"Kya--!" Screamed was echoed in the arena, mostly from the girls, while the boys gulped.
Alicia used her hands to cover her up but still peeked between her fingers.
The dean put his hand on his face and shook his head. Although he secretly put a big thumb up to him.
Brandon only frowned.
Everyone was shocked by what they saw because Alex cut John's junior'.
"I won't kill you now since it will be bad for this kingdom, but I still need to do this. Hehe... a eunuch. You are a hero but also a eunuch. If we write a story about this, back on Earth, this might become a trending story," Alex said to the unconscious John.
Although not many people heard what he said since Alex only said it in a low voice, the high-rank people heard what Alex said just now and they wanted to laugh hard, but they held their laugh.
The dean tried hard not to burst into tears of laughter too, then he turned to Brandon. "He didn't kill him... pfft!"
"Hmph," Brandon then started to move to pick John, Sandra, and Ayaka. He secretly relieved that his pupil wouldn't be ruined by that bastard. Although he personally wanted to give Alex a thumb up, he also felt conflicted. Alex ruined his kingdom, so he put his expressionless face.
Brandon was shocked by Alex's power, but what was most shocking was Alex's growth. Alex only needed one year to become an experienced rank 5 warrior. To top it off, Alex was also an alchemist. If he knew about how Alex was a greater alchemist than the dean, he might immediately report it to the king. That was only Alex's identity as an alchemist.
If he also knew about Alex's Pure Fire Element, his forging skill, and his real prowess, Brandon might die on the spot because of the shock. He might also need to kill Alex whatever the consequences might be.
Fortunately, Alex didn't show his power too much. If he showed his true potential, the situation would become grim. Alex only used his sword, Sanguin Sword Art up to the Fourth Slash and a bit of his fire element. He also didn't use his spear. If Alex used his fire element all out, this ex-marshall would have noticed it.
Dean Marco looked at Alex worriedly. After Alex relieved his burden this time, what change would it bring to him? Would Alex become a better person? The dean shook his head, for better or worse, he already decided to support Alex no matter what.
Alex stood on the stage, deep in his thoughts. His cluttered mind was refreshed after relieving his burden. He thought that if this continued, the hero would become insane.
Then, the person who would be the first to bear his madness would be Sandra and Ayaka. At first, Alex thought that the princess would also be the one to bear John's madness, but he refused that idea after looking at how the old marshall treated her.
Sandra's betrayal hurt his heart so much. The world seemed to be broken and he kept thinking about killing himself back then. However, he fought that poor idea. Alex closed his eyes. He wanted Sandra to experience the pain he felt back then. He thought that sometimes, living seemed worse than death.
When he was deep in thought, Alicia was standing in front of him already and hugged him. Alex was surprised, he opened his eyes hurriedly and saw Alicia hugging him. He closed his eyes again and enjoyed the feeling.
But, he heard something in his mind.
[Congratulations, Host. You have fixed one of the biggest problems in your life. Now, the System will be updating... calculation time: 8h30m]
Alex suddenly frowned, he caught something from the System announcement.
'One of the biggest problems in my life?' Since he never had any big problem in this world, he thought about his family back on Earth, 'Is that the problem? But if I want to solve them, how? What can I do?'
Alex shook his head and decided to stop thinking about it. But he never thought that the 'problem' his System said was his future problem.
"Alex?" Alicia looked at him confusedly. She was confused why Alex suddenly shook his head out of nowhere.
"Alicia, was I merciless just now?" Alex looked at her. Despite the fact that he didn't show any emotion on his face when he asked, Alicia felt something wrong in Alex's voice. She felt Alex was unsure and uneasy.
"You are doing what you think is right. Even if you kill them I will support your decision," she smiled gently at him.
When he heard Alicia's response, he smiled. "Thank you."
***
When the dean wanted to approach Alex, two people were suddenly running toward him and Brandon. He recognized one of them as his assistant.
When he saw the other man hurriedly went to Brandon. He also recognized the person. Turned out that the other man was Brandon's informant.
The dean's assistant whispered something to him. Upon hearing what the assistant said, the dean showed a surprised look on his face.
"Are you sure?" the dean asked right away.
"Yes."
He looked at Brandon who was also showing the same expression.
"Are you sure about this?" Brandon asked.
"Yes, Milord."
Brandon then turned to dean Marco.
They looked at each other. They seemed to have the same news.
"Your student was really lucky this time huh... Marco."
"Hehe..." the dean smirked.
"We will go back to the kingdom now. Prepare the carriage," Brandon said to his assistant.
"Y-yes, Milord. I will prepare it immediately."
***
Back to Alex and Alicia.
