Chapter 262: Petty vs Petty

Just from the tone, Vlad could tell that Lirien was furious. Well, he already had a vague idea what it was about.

"Yes, Miss Principal," Vlad answered, stepping forward.

Lirien’s little doll hands didn’t even grab the report, crossing in front of her small frame.

"Throwing yourself into danger without any regard for your life!" Lirien began in a loud tone, making the four students behind Vlad flinch. They felt as if they had been struck by a blizzard from her voice. "Minus Six Thousand Credits!"

"Damn!" Vlad instinctively gasped loudly.

"Pfft—" Hugo almost laughed out loud, but Alisha immediately slapped her hand over his mouth, silencing him. She was also struggling to hold back her laughter at the way Vlad had exclaimed.

Lirien glared at Vlad with her white eyes. "Do you think this is funny?"

Vlad shook his head. "I just lost a huge amount of money. Why would I find it funny? I’m shocked," he answered innocently, as if he had been wrongly accused.

Seraphina, standing behind him, released a sigh. ’Please stop running your mouth, idiot,’ she murmured inwardly, facepalming.

Lirien’s glare only hardened at Vlad. She stood on her little feet on the chair, her hands placed on her waist as she continued, "Using impure mana that might have led to permanent harm to the body!"

’So cute,’ Vlad murmured inwardly, his eyes drawn to her doll form, her chubby cheeks, and the way she tried to look imposing with her hands at her waist.

"Minus Two Thousand Credits!" Lirien declared.

’The hell with cute,’ Vlad muttered, a frown appearing on his face. ’She is a devil.’

"Staying back to recklessly fight against a Five-Ring Necromancer that could have cost you your life!" Lirien’s voice remained sharp. "Minus Five Thousand Credits!"

Vlad’s jaw tightened. He was about to speak when Lirien continued, "Making your friends worry sick about you! Minus Three Thousand Credits!"

Now everyone present in the office was stunned. Even Aldric, standing behind Lirien, raised an eyebrow in mild surprise.

Vlad’s eyes narrowed at her, yet she didn’t stop there. "Making your friends cry! Minus Two Thousand Credits!"

Hugo and Alisha exchanged confused glances. That didn’t seem like a valid reason to cut his credits.

"Being a total jerk by not visiting your worried friends after returning! Minus Four Thousand Credits!"

"The hell!" Vlad snapped back, veins bulging across his temples. "What does any of that have to do with my evaluation of the quest?" he demanded, his deep tone echoing through the room.

"Are you talking back to me?" Lirien muttered, jumping onto the table from the chair.

"I’m demanding a fair evaluation," Vlad replied in the same tone. "The quest had a reward of ten thousand credits. Yet you cut twenty-two thousand of my credits. How come I’m ending up in debt after finishing an S-Ranked Quest?"

"I’m the Principal. My evaluation is fair," Lirien declared with a retort. "Who would dare raise a question about my evaluation?"

"I do," Vlad’s response came instantly. "I demand a formal appeal."

"Denied."

"You didn’t even hear my appeal!"

"I heard enough."

Vlad pointed accusingly at her.

"This is tyranny!"

Lirien pointed back.

"This is education!"

Seraphina wanted to step forward and stop Vlad from making it any worse, but she couldn’t move her legs. Not because she was afraid. This current situation seemed extremely entertaining to her. For the first time, she was seeing someone being even pettier than Vlad. She wanted to see more of their verbal clash.

On the other side, Aldric should have stopped Lirien when she began cutting Vlad’s credits for no apparent reason. But seeing someone actually talking back to her without fear in their eyes was a breath of fresh air for him. He wanted to see more of their verbal clash.

Vlad clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, his face turning red with anger.

"You are being extremely unreasonable, cutting my credits for childish reasons!" he muttered, his brows knitting together.

"Ch-childish reasons?" Lirien gasped as if greatly offended. "Not meeting your friends after returning is not a childish reason to deduct credits!"

"Both Chloe and Seraphina came to pick me up at the Forest," Vlad growled. "I already met my roommate yesterday, and I was planning to meet Max today."

He facepalmed, releasing a sigh. "Why am I even explaining any of this to you?"

"So you met all of your close friends, huh?" Lirien demanded, her silver doll eyes narrowing at him.

"Yeah, I met everyone," Vlad answered, clearly irritated.

Lirien’s chubby cheeks puffed up like balloons. If it wasn’t a doll form, Vlad might have seen the moisture appearing in her eyes.

"Minus one thousand credits!" she declared, jumping back onto the chair. She sat there with her arms crossed, facing its backrest.

"Y-you..." Vlad muttered, clenching his teeth.

Now that the show seemed to have reached its end, Aldric finally stepped forward. "Miss Principal, you are abusing your authority—."

"Shut up," Lirien hissed, giving him a sharp glare.

Aldric’s heart almost jumped out of his chest from her murderous glare. It had been years since he had seen her this furious.

"Could I take it from here?" he asked, keeping his tone professional.

"Hmph, do whatever you want!" Lirien retorted. A sudden snowstorm appeared inside the office, rapidly rotating the chair where Lirien was sitting. Hair fluttered, and eyes were forced closed from the sharp wind. When the storm vanished, the empty office chair was revealed, rotating for a few more rounds.

On the opposite side of the table from the chair, Vlad’s figure was completely frozen inside a pillar of ice.

"Vlad," Seraphina gasped, stepping forward. She was about to use her fire to melt the ice when several cracks spread across the pillar, followed by flickers of crimson lightning.

Boom!

The pillar exploded into shards of ice outward. Alisha formed a shield of light to protect the trio from being hit by the ice shards.

"Th-that... ch-childish... un-unreasonable old hag," Vlad muttered, his teeth chattering from the cold while his blood boiled like lava.