"Mr. Ronaldo... you appear to be quite distraught. Just what could have happened to you in the past few hours?"
Sitting in his seat with his hands folded as he looked up from a set of paperwork, the principal of Yulen Academy glared at the man who had stumbled into his office.
"Don't tell me that it was related to that student."
Before the principal was a man whose eyes were wide with terror, twitching back and forth as he looked behind him every other moment to ensure that he was alone.
This elven man, who had an expression which suggested he had just seen a ghost, twitched as he grabbed something from his own pocket.
Taking out a pen and grabbing a notepad from the desk of the principal, the man fell forward, leaning on himself as he begun to write something frantically.
It was a pathetic display.
Under normal circumstances, an employee would never be allowed to address their boss so lightly, yet this man didn't seem to hold a shred of concern for the compromising nature of his behavior.
His hand twitched as he wrote with horrid handwriting, signing the paper in quick manner before turning it over to the man before him.
"I quit..... I quit this job... I'm leaving this place right now."
Hunched over, the man began to walk off, not even allowing the principal to make any further statement.
Ingram, the principal of the Academy, merely stiffened his expression- holding his breath as he watched the mentally traumatized man walk off.
The door shut, and the man was left in silence.
"How promising he was. I had high hopes for him, as within his first few years of teaching he was able to mold even the worst of students into fine soldiers, pulling out talent within them that nobody could have ever imagined. A shame that his career would end so quickly."
"If it was a student who drove him to such a pathetic state, then I could hardly see him as a qualified teacher. As an instructor, you have to be prepared for both good and bad students. Perhaps this was the first one who he couldn't control with fear, and so he broke down?"
From the corner, a woman stepped out of the darkness.
She was a young elf, likely in her late 20's, and her hair was bright pink.
Two locks of hair draped down on each side of the woman, the rest of her hair being cut to shoulder length.
"It's true that never before has there been a student who has given him so much trouble. The students who enter this Academy should have it instilled into them how grave the consequences of losing too many points are, therefore his own excessive deductions straightened up even the most insolent brats. However.... whether it was because she was merely disobedient towards him... I wonder about that...."
"What else could it have been? Do you think something else happened in that time? Something unrelated to that student?", the woman asked as she walked forward, taking her place next to the man.
She wore the outfit of a secretary, and her sharp glare directed itself to the man who sat with his hands folded before him.
Placing his elbows on the desk, the man leaned forward, resting his mouth on his hands.
"I don't know. Perhaps I should have asked, but just now..... he didn't appear as if he would be telling me anything at all."
The man looked down to the note of resignation.
It had been scribbled in such haste that it was crumpled and ruined. To call this an official notice would be a stain on the reputation of this school.
"Then, why don't you just let me take care of it? After all, I've been waiting for a class to open up. I want to try out my own methods of teaching, after all."
The woman grinned with confidence, to which the man beside her nodded his head.
"Will you do that for me? After all, we cannot have a class without an instructor."
"Of course."
"For this class..... I believe they can all be marked as negative. Take that into consideration when the time comes. It is true that the girl I was introduced to earlier likely held a great amount of potential, but if she cannot even survive what is to come, then she wouldn't have been worth much after all.", the principal stated while standing from his seat.
"I understand. Then.... it's alright for me to teach them exactly as I wish?", the woman asked with a sly grin.
"Do whatever you see fit. Whether you produce results with them, I don't particularly care. Goodnight, Elisa."
"Goodnight, Principal Ingram."
----
[Returning to when the antiheroes were heading back to their dormitory (Early evening on the first day of classes)]
"Hm? Smells like meat."
Garett couldn't ignore the aroma which filled his nose as he walked beside Ashley and his other two partners in crime.
"Hm? Meat? I've never really been able to smell anything very good.", Ashley mumbled.
"Well, there's also the fact that you were covered in blood just a few minutes ago.", Samantha noted while fixing her own hair using an illusion spell which had placed a floating mirror before her.
"Ah. That too. Hehe..."
"Yes, it would indeed appear that someone is having a barbeque. However, I don't believe they have barbeque sauce in this world. Therefore, perhaps a roast would be a better term to describe the event. Either way, it would appear that something is happening.", Trevor said while closing his eyes.
"Don't you think that's a bit odd?", Garett pointed out.
"Indeed.", Trevor responded. "The students here are ranked on a point system, of which things such as provisions and quality of life have been predetermined based on ranking. Given that all members of our class- and therefore our dorm- are currently at negative point levels, it would be unlikely that this meat has been obtained through the school. Therefore....."
"They hunted it themselves?", Samantha asked.
"Highly likely. If I were to guess, it would be the one who held high athletic abilities. Oliver was his name."
"Hmm.... I've always kinda hated athletes. They've always pissed me off. You know, they like to show off their muscles and women, and they're always super popular with everyone.", Ashley said.
