Chapter 33: Anne’s Fury and the Aftermath

Annie stood amidst a maelstrom of magical power. Her sword aura surged, her presence imposing. It was clear from her expression that her words were no bluff. If Liya and Yagesi continued their fight, she would use all her strength to knock them both down. Though sometimes such developments weren’t bad, right now, Liya had more important matters to attend to.

“…I understand, Teacher Annie.”

“Tch.”

But to Liya’s surprise, Yagesi also ceased his attack. The massive wolf began to shrink, its fur receding. Within ten seconds, a youth with a bare upper body and only tattered jeans replaced the wolf in the same spot. Even so, in Liya’s eyes, he was no different from a beast.

“…Good. Now can you tell me what exactly happened? Why were you fighting?”

Annie said coldly. Seeing their usually gentle Teacher Annie so stern, Liya understood that her battle with Yagesi was a serious trouble. But that was fine; she was in the right.

“Teacher Annie, this beast kidnapped Alice first. I told you before, right? After finding him and rescuing Alice, I started fighting him… Please subdue him first! Or step aside, and I’ll send him to the hospital to reflect!”

Thinking of what Alice might have suffered, Liya couldn’t contain her anger. The dormant magic power surged again. Sensing the crisis, Yagesi, now in human form, touched his head and grinned foolishly, but his eyes flickered with a ghostly green light, as if ready to transform back at any moment.

“…Yagesi, tell me, did you kidnap Alice?”

“Huh?”

Yagesi was taken aback. Kidnap? He had indeed knocked Alice unconscious and brought her here, but was that kidnapping? …Ah, recalling their earlier chat, Alice had mentioned that such behavior was called kidnapping.

Sorting out his thoughts, Yagesi instinctively began to nod in admission…

“Wait! Wait!”

Suddenly, a fourth person interrupted their conversation. Not far away, Alice was running over as fast as she could, her face pale from what seemed like a long run.

“Alice! Are you okay?!”

Liya rushed over and steadied Alice, who was swaying. But Alice grabbed Liya’s arm and said anxiously:

“I’m fine. Hah… mainly, it’s Yagesi…”

“Don’t worry! I will definitely get justice for you!” Liya thought Alice was still upset, so she said firmly, and decided in her heart that even if Teacher Annie objected, she would slay this despicable beast today…

“No, no! You misunderstood! Yagesi didn’t kidnap me!”

Before Liya could act, Alice shouted out what she had been wanting to say.

“What?!”

“Huh?”

Not only Liya, but even Yagesi tilted his head in confusion. Annie looked between them and finally settled her gaze on Alice.

“Alice, you speak. You’re the one involved. What really happened?”

“Well, um… Yagesi had something very important to discuss with me, so he called me over during my morning run. He didn’t do anything to me! Really! We just talked. It’s my fault for skipping class! I’m really sorry! Teacher!”

Alice bowed deeply to Annie, then immediately turned to Liya.

“Thank you too, Liya! I’m really happy you were so worried about me! But this time, you really misunderstood. Yagesi didn’t hurt me. I’m sorry you got hurt!”

A ninety-degree bow, Alice said from the bottom of her heart, which instead made the dazed Liya feel a bit embarrassed.

“A misunderstanding? It’s okay, I’m not really injured…”

“Right, technically I should be the one injured, shouldn’t I?”

Yagesi suddenly interjected, walking over to Liya and Alice as if no one else was there.

“By the way, Alice, I don’t quite understand. Earlier you said my actions were called kid—mmpf?!”

Alice, who had seemed exhausted, suddenly found strength from somewhere, leaping up to cover Yagesi’s mouth. Since there was no malice, Yagesi couldn’t react in time and was pinned to the ground by Alice’s overreaction.

“Urgh!”

“Ah! Sorry!”

Watching Alice repeatedly apologize, Liya still didn’t fully understand what was going on, but it seemed…

‘Her spirit is good.’

No sign of despair, nor forced strength. In her earlier rage, Liya hadn’t paid close attention, but now observing Alice, she noticed her body indeed had no injuries—neither internal nor external, except for a slight bruise on her neck…

“That’s good.”

Liya let out a heartfelt sigh of relief. Her surging magic power finally and truly subsided. At the same time, she felt a soul-deep exhaustion.

The secret art of drawing all her magic power out of her body was not easy to use. In a sense, it drained her life force to fight. Though it had all flowed back now, the fatigue from losing so much magic power remained. Even with her regular training, Liya felt her legs grow weak.

“It seems you two are okay now?”

But it appeared things weren’t settled yet… Seeing Teacher Annie’s still cold expression, Liya felt a foreboding.

“It seems you still haven’t realized what happened. Liya, that’s understandable… but Yagesi! Don’t you get it?!”

“Huh? What?” Yagesi tilted his head, genuinely confused.

“Of course, your fight! Not only did you not choose an arena that allows recovery, but you had such a fierce, life-threatening battle in this warehouse! Are you crazy for fighting?!”

Annie’s voice was fierce and full of anger.

“You are students! Liya! No matter how strong you are, you’re only ten years old! Ten! Ordinary kids your age should be enjoying their youth, not risking their lives fighting others! Can’t you cherish yourself a little? You saw! If you get hurt, not just Alice, but Christine and I will be very worried! Understand! You are a student! Not a warrior!”

Then Annie turned to Yagesi.

“Yagesi… I know you’re dense, but I hope you can learn more about social norms in the future. Do you realize how much trouble your actions caused? Not just for the school, but for your classmates too! Although it didn’t lead to a bad outcome, it was only by chance! Your fight with Liya covered this entire warehouse! If Alice hadn’t taken the initiative to leave and find me, what would you have done? Spread the battle to the whole academy?!”

“Even beasts know to protect their own lair from being discovered when they fight. Yagesi, this is your home! Do you want to destroy it completely?!”

Annie’s anger didn’t stop. She seemed to know Yagesi, so she scolded him without hesitation. After finishing, she turned to berate Liya, then Yagesi again. The scene reminded Liya of her mother in her past life…

And Yagesi was surprisingly obedient. Before Annie, he completely shed his ferocious wolf image, acting like a little dog, not rebutting at all, staring at the floor as if reflecting deeply.

“…………”

In the end, Liya, Yagesi, and even Alice stood there listening to Annie’s angry tirade for a full ten minutes. Finally, Annie pulled all three into her arms and said from the bottom of her heart:

“But thankfully, none of you got hurt…”

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