Surviving the Magic Academy With Just Intelligence Stats

Ambrose watched with calculated interest as the young woman made her approach, her steps graceful and measured despite being helped down from the carriage. A bright smile adorned her features as she drew near, only to be halted by the wall of Rothschild knights. With a casual gesture from Ambrose, the guards parted, allowing her to close the distance.

She executed a perfect courtly bow, her voice melodious as she spoke, "It's a pleasure to finally meet the renowned heir of the house of Rothschild. I've heard so much about you." Ambrose observed her carefully, his enhanced perception catching every minute detail of her performance. Her control was impressive - to tell such an obvious lie without the slightest change in expression spoke volumes about her merchant background. After all, what could she have possibly heard about him? To the outside world, he was merely the sickly Rothschild heir, barely worth mentioning except as an object of pity.

But something else troubled him more deeply. Despite her well-acted surprise at his presence, his heightened senses detected an underlying preparedness in her manner. It was as if she'd been expecting him, though he wondered if perhaps he was reading too much into the situation.

"You are..." he prompted, deliberately leaving the question hanging.

A flicker of genuine surprise crossed her features before she quickly recovered. "Oh! Where are my manners? I am Adelaide Brightwell, my father is Maximilian Brightwell." She delivered the introduction with perfect poise, though Ambrose could detect the growing nervousness beneath her confident exterior as his blank stare made it clear the names meant nothing to him.

The knight captain stepped forward, leaning close to whisper information in Ambrose's ear. Armed with this new knowledge, Ambrose allowed a practiced smile to spread across his face. "Oh! So it's Lady Adelaide. I've heard so much about you as well."

He caught the slight tightening around her eyes - she clearly recognized his statement for the polite fiction it was. Outwardly, however, she maintained her pleasant demeanor. "The young master is exaggerating, you can speak casually with me," she offered.

Ambrose kept his diplomatic smile firmly in place. "I don't dare, Lady Adelaide." A slight frown marred her features at his continued formality. "Tch! It's really hard to ride the coattails of someone powerful" she thought.

"Then please call me Ada," she pressed, her smile warming. "Many people call me that way."

"Alright. Lady Ada." He watched with hidden amusement as her lips twitched in barely concealed frustration.

Changing tactics, she inquired, "Can I ask where the young master is headed?"

The reaction was instant - the knight captain's sword appeared at her throat, prompting her own guards to draw their weapons. "Don't ask what you shouldn't," the captain growled. But Ambrose waved him off, and the tension dissolved as quickly as it had emerged, both sides reluctantly sheathing their weapons.

"We're headed to the Crono Magic Academy," Ambrose stated openly, watching carefully as Adelaide feigned surprise. Her act might fool others, but his enhanced perception caught the millisecond delay in her reaction. This confirmed his suspicions - she was definitely targeting him. The real question was how the information about his enrollment had leaked. Could there be spies within the Rothschild mansion itself?

"Oh! What a coincidence, I'm going there too," she exclaimed with manufactured delight. "Is it okay if I hitch a ride with you?" Her eyes met his directly, but Ambrose noticed the subtle tension in her posture, the barely perceptible anxiety she was trying to hide.

Glancing at her guards, understanding dawned. A slight smile played across his lips as he responded, "Of course, but you'll have to leave your guards." The subtle widening of her eyes told him his deduction had been correct - she was… (not telling ya lol)

…

Adelaide's composure faltered for just a moment at Ambrose's condition, but she quickly recovered her poise. While she wondered if he'd noticed something suspicious, she dismissed the concern as irrelevant to her plans. Her guards, however, didn't share her calm assessment of the situation, immediately shifting into combat stances with barely contained aggression.

"I've been keeping up with you for a while now," the Rothschild knight captain's voice cut through the tension before Adelaide could calm her men. His words carried the weight of accumulated grievances as he continued, "You blocked the young master's path, and you keep drawing your weapons in front of the young master. Are you afraid I won't get rid of you?" As he drew his sword, golden light erupted around the blade, its radiance a physical manifestation of his power.

