Sword God in a World of Magic

"Move! Make space for the next ones!" one of the guards told Shang with annoyance.

Shang moved to the side, and a couple of seconds later, Soran appeared on top of the wall.

Soran had a nice conversation with the stationed guards once again before leading the team down the wall.

"And that's that," Soran said as he turned to everyone. "It was nice seeing some of you again."

Sarah immediately left without saying anything. Apparently, the Magic Contract annoyed her quite a bit.

Elver and Astor also said their goodbyes before following Sarah.

"Shang, follow me," Soran said after everyone left.

Shang only nodded and followed Soran.

After a couple of minutes, they returned to the academy.

Soran immediately led Shang to the main building and to the fifth floor, which was reserved for teachers.

The two of them entered Soran's office and sat down.

SHING!

Soran summoned a gigantic stack of papers, which heavily hit the desk in his office.

Then, he looked at Shang with a smile. "Want to find out who hired the Cleaner?" he asked.

Shang's eyes shone, and he nodded.

"Tell me what you know and who you suspect," Soran said.

Shang recounted his thoughts about who could have wanted him dead.

It essentially boiled down to that it had to be one of the students.

Soran nodded. "That's what I thought," he said as he took the huge stack of papers into his hands.

"Tell me of everyone you met that might have a motive for wanting you dead."

Shang thought for a bit and decided to go in chronological order.

"The guy in the entrance exam. The one I beat up," Shang said.

"Michael Brestow," Soran said as he searched through the papers until he found the student's file.

"He's in the Preparation Grade right now, and he is about average. Nothing has changed for him. I severely doubt that it's him," Soran said.

Shang nodded. He hadn't thought that he would have been the one to send the Cleaner, but Shang wanted to be thorough.

"Stars Gerbon," Shang said. "I was the reason for his strongest helper leaving, and I beat his two cronies up. I also tore his jaw off."

Soran grimaced a bit, but he looked for Stars' file.

his background," Soran said. "After you two met, everyone around him abandoned him. He had trouble adjusting for the next couple of weeks, but

other students, and whenever someone brings up his old behavior, he gets angry out of shame. His family has the funds to hire such a powerful

"I doubt it's him."

also surprised about something. "How do you know so

are required to report nearly everything about every student," Soran

job to read through all the reports and create a file. I hate that part of

'Understandable,' Shang thought.

his three cronies?"

names of the cronies from Stars' file

Grade. Below average due to laziness," Soran said as he

not him." Soran

dead,"

was involved

put the file away. "He died about 18 months later in the northeastern Wild Forest. You can imagine what he died

"Vanishing Snake?" Shang asked.

Soran nodded.

"It's not him."

Shang furrowed his

only had one more run-in

was the

that? Shang had been a normal student, and he hadn't even argued with anyone. He had simply stayed by himself and went to his

one

fight with three students,"

remember," Soran said with a frown. "That wasn't a

back then, I tried my very best to convince teacher to expel you. You can imagine how that went," Soran said with a bit of guilt visible on

wasn't surprised that Soran wanted to expel him back then. Soran hadn't

Soran never tried to use any underhanded methods to get rid of him. He had voiced

Shang's life difficult with underhanded means, he

understand

Soran said. "Thank you for

Shang only absentmindedly nodded.

looked through the files and

guy you kicked," Soran

through the

he raised an

an eyebrow

Academy three days

Now, they were

doesn't end here," Soran said. "Just a couple of months ago,

the weekly match between the Anti-Mage Class

Apprentice, and he wasn't

with a

the file again, and he had to chuckle. "Interesting. He was below average in our academy, but he quickly became rather good

got beaten to death and gave up the warrior path. But instead of turning

take a guess, I believe that he might even

probably still be

back to

had kicked the guy with all his power, broke several of his bones, and the guy had been convulsing on the ground as he was choking on his

would have guessed that such an event would result in the