The Author's POV

"Is that him?"

"Did he really get injured over such a simple mission?"

"He really does look weak"

Aimlessly walking around the mansion, I ignored the whispers and stares coming from some of the students that I passed along the way.

Yesterday night, after completing the mission, I returned to the mansion all battered up. My whole arm was bleeding profusely and my clothes were all torn.

Though I didn't pass out, to the people who saw me return, it looked as if I had been through hell.

Because I had some notoriety, news of my battered state spread across all of the students...and soon I became the hot topic of the first years.

Because the missions that we got were not a secret from the other students, after a bit of digging, people immediately found out who my target was and news of me getting beat up by a ranked individual spread across the academy.

...in the end, this resulted in me becoming the butt of the jokes of the first years.

'Weakling'

'Loser'

'Trash'

Walking along the corridor, I was called all sorts of defamatory names by everyone that saw me.

On a normal day, I would've grumbled and cursed at the people talking crap about me, but today...

Staring at my hands, I recalled the moment when my sword reaped through the lives of multiple people at once.

'...I killed'

I didn't sleep throughout the whole night.

Right now to the people around me I probably looked like a lifeless corpse that was aimlessly wandering around the mansion.

My mind kept replaying the moments where I reaped through the lives of the four bodyguards.

...I could vividly recall Karl's pleading face as he begged for me to spare him.

"Fuuuuu..."

Letting out a long breath and staring at the ceiling of the corridor, I tried to calm my mind.

What had happened already happened.

...There was no going back.

I had killed and I needed to move on...

This wasn't going to be the only time, and it sure as heck wasn't going to be the last time.

This was the path that I had chosen for myself and thus had to take responsibility for my decisions.

Moreover, there was something more important I needed to worry about.

'The massacre of Hollberg'

The second big event in the first arc of the novel.

Tomorrow at 9:45 P.M, the last day of the trip, when everyone was sleeping, an organized attack will happen.

Though their primary targets were Kevin and the others, the other weaker students weren't spared from their pursuit.

...Meaning that I was also not safe.

Though I decided not to interfere, I needed to prepare myself for what was to come.

Placing my hand on my chin, I fell into deep thought.

First things first...I needed to memorize the whole building blueprint.

least amount of attention. The reason why I needed a good view of what was happening was so that I could overlook anything that deviated from

another incident like the one with

I had the mysterious book with me. With it, I could more or

that deviated from the plotline happened, it was my job to

needed to quickly recover from the wounds

my injuries that quickly. Especially since my whole shoulder had been

still needed a full day to completely

now, the whole of my right hand hurt like hell. Just the slightest movement and I would get an electrifying pain coursing through my body. Though I could tough it out, I'd still prefer if I was in

I needed to sort out

I wasn't in the right state of mind to be put through

...I just couldn't.

again was causing my hands to tremble uncontrollably. I was not ready mentally

end, I had already decided that for tomorrow I would use [Monarch's indifference] throughout

I realize how many flaws I

I was too emotional.

fact that I had killed someone, the thought of what future lay ahead of me and how many

everything that I was doing really okay? Was killing

thoughts continuously brewed inside of my mind as I tried to find the correct

had a long way to go

ridding of all my distracting thoughts, I quickly headed to my room and started preparing for

going to be the longest

...

-Bang! -Bang! -Bang!

"Huff...huff..huff"

of an empty room filled with training dummies, an extremely handsome individual stood in the middle of the room heavily

was drenched in sweat,

-Gulp!

his stamina, the young individual quickly dashed before one of the training dummies and punched it

"Die! Die! Die!"

-Bang! -Bang! -Bang!

spread throughout the room as the sound of

the young

he clenched his jaw hard and

am

the first night the mission was assigned,

that

much work he put in, he couldn't find any way to bridge the gap between himself

that much more talented than

he just accept the fact that

"Damm it..."

-Bang!

hard, Jin punched

Even if my talent is not as good as his, I have access to the best resources and facilities! This should be enough for me to be able to become

an orphan and had nothing managed to surpass him who

He couldn't accept it.

way he

-Gulp!

of his energy, Jin immediately downed another potion and

surpass you

-Bang!

dummies he once again started training until he

process repeated continuously until his fists

end, only after passing out from overworking himself

...

small cozy cafe' decorated with beautiful plants and old wooden

mocha, one of the two stunning girls that had short creamy brown hair looked at the girl in front of

something strange happening these past few

at Emma, Amanda frowned for a second

"No"

"Really?"

a bit, Emma's brow

"Maybe it's just me..."

few days, Emma had this sense of discomfort. She constantly felt as if

the end, she could only think of it