Contessa stared at Vermil in surprise for nearly a second before she managed to pick her jaw up off the floor. Not a single piece of the scene before her made even the slightest amount of sense.

    Vermil was dead. He had to be. She’d struggled to believe it a while, but it had been so long since he’d vanished during an operation with the Enforcers that there could have been no other solution.

    There had been a small part of her that suspected he’d just cut his ties with the school and ran. But that wasn’t the Vermil that she’d come to know. She knew all too well just how much he cared about his students.

    He’d never have left them in Arbitage voluntarily. Contessa had been certain he’d just end up showing back up at some point, but days had turned to weeks passed since his disappearance and he still hadn’t returned. She’d been forced to admit that there was no way he was anything but dead.

    And now he stood before her, flanked by two of the greatest mages in the kingdom and a small horde of demons.

    Contessa’s ears rang and she reached out for the wall to support herself. She wasn’t deluded enough to think this was some sort of trick or a play by someone with Shift Runes trying to put her off guard.

    Nobody could encapsulate Vermil other than the real one. This was him.

    He’d made it out of the Damned Plains.

    “You don’t look too pleased,” Vermil observed as he stepped past her and into the room. He glanced around, then frowned. “Huh. Doesn’t feel like my place much anymore. Have you changed something?”

    “We — we put some decoration up,” Contessa said weakly. And, just in case he’d somehow failed to notice, she added, “You have demons with you, Vermil. A lot of them.”

    “Hm?” Vermil glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, yes. Don’t worry about them. I picked up some friends in the Damned Plains — and you’ve met Lee. I’m pretty sure you have. Have you?”

    Karina stared in mute shock. She’d still yet to manage to muster up a single word, and Contessa couldn’t blame her. She wasn’t entirely sure she hadn’t somehow gotten stuck in the world’s strangest nightmare.

    “She’s a demon?” Contessa asked, aghast. “I don’t understand what’s happening. I — didn’t you die? How did you survive the Damned Plains? You know the school thinks you’re dead, right?”

    “Moxie is back too,” Karina pointed out somewhat unhelpfully, finally finding her voice.

    “We had a bit of an involuntary vacation,” Moxie said. She joined Vermil in entering the room and cast a critical eye over it before giving Contessa a small nod. “I like what you’ve done with the place. N— Vermil is a horrible interior decorator. This place was depressing. You can keep the room, by the way. Don’t worry. He’s not going to try to move back in.”

    Lee ambled past Vermil and right over to the desk. She pulled a drawer open, plucking a tarp bag of dried jerky that Karina had bought a few days ago in the market. Lee popped the entire bag into her mouth, tarp and all.

    “Can I eat this?” Lee asked as she chewed.

    At least she hasn’t changed.

    “I... sure,” Contessa said. She flopped down in a chair before she tripped over her own feet and fell on her face. There had been a time when the mere sight of a demon would have probably given her a heart attack.

    Now, she couldn’t even bring herself to be scared. She was just stunned. If there was one thing in the world she could thank Vermil for, it was repeatedly shattering everything she thought possible. Ever since she’d had the misfortune of drawing his ire, he’d managed to execute the impossible.

    She was absolutely certain that Vermil had been responsible for Evergreen’s death. The old woman had put out the order for Moxie’s death and been killed in a supposed usurping no more than a few days later.

    He has to be some form of Linwick agent intentionally sabotaging his public image to go undercover... but frankly, I don’t care anymore. I just can’t bring myself to. The best thing that happened to me was him killing Evergreen. Maybe he’s even a demon himself. I don’t know.

    In the end, it struck Contessa that she didn’t care. Vermil was back. That meant two things.

    First, she would probably get to keep her room.

    Second, somebody was going to die.

    Nobody brought a horde of demons with them because they thought that horns were the new fashionable style.

    “My chin itches,” one of the demons — one who notably had no arms — said. She had long, silver hair that wrapped around her neck several times like a scarf.

    “I’ll help!” A tiny female demon that strongly resembled a child said, reaching up to aid the former demon.

    “Of course. It’s your room,” Contessa said. She found herself too tired to bother with any protests. “I’m not going to say otherwise. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Contessa.”

    “She used to be my handler,” Moxie provided. “Now she takes care of Mascot.”

    “A grand job,” the male demon said, his eyes widening in what appeared to be... respect?

    He’s impressed that I’m a cat handler? Why?

    “You have been given a great honor,” the armless demon said. “My name is Yoru.”

    “I am Aylin. I apologize in advance for any inadvertent bites I take from your soul. I have been practicing control, but I have much to learn,” the male beside her said. He nodded to the two small demons. “These are Torick and Edda.”

    “I’m Lee,” Lee said.

    “And I am Violet,” one of the female demons said. She nodded to a black-furred demon standing beside her. “This is Vrith. She doesn’t talk much.”

    Vrith stared at them and made no move to prove Violet’s words wrong.

    “Great. Good introductions,” Vermil said, clapping his hands together. “I’m sure you’ll all get on splendid.”

    “How’s that leg treating you?” Jalen asked Karina.

    “Stop that,” Vermil said, flicking the Rank 6 mage in the forehead like he was a petulant child.

    Contessa’s eyes widened. She scrunched down in her seat, preparing to get flattened by a wall of force as Jalen released his domain, but the impossibly powerful mage just cackled like a deranged old man.

    “Let a man have some fun. It was a perfectly normal question. I did make her that leg, after all.”

    “She’s suffered enough. There’s no need to be needlessly cruel,” Vermil said. His eyes darkened as he looked back to Karina. “We can save the malice for the nobles who think they can take what does not belong to them.”

    Yep. He’s definitely killing someone tonight. Why did he have to make it so obvious? I don’t want to be an accomplice!

    “Wait. So you’re just leaving the demons here?” Karina asked.

    “Is there a problem with that?” Moxie asked.

    “Yes,” Karina said, finally shaking off her stunned disbelief and managing to find proper words. “This is not a good time. Ulya is—”

    The door, which nobody had locked, swung open.

    A woman stood on the other side, two large bottles of alcohol tucked under each arm, flanked by a hooded puppet bearing a picnic basket in its hands. The advanced track professor stood on one foot, having used the other to push the door.

    “Sorry I’m late!” Ulya said. “I got side...”

    She trailed off, leaving her mouth hanging open mid-word as everyone turned to look at her.

    “Well, this is convenient. I was planning on paying you a visit before tonight. Hullo,” Vermil said. “How are the puppet repairs coming on?”

    One of the bottles of wine slipped from Ulya’s hand. Her puppet caught it, but she didn’t even seem to notice. She just stared at Vermil in slack-jawed disbelief.

    “I’m getting the feeling you might be getting this a lot,” Moxie said.

    “What the fuck?” Ulya breathed. “You’re alive?”