"Ugh..."
I wake up staring at the ceiling with a soft feeling on my back.
'Where am I...'
"You're up!"
Adrian seems surprised when I woke up, which surprised me as well.
I then tried to sit down before a sudden rush of pain hit my head.
"Damn, my head hurts..."
"You've been asleep for a while after all..."
"Huh? How long I've been asleep for?"
"You've been sleeping for two days..."
"What?!"
Now I see why he looks surprised when I woke up.
"What about the festival? What happen after that?"
"The festival's been canceled..."
Adrian then recapped what happened for the past couple of days I've been asleep.
After the attack on the academy, most of the teacher were hurt and the the colosseum is not in usable state. Therefore, the competition has been canceled as well.
Even though the teacher's injuries has been healed by the priest who came after, the school had decided to not have class for this week to recover from the attack.
Another reason is that since the news that the academy was invaded has spread into the whole empire, a lot of parents has been complaining since earlier this morning about the safety of their kids in the academy.
"So that's been happening... what about Kim Jaesuk? Since I'm still alive, it means he defeated Frankwell?"
"Yeah, he's just sitting outside with the other..."
"The other?"
"Yep, I'll call them."
He then walked out and came back a while after, together with Kim Jaesuk, princess Reyna, and Cecilia.
"You're awake!"
Both princess Reyna and Cecilia heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing me, but Kim Jaesuk just stared at me before saying,
"Sorry..."
"Hmm? what for?"
"It's nothing..."
He then turned away and started to walk outside under the other's surprised look.
I then called him out.
"Jaesuk..."
"Hmm?"
"Don't blame yourself..."
"!"
"It's not your fault that I'm in this state."
"Okay..."
After saying that, he just left the room which made me sigh.
"What happened there?"
Cecilia then asked.
I don't wanna tell people exactly what happened there, so I just diverted the topic.
"Nothing happened, really... anyway there's one thing that's been bothering me since Adrian told me what happened."
"What is it?"
"During the attack, I heard that the academy resolved it's crisis themselves right?"
"That's right."
She answered, before I continued asking.
"Why is the academy not getting help from outside power?"
I've been curious since earlier after Adrian recapped what happened.
Apparently, the only adventurer who helped out is Leo Vermillion, Kim Jaesuk's opponent during the competition.
The rest of the adventurer, although strong, only helped to evacuate the citizens and left without fighting after.
With how long the fight last for, surely there's bound to be help from outside the academy as well, but none of that happened. Only the teachers and academy guards stationed outside the academy ran back into the academy to help.
The one who answered my question is princess Reyna.
"Ohh about that... it's because it's going against the agreement made between the big powers."
"?"
"It's like this. Any incident that happen within a territory, has to be resolved by the owner of the territory. Since the attack happened inside the academy, unless the academy asked for help, no help will be given out as its going against the agreement."
"Isn't the academy inside the Empire though? The empire is under the Royal Family's jurisdiction right?"
"It is indeed inside the Empire, but the space occupied by the academy is not the Empire's. Therefore, it's not within the Royal Family's power to help them unless they asked first."
"So, the academy is not under the Empire although it's within the Empire?"
"Correct."
I still don't get the idea, but I stopped asking there since it seems like I won't understand no matter how she explains. Either I'm just dumb or her explanation is just hard to understand.
Adrian nodded his head though, so I think he understood. Which makes me the dumb one(?)
'I'll ask him later...'
Adrian then left the room saying that he'll cook me something to eat since it's been days, and princess Reyna and Cecilia followed suit.
I laid down on my bed to sort out my thoughts.
'Check status.'
- STATUS WINDOW -
Name : Alex Stone
Age : 21
Race : Human
Attributes
Strength : 38 (from 29)
Constitution : 37 (from 29)
Dexterity :27 (from 19)
Intelligence : 20 (from 12)
Luck : 8
I checked my stats to see how much it increases, and it turns out it has increased a lot, especially my intelligence.
'My suffering has paid off...'
I thought back to my night of suffering trying to increase my mana quality.
I then started to wonder how Adrian and Kim Jaesuk's status window looks like.
'Come to think of it, I've never seen other people's status window except for Adrian and Jaesuk...'
After sorting out my thought of what to do next, I tried getting up of my bed, although its hard because my body still aches.
I left my room and Adrian has already cooked a few soup dish.
Turns out he was about to call me if I hadn't left my room first.
Surprisingly, princess Reyna and Cecilia decided to join us for the meal even though they ate very little.
"Ah, we've already eaten before... but we're curious about how Adrian's cooking skill, so.."
