February 28th, year 788 of the Imperial calendar
***
"Hey Arthur! Wait up!". A boy shouted out to Arthur, the protagonist of 'the Holy swordsman'.
Arthur turned around to see the boy, Raun, waving his hand and running towards him. He stopped in his track and waited for Raun to catch up to him.
"Phew, I thought you forgot about me", Raun said as he caught his ragged breath.
"Haha, how could I forget about you? I will never forget you standing up for me against the seniors at the start of the year"
Raun scratched his head in embarrassment. "Come on, stop mentioning about it. I only did it because they pissed me off too"
"Alright, let's have it your way then". Arthur smiled wryly before he looked behind Raun. "Where's Amel—"
RUMBLE—!
-KYAAAAAA!
Suddenly, a rumbling sound and a bloodcurdling scream could be heard not too far away from where Arthur and Raun was.
Arthur frowned, before dashing to the location of the scream. "Raun, let's go! Someone's in danger!"
"This is the fifth time already...", Raun sighed as he reluctantly followed suit. Ever since he became friends with Arthur, he has always gotten dragged with Arthur every time a girl was in need of help.
'I'm starting to miss hanging out with Theodore', Raun thought.
They soon arrived at the scene. What greeted them was the sight of a girl with her hair charred black, just like the area surrounding her.
Standing next to her, was a wolfkin with silver ears and tail, extending her hand out to her with a worried and somewhat confused face.
One of the girls, who seemed to be the victim, however, started crying as soon as she saw Arthur and Raun approaching her.
"Hic... help me my dear Arthur, this bitc- I mean student is assaulting me!"
She then ran towards Arthur and hid behind his back.
Arthur was confused. He didn't know either of the girls, and he sure as hell didn't know what started the conflict. But he came to a rough understanding after observing the situation, it was the wolfkin that was clearly at fault.
Arthur darted his eyes towards the wolfkin, who was still confused by the unexpected situation.
"W- wait! I didn't assault her! It was her t- that bullied me!"
Arthur frowned. Though her words were a bit convincing, her trembling tone suggested that she was lying. Furthermore,
"If that's the case, why are you unscathed while this girl's all battered up?", Arthur inquired in a slightly aggressive tone. In his mind, the wolfkin was blatantly lying even right in front of his face. And he sure wasn't trying to act nice to liars.
"T- that's...", she fumbled with her words, trying to find the right thing to say.
'How can I just tell him that a bird did all this?', she thought. Luckily, someone was on her side.
"Hey Arthur, maybe you should listen to her. I mean, we just got here and don't know the full story, maybe she was speaking the truth?", Raun made a reasonable argument.
Arthur cupped his hands on his chins for a while, before nodding his head. "You're right, I should have lis—"
"She's lying!", the girl who was hiding being Arthur shouted, not wanting Arthur to think about it any deeper.
"I'm just a commoner, and she's a daughter of a viscount, how could the lowly I dare to bully her?", she continued.
The wolfkin was in a bad situation. Clearly, the girl's argument did make a lot of sense. In what world would a commoner bully a noble, and not the opposite? Well, this was one such world. But no one would believe that.
"Hmm... that does make sense". Even Raun, her only supporter, muttered in a small voice.
"You, what's your name?", Arthur asked the wolfkin angrily.
"E- Emily Ulvet", the girl was shaking. She didn't expect the first-ranker to be so aggressive towards her.
"Emily Ulvet, I'll overlook this for now. But next time, don't abuse your social status and bully other people. Because if you do,...", Arthur paused and closed his eyes as if what he was about to say next would be so gruesome that Emily would wish to die instead of being inflicted with such punishments.
Raun and the girl hiding behind Arthur's back simultaneously gulped, clearly sensing the tense atmosphere.
"I'll report this to the professors", Arthur said in a heavily tone, not unlike a righteous God handing his harsh punishment onto a sinner.
"Huh?", Emily was surprised. 'Just that?', she thought.
Raun was also hanging his mouth open. He didn't expect Arthur to have his bar set this low for his so-called worst punishments.
Arthur then turned towards the girl behind him who was still in a mild daze. "May I escort you to the infirmary?"
Her face went red like a tomato as she meekly nodded.
"Hey! What about meeting Amelia?", Raun reminded Arthur of his original purpose for meeting with Raun.
Arthur halted his steps and scratched his head. "Much as I want to cure Ellen immediately, I can't let an injured lady on her own, especially when night is about to fall"
Raun sighed in frustration. "Fine, be at my room at 6 then. I'll tell Amelia to be there too"
Arthur nodded and took the girl to the infirmary.
Raun left Emily - the confused wolfkin, behind and walked towards his room, messaging Amelia on his holographic smartphone to meet him at his dorm room along the way. But, he suddenly stopped in his tracks as he saw a familiar face.
