Though the office was spacious, it contained few desks—only three.
A main desk stood at the head of the room. The space behind it was empty, with no one seated there, and its surface was bare, without even a Crystal Ball. A massive piece of calligraphy hung on the wall behind it. It bore only a simple character: "Dao." Yet it lent the entire office an inexhaustible sense of charm.
Beyond several steps, a smaller desk stood on each side, arranged in an outward-facing V.
Vice Principal Ruo Yu sat at the desk on the left. Behind the desk on the right sat a young witch with bright eyes and pearly teeth, dressed in a plain, elegant robe. She looked to be around twelve or thirteen.
Below the smaller desks were several more steps. At their foot stood two rows of long tables, with dozens of high-backed chairs behind them, though most were swallowed by the dim, profound light. As far as the eye can see, only a few figures sat quietly behind those tables, silently listening to the argument above.
"...Demons, the Dark Council, and now those entities from the depths of the Starry Sky." Vice Principal Ruo Yu's voice was somewhat heavy. "As far as the eye can see, under the calm surface, dark currents are surging everywhere."
"Surging my ass!" The witch seated diagonally across from Ruo Yu looked young, but her tone was as old-fashioned as an elder's, no less so than any old man's. "Count them all up, and there are only a few old bastards capable of stirring up trouble or daring to reach out... If we'd followed my plan and smashed their nests early on, we wouldn't have so many damn problems now!"
"If we had followed your plan, more than half the