The sound of the carriage stopping wakes me.
I turn to my right to find Sylvia, who is still peacefully sleeping. She deserves some rest, so I let her sleep for a little bit longer. But how can I stand up if she's resting her head on my shoulder?
I briefly stop time before getting up from the seat. I then change her position so that she is lying down. I use earth magic to conjure a cotton pillow, which I placed beneath her head.
After adjusting her position, I unfreeze time and take a seat on the other side of the carriage.
I overhear a bit of commotion going on outside of the carriage, so I press my ear against the walls to get a better listen. There were multiple male voices with one female voice among them. They spoke as if they were having an argument with the driver.
"We saw you transporting noble children!" One of the guys exclaims.
"Yeah! Hand 'em over! They're worth a lot of money if we ransom them off!" The woman continues as the sound of a sword being drawn can be heard.
"I-I can't do that." The driver replies.
I decided that I wanted to intervene, so I set up a time barrier and expanded the radius to about forty meters. I then used the blue translucent stopwatch on my hand to freeze the time of everything within the barrier.
I press my hand against the door and resume its time flow in order to open it. We appear to have been in a forest. There was a group of about fifteen frozen individuals armed with daggers and wearing ragged hoods, like stereotypical bandits.
I turned to my left and saw a woman with dark hair wearing a mask and stealth attire. Her outfit was designed to cover every inch of her curvaceous physique and revealed no skin. A scar across her right eye and long bangs are visible since only the lower half of her face was completely covered in a cloth mask.
The woman is pointing a golden short sword at the driver of the carriage, who is clearly distressed.
I sigh as I pull out one of my pistols and click the safety off. The gun makes a charging sound and for a moment, I contemplate switching the setting from stun. I shake my head and casually shoot at the back of the woman's body, which hadn't moved due to the time stop.
The bolt fired from the pistol moves in real time, completely ignoring my time stop as I had altered it to fire during a time stop. The shot ripples throughout the woman's body as it collides with her back.
I walk around to each masked individual and shoot them all in the back.
While I'm at it, I check to see if they have any valuable items on them. While none of the guys had anything other than a few gold coins on them, the woman had a diamond ring tucked deep into her back pocket.
I decided to leave it there since it might be important to her. I don't want to be the cause of someone's sadness, even if I don't know them.
Time unfroze and all of the bodies of the bandits slump over, unconscious. The driver wipes his eyes as he sees the image of me standing over the fallen bandits. He shakes his head and looks back forward.
I create multiple large sacks with earth magic and fill them with gold coins I created. I stroll back to the carriage after dropping the bags off on the ground close to each of the bandits.
"Please continue our ride," I say before tossing a bag at the driver and stepping into the carriage. I sit on the opposite side of Sylvia and the carriage starts moving again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We finally arrive at the destination, which is in the middle of a forest in front of a large white arch connected to a bridge that leads to a large building.
The structure was painted white and resembled a big academic institution. It is enormous and covers a distance of over more than two kilometers.
Sylvia wakes up from her peaceful slumber and together, we step out of the carriage. We wave off the driver and begin heading toward the bridge.
There were well over a hundred other carriages arriving at the same time from the forest. Each carriage looks the same, but the people who get out all look different.
The people arriving are from all around the continent and from each of the thirty kingdoms. Since the Azurans are notorious for their anti-demon attitude, there will undoubtedly be cultural conflicts.
I wonder how they'll deal with such a situation.
Speak of the devil, as soon as I start thinking that, I notice an orange-haired boy picking on a frail-looking, pale skinned girl with a singular small horn protruding from the left side of her forehead. She must be from another kingdom.
The girl had small, pointed ears and short, dark blue hair. She was dressed in a white button-down shirt, skirt, and white long stockings.
That must be Jeanne Dantalion from the Kingdom of Terrestria.
Jeanne was yet another girl that had fallen for Aaron in the novel. She, through hard work and effort, had gotten a full scholarship to Knightford Academy from her home kingdom.
Prior to moving to the academy, she had been terribly fearful and shy, but persistent harassment and bullying from those with greater status had caused her to become more distant and competitive.
Eventually, she grew to hate people—a very relatable thing—and proceeded to become a major villain.
Jeanne snapped one day and killed thirty students before fleeing the kingdom and disappearing without a trace.
In retaliation, the Knightford, Terrestria, and three other kingdoms allied with Knightford had Jeanne hunted down.
Fortunately, Jeanne had managed to avoid the wrath of the five kingdoms for a long time. However, that luck had run out when during Aaron's time working for the Azuran army, and she was killed by the sword saintess.
The Knightford Kingdom had supported Terrestria, a small but mighty kingdom. They have accepted demons and a sizable portion of the population consists of them. The girl had a frightened look in her eyes as move in closer to her.
