CHAPTER 249: KING OF BLACKMAIL [PART 2]

The entire academy was in uproar.

A single First Year and a little bun perched on top of his head had just created history.

They made a feat that no one might be capable of replicating ever again.

And what was that feat?

Making all the Crest Clubs, Nobles, staff, and every other student remember and fear his name.

Alex Stratos.

The President of Endless Horizon.

The Singing King.

And now he had gained a new title.

The King of Blackmail.

The chaos that ensued afterward gave Theo the chance to use his authority and restore order. This forced all the students and, to a certain extent, the staff to calm down and leave the rest to him.

Caspian, already crying from shame and pain as his ears were being pulled by a fuming Professor Selwin, wept tears of joy when the Student Council came to take him away.

He would rather be punished by the councilors than face the wrath of the Alchemy Professor, who had vowed to lock him in a room filled with screaming mandrakes.

An hour later, several individuals were gathered in the Student Council Conference Room.

They were the leaders of the twelve Crest Clubs, as well as some Nobles whose bad behavior had been exposed during the assembly.

There was also a young man who didn’t belong to the Crest Clubs or Student Council.

Caspian and the other wrongdoers glared at him, but he only blinked innocently.

"Hey guys, I know I’m handsome," Alex said. "But if you keep staring at me like that, even I will feel embarrassed."

"You sure have guts, Alex Stratos," said Chester Blackvale, the president of the Lionheart Society, with ice in his voice. "You dared to frame us all with your nonsense!"

The well-dressed young man with too much pomade in his hair wanted more than anything in the world to give Alex a good thrashing, but he knew that would just get him into even more trouble. His blue eyes were filled with hatred, but within their depths, there were other emotions present as well.

Fear and anxiety, as well as shame. However, Alex only smirked. In his eyes, the person before him wasn’t the son of the Duke of Blackvale but a guilty, bratty kid who had gotten his secrets exposed.

"What nonsense?" Alex asked. "Calm down. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Make no mistake. I am not the masked man you saw earlier. That was a different person. I’m just the middleman who would collect academy points on his behalf."

The young man’s tone was calm, even conciliatory, but that just made those he had offended want to spit in his face for lying so blatantly.

Just a single glance at the little bun that was perched on top of his head—who was still wearing its gangster sunglasses—was enough to tell everyone that the young man was spouting bullsh*t.

Besides, he was wearing the same clothes as the masked man. The only difference was that he wasn’t wearing a mask right now. Even his voice matched the bastard who had exposed everyone to the public.

"You piece of sh*t!" the President of the Merchant Alliance, Preston Kingsley, cursed out loud. "You will pay for this!"

The chubby Third Year with short red hair and a greasy, pimply face glared at Alex as if he owed him a million gold coins.

"Really?" Alex blinked. "But I’m very sure the ones doing the paying right now are you guys, no?"

"You have offended many great people!" Caspian yelled while jabbing his finger against Alex’s chest. "You will not be able to live when you step out of this academy. Do you have no idea who you have messed with? Their families can pinch you like a bug."

"Well, I don’t know anything about these families you are talking about," Alex answered. "But do you know who my uncle is? He alone can make all of your backers pinch you guys like bugs."

"Who is your uncle?" Caspian laughed disdainfully. "Name him!"

"My uncle is the Headmaster," Alex replied. "Uncle Rowan Vademont. What’s wrong? Can your family pinch him like a bug?"

Everyone in the room quietened down and looked at Alex in disbelief.

Professor Gareth, who was one of the Professors observing this meeting, couldn’t help but cover his face from the secondhand embarrassment. Alex was not only good at blackmailing people, but he was also very good at making sh*t up!

"Lies!" Caspian shouted. "All lies!"

"Calm down, bro," Alex said. "You’ll know if I’m telling the truth or not once your daddy dearest comes to the academy and spank you in front of everyone. But for now, can we just finish the transaction? It’s almost lunchtime."

Aeris and the other Presidents of the Crest Clubs who hadn’t been implicated had been watching Alex since earlier.

Some of them were masters of reading body language. However, they were not perfectly objective. At first, they had assumed that Alex was just trying to sound calm despite feeling deeply anxious.

But to their surprise, his body language, voice, and gaze showed no sign of uncertainty. It was as if he really believed he had everything under his control!

Even when confronted by the heirs of various Noble families, he looked as if he was talking to people of the same rank as him.

"I want you to apologize to all of us and tell the students that everything you have shown them is a lie," Chester commanded. "Otherwise..."

"One more word from you, and the compensation the Lionheart Society has to pay will increase to three million," Alex threatened.

"Ha," Chester scoffed. "You th—"

"Okay. It’s now three million," Alex interrupted. "One more word, and it’s going to become four million. I’m sure you think no one here can prove the things that you and your club members are doing behind closed doors.

"But Professor Gareth has the ability to expose your crimes. If you doubt my words, you can ask Caspian and that young man standing behind you if I’m telling the truth or not."

Alex pointed at the Officer of the Lionheart Society, who had been with Caspian on the day of Dim Dim’s kidnapping attempt.

They had seen how Professor Gareth had used an artifact to reenact the crime scene. That was undisputable evidence that couldn’t be overlooked.

What they did not know was that Professor Gareth had also determined the Memory Dial’s credibility when investigating Lucius’ disappearance. If the need ever arose, he could be counted on to defend its trustworthiness.

Chester frowned because Caspian and his subordinate had indeed told them about their failed attempt to kidnap Dim Dim.

If what the two teenagers said was true, then the Professor might uncover more secrets if he stepped into the Lionheart Society’s Club Room.

"You’ll pay for this," Chester said coldly.

"No." Alex shook his head. "YOU are the one who is going to pay. Now the Lionheart Society owes me four million."

The President of the Merchant Alliance was about to say something, but his gut instincts were telling him that Alex was serious.

As a merchant, he felt the loss of one million academy points keenly. Although the club had more than ten million academy points, this had been slowly accumulated by generations of presidents.

To think he would be the one squandering his predecessors’ hard work!

Just as Chester was about to dig a bigger hole for himself, a voice cut him off.

"That’s enough, President."

The one speaking was none other than Prince Edward Von Morwyn, the third Prince of the Kingdom of Avalon and the Vice President of the Lionheart Society.

"Alex Stratos, we cannot pay you four million academy points," Prince Edward stated. "At most, we can only pay you one million."

"No deal," Alex replied. "Either you pay me, or you dissolve your club. That’s your only choice right now, Your Highness."

"You call me Your Highness, but I don’t sense any tinge of respect in your voice," Prince Edward remarked with a faint smile.

"That’s because here in the academy, every student is equal, no?" Alex said. "It is only the nobility who can’t let go of their ranks. Why keep forcing everyone to treat you lots as a superior?

"I think it’s about time that things returned to how they used to be in the past. That was the ideal on which my uncle founded the academy."

"You’re still sticking to that bald-faced lie that the Headmaster is your uncle." Prince Edward smirked.

"That’s because it’s the truth," Alex answered.

Alex technically wasn’t lying. When Players created their custom characters, they were allowed to add Flavor Text to their background story.

Some said that they were the descendants of the Sword Saint, while others claimed that they were the secret child of the Heavenly Demon or the Demonic Cult.

It might be a bunch of nonsense, but just like how NPCs remembered your name when talking to you, ELO also remembered your backstory.

Alex might have recovered from his eighth-grade syndrome, but when he created his game character, he had come up with the most cringy backstory ever.