"Miss Longbern?"

Wearing a loosely fit white T-shirt that was tucked beneath her blue jeans, I spotted Donna leisurely conversing with my parents in the distance.

Hearing my exclamation and turning around, Donna raised her brow as the edge of her lips faintly curved upwards.

"Ah, it seems like Ren is done with the questioning"

Before I had any time to realize what was going on, I suddenly found my mother jumping in my direction as she embraced me tightly.

"My baby Ren!"

"ooooof.."

Pounced by her, I almost lost all the air inside of my lungs as the wind was knocked out of me and took a couple of steps back.

Recovering slightly, I couldn't help but think to myself.

...seriously, was my mother really F ranked?

It felt as though as if I was rammed by an elephant.

Obviously, I kept those thoughts to myself as I didn't have a death wish. Although my mother was usually very nice, once she was angry she was scarier than anything that I had ever seen.

...never mind Everblood.

Not even the demon king could rival my mother when she was angry. Recalling the last time I saw her angry sent shivers down my spine.

The only thought I had at that time was to run as far away from there as possible.

I saw death itself staring at me.

After embracing me for a solid couple of seconds, detaching herself from me, my mother instantly patted my body completely as worriedly asked.

"Are you hurt anywhere? Are you okay? Did anybody hurt you? What happened to you?"

Under her barrage of questions, shaking my head I patted my arms as I calmly responded.

"I'm okay. As you can see, I'm perfectly fine"

"Are you really okay?"

"Yup, never been better"

Actually, that was a lie.

Although nothing happened to me during the accident, my arm was still not fully recovered from what had happened back in Immorra.

In fact, unless I consumed an advanced potion I'd probably not be able to fully recover the sensation in my arm.

Problem was, given the price that advanced potions went for, recovering my arm would still take a long time as I currently could not afford it.

Although I had encountered a lot of fruitful opportunities in Immorra, I still had to be careful when selling the stuff that I got as it could arouse some suspicions amongst the demons.

After all, I did fuck over a Marquss ranked demon. Although extremely low, there could be a chance that one of the items that I had sold was recognized by one of the demons alerting Marquess Azeroth of the fact that the possible thief was staying on earth.

Actually, thinking about Marquess Azeroth, was he doing well?

I bet that right now he took more damage from me stealing all of his stuff than from fighting against the orc chief.

Thinking along those lines, a small chuckle escaped from my lips.

...either way, my mom didn't need to know that.

Therefore, looking around I calmly tried to divert the topic.

"Where is Nola?"

"Hm? Nola is at the daycare"

"Daycare? What about pudding?"

"Pudding is at home. Because we were in a rush we weren't able to bring her with us"

Nodding my head, I glanced towards Donna in the distance and asked.

"I see, so what's going on here?"

Turning her head and similarly staring at Donna in the distance who was talking to her husband, my mother calmly said.

"Ah, Miss Lonbern came here all the way from the academy to pick you up"

"She came to pick me up?"

"Yes, you have a very kind teacher don't you"

"Yeah..."

Recalling all of the beatings I took from her, I awkwardly nodded.

In a way Donna was a good teacher as she cared a lot for her students, however, in this case, the reason she showed up probably was because of another reason.

Placing my hand on my chin, I fell into deep thought.

'I guess the case was too high profile for her and the academy to ignore'

After all, it involved the direct death of a Viscount-ranked demon

Normally, this wouldn't have created a fuss, however, unfortunately, this was a different case as the person directly responsible for the demon's death was a 16-year-old kid.

...there was no way it wouldn't garner the media's attention.

[A 16-year-old student aids in the killing of a viscount ranked demon]

Just imagining the headline of tomorrow's paper caused me to have a massive migraine. It was already bad enough when Amanda 'killed' Elijah, now that I was directly involved with the death of a Viscount ranked demon, the waves it would cause would be a lot greater.

...just the thought made me want to puke.

"Ren we should be going"

Finished exchanging a few words with my father, snapping me out of my thoughts as she waved at me, Donna called from the distance.

"Aye"

Nodding my head and staring at my mom who still had a worried look on her face, I felt slightly warm inside of my heart as I said.

"Mom, I've got to go"

"Mhm, mom understands"

Staring at Donna in the distance, my mother nodded her head and proceeded to take out something from her dimensional storage that was in the form of a silver ring.

-Fwua!

Shortly after, a black hoodie appeared in her hands as she handed it to me.

"Here Ren, take this. This should still fit you nicely"

Raising my brow, I looked at the hoodie in her hand as I tilted my head.

"A hoodie?"

Nodding her head multiple times, my mother patted the hoodie in her hand with a serious expression.

