The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　As the situation continues to develop.

　The location where Dak is located has gradually become a "hidden event" for this year's Christmas.

　The students' enthusiasm continued to rise.

　Dark even spotted a few professors in the crowd... Under these circumstances, he certainly couldn't possibly spoil the fun.

　They had no choice but to have the maids go directly to the warehouse to get supplies to fill the gaps. Only then could the "event" be carried out smoothly.

　And the person "receiving the gift" changed from him alone to him, Diana, and Rose.

　Some students who weren't specifically there for him would choose the shorter queue in front of Diana and Rose.

　Those who truly want to give him Christmas presents will stand in front of him in line until they personally hand him the gifts.

　Gradually.

　Dark's expression returned to normal, and a faint smile appeared on his face. As the atmosphere of the event intensified, laughter grew louder. The students of St. Mary's Academy reunited, adding a touch of color to the night that wouldn't normally exist.

　Two o'clock in the morning.

　The entire "Christmas Blind Box" event has finally come to an end. There's nothing left around that Christmas tree.

　Dark had no idea who had given him the gifts. Fortunately, he had the foresight to have the "Magic Secretary" record the gifts and recipients beforehand, so he could check them again the next morning.

　But the thought of having to confirm the gifts for so many people...

　Then he felt a headache again.

　But since things had come to this, he could only work with everyone to collect and remove the boxes, packaging, and other trash scattered in the corridor before finally disbanding and going home.

　After hugging and saying goodbye to Pandora, Dark picked up the sleeping Guhuoniao and walked with Diana and the others towards the tower of the Noble Academy.

　Upon entering the tower, the chaotic scene in the common lounge immediately came into view.

　Dark shook his head, choosing to ignore it.

　The others were also visibly tired and simply walked through the common room. Once upstairs, they said goodnight to each other and dispersed. Dark finally returned to his dormitory, watching the magical elves carry countless gifts inside, and his recently improved headache flared up again.

　So he simply threw himself into the bathtub, choosing to escape.

　……

　This Christmas, his plan was clearly to reduce unnecessary social interactions in order to make things easier for himself.

　I never imagined things would turn out this way. "It would have been better if we hadn't planned on anything..."

　Dak relaxed his body, leaned back in the bathtub filled with hot water, stared at the white ceiling, and gradually cleared his mind.

　The next day.

　December 25th, Christmas.

　The square outside the castle was still covered with a thick layer of snow. But no one came to shovel the snow, and no one came to play in it.

　After a night of excitement, the students unanimously chose to "sleep in".

　It wasn't until the sun was high in the sky that people gradually started to come out, and the entire academy began to liven up again.

　Christmas Eve is not the end, but only the beginning. Today's main event is on Travelers' Street.

　Many students choose to spend the whole day on the Travellers Street on Christmas Day.

　They've worked hard all semester, it's time to reward themselves.

　The shops on Traveler's Street will not disappoint the students. Today will be packed with various activities, whether you want to enjoy delicious food, go on a shopping spree, or watch Christmas performances, you can find something to your liking on Traveler's Street.

　Even the All-People Duel Club holds two mock duels each on Christmas Day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and prepares generous gifts for the winners.

　Dark and Pandora had planned to spend Christmas together, originally in the morning. But now they had to postpone it to closer to noon.

　Both of them had very busy schedules, so Christmas wasn't a holiday exclusively for "couples".

　Its essence is actually "family fun," and it should be spent with family members.

　So tonight's reservation is for a family gathering.

　Dak has already had his maid reserve the largest private room at a restaurant in Traveler's Street, where a large group of people will be dining together.

　So he and Pandora met around 3 a.m., then spent an hour shopping, an hour eating, and then two more hours sightseeing together. That concluded their last date of the year.

　During their final date, Dark took Pandora to Uncle Simmons's pub to give him a gift.

　Then, unsurprisingly, he received a bottle of "elf wine" as a return gift. But of course, he didn't come for the "elf wine"; it was just Christmas, and he thought he'd drop by to see the "lonely old man."

　After that, Dark temporarily parted ways with Pandora. He then returned to his dormitory, took gifts, and visited each professor one by one. However, most of the professors were not in their dorms. Dark thought for a moment, then left some gifts behind the door and took the rest to the Hidden Laboratory.

　Sure enough, he found Professor Harvey and Professor Cazell among them. After presenting the two gifts he had prepared to the two professors, Dak took out the book "Goblin Worship" that the goblin boss had asked him to deliver to Professor Cazell.

　Professor Cazell, however, only asked who sent the gift before setting the box containing "Goblin Worship" aside.

　Once Dak delivered the gift, his mission was complete, so he naturally didn't care whether the gift was actually read or not.

　Then he looked at Professor Cazell and Professor Harvey, and asked with some confusion, "What about the other professors?"

　Professor Cazell smiled and said, "Of course, it's at (the secret base)."

　"Secret Base" is the bar most popular with professors in Traveler's Street.

　Professors are professors after all. Even though it's Christmas, they worry that being too lenient might have a negative influence on their students. That's why they choose shops that students are prohibited from entering, like "secret hideouts."

　Perhaps sensing that Dark would ask further questions, Professor Cazell added, "Tonight, a few of us professors will also be having dinner at the 'secret hideout.'" It was as if he were saying that he wasn't a "lonely old man."

　Dak smiled knowingly.

　He did indeed want to invite the two "lonely elderly people" to join the party tonight.

　But since Professors Cazell and Harvey have already made reservations, that's even better.

　For many older professors, St. Mary's College was synonymous with "home," and the professors they had worked with for many years and the students they had personally taught and nurtured were their "family."

