Summoner Sovereign

After the disaster yesterday, Teresa Taylor had cancelled cla.s.ses and shut the school down, for "safety reasons." Though I suspected it had more to do with appeasing worried parents. It was unlikely that the vampires would attack the school again, and if they did, they would find Headmistress Taylor waiting for them.

"I don"t know."

"I can arrange that with Teresa if you want."

Nan Gong Jiao Shou had overheard our conversation and offered a solution. He smiled at Tang Li"s two subordinates.

"I"m friends with the headmistress, so I can pull some strings. Furthermore, I think they"ll welcome new students and fresh blood after losing so many in yesterday"s attack."

"I"ll be relying on you then." Tang Li bowed his head. He then straightened. "I"ll leave my subordinates in your care for now, Professor Nan Gong. I"ll have to get off at the next stop. I need to continue gathering information on the vampire clans and the Dark Church." He turned grim. "They"re growing stronger by the day. I also heard that there is a link between the Crimson Blood Demonic Night Sect and the Dark Church. Apparently the latter was involved in this previous attack."

I felt a chilling premonition at his words. As I suspected, the Dark Church had a hand in this. They really were everywhere. It didn"t surprise me – I knew the Dark Church would stand to benefit a lot from this raid, given their goal of sowing chaos and destroying humanity. What better blow was there than to strike at the young students with unrealized potential and prevent them from ever maturing into strong, anti-monster mages?

"Yeah. Leave them to me."

"Thank you. The two of you, listen to everything Professor Nan Gong tells you to do. Treat his commands as if they were from me."

"I understand, sir."

"Yes!"

As if to break our conversation, the train conductor made an announcement over the speakers.

"Tristan Station. Tristan Station."

"This is my stop."

Tipping his hat to Nan Gong Jiao Shou and his subordinates, Tang Li stood up and bade us farewell before leaving. I watched him go and leaned back in my seat, glancing at his two charges. Lin Xuan Chi was smiling, his expression as unreadable as always. Ling Xue Xiao looked a little concerned, but she masked her uncertainty with annoyance.

What was she, a tsundere or something? Or the obligatory b.i.t.c.h character who snaps at the heroine of a cliché shoujo manhua over everything she did, out of jealousy?

Well, in any case, the moment we reached Teresa Taylor"s home, I was sure we would have absolutely nothing to do with each other again.

*

After escorting them to Teresa Taylor"s house and making sure they reached there safely without running into any vampires or the like, I then left. Nan Gong Jiao Shou and his wife had a lot to speak to Teresa Taylor in private, or so I figured. As much as I wanted to eavesdrop, I had no reason to stick around in the headmistress"s home. It would be too awkward for me to linger around in her house without a valid reason, not to mention suspicious, so I headed back to the Franklin manor.

"You"ve been gone the whole day, Brother Richie!"

As always, Adrian was outside to greet me. I nodded and waved at him. Shortly after that, Melina came running out to greet me.

"Sensei! You"re finally back!"

"Yeah, I"m home."

I smiled and patted their heads. As expected, Melina sulked.

"Geez! Treating us as kids again! We are no longer children already!"

"Yeah!"

"All right, all right. Sorry. Have you guys had dinner yet?"

"Ah…we were about to have dinner. Amelia said you were coming back for dinner, so we decided to wait a bit."

"Oh, sorry about that." I looked sheepish. "I had a few things to do and ended up coming back late. I hope I didn"t keep you guys waiting."

"No, you"re just in time. She had only just finished cooking."

"Great." I nodded with a smile. "Let"s eat then."

After dinner, I checked my smartphone and contacted Kufa. He picked up the call after a few rings and projected his face through a holographic screen.

"Oh, hey, Richard. What"s up?"

"Checking on the status of the Hunter a.s.sociation, Midnight Order and the Federation military. Any movement yet? Progress regarding the location on the Crimson Blood Demonic Night clan? Or reports of them attacking anyone? Maybe a reallocation of personnel on the part of the Hunter a.s.socition?"

"None so far," Kufa informed me, stifling a yawn. I suddenly felt bad for disturbing him this late into the night. He frowned. "Come on, we just spoke about this matter this morning. Why are you so impatient?"

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow. "I guess their intelligence isn"t very effective then. Either that, or the hunters we meet aren"t who they seem."

"Huh? What"s that supposed to mean?"

I briefly told him about what had happened at the Nan Gong family"s house that afternoon, and how we were chased by the vampires from the Crimson Blood Demonic Night clan before finally meeting up with Tang Li and his two subordinates. Kufa listened intently, his jaw dropping.

"All that happened today?"

"Yeah."

"d.a.m.n…I didn"t know. Let me see if I can pull out any information regarding this Tang Li and the two students under him. Then I"ll get back to you."

"I"ll be counting on you then."

Kufa then switched off the holographic screen and I dropped onto bed, staring at the ceiling. This whole thing was turning into one h.e.l.l of a mess. If Tang Li and his two subordinates weren"t who they seemed to be, then I had to take action and soon.

However, Nan Gong Jiao Shou seemed familiar with Tang Li, the two of them being friends. Even Nan Gong Yue Jian had met him before. So I wasn"t sure what was going on. I wanted to trust them, but after what had happened with Xu Wu Cheng and Nan Gong Ji Yan, trust was in very short supply. I couldn"t help but keep an eye on every shadow, never mind people I had never met before.

