"Thanks, it’s nice to see you too." Phloria sarcastically replied
"What happened?" Lith asked.
"It’s terrible!" Yurial groaned. "After all these hours, zero progress. We have barely eaten to have more time, but it was all for nothing. I’m going to fail dimensional magic so bad it’s going to destroy my grades.
How can we focus on a subject so hard with all that’s happening? Every time I am alone, I have to watch my back from Lyam and his goons. The rest of the time I am either studying or worrying about what could happen if a civil war really breaks out.
I could lose everything and everyone I love. The work of generations destroyed in a few days, simply because people like the Lukart think that might makes right. I can barely sleep at night anymore."
He held his head between the hands, his eyes watery due to stress and exhaustion. Phloria just nodded, sharing his worries. She had almost developed the compulsion to call in once an hour, to check the wellbeing of her brothers.
"So basically, you are saying that living like a commoner is driving you crazy?" Lith replied furrowing his eyebrows.
"Your first worry is the same one every Ballot less student has to live with. As for the second, well, back in my village, wandering nobles were treated like natural disasters, since they could pillage, kill and r*pe at will.
And we were the lucky ones, since the presence of my mentor kept most of them at bay. Sorry, but I’m not sorry to break your self-pity bubble. Not to mention that basically you two are the living proof their strategy is working.
If everyone were to freak out like you do, very few would graduate this year. That would be considered as the Headmaster’s fault, with the only result to push the Kingdom one step closer to the civil war."
Phloria and Yurial only got gloomier after his speech.
- "Way to go, you idiot." Lith scolded himself. "Why don’t you beat them down while you are at it? We need their help, so try to be a decent person for a change." –
"Sorry, guys. I didn’t mean to be a jerk." And for once he was sincere.
"But something absurd happened to me while I was in the forest, and I’m still messed up."
Before any of them could ask a single question, Lith told his story once again, but unlike the Marchioness, they didn’t allow him to continue after the part about defeating the plant Abomination and rescuing the dryad.
"Are you telling us you defeated a monster alone?" From her voice and expression, Phloria didn’t believe a word he said.
"Was the dryad hot?" A tinge of colour returned on Yurial’s face, even with Lith avoiding to mention the nudity part.
"Are you all right? I can’t believe you are so calm after that thing almost managed to eat you alive." Quylla had turned ashen, with Friya preferring to calm her rather than express her surprise.
"Yes, yes and yes." He replied.
"Thanks for being the only one that not only believes me, but also sincerely worries about me, Quylla."
At those words the others acutely perceived Lith’s poke, realizing their rudeness, rushing into expressing overdue concerns about his wellbeing.
"If you find this part incredible, wait for the rest." He resumed the narration, taking out the natural treasures, the letter and the box at the right time to prove them he wasn’t making any of that up.
When Lith finished, it was hard to understand if they were more incredulous or scared. Incredulous because both the ideas of the monster and a prophecy for a soul, seemed too much something out of a fairy tale to be real.
Scared because the content of the prophecy wasn’t about endless riches, a future harem of world class beauties or Lith becoming King, like in the legends. It was the stuff their nightmares were made of.
Without the academy, Quylla would be back to be a homeless orphan. And if the war really ensued, there was no telling how it could end. The only certainty was that both sides would spill a lot of blood, maybe enough for the bordering countries to invade, erasing the Griffon Kingdom from history.
"Why are you telling us all this? You do know how crazy all this sound, and if your patron, of which we never heard about before, has already took matters in her hands, what do you need us for?"
As usual, Phloria was the first one to speak. She had taken her leadership quite seriously. Despite their bond, she always felt he was keeping many secrets from them. More than not believing him, she wanted Lith to crack his impenetrable armour and show her some real trust.
"First off, because you are my friends, and you have the right to now the truth." Every fiber of his being was cringing at those words, yet he pushed forward. Like Solus had reminded him earlier, progress, not perfection.
"Second, because even my patron, just as you, Phloria, don’t believe me capable of such a feat. Before I continue, there’s something you must know."
Lith sat on Quylla’s bed, massaging his temples while inwardly cursing the fate forcing him to take a gamble after another.
"Life at the edges of civilization is really hard. I had to fight for everything since I have memory. I’m not like you guys, I killed my first human at the age of six. Then, after I finished my apprenticeship, I became a bounty hunter, killing people for money."
- "There, I have said it. They finally know I am a bona fide murderer with a penchant for gold." –
With a deep sigh, he raised his head to look them in the eyes. Contrary to his expectations, there was no surprise, disgust or spite in their expressions.
"Why you don’t look shocked in the least?"
"Well, I already knew everything." Friya shrugged.
"After how you handled the school’s queens the first day and reading Professor Vastor’s report about your achievements, I was too curious. So, I had a background check made on you."
"You did what?" Either in the new world or on Earth, violations of his privacy never felt nice.
"Sorry, but between your skills, glare and awful character, I thought it was best knowing the competition. Besides, is not like I had to dig that hard, it was all public knowledge."
"And she told me everything once we became friends." Quylla chimed in.
"I never thought badly of you for that. On the contrary, I find you amazing. Wish I was able to do the same, instead of being constantly forced to rely on others." She blushed a little, keeping her eyes down and fiddling with her long hair.
"Same. I mean that I had a background check made too, not the cool part. To be honest, I found you to be quite scary at the start, but then you turned out to be a chill guy."
Yurial patted some invisible dust off his shoulder, incapable of looking Lith in the eyes. He still found him to be quite scary.
"And so did I. Hope this isn’t the big secret." Phloria snorted.
"It actually is. At least part of it." Lith stood up, taking a deep breath to calm himself.
"But showing is much better than telling. Phloria, would you mind taking out your sword and attacking me?" He gestured the others to clear the space around them, for their own safety.
"Are you crazy?" She asked with her eyes wide open.
"Humour me. And while you are at it, drink a defence potion too. I’m too tired to hold back, I could hurt you quite badly."
Seeing that she kept not moving, Lith closed in too fast for her to react, tapping with his right index and medium finger on her solar plexus, forcing the air out the lungs and making her cough uncontrollably.
When Phloria tried instinctively to reach for her sword, Lith swept her with a kick. Before she could adjust her body for the fall, he was already up, clenching her sword hand with his left hand and lifting her by the throat with the other one.
He then gently helped her standing up again, while a shocked silence filled the room. Thanks to his new body, Lith hadn’t needed to use fusion magic, his enhanced physical prowess was enough.
"Ever since I was little, I noticed my constitution was quite unique. That’s how I manged so well in the past, before the academy."
"That’s amazing! Why did you hide it? I would flaunt it all day if I was in your shoes." Yurial said.
"Yeah, you could. Because of your status. If so many nobles get angry when a commoner surpasses them in any field, imagine what would happen if they knew that a commoner that is both a good mage and fighter exists."
It was the best explanation Lith had come up with. It covered the reticence, partly explained his exploit, and most importantly exposed as little as possible of his secrets.
"I would be either targeted by those that perceive my existence as a threat, or forced into servitude. My mentor always said to never reveal it to anyone, and this is the first time I’m disobeying her.
Because I need your help."