Ryan leaned his head onto his hand, staring at the blackboard on the other end of the room. The professor was writing something on it that Ryan could barely pay attention to. Something about the specific frequency of spirits' mana and how it changed the nature of magic that they used.

  It wasn't that he wasn't interested in that, it was just that... Ryan already knew everything that he was supposed to learn in this class. So that he could properly keep up with everything the spirits were trying to teach him. Especially Morgana, she wanted him to read a ton of different books, and he did, because otherwise she refused to teach him. Obviously, this wasn't to the extent where he was some kind of expert on the topic; he was just beyond most of his classes at the moment. He would probably learn more later, and there were some insights that the professor showed that helped him out sometimes, but for the most part, there wasn't anything new here.

  So, instead of taking notes like everyone else, Ryan was just sitting here, trying not to fall asleep. The fact that he was awake way too long to plan out how to get people from the Rapids involved in changes within the Aglecard family, even if it was just trying to hear them all out and seeing what issues they were dealing with at a systemic level, didn't help make his eyelids any lighter.

  He could actually feel the stares of a few people in the back of his head right now. His unusually potent intuition stat was nice and all, but this was an annoying part. While in the past, he could dismiss those feelings as nothing but anxieties, at this point, whenever Ryan felt stared at, that was probably actually happening.

  This had been the case for a while, with some people getting annoyed at Ryan for the 'special privileges' that he was getting as an Awakened student, though it felt a little unfair from his point of view. It wasn't like other students were getting stares like that. Ryan just figured that the difference was that his 'image' didn't exactly fit the classes that he was in right now.

  The image that most people had of different classes was hard to get rid of sometimes. Magic classes were perceived as 'calm and studious', and summoners were generally considered 'open and friendly'.

  And while technically, Ryan was all of those things a lot of the time... there were plenty of times when he appeared to be none of that.

  He mostly just sat in class and sat around bored, and even if he didn't get into fights anymore, he got into light scuffles and shouting matches sometimes. Every once in a while, some asshole would come along, bother other students or think they were hot shit, and well, Ryan still had a lot of pent-up stress to let loose. But he couldn't just go around hitting people, so shouting was the most he could do.

  While Ryan was a lot more open and talkative these days in general, he didn't bother with most people. His intuition tended to tell him pretty clearly what someone's intentions were, or if they were being 'fake' toward him. By now, it was common knowledge that Ryan was a part of that Aglecard family. Plus, he was an Awakened with what most other people thought to be a unique class. Getting on his good side would only elevate others up more, so every couple days, Ryan had to deal with people acting like they were his best friend or trying to get him involved in some stupid schemes. It was annoying.

  Whether people were avoiding him or trying to get close to him... it was all so annoying. But before long, Ryan had made it through the close to two hours of having the back of his head stared at. The professor said something about the exam that was coming up, so Ryan wrote that down in his notes' app and stood up. He didn't even have to take out his laptop this class. Frankly, all he did all class was feed his mana into the Tree of Blessing to produce coins. He was using most of his downtime for that these past few days, as did the spirits.

  It was the first time in a while that all of the spirits stayed in their domains even when they were at home. They all seemed pretty excited to get their hands on some new gear.

  Ryan tiredly walked out of the classroom, when someone walked up to him.

  "Hey, you!" she said, glaring at Ryan like she genuinely hated him.

  "... Yeah?"

  "You're that Ryan guy, right?"

  "Mm-hm. What do you want?"

  Ryan could feel the hostility seeping out of her. Though, he had absolutely no idea who this person was. He hadn't seen her in class before, at least.

  "I heard how you talked to Nora the other day. Who the fuck do you think you are to threaten them?"

  "Ah..." So that's what this was about. "I just got pissed because they acted like they did nothing wrong. I'm sorry that they got into an accident and all, but if they hadn't crossed the line, I wouldn't have kicked them out."

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  The woman in front of Ryan rolled her eyes. "So, what did they do that was so bad? Question you, your oh-so-mighty majesty?"

  With a long sigh, he scratched the back of his head. People were starting to gather because of how loud she was being. "Do we have to keep re-hashing this over and over again? Listen, they said something that I'm sure you'd find just as disgusting as me."

  Crossing her arms, she was just standing there, waiting. By now, Ryan had spotted Nora, hiding out around the corner, as if they just wanted to watch what was about to happen. Too bad that they didn't know something that Ryan knew.

  "They called vampires 'Monsters' while my little nephew, said vampire, was sitting a few feet away. I told them to shut up and apologise, but they refused, so I kicked them out.

  "Wait, what?" startled and confused, all the hostility disappeared from the woman's body immediately. "They called vampires... what?"

  Ryan glanced around. Plenty of people from his class were still watching. Hell, even the professor was standing there, pretending not to be interested in this.

