"Well, I sorta understood him though. He hid everything from me because he didn't want me to get involved. And if I were in his shoes, I would've done the same but only to a certain extent. But he… he took it too far… He endured all of it and didn't even reach out to me when he knew I could help him. Instead, he tried his best to look unaffected by it whenever I was around. But in just a few days, even I can tell that the physical, mental, and emotional stress its been giving him was starting to eat away his health and his mind. From what he told me, he's been unable to focus in lectures, and unable to cast spells without feeling dizzy."
"And to top it off, just when he was at the brink of exhaustion, those sick demons just went and decided to light a metal stick on fire and started to brand him with whatever words or symbols they could think of until his skin was… hideously mangled and filled with their marks. I-it was horrifying to look at… But to think that Aril just smiled nonchalantly as he showed me such a sight. That guy, I dunno whether to call him stupid or brave but he didn't let such things truly affect him."
"I asked him how he was able to have such strength that he'd be able to smile despite the situation he was in and he answered with a wistful tone."
"He's doing it for his dream. His family was in debt and so his sister was taken away to work as a maid in a nobleman's house. At first, he was going to be taken away too but when he fought back, the nobleman saw that he had talent in magic and so he gave him a proposal."
"If he were to graduate from Eldora Academy and be a teacher of the nobleman's son, then he'd return his sister and even give them a place to stay in his manor. He was even willing to offer him a weekly salary. The nobleman was willing to pay for everything to get him to study in Eldora so as soon as Aril passed the test and entered the academy, the nobleman would write letters for him almost every week to remind him of their arrangement as well as to inform him of his sister's well being. Aril trusted the man immensely because he was a kind master. It was just that Aril's parents took advantage of his kindness and proceeded to borrow money again and again for useless reasons only for his mother to run away with the money. And Aril knew that the reason why his mother ran away from them was because she was tired of how they always lived mediocre lives. She was far too envious of noblewomen that she aimed to be like one. And so, Aril's dream was to graduate Eldora Academy, work as a teacher, and save enough money so that he could give his family the comfort they deserved."
"And so, if he were to give up, then he felt that he'd be letting down his whole family and his kind benefactor who gave him a second chance in life. So, he persevered to take the removal exams and be reassessed. Because if he were to move up from Lily class, then he'd be one step closer to his dream."
"But…"
Raghnall took a deep breath to compose himself as he willed his bottom lip to stop quivering.
"W-when the days of the removal exams were near… I had enough watching the diminishing liveliness of Aril day after day and so I finally decided to go out to teach those demons a lesson. I didn't want them ruining the most important week for Aril so I decided to put an end to the bullying on that day. And so, when they proceeded to forcefully drag him to the forest, I was already there, waiting for the right time to strike."
"And so, when they held that flaming metal rod, I dashed to them and successfully stole the rod. Then, with a furious roar, I shoved the flaming metal rod to their eyes and I watched them writhe in pain as they fell on the ground. I-it felt great to see them so pained that it shocked me greatly. At that time, I didn't like the fact that seeing them in pain felt satisfying."
"My mother was a pacifist and she always instilled in me the value of mercy and compassion. She believed that no one is truly evil and that with a few words, it would be easy to find the good in the people we thought were evil. And so, I never saw hurting people, no matter how bad they were, as satisfying. And so, I should've felt bad and I should've stopped as soon as they fell on the floor. But anger came over me and I couldn't stop myself from casting a few curses."
"After seeing the startling amount of curses I was casting one after another, Aril stepped in to stop my violent episode. He covered my face as he hurriedly ran straight towards the dorms. I was startled at first but when we went back to our room, I finally understood why he did that."
"He knew I was hiding from people and so he covered my face as he ran through the campus. I was just a measly ten-year-old at that time so picking me up and dragging me was a breeze. H-he… he didn't ask me any more questions about why I was able to cast multiple spells despite my age, why I was hiding my face, or why I kept silent about my personal matters. In fact, instead of getting curious about me, he just looked genuinely relieved that we didn't happen to meet anyone while he ran. And so, I asked him if he wanted to ask me anything and readied myself to answer. I wanted to come clean to him so that he would hopefully depend on me after knowing who I was. But instead of asking, he just calmly smiled at me."
"He denied my offer and he told me that he wanted to respect my choice of keeping my identity a secret. He said that he'd rather not know if knowing it would change our friendship. And so, I shut my mouth because I knew it would. After all, he would probably feel intimidated by such title I carry and he will sooner or later find out about my father and be greatly weirded out by it. And so, instead of asking me personal questions, he began asking random questions again as if we were back to our old days."
"But as we laughed merrily in our dorms that day, I didn't know that what I did triggered the anger of a much scarier group of people... And that's... that's where everything turned for the worst."