I don't really like this scene, so I tell Sylvia to continue without me, as I have a bit to say. She declines and sticks with me as I move towards the two, who had attracted a small crowd.
"What exactly is this?" I said as I released a bit of pressure into the air.
The two turn to us at the same time, and the boy looks me up and down before walking up to me.
"And who the fuck are you? A demon-lover?" He scoffs as he matched the pressure I was releasing, and I got a bit irritated at the audacity.
Sylvia took a few steps back from me when she heard the boy's response. I stared down at the boy, looking directly into his hazelnut eyes. He has a vertical disadvantage, yet he still feels like hot shit, huh?
"Yeah, I am actually," I speak calmly as I release twice the amount of pressure as before, "you should learn how to speak to royalty."
"Heh," He scoffs as he matched my pressure once more, "so you're Knightford's fifth? I knew you had to have come from that blasphemous Kingdom."
He leans in to spit on my shirt, but I dodge by stepping to the side.
If I release any more of my pressure, it might hurt someone. I really want to settle this peacefully, but I can't just let this disrespect slide… This guy just tried to spit on me though, how the hell am I going to deal with him?
At that moment, Sylvia steps forward, "Prince of Azure, I recommend choosing your battles wisely. You are clearly struggling to keep up with Raine's pressure, while Raine himself hasn't even released close to half of his. Do you really intend to keep this up?"
"Listen here you bi-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Sylvia releases an intense pressure that dwarfed what was released earlier. It was directed straight at the orange-haired shit, and the boy immediately backs up.
"Please, feel free to finish that sentence," She speaks in a calm, monotone voice, "just know that, unlike Raine, I won't hold back."
"Why you-" He stops himself, "Fuck this, it's not worth it. Not for some demon scum."
The small group of people scattered as he walked away from the two of us. Did she focus all of her pressure on a single target? That's a skill I ought to acquire. I smile in thanks at Sylvia and she returns the gesture.
I turn and hold out my right hand to the girl with blue hair.
"Sorry about that, are you alright?"
"Y-yeah," She looks up at me before reaching out and grabbing my hand, "thank you for that."
I help her to her feet and she gives me a shy smile before turning away, "I-I'm Jeanne, it's nice to meet you. P-prince Raine, right?"
"Just Raine," I smile in reply, "we'll be seeing each other a lot more in the future, it's better if you speak casually."
Her face flushes red before answering, "O-okay, Raine. Let's be friends…"
I smile at her words and nod.
After the exchange, I see five other carriages begin to pull up.
While the other Knightford passengers exit their own carriages, Nathan, Nerah, and Aaron exit the same carriage. As the others started to go in our direction, Tessa stretched her arms and legs.
We all stand together while Tessa hastily catches up to us.
"So, what did we miss?" Lyra asks inquisitively.
"Nothing much," I shrug my shoulders, "I've just had my first desire to kill someone."
"Huh?" Tessa looks over with an excited smile, "Who are we killing?"
"No, we're not killing anyone!" Nyx hurriedly calms Tessa down, "C-can we just go into the building?
Everyone nods and we begin our way to the bridge with Jeanne. We walk all the way across the bridge and through a giant door leading inside the building. Inside, there is a massive hall that leads straight to an auditorium.
The auditorium is massive and could easily accommodate well over a thousand people, which is far more than the number of attendees.
We look around before finding an empty row of seats a good distance from the stage. The siblings sat next to one another, and Aaron sat next to Nerah, in that order, moving right. Nyx was uneasy since she was seated between Tessa and Reginald.
I'm also uneasy since Jackson took a seat next to Reginald, leaving me sandwiched between Sylvia and Lyra, Jeanne also sitting beside Sylvia with a nervous expression.
Not wanting my anxiety to show, I quietly began playing around with earth magic.
I had learned to build different mechanical items with my knowledge of engineering from my previous life, so naturally, I created a figurine of myself… wait a minute.
I immediately disintegrate the statue when I realize what I was doing.
Lyra, who was looking at me from my left, was chuckling lightly at me, "Did you just create a statue of yourself? My goodness, I had no idea Raine was a narcissist."
She speaks playfully.
"That's not it. My mind just drifted off for a second." I hastily reply.
"Mhmm," She looks at me with a doubtful expression, "that just means you think about yourself when there's nothing else to do."
"Wha-" I was cut off by the lights shutting off.
Again with this thing for shutting off lights.
I notice that there is a lot of smoke accumulating as I turn my attention to the stage. The figure of a person is beginning to take shape as the smoke is all moving in the same direction.
There appears a tall man wearing a white dress suit. His beard and hair are both gray, and he appears ancient. He has a long, white stick in his hand that has a sizable spherical shape at the top. A loud clang was made as he raises the staff he's holding and strikes the bottom on the ground.
