It was early in the morning when Wolf approached Mage Academy’s gate. He expected the street to be as empty as usual, but that wasn’t the case.

In the frosty morning air, Anna stood in front of the gate, her arms folded as she tapped her foot. Even without looking at her face, Wolf could tell she was furious. The frown and bloodshot eyes were just icing on the cake.

The young woman kept glancing left and right, looking for someone, and as soon as she saw Wolf she trained her gaze on him.

The moment they locked their eyes, Wolf had a feeling he was staring at a volcano about to erupt, ready to burn all life to death.

For an instant, the young man faltered. He felt like running away, but after a moment, he clenched his teeth and bravely marched on, looking very much like a soldier heading towards certain death.

Anna was furious and devastated. She felt betrayed and humiliated. Not even a day had passed after her birthday party, after the man she loved asked for her hand in marriage, and the son of a bitch went whoring.

Seeing the whoring sleaze-ball show his face she felt like killing him. But she tried to calm down. There was still the possibility that someone was toying with her, the same way they did when they sent her Wolf’s obituaries.

“Wolf, open that folded space right now,” she growled. “We need to talk.”

Despite believing herself to be calm, Anna nearly started screaming at Wolf as soon as she saw him. Fortunately, it was very early in the morning. There were only a couple of people on the street, none of them important. But even those four people were more than enough to spread the word of the brewing scandal.

“Anna calm down.” Wolf tried to defuse the situation.

He didn’t care about anyone hearing their fight, but the haggard looking Anna seemed like she needed a hug and some warmth, not an argument.

“I am calm! Cast the bloody spell already,” Anna screamed like a shrew.

Everyone, aside from Anna, clearly knew she was very far removed from the realm of calm and on the verge of exploding from hysteria.

Wolf helplessly sighed, and Anna shot him a murderous look because of it. Those eyes were screaming a ‘don’t you dare’.

Left without an option, Wolf opened the folded space. If Anna was going to shout at him, it was better to do it somewhere private.

Besides, Wayde said that after couples quarreled, they were supposed to passionately make up, and everything would be fine. That wasn’t a scene for downtown Silver City.

Wolf walked into the folded space feeling torn. On one hand he dreaded what was to come, while on the other he was looking forward to it.

Anna followed behind him. There was no hesitation in her eyes, no conflicted feelings. The only thing there was distilled rage and the feeling of betrayal.

“What the fuck were you doing last night?” Anna shouted, losing all semblance of control to the point that she started cursing in front of Wolf, which happened very rarely.

I wonder if she’d laugh if I told her that was exactly what I was doing last night, Wolf wondered and itched to say it, but restrained himself.

There was no need to add oil to the fire. Instead it was better to play it cool.

“I went to the brothel. If I remember correctly, you said you were fine with that?” Wolf said calmly, somehow still maintaining the expression of a person with the moral high-ground.

“Fine your foot! What do you think you’re doing there when you have a girlfriend?” Anna yelled. “You asked me to marry you yesterday! I— I— What about the things we did after the party? Was that not enough? What the hell is wrong with your head?”

Anna screamed at Wolf as tears ran down her face.

“Wait, hold up,” Wolf said calmly. “What’s up with this? You said I can do whatever I want in brothels. It’s not like I’m there just to have fun. I’m using those women to improve myself.”

Wolf tried to point out that Anna said he was allowed to go to brothels, as well as that he was benefiting from it.

From a certain perspective, he really was telling the truth. After the first two to three women the rest felt like doing a chore.

“You’re improving yourself?” Anna screamed hysterically, the letter and drawings flashing through her mind.

“Maybe I should go around and improve myself,” she shouted, unaware of what she said in her fit.

Unexpectedly, Wolf didn’t raise his voice when Anna said those words. He didn’t even feel a flair of jealousy. Instead the thing that immediately took over was his insatiable curiosity.

Is there a method for women to improve themselves as well? Wolf frowned, confusion evident in his eyes. If there’s a technique where a male can trick a female into believing she created a new life, there could be one for women as well.

“You know how to do that?” the young man asked, with a slight frown.

Anna’s face twisted. Those words sounded like a jeer. It was Wolf saying ‘you don’t want to do it with me, but you will go around and do it with others?’

