Ding dong the maleficer's dead. It did turn out to be the fucker Connie encountered, and Alexius is glad he was able to escort her for a while even if nothing came of it. He's only slightly disappointed he didn't get to fight the guy, and he probably ought to be relieved, but the spot in his brain where "relief" should be sitting is instead occupied by barely-suppressed rage. It's bad enough having mals sneak into the school without taking on monsters as students.
Alexius is distracted from his brooding by a rumor that the Taipei contingent is hiring bodyguards. Having gotten a bit of practice at the job, Alexius decides to reach out. He approaches the Taipei table at dinner, making sure his battered power sharer is visible so they hopefully won't dismiss him offhand. Jacksonville's not technically an enclave, but they scraped enough resources together to let them pretend, and Taipei probably doesn't know that.