  "Monsters. And don't you dare tell me that I shouldn't have been pissed about that. We both know the meaning that word carries." Ryan pushed his hands into his pocket, while the woman in front of him was shivering. Frankly, Ryan had no idea what species she was, but he sure as hell knew that it wasn't a mainstream one. Her appearance was extremely close to a Leporidas, rabbit-folk, though there were some slight differences. You could chalk those up to just an individual traits, but her appearance isn't what Ryan was focused on anyway.

  She had the same exact vibe about her as all the people in the hidden villages. And her reaction made Ryan just that much more certain that he was right.

  "I, uh..." she looked around nervously, her fur standing up all over her face. "I didn't know they said that..."

  Ryan looked past her at Nora, who was confused about what was happening. It didn't seem like they could hear Ryan too well from all the way over there.

  "Bring Nora with you to the private study rooms, room 306. I'll go on ahead and see you there," Ryan sighed, getting ready to leave. Though, he should probably make sure that the two of them actually came. So, as he walked past her, he whispered a proper introduction, since he doubted that Nora had done that for him.

  The moment she heard Ryan's last name, she straightened her back and stared at Ryan's back as he left. Another confirmation that he was right. The only ones that reacted that way were the 'Hidden'.

  But this was annoying, that meant that Ryan had to stick around longer. He wanted to get home and take a nap before Jade came over later. Though, it wasn't like he couldn't just take a nap in the study room. That's what the others used it for most of the time, anyway.

  Ryan pushed the door open, and the ones inside quickly raised their heads. The 'Aglecard Brats' were all gathered here, as usual.

  "Hah? Were you supposed to come today?" Kim asked, not hiding his annoyance.

  "Nope. But I needed a place to meet," Ryan replied, dropping his bag onto the table and himself onto a chair. "Nora and a friend of theirs are coming over in a minute."

  "Nora? Ah, the one that keeps making a fuss about the party, right?" Macy raised her head, barely able to keep her eyes open. It looked like she was trying to sleep.

  "Yup."

  "So what, are you going to pay them to make this all disappear?" Kim suggested, but Ryan shook his head.

  "Fuck no. Yeah I got a credit card from Runar, but I'm not using it on shit like this," with a scoff, Ryan leaned back in his seat. "I'll just tell them what really happened."

  Finally, everyone in the room looked at him.

  "What?" Kim stared at Ryan as if he was absolutely insane. "Why the fuck would you do that? They're already all over your ass and talking shit about you, but if you tell them what actually happened, they'll babble it immediately. Is this your idea for how we're going to announce things to the world? Through one loud-mouthed asshole?"

  "Of course not. It just seems like a good way to keep them quiet for long enough. We won't 'tell them the truth', we'll 'let them in on a secret'. We'll make them feel involved, and then their friend is going to help us out to ensure that they keep their mouth shut until the end of the year."

  Though Kim wasn't exactly happy with that idea, he sighed. "Fine, if you think that's going to work."

  "Yup. Don't you dare doubt a summoner's ability to judge people," Ryan grinned, as someone knocked on the door. "Come in."

  The door slowly opened, and Nora came in on crutches, with their friend following behind. It seemed like she calmed down a bit. At least toward Ryan; she was staring absolute daggers at Nora.

  "So, what do you want?" Nora asked, staring at Ryan as if they were disgusted.

  With a roll of his eyes, Ryan sat up straight again. "Morgana, do you mind? Just a simple sound-blocking barrier, please."

  And just a moment later, the witch came popping out of her domain and deployed the barrier, just as Ryan had asked. The room was filled with mana, though only him, Kim, and the Leporidas-like girl seemed to notice. Was she an Awakened? Didn't feel like it, though.

  "I'm going to tell you what happened at the party."

  Confused, Nora frowned. "What, you're finally dropping the 'mana leak' story? Are you admitting you used a spell on us?"

  "Nope, because I didn't."

  Rolling their eyes, Nora tried to turn around and leave. "Fine, then we've got nothing to talk about."

  Ryan slowly glanced at Nora's friend and locked eyes with her.

  "Nora, sit down," she said, though Nora was confused.

  "Huh? What, are you on their side now?"

  "No, I'm just pissed off that you hid what you said about vampires," she started tapping her foot on the ground with an angry glare, and Nora groaned and turned around.

  "I'm telling you! It was the spell, okay? It wasn't me!"

  Ryan clicked his tongue. "Holy fucking shit, yes it was! You didn't mean to say it at the time, and the circumstances lured it out, but you kept up your whole 'just asking questions' bullshit up even afterward, so go fuck yourself and listen to me." Ryan stood up and walked up closer to Nora. "You're right. A spell was affecting the people on the property. But no, it wasn't any of us that cast it."