Chapter 15: Starlight Hero Academy
Since the distance between the Moon Core and the Starlight Hero Academy wasn't that far away from each other, Kayn and Natas were able to quickly reach their destination after half an hour or so of walking.
The moment Kayn and Natas entered the gate with a huge sign that says 'Starlight Hero Academy' on top, a huge and wide space of land with dozens of different aesthetically pleasing designs and grandiose buildings located in various areas of the campus ground greeted them. The distance between one building to another was as long as six basketball courts, evidently showing just how huge the entire Starlight Hero Academy was.
Without wasting any time, the duo started walking on a yellow concrete pathway located in-between small well-trimmed birch trees.
Eventually, they reached a fountain where all paths toward the dozens of buildings in the school connect together, seemingly acting like the Moon Core of Starlight Hero Academy, which is called the Core Fountain.
From this design alone, one would be able to realize that probably every architectural design around the territory of Dragon Beast Republic follows the layout of Moon Dragon City, where all buildings and infrastructure are connected into a single focal point.
There's actually a reason for this; according to legends, all dragons have a Dragon Core which is the source of their overwhelming power and is hidden underneath a so-called reverse scale, which is apparently said to be their one and only weakness, and also the trigger that will enrage a dragon. This means to say that both the Moon Core of the Moon Dragon City and the Core Fountain of the Starlight Hero Academy represent the source of their power and their weakness as well.
Needless to say, that is nothing more than just a representation of art from the people who worked on the designs. It's not necessarily true that the Moon Core and the Core Fountain are really a weakness or a source of power.
"So, where to now?" Kayn muttered silently to Natas who appeared to be momentarily occupied in observing his surroundings as they were walking like what he always does.
"Oh!" Natas quickly pulled himself together after hearing Kayn's question. "I honestly also don't know. All I know is, he is someone being targeted by bullies and the leader of the bully is the son of the Headmaster of Starlight Hero Academy. Apparently, the latter is jealous of the talent that your comrade possesses, as such he is trying his best to suppress him from growing even stronger and developing his ability. Unbeknownst to the son of the Headmaster, despite all the suppression he received, he was still able to slowly and secretly cultivate his power. And now, your comrade is thinking whether to use it against his bullies or not,"
"Don't you have anything else that could at least minimize the scope of our search?" Kayn sighed heavily out of dissatisfaction.
The son of the Headmaster of Starlight Hero Academy, Carlos, is known to be the greatest bully in their school due to the fact that he doesn't possess the same level of talent that his father has, and on top of that, he is also extremely weak compared to the majority of his peers, not only in their school but also in the entire world as well. In other words, he has an inferiority complex.
Of course, it wasn't always that way. There was once a time in the Starlight Hero Academy's history when Carlos was known to be a kind- and good-hearted young man. However, because he is the only child in their family, as such, he is receiving a tremendous amount of pressure from his parents and relatives every single day because a weak person like him is the only individual in their household that has the right to inherit everything his father had built when he eventually dies, which later on caused him to release his pent-up emotions on his schoolmates.
That was what sparked Carlos' jealousy and hatred of those with more talent compared to him. And with the authority his father possesses plus the background of the family he came from, he has all the power in the world to gather goons amongst the students of Starlight Hero Academy and bully their schoolmates to some extent without being punished for it. Moreover, not many students would dare to fight back.
Almost everyone that shows more potential to Carlos but is still in the sprouting stage of their growth would receive his bullying. As a matter of fact, even Kayn wasn't spared from Carlos' actions in the past as well. The only difference is that he is one of the brightest stars in the school, so bullies are strongly discouraged to do anything bad against him. Otherwise, they would incur the wrath of the school board and the chairman of the school for the crime of suppressing potentially talented Heroes.
That's right! Kayn isn't just any run-of-the-mill kind of student of the Starlight Hero Academy or someone who simply got lucky in life to hit a jackpot. Obviously, that's to be expected since in the future he would become the number one Hero of Earth. An incapable genius or a tiger that hides his fangs to eat a pig isn't something that the world wants nor needs, so naturally, Kayn puts all that he got in order to be noticed and earn the chance to change his fate.
