In the lone streets between the woods, a carriage approached its destination. The headmaster's attendant, Tartar was on his way to the seventh province to deliver the headmaster's message to the king.
He didn't know that someone monitored him. A masked man followed his carriage sneakily in the woods.
The attendant had kept the scroll tucked inside his waistband so that no one could touch it. His hand subconsciously touched the scroll as he was on his guard.
Suddenly, the carriage stopped with a force, making him almost fall from his seat because of inertia. "What happened? Why did you stop?" He enquired the coachman.
"Sir, someone is lying naked in the middle of the street," The coachman answered.
"Must be a drunkard," Tartar uttered and told the coachman to check what happened.
The coachman walked to the naked man lying on the street and shook him. "Hey, why are you lying here?" The naked man lied in the middle of the street with a bottle of booze in his hand. His eyes were closed, and he looked completely passed out.
While he tried to wake the naked man, someone approached the carriage.
"Hey, who are you?" The helper reacted when a masked man in black clothes from head to toe opened the carriage door.
"Hand over the scroll!" The masked man said and pulled out his blade.
"I won't. Who are you? Who sent you?" The helper uttered in panic when he saw the shine in his blade.
"It doesn't matter. If you love your life, then hand over the scroll."
The coachman turned and saw the masked man holding the door of the carriage. "Hey, who are you? What do you want?" He shouted and turned but didn't know it would be his last turn.
"Ah!" He moaned and planted his knee on the ground as the naked man lying on the ground pierced a knife in his leg. "You bastard, who are you?" He uttered while holding his leg but the man didn't answer, pulled out the knife, and pierced the side of his neck.
The masked man pulled the helper out of the carriage who looked too frightened to fight back. "If you don't want to die, hand over the scroll," The masked man again said, showing the tip of his sword.
Tartar, the headmaster's attendant tried to run but the naked man blocked his way by jumping out of nowhere. He got even more terrified as he could see the coachman lying dead at a distance, bleeding massively from the side of his neck.
"W-who sent you?" He stuttered.
The naked man and the masked man looked at each other before the masked man answered, "Argus Devonté Albus…"
Tartar's eyes expanded in shock when he heard the name. He could not imagine in his wildest dreams that Argus could be alive.
"Argus? W-what are you saying? It… It can't be possible," He uttered while he trembled in fear.
"It has happened," The masked man said when the naked man suddenly grabbed Tartar from behind.
"What are you doing? Leave me!" Tartar shook his body and struggled to free himself but could not. He understood that these were his last moments. He had no choice but to hand the scroll over to them if he wanted to save his life.
Something pointed poking on the borders of his butt was the least bit of his concern.
The naked man was a young white man with curly hairs on the head, the chest, and around the cursed mountain down there. So it was understandable if his hormones were active.
"Okay… okay… I will give you the scroll," Tartar mentioned in panic, and tried to start a negotiation. "But you have to promise me you would not kill me. I have heard that Argus and his men never went back to their words."
The masked man looked at the naked man who smiled, turned to look at Tartar, and replied, "Of course, we will spare your life. Now, hand me the scroll." He placed his hand at the front for Tartar to hand over the scroll.
The naked man released Tartar from his grip for him to take out the scroll, but the headmaster's attendant made a mistake.
"Aaa…" He pulled out a dagger from his waistband covered in a dense violet aura and tried to stab the masked man, but before he knew it, his head already dropped and rolled on the ground.
"What a waste…" The masked man said and sheathed back his sword. The blood sprayed out of Tartar's neck when his body fell on the ground with a thud.
"Let's go before someone arrives," The naked man mentioned after taking the scroll.
"Let's take his head. It will be a gift to those cruel demons," The masked man suggested and picked up Tartar's head.
Meanwhile, Alan and the whole classroom stood outside as it was the day to categorize the new students based on their spiritual energy.
"We categorize the students based on the spiritual energy present in their cores. You just have to meditate for two minutes while sitting on this rock," Master Wrath explained and pointed towards a giant rock behind him. "This rock will vibrate according to your spiritual energy."
"Is it credible?" Alan whispered into Gunther's ear.
"Yes," Gunther replied.
The master continued, "The categories will be– Pig, Lion, Human, Demon, and God. One vibration means you are Pig category, two means you are Lion and so on."
Alan suddenly interrupted. "Master…"
Master Wrath paused and looked at him with a frown. "What now?"
"What if there is no vibration?" Alan asked.
As soon as he asked his question, Kowig said, "You sure know your result beforehand." His goons chuckled. "They would be considered a failure and won't get categorized," He added.
Master Wrath glared at Kowig for not staying in the discipline while he was present there. However, he chose not to scold him as the boy took care of Alan. At least, he thought so.
"We would consider those students sidekicks. They could not study and train with categorized students and would not get recommendations either from the academy for higher administrative services," The master explained. "However, we have seen no student yet to not get categorized in any of the categories. Everyone has spiritual energy, no matter how faint it is."
"I see. So, they have ideal standards. Reasonable for a prestigious academy like this," Alan thought and shook his head. "They have to manufacture killing machines of the best quality."
"Alright, we will start the categorization now," Master Wrath said and clapped. "The newbie students will take their turns one by one."