Chapter 187 - Agent Zero (6) (1/2)

Zero didn't see his mission partner the entire afternoon. He spent it with Kruz who gave him a private tour of the Academy grounds. Zero enjoyed the bat demon's company tremendously. It was vastly different from spending time with Truen or Baal. Kruz laughed alongside Zero at the funny things they saw and made jokes. It was a very new experience for the apprentice.

Zero learnt a fair bit about the bat demon too. Apparently, Kruz was a student accepted for his ability to do reconnaissance in ways that others couldn't. Kruz was able to transform into a tiny bat and had a superior sense of hearing and smell. Despite his physical disability with his eyes, a trait from the bat demon clan, Kruz was able to determine the location of things and objects through echolocation. Zero was excited to know how that ability worked because he had it too. It was tricky to use and Zero's head often hurt from listening to the multiple echoes when he used it.

After walking around for hours, they were famished.

”Let's head to the cafeteria,” Zero suggested and Kruz politely declined.

”I'm sorry, Zero. It's getting late, I have some matters to attend to. You should go without me...”

Zero didn't push it although he was curious about the matters Kruz had to attend to. He headed to the cafeteria alone without questions but kept a close eye on Kruz's target mark on his map. The bat demon was heading back to the dormitory so Zero decided to check in again later. His stomach protested once more and the young doctor picked up his pace. He was curious about what happened to Jeremiah but that will have to wait till after dinner. he would find out more about what happened from Lucifer after dinner when he saw him for their daily report.

***

”You're late,” the dean commented when Zero appeared from a warp portal.

In truth, Zero was only tardy by ten seconds. It wasn't anything that warranted a glare but Lucifer merely wanted to express his discontent with the brunet's actions today. He heard and saw it all from the surveillance. Baal gave him the carte blanche to chew the brunet out so Lucifer wasn't going to hold anything back.

Zero stiffened at the heavy tone of voice. That was how Baal usually sounded like when he was displeased with something Zero did. The brunet racked his memories for anything that might possibly anger the Demon Lord but couldn't find anything worth getting worked up over. He did quite a good job keeping a low profile and managed to strike off two out of five suspects from his list. Why was Lucifer so mad?

”How was your first day of school?”

The question was casual but Zero knew there was more to it than that. Carefully, he crafted his reply.

”It was interesting. I made and new friend and managed to cancel two targets from the list of suspects. I've come into contact with three out of five suspects now.”

Lucifer was genuinely pleased with the rate of progress although he wasn't too pleased with the methods Zero deployed. Also, there was a different kind of headache that came in the form of a certain librarian. He didn't involve Olaf for very good reasons. That dragon demon was almost as meddlesome as Zero was.

Lucifer wasn't speaking or looking up from his work for a while and Zero was starting to wonder if the Demon Lord had heard him. The young doctor tried to peer at what Lucifer was doing and snuck up closer to the desk, inching over with his toes.

Lucifer noticed what the boy was trying to accomplish and didn't stop him. He was too lazy to deal with Zero's weird antics at this point and waited till the teenager was close enough before flicking a pen at Zero's forehead with deadly accuracy.

The force of collision caught Zero off guard and he fell backwards onto his behind with a dull thud. The spot where pen connected with skull throbbed with ache but it wasn't anything Zero couldn't fix with some healing magic. Still, that wasn't a particularly nice thing to do.

Lucifer wanted to smirk at the pout Zero was making. Served him right. Who in the right mind would try to eat poisonous fruits, compromise their cover in front of their target and tell others that they were friends with Demon Lords? Apparently not Zero. He did all of those and to add oil to the fire, now Olaf was interested to know this fluffball.

”Do you have any conclusive evidence that those two suspects you mentioned are not involved with the plot in any manner?”

Zero blinked. Evidence? ”Does instinct count?”

Lucifer gave Zero the dead fish eye and Zero winced. That was right, instinct wasn't an acceptable reason for many. He completely forgot about that after hanging out with Baal for too long. Conclusive evidence huh...

”I have trackers on Jeremiah, Chitta and Kruz. At the moment, Chitta is contacting Lilith. I've also spoken directly with Lilith about Chitta's agenda. She's not the enemy's spy. Jeremiah is sleeping in his room now and Kruz is up to something. I have not confirmed what he is up to but I know for sure that Kruz isn't the spy. I will get the evidence tonight when I follow him out of the Academy.”

Lucifer nodded. ”Noted about Chitta and Kruz. I hope to hear some positive news. That tracker ability sure is handy. What do you think of Jeremiah?”

Zero made a face. ”I don't like him.”

Lucifer raised a brow. Is that really something a spy should be saying? ”I'm asking for your objective observation and not your opinion.”

Zero blushed and apologised. ”He's still suspicious. How can he use magic in the magic restricted zone? He was trying to harm Mr Spiff, I saw it earlier.”

Lucifer nodded. He saw that too. If it weren't for Beelzebub losing the fight to hold Zero back, he would have let it play out a little more to collect more damning evidence.

”That wasn't really magic. It was a bloodline ability and a curse. Beelzebub has reported it to me, so far Jeremiah is our biggest lead. Baal is still trying to sniff out the traitor in the staff ranks. You can rest assured, the traitor isn't Spiff or Olaf. Also, a word of caution before you retire for the night... don't get too close to Olaf. That guy's nothing but a nuisance. Give him a foot and don't expect him to return it.”

Zero gulped. ”Thanks for the warning, goodnight headmaster.”

Lucifer didn't respond and Zero left the office with his heart pounding. Talking to Lucifer was always scary in some unspeakable way. Now that the report was over, Zero wanted to know what his dear new friend was up to. Kruz has been moving in a certain pattern around a specific area but not leaving the school grounds. Zero was also sensing another target in the area. If he had to guess who it was, Zero would place bets on it being the notorious yankee of the Academy.

The young doctor wasn't disappointed when his prediction was right on the mark. A certain gargoyle that blended with the dark sky came swooping down silently on the ground in front of a tree a few metres away from the dormitory building that Kruz was residing in. The bat demon was really tiny in his bat form and Zero had difficulty spotting him from this distance. If not for the map's ability, Zero wouldn't have noticed Kruz at all.

”Are you ready?” Koblaq asked as he transformed back to his human form. Zero noted how drastically difference the gargoyle was in appearance. In his demon form, the gargoyle was something born from a nightmare with a bald head, sharp eyes with horned wings all covered in black scales. In his human form, he had inky black hair that secluded his face, walked with a slouch despite his tall figure and was rather well-built.

Kruz transformed back into his human form and Zero held his breath. He didn't know if echolocation would be able to detect him from this distance or through close windows. Thankfully, Kruz wasn't able to detect Zero from this distance.

The two students left swiftly and Zero cursed the fact that he couldn't fly. Thankfully, Lucifer didn't ban him from using magic in the Academy. He would simply have to follow them using teleportation. Thank goodness Mii was an excellent navigator.