The next morning, Antonio called the academy’s deans together to discuss last night’s incident, the monster that ambushed Enid and Rosalie.

  A few deans were off campus teaching, so their associate deans attended in their place.

  If even the associate dean was absent, the most senior instructor from that school stepped in.

  As for the School of Nature, it didn’t have a dean or associate dean at all, so the person representing it was this term’s newest hire, Professor Innis, a powerhouse who’d quickly become popular with students and most of the faculty.

  No one objected.

  Everyone present had seen what “Innis” could do during the open lecture, the theory, the execution, the raw ability.

  And since Innis had been directly involved last night, it was easier to ask the person who’d actually been there.

  After a relatively short discussion, they settled on a final decision, they would keep the incident quiet to avoid disrupting classes or causing panic.

  Security and patrols would be increased across campus, and if needed, Antonio said he could request city law enforcement from Rolkiska to station officers on the grounds for a short time.

  A high-level monster appearing inside the academy was abnormal, but it wasn’t unheard of.

  Given that, the safest move was a conservative one.

  And the academy was in a uniquely sensitive situation right now.

  Students from eight of the empire’s ten grand ducal houses were enrolled, along with heirs from a dozen-plus marquis families, dozens of count families, and hundreds of viscount and baron houses, plus foreign students from neighboring nations.

  If anything damaging got out at a time like this, it would only make the situation uglier.

  It could even spark international fallout.

  That was Antonio’s argument, anyway.

  The other deans didn’t voice objections, but no one could really say what they were thinking behind polite faces.

  In the end, Enid received her assignment too.

  For now, she would serve as acting head for the School of Nature, keeping an eye on student safety and reporting any oddities to academy security immediately.

  Caroline from the Hexcraft school would strengthen the campus’s anti-dark-magic measures.

  Felicité from the officer program would oversee combat staffing, and if things went sideways, she had authorization to use lethal force.

  For the next few days, nothing looked different on the surface.

  But anyone paying attention could tell security had tightened, more patrols, more routes, and night watches that ran twice as often as usual.

  Three days passed without another incident.

  Still, most staff refused to relax, everyone stayed on edge, watching for anything out of place.

  As for Enid, she felt almost… idle.

  The School of Nature was small, and most of its students rarely visited other departments.

  They also didn’t request many off-campus passes, even on rest days.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  So compared to other schools, Enid’s extra workload was light.

  She checked the dorms in the morning, checked again at night, then did a few patrol loops and called it a day.

  That said, it wasn’t like nothing happened.

  Watching her students grow was its own kind of “incident,” even if it wasn’t one she needed to report.

  One day, Enid happened to notice Esme and Eleanor resting together in the nature lounge.

  Before long, a girl who clearly didn’t get along with Eleanor showed up, followed by a little pack of hangers-on.

  Enid recognized the ringleader, a daughter of the Lambert family, one of the empire’s grand ducal houses.

  Words were exchanged, then the conversation turned sharp.

  Esme, who usually shrank from crowds, actually worked up the nerve to speak up for Eleanor.

  Unfortunately, two voices didn’t stand a chance against a whole clique of noble girls.

  Eleanor tried to pull Esme away, but the group closed in and blocked them, leaving them boxed in with nowhere to go.

  Watching from the side, Enid was starting to lose patience and was ready to step in herself.

  Then something unexpected happened.

  Nino arrived with Wolfgang, and they jumped into the confrontation, trying to get Eleanor and Esme out.

  The noble kids didn’t think much of a baron’s second son, not in the slightest.

  But Nino didn’t back down.

  He raised his voice and hit them where it hurt, things like “This academy judges by grades first,” and “Even if you add all your scores together and double them, you still don’t match the combined scores of me, Eleanor, and Esme.”

  That landed like a slap.

  The Lambert girl looked ready to explode.

  But Wolfgang’s presence behind Nino was crushing, the kind of pressure that made people instinctively swallow their next words.

  Other students had started watching too, and their looks were not friendly.

  In the end, the Lambert girl threw out a few nasty parting lines and retreated with her followers, heads down.

  Enid, who’d watched the whole thing, felt genuinely proud.

  Nino had taken her advice to heart.

  He looked serious, and there was a hint of confidence in it, nothing like the timid boy who used to hide in corners drawing in secret.

  Maybe he really was trying to prove he’d changed, especially in front of Eleanor.

  Enid was about to go over and praise all four of them, but Eleanor’s next move made her pause, and she decided to keep watching instead.

  Eleanor stared at Nino with a shocked expression for a long moment, then placed a hand on his forehead and said something with a very serious face.

  Nino just smiled and replied with a few words.

  Whatever he said turned Eleanor into a full-on tomato, she covered her face and hurried off with Esme.

  As she left, Esme wore the kind of grin that said she was enjoying every second.

  Wolfgang, stone-faced as always, patted Nino on the shoulder and walked away.

  Nino turned to leave too, then caught a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye.

  He whipped his head around and found Professor Innis standing quietly in the shadows, clearly having watched for a while.

  Innis lifted a hand and waved him over.

  Nino walked up.

  “Professor, you’ve been watching this whole time, haven’t you,” he asked. “So you already know what happened.”

  Enid smiled back.

  “I didn’t expect your change to be this dramatic,” she said. “You don’t look anything like the boy who used to sit in a corner and sketch in secret.”

  Nino scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly.

  “Come on, don’t tease me,” he said. “I just figured it was time to change.”

  “But Eleanor’s reaction felt a little… different,” Enid said. “If you don’t mind, what did she say, I was too far away, and there were too many people, I couldn’t hear.”

  Nino rubbed his chin.

  “She asked if I had a fever and cooked my brain,” he said. “She said stepping in like that in front of so many people, and picking a fight with the Lambert girl, would only make them hold a grudge.”

  “And she left with her whole face red,” Enid said. “So what did you say back.”

  Nino took a breath.

  “I told her that if I’m going to be a gentleman, then not helping when a lady’s in trouble would be ridiculous,” he said. “And that she’s the most important underclassman to me, I can’t keep running away like I used to.”

  He paused, then added more quietly.

  “I said I want to be her personal knight,” he said. “If I can’t even handle something like this, then I’m no better than the scrap paper people throw in the trash.”

  Enid made a half-smiling, half-skeptical face.

  “Changing is good,” she said, “but your change is a little intense.”

  “By the slang your short-lived people use,” she added, “wouldn’t this be called… kind of cringe?”

  Nino froze.

  “Wait, really,” he blurted. “Do I look that bad?”

  Enid laughed and patted his shoulder, clearly just messing with him.

  “I’m kidding,” she said. “Don’t take it to heart.”

  “By the empire’s standards you’re tall and good-looking,” she went on, “and this is exactly the age when you should start acting more confident.”

  She tilted her head slightly, amused.

  “And honestly, Eleanor might actually like that side of you.”

  As she spoke, Enid started walking out of the lounge, gesturing that she still had work to do.

  Nino nodded, placed a hand over his chest, and gave her a small bow.

  “Taking that first step was only possible because you were there for me,” he said. “Thank you, Professor.”