Chapter 30: How strong are you?

The next day had arrived, and it was an odd experience for the children. Throughout the night, rumors had already spread about Gren’s disappearance. This was because Mr. Kron had returned relatively late in the night to inform Raze that his sister was going to be okay.

It wasn’t a quiet entrance by Mr Kron by any means, and even before that, most of the children were worried since they heard the sounds of screams from outside. Although with them being young they were too scared to venture outside.

The news had been overheard, and it was then the two twins noticed that Gren was no longer in his room. The word had spread, and the kids were starting to form their own opinions about what had happened.

“Did you see Raze’s and Safa’s room? It was completely trashed.”

“Yeah, I even saw blood. Do you think Gren did something?”

“He had to have done something. Didn’t you hear? Safa’s currently staying in town with the physician. He must have done something and got kicked out.”

“I heard that he ran away. Apparently, the twins have no clue where he’s gone either.”

All the children could do was make guesses, but in their hearts, they felt a slight bit of relief knowing that Gren was gone. There were times when they had seen the way he looked at them.

If they obtained an ounce of praise when practicing martial arts from Kron, they would feel his wrath in one way or another. Even if it was small things such as name-calling. It was clear that Gren was the only one allowed to shine before.

At the moment, all the children were sitting down having breakfast together. Mr. Kron, for a change, had decided to make the breakfast, allowing the children to talk and gossip among themselves. But there was one person who didn’t seem to be in the mood, and that was Simyon.

He lifted the liquid of his soup up in his spoon and then tilted it, allowing it to splash back down into his bowl.

“You know, it’s rude to play with your food,” Raze commented, sitting right next to him. He regretted saying those words as it was a habit. He realized that maybe the same habits didn’t cross through different worlds.

“Ah, I know, I know. I’m sorry,” Simyon replied. It was quite apparent that he wasn’t his usual self, and it was because he had a lot on his mind.

‘Look at Raze, his sister is with the physician, and he doesn’t seem worried at all. And what was that yesterday? He did all of that, and he’s acting like nothing happened?’ Simyon thought, but there was an even bigger question on his mind.

‘What even was it that he did? I mean, how was he able to beat Gren and hurt him so badly? I couldn’t see what happened… it was just a feeling I had that if I didn’t stop him back then, something bad would have happened. Crap, what’s worse is that it means that Raze was actually stronger than Gren!’

‘Does that now make me close to being the weakest in this whole temple? How am I meant to get stronger? How am I meant to even get into the Pagna Academy at this rate? Should I ask Raze? I mean, if he was able to defeat Gren, then he must know something, right? But it just feels so awkward after he scolded me yesterday.’

In all honesty, Raze didn’t care about what Simyon did the night before. The main thing was that he had gotten his crystals back, and if he had actually killed Gren, then there would have been a lot more problems on his plate.

The reason Raze was being a little quieter than usual toward Simyon was that he was trying to gauge what he knew.

‘Did he see me use magic yesterday? But then why hasn’t he said anything? Even if he hasn’t said anything to me, he had plenty of chances to talk to Mr. Kron about it last night. Perhaps he didn’t see anything.’

‘Even if he did see something, he wouldn’t understand what he saw anyway, but it’s still bugging me. He knows what happened to Gren, and yet says nothing. Could it be, is he planning to blackmail me?’

Both of them looked at each other with the corner of their eye at that moment before quickly looking away from each other. 𝒪𝒱𝗅xt.𝗇𝓔t

Eventually, breakfast had ended, and Mr. Kron had told everyone that they were free to rest for the day. There was no need to do chores. In the meantime, he had invited Raze to meet him in his office.

“I wanted to talk to you a bit more about your sister, Raze,” Mr. Kron said. “I’m sure you’re worried about her, but if there is one thing you don’t have to be frightened about, it’s Gren coming back and doing her harm.

“If I see him, I’ll beat that child myself and send him off to the Light faction to deal with him if I have to!”

Mr. Kron had noticed he had gotten a little carried away and cleared his throat.

“Anyway, what I wanted to ask was whether you wanted to come to town and see your sister. You wouldn’t be on your own; the two of us can go together. I will ask Simyon to make sure the kids stay in the temple for the time being.” Mr. Kron suggested.

Raze quickly tilted his head down, not because he was upset, but because he needed to hide the smile that had naturally appeared on his face.

‘This is great!’ Raze thought. ‘I was trying to think of a way to head into town to buy some items. If I manage to get my hands on some objects, using the crystals and my dark magic, I can make what I need to return to that portal.’

‘When I do, I’ll gather even more crystals this time and become a 2-star magician. After that, I can continue from there and return to Alterian, getting rid of all of the Grand Magus!’

Raze’s plan felt so perfect that he wanted to let out his laughter right there and then, but he held it in for fear Mr. Kron would think he was mad.

“Of course, sir,” Raze answered. “Let’s go check on Safa.”

“And let’s get some items.” he mumbled.

—–

Meanwhile, in his room, Simyon was continuing to mull over several things in his mind.

‘If I really continue like this, I won’t become anything. I don’t exactly agree with Raze’s view, but I can see his point. If you don’t ask, you don’t get, right?’ Lifting his body up from the bed, Simyon had found new determination. ‘I’ll ask him, a way to get stronger, and if he doesn’t want to teach me, I can always just blackmail him with the situation about Gren… it’s perfect!’