demonic energy. Only demonic energy. A hint of surprise flickered on Sophie's face as she realized this.

For a human to have only demonic energy was strange, because usually their main energy would suppress and control the demonic energy.

"Headmistress, do you sense the presence of any demon in Tristan?" Baran asked suddenly.

When Sophie realized Tristan hadn't formed a contract with a demon, she abruptly stood up.

"H-how is this possible?!" Sophie exclaimed, her astonishment evident.

"It's possible," Baran replied, signaling Tristan to release all his energy.

Meanwhile, Angellica was in math class, sitting where she and Baran had sat yesterday. A few minutes later, the professor entered.

At that moment, a beautiful girl with orange hair and eyes came up to Angellica. "Can I sit next to you?" she asked.

Angellica immediately recognized the figure. It was Arabella Belini, and she gave her permission to sit.

The two sat in silence for a while, but it was Arabella who broke the silence.

"Um… Angellica, what do you think of Sonnenaufgang? You've been hanging out with him for two days now," she asked directly.

Arabella was curious about Baran. After the opening ceremony and the Fourth Layer spell, her curiosity had only grown.

"Um… how can I put it? Generally, he's polite and kind. He's just very cold at first, that's all," Angellica said, not realizing that this was unique to her.

"Polite and kind? Are you sure, Angellica? Especially after the opening ceremony," Arabella asked, raising her eyebrows slightly.

"Yes, Arabella. Baran may be rude at first, but when he makes a mistake, he apologizes, and if you speak to him reasonably, he listens," she answered again.

After learning these traits about Baran, Arabella decided to challenge him in the last class. She assumed that if Baran hurt her, he would apologize and treat her the same way he treated Angellica.

"Then I'll challenge him in the last class," she quickly shared her idea with Angellica.

Angellica, with a hint of concern on her face, said,

"I don't think you should. Baran beat me without using any energy."

Arabella was stunned to hear this. She and Angellica had been friends since childhood, and she'd always thought of Angellica as equal or even superior in strength. And Baran had beaten someone she considered that strong—without using energy? It was almost impossible to believe.

"We'll see at the end of the day," Arabella said, her confident tone making it clear she wanted to defeat Baran.

Angellica sighed at this. She already knew what would happen, but she knew she couldn't stop her friend.

"Good luck to you," Angellica said.