Anthony opened his eyes as rays of morning light shone into them. He blinked several times and felt out his surroundings, groping around with his hands, wondering where he was and how he’d gotten there. The soft mattress underneath him was not his. It was too soft, too comfortable. Also, the white ceiling above his head was not the worn out ceiling of his apartment.
Sitting up, Anthony took in the room, gazing at the large chamber that was furnished with expensive furniture. The dresser immediately in front of him was an example of classic furnishings. It was something he would expect to see from the renaissance period. Likewise, the desk, coffee table, couches, and armoire were all furnishings that had a classic aesthetic and looked more expensive than his entire apartment.
“Where…” Anthony shook his head. “Is this Professor Incanscino’s place?”
Last night, Anthony had run from a woman who was trying to kill him and took a maglev that went all the way to his college in an attempt to reach the professor. However, he had blacked out at some point. There was a large blank space within his memories. He remembered hopping on the maglev, getting off, and nothing after that.
Anthony stood up and realized he was shirtless but not pantless, which he guessed was a good thing. He’d be worried if he woke up without his pants. That said, he couldn’t find his shirt anywhere even as he looked around. He wondered what happened to it, but… well, he was more interested in figuring out where he was than what happened to his shirt.
There was no clothing within the dresser or armoire. Anthony ended up leaving the room shirtless. The chilly air hit his body, causing his skin to break out in goosebumps.
He ended up in a hallway that was actually vaguely familiar. He didn’t recognize this particular hall, but he knew the style from the times he went to see Professor Incanscino. Now that he realized he truly was at her residence, had somehow made it safely to where she lived, a sigh of relief involuntarily left his mouth as he began walking down the hall, which eventually revealed the sweeping staircase that led down to the professor’s office.
Professor Incanscino was sitting behind her desk when he wandered down the stairs. She was reading something from her holographic monitor, but she glanced at him when he stepped onto the tiled floor and wandered over to her desk.
“You’re finally awake,” she said in a dry voice. “I was wondering how long you planned on sleeping.”
“Thank you for saving me last night,” Anthony said.
“You missed your first class of the day,” the professor continued as if she hadn’t heard him. “Professor Callahan was most aggrieved by this. Don’t worry, though. I called in for you and let him know you had an emergency situation and would be indisposed.”
“Um… thank you,” Anthony said again.
With a flick of her hand, Professor Incanscino shut off the holographic screen on her desk, then fully turned to face him. She placed her hands on the wooden surface and stared. It was a stare that made Anthony rather uncomfortable, and he soon looked away and focused on the view outside the window.
“Tell me what happened last night.”
It was not a request.
Anthony sighed but nodded. “Last night… I was on my way home from the hospital when someone attacked me. I don’t know who she was. She wielded a double-bladed sword that had some kind of magic attached to it. Her weapon could cut through anything, even buildings, with ease. I tried fighting her for a while, but she was clearly stronger than me, so I used the remaining mana I had to create a distraction and run.”
“And then you came here,” Professor Incanscino concluded with a nod. Anthony shrugged and gave her a half-smile, causing the woman to sigh. “Well, you made the right choice to come here. Had you gone home, you’d probably be dead by now. You were suffering from Mana Depletion.” She gave him a firm stare. “You realize you cannot afford to be so reckless with your mana, right? If you were just a regular human, Mana Depletion would not be a big deal. You’d eventually replenish it on your own. But you aren’t human anymore. You are an incubus. Supernatural beings such as yourself need mana to live. Without it, you would die.”
“I am aware of that,” Anthony said defensively.
“If you’re aware of that, then try to be more careful from now on,” Professor Incanscino rebutted.
Anthony nodded before asking, “Do you have any idea who attacked me or why? She called me an incubus, so she knew what I was, but nobody except you should be aware of this, right?”
“That isn’t necessarily true,” Professor Incanscino admitted. “You realize that on top of working as a college professor, I also work for the Academy Island Private Security Forces, right? Do you honestly think I could allow you to live on Academy Island without them knowing what you are? At the very least, the top brass working for Academy Island, the Board of Governors, are aware of your identity. The only reason you haven’t been detained is because I told them I was going to watch over you.”
He had actually not been aware of this at all. As he stared at the woman, who all but admitted she had stuck her neck out to let him live a relatively normal life, warmth suffused his heart. His eyes softened.
Professor Incanscino must have noticed this because she looked away.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.
“You shouldn’t thank me.” The small woman dismissed his thanks with an irritated wave of her hand. “I only helped you because I owe Lilith a great debt and this was the only way I could repay her. I didn’t do it for you.”
“That’s all the more reason I should thank you.” Anthony shrugged.
“Tch. Cheeky brat.” A soft pinkish hue sprang to the woman’s cheeks, but she quickly mastered it by coughing into her hand and returning to what they had been talking about before. “As for that woman who attacked you… I cannot be sure because I haven’t seen her for myself, but just from the description you gave me, I believe she is a War Maiden working for Custodes Daemonium.”