The effect was immediate and overwhelming. Adelaide's guards collapsed to their knees, pressed to the ground by an invisible force so intense they could barely lift their heads. Their captain managed to raise his face just enough to glimpse their opponent, and what he saw made his blood run cold. The Rothschild knight captain's figure seemed to tower before him like an insurmountable mountain, the gap in their strength so vast it defied comprehension.

"Is this the strength of the Rothschilds?" he thought through gritted teeth as he transmitted a desperate message to his companions through their mental link: "The mission has failed! We're pulling out for now!" 

Despite his enhanced mental capabilities, Ambrose only sensed vague disturbances in the ambient energy. Unable to detect anything concrete from the guards themselves, he filed the observation away for later consideration.

Adelaide stepped forward, her voice carefully modulated as she pleaded, "Young master, the guards were worried about my safety and disrespected the young master. I hope the young master can show them mercy." She accompanied her words with a graceful bow, but Ambrose's keen perception caught the complete lack of sincerity in her performance. Her true motives remained opaque, but her acting was becoming increasingly transparent to his enhanced senses.

Intrigued by this ongoing deception, Ambrose gestured for the knight captain to release the guards. To his surprise, the captain remained unmoved. "I'm sorry young master! But I'm afraid I can't do that!" The resolution in the knight's voice was absolute.

"And why is that?" Ambrose inquired, genuine curiosity coloring his tone.

The captain's response was immediate and passionate: "They have repeatedly shown disrespect to the young master. If we let them go just like that, what will people think of the house of Rothschild? And what will happen to me and my team who failed to protect the young master?"

The other knights shifted nervously, and Ambrose could read the calculations running through their minds. If word of this incident reached his father, their positions would be forfeit. But if it reached his mother... they'd be fortunate to keep their lives. In their position, eliminating all witnesses was indeed the safest course of action. Better to risk the young master's temporary displeasure than face Lady Victoria's permanent wrath.

As one, the knights drew their weapons, killing intent radiating from their forms as they advanced on the helpless guards. They didn't wait for further orders – their path was already set. What followed was a brutal display of efficiency as they systematically eliminated their defenseless opponents, still pinned beneath their captain's overwhelming aura.

Adelaide observed the massacre with an impassive expression, internally noting, "So these are the knights of Rothschild." Her complete lack of reaction to her guards' slaughter was telling.

Ambrose watched the scene unfold with similar detachment, his emotional state maintained by his extraordinary skills:

[Mental Fortress](A) - Creates an exceptionally strong defense system against mental interference. The user gains 85% resistance to hypnosis and mind control attempts, 70% resistance to illusion-based abilities, and 60% resistance to mental-type damage. The skill also grants enhanced recovery from mental fatigue, allowing the user to maintain peak mental performance for extended periods.

[Rational Mind](S) - The pinnacle of logical processing, this ability maintains perfect clarity of thought regardless of circumstances. The user remains completely immune to emotional manipulation and can think clearly even under extreme stress or fear. The ability to separate emotions from decision-making becomes second nature, while also preventing mental breakdown in even the most traumatic situations, ensuring consistent rational thought processes.

These abilities allowed him to process the violence before him with clinical detachment, analyzing rather than reacting. Once their grim task was complete, the knights efficiently disposed of all evidence, their movements suggesting considerable experience with such cleanup operations.

They then approached Ambrose as one, kneeling in supplication. "We ask the young master to punish us for defying orders," they intoned in perfect unison.

Ambrose regarded them thoughtfully before sighing. "Forget it, let's keep going," he said, turning toward his carriage with Adelaide following closely.

"Thank you, young master!" the knights called out in unified gratitude.

As they approached the carriage, Ambrose spoke casually, "Do you know what I hate most?"

Adelaide, climbing in after him, was caught off guard by the sudden question. She couldn't fathom why he'd initiate such a conversation now, but decided to play along. "No, I don't! Please enlighten me, young master," she replied smoothly.

The moment she fully entered the carriage, her world turned upside down. The maid she'd noticed earlier materialized behind her with supernatural speed, pressing a knife against her throat with deadly precision. From his seat opposite her, Ambrose's voice carried a new edge of steel as he completed his thought: "I hate people who try to take advantage of me."