Azure stood up and slowly entered the headmaster's office. She stepped inside and scrutinized everyone present.
The headmaster sat behind his desk, his one good eye judging her.
He tapped his fingers against the hard wooden surface. "What were you thinking?! You cannot beat up other students here!" He shouted, rising from his seat.
The two teachers stood on the sides of the table, their eyes closed and their hands held in a 'V' shape.
"I told you, I will not apologize. Nobody will disrespect my fiancée. That man is lucky I didn't kill him."
"Azure." The man grumbled. "No matter what his words were, there is no reason to beat him to such an extent that his face became disfigured."
"And I tell you, he is lucky to even have his head attached to his shoulders. I would slaughter everyone in this school if they attacked Aqua, do you understand that, headmaster?"
"Listen, while you might be the champion, the rules still apply to you. This is a ground for expulsion." He spoke sternly.
Azure's eyes widened.
No, I will not let that happen. Sheira still needs me even if Aqua isn't here.
He waited, his eyes glued to the champion who seemed deep in thought.
"Let me tell you something, Headmaster Enlil. Or should I call you, Squire Enlil? I do not care for your authority. If you dare expel me right now, I will do something much worse than what I did to that man."
"Do you think I have to obey the law? At most, your death would inconvenience me for a while." She leaned toward him, making the headmaster shrink back. "You are nothing to me, I do not care about any threats to me, but anything concerning my fiancée, and you will see why I am called when the brutes appear."
I have to abuse my position. I hope Aqua doesn't judge me too much for this. While in the past she certainly wasn't above the law, this time it was different. She was one of the reasons they could reach Aqua, and that alone made her above any command structure.
His palm landed on his head. "Since when did our champion become so emotional? I am scared of you, yes. I know you can snap my neck before I can blink. However, I cannot let you beat up young nobles for being rude." He inhaled sharply. "They are barely adults, for fucks sake!"
"Anyone who calls my Aqua a whore deserves a beating of lifetime, I can promise that any beating I dish out is purely a consequence of their stupidity."
Enlil turned to Aurora, who merely nodded.
"I see. I will look past your threats, but you still need to suffer some kind of consequence, otherwise, there will be no point in breaking rules."
Azure understood that well, she hadn't liked threatening and using her position to shield herself from consequences, but she could not risk not being close to Aqua until she was gone.
"It's paramount that I am able to remain here with Aqua and Sheira. There will be grave consequences if I am not. Consequences you wouldn't want to experience in your lifetime."
Enlil sighed. "I will give you cleaning duty for the remainder of the semester. For the love of divine, do not break someone's face again."
The punishment was fine in her mind, it was true that she needed to face a consequence, and the cleaning duty was far from the worst. It still left plenty of time for her to spend with Aqua and Sheira.
"I will take that, also." She said, reaching into her pocket and retrieving a small potion.
The trio's gazes all locked onto it.
"Aqua insisted you deliver this to the perv. It will heal his wounds. Do not ask how, because I don't know either, that's Aqua's recipe."
Mia turned and swiftly grabbed the potion, a mad glint in her eye. "I will deliver this to the infirmary."
Enlil snapped his gaze to Aurora, who nervously looked aside before turning back to Azure. "To think the champion would abuse her position, I can't say I am not disappointed, but what's power if you don't use it." He said, a small chuckle escaping his lips.
"That is the privilege of the powerful, Headmaster Enlil. While some eclipse me, I will use mine to secure what belongs to me." She said, before turning to the exit. "I will report to the janitor tomorrow or in a couple of days."
Soon, she made her way out, leaving only the trio behind.
Enlil's head collapsed onto the table. "Azure is as scary as I remember her. I thought she would beat me up as she did during the training. I am glad she saw reason."
Mia finally peeled her gaze away from the potion and stuffed it inside her pouch.
"Tell me, why are you two so scared of her?"