Princess Reyna said. It makes sense since it's not lunch time anymore, around 3 PM.
I then noticed that Kim Jaesuk's not here.
"Jaesuk's not back yet?"
"No, last time I've seen him is after we left your room earlier..."
Adrian is the one who answered my question, then I nodded at that.
The meal then ended rather quickly as everyone's not eating much.
After meal, princess Reyna asked if I want them to accompany me to walk around since I've been asleep for the past few days, to which I agreed.
I don't really have trouble walking after eating the meal, I guess I was just hungry earlier.
We walked around the the academy, me, Cecilia, and princess Reyna.
It surprises me that the day where I'm walking around accompanied by two beauties actually comes.
Not to mention that we're actually a close friend(?)
The academy gate is already closed as usual.
We then walked around and most students are just continuing with their usual activities, except that there is no official lesson.
"Come to think of it, I've never seen Jaesuk practice around the field, nor the gym... the first time I saw him in the gym was together with you at that time..."
We were looking around when princess Reyna popped up a question.
I then wondered if it's alright to tell them that he's undergoing training under the headmistress in the staff's building.
After thinking about it for a bit, I decided to tell them.
I mean, what's the worst that can happen?
"Actually..."
After explaining it to them, princess Reyna opened her eyes wide in surprise.
"WHAT?! Headmistress Alice is personally training him??"
"Ye- yess?"
"No way... how enviousss!!"
She then started complaining about it.
But then the fact that I've never seen other people's status window occurred to me, so I tried asking her.
"By the way, can I take a look at your status window?"
"Sure? Only if you agree to join my faction, though..."
"Nevermind then..."
"Hey! I'll show you okay?"
She then showed me her status window.
- STATUS WINDOW -
Name : Reyna De Gracias
Age : 18
Race : Human
Attributes
Strength : 37
Constitution : 40
Dexterity :52
Intelligence : 30
Luck : 7
"Well, most of your attributes are higher than mine..."
"Show me yours too!"
I then showed hers mine.
After taking a look, she closed her mouth with both her hands and looked at me in surprise.
"You're actually 21 years old..."
"What? do you think I was kidding?"
Seems like most people don't believe that I'm 21 years old.
Most likely because I actually think that I do looks young.
I then noticed that the aptitudes weren't showing, even on my own status window.
"Why can't I see the aptitudes anymore?"
"Oh, it's because you need a certain artefact to be able to see someone's aptitudes... do you remember the crystal ball that you touched before?"
"Ahh I see... what's your aptitude and trait then?"
"My aptitudes are A for sword and B for magic... as for my trait, that's a secret."
She smiled after not telling me what's her trait.
"Wait, you don't have spear aptitude?"
"No?"
"Then how did you teach me before..."
Princess Reyna then turned to Cecilia before answering my question.
Seems like she wants Cecilia to talk too.
Cecilia then explained,
"Aptitudes means what you excel at, it doesn't mean that you will never be good at it if you don't have that certain aptitude... let's say I have S rank aptitude for sword, but I decided to use a bow instead, I will still be able to use bow properly through hard work. Although it will never be as good as using sword..."
"I see, so aptitude is not absolute then..."
"It is."
"What do you mean?"
"Like I said, it not having an aptitude doesn't mean you CAN'T use that particular weapon that you like. But having a certain high rank aptitude towards a weapon means that you will be able to masterfully uses that particular weapon better than any weapon... even if you've only practiced for a short time.
Let's put Kim Jaesuk for example... he has S-ranked aptitude for sword, so other people might need to practice for 10 years to be able to master the sword, but he only need to practice for a year at most... that's how absolute aptitude is."
"I- I see... that's pretty crazy..."
"Isn't it?"
"What about your aptitudes?"
"It's-..."
Cecilia was about to answer my question when a group of guard came walking towards our way.
The princess then stepped forward to ask what's going on.
"Student Alex Stone, we need you to come with us to testify for Kim Jaesuk regarding the invasion a few days ago."
"WHAT?!"
I got surprised by that statement and asked back.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Further explanation shall be explained in the court, follow us obediently or we shall force you to."
"HUH?!"
I then got a little irritated by their attitudes and was about to curse when princess Reyna held my hand.
"Alex! Calm down... you need to go with them..."
"Why should I?"
"Don't you heard that? You'll be testifying for Jaesuk!"
"!"
I then remembered that they did say I need to be there to testify for Kim Jaesuk.
"Okay then, I'll go with you..."
After I said that, they just nodded and turned to walk away.
I turned to Cecilia and princess Reyna, and they just nodded their head.
I then followed the guard from behind.