"mhm, you're going to need this"

"Okay..."

Seeing how serious my mother's face was, I proceeded to nod my head as I took the hoodie. Something told me that I would really need this.

"Ren, follow me"

Taking one last look at my mother, I heard Donna's voice in the distance urging for me to come.

Nodding my head I waved goodbye at both my mom and dad.

"Bye mom, bye dad, I'm leaving now"

Standing next to my dad, my mother smiled sweetly as she waved goodbye.

"Bye Ren, contact us as soon as you get back to the academy"

"Be safe son"

"Yeah sure"

Waving goodbye to my parents, arriving before the entrance of the building, Donna halted her footsteps and stared at the hoodie that was in my hands. Pointing at it she said.

"Before we leave, I suggest you put the hoodie on now"

Taken aback, I looked at Donna and asked.

"Now?"

Firmly nodding her head, Donna strictly ordered.

"Now"

"...okay"

Though confused, I did as Donna told me and put on the hoodie.

Although I knew that there were reporters outside, seeing the seriousness in both my mom's and Donna's faces, I instantly understood that the situation may have been worse than I had expected.

...now this was going to be troublesome.

"Here, pull down the hoodie"

After putting the hoodie on, staring at me for a couple of seconds, and leaning closer to me, Donna extended her hands forward as she pulled down the hood to cover my face.

As she did that, her face came a couple of inches away from my face catching me off guard. Fortunately, this did not last for long as Donna quickly took a couple of steps back as she smiled.

Putting her hands on the handles of the door she asked.

"Are you ready?"

Nodding my head, I seriously said.

"Ready"

"Okay..."

-Clank!

Opening the doors of the building, as soon as I stepped outside revealing the cloudless blue sky, I instantly understood why everyone was so adamant about the hoodie.

-Click! -Click! -Click!

"Mr. Dover look over here!"

"Mr. Dover is it true that you were able to aid in the killing of a Viscount ranked demon at the age of 16?"

"Mr. Dover, can you tell us what had happened yesterday night?"

"What were your thoughts when you killed a Viscount ranked demon?"

"Were you really able to kill a viscount ranked demon or are you just taking the credit from someone else?"

With clicking sounds coming from my left and right, reporters appeared everywhere as they surrounded the area I was in.

Lowering the hood of my hoodie, I silently cursed to myself.

'ah, fuck'

This was much more than I had expected.

Amusingly looking at me from the side, Donna glanced at the reporters waiting outside as her amethyst-colored eyes shone slightly. Opening her mouth, her crisp and pleasant voice traveled through the ears of every reporter present.

"Please move away"

Instantly, as if everyone turned into a zombie, heeding her command every one took a step back and paved a path for Donna and me.

"Let's go..."

Staring at the scene before me with my mouth wide open, I reminded myself to never get on her bad side.

...yup.

Definitely not.

Just one word from her and I would find myself becoming her puppet.

...what a scary woman.

Unaware of my thoughts, I followed Donna towards a rather secluded area. Halting her steps and taking out a black helmet from her dimensional space, Donna calmly walked towards a black bike.

Hopping onto the bike and patting the seat behind her she calmly said.

"Hop on"

"..."

Staring at Donna for a couple of seconds as my mind froze, I opened my mouth as no words escaped from my mouth.

...seriously?

Putting her helmet on, Donna turned her head in my direction once again and asked.

"Where do you want to go, your place or the academy?"

Staring at Donna dumbfoundedly, an extended sigh escaped from my mouth.

*Sigh*

Did she seriously not understand the struggles that I was going through?

Although right my mental state was much stronger than back when I had just arrived at the Lock and therefore could now resist her charms...that didn't mean I was completely free from otherworldly thoughts!

In the end, I could only forcefully freeze my heart completely as I tried to remove all unnecessary thoughts from my mind.

After I managed to calm myself down, I suggested.

"Let's go to the academy"

My original plan was to go back home with my parents to pick up Angelica and bring her to the academy with me.

...but it seems like I will have to scratch that plan.

I'll let Angelica stay with my parents for the week, I'll pick her up next week.

In a way, this worked out better as Angelica needed to break through to Viscount rank anyway. If she did it at the Lock she would quickly get exposed as she wouldn't be able to suppress the demonic energy inside of her body.

Therefore this somehow worked in her favor. Plus, in the meantime, she could protect Nola and my parents.

"Alright, hold on tight"

Nodding my head and sitting on the backseat of the bike and putting my hands on Donna's slim and soft waist I softly muttered.

"...sure"

-Vroom!

Shortly after, the bike slowly picked up speed and sped into the busy streets of Ashton city.