Basement Level 1 of Herrom Prison.
Inside Warden Corendan's office.
Corendan, who had always maintained an aloof demeanor and run things like clockwork, wore an expression that had gone entirely wrong ever since picking up the receiver.
His brows were tightly knit, as if pondering an utterly incomprehensible problem.
This expression looked strikingly out of place on his usually stern, composed face.
"...?"
Having been caught red-handed right after uttering those words, he did not even dare to refute them immediately.
How on earth had Warden Bakas overheard him?
Could the chief warden have been conducting a sting operation today—feigning departure while using it as a pretense to discipline them?
Yet as Corendan calmed down and thought it through, he knew the chief warden truly had gone to the Protos Royal Magic Academy today, and this call was coming directly from the academy.
Analyzing it from that angle...
For Warden Bakas, the foremost priority was to give Mr. Luoqi McCarthy a satisfactory account; punishing an officer like Corendan was secondary.
Therefore, whether Warden Bakas had proof or not, Corendan had to deny it adamantly right now.
He absolutely could not admit to it over the line and make Warden Bakas lose face in front of Luoqi McCarthy.
"No, I never said anything like that!" Corendan declared firmly into the receiver.
As soon as the words left his mouth, it seemed to deliver the model answer Warden Bakas had hoped for, allowing the warden on the other end to breathe a slight sigh of relief.
"I'm warning you, no matter what you think or say down there on Basement Level 1 from now on, don't show the slightest disrespect toward Mr. Luoqi McCarthy. If I catch you, you know what will happen to you."
Warden Bakas's voice came through the receiver, still severe, every word heavily emphasized toward the end.
These words were not just for Corendan—they were meant for Luoqi McCarthy beside him.
What the truth was didn't actually matter.
What mattered was that Warden Bakas had to save face right now.
Otherwise, all the embarrassment and pressure Bakas endured would turn into a hundredfold fury, and Corendan would be the one paying the price!
"Phew..."
Yet just as Warden Corendan breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he had largely smoothed things over...
From the other side of the desk.
"He clearly said just now that even if our headmaster came here, he'd have to bring him two cartons of cigarettes. All of us heard it."
The black-haired, green-eyed Poet of Great Love spoke in a clear, bright voice that rang through the office.
Her voice sounded youthful and carried a candid charm as she pointed out the truth without hesitation.
In an instant.
Not only did Warden Corendan's jaw lock as he stared at the Poet of Great Love, but even the other end of the receiver fell into dead silence.
Corendan's eyes went wide. Staring at the black-haired, green-eyed girl who hadn't uttered a single word until now, a thousand words choked in his throat, yet he couldn't voice a single one.
He couldn't tell whether this girl was the most sinister person alive, or if she was truly just guileless, naive, and incapable of tolerating the slightest lie.
*Don't you fucking know how to read the room and mind your mouth?!!!*
Corendan wanted to scream at the top of his lungs!
Yet right now...
He had no luxury to vent the rage and breakdown within him. Even through the communication terminal, Warden Corendan could sense the blazing fury and acute humiliation radiating from Warden Bakas on the other end, as though eager to incinerate him entirely along the magical circuit.
"N-No! Lord Bakas, please let me explain! It's just a clueless newcomer beside me, don't listen to her nonsense..." Warden Corendan's voice instantly turned panicked.
"Is she an intern from the Protos Royal Magic Academy?" Bakas's tone was unexpectedly calm—which meant he had reached his boiling point.
"She..."
Before Corendan could try to bluff, he felt the black-haired, green-eyed girl was about to "help" speak on his behalf again.
Under Warden Bakas's seemingly all-knowing, icy silence, Corendan's voice dwindled in an instant before cutting out entirely, not daring to provoke Bakas any further.
"...Yes."
Corendan could only grit his teeth and admit it.
At this point, any sophistry was meaningless.
Whether it was true or false, Luoqi McCarthy—standing right beside Warden Bakas at the Protos Royal Academy like an overseer—had already heard it.
Warden Bakas's handling of the matter would directly determine Headmaster Luoqi McCarthy's impression of him.
"Corendan... So you dare to lie, compounding your guilt, do you...?" The unyielding condemnation in Bakas's voice sent a chill down Corendan's spine.
Warden Corendan's throat bobbed, wanting to argue.
Yet then he saw the black-haired, green-eyed girl looking at him with immense pity.
As if she believed he was a dishonest person who deserved punishment, yet was also weighing whether she ought to grant him some measure of redemption.
Even at this moment, she remained as pure and beautiful as an angel, radiating grace.
Corendan looked at her and felt ready to cough up blood. For some reason, the stifled rage in his chest had been flaring up continuously since earlier as if doused with oil. Yet what pained him most was that he had to stay calm, bending over backward to appease Lord Bakas and win Luoqi McCarthy's forgiveness.
"Come on, Bakas, I only wanted to make sure my students weren't being given a hard time. Handle your prison's internal affairs however you see fit; it won't affect our friendship."
Soon, an indistinct, relaxed male voice came through the receiver.
It seemed Luoqi McCarthy, standing beside Warden Bakas, was comforting Bakas, whose state of mind was clearly terrible.
After a brief silence.
"Corendan, if I ever catch you badmouthing Mr. Luoqi McCarthy again, you can pack your bags for Basement Level 6. You know full well I have the means to send you down there."
Bakas delivered one final warning before slamming down the receiver.
"Understood, understood!"
Facing the now-silent receiver, Warden Corendan replied twice before finally setting it down.
Seeing Corendan flustered and red-faced, the Poet of Great Love tilted her head and winked at Hyperion.
As if asking her: *See that? That's what you call knowing the ways of the world.*
By putting the screws to this disgraced Warden Corendan, they could basically skip Basement Levels 2 and 3 of the prison's outer ring entirely, having him use his authority to send them straight down to Basement Level 4 of the inner sector to find the great demon.
"..."
Hyperion was speechless.
The outer tier of Herrom Prison once again gave her that familiar, deeply unsettling "toddler mode" feeling.
*You didn't trade merit points for this "social grace," did you? Please tell me this isn't deducting from the karma I painstakingly gathered in the Kingdom of Asethelan over the past two months...*
Chapter 397