"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 <G> 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.

I needed to find a good spot where I could get a good view of what was happening as well as attract the 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 the plotline.

...I didn't want another incident like the one with Amanda to happen.

Fortunately, I had the mysterious book with me. With it, I could more or less tell if something outside of the norm was going to happen.

If anything that deviated from the plotline happened, it was my job to prevent it at any cost.

Secondly, I needed to quickly recover from the wounds that I had sustained yesterday.

Despite the fact that I had healing potions, they couldn't heal all my injuries that quickly. Especially since my whole shoulder had been pierced and my shoulder muscles had been torn.

...I still needed a full day to completely heal my shoulder.

Right 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 top condition for tomorrow.

Lastly, I needed to sort out my mentality.

As of right now, I wasn't in the right state of mind to be put through another scenario that required me to reap through lives.

...I just couldn't.

Just the thought of me killing again was causing my hands to tremble uncontrollably. I was not ready mentally to go through such an experience again...

In the end, I had already decided that for tomorrow I would use [Monarch's indifference] throughout the whole event.

Only after killing for the first time yesterday did I realize how many flaws I had, both combat and mentality-wise.

I was too emotional.

Despite me trying my best to get over the fact that I had killed someone, the thought of what future lay ahead of me and how many more lives I would take made me question my humanity.

Was I right? Was everything that I was doing really okay? Was killing the correct answer?

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

...In the end, I still had a long way to go before being able to confidently stand up against demons and villains.

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

"....These are probably going to be the longest two days of my life"

...

-Bang! -Bang! -Bang!

"Huff...huff..huff"

Standing shirtless inside of an empty room filled with training dummies, an extremely handsome individual stood in the middle of the room heavily panting for air.

His perfectly honed body was drenched in sweat, and his eyes were bloodshot.

-Gulp!

Downing a potion and recovering some of his stamina, the young individual quickly dashed before one of the training dummies and punched it with all his might.

"Die! Die! Die!"

-Bang! -Bang! -Bang!

Cursing and continuously punching the dummy until he ran out of air, small shockwaves spread throughout the room as the sound of the collision between his fists and the dummies reverberated around the place.

Exactly thirty minutes after continuously hitting the dummies, the young individual laid on the floor heavily gasping for air.

Staring at the ceiling, he clenched his jaw hard and he covered his eyes with his arm.

"...Just what am I lacking?"

Recalling Kevin's achievements on the first night the mission was assigned, Jin couldn't help but feel a massive wall standing before him.

It felt as if a wall that he couldn't climb was standing before him.

No matter how much work he put in, he couldn't find any way to bridge the gap between himself and Kevin.

Was Kevin that much more talented than him?

Should he just accept the fact that Kevin was better than him?

"Damm it..."

-Bang!

Clenching his fist hard, Jin punched the floor hard.

"I can't accept this! 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 better than him!"

Kevin who was an orphan and had nothing managed to surpass him who was born with a golden spoon?

He couldn't accept it.

There was no way he could accept it.

-Gulp!

Recovering some of his energy, Jin immediately downed another potion and stood up.

"I will surpass you no matter what!"

-Bang!

Dashing towards one of the training dummies he once again started training until he couldn't stand anymore.

This process repeated continuously until his fists were both bloodied and bruised.

...In the end, only after passing out from overworking himself did he stop training.

...

Inside a small cozy cafe' decorated with beautiful plants and old wooden tables and boards, two stunningly beautiful young girls sat facing each other.

Sipping on some hot mocha, one of the two stunning girls that had short creamy brown hair looked at the girl in front of her and said.

"...Say, Amanda, did you notice something strange happening these past few days?"

Glancing at Emma, Amanda frowned for a second before shaking her head

"No"

"Really?"

Frowning for a bit, Emma's brow relaxed.

"Maybe it's just me..."

For the past few days, Emma had this sense of discomfort. She constantly felt as if someone was keeping an eye on her.

It was sort of unsettling...but in the end, she could only think of it as her being paranoid.

With all the things that were happening with the Parker family, she couldn't help but become more sensitive to her surroundings.

Since she couldn't prove her deductions, she could only pray that it was just her misconception...

Shaking her head and switching topics, Emma looked at Amanda and said

"By the way, did you hear about the latest rumor?"

Tilting her head to the side, Amanda shook her head.

"...ah yeah you're not the type to care about that sort of stuff."

Realizing that Amanda didn't care about gossip or any of that stuff, Emma leaned back on her chair and softly mumbled.

"Well, it's not like it's anything particularly exciting...just about the weird guy that sits on the left side of the class..."

Hearing the word 'weird' and 'left side of the class' Amanda's eyebrow jumped slightly as she said

"...Hm? who?"

Taken aback by Amanda's sudden interest, Emma looked at her strangely

"I'm not sure about his name, but he's the weird guy that sits on the left side of the class and always sheats and unsheathes his sword in the middle of the training ground..."

Frowning her brows, Amanda said

"...what about him?"

Noticing something odd about Amanda's behavior, Emma squinted her eyes and said

"Why are you suddenly so interested? You usually don't care about this stuff"

Realizing that she was being a bit too pushy, Amanda brushed it off and said

"Ah, it's nothing much. He was in my elective food exploration so I was just curious..."

Not believing her, Emma's eyes narrowed as she scrutinized Amanda. In the end, after seeing Amanda's indifferent face, she gave up and said

"It's nothing interesting, it's just that he is now nicknamed 'The weakest first year' and other stupid nicknames like that"

Taken aback, Amanda couldn't help but raise her eyebrow as she repeated

"...the weakest first year?"

Nodding her head and seeing Amanda's confusion, Emma followed up

"Apparently this stemmed from the fact that some students saw him return all battered up last night and after checking what mission he had they found out that he only had to deal with a <G> ranked nobody"

Listening to Emma's talk, Amanda couldn't help but slightly frown.

Just what was he thinking?

The more she knew about him the more mysterious he became.

Coming back battered after going against a single <G> ranked individual? Like hell, she would believe that.

There was no way the same guy that killed Elijah, a <D> ranked villain, could possibly get hurt from a <G> ranked individual.

He must've either faked his injury or something else must've happened...

"Hey, hey Amanda"

Snapping Amanda out of her thoughts was Emma who pouted at her.

"You were the one who asked me to tell you about the rumors revolving around that student and yet you're not even paying attention!"

"Ah sorry"

Shaking her head, Emma sighed and looked at her watch.

"...Well whatever, it's about time we go back anyways."

Standing up and putting on her jacket, she looked at Amanda and said

"Let's go"

Nodding her head, Amanda stood up and left with Emma.

Along the way, Amanda couldn't help but once again think of Ren who had saved her during the after-party.

'Just what was his true goal..'