"Oh hi Krista. Would you mind coming to
***
I was in my room, staring at Lyra.
"So, care to explain why you spent your power just to interfere with the mortal world in that useless way?"
Lyra averted her eyes, clearly feigning ignorant to my questions. But, she finally gave in after not being to endure my glare anymore.
Fine... I did it out of spite. I knew how much you hated getting into troubles and that was the perfect time to do so|
"As expected, you're like a kid", I chuckled.
Lyra make a sulky expression. But her expression was soon replaced with bewilderment as soon as she heard was I said next.
"Although, I'm partly at fault for encouraging instead of stopping you"
What did you say?|, she asked in disbelief.
"I said it was also my fault, okay?"
Aw, you acknowledged your flaws too? What great character development|
Before I could retort, however, someone knocked on my door.
Knock—! Knock—!
"...what now?", I sighed as I walked towards the door. After checking that Lyra was in her bird form, I opened the door.
"Why are you here?", I asked the person who was knocking on my door, who happened to be Amelia.
"W- well, can you show me where Raun's room is?"
"Why?"
"B- because he told me to meet him at his room, b- but he didn't tell me where it is"
I was confused, shouldn't she know the way to Raun's room?
Amelia, seemingly having read my thoughts, hurriedly continued. "I- I've never been to Raun's room before so I don't know anything. A- and he isn't picking up any of my calls"
"Then how did you know where my room is?"
"T- that's", Amelia fiddled with her fingers and looked towards the ground.
I furrowed my brows. What kind of situation was this? A girlfriend knowing her boyfriend's friend's room but doesn't know anything about her own boyfriend's room?
But, I kept silent and waited for Amelia to speak. After all, she was really timid. Just me raising my voice a little bit could make her so scared that her mind could go blank.
"...A few weeks back, a c- crowd was forming around your dorm room and I checked it out. T- that's how I knew"
"...I see", it was understandable. Students were taking turns thrashing my door, and even my room, about a month ago, when they still hated me for beating Arthur up. It would have been stranger if Amelia didn't know where my room was.
"Alright, I'll help you", I sighed in defeat. She was an acquaintance after all, and this was the least I could do, especially when Raun's room was just right around the corner.
It took us literally a minute to go from my room to Raun's. Amelia tried to open the door with the handle but it wouldn't budge.
"It's locked", she sighed.
It was late at night, and the female dorm was far away. Thus, Amelia looked at me with pleading eyes.
I knew what she was going to ask me to do, but there was no way I was going to comply.
'Like hell I'm I going to let a girl in my room'. Situations like that were perfect bait for rumors, and the Saintess of Life really shouldn't have that kind of rumors surrounding her.
Even if she did, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with it. Thus, I pulled out the spare keys Raun gave me a few weeks back.
I apologized to Raun in my heart for using the keys in this way.
The keys, in fact, was given to me by Raun a few weeks back so that I could stay in his room while other students were basically sieging my room. I never used it though, as just removing my sunglasses and staring at the door was enough to keep most students from attempting to get into my room.
As I was fumbling with the keys, Amelia spoke from behind me in a small voice.
"Theodore..."
"?"
"Do you remember what happened at the cafeteria a few days back?"
"You mean when we were eating together?"
"Yes. Did you notice Krista... too?"
I froze on the spot for a second before continuing to unlock the door.
"Ah that? There's no need to worry"
CLICK—!
'Oh, it's finally unlocked'
"I'm sure it's just a coincid—"
CLANK—!
"..."
"..."
Both me and Amelia froze on the spot when we saw what was on the other side of the door.
"Mwahh!"
"Mmmmm!"
"Haaah!"
Raun and Krista was on the other side of the door, saliva bridging their mouths as their face were only centimeters from each others'. They were indeed, making out, very intensely. So much so that they didn't notice me and Amelia staring at them until...
SLAM—!
Amelia slammed the door shut, startling both Raun and Krista. She then crouched down and covered her head.
"It's a dream It's a dream It's a dream It's a dream It's a dream It's a dream It's a dream...", she muttered like a broken record, before she looked up with bloodshot eyes as the door opened again.
CLANK—!
Raun peeked over the door, his eyes widened as he saw Amelia clutching her head on the floor.
"Amelia.. I can explai— Ugh!!"
Amelia suddenly jumped up, punched Raun in the nose, and ran off.
Raun just looked at the departing figure of Amelia in regret while rubbing his now-bleeding nose.
During all of that, I just stood in place, trying to process what just happened.
After accepting that the Amelia's and Krista's route was thoroughly fucked over by the simple fact that Raun had met Krista through me, I glared at Raun in disgust.
