Chapter 71 - Suspicious Meetings

"Okay then, here's our last question.

The Marquis of Pearce would most likely suffer great sanctions for this, however a rumor has been circulating around.

One that says that the Marquis was forced to use his son as a monsterization target for various reasons.

However, we all know the only ones with the power to force someone who was as influential as marquis Pearce to do such.

What do you think about this?"

Arthur laughed at their method, they did not want to offend any of the Dukes so they used a roundabout means to ask him.

"I would like to elaborate on this but I don't have the time, so I'd just go straight to the point.

A Duke house is indeed involved, or to me more specific a member of a Duke house. As for the marquis being coerced, that's a lie.

I spent weeks investigating this so I'm sure that the Marquis did this willingly, if anything the poor Zach was taken advantage of."

"Then what is going to happen to the culprit? Can you answer that before you go?"

Arthur glanced at the time before he nodded and continued speaking.

"Y'all probably know my social media right? Watch them closely tomorrow, I'm gonna personally beat up the mastermind.

Also take note of the main arena of the second year class A facilities block. A big fight's gonna happen there."

With that he stood up, take-away packs in hand, and walked over to the teleportation gates and teleported away from the cafeteria.

It took a few moments for the people left behind to register his words properly.

When they realized what he meant, there was a lot of commotion both online and offline.

The fact that a member of a ducal house was involved in the incident was shocking. What was even more shocking was that Arthur said he was going to deal with the mastermind personally.

Although many said the culprit would most likely run after hearing Arthur's threat, many said there was a high chance they would not.

Eventually they all decided to wait until the next day.

On a side note, Arthur gained millions of followers on all his social media that night

◇　◇　◇

Meanwhile, the one who was the target of most discussions at the moment, was currently moving through one of the numerous forests in the academy premises.

He was thousands of kilometers away from the cafeteria he was just in. 

'Teleportation gates are convenient as hell.'

Reaching a completely random spot, he spoke while looking at his shadow.

"Lute, Leave."

"I cannot do that, your highness."

Arthur stared at Lute who made himself visible for a few moments, he then asked again.

"I'm not telling you to go far, just far enough that you can still see me while not within earshot."

"I cannot do that, your highness."

"You'd regret it if you stay though. Last chance Lute, leave." 

Lute stared at Arthur for a few moments, he seemed to be deliberating whether to actually leave or not.  As much as he hated to admit it, there were times he lost track of Arthur's presence completely. 

He had guessed it was due to one of his mother's artifacts, a pair of boots with a stealth function.

The target of these boots was to fool Diablo's senses, so for someone like Lute, it was impossible for him to see through them.

'Just why did the princess give him such dangerous artifacts.'

Lute sighed as he used a short distance teleportation magic to move out of Arthur's range.

In Arthur's hands was a meter of some sorts, the gauge on the meter continuously reduced as Lute moved further away.

Suddenly, the gauge spiked once again, reaching its limit immediately. Arthur put it away and turned around, looking at the seemingly empty spot in front of him, he spoke.

"Come out already you f*cker, I know you're there."

Along with a hearty laugh, a figure materialized itself from the darkness. A tall man over six foot with hair as dark as the night.

"You and your weird artifacts, how do you get these things?"

"Why in hell should I tell you?"

"No reason, I was just curious. Here, the invite"

The man pulled out a small card from his pocket and gave it to Arthur. Collecting it Arthur read through the contents before lighting it up with a lighter and turning it into ash. Looking at the man, he spoke.

"It's next year, yet you guys have already prepared so much. This is fishy as hell."

"Everything we do is fishy, it's our way of life."

The man replied with a slight chuckle and was about to move back into the darkness, however Arthur's next words shocked him.

"Larry, you're not a high drifter are you?"

The man, Larry was slightly surprised that Arthur called him by his actual name for the first time in years but he was even more shocked by Arthur's keen observation. He grinned and turned to stare at Arthur, he then asked teasingly.

"What do you think I am then?"