This jab of Wolf’s, which never happened in his mind, made Anna feel even angrier and more ashamed.

Does he really have such a low opinion of me? she wondered as her lip quivered.

“How could you even think something like that, you, you beast?” she spat out.

Wolf’s frown deepened. It’s like we’re speaking a different language.

That’s when he remembered a piece of advice he heard from Wayde. Men and women can’t understand each other. If you're fighting, show her you love her through actions, rather than words.

Wolf realized that the more they talked the more he would get mired in a hopeless situation. He decisively approached Anna, wanting to grasp her ass as he moved in for the kiss.

Wayde said that sex and snuggling were the best ways to make up and that they solved all arguments.

Unfortunately Wolf didn’t get the chance to test it. When he was a step away from Anna she tried to push him back, sending herself away from him.

“You reek of cheap perfume,” she sobbed, once more breaking down into tears.

Wolf approached her once more and the woman started weakly pushing away his chest.

Wolf mistook Anna touching his chest as a sign of acceptance. He hugged her, which really was something Anna needed at the moment.

Then he slid his hand down and squeezed her bony butt. Anna, who had just calmed down a bit, coming to terms with what had happened, suddenly jolted.

In her stunned moment of disbelief, Wolf moved to undress her, but Anna jumped at him like a feral cat and started clawing and kicking.

“Maniac! Pervert! Is that the only thing you think about?” She shouted and kicked Wolf in the crotch before storming out of the folded space.

Anna’s hands and legs hurt. She’d broken several nails and she was sobbing as she went into the Mage Academy grounds.

While Anna fled, full of rage she couldn’t vent, Wolf let out a pained groan. His body was tough, but the spot between the legs had no muscles, nor any defensive properties worth mentioning.

Wolf was used to being hurt and the physical impact from being kicked in the crotch was something he could ignore, but the meaning behind the act and the emotional pain behind it were a different story.

Wolf was sad at first. Then, just like always, his sorrow turned into anger. Wolf got up, but had no idea how to vent his feelings. It’s not like he could kick Anna back, it would be pointless. After a moment he stormed out of the folded space, collapsing it behind himself.

He entered the Mage Academy’s campus, but didn’t feel like facing Wayde at the moment. His advice was crap. Anna really calmed down after the hug, but she didn’t want to settle their problems properly after that.

Wolf paced around randomly, slowly drifting away from the student block. He was lost in thought, his face dark. Plenty of people saw him. In fact the way he walked around made him all the more noticeable. Whoever found themselves on his path immediately backed away, regardless of their status.

Students and Mage Academy staff alike had the same impression when they saw him. A furious beast was roaming around and it was best to stay out of its way.

Finally, after roving the grounds for an hour, Wolf found himself in a part of the campus he’d never before visited.

This neighborhood was quite different from the block with student dormitories. The buildings looked worn out and even a bit run down. The Mage Academy, which was famous for being rich and the best educational institution, seemed to be cutting corners when it came to this district.

Wolf looked up and saw a sign saying ‘District 5’.

Glancing to the side, he saw that the building next to him had a large seventeen. Wolf finally realized where he was. For some reason a thought came to him, a long ignored invitation to “talk”. Wolf went down the street and entered the building number twenty-three. Inside he saw an elderly woman sitting on a chair, her eyes droopy.

“Who are you looking for Lord Mage?” The woman intently looked at the floor as soon as she noticed that Wolf had five stars on his uniform.

In fact she never even looked at his face, after confirming he wasn’t a random nobody.

“Is Mandy here?” Wolf asked.

Anger seeped into his voice, making the old woman minding the door have a feeling li’l Mandy was in deep trouble.

Nobody forced her to stay here. They warn all of us about what could happen to you once you become a servant.

There was nothing the old lady could do. Despite her age, she too was a servant, trying her hardest to advance as a Mage and become someone respectful.

“She is Lord Mage. She lives in apartment seven,” the woman said emotionlessly, never raising her gaze from the ground, trying not to think about what the tenant had done to have a Mage come after her in such early hours of the morning.

Unaware of her bizarre thoughts, Wolf thanked the woman then went up the flight of stairs. Soon enough he came in front of the door with a worn out number seven nailed into it.

He looked at the door and after hesitating for a moment knocked forcefully.