CHAPTER 512: CHAPTER 512 - RETURNING TO THE ACADEME AFTER THE FAMILY VISITS

After a week of Priest Clarence not being able to get near me much less talk to me, I think he was forced to find another way to get what he needed from me. At the start of the next week after futile week for him, he miraculously ended up as my classmate in all of my classes. It was very weird since my classes should be useless to most people if you think about it.

He tried sitting next to me multiple times during the week but I made sure to sit with other people so he can’t get too near. It seems that this week, Priest Clarence is still using his special privileges since no other priest tried to approach me. This game lasted for about another week.

Since he noticed that he can’t get through me in the corridors or even in the classes last week, he started waiting for me near the entrance of my villa. In a sense, it is also the same area where the entrance to the annex was so he actually got the perfect reason to be there. Most people around us have already noticed him trying to approach me too many times throughout the previous weeks but failed. I guess he is starting to feel a bit of shame so he looked for the best option.

Oh, by the way, waiting by my villa gates did not work for him too. Since whenever I see him standing there, I just go and teleport straight inside my home. I rarely use it to conserve my mana to use on better things but just for him, I am willing to waste a bit of it to avoid him. Who needs to walk when you have teleportation magic?

After all the hide and seek, three weeks have already passed in a blink of an eye. It is almost a month since the priests of the Church of Lumienere have started studying in the academe.

Noticeably, on those first three weeks, only Priest Clarence was trying to approach me and talk to me. I was correct about him getting some type of advantage for being connected to the pope.

As I have previously stated, this advantage will soon be lost. My hypothesis was actually proven when the fourth week of classes started. All the other priests started to make their open attempts to talk to me too by trying to sit nearer to me in the cafeteria, walk nearer to me in corridors or follow me when I am walking back to my villa. I guess it is officially free for all now when it comes to getting my attention.

When the fourth week started, Priest Clarence was extremely quiet. He did not appear in front of me or made any attempts to talk to me again. I guess, he would be quiet for three weeks to give chances to the other priests which is just fair if you think about it.

Guarding against one priest is easy but guarding against a huge group of 39 people is almost impossible. They were like moths willing to bump each other just to get nearer to the flame. They did not fight with each other but you can feel the tension due to the fierce competition between all of them.

Well, to be clear, not all of them are fiercely aggressive. Some just shyly look from afar but do not make attempts of getting nearer than that. Some were braver, blocking my path and almost forcing me into a conversation. Some even leave small gifts at the gate of my villa every morning.

It was a very weird feeling being surrounded by a bunch of men wearing white priest garbs. I am pertaining to the feeling of being wooed by men in general and because they are priests too at the same time. Back in my world, most religions don’t let priests marry and even if there were not-so-good ones, they won’t be seen stalking women in priest garbs.

Since I arrived here in this world, I was the one wooing my chosen men due to the reversal of roles. It was more of a novel feeling rather than disgust or anger. It was like I was back on earth during the conservative and olden days of courtship.

I ignored all of their attempts to form "friendships" and focused on attending my classes since I am still pushing for more academe points. I still leave on weekends to visit my family members in different places. Avoiding the priests just became a part of my daily routine in the academe and it is not like they will hurt me or anything if I ignore them.

Nobody made a fuss for the past few weeks because I did not give attention to a particular priest or priests out of the group. They must have felt that it was still a fair game since nobody is winning anyways. They became complacent and thought that this was how it would be until the semester ends and another group comes into the academe.

I thought they researched about me but I guess they missed the fact that if you disturb my peace, I will most likely disturb yours too. As they were observing me, I was observing them as well. To be specific, I was observing possible targets to disrupt their peace. As for the best way to do so, give attention to at least a few ones while the others are looking.

They may be from one church and they also have the same mission but that does not mean that this is a group mission. It was still an individual mission which means they are all rivals. They won’t sabotage each other but they most likely won’t help one another just to end up losing or not completing their task.

On the start of the seventh week since the start of the term, as I was on my way to my villa, I saw Clarence again. He was patiently waiting near my villa gate, leaning against one of the walls. He was absentmindedly staring upwards as if watching the clouds pass by, looking all gloomy and bored.

When I was only a few meters away from him, I saw him flinch and then he looked towards me. His eyes looked sad but his face was still expressionless. He did not make any move to walk towards me. I guess he expected that I will just disappear again.

Much to his surprise, I continued walking towards his direction instead of disappearing. The only difference now is that he isn’t the only one waiting at the gate. There was a dozen of them but they were waiting apart from each other since they are technically not a team. It is just the audience that I need on what I was about to do next.

Just as I stepped in front of Clarence, I suddenly stopped walking and turned my body to face him. I saw his shoulders jump in surprise and he even made one step back as if he was expecting me to smack him or something. I mouthed a spell and he stared at my lips trying to understand what I said but before he could, he lost consciousness.

I moved quickly to catch him before he falls. I carried him on my shoulder and brought him inside my villa much to the shock of the audience around. They did not see me move so they might have though that I either hit Clarence physically, hard enough for him to pass out or it was a spell.

They were to shocked that before they could ask what happened, I am already inside my villa gates where a barrier keeps unwanted people out. I continued walking inside and slammed the door shut behind me. I placed the unconscious Clarence on the sofa while I went to my room to freshen up and changed to more comfortable home clothes.

When I came out of my room, I saw Arthur already preparing dinner in the kitchen. He looked at me once and he looked a little grumpy but he said nothing. It must be due to the unknown person currently sprawled in our living room.

I went inside the kitchen and ignored the priest I somewhat kidnapped and asked Arthur’s what for dinner. He patiently described to me our dinner and asked if he had to cook for three. I nodded his head and whispered, "I have to feed the captive so he will answer my questions".

Upon hearing that I called the man "captive", his eyebrow raised and one corner of his lips twitched. He turned his head back to what he was doing but eventually a sputtering laugh came out from him. I smiled and winked at him then returned to the living room to check on my "captive".

I leaned over to Clarence and tapped his cheek a few times while calling his name. It took a few taps before he came back to consciousness. When his eyes opened and he saw the unfamiliar ceiling, he sat up so abruptly he had to hold on to the sofa due to dizziness. He looked around and asked, "Where am I?"