Episode 7: Mad Dog Aaron (3)

Episode 7: Mad Dog Aaron (3)
“…What did you just say?”
A few seconds of silence settled over the table before I spoke.
“It’s not because of Lady Lienna in particular. I would’ve said the same to any dark mage. I’ve decided not to learn dark magic from anyone.”
“And why is that?”
“I figured it’s better to master it on my own than learn it from someone else.”
The instructor and Lienna both furrowed their brows.
“Cadet Aaron, that’s rather rude to say in front of Lady Lienna.”
Lienna held up her hand to stop him.
“…To think someone who achieved triple-class on their own could be this arrogant. I’d heard from Dave that you had a rough personality, but this…”
Her annoyed tone made it clear I’d bruised her ego.
Good. Feel free to leave now.
Don’t mind me. Just go your own way.
“How interesting. Yes… now this is the kind of personality worth cultivating.”
…Excuse me?
“I was starting to think you were too well-behaved for someone with such a nasty reputation. So this is why they called you the Mad Dog of Necropia.”
Wait, how’d we get here?
“You made the trip all the way out here, only to be insulted. I apologize on his behalf, Lady Lienna.”
“It’s fine, Dave. He has a bad temper—so what? That kind of attitude with that level of skill? Makes me even more curious to see how I’ll train him.”
This old hag… How can someone be this tolerant?
I purposely ran my mouth, assuming she’d take offense and leave me alone. And she’s excited?
This is exactly why I didn’t want to meet her.
She’s over 200 years old and rarely shows emotion.
Not that she’s impossible to read, though.
“Of course, I wasn’t planning to take you on as my student so easily either. Since you clearly don’t want it, that works out nicely.”
She lowered her cup and touched her thumb to her middle finger.
“Let’s start by correcting that arrogant mindset of yours—that you can learn dark magic on your own.”
“L-Lady Lienna?”
The instructor looked alarmed, but she didn’t even glance his way.
Snap!
The sound of her fingers flicking echoed—
Whoosh!
A noise like blowing out a candle slammed against my eardrums.
Everything around me froze in place.
Not metaphorically—literally.
The drink in her glass, mid-slosh, had turned solid.
The instructor beside me was as still as a statue.
Even the breath of passersby outside the window hung frozen in midair.
…Silence.
An uncanny stillness, as if time had truly stopped.
I tried to move, but my limbs were paralyzed, pinned like in a waking nightmare.
Only my eyes could still focus and move.
Within this suspended world, Lienna’s eyes twinkled at me.
—Surprised?
Her lips didn’t move. Her voice echoed directly in my mind.
—What did you just do?
—Hm?
Her eyelids fluttered.
—You… Have you learned to send thought messages?
—My father once explained the technique to me. This is my first time trying it myself, though.
Not true. I’d used it plenty of times before my regression.
And I knew exactly what this bizarre space was. No need to tell her that.
—To adapt this quickly, even with just second-hand knowledge… impressive.
She continued with her thoughts.
—That’ll make this easier.
Rip—
A vertical tear split open behind her.
—Even if you’ve reached triple-class, you haven’t yet mastered the ‘Descent’ class, have you?
This was advanced dark magic—Descent—which lets you borrow the power of a demon through a contract.
It projects a hallucination of the contracted demon’s form to the target.
Shhhhk!
Blood-red mist spilled from the rip as it widened, and a massive black form emerged slowly.
A huge beast’s paw, covered in sleek black fur.
The Demon of Immortality—Immortal.
—This must be your first time seeing a high-level demon.
Its whip-like arm swung overhead, collapsing the shop’s ceiling.
Debris and rubble flew everywhere.
Pedestrians struck by the fragments dropped like puppets, bloodied and limp.
Its arms and hands were so massive they could crush a full-grown man in a single grip.
Only one arm had appeared, and even if this was an illusion, the pressure it gave off was overwhelming.
—Don’t be alarmed. What you’re seeing is merely an illusion. It won’t affect the real world.
Of course I knew that. But I stayed quiet. No need to arouse suspicion.
The demon’s dark hand drifted toward my face.
‘The old hag is still the same.’
This was just a trick.
She didn’t mean to harm me—just overwhelm me with her sheer power.
If I were a normal cadet, the sight of that demon would’ve shattered me, illusion or not.
But I was long past that level.
The most “appropriate” reaction here would be to cower, then apologize.
That might even cause her to lose interest in me.
But I couldn’t afford that.
‘If I just sit here, she’ll realize I have a Stigma.’
The moment she snapped her fingers, I felt a heat flare on the back of my right hand.
My holy power reacting to the dark magic.
‘Damn it.’
It wasn’t visible yet, but if that demon touched me?
The Stigma would flare gold, revealing everything.
That was something I had to avoid.
—…Lady Lienna.
—Oh? Changed your mind already?
This space was an illusion.
The demon’s terrifying presence was fake—if you knew how to break it.
As her former disciple, it wasn’t hard to figure it out.
Tense—
I clenched my right hand and projected my thoughts.
—No, I haven’t.
This spell robbed the target of all five senses—except sight and sound.
But thanks to the Stigma, my right hand still felt warm.
That warmth was the key.
As the demon’s hand drew closer, the heat intensified.
