The Young Master in the Shadows

The next morning Victor didn’t go to the Academy. He headed with El and Lara to their new school. He wanted to take Lily too, but she had to go check on the first batch of assassins, and taking Margret was not appropriate for such occasions so he could only take Theta who spent the last night hugging him.

In two or three years she would be a killer, but at this time she was just cute and snuggly, but not very stimulating. So last night was safe… from his perspective at the very least.

“Esteemed brother, would El also be able to study with me? Isn’t she too young?” Lara suddenly asked with some worry on her face. She was very excited to come to school as she always dreamed about it when she secretly watched the drama disks her mother kept. But she was worried about her new best friend not being able to attend with her.

“She will struggle a little at first, but she will be ok. She is smarter than she looks.” Victor said as he looked at El who nodded with some determination, not realizing that he was making fun of her.

Hilda had informed him of some very interesting things that she found. El was a simple genius. At first, Hilda discovered that she didn’t know a damn thing. No writing, reading, or basic mathematics. The villagers didn’t care about her or her education as she was just another orphan thief in the village.

So Hilda began educating her from the beginning and to her surprise, she discovered that El could understand new concepts very quickly, they were able to go through six years of educational materials in only one week.

Victor was suspecting that this has to do with the incident of her falling into a wine barrel as a baby. Something changed in her, something that even his appraisal skill was not picking, something to do with her soul!

He made sure to send Margret to ask around the village for info about the incident. It was right after she was born when her mother died. An accident happened in the winery where they were testing a new herbal mixture and El ended up falling into one of the barrels that were deemed a failure. Victor really wanted to know what that barrel contained but no one knew as those guys didn’t keep records.

Victor decided to let El accompany Lara to school as an assistant and at the same time, he asked some professionals to prepare a condensed advanced course for her to study. He told Hilda to give it as a punishment when El does any sneaky things which she does all the time.

Although he wanted someone like El to serve by his side, she was still a child and had no experience. Intelligence was not everything.

Keeping her with Lara was good too. His little sister is too naive and sometimes needed someone with a more evil character to help her.

“You two remember to keep the family secrets and protocols. If anything gets leaked, I will not be the one who punishes you but the family.” He said, making Lara nod, and El copied her quickly.

They reached the school pretty quickly as it was near his mansion. In fact, his sister Alice studied here too, that’s when his father built his current mansion for her when she begged her daddy for a palace to stay in with her friends. Of course, she never used the mansion as due to some logistical problems its construction got delayed until she was no longer interested in it.

Now back to the school. It was an aristocratic boarding school for the elites. Lara would keep sleeping in his mansion at night and would be driven here in the morning.

The guard at the door didn’t dare to stop the luxurious car and quickly opened the door after giving the sissy driver a curious look.

The school director was an old man with a long white beard and thick eyeglasses. He was waiting for Victor near the door where the car stopped. He was informed of the super VIP coming today.

“Young master Victor I presume. You look exactly like your esteemed father.” The old director quickly approached Victor and shook his hand.

“Yes. And you must be Master Alan. My father told me that you were the one who taught my sister Alice… He spoke fondly of you.” Victor said making Alan freeze for a second, he didn’t want to remember that b*tch. The darkest blemish in his history as a top-ranking educator.

She visited the school a year ago to donate some money, he didn’t expect her to be driven inside in a palanquin carried by four macular barely clothed men… Many young aristocratic girls were corrupted beyond redemption when they saw her grandeur. Their parents even demanded explanations about their daughters' new hobbies.

After that, he read the news concerning her to discover some very dark materials that would only be suitable as a background story of some porn movie. He had to burn his poor laptop after that night of research.

“Yah… Miss Alice was special… I will not repeat the mistakes I made with her.” Alan confirmed after a few seconds then gestured to Victor and the girls to follow him inside. Not allowing them to see the expression on his face.

“I hope so. Now those are my sisters, Lara and El the young one.” Victor said, making El shiver a little, she didn’t expect him to call her a sister. Sure she asked him to do that at first when she met him, but she knew that he was scamming her when he accepted. As she was scamming him too back then.

“Oh…” Alan looked at the girls with surprise, he only heard about one… But being a professional he didn’t ask. “I see… But isn't young Miss El a little young for the level of education we administer?” He asked.

“She will adapt, just make sure that she sits next to Lara,” Victor added as he looked around the school building. The education in the Wiren principality is divided into three levels with three years each.

After finishing this compulsory education, the Successful students would enter various academies to pursue further intensified education for a year or two and after that, they would undergo a test to compete for a place in various universities and colleges.

This school was a third-level educational facility. One of the best around the principality. Catering to the needs of the elite in a secure yet modern environment.

“Will the young ladies sleep in the dormitory or would they live outside and attend school from home?” Alan asked as they walked through multiple old decorated corridors where young girls carrying their books gave them some curious looks. The girls were giving Victor other looks though… Most of them seemed to have awakened something in them when they saw his dashing face.

Alan didn’t know, or he would have regretted bringing Victor inside.

“They will be staying in my mansion near here as they still need additional family education, however, I would prefer if you set aside a room for them,” Victor said, Lara might like to stay here sometimes.

“I will work on that.” Alan nodded as he invited them to his lavish office and took some papers after asking them to take a seat.

Victor quickly handed him Lara’s and El’s fake registrations.

“Lara white, and El White…. I see.” Alan said as he filled the documents. “Ages 14, and…?” He looked at Victor.

“El is 12,” Victor explained as he rubbed El’s hair.