"Ahem, attention to all the newcomers," He mumbles in a low-pitched voice before continuing, "Welcome to the Zero Program!"
His shout can be heard all throughout the auditorium and, within seconds, the audience becomes completely silent.
He must be quite powerful because he used sound magic to enhance his voice.
He takes a bundle of papers out of his suit jacket and starts reading them. After a quick scan, he raises his staff again and traces a broad circle in the air. The circle then becomes larger until it resembles a big screen.
"Here at the Zero Program, you will experience life as an academy student." As he speaks, images of academy students appear on the circular screen, "For the duration of your stay, you will reside on campus. You will not be permitted to leave the campus grounds without the program's authorization. Of course, communication devices will be allowed, however, please refrain from using them during lessons."
He takes a moment to look back at the papers before continuing, "Ah, yes, there are different dorms that are divided between male and female. You will be rooming with at least one other person in your room, so I hope you're a people person…"
He pauses, waiting for a reaction, but no one makes a sound.
"Ah well," He wears a disgruntled expression, "Food and necessities will be provided by the program free of charge, and you will be able to use as much material as you want for building projects. However, members of the program will be required to spend ten hours a day in classes. Five in swordsmanship, and five in magic. Classes will be divided into four ranks depending on how strong you are, with D being the weakest class and A being the strongest. How you will receive these ranks, I shall now explain."
He changes the image on the circular screen to the image of an arena outside of the building. The arena had been a large square area made of concrete. For the purpose of preventing injury, bleachers had been set back from the arena.
"You each will have a one-on-one tournament in this arena, and the classes will be divided based on the combat results collected from the battles. The battle will go until one of these breaks."
He holds up a black and gold vest, "This jacket recognizes the user's vitals as soon as you put it on. Once it breaks, you will enter an unconscious state and you will lose the match, so try your best not to have it break. Additionally, there is an immortality field surrounding the arena, so you won't need to worry about dying."
"I believe that was the last thing." The old man begins leaving the stage, but he turns back as if he remembered something, "Oh, that's right. It is strictly prohibited to use violence against other program participants outside of official duals and battles. If one is to be caught committing any act of harm to another, harsh consequences await."
While he was speaking those ominous final words, he released a powerful pressure that even Aaron recognized. He continues walking off the stage and disappears outside the building.
After that, the large screen displays directions on where to travel in order to reach the dorms. Everyone in the room then has papers appear on their laps with instructions on where to go and the dorm number to go to.
The girls move toward the entrance on the opposite side of the auditorium from the guys, who all go to the door on that side.
Before I teleport in front of the entire bunch of guys, I wave off Lyra, Sylvia, Jeanne, and Tessa. To get to the dorm before anyone else, I hurriedly skim my page and accelerate my speed.
"Hey, this motherfucker thinks he can get to his dorm quicker than us! Y'all just gonna let that slide?" Some random instigating ass guy speaks up from behind me.
I suddenly sense a rush of magic power as people start employing spells to accelerate in an attempt to overtake me. I accelerate my speed ten times to go even faster.
Like hell I'm going to lose you all!
As I'm thinking that, Reginald, Nathan, and Aaron begin to close in on my position. Both Aaron and Nathan were using wind magic to glide forth without any wind resistance and Reginald is keeping up with just pure physical speed.
I have to accelerate even faster!
I use 'time alter' to accelerate my body by fifty times its normal speed and time begins flowing slower. In addition, I activate my combat boots and start running even faster.
Using my 'Eye of Absolute Certainty', I navigate through the halls with ease and make it to my dorm, number 81, faster than anyone else.
The hall had two rows of dorm rooms that face you as soon as you round the corner. The rest of the guys round the corner shortly after and let out heavy exhales when they realize I had already beaten them.
Only Aaron and I had no shortage of breath.
I straighten my shirt and walk into my room alone and no one around follows me in.
It's more spacious than I had anticipated, having enough room capable of housing about three more people. There is a bunk bed on one side of the room while the rest had been open, with two wardrobes and two desks.
Both desks have a black and gold vest on top of them. There is also one bathroom with a shower and sink built into the room. I pull out my suitcase from my interdimensional storage and set it near the bed. I stretch before using restoration magic to completely remove my fatigue.
As I take off my white coat, the door to the room opens to reveal a slender figure with lavender-colored hair.
"Nyx?" I flash a confused look at the figure in the doorway.
"Uh, sorry Raine. Is this room number 81?" Nyx asks.
"Yes, it is." I nodded, "But, Nyx, you do know this is the male's dormitory, right?"
"Um, yes I do." Nyx nods with a confused expression as I ask, "I am a guy after all…"