The only way to live in an unfree world is to live absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.
It has been a year since Daniel had enrolled in command secondary school and so many things have changed in that moment.
To begin he had now moved up to SS 2 and the previous SS 3 had graduated leaving their spot for the new set. He was also an honor student, getting all A's in his subjects. In fact all his scores were 90 and above.
He had also increased the variation of his bootleg smuggling business, from a small side hustle of §10k it had risen to be worth between §500k to §700k. He had added juice boxes, alcohol and had even found a way of delivering simple meals like sandwiches.
But there was a slight problem, as a growing business it had to attract attention one way or the other, the school authorities had started to get uncomfortable with the fact that there was indiscipline growing amongst students and they needed a scapegoat to use as a form of deterrence.
Daniel already had a buffer with the kingslayers in place and although it would be hard to suspect them as most of them with bad grades had miraculously started getting good grades.
But the buffer was not as strong as it was with the former SS 3s graduation he wasn't as protected as he was before and he knew that sooner or later the former SS 2 guys (now ss 3) that had beef with him and had been itching to get a piece of him would soon try .
So now he had the school authorities to be worried about and the new top seniors. He wasn't actually scared of the school authorities because of stuff like expulsion afterall in the past year he had won all state and city wide academic competitions giving the school a great reputation. Rather he was afraid of losing such lucrative income base.
The kingslayers on the other hand had grown from a measly 35 to about 100. It was larger than any school clubs. Members were taught to be more confident , some members would even help the others study. The most seniors offered protection from bullying, it was the most symbiotic relationship in which each and every one benefited greatly . But they were no longer as secret as they are supposed to be, many people knew about the kingslayers now . At first it was filled with awkward students looking for a place to belong but now everyone in the group were elite , they got better grades, they were confident and no one could mess with them. People who did mess with them found them selves in the most uncomfortable or painful situations. Any one seen wearing a black ring on their right hand were not to be trifled with. Also there were punishment for members who tried to abuse the privileges awarded to them.
It was on a hot Monday morning when the XO announced the list of prefects appointed by the school board , the others being the house captains were to be elected the next day .
Daniel had no ties to any of the appointees except for the dining prefect who was a member of the kingslayers and to be truthful he could not really do much because his position just concerned the dining area. Daniel just hoped that his candidates would win the next days election.
On Monday the results of the election were announced Daniels people had won two houses in the male hostel (flying horse and palm) and had won all the houses in the girls hostel. This meant that in the girls hostel , his couriers would be less likely of being caught as their house captains were obligated to help them out. In the boys hostel however it was less likely.
Throughout that week for some reason the SS 3 boys started being childishly petty , bumping into him or stepping on his shoes unnecessarily. No one except for the members of the kingslayers knew that he was the one behind the operation running in school and that was a relief but it was a matter of time before they found out.
Daniel managed to continue getting by without provoking anyone, his ability to go under the radar had already been compromised. He just had his quiet and observant personality going on for him.
In the coming months some of Daniels goods got seized, about §5000 worth. He also got his get back for some kind of disrespect and brutality at that.
On one particular Friday evening Daniel was walking in the dining when an SS 3 guy blocked his way. He asked the guy calmly to excuse him but he was ignored. Maybe it was because there were girls around and he wanted to be " cool " or was trying to be relevant but he was adamant on not moving.
Daniel could have moved back and followed another way but he has had enough and he was going to make an example of this idiot.
He still asked respectfully to be excused and when he tapped on the boy's (Amadi) shirt, the boy proceeded to stab him with a fork. If not that Daniel protected his face immediately, he could have gotten stabbed in the eye. Everyone just got so silent that you could hear a pin drop.
With everyone watching Daniel just let loose on Amadi. He slammed Amadi's body to the ground and started punching him . Soon he got fed up of punching him and started stomping him out to the extent that Amadi started crying.
The other SS 3 guys tried to interfere but were blocked off by the kingslayers. It was until the soldiers on duty arrived that Daniel stopped and seeing the scene before them the soldiers were forced to take Daniel into custody to be locked in the guard room until a fitting punishment had been decided for him.