As the footsteps of her roommates faded down the stairwell, Louisa unzipped her backpack and pulled out a device resembling an eyeball.

She aimed it at Sonya's seat and activated it. The eyeball emitted a pale blue light, transforming everything in its path into varying shades of purple. The deeper the purple, the more frequently someone had touched the object. Sonya's wooden sword, for instance, boasted a hilt almost completely dyed purple.

Yes. Adele had faced pressure from her family. How could Louisa, a merchant's daughter, possibly remain uninvolved? While everyone openly tried to curry favor with Sonya, the dazzling red comet that had taken Cailleach by storm, secret probes into her affairs were inevitable.

Sonya had been a sorcerer for far too short a time. That fact served as both her greatest weakness and the reason people coveted her. She lacked the time to build a solid circle of friends. Normally, every Sacred Realm sorcerer relied on supporters seeking favor or fellow genius sorcerers sharing similar ideals. Outsiders wishing to buy their way in or infiltrate those circles found no openings to exploit.

But such was not the case for Sonya. Her meteoric...