I Swear I'm Not a Demon Masquerading as a Human

Chapter 70: Lance's Sincerity

Inside the art classroom, the assessment had already begun in a quiet atmosphere. Slender silver lamps hanging on the walls cast a warm glow over the tidy frames, and they illuminated the room where long wooden benches were arranged.

The air was filled with the faint scent of paint and canvas. Mogut, a senior art instructor, stood in a black vintage suit. The red silk bowtie at his chest shimmered slightly, lending him an air of solemn dignity in the soft light. He held a painting, a work rich in depth and mystery, waiting to see if any student would volunteer to answer.

The classroom was silent, heavy with a palpable sense of pressure. If no one stepped forward the teacher would randomly select a student to begin the first round of questioning.

However, at that very moment, someone had unexpectedly raised their hand. Everyone looked at that brave student. Hyperion was holding her right arm up, staring blankly. Her amber eyes were wide with shock, as if she could hardly believe her own actions. Her arm had been forcibly controlled by some external power.

A moment later, she realized what had happened. She turned to the side and saw a hawk-eyed demon sitting to her right. His pupils were fixed intently on her, their bright gleam standing out sharply in the dim classroom. Clearly, this guy was using mental magic on her!

If Hyperion started first and the turn order proceeded clockwise, then the hawk-eyed demon would be the fifth person to answer in the first round. That would give him the most time to analyze and deduce the answer.

"Then, let us begin with you."

Mogut was evidently aware of what was happening, but such were the rules of the classroom. Students were expected to play to their strengths, and the use of underhanded strategies was permitted.

Hyperion's expression darkened instantly. She had no means to counter or defend against mental magic cast at such close range. Furthermore, if she were the first to answer, Lance, seated to her left, would be the second student to take his turn. She cast a guilty glance at him, feeling as though she had gotten him into this mess.

She then looked at the artwork. Indeed, she couldn't tell whether the painting was good or bad.

Was this just a guessing game? There was a fifty-fifty chance of surviving this round or failing instantly. Just as Hyperion felt a sudden chill, as if she had been plunged into an ice cellar, Lance whispered from beside her, "A teacher drew it."

His remark immediately drew snorts from the other demons. How could any student in this classroom possibly figure this out so quickly? It was obviously just a wild guess. And no demon, no matter how foolish, would bet their life on such a flippant remark.

Instructor Mogut simply held the drawing with an impassive expression, giving the students no chance to glean any clues from his demeanor.

Hyperion answered without a moment's hesitation, "A teacher drew it."

She trusted Lance. Moreover, the cornerstone of their teamwork was absolute trust followed by immediate execution.

"Oh? Correct." The teacher lowered the drawing, though he cast a surprised glance at Lance. The classroom rules didn't forbid sharing answers with other students. After all, the session was structured as a seminar. Of course, whether the student answering was willing to believe the information given by another peer was a different matter.

Mogut had never before seen a student so decisive about an answer, nor one who placed such unwavering trust in another demon. Still, given the speed of Lance's response, it was almost certainly a guess, albeit one delivered with remarkable decisiveness.

Following the clockwise order of responses, the next turn belonged to Lance. Just as Mogut picked up another painting from the cart, Lance answered confidently the moment he saw it, "Painted by a student."

The other students stared blankly at this Radiant Demon. Even Instructor Mogut hesitated, holding the work in mid-air for a moment before slowly setting it down and nodding. "Correct."

The other students in the classroom were astonished. Was he just a gambler? Or could he actually tell? Even the instructor probably couldn't manage to answer that quickly!

Hyperion also gazed at Lance in utter bewilderment. Earlier, she had answered immediately purely out of instinct, out of her trust in him. But now, upon reflection, she couldn't fathom what sort of trick or shortcut he had used to find the answer so instantly.

As his teammate, she had already seen Lance's spell repertoire. She knew that, aside from the cards he had previously used, he possessed only elemental and mental magic. There was simply no way he had a card capable of identifying artwork like that!

While Hyperion remained baffled, the turn then passed to the student on Lance's left, a female demon. She frowned slightly, intently studying the piece of work that Mogut had just taken out.

Having the six previous paintings as reference points made identification slightly easier. Still, she hadn't expected the clockwise rotation to reach her so quickly. Based on the information available so far, it was still impossible to identify the artist via magical aura.

Lance whispered the answer to her, "Drawn by a student."

The female demon student seemed somewhat hesitant, unsure if she could trust Lance. Yet, the longer she studied the artwork, the more she felt it lacked a certain spark of spirit. She wavered like this for nearly five full minutes. Only when the moment came that she had to give an answer did she finally say, "A student drew it."

"Correct." Instructor Mogut nodded in approval, casting another deep, searching glance at Lance. If the first two instances might have been luck, this was now the third correct answer. The probability of it being mere luck was steadily diminishing. He had never encountered a student who had struck him as quite so unfathomable.

Then came the turn of the fourth student. The demon seated in the far corner of the classroom stood up. He stared at the painting in the instructor's hands, completely at a loss.

He was adept at identifying magical signatures, but lacked confidence when it came to art appreciation. To make matters worse, his luck was poor. He hadn't encountered any of the familiar magical signatures present in the previous artworks, so he cast a timid glance at Lance, wondering if he would offer any help.

Lance calmly provided the answer, "It was painted by a student."

After a moment of hesitation, he gritted his teeth and answered, "A student painted it."

Instructor Mogut confirmed it once more. "Correct."

The demon from the corner sat back down, pleasantly surprised, and nodded gratefully at Lance. And so, his turn concluded.

Finally, it was the turn of the hawk-eyed demon on the far right. He was the guy positioned on the other side of Hyperion and the one who had initially used mental magic to force her to raise her hand.

He scrutinized the drawing held by the teacher. He was certain that Lance was the one person who wouldn't give him the answer. After all, he had seen him enter the classroom with Hyperion, and his earlier mental magic trick had, to some extent, messed with him as well.

However, at that moment, Lance smiled amiably at the hawk-eyed demon and said, "An instructor drew this one."

Every demon student present knew that Lance was unlikely to harbor any goodwill toward this student. So, this act of providing the answer, with its ambiguous intent, felt like a deliberate attempt to mess with his head.

It had effectively transformed what should have been a question of art appreciation or magical identification into a test of psychological analysis. The student now had to judge whether that statement was true or false!

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