Not giving Raun time to say anything, I pushed him into the room and slammed the door shut behind us.
Krista had a startled gaze as she saw me entered the room.
I glared at both of them, making the atmosphere really uncomfortable. I then decided to start the interrogation.
"Since when?"
"Two months ago, right after the start of the academy", Raun replied instantly as if he had already prepared the answer beforehand. Looked like that he intended on telling Amelia everything all along, but we just came at the worst possible time.
"Look, Theodore, I can explain. I love Amelia, but I also love Krista. So I co—"
"Stop, I don't want to hear it", I interrupted Raun. "You should save your excuses for Amelia"
"What do you mean?", Raun asked as if my sentence was that confusing.
Veins bulged on my forehead. 'Is this guy that dense?'
Sighing, I just decided to tell him outright. "Amelia's the one you cheated on, not me. So chase after her and give her whatever excuse you practiced beforehand"
Raun looked at me in surprise, before shaking his head and running outside of the room, presumably to chase after Amelia.
"Don't think I've forgotten about you", I said as I noticed Krista slowly moving towards the door.
"Do you know what you did wrong?", I asked in a stern voice.
"I shouldn't have dated Raun?"
This... I should have known better. She was the type that didn't think of the consequences of her actions after all.
"No, did you ever think of what Amelia would feel when you dated Raun?"
"..."
"Did you contemplate on what would happen to your, and your mother's reputation if someone else found out that you're dating a commoner like Raun?"
"..."
"Most importantly, you hid it away from me. As your brother, I deserve to know this much sooner"
'So that I can pull you away from Raun in time, that is'
Oblivious to my thoughts, Krista looked down on the floor in guilt and regret. The usual playful side of her was nowhere to be seen.
'Maybe I was to harsh with her'
"Look, I'm not trying to antagonize you too much since I know that it was that bastard Raun's fault for seducing you"
"But, try to amend your friendship with Amelia after this. As for the falling in love with a commoner part, well, I'll figure something out", I continued.
Krista just meekly nodded her head at my words. Seemed that she was still thinking deeply about what she have done.
"Well, I'll get going now. I have to make sure Raun doesn't fuck things up more than they already are", I left Krista alone in the room as I dashed to find Raun.
'How can I fix this fucked plotline...'
***
Amelia was running away from the male dormitories, frantically. She wanted to leave that place as soon as possible.
"It's just a bad dream, it's not real...", she muttered to herself over and over again despite the weird gazes students were giving her. But deep down, she knew that all of it was as real as it could ever be.
She continued to run, until suddenly, she felt a grip on her shoulder.
"Amelia...", it was Raun. Since Amelia was a healer with low agility, she couldn't have outran Raun who was F+ ranked in agility despite being a tank.
"Look, I'm sorry for not telling you sooner. But I love you as much as I love Kri— ARRRRGH!"
Amelia, who was not in her right state of mind, kicked Raun in his balls and quickly ran away, leaving him to grovel on the ground in pain.
...
It took a while, but she was finally out of the academy. She wasn't at her dorm room, as that place would only remind her of Raun. Instead, she was on top of a hill behind Avaron.
Sitting on a big rock, her mind gradually calmed down.
"Ow!", she winced in pain as she finally felt the pain from her feet. There were blisters everywhere, she really pushed herself to run as far away from that lecherous bastard as possible.
Feeling that the pain had subsided a bit, she heaved a sigh. Today... was a sad day for her. Her boyfriend of over 6 years had betrayed her. She didn't know who she could trust in anymore.
She gazed up at the night sky, wanting to find solace in such action. But, there were only one lonely star on the sky that night. The star reminded her of how lonely she was, now that in her mind, Raun had already abandoned her to be with Krista
'He haven't even kissed me yet', she sobbed as she thought back to that painful scene. Raun's expression at that time... made him look like he was in absolute bliss.
Even her, having been his girlfriend for over 6 years, haven't once seen Raun make that kind of face.
Thus, she felt betrayed, depressed, and... inferior. She continued to sob, until a rustling sound caught her attention.
—Rustle
"Oh my, a little girl crying in the middle of the night? How intriguing"
"Y- you! Who are you!". Amelia was wary, but she could do nothing but to try and run at the first possible chance. After all, she didn't have any combat capabilities.
"Who am I? Well,..."
"Wouldn't you like to find it out yourself", the mysterious figure said as he walked towards Amelia while slowly reaching into his pants.
She stepped back, only to trip on a small rock and fall down to her butt.
The man was right in front of her. His sinister smile terrified her. She wouldn't dare to imagine what horrible thing would happen to her if the man caught her.
But alas, she couldn't do anything but to close her eyes and accept her fate.
'This is my end', she thought before a cold voice rang out, catching both her and the man by surprise.
{Freeze}