Anthony let out a slow breath after hearing her words. He closed his eyes to calm his racing heart. It felt like it was slamming into his chest. At this rate, it might even burst out of his ribcage!
“So I have an international organization whose purpose is impeding large-scale Magic Catastrophes and magical terrorism after me?” He let out a hollow laugh. “That’s not funny at all.”
Professor Incanscino shrugged. “Considering what you are, I believe that organization has come to the conclusion that you are a walking, talking, large-scale magical disaster. It wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve already ranked you as an S-class Magic Catastrophe. There have been cases of other incubus appearing throughout history, you know? And each time one has appeared, disaster has inevitably followed. It would not surprise me if they believe the same thing that’s happened in the past will happen again, so they’ve decided to take a proactive stance and take care of you before that can happen.”
Anthony would have grimaced, but he felt like he’d been doing that a lot lately, so he refrained. Even so, the idea that an organization as massive as Custodes Daemonium was trying to kill him did not invoke pleasant feelings.
What made this whole situation worse was that he’d never done anything to warrant being attacked—unless someone took what happened during the battle against the Vampire Warlord Cane into consideration. However, the battle against Cane had been mostly Lilith’s doing and not his own. His contribution at the time wouldn’t be enough to warrant ranking him as an S-class Magic Catastrophe.
As these thoughts raced through his mind, a loud gurgling erupted from Anthony’s stomach. He looked at Professor Incanscino and blushed.
“Go get something to eat,” the small woman said with a sigh. “Also, I had someone fetch a spare shirt for you. It should be in the bathing room. Take a shower, get some food, and I’ll see you in class.”
With a meek nod, Anthony turned around and went back up the stairs. However, just as he reached the top, he realized something, went ba
ck downstairs, and stopped in front of Professor Incanscino’s desk. His cheeks were hot.
“Um… where is the bathroom?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
Anthony was sitting in a small coffee shop later in the afternoon, his laptop turned on. The holographic screen in front of him displayed page upon page of words, which he added more to by typing away on his keyboard, writing up a report for one of his classes. His eyes felt tired. He had to blink several times when they threatened to sag shut. He wondered if this was because he’d suffered Mana Depletion, but it could also just be due to how he’d been staring at this screen for the past hour.
The coffee shop was fairly busy. He wasn’t the only college student sitting at a table, typing away on a laptop. In front of him were a pair of girls doing the same thing he was. It looked like they were trading notes, or perhaps reading each other’s essays and offering pointers. Behind him was a man who was using a sleek tablet to read something. It was an older model and didn’t have a holographic projector, but those were fairly popular because it meant no one could read over your shoulder without you knowing. Holographic monitors like his could be viewed from both sides.
A cup of coffee sat in front of him, though Anthony hadn’t touched it in the past fifteen minutes. It was probably cold by now.
As he kept working, the door opened and a woman walked in. He recognized the dark curly hair, nearly black eyes, and cute face. The woman had a small nose, which wiggled slightly as the scent of coffee beans hit it. After looking around for a moment, she spotted him, smiled, and made a beeline in his direction.
Anthony found himself only slightly distracted by the swishing of her skirt. It was high enough that a spirited twirl would probably reveal her panties.
“Anthony, sorry I’m late,” she said.
He shrugged as Secilia sat down across from him. “Don’t worry about it. I’m guessing your engineering class kept you busy, or was it your work?”
“School this time,” Secilia replied with a smile. “Work has been kind of slow lately. I haven’t actually had much to do on that front.”
Anthony nodded but didn’t inquire further. He actually didn’t know what she did for work. There was a time when he had asked her once, but Secilia had replied with a vague answer about how she did this and that. Literally this and that, as if using those words in conjunction somehow explained everything they needed to. He assumed she worked for a company that built magical appliances since she was in the magical engineering department. However, he only assumed as much because of the degree she was attending college for.
“Alex not with you?” asked Anthony.
Secilia scowled a bit, then shook her head. “He was called into work.”
“Ah.”
“Right. So, anyway, what are you working on?”
“A report for my Magical Maladies class,” Anthony said as he stared at his currently five-page long essay. “I have to write a ten page essay on the different types of mana poisoning and how to treat them when you aren’t anywhere near a hospital.”
“Sounds like some tricky stuff.” Secilia placed her elbows onto the table and propped her chin onto her hands. “You know our research team recently tried to invent a device that could cure Sanguinitis?”
“I did not know that,” Anthony said.
“It was supposed to be a compact device that people could take with them when they traveled,” Secilia continued. A somewhat sarcastic smile crossed her face. “However, curing Sanguitis is no simple task, and the devices used in hospitals are all large enough to fill a walk-in closet. There are a lot of parts needed to build such a device, and so it’s impossible to make something smaller with our current level of technology.”
Sanguinitis was something his professor for Magical Maladies had lectured them on before, so he was well-aware of the equipment needed to cure it. He’d even toured a medical facility where they showed off the different equipment used in hospitals, and the large, tank-like device had been one of those objects they showed.
