Chapter 56

Chapter 56

No way. How can this be? Professor Sienna is the epitome of integrity and honesty… Sirone thought to himself. His trust in her was as profound as the shock he now felt.

On the other hand, Nade tried to look on the bright side. This might actually be a good thing. We can use this incident as leverage to save our club.

Then Sienna’s voice interrupted their thoughts, “I don’t need to wear it today?”

“I have a good feeling about this. Arch your back a little more,” the man instructed.

“Like this?”

“Yes. Now, turn your leg a bit that way. Perfect.”

Sirone and his friends blushed at the adult conversation they were overhearing. It was one thing for adults to be intimate with each other, but the scene unfolding before them seemed like an affair.

We can’t let this go on. Nade was conflicted and bit his bottom lip. When he turned back to his friends, they nodded in agreement.

“Then let’s begin,” the man said.

At his instruction, Nade burst into the room in a fit of rage. “Professor Sienna! This is so disappointing!”

Sirone and Iruki, who had one eye shut, followed him in.

The room fell silent.

Sirone slowly turned his head and scanned the room. “Huh?”

Sienna sat demurely on the bed, and across from her was a large canvas.

“Wait... What’s going on?” Nade muttered.

The trio’s mouths hung open in disbelief.

At the exact same time, all of the boys realized that they were in trouble.

Sienna was equally shocked. “What are you kids doing here...?”

Though she hadn’t committed any wrongdoing, it was still embarrassing to accidentally encounter her students in a private setting.

Her initial shock quickly gave way to a cold demeanor as she grasped the situation. “Did you kids follow me?”

“Huh? Um, no. We just... were sitting in the park, and then you suddenly passed by,” Nade explained. “So we just—”

“You followed me!” Sienna interrupted.

“Yikes! We’re sorry!” The trio exclaimed simultaneously, squeezing their eyes shut.

Considering her personality, it was likely that the situation wouldn’t end with just an unfavorable comment from her. However, contrary to expectations, no further sparks flew.

As they slowly opened their eyes, they saw her lost in thought.

How did they follow me here? She had been as discreet as possible, keeping a vigilant eye on her surroundings.

Although she hadn’t activated her Spirit Zone, Sienna’s skills were remarkable, enough to warrant the attention of mere students. She was confident that the answers lay hidden in what Sirone’s group was concealing behind their backs.

“What are you hiding? Hand it over,” she commanded.

Nade shook his head, fear written across his face. However, when he noticed a flash of anger in Sienna’s eyes, he hastily did as he was told and gave her the cloak he was holding, cleverly flipping it inside out at the last moment.

“What’s this?” Sienna inspected the scruffy cloak with a frown but quickly realized its true value when her arm disappeared as she turned it over. As she secured it around her waist, it made it look as if she were a floating torso. “An invisibility cloak?”

As she grasped the situation, Sienna shot Nade a withering glare. He felt as though she might swallow him whole with her angry gaze.

“Nade, is this one of your proud patented inventions?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“You really made this?”

“Yes, but I haven’t sold it on the black market! I do have a conscience.”

Sienna sighed deeply, causing the trio to flinch, but she refrained from scolding them further. Being a certified level-six mage, she believed that her own inadequacy was the primary reason she had allowed herself to be followed by her students.

“Why did you enter this room when you knew you would be caught? And what was that about being disappointed?”

“At first, it was just a prank to follow you, but when we saw you hugging a man, we followed,”

Sirone confessed with a trembling voice. “Then we heard your conversation from outside and thought you were having an affair...”

“An affair?” Sienna’s face flushed red.

Her being this flustered was a first.

“How could you think I would do such a thing?!” she exclaimed.

“But it did sound like that!” Nade hastily interjected. “What else were we to think after hearing your conversation? And who is this man, anyway?” He pointed to the man still obscured behind the canvas.

“Do you mean me?” he asked.

Following the voice that had an inherently comforting tone, there came the sound of a chair being pushed with a creak. Then the face of the man appeared from behind the canvas.

Sirone and his friends wore blank expressions.

The handsome man was in his late twenties and had hip-length blond hair. However, what truly surprised them wasn’t his appearance but the tattered rags tightly covering his eyes.

Could he be...?

He was a painter, but he was also blind. The moment he grasped this fact, the overwhelming extrasensory perception that had been tormenting Sirone surged with tremendous intensity.

Ugh! What’s going on?! Goosebumps rose, and it felt as if his bones were freezing. Sirone gripped his trembling wrists and took a deep breath.

Sensing a momentary sense of responsibility, Nade patted his back and said, “Don’t worry too much. It’s not like Professor Sienna is going to kill us. I’ll take responsibility for this.”

“No, it’s not that...” Sirone said, regaining his composure.

The intense chill he had just experienced, unlike his usual extrasensory perceptions, was on a completely different level. However, it dissipated relatively quickly.

“Sienna, take it easy on them. I can’t fully grasp the situation, but they are your students, aren’t they?” the man gently interjected.

