"It wasn't easy to find them." Arslan answered the guy in front of him. He was one of the two Inner disciples who, 2 hours earlier, gave him the task to pick up the dragon tail herbs.
"Yeah, yeah whatever, just give them to me. I didn't come here to listen to you justifying for your incompetence," He said while looking at Arslan with a disgusted face,
"And stop looking at me with those eyes, if you don't want to get beaten up." He continued as he noticed how fiercely Arslan was glaring at him. Arslan's eyes couldn't hide what he was thinking and this was the reason for most of the beatings he had taken during his life. He had never shown any sign of submissiveness, which made his enemies angrier.
Arslan clenched his fists in frustration, but there was nothing he could do against him. For how strong he became, he was still too weak to resist those who threaten him. He chose to remain silent and to hand over the herbs.
"You should only blame yourself for being such a loser. Ptuh, I feel sick every time I talk with you." He said while spitting on the ground. Then he turned his back to Arslan and entered the Academy leaving him behind.
Arslan stayed still for some seconds without moving away from the Gates. The two guards standing there, who were the same ones as when Arslan went to the forest, heard the whole dialogue and looked at Arslan with pity eyes. Arslan didn't have the courage to look at them as he didn't want to see how they were watching him and they had understood that there was nothing they could have said to him to make him feel better.
After a deep breath, Arslan entered the Academy and headed towards the little forest near his dwelling, in order to continue with his training. All these events were just extra motivation for him to become stronger and stronger.
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At the end of the day, Arslan laid in his hard bed, put his hands behind his head, and thought,
'Father, mother... I don't know if what I'm doing is the right thing... I don't know if I can bear with all of this any longer. It is so difficult to find a good reason to live... I hate living like this... with all these people trying to harm me and my sister... Probably, if it hadn't been for her, I would have already gone crazy a long time ago. She is my strength and my everything. Every time I had a bad day in the mansion, she was there to cheer me up with her cute smile. She is my light in this world of darkness... I will do everything I need to do to protect her from all this sh*t.'
Arslan was able to endure all those events because every weekend he knew that he would have been able to see Elma, who would have emptied him from his stress and recharged him with new positive energy to keep his mind steady for another week.
'Luckily, the day after tomorrow I will see her again. I'm... starting... to miss her... a lot.' Arslan thought while falling asleep with the mind appeased.
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Friday passed in the blink of an eye as nothing important happened. Arslan was able to focus on his cultivation and no one disturbed him. Not even John went to talk to him. And so, the day after, Saturday came,
"Finally," Arslan said as he stood up from his bed in an instant, after he realized what day it was,
"I'm gonna go home!" He said happily looking outside of his broken window. It was still very early in the morning, the sun was just above the horizon, and most of the disciples were still sleeping.
He closed his dwelling's door and headed towards the Outer Gates. No one tried to stop him this time as every disciple was allowed to come and go as they pleased during weekends,
'I wonder what face Elma will do when I will tell her to have passed the Martial Competition!' Arslan thought as a toothy smile appeared on his face.
While walking, he looked up at the sky and noticed that it was empty of clouds, as if the sky was happy for him to go home too,
'Today will be a wonderful day!' He thought as he came closer and closer to the River residence.
Half an hour passed and he finally reached the residence's gates,
"Look, the trash is back." One of the 2 guards protecting the gates said.
"Indeed. He seems to be too happy for someone who has been kicked out of the prestigious Imperial Academy." The other one said.
'Nothing will change my positive mood today.' Arslan thought as he heard what the two guards said and as he felt their hostile gazes on him.
Elma's room was the closest to the entrance, so he decided to go there first and then head to his room.
As he arrived in front of her door, he felt a bit nervous. After all, he had to give her very good news and was curious to see her reaction. He gathered his courage and knocked at the door.
Some seconds passed and no one answered. Then he knocked again,
"Elma? Are you there? It's me, Arslan!" He said with a nervous smile on his face, but once again no one answered. Arslan looked inside from the window and he could see that the room was empty,
"Where did she go?" He said while looking around him to see if he could notice her little figure somewhere in the part of residence he was in, 'Maybe she went to the garden. She loves taking care of the roses that grow up there,' Arslan thought as he headed in that direction. A lot of times he found her staring at those flowers.
In order to reach the flower garden he had to pass from his room and, as he got there, his worry became true,
"J-Jacob...? What are you doing here?" Arslan asked with a terrified face as he looked at Jacob's smiling one.