Steven was barely reading the papers he was signing; he would’ve accepted the offer probably anyway even without the pay increase. Something in the voice of the old man had convinced him long ago.
’’No vacation days? How can that even be legal?’’ Even with his dissatisfaction, he still signed the next paper.
"Ah, never mind. I can partake in the school trip and get paid for it; this is even better than a normal vacation.’’ He was smiling so hard people would think he was some kind of murderer. Well, he was, but they didn’t know that yet.
"Hurry up, Steven; we can fill out the rest some other time.’’ The principal’s hurried voice spoke behind him. "The welcoming ceremony is about to start soon and you not attending it will only cause suspicion."
Steven knew the old man wasn’t caring too much about any of those papers, but for Steven they were everything. "Yeah, yeah, relax, old geezer. I will be there in any minute."
"You haven’t even thought about what summon you would use in your replacement, not to talk about creating a whole golem.’’ The old man was more than annoyed by his relaxed attitude, but Steven knew he held all the cards.
"Golem, nah, that’s way too much work for me." Steven lifted his hand and spoke an old devilish-sounding language.
With a thunder strike, coming seemingly out of nowhere, the stone floor magically began to burn; with a swipe of his hand, the flames slowly formed into a human-like shape. ’’You old man can do your preparation; leave the freestyle to me.
With one last swing, the flame suddenly changed color and then imploded on itself.
Left standing, a young woman in her early twenties, she had raven-black hair not much longer than her shoulders, the red highlights matching perfectly with her dark-red eyes. As if they were old blood dropped on a canister of milk.
She wore an elegant black dress that made her resemble a noblewoman more than a demon. She stared at Steven and the old principal with confusion.
’’Oh demoness, I have once spared you; it’s your time to repay my kindness,’’ Steven spoke, barely looking up from the papers in front of him. But he could see Yumoth inspecting their new visitor carefully, not leaving out a single inch.
"As you wish, my kind savior." The demoness answered, her voice filled with disdain. Not even sparing the old man a gaze.
"This is amazing, Steven. How did you do this? Is it summoning magic or maybe an avatar calling?" Yumoth continued speaking, now inspecting the magic circle that had formed below the demoness’s feet.
’’It’s just a simple pact, nothing more but also nothing less. She will fulfill one of my wishes with all her might to be finally free again.’’ Steven answered, finally having signed the last paper, for some reason the contract seemed more fishy than one with a demon.
"She will be the new professor of the university until I can replace her," he spoke, finally standing up, ready to leave.
The still mind-blown principal finally seemed to return to his senses, clearing his throat. "I guess this could work." With a simple snap, the old man sent all of them through the floor as if it didn’t exist.
He was powerful, much more than he looked or acted; if it weren’t for his age, Steven was sure the principal could’ve handled all of this alone.
Steven, of course, didn’t follow the new teacher and old man; instead, he was thrown after just one floor right outside the window.
Falling through the cold air of the early noon, he took a deep breath. Not realizing that the principal hadn’t chosen a soft landing spot for his arrival.
CRACK
Branches exploded around him.
Leaves rained onto his face.
He bounced off two thick branches before disappearing into a blueberry bush.
"Damned be this old man," he cursed only after hearing a voice coming towards his direction.
Quickly hiding behind the old tree, she only spared a gaze towards the incoming voices; they were young, maybe at the age of twenty.
Slowly realizing where he was, hiding only meters away from an event called the first walk. It’s when all the new students order up and, without any direct protection of a teacher, pass through a cursed road. The fastest is the most talented of the year.
And he was standing just at the dead end of it, together with the people that will most likely fail this exam before ever stepping a foot onto the university grounds.
He had to catch up with the front fast or he wouldn’t even get a chance to become part of the most powerful group of this school.
Leaving his hiding spot, the people around him didn’t seem to pay him any attention; their gazes were only fixated on the ground as if they were hoping for a wonder.
’’You guys need to start sprinting for even a chance of a top spot.’’ He shouted towards the mass.
"We are already running, or are you blind?" one of the students snapped back at him.
’’You call this running? Well, have fun running back home then," Steven answered.
Not paying them any more attention, he was already starting to walk forward. Each time he moved even a step faster than before, it felt like the whole world was weighing against him.
Only those with enough magical strength can reach the academy.
Fortunately, he was one of them. Even at this pace, he was moving faster than everyone around him.
But even then it would be a slightly annoying task; he was already far behind with not much time left, and to only add on top, every single person even attending this walk had already passed multiple years of prior magical education.
Having already left behind the last part of the group he could finally watch, some people were actually sprinting instead of simply crawling forward.
If they are all so weak, he might actually finish first.
"Well, looks like it’s time to start sprinting."
As a giant smile formed on his laughing face.