Father...
The father of Ren, the character I possess, is a very influential figure throughout the book.
Eugene Montclair
During the first war between demons and humans, seven prominent families emerged in the chaos, leading humanity to a partial victory. My father was included in one of those seven families and is known famously for his cruelty and strict behavior.
In the original story, after Ren is expelled from the school, Eugene goes so far as to disown his son—his blood. Eugene had taken everything away from his child just because of an expulsion at some school.
However, that wasn't even the worst part. Eugene monitored the academy for talents worthy of joining his knight order, and to no one's surprise, Liam was the first person to catch his attention.
From then on, Eugene personally mentored Liam to help him hone his talent and even financially supported him through his school life.
Yes, the same person who ignored and abandoned his genetic son gave up his precious time train and honed some random person he met through the academy.
Not even a random person, Eugene treated the person who got his son, Ren, expelled from school far more like a child than he ever did to Ren.
I fondly remember laughing at this ironic turn of events, but now that I was experiencing. I realized how fucked up it was.
I honestly began feeling bad for Ren. Imagine seeing your father spend the time you desperately craved with your arch-rival.
Calming my nerves a bit, I opened up the letter from my father.
[Dear former son,]
What you have done has not simply resulted in your suspension; your actions have disgraced the entire family name. I realize now that I have been far too lenient with your upbringing; however, it is too late to change that now. This is the last time that you disgrace the family with your actions. After having given everything to you since birth, instead of being grateful, you insult others who did not have the same opportunity. And finally, even with all the resources expended on you, you are still lost to that commoner. The last name of Montclair is wasted on you. Do not ever think of returning to the family estate after this. After discussing it with the other family members, we have decided to strip you of the Montclair name. From now on, your name is Ren. That is all.
----------------------------
Rather than being disappointed or sad at this news, I was filled with rage.
This accursed person was my "father." Feeling Ren's emotions overwhelm me for a second; my legs started shaking uncontrollably with a mix of sadness and shame.
Recalling Ren's childhood memories, I relived all of Ren's past terrible actions, including how he looked down on his servants and treated everyone terribly. This allowed me to feel Ren's emotions at that time.
It wasn't happiness or cockiness he was feeling when he committed these actions... it was hope.
Hope that his father would pay attention to him, just once in his life.
...I guess he had got what he wanted in the end.
If I had continued reading the book, my opinion of Ren would have remained that of some neckless coward, yet now I realize that he wasn't so bad after all.
Maybe that's a biased opinion because I am "Ren" now, but he just did what every other nobleman did, didn't he?
Every noble has looked down on the commoners at least once in their life, even my father, but when Ren does it, it's such a big deal?
Looking up from the letter, I saw my butler standing anxiously with a handkerchief.
What the hell? What am I supposed to cry about? This was a good thing.
That person could not even be classified as a father to me or anyone, for that matter. The only thing we had in common was our last name, but now that was gone.
Upon seeing my dark red eyes not filled with sadness, my butler stepped back in shock for a second before handing me a small bag of golden coins.
Looking inside, I saw around ten gold coins, which would be more than enough to get me through the one-week suspension. Since my tuition to the school was already paid for the year, I wouldn't have to worry about this year as well.
Since I had caused the incident on the 2nd day of school, I would be missing the entirety of the first week, and I was already behind most students in terms of swordplay.
Ren managed to reach Class B in the first place because of his last name, so with that gone, I would surely sink into the depths of Class E if I did nothing.
Seeing Janda preparing to leave to head back to the family state, more memories flooded my mind, showing me this guy was much more than a butler to Ren; he had essentially raised Ren from a baby to now.
Expressing my gratitude once wouldn't change anything.
When Janda opened the carriage doors, I spoke.
"Thank you."
Without waiting for my butler's reaction, I shut the door, and the carriage began moving again.
"Where to sir?"
Those without power were fated to suffer, so I needed power and knew the exact place to find it...
"The Hajin Mountain Range."
Not only did this place contain the item I was looking for, but it was also the perfect place to get rid of all this extra baggage on my body.
Due to its high mana density, the mountain range allowed people to recover faster and increase their stamina at phenomenal rates. However, despite all those fantastic perks, the mountain's population was close to 100 throughout all seasons.