“What are you saying? That’s exactly why it’s more inexcusable. Following me is one thing, but they trespassed into someone’s home. They’re always up to no good.”

The man smiled kindly. “But they are your students. They probably thought they would be safe with you here.”

His words seemed to resonate with their thoughts.

Seizing the opportunity, Nade said, “That’s right. You know Sirone doesn’t lie. Ask him. We wouldn’t have entered if it was just a random stranger’s house. And we’re not burglars!”

Sirone nodded in agreement, supporting Nade’s explanation. “That’s right. That’s exactly what happened. I promise you.”

Sienna, rubbing her forehead, appeared exasperated. It didn’t seem like a lie, but their innocent, hopeful eyes trying to wriggle out of the situation felt almost repulsive to her. Say the kids who used an invisibility cloak to follow me... They truly are sneaky.

Despite the tense situation, the man remained smiling. It appeared that he was genuinely pleased to meet Sienna’s students.

“I’m Armin. Sienna and I grew up together like siblings and studied together at the School of Olypher,” he explained.

Nade quickly shook Armin’s outstretched hand. “Ah, I see. We apologize for our foolish misunderstanding and for showing up unannounced like this.”

Sienna shouted, “Unannounced?! It was trespassing!”

“That’s why I’m apologizing. I’m really glad that our misunderstanding about you has been cleared up,” Nade replied with a sheepish grin.

Sienna, with her hand on her hip, exhaled sharply.

The palpable awkwardness in the room left everyone silent for a while.

“Please have a seat and chat while I prepare some tea,” Armin instructed.

Breaking the silence with a kind offer, he skillfully made room for them. Despite his blindness, Armin’s precise movements once again left Sirone and his friends in awe.

“Professor, who is that man? Are you really just like siblings?”

“Armin is a fellow alumnus. He was hailed as the greatest talent in the history of the School of Olypher. Even though he’s a painter now, his talent has surpassed mine since childhood.”

“Wow, he must be very skilled. But if it’s okay to ask... How did he go blind?”

Sienna’s expression darkened as Nade’s question seemed to bring back memories.

But she quickly composed herself and said calmly, “He lost his sight trying to save me.”

“Huh? Trying to save you?”

“At the age of nine, I experienced overflow. The sudden, inexplicable epiphany occurred while I was studying theories about energy absorption,” Sienna explained, her smile tinged with bitterness. “Armin saved me from that overflow. He always used to say not to turn away from fear and that running away wouldn’t change the world. He was only eleven at the time, just two years older than me.”

The fact that he was only eleven years old yet managed to save Sienna from overflow spoke volumes about his exceptional talent.

“Did Armin’s advice help you overcome it?” Sirone asked, curious.

“No, I wasn’t strong enough then. I was a conceited little girl, privileged to be born into House Olypher. I resented him back then. He always spoke about facing fears, but I couldn’t. It was so terrifying that I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes. I thought he knew nothing about me and was pretending to understand me. I was quite young and naive then.”

It was hard for Sirone to imagine Sienna, now a certified level-six mage, as a frightened child.

“I would wander into mountains, fields, and riverbanks to avoid him. He always found me, but I would run away every time. Then, one day, during a game of hide and seek, a disaster struck.” Sienna recalled the events of that day vividly. “It was during the monsoon season, which had continuous rain for days. I was near the river despite such weather. In retrospect, it was like any other day, but fatefully, the dam blocking the upper stream happened to collapse. The massive surge of water flooded the lowlands, submerging half of the village.”

She reflected on the events of seventeen years ago.

***

Caught in the raging river, young Sienna was swept away by the current, unable to scream for help. She struggled desperately to stay afloat amidst the chaos of the suddenly transformed river.

Debris from buildings and livestock floated downstream, and jagged, broken trees bobbed on the surface further down.

For the first time in her life, she felt the terror of imminent death. Please! Someone save me! Her thoughts were desperate.

The water swelled rapidly, making the land seem hopelessly distant. The once-small stream where she used to pick pebbles had turned into massive, twenty-five-meter-wide rapids. The water was pitch black, and whirlpools formed where the current split around rocks.

“Help! Somebody, please help me!” she screamed.

Her association with the prestigious School of Olypher—one of the continent’s top ten schools—meant nothing against the raw power of nature. All she could do was scream endlessly, hoping for rescue.

“Sienna!”

Hearing her name, her heart leaped. She wondered if it was real or just her imagination. With all her might, she lifted her head.

She saw Armin perched precariously on a bent tree branch above the water.

“Armin! Help!” she called out.

“Reach out your hand!”

Frantically, Sienna stretched out her arm, but a surge of water suddenly engulfed and submerged her.

“Sienna!” Armin leaped into the water headfirst and emerged seconds later, clutching her in his arms.

Having swallowed water, she was barely conscious and coughing as she struggled to stay awake.

“Sienna! Stay with me! We need to get out of this river!” Armin yelled.

“S-save... me.”

Finally, they escaped the whirlpool area, but Armin looked ahead in despair. All that awaited them was a hellish stretch of white water.