Crack—!
A fracture formed in the air around my hand.
—What are you doing…?
The counter was simple: even the slightest movement of my body breaks the spell.
Though it also paralyzed my body, she must’ve held back, thinking I was just a student.
Crreeeak…
No way the old hag expected me to have a Stigma.
And I exploited that blind spot.
My stiff index finger twitched—
Shatter!
Everything in front of me cracked like glass and broke apart.
***
Bustle, bustle.
The familiar noise of the street tickled the ears of Aaron Bayonel and Lienna Baroness.
“…My opinion hasn’t changed, Lady Lienna.”
The collapsed ceiling of the shop was perfectly intact, and the people who had fallen bleeding were now walking around unscathed.
The demon of immortality that Lienna had summoned was also nowhere to be seen.
“Lady Lienna… Showing a top-grade demon to a cadet, even if it was an illusion…”
“That’s not the issue.”
Even as the instructor lamented, Lienna remained silent, her face hardened, before speaking quietly.
“He broke my illusion?”
“…Excuse me?”
“Aaron broke through my illusion with his own power.”
“Th-that’s impossible! He’s still just a cadet!”
She had only intended to give him a light scare and had deliberately weakened the illusion to a level that would break with a little struggle.
Yet he had dispelled it in under ten seconds.
‘…How?’
Even if he had achieved a Triple-Class magic status, he was still just a cadet.
Dispelling high-level dark magic unaided—and so quickly at that—was unheard of.
If he had wielded holy power, the natural counter to dark magic, that might have been another matter. But Aaron, who walked the path of a dark mage, could not possibly possess holy power.
“…Ah.”
Something flashed through Lienna’s mind, sending a chill down her spine.
“This… is quite the disgrace.”
There was one more method to easily dispel an illusion.
“You’ve already made a pact with a demon, haven’t you?”
“…?”
…Huh?
No, I haven’t?
Unaware of Aaron’s internal bewilderment, Lienna spoke as if she were stating an undeniable fact.
“And not just any demon, but one with power comparable to the one I contracted.”
Dave Borris, who was standing beside them, swallowed hard, while Aaron tilted his head, baffled.
“Uh… I’m not sure what you mean…”
“Playing dumb, are you? Maybe you can fool others, but you can’t deceive my eyes.”
If someone had made a pact with a demon of equal or superior strength, the illusion would dissolve immediately.
But to summon and contract a demon on par with the Demon of Immortality at such a young age through one’s own ability?
Impossible.
However…
What if the demon had approached Aaron first?
What if the demon had recognized Aaron’s talent and formed the contract voluntarily?
Lienna spoke in a grave tone.
“I’ll ask you directly, Aaron. What did you offer in exchange for the contract?”
If her suspicion was correct… the cadet before her was bound to a demon through a forced contract.
She had no idea what price he had paid, but—
‘Maybe that’s even why he’s become so rough-edged.’
Mad Dog Aaron.
Now, to Lienna, that nickname didn’t sound like mere mockery anymore.
Under the heavy gaze of the instructor and Lienna, Aaron stared up at the shop ceiling.
‘This… turned out like this?’
Aaron’s head started to ache.
As he struggled to figure out how to respond to Lienna’s pressing question—
“…Fine. If you refuse to speak, so be it.”
Her eyes glinted with a strange light.
“After all, once the graduation ceremony is over tomorrow, you’ll be my disciple. I can find out everything about the demon you contracted then.”
Her words left no room for argument.
Ending with the statement that she would discuss this with the head of the Bayonel family, she rose from her seat alongside the instructor.
________________________________________
After the two left, I sat alone for a few minutes, slowly emptying my cup.
“Haa…”
A heavy sigh escaped me.
No good.
‘Contracting with a top-grade demon… What a joke.’
From my standpoint, knowing the truth, it was ridiculous.
Logically speaking, there was no reason a dark mage would bear a Stigma.
From the perspective of that old hag, her deduction was the most reasonable.
The strange one is me—the dark mage with a Stigma.
In any case, the fact that my Stigma hadn’t been exposed meant it wasn’t the worst-case scenario. However, having her believe I had contracted with a top-tier demon wasn’t exactly a good thing either.
At the moment she came to that conclusion, there was no way this old hag would leave me alone.
‘She even nailed it down, declaring she’d become my master.’
We had been master and disciple in the previous timeline too, so it’s not like there was anything new for me to learn.
Judging by her demeanor, there was no room for argument.
And in this Dark Empire, the word of someone at the pinnacle of dark mages was absolute.
Creak.
After downing the last sip of cocoa, I rose from my seat.
I had already laid out my plans. Lienna’s interference wouldn’t disrupt them greatly.
Still, it seemed necessary to accelerate my plan.
I pulled a Dark Empire coin from my pocket and placed it on the counter, addressing the clerk.
“Is there a clothing shop nearby?”
“Uh, yes? There are plenty of shops around…”
“Ah, let me rephrase. A place that sells high-quality, durable clothing.”
Casting a glance toward the street outside, I narrowed my eyes.
Whooosh—
Snowflakes were now swirling in the air, the cold intensifying.
It was the perfect weather to set my plan into motion.
“…If it’s warm too, that would be even better.”