"I might have told Veilmaster Silent Rose that the black wraps were bandages and not artifacts."
Ormon looked at Simon with a slight raise of his brows.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
Simon still had the same cheeky smile as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Well, Veilmaster Silent Rose noticed the Black Wraps and she knew that I was not wearing anything of sort before the trial, so she asked."
"I decided to lie to her because I didn’t want it to be known that I used an artifact during the trials since artifacts were banned in the trials."
"After all, it wasn’t my fault that I stumbled upon these black wraps."
Simon paused and nonchalantly shrugged.
"Basically, I didn’t want to expose all my cards to her and before entering the academy."
"I just wanted to keep them hidden because I knew how I was going to be treated once I entered the academy."
Ormon narrowed his eyes and hummed softly after hearing Simon’s words.
Because Simon lied to him earlier, he could not completely trust Simon.
Although he found it suspicious that the manner in which Simon obtained the artifacts was so convenient for Simon in the sense that none would be able to ask him some questions.
For example, if he took Simon to the Blackwind Valley and asked Simon to show him where he fell inside the hole, it would be convenient and believable for Simon to say that he had no idea where the hole was because he was running away from a Prime Dread Beast.
Simon was a Lesser Demon during the trials, and it would be very normal for him to be running for his life and not be keeping account of where he was running to.
Also, Simon becoming unconscious when he fell was also convenient for him because none could ask him to describe what he saw.
’He said the last thing he heard was the sound of his body falling into a body of water.’
Ormon narrowed his eyes.
’I can use my sources to obtain information on locations in the Blackwind Valley that have water underground. Maybe I’ll be able to find something.’
After thinking about everything Simon said for some seconds, he finally spoke.
"I know of Silent Rose, and last I heard of her, she’s on a mission outside the clan."
Simon’s eyes flickered with hidden relief.
"So, luckily for you, I can’t speak to her now."
Simon nodded, acting like he understood and not showing any visible signs of the relief he felt.
"As for everything you said, I’ll make my own findings."
Simon nodded once again, but Ormon’s gaze and aura suddenly became cold and sharp.
"But just know that if I find out that you lied to me, you’re going to be in serious trouble with me."
Simon nodded with a solemn expression once again.
"I understand."
Ormon nodded, then he asked one more question.
"When you got those black wrappings, did you maybe have some information about the black wrappings appear in your mind after you woke up? Did you have a dream? See a spirit? Or anything at all?"
"Do you know the rank of the artifact and its name?"
Simon’s eyes flickered with a calculating light, then he shook his head.
"I didn’t receive any information about the black wraps."
He paused for a moment, then he looked at the Chaos Wraps with a slight furrow of his brow.
"For some reason, I believe that when I become an Archfiend I’d instinctively know more about them or there would be a change because I would be able to control my chaos by then."
Ormon nodded a few times.
"That might actually happen. It’s not uncommon for an artifact to unlock its true ability and power when the owner reaches the required heart rank."
Simon said nothing, but internally, he was hoping that Ormon was done questioning him.
The more questions he was asked, the higher the probability of him slipping up.
A few seconds later, he raised a brow when he saw Ormon open his palm and two objects appeared on his palm from his spatial ring.
He instantly recognized the two objects.
One was his mask, and the other was the robe of a First Year Initiate.
"Your mask was badly damaged, so I hired a blacksmith to fix it for you and I also hired a rune master to add a few runes to it."
Ormon threw the mask at Simon, and Simon caught it with slightly wide eyes.
The mask was the same as before, but when he checked the interior of the mask, he saw that there were chaos runes engraved on it.
"What do these runes do?" He asked with a curious tone.
"One rune controls the temperature of the mask. Just pour your demonic energy and intent into it, and if you want the mask to be cool or hot, the rune would do that for you."
"I know how it feels to be wearing a mask when I’m sweating and hot or when it’s freezing. It’s so annoying."
Simon’s eyes could not help but widen slightly when he heard the rune Ormon added to his Broken Smile Mask.
He had wanted to add this feature but because he had other important things to do, he always pushed it to the side.
But Ormon was not done yet.
"I also added a rune that cleans the mask. When you start going on missions, you’ll know how important this rune is to you."
"And the last rune I added is a self-repair rune. As long as the damage done to the mask is not a lot, the rune would repair the mask, saving you time and money in the future."
Simon could not help but look at Ormon with a baffled and surprised expression.
He never expected Ormon to do this for him, and though he knew that all these things he did were cheap to Ormon, it was still a great help to Simon nevertheless.
"Thank you." He said sincerely, and this was one of the few times Simon was being sincere with Ormon.