Chapter 380 Volume VI - Chapter 13: A Challange
"See you."
I waved my hand with a wide smile on my face. Sue did the same.
"Bye."
Then, she walked toward the building where her dorm room was located.
I watched every step she took, staring after her until she disappeared from my sight. Even when she entered the building, I stayed for a while.
"Heh."
My smile widened even wider. I turned around and started moving again in the direction I had come from.
I didn't care about anything, really. The world seemed... different. Brighter, something like that.
It's not extremely late yet, it's about an hour before nightfall. So I have plenty of time, my schedule is full of things I have to do.
But I don't want to do any of it. I'm more tempted to go to my room, lie on my bed, and just watch the ceiling. Now... I have a relationship that I can say is official, after all.
I'm happy... or something like that. I'm not sure.
So it's better to get everything done quickly, right?
With these thoughts in mind, I made my way across the campus. I entered the main building where classes were held, walked along the second floor, and paused when I came to a lecture hall.
The door was open. The professor who was teaching the class was either taking a break or another class was about to start.
I entered the hall, tapping my cane on the floor. Thanks to the structure and the materials used to build the hall, the sound echoed throughout the hall and all eyes turned toward me.
Some recognized me, their eyes widened. Others, if they recognized me at all, looked at me with a blank expression.
"Why is he here?"
That was the question most people mumbled. After all... this was a lecture hall for a third-year class, not a second-year like me.
I started walking down the lecture hall with slow steps, never taking my smile off my face. The eyes of the people in the hall then turned toward where I was going, stopping on one person who was there.
"Oh..."
"Isn't he..."
"Really?"
When I got to the desk they were looking at, I paused and sat down, leaning my cane on the edge. I just looked in front of me for a short while, reading what was written on the blackboard and a question left behind. It wasn't something I didn't know, I could solve it with my eyes closed even though I was a second-year.
"How's it going?"
I asked calmly, and... the person I was sitting next to finally stopped his pen, which was constantly writing something on the holographic screen above his desk.
"Good."
He slowly lifted his head, his blond hair, which he had left slightly long for a man, slid slightly to the side. His blue eyes, reminiscent of the sky, looked up at me from his desk. But he didn't react like the other students, he was calm... and he was smiling.
"But I'm also a little curious."
He put his right hand on his chin, squinted his eyes slightly but kept his expression and tone of voice.
"Why is the first rank of the second-year students, Aiden Tenebra... visiting me?"
"I thought I'd come before you visited me, is that bad?"
He paused for a moment, then shook his head from side to side.
"No, but I would have preferred to talk in a more... quiet place."
He meant the students around, the lecture hall. Not only here, but at the entrance to the lecture hall, a lot of students had gathered. Everyone was watching what was happening.
"Nah, it's not a big deal. It's not like we're going to talk about things that nobody should hear... right?"
"Hmm... Actually, yes. We have no hidden agenda after all."
"Hahaha, right."
A short silence fell between us, a few seconds passed calmly with no one making a sound.
"I'm not joining your group."
His lips curled upward, still very calm.
"Understandable. But... it also doesn't look like you're going to go to Maeve or Cassandra. Do you think you can make it...? Without a suitable backer, I mean."
He slowly began to twirl the pen he had been holding between his fingers.
"You don't think no one will try to stop you... do you? Maeve might prefer to stay away from you, she doesn't like taking risks. But... Cassandra and I are different."
He leaned back slightly, the pen spinning in his hand speeding up for a moment.
"A fourth group is too many for this academy, no matter who is in charge. And everyone knows it. You know it too."
"That's exactly why I'm here, you know."
I put up a serious face, my smile fading a little.
"Maeve Bistra, Cassandra Bealy, you... Jack Laehera. I want to show you all what my entrance onto the stage means... and why you shouldn't stand in my way."
I leaned back just as he did, slowly turning around... toward a smartwatch camera that was staring right at my face.
It was broadcasting live. And it wasn't just that, there were a lot of other cameras looking in this direction. Who would miss something like this, right?
"All second-year students. All six hundred and twenty-four of you. Not a single one of you is going to be in Maeve Bistra, Cassandra Bealy, or Jack Laehera's group... Either you are with me, or you belong to no group."
"Are you recruiting people by threatening them?"
"No, I give them a choice, because if they join another group, they become my enemy. Being my enemy means they never had a future in the first place. Why should I keep people I'm close to who are against me? People I'm going to have the same class with, for example."
Jack gave a little laugh as if the funniest thing he had ever seen was right in front of him.
"Ahahah, you're funny... very funny. Why do you think that just because you say that, everyone will follow you?"
"Because I'll show you what happens when you don't follow me. Two days, Jack. How about renting the whole arena after two days?"
"Oh? And for what?"
"To settle our matter in the most simple way possible, of course. But... I don't just want you against me."
Jack paused, the smile on his face slightly distorted. But I didn't stop.
"Everyone, Jack. Bring everyone you can get in front of me. Take Cassandra with you, even... come together. I'll only take four people with me, and you... bring as many as you want. How's that sound?"
"Just because you fought in a war-"
"Oh, you're right, of course... let's do this, then. I'll take two people with me, not four, so I won't be too much for you. I forgot that my cane and being crippled makes me look a bit weak in people's eyes."
Jack's expression deteriorated further. He looked at me with his eyes narrowed and his lips flat. I smiled calmly, this time resting my chin on my hand.
"What do you think? If you really want, I can even fight on my own... it's not a big deal. Although... the show wouldn't make much sense, then."
And then... an entirely different voice from Jack echoed in my ears.
"You'll regret it."
The smile on my face grew wider. I ignored Jack for a moment, glancing behind me out of the corner of my eye.
Dark blue hair falling to her shoulders, purple irises that resembled Celine's eyes... a tall stature relative to her peers, and an equally sharp face with the same gaze.
"Oh, I suppose you came here as soon as you saw the broadcast... Cassandra."
Her eyes shifted to Jack for a moment, but she never took me out of focus.
"Of course I did, our neweat first rank has come to visit an acquaintance of mine... I had to see it personally. But... I heard things I didn't expect to hear."
She folded her arms across her chest, her violet eyes back on me.
"Jack may be prideful, but I'm not like that. If it means knocking someone off the stage... I'll use everything at my disposal."
I grabbed my cane, slid sideways down the desk, and stood up, slowly, with gentle steps, making my way upstairs.
"But that's exactly what I want you to do... use everything. Don't you get it yet? Or are you pretending not to understand, just to save face?"
The sound of my cane echoed throughout the hall, my words causing everyone's expressions to change in different ways.
"Get all the fourth or third-year students in front of me, Cassandra. Every single one of them. If you want to, of course... Because your face might fall too much after that. I'm gonna crush every single one of them, after all."
I walked past her afterward, but paused again before I left.
"Whoever wants to come, whoever doesn't... I'll set up the arena, I'll wait. Oh, and also... the answer to the question you couldn't solve is thirty-seven, Jack."
Then, I walked out without another word as the crowd made way for me.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel