My Soul card is a Reaper

A few minutes later at the principal's office;

"So, you are on a mission to capture the culprit behind teacher Alder's disappearance, huh? And I wouldn't have to act like strangers with you but still, you and my mom met only once or twice?"

Serestia wasn't told about the whole mission as Azzy thought it would unnecessarily cause panic among the other students if it was ever leaked by accident.

And since he cannot afford to trust her to keep all the secrets, he thought it is better to reveal a tiny secret to hide a bigger one.

Hence, rather than acting like strangers, he told Serestia to act like they were familiar with each other but met only through her father.

The story is that Calder and Gary are close friends. He and Serestia met a lot of times and are close too. However, he and Mia were practically strangers.

There's nothing true in that story but for the sake of his mission, Azzy had to gain the trust of the kids in his class and he expects the girl to keep it that way, atleast for the next few weeks. If this doesn't work, he will work in his own way.

Serestia made her promise and Azzy was satisfied.

After a while, at class 10-A, students arrived one after another and seated in their seats before taking out their notebooks to prepare for the upcoming annual examinations.

The class monitor, Laura, took everyone's attendance and continued to stay at the teacher's desk as usual. She was observing everyone but most of her attention was fixated on the boy she had secretly in a relationship with.

Bill, meanwhile, was chatting with Serestia with all smiles on his face. This was irritating to her but Laura kept her cool for the time.

Back to Serestia, she was already spilling beans about her "dear" uncle coming as their new teacher and unnecessarily hyping up Azzy's combat prowess as well as his youthful looks.

"Really? I wonder whether he had a girlfriend?" curiously commented the girl sitting behind Serestia, taking her by surprise as she thought she was only saying it to her fiancé.

"Navi, bro… stop ambushing me like that," Serestia reached out to her bestie's chubby cheeks. The latter dodged it swiftly by moving her head back and said, "Just tell us, Sera, will ya."

"I'm not sure about that either. Chances are that he has one," replied Serestia without confidence. Seeing how her uncle looks like a teenager, it would be tough to score a young adult woman. Or so, thought the girl, not knowing that Azzy is only one year older than her.

Meanwhile, in the staff room, the teachers gathered as the principal called for a meeting.

They thought he was going to announce something but it was only for introducing Azzy to his colleagues.

Everyone, naturally, felt a little bit suspicious of the principal's actions. He never did that for any teacher currently sitting in the room. "Is that anything special about him?" Almost every teacher thought the same as the principal introducing each one to Azzy using a polite tone, which is anything but normal.

It was the first time Azzy took up the profession of teacher. Hence, he thought that this is the formality one has to go through and he went on with the flow.

One good thing this meeting did for Azzy is the fact that he gets to see not one but two old faces, except that both of them acted cold toward him.

Azzy didn't know their reasons but he didn't get angry with them and tried to get along.

While Snivy, the busty short lady stormed out of the staff room without bothering to converse with anyone else, Flora, on the other hand, was in complete interrogative mode.

She, somehow, ended up as a mathematics teacher, and coincidentally, Snivy's assistant for the practical combat classes. She's also the homeroom teacher for class 10-B.

She kept asking questions like where did he graduate, how did he get this job, where else he worked, in what field of academics did he excel in, where he was from, why he chose this academy in the first place, what is his true age, what is his soul realm, what is his salary, etc…

Azzy calmly dealt with her by providing all the information created by WAMO and asked her about the students like how they were dealing in her class.

As for the others, they just casually conversed with Azzy before leaving for their own classes.

After a while, both of them were seen walking together in a corridor on the fifth floor of the academy building, going in the same direction.

"So, you landed this job because of Sera's dad? You lied to us back there," said Flora.

Azzy answered his former sister-like figure from his high school while maintaining his fake smile, "I'm in Exalt realm, you know. I can get a job anywhere I want whether someone recommended my name or not."

"Yes, that's true but not any job you know," replied Flora in a sharp tone. "You cannot become a subject teacher just by having a high soul realm."

Azzy quickly countered with a fact, "I know. That's why I applied for the theoretical combat instructor position; I don't need to specialize in any subject to become one.

As for being a homeroom teacher, as long as I can understand their problems and provide them the guidance they need, it will be enough, right, Glacy? Oops."

"Glacy?" As Flora suddenly stopped walking and stared at him, Azzy realized his mistake and apologized, "Sorry, it's my bad habit. I'll keep my mouth in control next time, Ms. Flora. Oh, my class is here. See you next time."

Azzy knew that he almost messed up and didn't want to highlight this matter further. Hence, he tried to get away quickly by picking up his pace and walking into the class.

Meanwhile, Flora furrowed his brows as she stared at his back while in deep thinking, "Glacy? It's been a while since I last heard that nickname. But, how did he know about it? Did he hear from Mr. Calder? Come to think of it, his accent also appeared to be a mix of Northern Qudour and Southern Qudour as if he lived in both of the nations for a considerable amount of time."

After standing there in a daze for ten or so seconds, Flora shook her head and proceeded to walk as Azzy entered the classroom and closed the door.

In the meantime, the students of class 10-A fell into silence as Azzy introduced himself and sent away the class monitor to her desk. They couldn't believe their eyes for a while, wondering whether this is real or a prank.

Seeing the suspicious look on several students, Azzy understood it perfectly but continued with his act as if he didn't see it, "Now, sit down. I have a few things to announce to all of you."

He changed his tone from the next-door boy to someone like a commanding officer in the military, startling everyone.

As the students took their seats with Serestia grinning like a fool, Azzy continued while puffing up his chest and standing like an officer, "Here are some rules in my class. Listen carefully. Whether it is in the homeroom period or the theoretical combat class, I need pin-drop silence. Only those who had doubts can raise their hand and open their mouth.

If you come late to the morning class, you should be prepared for the punishment.

If you cannot stay awake for some reason, you can sleep in my classes as long as you don't disturb the class by snoring.

The homeroom period is for self-study. And I expect no one to discuss it with anyone either. You can use message cards to converse if you wish.

If you have any worries, you just need to write them on a piece of paper and hand it to me. It doesn't matter if it is schooling hours or not. However, trying to be funny with me will lead to drastic consequences.

I'm not a person who likes to listen to my superiors or people with authority. So, spoiled brats from influential backgrounds, I should warn you to not act smart with me as you do with other teachers."

While trying to act like a tough teacher to exert his dominance over the students so that they listen to his words in the future, Azzy observed them.

Some of them appeared to be afraid; some looked like they understood; some looked like they don't care while some had this look of arrogance on their faces.

From Maria, the personal assistant of the principal, he understood that there were problematic students in the class who don't listen to the teachers because their so-called fathers or relatives were quite influential.

Unfortunately for them, Azzy himself is a problematic person who never listens to his elders either.

Since he didn't have a lot of time to gain their trust, he chose to instill fear through military punishments. Of course, that doesn't mean he would want them to fear him. He just intends to apply the carrot and stick method.

He will reward those who do a good job and punish those who become problematic.

As the first step to exert dominance, Azzy went on to do something that shocks not just the class but the entire academy.

Proceeding to create a massive seal covering the whole class, he announced, "And last but not least, there's no need for all of you to be Arcana Masters while studying in homeroom session. Hence, starting from now, I'm temporarily sealing your soul orbs."

"What!"