Maturity is when you finally understand just how deep in shit you are…

…and how there is absolutely no way left on the map for you to escape.

It has been exactly one week since the academy started, seven whole days of chaos, stress, nonsense, emotional damage, political traps and a suspicious amount of stalkers.

But thankfully, most of it was just mortal-level shit. No God has kicked down my door demanding my death… yet because I did the smartest thing I have ever done in all my lives combined.

I spent the whole week laying low and pretending life didn't exist.

"Here is your meal, My liege."

Right on cue, Bearlo appeared.

He was dressed in a white martial artist's robe… topped with a bright pink apron.

His arms were stacked with plates, each dish arranged so beautifully it would make professional chefs cry out of jealousy.

He honestly looked like something straight out of a horror novel.

"Thanks for the meal, Bearlo."

I answered politely.

He simply bowed and walked away on those surprisingly light steps of his.

For a Bear, Bearlo was ridiculously talented in the kitchen.

According to him, all the knowledge about cooking and etiquette just transferred into his brain the moment he became my assistant.

After my previous accommodation got blasted to dust by Rio, they assigned me this villa a bit removed from the main dorm area and situated right beside one of the smaller forests out of many which existed in this academy.

Honestly, it's inconvenient for most people… but I found it better than the previous one.

It was peaceful.

And honestly, Bearlo liked this place even more than I did.

He spends the whole day in the forest beating himself up with training, then comes back and handles all the house chores on his own.

Meanwhile, I did nothing more than laze.

I mean, after all that shit I went through and I was going to go through in the future, this rest was well deserved.

Classes weren't mandatory for the first two weeks anyway, and I still had a whole week to finalize my curriculum, so I didn't bother rushing.

I ate my lunch slowly, letting my brain take a blessed break from thinking about anything at all.

When I finally finished, I pushed back my chair and headed toward my bedroom but before I could even get that far, someone knocked on the main door of my villa.

…Who is it now?

"Boss, it's me." A voice called out before I could even ask.

I sighed, dragged myself to the front door and opened it… only to be greeted by a green-haired boy with matching green eyes and pointed ears.

Arckon.

He was holding a thick stack of papers like they weighed nothing.

"What is it, Arckon?" I asked, sounding as uninterested as I felt.

I was in the middle of my tiny self-declared vacation and had zero intention of doing anything remotely productive.

"I'm just here to give you all the applications, Boss." He said, extending the stack toward me. "These are everyone who applied to join your faction."

I sighed again.

Right. My faction.

I was already quite popular but… once everyone found out Arza was engaged to me, the rumors of my "glory" exploded.

And of course, that made even more demons rush to apply.

Unfortunately for them, I had zero intention of letting useless trash crawl into my faction.

Honestly, the whole faction system is basically a glorified club anyway, a private headquarters, a few perks, nothing life-changing.

And I definitely didn't need a crowd for that, I was perfectly happy with what I already had.

Still, I didn't reject the stack.

"Alright, I'll check them out," I said calmly as I took the papers from him.

I was just about to close the door when Arckon spoke again.

"The Vulture was spotted again."

His voice dropped to a low murmur.

That actually made me pause.

The Vulture was the codename for Rio, the guy I was grooming into my future cult leader.

After the explosion incident, he did show up at the designated meeting spot… and after a very detailed rant about how filthy demons were, he finally agreed to follow my command.

He even signed a soul contract to keep every single thing we do confidential and to keep my name far, far away from the mess. After all, someone had to keep the movement alive after his death, right?

At least, that's what I told him along with a whole bunch of other bullshit to seal the deal.

We agreed not to contact each other directly.

And that's where Arckon came in.

He didn't even know who Rio actually was; his only job was to check a specific spot, pick up whatever letter was left there and move on.

No questions asked or names exchanged.

Honestly, it was kind of hilarious… I was using a demon to relay messages to the future leader of an anti-demon cult inside this very academy.

"Alright." I just nodded and closed the door.

The letter was probably within the stack of paper.

I had to be careful these days. There were a bit too many eyes on me lately… especially after the whole engagement-with-Arza situation blew up.

I headed to the couch in the living room and sank into it, flipping through the stack of papers.

It didn't take long before I spotted a single sealed envelope tucked between the applications.

I opened it without any hesitation and read the contents.

—

I managed to make two more students join the cause but most of them are resisting. They get terrified whenever I even joke about going against them.

—

That was all it said.

I let out a small sigh and summoned my green flames. They wrapped around the paper, dancing over it like they were teasing it… and not burning.

Then I gave the command.

The moment I willed it, the flames swallowed the letter completely, leaving not even a trace of ash behind.

The flames kept dancing lazily across my hands as I sighed again. So much for expecting anything from that pathetic bastard.

Honestly, when I first came up with the idea of creating this cult, I clearly wasn't thinking straight about how difficult it would actually be.

But to be fair… I never planned on building some massive organization.

All I wanted was a small group, just enough noise to catch the attention of the main cult, HuSu, so Rio could slip inside.

Then he would dig up information about their leaders… so I could kill a few of them and maybe take over afterward.

A long-term plan, something for my "strong future self" to handle.

But judging from this progress…

Yeah. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought.

Thankfully, the whole "Rio and the cult creation" plan was just one option on my list. I had a backup ready in case things fell apart.

And I had already started working on that backup the very same day I decided to form the cult.

That alternative was The Serafim.

If I could somehow win that woman over… then the entire cult creation plan would become gloriously irrelevant.

And judging by how Morvana never confronted me for talking trash about demons that day, it pretty much confirmed my suspicion, it was Serafim who was spying on me back then.

Which meant she had already gotten a glimpse of my thoughts.

Maybe she was even curious.

But she was a careful woman… cautious enough to pretend nothing happened.

Tsk. Why can't everyone else just be simple-minded and dumb?

…But then again, it wouldn't be nearly as fun if they were.

Just then, someone knocked on my villa door.

Again.

Who the hell is it this time?

I walked over and pulled it open and standing there was the last person I expected to see.

Seraphina… in her sane form.

Ever since we got back, Seraphina had never come to see me alone. Her other form — the Umbra one — showed up a couple of times to pick fights, but this Seraphina?

Never.

Yet here she was and from the look on her face, she definitely wasn't here for a casual chat.

"Come in," I muttered.

She stepped inside without a hint of hesitation and I shut the door behind her.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Rael…" Seraphina started, her voice carrying that familiar nervousness. "A few divine artifacts are going to descend into the Demon Realm soon."

She just dropped the bomb like it was nothing.

Divine artifacts?

My mind blanked for a moment.

"How do you know?" I asked immediately. "And where exactly are they going to descend?"

Seraphina looked around for a bit before she spoke, her voice lowered to a whisper. "Goddess Ishtara sent me a revelation."

"The artifacts will descend in a month," she said quietly, meeting my eyes. "In the city of Anciana."

I will be damned.

This was all I could think as I understood one thing.

I guess the vacation is officially over.

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