The four approached the shoddy dorm to see a number of students sitting around a campfire with smiles on their faces.
One of them- the well built high elf who the antiheroes were speaking of- stood by the firepit, turning it as the roast cooked.
Natalia and a number of the boys in the class were present, with the exception of the four girls that the antiheroes had passed on the way here.
Waving to the four, the girl shouted to them with a smile.
"Heyy!!! Come on over!!! Look what he found!!!"
The campus was large, with three different sectors surrounding the central area of the campus, and the dorm which these students were living in was on the very outskirts of the campus.
Instead of being surrounded by city landscape, there instead was a ring of forest which was also a part of the campus.
"Just as I expected.", Trevor whispered as the four approached the group.
Walking over, the eyes of the four boys who were present fell upon the antiheroes.
Taking a seat at one of the logs, Trevor didn't hesitate to take his own spot, and the other three followed in suit, quickly taking their places among the group.
One wood elf looked to the four quickly before turning away, while a dark elf who had the appearance of an emo merely stared without a care.
The third, another dark elf, had a serious expression as he carefully observed the four from a distance.
"Hey! Welcome welcome! You know, I was thinking that we needed to liven things up a bit. It's been so gloomy all day what with the instructor bein' so harsh on us. So I thought to myself, 'Hey! What if I went and grabbed some food for us all?' So here it is! Feel free to dig in soon as it's cooked."
The athletic male known as Oliver spoke with a smile as he continued to turn the spit, to which Trevor nodded.
"You don't appear discouraged from the activities of the day in the least. May I ask you a question?"
"Hm? Sure, ask ahead! What's up?"
The boy responded with casualness, clearly friendly beyond all doubt.
'A simpleton, eh? I suppose There are a few of those within our dictatorship. He reminds me of that blob of flesh. Brot? Yes, that was his name. They are excessively similar.', Trevor thought.
"Despite the harsh words of the teacher towards the members of the 4th division, you didn't seem to be excessively distraught. Allow me to ask you then. We live in this nation where magic is supposedly more powerful than martial might. What is your view on this?"
Trevor asked this question for two reasons.
The first was to probe the boy to see if he was a hothead who would become easily offended.
The second, was because of Trevor's legitimate curiosity.
From the information he had obtained within the Empire, magic was at one point in history viewed as heresy, and there was even a point where Trevor himself had been subject to the discriminative glares of a family of humans for his elven racial status.
"You want my view? In my opinion, something like that doesn't matter. It's actually better! Everyone always tells me that my muscles won't ever get me nowhere. That magic is more efficient, more powerful, more useful. And they'd be right. But.... I'm good at what I'm good at. So I might as well try to make something out of my talents, right? And if everyone thinks I can't do it, then that'll make it even better when I do!"
"I see. That is..... quite the optimistic viewpoint, wouldn't you say?"
Trevor slammed the boy with a serious expression, backed by his own arrogant smirk.
"Do you truly believe that you will be able to make something of your abilities? Or are you merely deluding yourself into believing that you will be able to?"
Pushing his glasses up, Trevor's grin widened as he looked down with closed eyes.
"Ah, but I suppose regardless of which it is, those two things are the same, no? For if you have indeed completely deluded yourself, then you will truly believe that you can make something of yourself."
"Are you saying that I won't be able to make anything of my abilities?", Oliver asked as he continued to turn the spit.
"Nothing of the sort. Only that you shouldn't be so optimistic as to assume that results will come just because you are committed to achieving them."
Standing up, Trevor begun to walk towards the boy.
"Where I am from, the people who were talented at sports were often viewed as excellent by all around them. Not that they didn't work to get their results, but it was a pointless, temporary endeavor. An investment which yielded immediate benefits while disappearing and leaving you exposed in the future.", Trevor commented.
"Huh?"
The other students looked at Trevor with confusion, to which he smiled.
"It's quite simple, really. What does it mean to be an athlete? If it is a mere hobby, then that is one thing. I myself won't say that I haven't played a few sports in my leisure. As a matter of fact, quite recently I took up archery. However, what if you wish to make athleticism into a career? As a soldier, there is use indeed for it. Practical, everyday use. And I would suggest that if you are to use your talents, that you are to go down such a path."
Pushing up his glasses, Trevor leaned forward with eyes that carried the weight of expectation.
"My point here is, if you are going to spend time honing your skills, ensure that those skills are put to good use.... and that they are not merely a decoration."
The boy stared straight at Trevor as he spoke, not taking his eyes away for even a moment.
"I already know that much."
The two kept their eyes met for another moment, to which Trevor nodded in approval.
"There is an optimism in your eyes, and a disturbing amount of it. Enough to make me shudder when I think about the risks you will be willing to take. Do ensure that you value your life a bit as well."
Taking a seat once more, the other students let out a breath of relief.
'I thought they were going to fight for a moment there...', Natalia thought.
