Large teardrops welled up in Adele’s eyes. She knew, more than anyone, that Teacher Victoria had done this for her... If she hadn’t been careless and wandered into danger, none of this would have happened. However, Adele’s thinking was still naive. True Ancestor Ron had already targeted her and Xiao Ai and wouldn’t give up. Adele would eventually face the same danger, sooner or later. The only one who could change Victoria’s fate was the Hell Queen Jormungandr.

But Victoria’s desire to save Adele transcended everything, including her own life and soul. So she unhesitatingly used her body as a vessel, making a contract with the evil god Iä! in exchange for her intervention. Bound by the contract, Iä! could only choose to protect Adele, protect...the prey she craved.

So, in a sense, Victoria’s sacrifice averted two major crises for Adele: the crisis caused by True Ancestor Ron, and the crisis posed by Iä!. In Iä!’s mind, Adele was a feast of the highest order. She even suspected that if she devoured Adele...she would understand everything! Everything about this world! As for why, Iä! didn’t know, only attributing it to her instincts as an apex predator from another world.

But now, unfortunately, to obtain Victoria’s body, she had made a contract to stop True Ancestor Ron and protect Adele, never harming her. This meant that Iä!’s desire to devour Adele was thwarted! She couldn’t harm Adele, so how could she dissect and digest her?

However, this contract wasn’t absolute. Iä! couldn’t harm Adele for a long time, but as she continued to devour the knowledge of this world using Victoria’s body, continuously growing stronger...once she reached a certain point, she would regain her former power, even surpass it, and the backlash from the contract would become insignificant.

..................

Winona rarely saw her usually carefree student cry so sadly. It turned out that it wasn’t just her who valued Teacher Victoria. Adele...also cared about her. A sense of camaraderie welled up in Winona’s heart. She raised her hand, and a tissue flew from the coffee table into her hand. Then, she handed the tissue to the girl before her.

“Wipe your tears. It’s not time to give up yet.”

“Although Teacher Victoria’s body is now occupied by the evil god Iä!,”

“It doesn’t mean her soul is completely gone.”

“There have been cases in history where the original owner’s consciousness regained control after the otherworldly parasite was killed!” Winona’s words were like a shot of adrenaline for Adele. This comfort was indeed very effective.

Adele stopped sobbing and, after wiping her tears, showed a determined expression, as if saying...

“I will definitely save Teacher Victoria!”

“Just like how she...selflessly saved me!” Well, it wasn’t “as if saying,” she had already said it.

If it were the past Adele saying this, Winona would just think she was being...delusional. But now it was different. Adele truly had the right to say this. As a quasi-legendary mage, she possessed powerful elemental magic. For a while, she might even have a chance against a weakened, lone evil god. Only after Iä! fully recovered would the huge gap in their power be revealed. But Winona wouldn’t let Iä! hide and recover completely.

She suddenly thought of a “suicide attack” method: using Adele as bait to lure Iä! out. If Adele could defeat her, great. If not...there was still the Hell Queen Jormungandr! Winona believed that Jormungandr wouldn’t save Adele for no reason, nor would she give her the power of a True Ancestor without a reason. Perhaps she had ulterior motives, but at least for now, she should protect Adele, intervening when she was in danger. Otherwise, wouldn’t all her previous efforts be wasted?

Adele wouldn’t know that Winona was actually thinking of using her as bait. Although according to Winona’s explanation, this was a risk-free attempt, if Adele knew, she would definitely look aggrieved, then willingly accept the responsibility of being bait. Because she and Winona had the same thought: to find Teacher Victoria as soon as possible and free her from the evil god’s control.

“I’m glad you have such thoughts, but this kind of thing should be left to the adults,” Winona said, seemingly reasonable, but actually subtly provoking Adele.

Adele, as expected, took the bait. Of course, even if she didn’t, Winona wouldn’t give up.

“This isn’t just a matter for you adults!”

“I must repay Teacher Victoria’s kindness...”

“Anyway, it’s settled, Headmistress Winona, don’t stop me!”

Winona thought, I wasn’t planning to stop you. But to maintain her pretense, she looked at Adele with concern and sighed, “Sigh, then be careful.”

“It’s best to choose an instructor from the Enforcement Bureau and undergo special training first.” 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

“Special training!?” Adele asked in surprise.

Winona nodded matter-of-factly. “That’s right, special training.”

“Otherwise, what if you suddenly lose control of your newfound power at the academy?”

“Don’t worry, we’re not trying to control you. Your freedom will be absolutely guaranteed.”

“No matter what you do, who you like, or where and with whom you do it, as long as it’s not in public and doesn’t violate the rules or laws, it’s your personal freedom.”

“...Ugh, you make it sound like I’m only driven by my lower body! Why is my freedom only emphasized ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ in this aspect!?” Adele complained.

But what couldn’t be changed was that Headmistress Winona had already handed over most of Adele’s recent records and information at the academy, excluding particularly private details, to the human high-ups. And this meant that Adele’s reputation as a harem king had spread throughout the Enforcement Bureau’s upper echelons. This would also deeply influence the humans’ future policies towards her. For example, they saw through Adele’s behavioral pattern, which was heavily driven by emotions. Simply put, she responded to kindness with kindness, and if you treated her badly, she wouldn’t care about humanity’s greater good. After all, she was also half-vampire and could switch sides at any time. It was for this reason that investing in Adele was a sure-win, or at least a no-loss, situation.

Moreover, they had to supervise Adele, who suddenly possessed great power, to a certain extent. Otherwise, it would be irresponsible to the students of Cromwell Academy and ordinary people. So the solution proposed by the Enforcement Bureau was to teach Adele the rules of conduct in daily life and how to control and use this power through special training, letting her learn self-management. Of course, there was also the most crucial and important step: offering her a position.

It was that simple, crude, and irresistible.