He was caught by Elder Nitan since he was the only person who was standing at the moment.
Yman scratched the back of his head and thought of how unlucky he was.
"Come here, Mr. Coolman." The Elder beckoned on him while gesturing with his hand for Yman to come closer to him.
He glanced around and noticed Bob and Keremi saying, "Goodluck, Yman bro," said Bob in a low volume, seemingly whispering him from the distant, and Keremi in his usual closed-eyes state signaled, "Goodluck, My Prince," while using his hand to cover the side of his mouth and gestured a whisper.
It was the biggest mystery for him how Keremi was able to see his surroundings in such a state. May be placed at 6th in the top Five Greatest Unsolved Mystery on earth in the current era.
Regardless, |I'm so dead.| He thought to himself as he deliberately changed his destination towards the podium on which the elder was standing. Bob and Keremi forced a dry laugh while cheering him inwardly.
Bees-like murmurs struck once again. Honestly, he already knew of how infamous he was, in the eyes of the others; therefore, he accepted their murmurs from one ear and let it through to the other side.
5 steps closer before Yman arrived at the podium when suddenly, "Elder, Sir!" a call from someone that came from the trainees was heard by everyone around and caused to minimize the rising murmurs immediately. All the trainees simultaneously glanced at the source of the voice, Yman did too.
He glanced at his left side located in the 3rd row from where he was currently standing. She was the 7th trainee lined in that row. And she was raising her hand in the air to grab the Elder's attention.
Almina?| Yman muttered her name in his mind when he saw her. Also wondering why she called the elder.
"Hmm... who might it be...?" The elder muttered as he adjusted his eyeglasses. After adjusting the eyeglasses comfortable to him, "Oh, the young miss from the Amulet family. Do you want to ask something?" Elder Nitan said in a mellowed voice.
Almina immediately stood up which caused the inconsistent noises coming from around to die for good and all eyes were caught by her, "Elder Sir. Uhm... h-he was late, b-because he p-passed out a while ago." She said shyly and darted her eyes to Yman who was now a few steps away from the podium.
Almina was stunned for a moment when their eyes met. At that moment, a few hundred fireflies were dancing in her eyes.
A smile subconsciously happened on her face.
Yman gawked and abruptly glanced behind him. He could not believe such a smile was directed to him.
It's not like he was thinking of courting her. He just wanted to be sure if that smile was for him or not.
Right when Yman glanced behind him, his face contorted into a cold gaze.
Dang, how could it be... Why did he recover so fast?!| He mused for a moment, couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing from behind him.
Kiko was walking towards the podium as nothing bad happened to him.
Yman was wondering how this person recovered so fast.
Just like before, Yman was currently situated in the middle of Almina and this guy.
Yman thought that he was right, after all, that smile was not for him. Good thing he glanced behind him. He would probably bury himself in embarrassment if he went ahead and smiled at her too.
That smile of Almina was for that guy. Looks like the rumor was true. Because Almina smiled the sweetest smile whenever she saw this guy. And he remembered her having a solemn face in front of the bonfire that night after they fought the Mustang Spider.
Kiko was badly hurt at that time because of an accident. Well, that's what everyone believed, however, the truth was, it wasn't because of an accident. Yman did it to him.
Kiko tried to hurt him first, and he just fought back. So Yman had no feeling of conscience about what happened to Kiko.
However, he did not expect this guy to recover so fast as nothing happened to him in the first place.
Yman guessed that Kiko used some expensive medicine to quickly heal and recover himself in just 2 - 3 days.
He was wary that his peaceful days will start to turn upside down.
If a situation occurred where he had no way to escape and his only way out was to engage him in a head-on encounter, he will probably retaliate even at the expense of his secret being revealed.
Kiko was approaching his direction but his eyes directed far behind him. He was walking with a smile on his face. Like some main character in a book, exuding with handsomeness and overbearing aura.
The trainees once again started murmuring but this time not about Yman. It is about Kiko. Some shrills of excitement escape from the mouths of some lovestruck girls who admired the shit out of Kiko.
Only those trainees that are natives in this world are wearing the face of 'Who is this guy? Is he someone popular?' They were puzzled by the sudden gossips around them.
The Encan girl just glanced once at Kiko, seemingly curious at him. The Encan race was known for its beauty and elegance. So seeing a handsome male was a natural thing for them. The Blonde glanced as well, but sooner, her eyes darted to Almina with knitted brows. No one knows what she was thinking at the moment.
The elder forgot to reply to Almina, as he also was looking at the approaching young man.
"Are you the one who the instructors talking about?" Elder Nitan suddenly asked Kiko.
Kiko passed by in front of the wary Yman and stopped beside him, then he turned around to face the Elder. His body bent into a bow while his hand on his chest. "Yes, Elder. My name is Kiko of Sun family." Kiko answered in the most respectful voice.
The Sun family was one of the strongest families in the Middle Region of the Outerworld.
"In that case, welcome to the lecture, good that you recovered already. I heard many things about you from the instructors. Looks like they were expecting great things from you. We hope that you bring this academy into the highest podium and achieve great results in the upcoming challenges." Said the elder, sounding like full of expectations to the person he was conversing with.
"Of course, Elder Nitan, Sir, I will do my best with all my strength. And face whatever challenge that coming into my way. Then overcome them all in my power, together with the whole academy."
Yman had question marks floating on his head at the moment. Wondering what happened to this person suddenly sounded so heroic. And why did it sound like he was representing the whole academy? How could their conversation suddenly turn in this way?
Regardless, there are many other strong trainees around, but why is this elder so hyped about Kiko?
Yet no matter how Yman thought, he could not come up with answers. He really was puzzled by this development.
Noticing the changes in Kiko's demeanor, he guessed that this person was being rained by praises from the instructors and maybe by teachers also. And now it went to his head, resulting in this new version of himself.
He just hoped that this change of Kiko also changed the way he treats him, and stopped bothering him from now on.
Kiko secretly glanced at Almina. But Almina was looking to the elder. What she said just a while ago seemed like it was already lost from the elder's mind.