I lowered my head slightly and shook it.
"Sorry, but my answer hasn't changed. I still do not believe I am worthy of joining the Black Roses. I need to focus on developing my magic further."
Alicia looked a little disappointed. "If it's about proving yourself, you more than displayed your true strength yesterday. Even Miranda wouldn't be able to object after seeing such an excellent performance. You single-handedly team-killed the representatives from Crowley's Academy, you know? That's not something just anyone can do."
"I was lucky. You know as well as I do that was a gigantic fluke." I frowned, doubting Alicia's words. Miranda definitely wouldn't accept this – she was also aware of my massive weakness. "If Hal Gunther hadn't gone easy on me and toyed with me, I would never have been able to summon my magical beast. Furthermore, I exploited the rules. If it wasn't for the rule that allowed us to maintain our summoned beasts or Artificial Reality or enchantments as long as we remained in the ring, I would surely have lost all the other matches as well."
I was under no illusions that if I was forced to reset my summoning spell each time we began a new match, the rest of the Crowley representative team would murder me before I could complete my casting.
"Making use of the rules to your advantage is also a perfectly viable form of strategy," Alicia countered. "The fact that you knew about the loophole and how to exploit them is proof of your astute decision-making. Furthermore, not many would have the magical ability to exploit that rules in the first place. You succeeded in casting your summoning spell, which is normally difficult and time-consuming. No one should complain that you could maintain it for the rest of the time you stayed in the ring." Her rosy lips curled into a smile. "In a real battlefield, your opponent is not going to be so gracious to terminate his spell and reset every time he faces a new enemy."
"Fair enough." I shrugged. "But that doesn't solve the root problem. My current skills and strategies aren't viable. I need to develop them further before I join any society."
"That shouldn't be a problem. With our resources, I'm sure you'll be able to grow stronger at a much faster rate."
"Sorry, but I won't be handle the consequences of that. That's just showing favoritism." I shook my head wearily. "I'm aware of all the politics that goes on in a society. The moment you give me preferential treatment, all the other members will complain."
"My Black Roses aren't that petty…" Alicia began.
"All the more I shouldn't take advantage of them." I shook my head. "The Black Rose Society isn't just your average school society. You guys have a long history and high status, and you need have high standards to maintain. All members have to prove their worth or have some sort of pedigree before joining a great society like Black Roses. Why should I be any different?"
"You already proven yourself yesterday," Alicia repeated. I laughed bitterly.
"A fluke? I know what people are saying. They say that once my secret is out, there's no way I'll be able to replicate that sort of success. They will take me down before I complete my summoning, just as they always have in the past two years. Nothing will change. Tomorrow, or by next week, I would have fallen back into the bottom again." I narrowed my eyes. "Senior Miranda and the other members of your Black Roses should know about that."
As counterproductive as it sounded to reject the offer, I didn't want to join a great society and incur the wrath and resentment from the other members. Perhaps Alicia would be as good as her word and deliver me the resources I needed, but no doubt the other members would make my life difficult after holding a grudge against me for receiving special treatment and whatnot.
I honestly didn't want to experience a living hell, trapped by the boundaries of the society, and eventually forced to leave. It had happened to me in my previous life, where I was hounded out of online communities just because a story I wrote was unexpectedly popular, and other writers resented me for that because according to them, I resorted to clichés, my grammar was atrocious, my vocabulary was limited, and my terrible writing style lowered the standard of the writing site. I had people spam 0.5 ratings on my story and harass me with messages telling me to delete the story or get the fuck out of the site. In the end, I just deleted my account and left the writing community altogether.
And the crowning irony was that they claimed they hated me because I was being "toxic." Sure, I was being a whiny bastard who wallowed in self-pity, and I knew more than everyone else how annoying and imperfect I was, but even so they had gone too far in their harassment. Funnily enough, while labeling me as toxic, they hurled poisonous words and harassed me venomously.
When I first came to this far future, I held a glimmer of hope that things might have changed, only to witness firsthand how Dad was hounded and exiled from the summoners community. All because he was one of the very few summoners with a spirit, who could summon such a powerful entity in an instant, unlike most summoners. While this brought its fair share of bootlickers and people wanting to befriend such an acclaimed warrior, it also brought about a significant number of jealous and resentful rivals and opponents who wanted to bring about his downfall.
What, did you think I was joking when I said people attempted to break into our house, or when rivals and enemies tried to kidnap me to ransom my Dad? I was being serious. A good number of them stemmed from these jealous bastards.
The world never changed, no matter what time period it was. And I wasn't obligated to put up with all that bullshit.
Alicia saw that she couldn't change my mind, so she sighed.
"If you change your mind, feel free to approach me at any time. I'll always welcome you to the Black Roses." She suddenly smiled. "Perhaps I can't speak for Miranda and the others, but Troy has always spoken highly of you. If you join, I'm sure he'll be happy."
