Chapter 4 - chapter 3

"Such a shame. The coward couldn't even kill himself

properly."

As David spoke confidently, the man called Jack next to him shook

his head.

"Nah. Someone saw that son of a bitch sneak a bunch

of sleeping pills from the infirmary yesterday. He must've

heard the rumors that you could die a painless death by

swallowing a bunch at the same time."

"He must've not taken

the pills then."David agreed with the other man Anthony.

"I think

so, too."

"Damn it. Want to make a bet, then? I bet ten meal

tickets that he died."

"Then I bet that he didn't."

"Same."

"Let's

do five each."Looking at each other, they grinned.

The other

students in the classroom glanced in their direction distastefully. No

matter how they thought about it, David's wickedness had gone too

far.

It was unbelievable how he could bet on others' lives so easily.

Even so, there was no one who dared to openly defy him.It was not

just his behavior that kept some of them quiet.

David had better

skills and was from a house of much higher status than them. But

such students were usually indifferent to the business of others.

They

were the type to not move until David's party tried to murder

someone in the classroom. The rest of the students were weak and

clumsily avoided Frey out of fear of being targeted.

Some were even

thankful for Frey being there.It was then that the door opened, which

quickly caught David's attention.

A handsome man entered the

classroom. His neat figure and calm expression exuded indifference.

Though now was not the time for such empty thoughts.

'Isn't that

Frey?'

He almost didn't recognize him if it weren't for his unique, faded

grey hair.

"What?"

"That's Frey, right?"

Other students alsochatted

among themselves. It seemed that David was not the only onebewildered by his suddenchange.

Frey looked around the classroom

and leisurely made eye contact with David. For a short while, their

gazes were locked onto each other.

David thought that Frey's

expression would be full of dread as usual, but it wasn't.

He didn't

know what happened last night, but human nature did not change so

easily.

'Hurry and lower your eyes already.'

He had it seen dozens of

times. The self-conscious demeanor that was unfitting of someone

from the distinguished Blake House.

But it was natural for Frey, the

disgrace abandoned by his family and the academy's worst

student.However today's Frey was different from usual.

He ignored

David and his typical high-strung appearance was strangely relaxed.

He had never seen Frey walk with his back so straight.Frey went to

his seat, sat down, and took out a textbook from his desk.

He started

reading each page in fascination as if he was lost in his own

world.

"Hah."David unwittingly exclaimed, dumbfounded.

His

reaction was rather dry. Meanwhile Jack and Anthony's faces were

already distorted. They made eye contact with Frey and had the

same reaction.

Jack became impatient and wanted to speak up, but

David called Frey's name first.

"Frey Blake."

Frey turned his head

and looked at David with indifference. Even his uselessly glossy face

today was unpleasant

He continued boldly

."Look. Didn't I tell

you? The bastard's a coward who's too afraid to even

die."

Jack and Anthony, who had frozen at David's words, quickly

remembered their roles. Their faces filled with ridicule and

contempt.

"Yeah yeah, you win.""God this sucks. Here, your

meal tickets."

Among them, Jack felt the worst. Not just from Frey's

attitude, but also because he just blew 10 meal tickets.

He calmed

himself, approached Frey and sneered.

"What's wrong? Did you

eat something wrong yesterday?"

He spoke in a gentle tone that

seemed to be filled with friendly concern, but his expression was

murderous.

But Frey did not respond and just kept reading his

textbook.

Jack's face hardened. Infuriated, he walked over as fast as

he could and took away Frey's book.

Only then did he look up at

him.

"What's your problem?"

"'What's your problem?' Hah."

Jack

was about to spew a string of curses. However, the moment he received Frey's attention, he stopped without even realizing it

.'W￾what's with this bastard. Those eyes...'

His bottomless gaze seemed

to peer inside of him. Jack forced himself to keep smiling, feeling

both unnerved and terrified.

"Y-You thought sleeping pills were

good for your skin, huh? Seeing the oil oozing from your

face."

"Pfft haha!"

Anthony busted out laughing at his joke, causing

Jack to regain confidence.

"Give me your meal ticket, Frey."

"Meal

ticket?"

"Yeah, I just lost ten from my bet."

The tension from

earlier had completely left him. Waving the book he took from Frey,

Jack continued.

"I bet ten meal tickets on you dying, so how

could you show up to class like this? Thanks to you, I'm

gonna starve for a

while."

