‘How did he do it?’
‘There is no way they could’ve collected 6,000 credits to start a trial and have the principal act as their witness.’
Their faces scrunched when they heard her next words.
“Team Astra and Team Tempest will be disqualified.”
“What!?”
“Why!? There is no proof we did anything!”
The members of Team Tempest, Zoe’s team, spoke up.
“No proof?”
Charlotte’s aura hit their shoulders with a crushing force.
“You dare use those words in front of me?”
The students fell to their knees.
“W-we apologize for our rude words.”
“Mhm.” frёeωebɳovel.com
Charlotte let them suffer under her aura and turned to Lucas and Zoe.
“As I’ve said, both of your teams will be disqualified.
“Team Umbra, which should’ve received a slot had you not intervened, and another team will get a slot in your places.”
Listening to her made Lucas frown.
He thought hard.
Suddenly, his brows jumped.
“Principal, it is true we had won the slot, no?”
“Yes?”
“Then can we cancel the disqualification if we pay enough credits?”
“…”
Charlotte looked at Lucas with surprise.
She hadn’t expected this.
‘This year’s brats have a good head on their shoulder.’
She smiled.
Her gaze met Neo’s gaze.
He didn’t want Lucas’s disqualification to be revoked.
His frown made Charlotte’s smile grow wide.
“500 credits to cancel disqualification for one team,” she said.
“Thank you,” Lucas replied.
He looked at his teammates.
They understood his intentions and sent him their credits.
190 credits.
Lucas’ team was short of 310 credits.
“Zoe, tell your team to transfer us their credits.”
“But—”
“Zoe, give me the credits. Hurry.”
Lucas smiled.
It made Zoe shudder.
She lowered her head and nodded.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she collected credits from her teammates and sent them to Lucas.
410 credits.
90 credits remaining.
Lucas turned to Felix.
“Felix, as you can see, we are in a pinch here. Can you help us?”
Lucas was not stupid.
He saw Neo came to the principal with them and Felix was there already.
Clearly, Felix was the one who had enough credits to demand a trial.
“Why should I do that?”
“Because we are friends and I don’t want to harm my friends, or my friend’s friends.”
In short, Lucas knew Felix borrowed credits from other students.
He would go after those who helped Felix if he did not listen to his demand.
Felix bit his lips.
He turned to the principal.
‘It doesn’t look like she plans to stop Lucas from threatening other students in front of her.’
‘Seems like she hates us for forcing her to move.’
Felix smiled bitterly.
In the end, he shook his head.
“I don’t have any credits left. I used them all for the trial.”
“Is that so? That’s quite bad.”
Lucas backed off easily.
“Principal, can I make some calls? I need to arrange the credits.”
“Go ahead.”
He took out his device.
A few minutes later, he transferred 500 credits to the principal.
“Team Astra’s disqualification has been revoked.
“With this Team Astra, Team Lumen, and Team Umbra have received the slots for the S-rank mission.”
Charlotte smiled.
Allowing Lucas’ team to keep the slot was her way of getting back at Neo.
But…
‘Huh?’
Neo was smiling.
As if he predicted this to happen.
‘No, that’s impossible.’
Her smile disappeared.
“All of you can return.”
Portals appeared beneath their feet when she finished her words.
The students fell into the torn space.
Only Neo was left behind.
“…”
“You seem calm for someone who kicked up a storm just now.”
“Storm? I’m sorry, principal. I don’t understand what you mean.”
She scoffed at his innocent fa?ade.
“Did you bait Lucas into killing the phoenix?”
“It was Lucas!?”
Neo’s eyes widened.
Elizabeth burst into a chuckle at the side.
She quickly returned to her cold, expressionless demeanor but it only served to irritate Charlotte more.
“This brat….”
Charlotte barely stopped herself from blasting Neo into the sky.
‘I thought he would boast about his master plan.’
‘If that happened, I would’ve used his words as evidence and held him accountable for phoenix’s death.’
Even if Neo was smart enough to make such a simple, yet crafty plan, he was still a child.
He should’ve been excited and boasted about his plan’s success.
‘Instead he is calm. He knows he will be punished for phoenix’s death. So he is acting like all of it was a coincidence.’
Charlotte massaged her temple.
Neo was a tricky opponent to deal with.
His plans were simple yet they had no weakness to be exploited.
She was about to send him back when suddenly an idea came to her.
“Neo Hargraves, congratulations on receiving a slot for the S-rank mission.
“I’ve closely watched your team’s performance and I’ve been impressed with everything I saw.”
Neo’s smile disappeared.
He felt it.
Something bad was about to happen.
“However,
“I’ve noticed one of your team members did not participate in any team activities.
“Teams are made up of 5 members for a reason.
“If Leonora von Villiers continues to skip the missions, I would have no choice but to revoke your slot.”
“Fucking—”
“Did you just curse at me?”
“No, I said ‘fair point’.”
Neo’s frustrated expression brought a smile to Charlotte’s face.
“You can go back now.
“Again, make sure Leonora von Villiers participates in the S-rank mission, or your entire team be won’t allowed either.”
“…Understood.”
A portal appeared beneath Neo and he was teleported to the mission hall.
His teammates were waiting for him.
“Why were you late?” Jack questioned.
“The principal wanted to talk to me. It was nothing important. Anyway, let’s go eat. I’m hungry.”
They could tell Neo’s mood was off.
However, they couldn’t question the reason behind his mood when he clearly refused to talk about it.
‘How am I going to get that lazy bum to move?’ Neo thought.
He turned to Christian.
“Christian, let’s just say, we need to get Leonora’s participation in order to be allowed to do a mission. How can we make her join us?”
“By giving up on the mission.
“There is no way Miss is going to do anything that needs her to leave the room.”
Christian’s swift answer made Neo close his eyes.
‘That damned NEET.’
His future didn’t look bright to him.
Sighing, he entered the cafeteria and saw…
“Huh?
“What are they doing?”
Neo couldn’t believe his eyes.