"Don't look at me like that."

When I turned my head, Leon took a step to the side. When I looked up front, Aoife looked away from me. When I shifted my head Evelyn equally avoided my gaze. And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, Kiera opened her mouth.

"Holy shit."

She covered her mouth, and her large scarlet eyes widened.

"... You knocked up another girl?"

"!!"

"..........!"

"Another!?"

The girls all covered their mouths. They all took steps back, shielding the little girl away from

me.

"You-"

"She'd have to be human for her to be my daughter."

Aoife, Evelyn, Kiera, and Leon all stopped for a second.

"Human?"

Seeing their equally surprised looks, I calmly walked toward the little girl and sat down on the opposite side of hers. Immediately, she reached her hands towards me as if trying to say, 'Play! Play!'

Ignoring her for a moment, I scanned the room and frowned.

"Yeah, she's not human."

I was sure of it now that I was close to her.

"Her entire body was made out of mana. I'm surprised none of you caught that." "Eh?"

With Aoife and the others showing surprised looks, their eyes widened when they took a closer look at her and confirmed my words.

"Why didn't I notice this before?"

I didn't really blame them. Unless one paid close attention they wouldn't really notice. Taking my attention away from them, I leaned towards Theresa.

"Theresa, who are you with?"

Blinking her big eyes, Theresa cocked her head. However, shortly after, she turned her head and pointed directly at Aoife.

"Her."

"Ahi?"

Aoife's face paled.

Pointing at herself, she looked at Theresa.

"Me?"

"Um. Um."

Theresa nodded her small little head.

She then picked up the spoon by her side and scooped the cereals from her bowl. Amidst the confusion everyone was feeling, I had a gist of what was happening.

"You've formed a will."

"A what now?"

Aoife and the others looked completely lost. I didn't elaborate quite yet and kept my gaze on Aoife.

"How many bones do you have?"

"Bones? Why are you asking?"

"Did you receive a bone recently?"

"Eh? How did you-"

Aoife's eyes widened all of a sudden as her head flicked towards Theresa.

"You, you can't be saying that..."

"Yes, it's exactly that."

I pointed at Theresa.

"She's the reason you have the bone."

"What are you guys talking about?"

Kiera alternated her gaze between the two of us before settling it over to Aoife.

"You received a bone?"

"....Yes, I only just found out recently."

"Wait, wait."

Kiera waved her left hand while pinching the middle of her brows.

"You got a bone without even knowing how?"

"...Yes."

Aoife helplessly smiled while raising her hand.

"I didn't mention it since I'm still trying to understand how it happened, but..."

Tensing her arm, a faint red glow manifested, illuminating the outline of the bone beneath

her skin.

"Here."

"Holy shi-Um!?"

A hand covered Kiera's mouth before she could get her words out. With both eyes widening

she looked at Evelyn who was the one responsible for covering her mouth.

Evelyn merely glanced at Theresa who was happily eating her cereals.

"She's a kid, don't swear."

Kiera frowned but soon calmed down.

Only then did Evelyn move her hand away.

"Fine."

I shifted my attention towards Aoife who was looking at me.

"How did you know that I received a new bone?"

"Because of her."

"Her?"

"Yeah, you can say she's a special existence."

I brought my hand over the table and tapped it lightly. In an instant, two figures appeared.

They were Pebble and Owl-Mighty.

"Eh?"

"Wait, isn't this...?"

Since there were times when I showed them off the other didn't look particularly surprised. Of course, they were more surprised by the fact that they popped out of nowhere.

Theresa's eyes lit up at the sight of them. Immediately she let go of her spoon and raised her

hands.

"Come!"

"Hiss!"

Pebble's back arched at the sight of her, and it immediately let out a long, menacing hiss. Pebble's sudden actions took everyone by surprise but I didn't bother and started to explain, "As you can see. Just like Theresa, they both are completely made out of mana. While they may look like a regular cat and owl, in reality, they are far from that. You can say they are

'wills'."

By now, everyone was paying close attention to my words.

Whatever was happening between Theresa and Pebble in the background, nobody cared.

All eyes were on me as I started to explain to them what 'wills' were. From how they had to be accessed through mutual consent between monster and human to the advantages it brought. I essentially laid out everything that I had learned from Owl-Mighty and Pebble over the last

year.

By the time I was done, a strange silence followed.

"...Are you serious?"

The first one to speak was Evelyn who looked at Pebble, Theresa, and Owl-Mighty with shock.

"You're saying that they're monsters who willingly became your bones and retained their

consciousness?"

"Yes,"

I shifted my attention to Aoife.

"If I had to make a guess, you probably have no more than two bones, is that correct?"

"... Yes. My family has several bones reserved for me for when the time comes."

"I figured."

There were several reasons why not a lot of cadets had bones, including Aoife and those

belonging to high-ranking houses.

