Alya tossed the rest of her black coffee into the trash as she stepped out of the hotel.

Why did they make it so bitter?

She had only ordered it because she had read somewhere that drinking black coffee made people look mature and authoritative.

What a lie.

Still, the coffee didn't matter.

What mattered was that she had succeeded.

She had wanted to ask Rael to keep an eye on her brother for a while now but she hadn't known how to approach it without sounding suspicious or desperate.

So when she found out his group was heading out on a mission, she joined in. Not because the mission itself was dangerous but because the location was and she couldn't allow her brother to go to such a place alone.

But her abrupt joining also gave her the perfect excuse she needed and here, away from the academy, she finally spoke to Rael and convinced him.

What she hadn't expected was how easily everything fell into place… it was almost too easy.

That thought lingered in her mind as she walked away, her crimson eyes narrowing just a little.

Maybe drinking the black coffee really made me sound more convincing.

—

[Rael's POV]

After nearly an hour of talking with Alya and making her believe how deeply I cared about my friends, I was finally done.

She thought she was using me and that was perfectly fine because in return, I would be using her too.

I even convinced her not to interfere with the mission and to remain on the sidelines. After all… I had no intention of completing the mission in the first place.

I had chosen the theft mission purely to avoid looking suspicious. That was it.

I never planned to actually carry it out because the city was going to be destroyed anyway and I seriously doubted the academy would care whether the mission was completed or not after that happened.

Let's be real, the target was a C-Rank thief who had sneaked into Anciana after stealing an artifact and was planning to sell it here. With the party I had, completing the mission wouldn't have been difficult at all…

Especially since we had five D-Rank and three peak E-Rank.

Still, I had no intention of wasting manpower or exhausting ourselves before the Divine Treasury descended. Every bit of strength mattered now and I wasn't about to spend it on something pointless

And yeah, as surprising as it sounds, I had reached the peak of E-Rank over the past few weeks.

Early ranks were easy to climb, after all and I was still a bit away from D-Rank but I planned to use my time here to close that gap.

Bearlo, meanwhile, had already stepped into D-Rank after some secret training with his master. Hell, he had even copied a few useful martial arts techniques along the way.

He couldn't copy anything directly from his master, since she was on a completely different level… but he had managed to pick things up from other students at the academy at his level instead.

At the moment, only Seraphina, Noah and I were still at peak E-Rank and I fully intended to make sure all of us reached D-Rank before the Divine Treasury descended.

Noah was close already.

Which meant I only really had to worry about Seraphina.

Because the minimum necessary qualification for entering the treasury were D-Rank.

With those thoughts in mind, I walked through the hotel lobby, which was far too luxurious for a city this shady and my destination was a specific room on the tenth floor.

Room 1003.

All the ten rooms on the tenth floor had been booked by Alya. Eight were assigned to us, one was hers and the last was rented purely for privacy.

She was rich like that.

Mainly because Anciana had its own currency.

A currency that couldn't be used or bought outside the city. The only way to obtain it was to earn it inside Anciana itself and spend it inside Anciana or get it exchanged for real money.

Anyone who had never been here before couldn't even hope to get their hands on it.

My original plan had been to use the small budget provided by the academy to secure some modest lodging.

But now, that wasn't necessary anymore.

Which meant I could keep that money for myself. No need to sell off my useless artifacts just to get some initial funding anymore.

Lost in those thoughts, I eventually stopped in front of Room 1003 and knocked softly on the door.

This was Viola's room.

Honestly, after how cold she had been earlier, I was a little surprised but after thinking it through again and again… I finally realized what I had to do.

The door opened a few seconds later and Seraphina stood on the other side.

"Oh… hi, Rael." She greeted me awkwardly.

Even after becoming my assistant, she still hadn't managed to shake off that stiffness around me.

"Hey, Sera." I replied casually. I was a nice boss, after all. "Where's Viola?"

She hesitated slightly.

"That… um, she said she doesn't want to talk to you." She said quietly.

I sighed and shook my head.

"Is she inside?"

"…Yeah," Seraphina answered honestly.

"Okay, great."

I walked straight in.

Seraphina looked flustered but didn't try to stop me.

"I'm coming in, Viola," I called out.

Seraphina followed silently behind me.

A grand living room opened up before us. Two doors stood opposite each other, likely leading to separate bedrooms.

I glanced at Seraphina. She hesitated, then pointed toward one of them.

Without another word, I walked over.

"Viola," I said as I knocked lightly on the door. "You in there?"

A cold voice came from the other side.

"No."

I sighed and shook my head, then glanced at Seraphina.

"Hey, Sera, can you…?"

She nodded before I could even finish, already halfway through turning around.

"Yes. I'll go back to my room."

She left without the slightest hesitation, closing the door behind her like she was escaping a disaster zone.

…Traitor.

After she was gone, I opened my voice once again.

It was good that she was gone because for the first time in a while I was actually going to be honest… and I didn't want that to be seen by anyone.

"Viola, do you remember the time when we first met."

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