"There are many where I was from who would train themselves in competitions their entire life. They would devote everything to a sport, training and practicing with everything they had. And it would give them temporary popularity, however there was something which I have always looked at and wondered to myself. Is that temporary popularity truly worth wasting your life?"
Trevor had never attended high school, so his experiences came only from his early years in school. Even so, he knew well of the many athletes who would spend their entire high school training to become great, only to drop off in college.
"One in a million reach the position they aim for, when they aim high. There is a certain saying where I am from. 'Shoot for the stars, and at the very least, you will land on the moon.' Do you know what I think of that statement?"
All eyes were now focused on Trevor as he monologued, and not a single person interrupted. It was as if he was pouring out his entire life experience before them.
"There are many who aim for the stars, only to come crashing back down to the earth at a speed so great that their death has become all but certain. Therefore..... I aim only high enough that I will survive the fall should I miss my target."
Having literally fallen from great heights since coming to this world, encountering death once, having been sealed, and having a near death experience at one point long ago in a fight against Coran's mother, Trevor looked back on his own actions with distaste.
'How could I have allowed myself to make so many mistakes?'
"I'm not trying to go to any stars or anything. Ah, looks like the meat is ready."
The boy stopped spinning the roast and pulled out a pocket knife, with which he begun to slice up the meat while dishing it around to everyone.
After the meat had been passed around, many of the elves begun to dig in, all eating their own share with satisfaction.
"Mmm!"
"It's great!"
"Thanks, Ollie!"
Trevor too took his own portion to his mouth, consuming it after analyzing it for poisons of course.
Oliver sat down at his own spot with his dish, smiling at Trevor.
"I know that there's a lot of stuff magic can do. It's because I can't use any magic that my parents sent me here. They said I was useless, but even so.... I guess I want to show them that I can do something. That I'm not completely useless. So it doesn't matter what it is. As long as I'm useful, then I can say I've achieved my goal."
As Trevor heard this, he nodded with a sinister grin.
"A very achievable goal. To become useful? That is but a simple task. It doesn't matter how useless a person may appear to all those around them. For in the hands of the right mastermind, even the most worthless pawn can be transformed into a terrifying queen."
----
"Um!! I think we should all introduce ourselves! After all, we're all fellow classmates, and I think we should try to get along if we want to improve and do well in this school. I've heard that it's a very cutthroat place where messing up has a lot of consequences, but if we all work together... then perhaps we can reduce the number of mess-ups we make.", Natalia shouted.
"Ugh.... it wasn't that bad. It was just gonna be three weeks in a cell without food while tied in chains, or something like that. I can't even remember actually."
As the crackling voice said this, all eyes directed themselves toward the ragged girl who had so casually admitted something so tremendous.
"Wha...."
"You...."
"What did you.... just say?"
The other students, filled with complete surprise at the words of Ashley, couldn't help but drop their jaws in shock.
"Hm? Ah, I just let the punishment slip. Whoops. Was I not supposed to say that? Nah, he didn't tell me anything like that. Though that was probably because he didn't expect me to survive? No, I think he did. I don't know."
The girl mumbled to herself incomprehensibly, to which the serious dark elf stood up, walking forward with great shock.
"Hey, you just said that you were going to be in a cell for three weeks, right? Why.... why are you here then?"
There was a mix of confusion with a taint of fear in his voice as he asked this crucial question.
"Ah, why am I here?"
The creepy voice of the girl became demented with bloodlust as her head turned while she responded.
Her hair dropped from her head, revealing her sinister smile.
"Well because I killed him. The instructor, that is."
These words hit the students surrounding the girl like a bomb.
Their faces became wrought with confusion and horror, however there was one who looked up with a perfectly straight face.
"You aren't joking about that, are you?"
The dark elf who had black hair that covered half of his face stared directly at Ashley without a single hint of emotion as he said this.
"Why would I joke about that?", Ashley responded.
The kid then nodded, looking down.
"Well, he was pretty eccentric. I guess I can understand."
"Hmm..... hey kid, you just said something real interesting."
Looking over to the boy, Garett spoke up with a smile.
"Based on your reaction.... I'm going to assume that you've killed someone as well?"
The emo boy looked up, nodding once.
"Yeah. I killed my older brother. So my parents sent me here."
As the child admitted this so quickly without a hint of emotion, the expressions of the children around them were wrought with horror.
Every student here was someone who had been thrown away by their parents, however many of these children had failed to realize one crucial thing.
If one had been cast away, there must have been a reason for it.
'W....what....'
'There.... are this many people....'
'Who have.... killed?'
'In.... our class?'
As their minds were filled with these thoughts, many of the students were unsure what to do with themselves, terrified to even interact with those around them anymore.
However, it was then that a beautiful voice spoke into the minds of all present.
[Of course there would be killers among us. This is a place where the unwanted gather, rich or poor, good or evil. After all, to the people who run this school, we are nothing more than tools to be used for their own purposes.]