Chapter 69: Confronting
Ray’s outburst and unpredictable behavior caught everyone by surprise.
This was especially true for Margaret, who staggered a few steps back, incapable of rebuking his words.
Ray simply snorted when he watched her stagger.
"Some great professor you are." He snickered.
"T-That’s enough, Ray..." Belva tugged on his sleeves and said softly. She even addressed him as Ray and not as Young Master this time.
She knew he was taking his anger out on Margaret on her behalf. But she really doesn’t feel much anger or disappointment at her anymore.
It was more like a thing of the past, something she wished to forget.
Although her logic wasn’t incorrect, it wasn’t entirely true.
’Oh come on, Belva. How is it enough when my opponent had yet to admit defeat.’ He exclaimed inwardly and ignored Belva’s plea to stop the confrontation now.
That was right!
Ray was taking advantage of this moment to use the Abyssal Dominion Core loophole to ’defeat’ Margaret in hopes of devouring one of her skills.
A professor of her caliber must have many valuable skills.
As long as he devoured even one of the great skills, he was set for his academy life.
Who would need to try hard in the academy anymore when he has one of the top skills?
’Just admit defeat already, Margaret. I have the moral high ground, plus my toxic tongue is unparalleled.’
Ray was determined to go further and beyond just to make Margaret fall.
"This is between Belva and me." Margaret refused to give in and turned to Belva. "Can we have a private conversation without his presence?"
"I—" Belva wanted to reply, but was quickly interrupted by Ray.
He stood in front of Belva purposely and blocked Margaret’s eyes from being able to see her.
"Sorry, but she’s busy enough as my maid and cannot talk to you. If you really want to talk to her, please make an appointment through me."
"This isn’t your concern or business."
At this moment, Margaret’s patience with Ray had dropped significantly.
"What? Are you going to silence me or harm me?" He remained steadfast and stared at her.
Swoosh!
Margaret suddenly leaked out some of her mana in hopes of pushing back at Ray.
Unfortunately, he long anticipated such a paltry trick and activated his Elemental Barrier in time to deflect the mana leakage.
The deflection of the mana sent it flying elsewhere.
Its speed trajectory increased and coincidentally landed on a spot where a sneaky person was hiding.
"AHH!" Samantha suddenly let out a scream since she was unprepared for the sudden mana leakage.
She was hit by the leakage and plopped to the ground.
The tense confrontation also seemed to have ended at that moment.
"There’s still a student here?" Margaret raised an eyebrow and frowned. She had clearly made it obvious to the students here to leave the vicinity.
’He definitely did this on purpose.’ Only Belva had a feeling that Ray purposely deflected the mana leakage and redirected it to Samantha’s position.
A mana leakage was only accurate in the close vicinity. Once it got past a certain mark, it would become randomized unless someone purposely maneuvered it.
Needless to say, Ray indeed did it on purpose to reset the momentum.
If Margaret really went into serious mode and disregarded her position, then wouldn’t he have received a severe beating?
He was trying to farm points and skills, not some beating. That should be reserved for the protagonist, who was destined to gather a bunch of side characters that wanted to mess with him.
In the meantime, Samantha remained unaware that she had been thrown under the bus. She awkwardly got up and approached the group.
What could she do?
She was exposed, and she could feel the glare from Professor Margaret at her.
"Hmm, aren’t you Samantha?" Margaret recognized her appearance right away. Soon, she recalled watching herself eat food that was laced with laxatives and had to excuse herself to the restroom.
Since she was too distracted by Ray’s antics, she had actually forgotten about her.
’She most likely finished her business in the restroom, came out, saw the scene, and decided to hide.’ Margaret relaxed her hostility and no longer blamed her.
Had it been someone else who deliberately stayed behind to eavesdrop and spy on them, she would gladly let them have a full view of her office.
"M-Morning, Professor Margaret." Samantha quickly bowed her head and greeted. She studied the pamphlet, which listed every professor’s name along with their face and their strength.
Margaret was a Fifth Circle Mage who could multicast at least five spells at once. Not to mention, her knowledge and achievement in Scientific Theory made her one of the well-respected Mages.
Who in their right mind would antagonize someone like her?
Oh, that was right... Ray wasn’t in his right mind!
Why else would he keep going against Margaret without any qualms of holding back or giving respect to her?
"Just stand at the side." Margaret acknowledged her greetings. She then returned her attention to Ray.
"What exactly do you want?"
With another person in the audience, she no longer intends to brute force things.
Moreover, she could sense that Belva seemed quite protective of Ray.
If he were truly despicable and was using some contract to confine her, then she would have sensed the abnormal mana wave. Yet there were no changes, which meant that Belva was acting on her own without any external influences.
"It’s simple, admit you’re wrong and come back another time. The fact that my maid still hasn’t talked with you yet shows that she’s not ready for a reunion." Ray demanded.
"And before you go off the spectrum and talk about your prestige here and there. Let me remind you of this. You came to us, not the other way around."
"..."
Margaret paused for a moment. She took a deep breath and exhaled. "You’re right, it was imprudent of me to arrive here unannounced."
Just when she was about to snap her finger and leave, Ray raised his hand and halted her.
"Hold up, you have to admit defeat and say it with genuine intent. Otherwise, it’s just fake!" He exclaimed.