.... Aside from the fact that bones were extremely expensive and rare, one of the biggest

reasons was that everyone was greedy.

They all wanted the best possible bone available.

And there was nothing wrong with that. I was the same as them.

In Aoife's case, the Megrail family could provide her with the best bones. With their wealth,

providing something of the same caliber as Pebble was possible.

The only problem was that the higher the grade a bone was, the stronger the will inside was.

I knew first-hand just how powerful a remnant will within a bone was.

Just thinking about it gave me a headache.

Thankfully, all worked out in the end, but I came dangerously close to becoming a vegetable.

Had it not been for the first leaf, I probably would've.

There were risks when absorbing a bone. Especially a very strong one.

To create a will, one had to take an even greater risk.

This was probably why there was so little information on 'wills'. It was simply because there

were not many that survived to tell the tale.

'At least, that's what I'm assuming.'

It could also be that the information was sealed away or kept secret by those who discovered

it in order to hoard the advantage.

Whatever the case was, it didn't concern me.

"Wait, there's something else that I'm curious about."

With Evelyn speaking, I shifted my attention to her and noticed that she was looking directly

at Theresa.

"From the moment that you came into the room, she seems to already know you. You also

know her name. How....?"

"Ah."

Right, yeah, there was that.

"Do you remember the Angel of Sorrow?"

"You don't mean..."

"Mhm."

I nodded faintly while looking at Theresa.

"That's her."

"!"

The surroundings grew quiet. All eyes shifted towards Theresa who jumped out of her seat

and started to chase after Pebble who ran away from her. Aoife looked to be the most surprised by the revelation as her mouth hung open. "Theresa was originally a human. But after being trapped for so long in the Mirror Dimension

and within the statue, it's possible she turned into a monster herself. During the time when

we managed to help her, she must've deposited her bone in Aoife when she was being controlled by her."

A look of realization flashed across Aoife's features as she bit her lips.

Her face softened a little at the sight of the little girl who was trotting around the common

room, chasing after Pebble.

I didn't know how much she knew about Theresa's past, but I could tell she knew a little.

"I see, so that's how it happened."

Recovering, Aoife sat down on one of the sofas and let out a long breath.

She looked exhausted.

But that was until she seemed to recall something.

"Wait."

Her head flicked up to look at me.

"You said that she was made up of energy, right?"

"Yes, more or less."

"Then..."

Aoife's head turned to look at all the wrappers and snacks that were left on the table.

"Are you saying that we don't need to feed her?"

"!"

Coming to an abrupt halt, Theresa looked at Aoife and then me. A small tail dangled from her

hand as Pebble swayed side to side, looking utterly listless.

Poor him.

"Since she's made of energy, I can just feed her using my mana right? In fact, she shouldn't

need to eat at all.'

Shake. Shake.

Her little head shook.

I could clearly see her pleading, 'No, I want to eat. Let me eat.'

But...

"It's decided! We'll cut down on her food."

Thump!

Theresa fell to her knees, her eyes growing just as listless as Pebble's.

Holding onto her face, she mumbled,

"...Evil has arrived."

***

Late night.

"How is the investigation going?"

"...The recording device hasn't been tampered with. It appears like Priest Opersia was indeed

the one responsible for all of this."

"Goodness."

Cardinal Ambrose of the church of Oracleus showed a look of surprise while listening to the

report on the situation.

"How could such a thing occur?"

"...We do not know yet. We're still investigating."

"Then what about the Confessional hearing?"

"It will be delayed for a few more days."

"Goodness."

Shaking his head, the Cardinal looked behind him. The situation was a little problematic.

They had already delayed the Confessional hearing for two days.

Any longer and it would interfere with the other programmed plans the Cardinal had.

As one of the key leaders of one of the largest churches in the Four Empires, his schedule was

packed. He attended countless rituals and met with numerous nobles regularly. His schedule was not flexible.

This was extremely inconvenient for him.

In fact, it was almost impossible.

He felt the need to contact the Academy and tell them that they were going to pull out but just

when the thought crossed his mind, a calm and aged voice reached his ears.

'Don't worry, go. I'll take care of things from this side.'

"This...!"

The Cardinal's head flicked back.

His expression changed but just barely managed to stop his words when the voice spoke

again.

'Don't worry. I am not as busy as you. You can leave things to me. I'll let the Priests handle the Confessional hearings. I'm sure this is what the other Churches will do.' "But what if..."

'I'm here, you don't need to worry too much. Tell the Academy you will be leaving tomorrow.'

Staying quiet, the Cardinal hesitated for a brief moment before asking,

"Are you sure?"

'I'm sure.'

Behind that voice, an aged figure appeared. As the soft glow of the moonlight filtered through

the window and enveloped his body, he smiled.

'I've never been so sure.'