Scarlet

After making it to the vast faculty tower close to the center of the campus grounds, I navigate my way through the building hallways, occasionally nodding my head at people who pass by when they do the same to me until I eventually find myself standing in front of Viper’s office. And before I can even knock, the door opens for me and her voice echoes out of it, “Come in.”

I walk inside, only to find myself in a room that I would never in a million years call an office. Because while it does have a desk and office chair in it with a large window behind them, it also has a freaking water fountain at the center of the vast room. Now, if that were just all then I could still call it an office. But what office has a flat screen tv and a bed in it?

“Maybe she just likes to sleep where she works?” Tar mutters, sounding unsure himself.

Uh, huh. Sure. So you’re saying if you had an office then you’d have a water fountain in it?

He doesn’t respond.

Of course, he doesn’t.

I find the woman herself leaning against her desk, half sitting on it while standing in front of it and staring at me. She then gestures over to a small sitting area in the vast room near the water fountain before walking over to it herself. And I join her just a second later, sitting down on the fancy little chair next to the small table and the water fountain.

This is just so… bizarre. And not what I pictured when I got her email.

After a few seconds of us just sitting and listening to the gentle sounds of the water fountain, Viper finally asks, not taking her eyes off of the fountain which is in the shape of a large viper spewing the water out of its mouth, “Thank you for coming to visit.” She turns to look at me. “There are two reasons for my request, the first of which you should’ve already seen in the email.”

Right. Her request to become my private instructor and take me in as an apprentice.

“Should you accept that offer, I would be instructing you on all forms of your System interaction and in your training itself. I’d act as an advisor for choosing your classes, sponsor you when you need it with funds, and act on your behalf should you ever get into any legal problems,” she says, packing on benefit after benefit after benefit. “All I would ask from you is that you listen to my instructions and help provide me assistance in the future, once you’re strong enough.”

All good benefits with very few downsides.

But. That doesn’t change the deal breaker.

“So what do you say?” she asks, directly meeting my eyes for the first time since I walked in. “Will you accept my offer?”

“Remember,” Tar says, reminding me.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t accept,” I reject her offer.

For the first time since I’ve met her, the woman freezes up in shock. So I take the opportunity to explain, “I will not be sharing my status with anyone, nor would I be comfortable relying so much on a complete stranger. But I do thank you for giving me the opportunity.” I add that last part with a light nod of my head in appreciation.

While the second reason is technically true, I just really can’t let her see my status. For obvious reasons.

“Showing her your status would be the easiest way to be exposed as a demon that I could possibly think of,” Tar mutters, and I can’t help but agree.

Not a good idea to enter an apprenticeship. Since the apprentice is expected to show their status to their instructor, with their instructor keeping everything quiet.

It’s not negotiable either. The apprentice has to share their status. It’s the most important part of their apprenticeship and is basically what marks it as an apprenticeship in the first place. Meaning that if it doesn’t happen, then there is no apprenticeship.

And there’s nothing saying the instructor can’t just kill the student and keep it quiet or something after finding out that they’re a half demon. For obvious reasons.

So best to not do that.

Out of nowhere, I hear a bout of laughter coming from the entrance where I find a very familiar woman standing there, somehow having managed to get there without my ears picking her up. My eyes then narrow as I find the woman – the very same one I saved in the Ancient Dragon Hotel that gave me those potions – standing there in a magi-tech set of armor despite obviously not being a Guardian.

The hell? That’s… wow. She can afford buying that and having a Guardian periodically recharge it too?

“My apologies, Scarlet,” the woman says, using my name as she walks further into the room, Viper finally snapping out of her own daze in the process. “I know Allen said you were against being given handouts, but this is more than I was expecting.”

Allen? So this is the woman he told me about in the email he sent just before I came here.

“Who are you anyways?” I bluntly ask, my curiosity winning over me.

She laughs again, the laugh itself being rather melodic in tone before she just warmly smiles at me and answers while giving a sudden curtsy of the dress-like magi-tech gear she’s wearing, “My name is Fredricka von Feld la Rose, and I am one of the Council Seats of the Republic.”

My jaw drops open.

I take another look at her face before narrowing my eyes, then opening my terminal and looking up her name. Because while I don’t recognize her face, I do recognize her name. But what I find on the internet is the face of a younger looking woman, which has me frowning.

I look back up at her, only to find her moving her hand to her ear where she takes something off, making her physical features morph into that of the picture.

“My apologies, but I can’t very well go out in public without a disguise, now can I?” she says, an amused smile touching her lips.

A few seconds pass in silence as I stare at her.

Then I manage to pick my jaw back up and ask, “So what did you want to see me for?”

And the smile on the lady’s face widens.