“I see… 14 it is…“ Alan said as he wrote some more imaginary data. “Both of them would be attending the first year…” Alan added after finishing with the documents.

“Yes. And I will be leaving three men here, they will be responsible for her protection. You know the drill.” Victor said.

“Will they be attending class too?” Alan asked nervously, usually, guards and servants are forbidden as the school is fully protected, but for the aristocratic families, their wishes are commands.

“Nah, they would stay downstairs in the car… I would prefer to keep Lara’s identity a secret for a certain extent.'' Victor explained, that he didn’t fear for his little sister’s safety as he had already given her and El protection amulets and ordered them not to take them off at all.

“That’s good… Would the girls start today then?” Alan asked, making Lara get a little nervous.

“Yes,” Victor said as he put his hand on her shoulder encouraging her.

“Then I shall call someone…” Alan said nervously as he pressed a button in his office and talked to his secretary. “Call Miss Lang for me.” He said as he smiled at Victor who was busy appraising the valuables in the office and counting the small cameras hidden around.

They were put here by the various powers who sent their children here and other forces who planned to kidnap them. He could also spot some cameras that were placed next to others as the good hiding places got too crowded. Alan was amazing to survive until now. But that was proof that he had no black laundry, none that was exposed until now at the very least.

Miss Lang entered the room 3 Minutes later, she was a young pretty woman with a heroic air around her. Victor didn’t care at all… He didn’t have a teacher fetish, not after what that b*tch teacher Isabella did in his past life. She treated him well at first as he was acting like a normal student, but after she got wind that he was from an aristocratic family she made him her bullying target, and the family didn’t protect him as he was just a semi-player and was not considered anything better than a servant.

“Ahm…” Alan coughed a little as he watched Victor’s ugly expression. “This is teacher Lang. She is new here, but one of the best graduates last year. She is an expert in education and world history. She would be the young ladies' teacher.'' Alan said, making Victor return to the present and look at the nervous Miss Lang who was getting her instruction from Alan.

“Miss Lang, those two are Lara and El White, they will be attending your class from now. As I explained yesterday, make sure to treat them well. As they were homeschooled before.” He explained to his daughter… Yes, his name was Alan Land, and she was Lora Lang his daughter. They hid it well though, but not from Victor’s eyes.

“I will take care of them, director.” She said professionally with a smile as she asked Lara and El to follow her after giving Victor a fleeting glance. “Damn he is hot!” She thought.

“I will leave Lara in your care… My father is very protective of her. So make sure she is fine… As for El, she might make some trouble, feel free to punish her as you see fit…” Victor added a moment after the girls left, making Alan wonder at his double standards.

“Then I will take my leave then,” Victor added then turned and left with Theta who kept looking around until they left.

“Brings back memories?” Victor asked.

“Yeah… My old school was similar to this one… Those were not happy days.” She said then stopped talking.

“Don’t worry about such things… Do you want to go with me to the auction tomorrow? We will be leaving tonight when Alpha returns.” Victor suddenly said changing the subject.

“It is in Tetraquad city right…” She said after some hesitation.

“Yes… Your family has a branch there…” He said.

“They are no longer my family… And yes, it is a small branch where some hateful insects live… I will go.” She said with some clear determination in her eyes.

“Good,“ Victor said, “There would be some fun gambling there,” Victor added with a smile.

“Are you planning to do something bad?” She asked with a grin that didn’t exist a moment earlier.

“Yes.” He told her honestly.

“Who is going to participate?” She asked.

“Me, You, Alpha and Margret… And a few Chicks for security.” Victor replied.

“What about sister Lily and Alex?” She asked. She knew that Victor usually likes to take one of them with him.

“No. Lily is busy. I already sent her on a mission. As for Alex, he is a wanted man nowadays, and on such a grand occasion with many participants, he might get identified.” Victor explained,

“Oh…” She said then watched the road… “Why did you create the illusion of the balls yesterday? Did you enjoy tricking the girls to play with some imaginary balls? If it were not for my gambling skill not finding the target when I set it to a certain ball I would have never suspected such an illusion.” Theta asked, she couldn’t ask at the mansion as the girls were still debating how he did it, not knowing that all the balls were an illusion.

“I told you before, You should always use your skills to a certain degree as they level up when you do that. And you also get more proficient at using them and might discover new uses.” Victor said,

“I see…” She pondered. “ I was meaning to ask you… What is the Subclasses entry in my menu?” she asked again after a few minutes,

“It’s empty right?” He asked.

“Yes.” She replied.

“A subclass is simply an additional class… There are three ways to get those, As a reward for a super crazy mission, or as a very rare Class book.” He explained.

“And the third method?” She asked.

“It’s harder than the other two. Simply you upgrade one of your skills enough for it to be a class.” He explained, making her surprised, “It is super hard, and there are conditions for that.” He added before she could ask.

“The skill must be SS rank at the very least and it might require a catalyst that is usually unknown until someone discovers it and reveals it to the world,” Victor said as he drove the car. “I only know a few of those, for example, a cooking skill usually has an F or E rank… but if you get so good at cooking that you have an SS rank and you happen to create an SS ranked dish with S ranked materials, you will get a chance for a Grand Chef subclass.” He explained.

“Is that why you are working on your skills?” She asked with twinkling eyes.

“Ah… Yes.” He said, not wanting to tell her that he was just having fun yesterday watching the girls move around and lean on the table in swimming suits. As for skills upgrade, that was another matter, as he had no idea how to do that for his skills except for the merchant skill which should naturally give him a merchant subclass once it was used for a few years.