Scarlet

White? The White? The Knight with null magic that has supposedly never lost a fight before, and almost never appears in public?

“How on Earth did your father manage to get her permission to start an Association of his own?!” “How did he manage that?!” Both Carol and Michael practically shout at the same time, Michael apparently not having heard anything about it either.

Belle just shrugs and says, “No idea. I just know that he apparently struck a deal with her. Then the next thing I know, he started the Association and went on a business trip and eventually came back to bring me to an orphanage he had created in a Tier 3 city.”

I blink in surprise, not having known that the Association was started at the same time as the orphanage.

It also seems to confuse the others, but fortunately I don’t see any discrimination on their faces against orphans. Because that would’ve made things awkward beyond belief.

Although I’m pretty sure Michael, Denise, and Emily already know.

Nick seems to be ignoring the conversation after his initial surprise, and Alex is just as quiet as ever, kind of just spectating things like Emily and Denise are.

Actually, on that note, why is Denise being so quiet? In fact, she looks a little numb for some reason. Like she’s just going through the motions.

I walk up to her before poking her shoulder, seemingly snapping her out of it before quietly asking, “What’s wrong?”

She glances at me and seems to grow excited at my talking to her, noticeably twitching with the desire to hug me or something which has me stepping back. But she holds it and answers, “I’m fine. There’s just someone going here that I… really don’t want to run into.”

Oh. Okay.

I nod my head to her and pat her shoulder once in what I’m hoping looks like support before focusing on the others again as Carol asks Belle, “Does your father have any connections to White? I thought she was the most illusive member of the Knights purely because her null magic lets her nullify other people’s sight, information, and memory of her.”

“Not that I know of,” Belle answers, and we all begin to head towards Carol’s suite again, albeit at a slower pace now. “I’ve personally never met her though, so…”

Right.

I’m still stuck on the fact that he made the Association right at the same time as he made the orphanage.

“Do you think there’s any correlation between the two?” Tar asks, making me frown.

If it were before today, then I’d say no. But after hearing how White apparently chose me to compete in the prime… maybe.

But it’s too early to say anything, so I’ll just try to learn more if I can, and if not? Then move on.

“Come to think of it, you never did say how exactly Allen found you,” Tar prods without directly asking as the others continue to chat about White, not saying anything interesting anymore beyond what the news says about her all the time. Which isn’t much since they don’t even know what she looks like anymore. Not after White went through and erased all of the footage of her recorded on Earth through some sort of null magic skill, leaving only her telltale signature features and obvious power as ways to recognize her. And of course, the people who still recognize her that didn’t have their minds wiped for one reason or another.

Yeah, that’s… yeah.

I can practically feel the tanuki staring at me from the Farshore despite not actually knowing where he is.

Allen never actually told me how he found me. All he said was that I had my jacket wrapped around me and that was it.

The tanuki doesn’t say anything in response.

My thoughts go back to White and that skill of hers that lets her manipulate data, both physical and in minds.

The skill must've cost a massive amount of mana to use on everyone in the world, even for someone at her level. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she was incapacitated for weeks after using it on so many people.

Although nowadays she only wipes the recorded footage on Earth and not any physical copies or memories, for obvious reasons as that would be way too much for even her to do, according to the websites where she's a famous topic.

"All skills have their limits, even if someone is as high a level as a Knight," Tar says, making me nod.

I look at Carol who suddenly stops in the hallway and says, “And here we are! My beloved suite!” right in front of a large purple set of double doors that has me staring in silence.

Isn’t this a little… too grand?

She opens the door, revealing a large entryway on the other side – both spacious and luxurious – as she says, “Every Top class student has their own suite of about a couple dozen rooms in one of the mansions, and they can invite anyone over that they’d like.” The girl starts walking into the suite. “Each mansion has its own cafeteria that the students living in the mansion can go to should they not wish to go to the other Top class student cafeteria outside of the walled off portion of the campus for us, and there are also common areas, along with a garden, and entertainment section. We also have one large plaza where the Top class students from all mansions can congregate. But make sure you stay away from the faculty mansions, as there are some professors who don’t like students getting anywhere near their home.”

“That’s…” I mutter before hearing Belle finish, “A lot,” bringing my attention to her just to find the girl giving me a look that says, ‘you better invite me over on a regular basis.’

I raise a brow at that, only to ignore her and focus on the room around us.

She’s already rich. I don’t care that she doesn’t technically live in a place as luxurious as this. She’s still rich.

Although I guess I’ll probably end up being rich too, since any and all Guardians who don’t kick the bucket end up being rich.

Even the ones in Tier 3 cities. Although what’s considered rich down there isn’t rich in a Tier 1 city. Or a Tier 2 city for that matter.

Anyways, the entry room to her suite has a freaking fountain in the center of it. A fountain.

That’s really all that matters in showing how extravagant the place is.

“Is the color scheme on purpose?” I hear Denise ask, finally speaking up without being spoken to during this little tour. And Carol nods her head to her after turning around and sitting at the edge of the large fountain which has a statue of a sword in the center stabbed into the ground, “Yeah. All of the suites are automatically adjusted to their owners by a member of the faculty adjusting the mansion’s magi-tech core.”

Oh. Wait, doesn’t that mean my suite will be all red and black?

Cool!

I can’t help but smile at the thought of seeing my own suite here. One that should be even better than the one I have at the base.

Yeah, I’ll absolutely be living on campus now.

I could definitely get used to living in luxury.