Reincarnated as the Villainess's attendant

"For the last time, where is young Xeonith?! You are constantly bothering him so you must know something!"

An elderly brown-haired female teacher smacked the table with one hand while pointing the other one with accusation at the green-haired boy standing on the opposite side.

"Teacher Auequas, I've told you already that I have no idea where he could be, I haven't talked or even seen him since yesterday. My answer will not change no matter how many times you will ask."

The green-haired boy responded with a grumpy expression – the woman had not only rudely busted into his room to question him about the other boy, but when he told her that he doesn't know she dragged him to the faculty office and tried to force him to change the answer.

...it certainly didn't help that the green-haired boy – who was of course Reo, one of the capture targets – was doing what Zoemi had told him, and lied about.

It certainly seemed that the teacher in front of him could somewhat sense it and that's why she was pressuring him so much.

...or she was just that annoying...

"You haven't seen him? Then how do you explain being late for the beginning of the duels?! Other students reported that you went to see Xeonith! Stop lying and tell the truth!"

"...!"

Teacher Auequas scoffed and pointed out, making Reo flinch and look away in an attempt to avoid making eye contact with her.

"Lady Auequas, you really should give it a rest and try to actually look for student Derizno instead of bothering others? This is not a wartime interrogation."

The elderly woman and the second-year student weren't alone in the faculty office and their behavior ended up eliciting a reaction from other teachers gathered there – in particular the middle-aged red-haired man, Ikarweth.

"We must find him as soon as possible! Young Xeonith was still in pain after the first prince's attack so he couldn't have gone far in the first place, it is highly improbable that..."

"It was already established that it was a duel not an attack and saying otherwise is spreading misinformation about the member of the royal family, Lady Auequas."

The elderly teacher frowned and shook her head but was interrupted by a young blue-haired teacher glaring at her coldly.

"Also, student Derizno must have not been in such a bad shape if he was able to leave his room. We really should be looking for him to confirm whether the accusation submitted by student Burushi is true or not."

The young woman added and her neck muscles stiffened as she tried to keep her emotions at bay.

"Miss Rokiana, I already told you that the accusation is both ridiculous and baseless. That commoner girl is clearly just seeking attention and nothing else!"

The elderly woman scoffed and glared back at the blue-haired woman clearly seeking a confrontation.

"You were present when student Burushi has told me what happened, and I already told YOU that she was found by student Auequas in a horrible condition, so as teachers we are required to confirm the facts. I am not saying that student Derizno is guilty, but outright dismissing student Burushi's words as easily as you do is irresponsible, to say the least."

Rokiana certainly wasn't going to back off especially when the other woman was showing blatant favoritism towards the student suspected of harming another student.

"Do not call that boy by that surname – a foundling like him has no right to use it! And speaking of him, he is also missing, isn't he? It is far more plausible that he was the one messing with the commoner girl and then lead young Xeonith somewhere to push the blame on him!"

"..."

Old lady Auequas almost spat to the side while pointing her finger at Rokiana, making the entire office go completely silent.

"First of all, student Auequas has the same name as his father, second of all – do you have any evidence supporting the accusation against him? I just said that as teachers we need to figure out the truth and instead you are coining a brand new accusation all on your own!"

Rokiana stood up from her seat and stared down at the much older and shorter brown-haired woman who ended up getting red in the face from the anger.

"That man has no right to that surname either – he was disinherited! As for the other situation, how is my claim different from the commoner girl's word? She claims that something happened to her but only has the torn clothes as the evidence without any wounds to show for it – her story sounds entirely made up and knowing her imagination it definitely is!"

The elderly woman also took a step towards the younger blue-haired teacher clenching her fists as if readying herself to throw a punch at her.

"You can be as biased in favor to your political allies as you want, lady Auequas, but you are over the line trying to change the laws of the Bellcephora kingdom! Even if disinherited, the child has the right to the parent's surname, the same for their children if they are born before the disinheritance. That includes the adopted ones – the surname and title cannot be transferred any further, but both Mizoe and Zoemi are lawfully members of the Auequas family although they have no right to inherit the Auequas territory!"

The old woman's words have definitely rubbed Rokiana the wrong way as she also stepped forward, seemingly fully prepared and ready to turn their quarrel into a physical fight.

"I knew it! You are supporting that outrageous accusation only to take a jab at me and my family because you are infatuated in that shameless weakling!"

"My Mizoe isn't a weakling, you heartless hag!"

Everyone had the limit to their patience, and speaking ill about the man she fell for was certainly Rokiana's weak spot, which the older woman realized and used to derail the argument away from the main subject.

*rumble*

"...?"

"What was that...?"

In a rather ironic twist, a sudden tremor that shook the building of the Academy derailed the already derailed conversation as both women and everyone watching them flinched and started looking around in confusion.

"What was that supposed to be? An earth spell or...?"

Rokiana furrowed her brows and looked at lady Auequas, half expecting the tremor to be the cause of her spell...

"What in the world...?!"

But the brown-haired elderly woman gasped wide-eyed, staring at one of the windows in disbelief.

"?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

And all of the present teachers did the same right in time to see a giant stone golem rising up from behind the wall surrounding the Aspakeony Academy – just for it to be swallowed by an enormous wave of murky darkness the next moment.

"..."

For a few seconds, no one knew how to react – and then everyone felt something else.

An air quake...

It was impossible to miss, everyone felt the slight vibration of the air, this particular kind of movement that mana causes when it changes into a spell that goes against the natural order, exceeding a specific limit.

...if it was so easy to recognize even for people inside a building, the power at the epicenter must have been absolutely terrifying...!

But then, as if in response to that, a gigantic wall of jet-black silky darkness appeared out of nowhere and the sensation stopped.

"We... we need to check out what is going on there!"

"NO – this is a sign that we must stay and protect the students!"

The appearance of the jet-black barrier seemed to push the people in the faculty office right back on the right track.

"Sir Wirkenor – contact lord Kross and ask him to return with the pursuing group this instant! Tell him to just leave the murder to the King's Guard!"

Rokiana turned to the green-haired teacher, switching into a battle mode, and commanded before turning to the others.

"Lady Auequas the two of us will immediately go and make sure that the Dormitory building is safe, student Moyena, come with us... LADY AUEQUAS!"

She declared, but the brown-haired teacher passed her without a word, and out of the door she turned in the direction of the closest exit – that definitely wasn't the shortest way to the Dormitory building, making Rokiana realize that the brown-haired elderly woman was instead going towards the dangerous spot.

...and was followed by most of the teachers...

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! WE MUST MAKE SURE THAT THE STUDENTS IN THE DORMITORY ARE SAFE!"

Rokiana roared after them but her voice fell on deaf ears of the teachers who ended up following the eldest person amongst them instead of the one who despite her young age had seen the most battles, survived most ambushes and other dangerous situations, out of their entire group.

"Student Moyena, contact as many students as you can to make sure that they are safe!"

The blue-haired woman gritted her teeth and turned to the green-haired boy still frozen in shock.

"But teacher... I can't use message spell..."

"...what...?"

Reo flinched and started fidgeting, crimson red in the face from shame, making Rokiana take a step back in shock.

"...I am good with small scale spells and self-taught pranks but for the life of me, I could never master the message spell... I am a failure of a wind magician, I know..."

The green-haired boy clenched his fists and lowered his head.

"...if you can't then you can't. No matter, follow me."

Without commenting on the unfortunate weak point, Rokiana breathed out to compose herself and waved her hand at him while walking out of the faculty office and turning the opposite way than all of her colleagues, rushing towards the student's Dormitory building.