The next day, Kufa called me, waking me up rudely. I fumbled for my smartphone, half asleep, and hit the answer b.u.t.ton. My friend"s excited face materialized in front of me.

"You were right! They have just updated their intelligence early this morning! Someone called Tang Li did indeed submit a report regarding the vampire attack yesterday, and confirmed that he has a.s.signed his two subordinates to protect Professor Nan Gong"s daughter!"

"Good, so his ident.i.ty is verified." It was my turn to stifle a yawn, and I looked at Kufa groggily. "Any orders to move out yet?"

"No. As you said, you guys were escaping the vampires, so there wasn"t any opportunity to find their whereabouts. By the time the reinforcements from Tang Li arrived, the vampires were long gone. They are currently tracking them down, but it doesn"t look very optimistic. Our enemies are very adept at covering their tracks."

"Not even a single clue, huh?"

"Nope," Kufa agreed. He then leaned back and sighed. "I"m going back to sleep. I"ll let you know again when I get more updates."

"Oh, sorry. And thanks." I immediately felt bad. While Kufa had stayed awake, trying to monitor reports and gather information, I had went to bed after training. Fortunately, cla.s.ses were cancelled, so Kufa could sleep the day off.

That was right…I didn"t know when the school was going to reopen. And I had to return to Jing Tian Academy soon.

At least that was what I thought, but I received an email from Princ.i.p.al Vincent Violet. Surprised, I clicked on it.

"Whoa…he"s letting me stay here?!"

Apparently, Princ.i.p.al Violet had caught wind of my intentions, to join the Midnight Order and wipe out the vampire clan. Knowing what kind of person I was, he decided to give me permission to extend my exchange program, to join whatever missions the Midnight Order offered and then exterminate the Crimson Blood Demonic Night clan for good.

I quickly informed Dad about this, and while he didn"t seem too enthusiastic, he didn"t object. He nodded.

"All right, go get them." He frowned. "You said that it"s possible that this whatever vampire clan has links to the Dark Church, correct?"

"Yeah."

"All right then. It can"t hurt to wipe them out. Every enemy destroyed is a victory secured. I"ll be counting on you then."

"Thanks, Dad."

So I spent the next few days training, not just myself but also Adrian and Melina. I wanted them to be prepared for another vampire attack. Of course, I had no intention of bringing them along with me when the missions finally came, but it wouldn"t hurt to ensure they had the strength to protect themselves when necessary.

The school remained closed for a week before it finally opened again. Right before the day it was supposed to open, however, Kufa and I were invited to Rossetti"s house for one final discussion.

"We should talk about what happens after school reopens," Rossetti had explained. "I don"t think the vampires are going to leave it at this. And given how we were attacked last week…it"s better to be safe than sorry."

"So we"re going to strategize and see what kind of security measures we can implement then?" Kufa asked. Rossetti nodded.

"That"s right. Is it okay?"

"Not that it"s a bad thing, but wouldn"t the school take care of that?" I had asked, frowning in puzzlement. "After what happened, I"m sure Headmistress Taylor and the teachers will not underestimate the threat. Wouldn"t they have their own security measures in place?"

"They will, but better to over-prepare and not need them than to not do anything and then realize we need them."

Rossetti had a point, so Kufa and I agreed. That was how I ended up at Rossetti"s house the next morning, having used Google Maps to make my way here. Much like Melina, she lived in quite the grand manor. Unsurprising, given how most of the students who enrolled in Saint Teresa Academy were children of n.o.bles.

A red-haired girl who looked identical to Rossetti swung open the gate for me. Beaming, she studied me.

"You"re here!"

"Oh. Yeah. Um…" I frowned as I scrutinized her. "Are you Rossetti"s sister?"

The girl"s jaw dropped and she took a step back.

"You can tell?!"

"Yeah."

"How?!" the girl demanded, her eyes wide. "We are identical twins! We look exactly like each other! There hasn"t been an outsider who can tell us apart for years!"

For one thing, her side ponytail was hanging on the left while Rossetti normally wore her side ponytail on the right. For another, the aura she gave off was��different. Rossetti had a more innocent air, whereas this girl seemed more mischievous.

"Heh…you seem to know Rossetti very well, don"t you?" The girl giggled, and then placed her hands on her hips in what seemed like a proud manner. "You are right. I"m her twin sister, Roseila. Are you her boyfriend?"

"No, not exactly. And I"m sure anyone who knows Rossetti long enough will be able to tell." I paused for a moment and glanced back when I heard footsteps. Kufa was approaching. When he saw us, he waved.

"Hey, guys! You"re already here!"

"Hey," Roselia waved at him. He nodded.

"Shall we get started then?"

"Uh, shouldn"t we wait for Rossetti first?" I asked. Kufa blinked.

"What are you talking about? Isn"t she right here?"

"No, this is Roselia, her twin sister."

"Huh? Rossetti has a sister?"

Roselia gave me a triumphant stare, and then she turned back to her house. Cupping her hands over her mouth, she called out.

"Rossetti, your friends are here!"

"Eh?! What? Huh?! Roselia, what are you doing?!"

Rossetti hurried out of the house, dressed in almost the same pink dress, but this time her side ponytail was tied on the right side.

Roselia leaned over and whispered to Rossetti something that made her blush and hit her in embarras.e.m.e.nt.

"It"s nothing like that!" She coughed and then turned to Kufa and me. "All right, guys. Come in. We have a lot to discuss regarding tomorrow, when school reopens."

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