Chapter 4

  Stats don't lie

  This is the midterm exam period, and after it's over, students will have about two weeks to rest before diving back in again.

  After finishing the geography exam in the morning, the afternoon brought Professor McClaff’s magic theory exam—an ordeal far more brutal than the first.

  Many students were in tears; some were so stressed their hair was falling out. The theory questions were impossibly difficult, and likely more than half the class would fail. And yet, Nora Ophilis breezed through it as if nothing had happened... or at least that’s what Dan observed while sitting the exam with her.

  Once the signal sounded and the tests were collected, the great hall erupted into chatter from the gathered students, most of it complaints about Professor McClaff’s ruthlessness. TA Claire offered a dry smile that barely masked her sadistic glee at seeing the underclassmen suffer.

  As for Fury… steam was practically rising off his head.

  “Brutal… that was brutal… is this really what kids these days go through?”

  He turned—Nora stood there, hands politely clasped as always.

  This kid’s insane!

  “Mr. Dan? You look worn out.”

  “Because it was insanely hard.”

  “It really was difficult.”

  “You don’t sound convincing at all.”

  “I spent about twenty minutes on the second-to-last question myself before I figured it out.”

  “I drew a picture for that one. A dagger through Professor McClaff’s neck.”

  “Were you trying to kill Professor McClaff, Mr. Dan…?”

  “Does Snowhaven not have a sense of humor?”

  “Hooooy…”

  Zeedee floated in looking thoroughly lifeless, her soul nearly slipping free.

  “Let me guess. Got wrecked by the test, huh?”

  “I didn’t understand a single thing…”

  “Useless, Zeedee. Look at this little top-tier honor student here.”

  “How am I supposed to compete with her, huh?! I’ve had to build houses, install ceilings, meditate, dive, plant coral—I don’t have the time she does!”

  She wasn’t wrong. Nora blinked slowly, hands still clasped, listening to Zeedee. She didn’t argue.

  “What about your fairy gang?”

  “They’ve all gone home… They’re throwing a post-exam party but I turned them down.”

  “Not joining in?”

  “They’re childish. I’m not a fan.”

  “I feel the same, Miss Zeedee.”

  “Ugh, you little brat… your face pisses me off.”

  In some alternate universe, Nora would’ve headed straight back to her dorm after finishing the test. But here she was, standing next to Dan like a loyal post. It was starting to raise eyebrows among the other students, and it wouldn’t be long before word spread that Princess Nora was hanging out with Dan Burn’s crew.

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  And considering how their conversation didn’t seem shallow at all, Dan was drawing more attention—especially from key figures who’d begin emerging soon...

  Nora sensed the spotlight. She turned to them.

  “Maybe we should move somewhere else.”

  “Agreed,” Dan said, now feeling it too.

  “Would my quarters be acceptable?”

  “Huh? We’re allowed in?”

  “You are, Mr. Dan. If I invite you, it’s fine.”

  Royal Dormitory – Princess Nora’s Room

  The room was simple yet elegantly refined, fully equipped with amenities—maid call buttons, chandelier lighting, private bathroom with a grand tub, and a bed positioned to view the sunrise.

  That’s just how royals live.

  Before anything else, Zeedee placed her ear against the wall, patting along it as she went. She turned around with a thumbs-up.

  “We’re safe. No eavesdropping, no surveillance, Your Highness.”

  “You don’t trust me…?”

  “I just got frozen alive. I don’t trust you that easily!”

  “Zeedee, ease up. We’re in front of royalty. We’re investing in a future ally here—think like Everton, will you?”

  “Hmph!”

  Nora walked over and drew the curtains shut, sealing the room off completely.

  “Make yourself comfortable, Mr. Fury.”

  “Hoho~ Thank you kindly, Your Highness.”

  Clink.

  Zeedee’s curiosity led her straight to the mini fridge, where she began snacking on fruit without a care in the world.

  Meanwhile, Nora took a seat while Dan sprawled on the burgundy sofa, tilting his head back and closing his eyes.

  “Mr. Fury… may I see your true form again?”

  “…What?”

  He cracked open one eye.

