Gale underestimated the strength of a mature intermediate elite beast when he charmed Ronda and Lidia into going and fighting one.
He thought running away from the tiger while it kills the girls with his new rank as an advanced mage wouldn't be a problem, but he was too inexperienced and wasn't even strengthened yet.
His main concern was that the guards assigned to them by the academy would intervene before the tiger could kill the girls, but to his dismay, they didn't even intervene after it killed the girls and chased him!
'Maybe my suspicions about the academy assigning guards to us are false, and the guard who saved Valentina before her death was truly there by coincidence.'
Gale started doubting his deductions from earlier and focused on running away from the tiger. He believed it would stop chasing him after he got to the Outer Ring and just go back to eat the girls' bodies.
"Argh!"
One strong boulder broke through his defenses and sent him flying with a painful groan. He quickly got up and continued running as fast as he could, enhanced with air and fire magic.
"Fuck!"
He heard a familiar voice swearing and a strong wind blew behind his back toward the tiger. The tiger was caught in the wind and sent flying a few hundred meters with a few broken bones.
"Professor Alice! Lidia and Ronda were grievously wounded, or even died!"
He yelled as soon as Alice landed next to him. She didn't kill the tiger on purpose; killing an elite beast would be a waste instead of letting the students train themselves against it. This beast could fight against weaker expert mages as an equal and was a good training resource.
"I already saw, they're both dead. Why the hell did you even try to attack an intermediate elite beast?"
She half asked and half yelled at Gale in her anger. She had no idea how to explain to the academy she took the responsibility to watch over the three students and because of her negligence one elite human died. She didn't care about Lidia, but Ronda was a huge asset to their empire!
Even worse, that would leave a stain on the relationship between the academy and Ronda's father, who was a magus himself. Despite the academy's claims to risk everyone's life, it wasn't as irresponsible as it seemed.
The teachers made sure to protect valuable students as elite humans and the offspring of magi. Ronda was both, and her death was a severe failure.
"We were conceit and felt that we could deal with it with Lidia's help after Ronda and I managed to almost kill an advanced mage in our last mission. We didn't expect it to be so strong!"
Gale explained what happened and Alice frowned and swore again. She sighed and just went to collect the bodies of the girls. The tiger was immobilized by her bloodlust and could only sit down under the pressure as she placed the girls' parts inside 2 empty magic bags.
It was a gruesome sight; she had to collect different parts separately as the girls were defenseless against the tiger's attacks without their magic.
'How did they die so horribly while only Gale could run away?'
Alice thought to herself but couldn't come up with an answer. She suspected Gale of doing something since she knew he had a bad relationship with Ronda.
She found the whole situation of Gale's sudden passionate relationship with Ronda suspicious and was even more surprised when she saw him and Lidia in some daring positions with Ronda next to them.
'Whatever, if he did something then it's their fault for picking up a fight with the wrong person. He is still a ruler human, and as long as he doesn't disappoint my expectations, it'd be worth standing by his side against the wrath of Ronda's father and the academy. I must not forget he also has a magus parent.'
She remembered Elizabeth's pressure when they met for the last time. She didn't know where Elizabeth disappeared, but it was irrelevant.
"I will take care of this mess. I just hope you can stick to your version of the story when someone interrogates you under strong mental pressure. The pressure you were under in the tournament will be nothing in comparison."
Alice warned Gale in order to prompt him to tell her in advance anything she needed to know. It would be easier to deal with those things if she knew about them before rather than finding out about them during the interrogation.
"All right, thank you. Since it's the truth, I will repeat the same words."
Gale reassured her before she disappeared. He could hear her voice telling him to go back to the academy directly and he followed her instructions. He still had one more card left to get out of any trouble.
'If I show my worth, the academy will protect me. It's time to strengthen myself to the fifth stage, but I must check my affinities first.'
Gale arrived at his apartment and found Valentina waiting for him. She was already completely healed a week ago and waited to see him for a long time.
"Gale, where have you been? I heard you were back from your mission a week ago, but you didn't come to visit me. I decided to wait for you in your apartment and I was here for the last 3 days."
Valentina quickly ran to him and gave him a hug. He groaned in pain and Valentina quickly let him go.
"What happened? Are you injured?"
She asked worriedly and inspected his body. In her excitement earlier, she didn't notice his clothes were torn in multiple spots, and blue marks could be seen on his skin.
"I was just in the forest to fill my quota, but I was injured by an intermediate elite beast in the Inner Ring."
Gale explained to her, and she raised her eyebrow in surprise.
"Why did you go there right after your mission instead of resting and meeting me first?"
"I'm sorry Babe, it just happened. Ronda and I improved our relationship during the mission, and I offered her to enter the forest together with Lidia and she agreed. Both of them died to the beast."
He told her vaguely what happened and stroked her hair. Valentina's eyes widened in surprise and horror when she heard the news.
"What? Did you get them killed? Please tell me you didn't, the consequences are too dire!"
"I already told the academy that we made the decision to fight the tiger together, and they were just unlucky in the fight and died. I still wasn't interrogated about the case, so I will face it when it comes. I couldn't forgive them for trying to kill you, Babe."
He leaned down and kissed her on her lips but didn't get a kiss back. He didn't even notice his hypocrisy; he pretended to do it to avenge her, yet he enjoyed the process and didn't think of her for a second when he shared a bed with Ronda and Lidia.
"Are you crazy? If the academy finds that out, none of my family will be spared by Ronda's father!"
She just pushed him back and her eyes swelled with tears. She didn't know what was going to happen now, but she feared the worst.
"Why are you worried? I will protect you!"
"You can't protect me! You're still too weak to fight a magus! The academy might protect you for your potential, but who is going to protect my family when we don't have a single magus to back us?"
She screamed at Gale in her anger, and her face was completely red as she shivered and cried. She knew she might be protected while she was still inside the academy, but once she left the academy, only death awaited her if Ronda's father got word of it.
"I'm sorry, Babe! I didn't think straight in my anger and let my feelings get the better of me. I will make sure not to mention your name no matter how much pressure I'll be under."
Gale tried to calm her, but it didn't help.
"You won't be able to stop yourself from talking when a magus lets out all his pressure. Worse, Headmaster might do it himself, and you'd have to resist pressure emanated by a grand magus! Amanda was right; you're too perfect. I shouldn't have mixed with you."
She pushed Gale who tried to hug her and left his apartment. She wanted to send a message to warn her family that they should at least hide the children. She then went to find Amanda to vent her emotions.
'She doesn't understand I can take care of her with my abilities. Once I strengthen myself with four elements in the fifth stage, I will become a treasure of the academy.'
Gale thought to himself and shrugged. After repeating it so many times in the process of charming Ronda, he started believing that Valentina wasn't talented enough to be his partner. Ironically, one might say that Gale brainwashed himself.
He was completely different from the man who said power didn't matter when he wanted to marry a magician.
He decided to try to talk to her later after she calms down. Once his status in the academy will rise, she will surely beg him to take her back. But now he had more pressing matters; his Alessa Watch just passed him a message.
"In three days, you've been summoned to the Square Building, room 1501."