This was, of course, due to the high population of monsters attracted to the higher-density air. Nonetheless, I had chosen it as my destination, and the item I was searching for was called the "Dragon's Eye."
In the novel, the ongoing myth is that during the demon war, when Dragons were still active, there was a peaceful dragon in the mountain range that chose neutrality rather than the demons or humans.
Living in its secluded cave and ignoring all the recruitment attempts, the dragon lived a peaceful life until, one day, the demons got too greedy.
The power of one dragon matched over 1000 high-tier troops, and with the demons on the defensive, they desperately needed more firepower.
Sending over 5,000 troops to the mountain range, the demons tried to take the dragon away forcefully; however, what happened next was unknown to anyone.
It is assumed that the dragon, rather than participating in the war, decided to self-destruct, killing all the demon's troops alongside itself.
The only remanent of this battle is the Dragon's Eye. The full extent of the item's power is unknown, as the villain could only utilize its first stage, which allows the user to have incredible sight and perception.
This entire journey was a gamble. If the item turned out to be shit, and the book was overhyping it, there would be no time for me to search for another item before returning to school.
While I was considering taking an easier route and going for known overpowered items that the protagonist would obtain, I decided not to
Why would I purposely take away my greatest strength in this world, knowing the future?
Sure, I could have all the overpowered items in the world, but knowing the future would be ten times more valuable.
Looking out of the carriage window, I saw the beautiful sun shining through the trees as it began to set, and peeking through the window of the carriage, the image of mountains that seemed to reach the sky entered my vision.
However, before those mountains, a little town was set up at the mountain's base for travelers.
After reaching the small town, I hopped off the carriage and gave the driver a gold coin.
Looking at my meager balance, I wished I could return to earlier in the day when I thought money wouldn't be a problem...
How was I supposed to know that my father would still disown me if I got suspended rather than expelled?
Peering through my luggage, I realized I had nothing valuable besides some royal-looking clothes. Ensuring nobody was watching, I snuck into the forest surrounding the village and left my baggage there.
If it got stolen, sure, it would be a hassle, but I wasn't willing to journey up the mountains with that heavy thing on my back.
After re-entering the village, I immediately looked for a blacksmith. With the high population of monsters, I would need at least a weapon if anything happened.
It wasn't like I could do much with the sword, even if a beast showed up, but having a false sense of security felt nice.
I picked up each sword on the rack until I finally found one I could swing without sweating and hyperventilating.
Upon reaching the academy again, I would have access to their expensive weapons arsenal, so I did not need to worry too much.
Exchanging a gold coin for the sword, I took it and walked towards the mountain. Even if I had money to settle down in an inn, wasting all my gold coins would be stupid.
The light in the sky was diminishing, and there was no way I would wander around a monster-infested mountain with no light, so I immediately began walking up the artificial trail that led up the hill.
After reaching a decent height above the ground, the mana swarming into my body reenergized me momentarily as my muscles felt lighter.
However, even with the mana, I could tell that this body was not meant for physical exercise, as sweat dropped from my forehead every time I moved.
When I finally saw a small opening in the mountain that was too small to be called a cave, I veered off the path and took cover in the cave.
Next, I moved some smaller rocks to partially block the cave's entrance so it would be safe from monsters.
Recalling my memory, I realized that the most dangerous beasts in the range were the mountain tyrants; however, due to their large stature, a small cave like this would block their entrance.
Besides that, the monster birds could enter the cave. However, I doubted that they would join me in such a secluded space.
Taking off my jacket and scrunching it up to make a pillow, I finally relaxed and drifted off to sleep.
"Who would have thought, a noble sleeping in a cave in nowhere."
The cold, rough floor and constant noise of things moving around me made it hard to sleep, but my exhaustion eventually saved me.
I think Ren exercised more today than in the past year, and sadly, that wasn't a joke.
Imagining what I would have to do tomorrow made me shutter. I would have to search every nook and cranny of each cave I came across to find the eye, and I would be constantly on edge due to the possible appearance of monsters everywhere.
I wish that the book had mentioned more specifics about the location of items rather than just saying, "He found the item in some cave located on the rightmost mountain of the Hajin range."
Back at school, besides my situation with the protagonist, nothing was supposed to happen during the first week of school so I wouldn't miss much.