Alex walked with Alicia and together they left the arena. They saw Firia waiting for them.
Firia smiled at them. A smile that held hundreds of meanings.
Alex and Alicia were embarrassed.
"Thank you, Firia," Alex thanked her.
"I also want to thank you, Firia," Alicia also thanked her.
"Hmph, I just did what I need to do."
The trio then went back. Because of this incident, the classes were suspended until the next day. Alex was summoned to the dean's office.
Alex opened the door and he saw his teacher was sitting comfortably, relaxing.
"Teacher, what do you need me for?" Alex decided to break the silence.
"Hehe... I can't call you if I don't need anything?" The dean teased Alex.
"No-no. That's not what I meant. You can call me anytime you want," Alex explained hurriedly.
The dean laughed, then his face turned solemn, "Well, I have something for you. First, there is a piece of good news for you. The hero and his companion already went back to their kingdom."
Alex was surprised by this news. His eyes widened. He thought that this was only the first day for John and the rest in the academy. But they already went back?
"Do you think they left too fast?"
Alex nodded.
"This is the other news. The war is about to begin. For whatever reason, Zircodina needs the hero to boost their morale even if he is weak."
Alex frowned, "Why?"
"A small friction happened in the battlefield, one of the rank 6 captains of Zircodina was slain by the demon."
Alex's eyes widened, "Is the war going to start soon?"
"Yes, there will be many small conflicts like this. I predict that the big war will come in two to three months from now."
"Teacher, what is exactly the reason for this war?" Alex was curious about this.
The dean shook his head. "We also don't know the reason. We tried to search the reason in Zircodina and the Holy Kingdom but to no avail. But there is one thing for sure, the war was started because Zircodina attacked the demon first."
Alex was shocked by what his teacher just said. He recalled when he was summoned to Zircodina. His first impression of Zircodina's king was that he was a wise king. However, he started to doubt it after hearing what his teacher said about the reason for the war.
Why would Zircodina attack the demon unprovoked? What was the reason? Was the king actually a wise person? Or he...
"Teacher, I want to go to the battlefield."
Upon hearing Alex, the dean was shocked.
"No!" He said, firmly.
"I... I want to know the truth about this war. Please let me go, Teacher."
"No! Do you think you have enough power ready for the war? Your power is only a feeble thing on the battlefield. Even a rank 8 mage like me might die on the battlefield."
"But, I..."
"No means no!"
Alex was depressed, his teacher was adamant to not let him go. He sighed.
"Then, can I at least know where the battlefield took place?"
The dean sighed, "Well I can let you know. The battlefield might take place in one of the neural territories, it's in Wilow Plain."
"Wilow Plain?" Alex recalled something. "The Willow Plain next to the Sagur Forest? the forest with a volcano?"
"Yes, that's the one."
"But, aren't they a bit far for Zircodina and the demon?" Alex asked.
"Don't forget that this isn't a war between the demon and Zircodina alone. The Holy Kingdom is also involved."
Alex's eyes brightened, he almost forgot about it, "I see."
"Then, Teacher. What do you want me to do?"
"Nothing. Just keep studying in the academy. We can make some more pills if you want to."
Then Alex fell silent. In the beginning, he wanted to study alchemy because he thought that it was going to be useful. Now, he had eaten most of the pills. There were some rare pills that he had not brought out, but one of the ingredients was a rank 6 monster core. He wanted to solve it himself, but since he couldn't go out, he could only ask his teacher.
"Teacher, this is a rank 2 pill recipe," Alex grabbed a paper and wrote down a few materials on it.
The dean nodded and grabbed the paper. He was surprised, "Rank 6 monster core?"
This was the first time he saw a monster core as an ingredient. He asked confusedly "Aren't the use of monster cores to supply energy for lamps or the like?"
"Yes, but don't you realize that the energy between pills was different? There are some pill recipes with the monster core as one of their ingredients. I don't take it out because I am unsure what it is. When I killed monsters they didn't have any core. After I went to the dungeon I realized that the monster there had monsters' cores within their bodies."
Alex hid another reason behind this. The pill made of a monster core was tightly bound to cultivation, he didn't know whether those pills had any negative effect on others.
"I see, what is the pill effect?"
"I haven't understood it yet. It was said that this pill could make explosive energy. So, the one who ate it can absorb that energy to their body."
"..." the dean was in deep thought, "Whatever. The herb needed is a bit rare so we can't mass produce this pill. I will inform you when I have found all the ingredients, you can go back first."
"Thank you, Teacher."
Alex then left the office, he went back to his room.
After he went back, he got a notification from the System.
[Ding!]
[Good-Luck Gacha System V.3 Commenced]
[Updating the new function. Please wait]