Chapter 565: Eyes That Linger In The Shadows Despite Charles’ worries, the Bestiary Class ended on a good note. Although Diona’s way of teaching was a little crude—or rather, very crude, because she called everyone maggots—the lesson was actually quite informative. Even Alex and Renard found her teaching quite easy to understand. Chuck also learned many things about survival, while the other boys finally had a new Professor to simp for. Diona watched as the students left her class. Her apathetic gaze changed the moment her eyes landed on Alex’s back. It was as if she wanted to pierce it with her hand. Of course, she couldn’t possibly do that... at least not now. The Paragon of Space had placed safeguards across the academy to prevent his students from getting hurt by her. When she was certain that her students were out of sight, she beckoned to something from the entrance of the forest. A small creature the size of her hand jumped from one of the tree branches and landed on her shoulder. "Follow him and report to me anything of importance," Diona ordered the small Black Wolf Spider without looking at it. The spider clicked its mandibles a few times to acknowledge its Master’s order. It jumped into the air and turned invisible, disappearing without a trace. Diona smiled faintly before taking off her glasses and the hair clip holding her unruly hair together. All of her classes for the day were over, so she no longer had to follow Morax’s instructions and look the part. Morax had the power to command the members of the Void-Touched. Needless to say, his orders were absolute. Even if she didn’t want to look prim and proper in front of her students, she had no choice but to do so. ——— As Alex and his friends walked toward the dormitory, Dim Dim turned around to look behind them. The little bun blinked once then twice before looking left and right as if trying to find something. But after seeing nothing, it scratched the side of its head. Since it didn’t find anything, it assumed that it had just been imagining things. Unbeknownst to it, the Black Wolf Spider remained frozen in place, waiting for the little bun to stop looking at its surroundings. A few minutes later, Dim Dim bade Alex goodbye and went to play with its friends on the farm. Sometimes, Alex would accompany it so that he could have dinner with Fran and Finn despite noticing that Finn seemed to dislike his visits. The young man wasn’t dense. He knew that Finn didn’t like him. Fran had once told him that she and her brother were inseparable ever since they had lost their parents in an accident. However, after the events that transpired inside the Whispering Dungeon, Finn understood that no matter what he did, he would be unable to kick Alex out of Fran’s life from that moment onward. And that made him grumpy. Alex was like an itch on his back that he couldn’t scratch no matter what. "Will you have dinner with us in the cafe later?" Chuck asked Alex as soon as he placed his books on his desk. "No," Alex replied. "I’ll have dinner with Lavinia and Fran before we make our way to the port where the flying ships are docked." "You’re going to elope with both of them?" Chuck arched an eyebrow. "Can I tag along?" "No, you silly goose," Alex scoffed. "Only Lavinia and I will visit the Clawford Tribe. Fran is busy right now, so she can’t go with us. And you need to study for the exams. If I take you with me, Mary will definitely strangle your neck when we get back. Heck, she might even strangle me too!" "... Yikes." Chuck lightly touched his neck because he was certain that Mary would indeed do that if he escaped. "Then just bring me back a souvenir." "I can do that." Alex nodded. "I’ll take a shower first." The young man then headed to the bathroom, while Chuck went to the closet to get a change of clothes. Perched right outside the window, the Black Wolf Spider leapt away to inform her Mistress about this piece of information. It had been briefed that if Alex were to leave the academy at any point in time, it must tell her right away. Several minutes later... Alex left the room wearing casual clothes. Lavinia was already waiting for him in the common room. She had also showered a bit because she had sweated a lot during Martial Arts Training earlier. "Let’s go," Alex said and held Lavinia’s hand, not caring about the looks that the other students were giving them. "Is it really okay?" Lavinia asked. "I might be intruding on your time with Fran." "I already asked her for permission if you can join us for dinner, and she agreed," Alex replied. "You have nothing to worry about." Since he and Fran would also go on a journey next week to head to the Shadow Forest, Alex thought that it would be a good idea for Lavinia and her to get closer. The Catgirl was already very close with Latifa. There were even times when Lavinia would sleep over at the clock tower and listen to Lumi’s stories about Alex’s most embarrassing moments. The Alter had made it her habit to stalk the young man while invisible. Because of this, she was able to see many sides of Alex that not many knew about. Latifa didn’t always merge her consciousness with her Alters because she also respected their freedom and privacy. Only when Lumi was guarding Alex on important missions would Latifa connect her senses with her, ready to support them if ever they faced danger that they weren’t able to handle by themselves. When they arrived at the farm, they saw the white smoke that was coming out of the chimney of Fran’s and Finn’s house. Alex didn’t hesitate to knock on the door to inform Fran that they had arrived. The door opened, and the first person they saw was Finn. "Come in," Finn said unenthusiastically. "Fran is almost done with her cooking." Alex thanked the dwarf and followed him towards the dining room. The house where they lived was big enough to accommodate a family of six. This house had already been here when Fran and Finn enrolled. After hearing that they wanted to have a small farm, the Headmaster had given them permission to live in the house and tend the land around it. Truth be told, Alex was curious why the two dwarves were given such privileges by the Headmaster. However, he never asked this question as a sign of respect to Fran’s private life. To his surprise, Dim Dim was already setting the table. "You’re such a hard worker, Dim Dim," Alex praised the little bun after it placed a plate in front of him. Dim Dim then placed a spoon and fork right beside the plate before raising its body with pride. "Ahem!" Lavinia giggled and lightly patted the little bun’s head. According to Alex, Dim Dim decided it wouldn’t accompany them to the Clawford Tribe. Its reason? It wanted Alex to spend time alone with Lavinia and didn’t want to become a third wheel! But in truth, Dim Dim had already made plans to explore the Mistral Weave Forest with Daisy and Rex during the weekend. The Crimson Furred Monkeys had offered to be their guide, so the little bun had accepted their invitation. Alex was a little bit happy about this development because that would give him some alone time with Lavinia, which rarely happened. "Time to eat," Fran said, carrying two trays of food in each hand. She was stronger than most dwarves, so caring this much at once didn’t pose a problem to her. Alex’s gaze on his sister didn’t escape Finn’s notice. Although he had already "accepted" their relationship in his own way, he still didn’t like Alex. For him, the young man was taking his only family member away from him. This made Finn feel annoyed, anxious, and sad. None of the five who were eating their dinner in peace noticed the Black Wolf Spider watching them while hanging from the ceiling of the house. Its beady eyes locked onto Finn’s troubled expression. Clearly, it sensed the dwarf’s complicated feelings. And this was something that might prove useful to its Master, who also didn’t like Alex very much.