Lord of Charm

After the class ended, Gale wanted to leave and train in his apartment to try some new ideas that popped into his mind while watching the other students fight in the beast combat class.

However, he didn't forget Alice's summoning and went to her office to find her. He knocked on her door and waited for a reply.

"Come in."

A few seconds later the reply came, and he entered the office. He found Alice sitting at her desk and reading a book.

"Professor Alice, did you wish to see me?"

"Yes, we will do our weekly meeting today."

"Are you perhaps busy tomorrow?"

"Does it have anything to do with you? If I told you that I teach you today, then you will come to learn today. Unless you have plans for today and prefer to cancel your training with me for this week."

Gale understood that training with a magus was a privilege. In fact, he improved in the few hours he trained with her faster than he did all those days of training by himself.

"No, I'm free today. I was just curious."

"All right. I hope you're free those next two weeks because you're not leaving this office until I'm satisfied. You're in worse danger than you realize, and I need you to be able to defend yourself. It'd be a shame to lose such a promising talent early."

"Am I going to train with you from morning all day and only go back to my apartment in the evening?"

"No. You will eat and sleep in my training room too. Have you heard that Ronda defeated a new advanced mage?"

"I have. But what does it have to do with me?"

"Do you remember who can defeat mages above their stage?"

"Elite beasts?"

"Exactly. Ronda is a rare genius who advanced to the mage phase in 9 years, 9 months, and 9 days. Her prowess coupled with her background attracted many followers to her side. Some of them are even advanced mages from the older age groups, and if you go outside to hunt, they are very likely to ambush you under her instructions."

'Vale should be safe, we didn't appear in public much, and even our date was in my apartment and not in the public dining room.'

"But I want to go out and meet my friends or they might be worried about me. How about letting me out every three days?"

He still didn't want to stay apart from Valentina for two weeks when they just started their relationship. He said three days because he estimated it as the time she'd need to finish her hunt.

"No, don't try to argue with me. They shouldn't be seen too often by your side anyway if they don't want to risk being targeted."

Gale decided it might be a good idea to just train now and explain the reason for his absence later. After all, it was a rare opportunity to learn directly from Alice for two weeks straight.

-----

During the beast combat class:

Ronda was sitting alone in her apartment, mourning Joanna's death. She didn't go out ever since the duel in her grief.

pαпdα`noνɐ1`сoМ *knock knock*

She heard knocks on her door. She looked at her watch and saw the visitor was Raymond. He was ranked eighth on the list of their age group and lived in the same zone as Gale.

She thought for a moment and decided to let him in. He was her follower for a while now, and he knew her emotional state. Since he came, it must be with a good reason. For his own good.

"Why did you come to visit me?"

"Hello, Miss Ronda. I have some news that might interest you."

"What is it?"

"As you know, I live in the same zone as Gale Stormborn."

"Yes, what about it?"

Just the mention of his name was enough to make her angry.

"Today when I left my apartment, I saw a girl coming out of his apartment. It seems that she spent the night at his place."

"So he already found a slut to warm his bed? Is that all you have to say?"

"No, no. I believe she isn't just a one-night stand, but a lover. I asked around and found out her name was Valentina Noons, and she was seen by his side right after… his duel. I also found out from Mars who lost to Gale in human combat class that he saw Gale eats lunch with Valentina, her sister Amanda, and another guy often."

"Hmm, I see. So you're saying she's his girlfriend? You know we can't kill indiscriminately in the academy, or even I would have to face the consequences."

"I know. I believe it's very likely."

"I see. Then find out when the next time she goes hunting is. Or even better, if she is going on a mission soon."

"That's the next thing I wanted to tell you. She's now in the forest. I'm not sure why, but instead of going on the weekend she went now to complete her quota."

"If your lover had an important duel over the weekend, would you go?"

Ronda asked with a pensive face.

"Probably not. Are you saying…?"

"Exactly. If they're lovers, then it makes sense. I bet they were celebrating my Joanna's death in his bed."

She said with a furious tone through her clenched teeth.

"Call Lidia here, she can take care of it."

"I can do it too, she is only ranked 19!"

"The gap isn't high enough; she might slip away. If she slips away, we will never get another chance."

-----

During the next two weeks, Gale was training with Alice the whole time. He got to sleep only once every 2 days and had to concentrate to avoid getting gravely injured all the time.

The intensive training showed its effectiveness rather quickly. His ruler-beast instincts allowed him to sense Alice's proficient mana manipulation, and he could put to test all the ideas he had from the beast combat class along with new ideas he got from watching Alice.