"I don't know, just feel like you're something else, I do think you are a drifter, just some other kind or breed of drifters."

Larry stared at Arthur in slight shock for a few moments before quickly recomposing himself, however Arthur noticed this.

'As I thought, he has rubbed me the wrong way ever since I met him.'

"As much as I'd like to play guessing games with you, I have to leave or a rather troublesome person would notice me."

"Troublesome?"

"Yeah, like you she's been suspicious of me for a while now, she might attack me instantly if she sees me here. 

A hint on her identity, she's close to you."

Leaving those words, he vanished completely.

Arthur just stared at the empty space for a moment pondering on his last words.

'She's close to me? Why the f*ck does this guy like leaving vague hints. Just how many people do I know that are strong enough to scare him and are also women.'

He began walking out of the forest while thinking about who he could have possibly meant.

'This is the academy so perhaps it's one of the 'big ten' directors? But grandpa said none of them were around now.

Honestly, how did a guy like that become the head of all drifters in hell?'

The man Arthur just spoke to was none other than the supposed 'high drifter' who was the leader of the drifters of the hell universe.

Arthur kept on cursing the man in his mind as he met up with Lute and returned to his dormitory building. 

The moment he walked into the building and was about to enter the elevator, he was called out to by an enraged, slightly nervous Layla.

"Arthur! You damned…prince!"

She probably intended on cursing at him, only to remember he was royalty and had to hold her tongue as they were in a public place.

Trailing after her was Nicole who was quiet as usual. 

"Were you looking for me or something?"

"Obviously, just where did you go?"

"To conduct business?"

Arthur could almost see the question marks floating around her face as she tilted her head in confusion. Chuckling slightly at her unusual action he patted her head a bit.

"Huh? Why the sudden head pats? And stop it, you're scattering my hair."

"No reason, just felt like, so why are you looking for me."

While rearranging her lightly ruffled hair, she gestured to Nicole who was hiding behind her for some reason.

Taking a deep breath, Nicole walked out from behind Layla and stopped In front of Arthur, she then bowed her head and said in a slightly louder voice than usual.

"Thank you!"

Arthur was confused at first, then he remembered the reason he went over to troll Zach in the first place was because of her.

'I feel bad seeing as I lost sight of my original goal.'

"Nahh, don't worry about it was nothing. More importantly, raise your head, I don't want weird rumors circulating around tomorrow."

He replied awkwardly to her heartfelt gratitude. Layla stared at him in shock seeing him do this.

"What?"

"Oh! Nothing much, I just thought you were gonna make a silly remark and was getting ready to hit you for it."

Arthur thought she was joking but seeing her tightly clenched fist, he realized she clearly was not.

"Just how little trust do you have in me?"

"Little? Far from it. I trust you quite a lot you know? That's why I know what kind of bullshit you can pull."

Arthur could feel his face twitching at that reply but he held back any retorts he had and turned to Nicole who was looking at them strangely.

"So I'd leave it to you to clear any weird misunderstandings she might have gotten and would get."

"Huh? Would get?"

"Yep, she's bound to."

After confirming that there was no one in the area, he leaned over and lightly pecked Layla's forehead.

It took her a few seconds to comprehend what had just happened. When she did, her face turned red instantly. 

Arthur laughed heartily while moving towards the elevator, he did it because he expected her cute reaction but seeing it put a smile on his face.

"You! Ah, Nicole, it's not what you think, okay?!"

She wanted to hit him for doing that with no rhyme or reason but she remembered the innocent child that is Nicole who was beside her and began flailing around trying to clear her misunderstandings.

Before the elevator door closed she had a look of remembrance on her face, then turned to Arthur and said.

"My condolences!"

◇　◇　◇

The confused Arthur returned to his room, wondering what she meant by that. As soon as he arrived he dropped his bag of food on one of the tables and was about to take of his shirt when he noticed something.

'The scent of perfume? And it's not Layla's. I don't know this scent….'

Before he could come to a conclusion, he heard a voice that sent chills down his spine.

"Arthuruis Vaughnheim."