Though, honestly, this was one of the major mistakes he committed in his youth. He only realized it today. If at that time he didn't show his potential, then there might have been a chance, even just a tiny bit, for World President Nicholas to simply ignore him.
Unfortunately, in order to get out of poverty, he decided to show the world what he could do. Hence, prompting World President Nicholas to make a move against him. Anyways, there was no way for him to know his future. If he did, then he would have probably handled the situation differently. Albeit there is still no telling for certain whether the same fate awaits him at the end of the road or not.
Back to the main topic. Almost every single victim of bullying by Carlos would have the same, or related to the background of what Natas' described; a talented student and has the potential to grow much stronger than Carlos, which in short simply means every single student of Starlight Hero Academy.
Moreover, the backstory is also almost entirely the same as Carlos' previous other victims who still grew more powerful compared to him which in turn repaid all the pain and suffering that they have received from him. What else is expected when they bully a smart and talented individual? To cut the story short, it's always just going to be either they would end up completely destroying the lives of those geniuses, or they would later on grow prominent and powerful enough to take their revenge. In the case of his new comrade, he was going to choose the latter option… or it should be if Kayn doesn't do anything to stop him.
"How about his appearance? What does he look like? Also, his gender, is he a boy, or a girl? Age? Height? Name? What section and grade?" Kayn started drowning Natas with the common questions asked during interrogation in hopes of getting more information out from the latter.
"He is a boy, his name is Rowan, has red-colored hair, wears eyeglasses and has one earring on his right ear with the shape of a cross, he is the same age as you, I don't know his height, but he's probably a bit shorter compared to you. That's all I got since he wasn't my incarnation in the first place," Natas answered after remembering everything he could about that certain comrade of Kayn.
"Hmmm… Rowan…" Kayn suddenly paused on his footstep as he tried to recollect his memories of the name of all his new comrades. But, no matter how hard he tries, he just can't seem to remember someone with such a name, "Did he perhaps change his name to something else?"
"As far as I could remember, he did not," Natas shook his head, but he quickly added as he understood Kayn's concern, "It's only natural that you don't know him since he was the guy who inconspicuously gathered your new comrades together. I've heard that he decided not to enter the 'Tower' with you. Otherwise, there would be no one left on Earth to continue what you have worked hard to achieve. Oh, I finally remember, he was the one that hugely influenced the world to investigate the truth behind what happened to you,"
"In short, he works as my shadow without my knowledge?" Kayn asked, a bit doubtful. He has heard a few times of Heroes working as shadows of other Heroes in order to make the latter's work much easier. However, those Heroes are aware of their presence as they were the ones who assigned them to such a job, to begin with. This is his first-time hearing someone working as someone else's shadow without that certain someone knowing about it.
"More or less, yes,"
"Wait, I have a more appropriate name for him — a fan," Kayn can't help but think that Natas was trying to ridicule him. The behavior described by the latter of this supposedly one of his unknown comrades is no different from those shown by the fans of Heroes; working their asses off regardless of their idol knowing about it or not.
"Well…" Natas scratched his head awkwardly.
"Are you seriously telling me that all we are doing right now is just to save one of my fans?" Kayn felt like hitting his face with his hand out of dismay.
"I don't know if this is your definition of a fan. But that person did something that no other Heroes out there could do or are even willing to do, let alone their fans, just to help you when you needed it the most. If for you he is not one of your comrades, but simply a fan, then it can't be helped, and I feel pity for that guy because the Hero he believes in didn't think of him as important as those that fought and died for him," Natas sneered as he felt disdain at Kayn's action.
"Okay, okay… I am sorry," Kayn quickly raised his hand to yield to Natas' argument. The latter was correct. When the world decided to give up on him, this Rowan guy was one of the only few that kept on believing him. If that sort of action couldn't even earn him a place as his new comrade, then who else could? The very least the people he is going to recruit should have is determination and relentless belief in him.
"Don't apologize to me, apologize to that guy… that is if we could find him before it's too late,"
Once again, they are stuck with the problem of looking for Rowan.
"At least we now have more clues and could further minimize the scope of our search," Kayn is now relieved.
Without wasting any time, Kayn started walking towards a particular building on their campus, the faculty building; where all teachers stay during and after class, and also where all records of every single student in the Starlight Hero Academy are kept.