"Bwahaha!"

"Yeah it's Frey's

fault!"

David and Anthony jeered enthusiastically. In comparison,

Frey's reaction was simple.

"F*ck off."

"..."

Once again, silence

engulfed the classroom. The students gaped at Frey with their eyes

wide open. Of course, Jack's expression stood out the most.

"What

did you say?"

His hesitation toward Frey disappeared in an instant

and turned into anger. Jack had a very imposing physique and vicious

impression for a magician.

When seen by others, he would even be

mistaken as a mercenary.When Jack grated his teeth threateningly,

some of the weak-hearted students paled.Frey, on the other hand,

remained calm.

Actually, he was rather annoyed by him.

"Give me

my book back and get lost."

Jack was not the type to be babbling

over such provocations. He immediately put his anger into action. His

cauldron-sized fist struck Frey in the face.

"Huh?"

Or so he

thought.

'What?'

Jack quickly realized that Frey was standing right

next to him.

'W-what happened?'

When did the guy who was just

sitting in his seat stand up? He felt like he had seen a ghost.

Whereas

Frey simply stared at the dumbfounded Jack.

'What the hell is up with

this guy?'

As he scrutinized these guys in more detail, Frey's

memories clearly surfaced - from the moment he had entered the

academy to the end of his life.In the beginning, his life was decent.

Everyone smiled and treated Frey well, and he was happy. He felt as

if he had finally found a place to belong.That was until they had

discovered the truth.

He had a hopeless mana sensitivity and could not even use 1-star spells properly. Even worse, he was a totally

abandoned son of the Blake House.

"Trash."

"A bastard like you doesn't even deserve to attend the

academy."

"I'm begging you, so just hurry up and die."

In Frey's memory, David's horde were devils. Even Lucas'

impregnable mental strength could not prevent Frey's body from

trembling so weakly.

He could guess how much he had suffered until

now. He had had a hard and painful life. Above all, it was due to the

fact that he had no one to rely on.

"..."

Frey accepted his memories

completely. And at the same time, he made a judgment. Frey did not

intend to retaliate against David and his party.

This was because the

level difference was too great. It is like an adult getting involved in a

playground dispute.But it was not the same. David's party's atrocious

acts were as vicious as any other corrupt aristocrat.

"I can't."

"W￾what?"

Jack was a little scared from the sudden change in Frey's

attitude and how he vanished and reappeared like a ghost.

But

mainly it was his eyes.His eyes were like bottomless pits. Just by

looking into them, he felt as if he was being sucked into his soul.

Frey

recalled his memories when he was Lucas. By the time he was hailed

as the Great Mage, he had garnered another name, the Great

Teacher.

He raised, led, and supported many of his

disciples.However, he did not consider himself a good man. Because

Lucas never forgave those who pointed a sword at him. Nevertheless,

thanks to him nurturing a spirit of deep discipline, unnecessary

disputes tended to be avoided as much as possible.

But now it was

different. 4,000 years.

He had been sealed in the abyss for a long time. Regardless of how

much Lucas kept his reason intact, it was difficult to stay alone in a

space where there was nothing.

He had been on the brink of

madness hundreds of times, and had several occasions where his

consciousness had nearly been consumed.But Lucas had succeeded

in maintaining his self-awareness.How? There was only one way.

He

expelled his violent emotions endlessly. He constantly recalled the beings who had sealed himself away. His outrage neared bloodthirst.

For months, he would mutter words of hatred and curses so profane

that they were difficult to say aloud.Clear mirror, still water was essential to increase the rank of one's magic, but Lucas at

that time had no choice.

Had he maintained only such static

emotions, his consciousness would have been consumed by the

abyss ages ago.

Phwack!

"... Kgh!"

Jack was unable to make a sound.

All of a sudden, he felt severe pain in his abdomen and could not

even breathe properly.

He felt like he had been impaled by a spear.

His eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness, his body slamming

against the ground with an audible thud.

"W-what was

that?"

"What's going on?"

Jack had fallen down in an instant. At

least it appeared that way to the students in the classroom. No one

saw what really happened.

'...'

It was Frey. His actions were

surprisingly simple. After activating mana all over his body to

drastically improve his physical ability, he brought his fist into Jack's

stomach. And with a faster move than the previous, he recovered

it.

However, this series of processes was unorthodoxly fast. At least to

an extent the other students would never realize.