Aurora shook her head. "For me, it's not her that is terrifying, it's her fiancé, honestly, I have no clue when that happened. However, she wasn't kidding, if you cross that woman, you would be lucky to die quickly."
Enlil leaned back into his seat. "Oh? Please elaborate. Azure seemed to be very protective."
"Let me tell you what happened inside the palace recently," Aurora said.
Both Enlil and Mia listened closely. For Mia, it was information about someone with an absolute grasp over magic, and to Enlil, it was a threat he needed to navigate if he had wished to keep his students safe.
"The Spymaster betrayed us. She had plans to brainwash everyone present in the palace." Aurora said, making a brief pause for the information to settle.
"Lira… I am not surprised, she always seemed fishy to me," Enlil said.
Mia nodded along, the information about the council wasn't of any importance to her.
"However, what I heard is that in that very moment, Aqua had turned that woman into a snake, before splitting her in two and swiftly turning her into a crystal." She spoke, shuddering.
"Are you sure those aren't rumors?" Enlil asked.
"Soleah confirmed it directly."
"I see. It's hard to believe."
"It isn't to me, would you like to hear what she had taught and showed me?" Mia said excitedly.
Both Aurora and Enlil turned to her.
"First, she made our runes ten times more efficient, or even higher but I am merely estimating."
That information alone was impressive. However, Mia wasn't done. "She had shown me how to use runes to draw mana from the air, allowing me to create autonomous items!"
The duo stared at her.
"And third! She created without any trick, I add, she created a pure slab of Mythril with magic alone!" She spoke with reverence, lining her every word.
Aurora rubbed her chin. "That… is impressive, I should let mother know."
"Not to tell what her students can do… Sheira obliterated the old slab of mythril with ease. I have never seen such a display of raw power." She said, stopping for a moment. "And might I add, without a catalyst or any known method of casting! Azure is also capable of it."
A bead of sweat ran down Enlil's brow. "No wonder Azure was so adamant of having to remain close to her, I am lucky to remain alive for even suggesting jeopardizing a mission of keeping an eye out on such a powerhouse."
Aurora chuckled. "No, she just wants to be close to her fiancee I believe. She doesn't care about studying."
Enlil pinched the bridge of his nose. "This semester will be a nightmare."
He gathered his wits before finally straightening his back. "You two should return to your duties. Thank you for the information."
The two professors curtsied and made their way out of the headmaster's office.
After some minutes had passed, Enlil collapsed onto his desk. "This year's students are all nightmares. My former commander, now extremely powerful mages…"
However, it was his duty to ensure they were all set on the right path, while Azure could easily disregard his authority, it did not mean he could allow her to do whatever she wished.
"No matter. Cleaning duty should be enough to keep her out of trouble." He said, slowly retrieving a stack of documents from his drawer.
***
Mia quickly split away from Aurora, making sure to hold the potion securely within her pocket.
"Another miracle of my teacher, I can't wait to see how it works!" She said, chuckling like a mad scientist.
After some minutes of running, she arrived at the infirmary.
She pushed the door open and stepped toward three occupied beds. The doctors weren't present currently, giving her a perfect opportunity to administer Aqua's cure.
It was a Spartan room, with medical instruments, beds, and plenty of light, a place of healing and nothing more.
While two outer beds were occupied by young men who were merely unconscious, the middle bed was occupied by a man whose face was so brutalized that he could barely be recognized.
"I have to remember not to speak ill of Aqua in front of Azure." She said, chuckling.
Soon after, she grabbed the bottle from her pocket and removed its cork.
She brought it to her nose and took a deep whiff. "It smells sweet like honey."
She resisted the urge to taste it and gently placed it against the young noble's lips. The liquid slowly drained inside his throat.
The moment the liquid was swallowed, all of the wounds disappeared in an instant, which made Mia gasp in surprise and amazement.
This is incredible! She made sure to leave a small amount of the potion in the bottle for studying. She stuffed it into the pocket and rushed out. "I need to study this at once!"