"Yeah, he's a great pal." I wasn't delusional and edgy enough to adopt the "whole world hates me" attitude. That wasn't true. I wasn't antisocial or stupid to the extent where I made enemies no matter where I went. Hell, it was because I knew how to avoid conflict and prevent resentment and jealousy that I was able to live a comfortably peaceful life without needing to look over my shoulder to check for enemies harboring grudges. As a result, I made quite a few friends.
Troy was one of them. Speaking of which, I ought to catch up with him soon.
"Anyway, I have class, so I'll talk to you next time. Sorry." I made a show of glancing at my smartphone, and smoothly exited the conversation.
Alicia nodded in understanding. "I'll talk to you again soon."
No, she wouldn't. She had absolutely no reason to. But I wasn't without manners, so I merely smiled and waved, before returning to the classroom.
I hadn't gotten very far when a new group of students mobbed me again. This time, they weren't my classmates – I couldn't remember if they were the same people who approached me when I first stepped into school, or a completely different group, but it didn't matter.
They didn't approach me to ask stupid questions this time.
"Hey! Richard! The students from Crowley are looking for you!"
"I don't know if they're looking for a rematch!"
"I just saw them going this way!"
"They were asking you to meet them in the courtyard!"
I felt a headache coming as my schoolmates swarmed me, bombarding me with information. I honestly couldn't give a fuck about the students from Crowley's Grand Arcane Academy. We had a good match yesterday, and that was that. It was unlikely that I would ever meet them again, and I doubted I would accept a challenge from them in future.
Not that I cared – like I said, my 100% loss record wouldn't be affected if I lost to them. Maybe I should just put up with whatever revenge they had in store for me, take the beating, and then they could get lost and do whatever it was they came here to do. Then people would stop bothering me, I would lose this dumb, undeserved fame and fade back into obscurity once more.
However…
"Can't it wait? I have a class soon." I glanced at the time. Lessons were going to begin in five minutes. And I honestly wasn't in the mood to be challenged and mocked right now. It was only morning, but it already felt like a bloody long day.
Having to avoid the press, getting mobbed by schoolmates, dealing with condescending stares and scorn, looking for ways to gently reject those who genuinely admired me…all this in the space of a single morning. I wouldn't be surprised if less than an hour had passed since I had left home, yet so many things had happened within this space of time.
Unfortunately, Fate wasn't done having fun with me. Before I could escape into the classroom, a familiar silhouette emerged. All the girls began squealing, peeling off from around me to approach the newcomer.
"Doug!"
"Sir Doug!"
"Ah…how handsome…"
I was grateful for the opening this gave me, and was about to slip away, but Doug Daniels spotted me and gave me a friendly wave.
"Hey, Richard! I'm glad I found you!"
"Um…hello?"
I wasn't sure how to respond to that. Of all the students from Crowley's Grand Arcane Academy, Doug was the only one who treated me decently. He was one of the rare few who actually respected me as a person and a fellow mage, and didn't look down on me or viewed me condescendingly. He was a genuine nice guy.
Frankly speaking, if it had been Hal Gunther, Albert Alain or any of the others, I would have just flipped them off and headed straight to my classroom without a single word. But since it was Doug, I couldn't muster any resentment.
"Our captain is searching for you. Got a minute?"
For some reason, he looked amused.
"Can it wait? I have class in three minutes." I made a show of glancing at my smartphone, but Doug wasn't buying it.
"We'll be leaving soon, so this might be the last chance for her to speak to you." he shrugged. "It shouldn't take too long, and you can just tell your teacher that you're sending us off. Given how we had such a great match yesterday, he should understand."
"Fine." it was difficult not to be persuaded by Doug's affable manner, so I followed him. Apparently, the Crowley's Grand Arcane Academy students had all gathered on the courtyard outside the main building, waiting for the luxurious bus to come.
They really were leaving.
"Captain Cecilia! I brought him!"
Doug waved at his team. There was only Cecilia and Elena present for some reason. Most probably because the rest of the Crowley's representatives had dispersed to look for me (something I found out later) and hadn't returned. They probably were on their way back at this time, after receiving Doug's message. I could see Chang Cheng, Nick and Louis emerging from a building nearby.
"Thank you, Doug." Cecilia flashed a bright smile at him, and then she turned to me.
Was it my imagination, or was she fidgeting a little?
"Sorry for calling you out here on short notice, but this is probably the last time I'll get to see you in a while. As you can see, we'll be leaving shortly."
"Yeah." I nodded, still not knowing what was going on. Cecilia took a deep breath, still fiddling with her fingers.
"Well…uh…I guess I'll get straight to the point." She met my gaze evenly, her cheeks a little flushed. Taking a second deep breath, she then uttered a declaration. "As the first guy in my generation to defeat me, you have the right to be my boyfriend."