Adrienne dismissed us a little early, and told us to just get ready for our next class. Looking down at my bloodsoaked clothes, I concentrated before willing the blood on it to slowly move out of my clothes so as to not tear then. And so, we headed to the changing rooms.
I had spent a fair bit of time with Arthur, and to be honest I was tempted to just tell him about my case. Although, I would probably mix up the story a little, I didn't know how he would react if he knew he was just a character from a novel.
'Now that I think about it, if I could convince him that I also knew about the Demonic Contractees in this Academy, then couldn't we make an effort to wipe them out?'
Contractees were a known and despised existence in this world, however they were uncommon to find. The native residents of this world knew of Demon's, and vaguely knew of their power. And, they knew that they were the enemy.
Now, that didn't mean that we had reached a point where everyone had united against the Demon's, but we were at a stage that if a contractee appeared, they would be hunted down by a group that operated on this continent.
These people were known as Heresy Inquisitors, they specialised in one on one combat, and were supported by virtually every nation.
"Reinhardt, you're strong."
Snapping me out of my thoughts, Arthur spoke. He sounded bitter.
"Yeah, I know."
"Why haven't I heard of a monster like you? You clearly don't lack opportunities to prove yourself considering you're a Knight, but nobody knew of you till the entrance exam. Are you... hiding something?"
'Oh. Right. I wasn't someone who he knows about. How troubling, he might end up thinking of me as a contractee.'
Smiling, I replied, buttoning my shirt.
"I'm hiding plenty of things, everyone's got secrets. Don't pry."
"I suppose that's fair. And, another thing, why the hell are you so bad at using Mana and the sword despite that blessed body? Boundless Mana, a body that may as well have been crafted by the God's themselves along with a ridiculous output for people your age. All of those blessings yet you've done nothing."
Although it sounded like Arthur was condemning the current me, he was probably just mad that I wasn't there in his first life. He was probably under the belief that I would grow to be as strong or stronger than he was in his first life. Meaning that he thinks that if I was there during his first life, I would have been able to put in some serious work against the Demon's.
Now, that's not wrong, at all. If I was there, I would've definitely traumatised at least one Demon Lord. But, how dare he get mad at me? It's not my fault that I didn't get reincarnated at a more convenient time.
'I'm not gonna let this stupid regressor just lay the blame on me. It's not my fault he couldn't protect everyone he cares about.'
"I've not done anything? What the hell have you done with your life for you to be saying that? You're saying I'm blessed, when you wield six elemental affinities. I technically don't even have an elemental affinity. Your skill and efficiency are also blessings that were brought by your innate talent. We're both blessed. Don't you forget that."
Then, I muttered the next part under my breath.
"Don't forget that you've failed too."
I knew that last bit would hit him where it hurts. Being a regressor meant one thing.
It meant that he was a failure who couldn't accomplish what he set out to do the first time. He was someone with a second chance. A failure with a second chance. That's all he was.
"Failed, huh? You're right. I've failed twice. But how do you know... Never mind, we're probably thinking about different things."
Arthur grit his teeth, before sighing and looking at me.
"My bad. Let's just say I said it out of jealousy."
'I should probably throw off his suspicions. It'll be annoying if he misunderstands. But, this should do.'
"Ignition."