　But on Christmas Eve, most professors will have dinner together, and even if they go to dinner with students, they will only stay for a short while.

　After all, what they really wanted was a "gathering of adults".

　After leaving the lab, Dak returned to his dormitory.

　He looked at it

　With about two hours to spare, I took out the gift list compiled by the "Magic Secretary" and looked through it.

　The gift list is formatted with grade, college, name, gift, and serial number to make it easier to find the right gift.

　With so many gifts, and the inability to throw them away or sell them, figuring out what to do with them has become a major problem.

　Upon closer inspection, Dak discovered that many of the gifts were food items with extremely short shelf lives.

　These foods are mostly cookies and pastries, and many are handmade, full of heartfelt sentiment.

　Under normal circumstances, if he mobilized the magical spirits to eat together, it wouldn't be impossible for them to finish it all.

　But he's actually leaving for the Free City tomorrow, so he won't even have time to eat.

　Therefore, it's impossible to finish all this food.

　Since they couldn't finish it, they had to find another way to dispose of it. Almost all the students had their own parties tonight, so he couldn't possibly share the food.

　That being the case...

　"I can only learn from Senior Pandora."

　Dark recalled how Pandora handled the Valentine's Day chocolates and began to make a plan.

　He had never tried to transform food into magical spirits.

　These foods, imbued with the blessings of countless students, may or may not be able to be transformed into magical spirits.

　Having come up with this idea, he began looking for usable materials from the gift list.

　As a result, all sorts of ideas began to grow in my mind.

　"While these gifts are still 'new,' we might be able to craft even more specific types of magical spirits."

　As Dak's inspiration grew, he couldn't help but feel a little itchy to get back to work.

　He took out his notebook, categorized and tallied the gifts, and then quickly devised various alchemical formulas, deciding to do a big one tonight.

　Thinking this, time flew by, and before I knew it, it was five o'clock in the afternoon.

　He quickly put down the gift list and headed towards the traveler's street.

　When he arrived at the party venue, the private room was already full. In addition to Pandora and Hephaestus Drogon, Dark had also invited Diana and Rose, Joey and Jon, Victoria and Phoenix, as well as Ellie and several maids.

　As for the two princesses, they naturally have their own royal gatherings. Meanwhile, at the Duke's residence...

　Yalvit also hosted a small family dinner.

　Besides her and Claire, the attendees included Diana, Rose's parents, Joey and Jon's parents, and of course, Ashe and the other maids.

Chapter 1404 Family Gathering and Cake (4k)

　The party begins.

　Ash and Ellie then used "Telepathy" to project their respective gatherings onto the opposite side, connecting the two parties.

　Seeing Alvette smiling in the projection, Dak felt a little relieved.

　The Duke's mansion is certainly better informed than he is.

　Since Arvit is laughing so happily, the situation in the Free City must be pretty good.

　Instead of immediately inquiring about the situation, he joined everyone present in wishing the elders a "Merry Christmas."

　Children born in peacetime are different from those born in wartime. At their teens, they are far from being independent.

　The busyness of studying may lessen their longing for their families, but when Christmas arrives, those thoughts become irrepressible.

　None of the people present planned to travel to and from the capital during this short holiday, so they could only communicate by letter.

　This is why Dark is hosting this "family gathering" tonight. Diana, Rose, Joey, and Jon were visibly happy to see their parents.

　Seeing them so happy made him even happier. However, to accommodate Ash and Ellie, the "video call" only lasted half an hour.

　Half an hour later, all the dishes were served, and everyone happily began to enjoy the food.

　When they had almost finished eating, Ashe and Ellie used "Telepathic Connection" to connect the two gatherings.

　So the children and their parents began to express their longing for each other once again.

　It was only then that Dak inquired about the Free City.

　The answer I received wasn't bad.

　The Christmas activities in the City of Liberty started yesterday morning and have continued for almost two days tonight.

　During this period, some chaos did occur, but it was all detected and resolved in advance.

　This is thanks to the "Ghost Hunting Quest" issued by the Adventurers' Guild in the Free City.

　Although it's Christmas, the mission is "ghost hunting." The mission is simple: find and report suspicious individuals.

　The adventurers had originally planned to rest and celebrate these two days, so they naturally didn't mind receiving a generous reward for their mission while celebrating Christmas.

　Many people viewed this task as a "fun Christmas activity," with the mindset that "catching it is a win," and while casually browsing, they paid extra attention.

　Then, just like in a lottery, someone was lucky enough to discover the "suspicious person".

　These "suspicious individuals" are of course not necessarily "suspicious." But at this critical time, it's better to be safe than sorry. In short, even if the wrong person is arrested, we can only make him suffer for a few days.

　Under this "no leniency even if wrongful arrests are made" approach, the security situation in the Liberty City reached its highest point in recent times during Christmas.

　Those adventurers who accept "ghost-hunting quests" are themselves one of the sources of chaos.

　Now that they've become "ghost hunters," one less source of chaos has been eliminated.

　However, the "ghost-catching mission" is only the surface.

　It was impossible to entrust the task of maintaining order entirely to adventurers.

　Members of various factions gathered in the City of Freedom, through coordination within the city, have temporarily formed a "Demon Extermination Team".

　Although each faction only sent a portion of its members to join, the "demon-slaying group" still became extremely powerful.

　Among them, Archbishop Sabrina Melville from the Holy Church even brought a divine artifact that could see through the disguises of demons.

　Any demon that appears within the range of that artifact will be seen through and locked onto.