“Sanguinitis is classified as a potentially deadly magical malady,” Anthony said. “It requires the use of a tank because you can’t cure it without curatio gel, which has the effect of cleansing the body of magical impurities and can even remove excess mana from the bloodstream. To create a compact device that can cure Sanguinitis, you’d need to either find something that can replace curatio gel or maybe turn it into a spray that can be applied to the skin, but there’s a problem with that…”
“A spray wouldn’t work because curatio gel becomes contaminated the moment it’s placed in an open atmosphere.” Secilia nodded. “Yes, that’s exactly the problem we’ve been having. There currently isn’t a replacement for curatio gel, and we have no way of applying it to the affected areas without subjecting it to contaminants from the atmosphere. It also requires a special container. Of course, we can make a small container that can contain the curatio gel, but we can’t actually use it for anything because of the aforementioned reasons.”
Anthony spoke with Secilia for almost an hour as he worked on his essay, which he was actually able to complete thanks to some ideas his friend gave him. After they finished talking, he bade her goodbye and traveled to his next class. He only had two more that day.
Classes ended in the late afternoon. When they were finished, Anthony hopped onto a maglev that took him to a station close to the Academy Island Hospital for Magical Catastrophes. It was the same station he’d scrambled through after his fight against that woman. As he hopped off, he glanced at the afternoon sun before making his way toward the hospital.
It looked like the area where he fought that woman was being repaired. Holographic caution signs had been placed around the damaged area, workers were moving about inside of it, and some large-scale construction equipment was being used. It looked like they were clearing away the cracked street and replacing it.
He was about to continue on but paused when he felt eyes lock onto him.
Turning around, Anthony saw the woman who had attacked him walking several yards behind him. She was no longer dressed in a skintight black suit… or so it seemed. He assumed she was wearing it underneath her current outfit, a simple white skirt, a white shirt, and a red blazer that matched her hair. The shirt looked a little loose around her waist, but it stretched across her chest, which just went to show how large those two melons hanging off her were. He wondered what bra size she wore. He didn’t see her double-bladed sword, but she had a music case strapped across her back, so her weapon was probably hidden in there.
When the woman saw him staring, her eyes widened and she froze. It looked like she was about to duck behind a building or maybe hide in one of the stores, but she seemed to realize how pointless that would be now that he had seen her, and so, after a moment of indecision, she simply turned her head.
Anthony frowned but kept walking. As he did, the woman followed him. He took a turn down a street. She took the same turn. He walked into a store. She walked into the store seconds later. This woman wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that she was following him now that she’d been caught.
For a moment, Anthony wondered why she was following him around in broad daylight. Her job was to assassinate him, wasn’t it? If so, wouldn’t it be more prudent to wait until nightfall and attack him again like she’d done the night before? Such thoughts only lasted for a moment before he sighed and walked over to the woman.
The woman froze when he stopped in front of her. She warily eyed him like he was a rabid beast she needed to put down, which only caused him to sigh again.
“If you’re going to follow me, you might as well just walk with me,” he said.
She twitched. “Why would you let me walk beside you when you know I’m trying to kill you?”
Anthony shrugged. “Since I know you’re trying to kill me, isn’t it a better idea if I have you close by where I can keep an eye on you? Haven’t you ever heard the saying ‘keep your friends close and your enemies
closer’?”
“I have heard that saying, but it doesn’t mean much in this instance.” Her eyes narrowed. “You’re pretty weak. I could easily kill you right now, and you wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it.”
“True, but you are currently in a public place, in broad daylight, and there are several thousand witnesses all around you. Custodes Daemonium might be an international organization that defends people against Magic Catastrophes and magical terrorism, but even you guys can’t kill someone in broad daylight when they haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Who told you I was from Custodes Daemonium?” asked the woman, her body stiffening as she leapt back. She slid her left foot forward, dropped her music case into her right hand, and glared at him as she reached for the latches like she was going to open it and pull something out.
“Who told me that you’re a War Maiden for Custodes Daemonium?” Anthony chuckled a bit. A sly smile appeared on his face. “Let’s just say I know some people who are knowledgeable about you and your organization. Don’t forget where you are. This is Academy Island. There are a lot of powerful people and companies who have made this place their home, and it isn’t under the jurisdiction of any government.” The woman said nothing, which caused him to shrug and turn around. “Anyway, if you want to follow me, be sure to stick close. I’m visiting the hospital again.”
The woman didn’t respond to him at first, didn’t even move, but she eventually rushed to catch up to him and walked by his side.
Anthony glanced at the woman in profile as they walked. Now that she wasn’t attacking him and the sun was out, he could see that she was a rather extraordinary young woman. Her hair really did remind him of fire as it caught the sunlight and blew behind her back like streamers in the wind. The vibrant glow of her blue eyes appeared a bit duller than last night, but he assumed she’d been using mana to enhance her vision. She had pale skin the color of pure snow, with a few cute freckles dotting her small nose, delicate pink lips, and a soft face that made her seem younger than he believed she was.
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