William was nervous, today was his first day in the Raven Academy. He sat alone at the back of the class, he was offered to sit beside a lot of people, but he refused all because he just didn’t feel comfortable around people.

But from his seat in the back, he still heard the chit chatter of his classmates. From the chatter he understood that they were having a student for a teacher. That didn’t make sense to him, why would the Raven Academy make a student a teacher?

But then he heard the reason, and his fear skyrocketed. Their new teacher was a poison master apprentice and a well know murderer in the Raven Region. He was called the Dark Eyed Demon, he is a rank 3 magus apprentice and the reason for why he was here teaching them was that he blew up the whole city of Valaq, killing almost over 300,000 people in the action.

He was not excited to meet this man; he was born in a city too. He was not a lord or anything else, he was born to a father who is a blacksmith and a mother who is a cock in a tavern. So, he knows truly what it is like to live in a city, and the worst part is that his city was only 2 days away from Valaq. That only made his fear for his parents greater, he only hoped that the man would never have a mission in his city.

The chatty class went silent in a nanosecond the moment the door slammed open. William reckoned that if he dropped a needle then he would hear its voice crashing on the floor.

Entering the classroom was a man so terrifying that it made the hairs on William’s arms stand at attention. He wore a black magus robe with a golden raven at the heart area. His black hair was trimmed short, and from what he could see, his skin was coppery. But that was all that visible, that’s because of the white skull mask he was wearing. A mask that was truly terrifying, it looked alive to William.

William then looked at the man’s eyes, and he almost peed his pants. They were all black, there was not white in them. William felt the second he looked at them like he was being swallowed by the abyss to never return again. They were empty and cold, they looked at everyone like they were no better than ants.

The man’s voice sounded throughout the silent classroom. “I’m to be your new teacher, my name is Adrius Caseo.” His voice was like two rocks rubbing against each other. It made William shiver.

“There is only one rule in my classroom, and that is: My words are law. So, if you weaklings ever object or don’t do what I ordered then I will make you all wish for death. Understood?” The threat was clear to everyone, the whole class nodded.

“Good, now, any questions before I start?” To everyone’s shock a girl raised her hand. She was a pretty girl, noble from the way she was sitting and the way she talked with people. She had long black hair that reached her waist, icy blue eyes that for some reason were not so icy while looking at their teacher and a graceful figure.

“Yes?” The Demon asked the girl, William didn’t know her name, he didn’t speak with her.

The whole class's attention was on the girl, she cleared her throat and asked. “I have two questions, Your Highness, may I ask them?” Her only answer was a hum that indicated that she could.

“First of all, did you really blow a whole city and kill 300,000 people?”

Adrius didn’t laugh or anything, but just spoke in that cold manner William thought creepy. “Yes, I did.” William can swear that the moment Adrius uttered the words the girl looked at him like he was some god.

But that news only made William and the whole class more anxious and afraid of the man in front of them.

He spoke of killing this much mortals like it was nothing.

After the metaphorical hearts vanished from the girl’s eyes, she asked the second question. “My second question is, would you like to go out with me?” Several gaps were heard from the students. This girl was crazy, asking such question to a magus apprentice that is stronger than her is like suicide.

Adrius still answered in that cold tone. “No, I’m married, and expecting a child soon.” The girl’s smile didn’t disappear. “Your point, Your Highness?” That earned her another round of gasps. William heard several of his female classmates whisper between them the word: whore.

Adrius seemed to have enough of this conversation as he sat down on his chair and started talking. “You are too weak, when you are stronger ask me again.” That made the girl put on a determined expression, like her life depends on her getting stronger as fast as possible.

“Now,” Adrius spoke again, this time sounding more bored, “I’m to teach you poison and how to control your magic. So, you need to learn something, poison is not a game. It is an art. If I see one of you do something that degrades poison or make a trash that they call poison I will make them drink it even if it kills them. Am I clear?”

William’s back went rigid, he didn’t know anything about poisons, he chose the class because it was a free class in the academy. Now it seems that this class is his death sentence.

It seems that most of the students in the classroom were having the same idea as William as most of their forms were tense and looked like they were going to break apart at the next second.

“Now,” Adrius’ voice sounded again, “I want to see your level of poison making, so, I want you to make me a poison, it has to be a mortal level poison because you weaklings can’t make something stronger. The recipes are in the closet there.” Suddenly the closet behind William opened and showed two rows of books. William sighed a sigh of relief but then Adrius spoke and it vanished. “Ah, also, the student who makes the worst poison will drink it.”