  “Why?”

  “…I was caught off guard that time. It all happened so fast… I want to see a real Diablo up close, just once.”

  “…"

  Dan glanced left and right.

  “You’re not secretly setting me up for blackmail, right?”

  “Someone like you doesn’t need to worry about that.”

  “Jeez, Your Highness, asking something like that out of the blue… we’ve barely known each other a month!”

  But Nora stared at him wide-eyed like an owl. Perfectly still. That unnerving Snowhaven stillness.

  “Heh~”

  Dan sighed.

  “Look, I can’t transform here. My aura’s too strong. The guards would catch on immediately.”

  “…Right…”

  Nora visibly deflated. Dan couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her.

  Casca’s student is like my own niece… alright then.

  “Zeedee.”

  “Hmm?”

  She approached with a bowl of fruit.

  “What is it, Your Majesty? munch munch”

  “Transform for Nora, will you?”

  “What?! Why would I do that?!”

  “She just wants to see. Do it.”

  “No way!”

  “Hey, what’s the royal penalty for disobedience again?”

  “She’s just gonna faint again! I don’t want that on me.”

  “I won’t faint, Miss Zeedee. I promise.”

  Nora spoke up.

  “You’re going to regret this.”

  Zeedee set down the bowl, shrugged, and sighed.

  Then she clapped—exactly on the beat: “One-two!”

  Not “one… two” or “one, two”—it had to be “one-two!” Because no one claps like that naturally, so it couldn’t happen by accident.

  Green lightning crackled, forcing Nora to shield her eyes.

  Zeedee returned to her Diablo form—Freya.

  A creature with a jellyfish-like head resembling a tilted cap, blank face with no eyes but a pointed mouth, long arms with elbow spikes, feminine chest, and many tentacle-like lower limbs.

  She spoke in a layered voice similar to Fury’s, but with a higher tone.

  “Happy now, Your Highness?”

  Nora had to tilt her head up to meet the 1.9-meter-tall Freya.

  “So this is what a Diablo looks like…”

  “I’m the flashiest one on the island, too. Just so you know.”

  “Not sure about that, Freya… Valencia might disagree.”

  “I don’t give a damn about that bat!”

  “May I touch you?”

  “Go ahead.”

  Nora placed her hand on Freya’s skin. It came away with clear slime.

  “…This slime… what is it?”

  “Oh, be careful. It’s toxic.”

  “!”

  “But unless you lick my stomach like His Majesty did, you won’t die.”

  Dan: “Whoa whoa whoa! How did I end up in that sentence?!”

  “Miss Freya, are all your tentacles venomous?”

  “My whole body is, girl.”

  Freya put her hands on her hips.

  “I’ve got over a hundred kinds of poison in me. Mix ’em right and you get medicine, get it? That’s why His Majesty can’t do without me.”

  Dan: “Casca can use healing spells too, you know.”

  “Yeah, but by the time she finishes chanting, you’ll have lost two liters of blood. You’ll be dead.”

  “Your body seems made for aquatic life.”

  “Pretty much. If I’m in water, I get a 20% buff.”

  Dan munched on some fruit.

  “Some of my best soldiers can only survive in water. If they came on land, they’d die from their own weight.”

  Nora took notes diligently—and sketched Freya too.

  “Are those tentacles only for swimming?”

  “They can rip your head off too, Princess.”

  Before they knew it, one tentacle had slithered up next to Nora’s ear. But in an instant, it froze over with a crackling sound—Nora’s Cryomancer blood acting on instinct.

  “AAARGH! MY TENTACLE!”

  “Quit being dramatic. Just revert already.”

  One-two!

  Green lightning flashed—Freya became Zeedee once more.

  “You were really taking notes, huh, Nora?”

  “I enjoy it,” Nora replied.

  “This is the first time I’ve seen a real Diablo… Our generation’s only known them from paintings and secondhand accounts.”

  “And those always make things sound more dramatic than they really are.”

  “Mr. Fury?”

  “Since we’re here, let me ask you something, Nora.”

  “What is it?”

  “What do the kids in Snowhaven think of us?”