An Absurd Oversight

(??? Pov)

If someone asked me what I am talking about then it would be simple, it's just a story, a story of a boy who wanted to be free yet he was caged by me, because of me.

Was it the fault of our circumstances or was it mine?

I don't know.

All I know is... that I am a terrible person.

There was once a person who cared for me and he suffered because of me yet unknown to his sufferings I kept living without ever thinking about what he was going through, never even bothering to try to learn about him.

Now that I look back at it, it's easy to see.

He always smiled at me hiding his pain from me.

He always helped me when he himself needed help.

He listened to my complaints while he kept all his emotions bottled up

He took care of my injuries while he himself was injured, hiding his wounds.

But everyone reaches a certain point where they break, right?

And that was what happened.

He broke.

Afterwards was just a mess.

No matter how much time passes, I couldn't help but wonder what he is like now, what is he doing now.

But even so, I don't want to enter his life again, if I did he wouldn't be happy. All I am is a burden to him, a weakness for him.

And so I wished, wherever he is and whatever he is doing he succeeds.

Please be safe.

Find happiness and ...

Please don't hate me, I am afraid of it.

Maybe that was the biggest reason I didn't want to see him, after all, he was my only family. I don't want him to hate me but nothing would change the reality that I am the very person stopping him from being free.

...I truly am a terrible person.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Noah's Pov)

Lucy.

One of the main characters of the novel.

Remember when I said there's someone even more capable than the guy who helped me in the beginning when I entered this world?

Well, she is that person.

The person with a C+ intelligence.

The only person with that high of intelligence while being only 16 years old.

If not for me or more accurately Noah then she would have been the smartest person in this world.

But that's not all.

I now knew things that weren't told in the novel.

She is ...another one of the experiments who is still alive. The only person who is still alive apart from Noah and knows about the things that transpired in that facility.

After all, Noah killed every person related to the experiment, from the culprits to the victims, making sure none lived to tell the tale except one person.

The person sitting in front of me.

Her white hairs along with a few strands of black hair mixed in and her eyes ...

I don't know.

Her eye color according to the novel is supposed to be similar to that of amethyst but just looking at her in the eyes I couldn't help but feel the sense of dread, the same sense of dread I feel when I look into her eyes.

As if I was looking at the universe or was the universe itself looking at me, threatening to swallow me up.

I don't know how to explain it.

It was as if I was looking at something that surpassed human comprehension.

And something that made my skin crawl.

But regardless of all that, the want to keep looking in those eyes.

There was only one person who made me feel like this and that person wasn't here.

Regardless, nothing would change the fact that there was no description like this about her in the novel.

Our names are the same, Noah, and there's a person in our lives who is just...

I don't know if Noah had felt the same feeling as I am getting from her but there got to be some connection, there is some connection

I don't know what that is but... 

I shook my head.

"So? You wanted to talk, right?" I asked the person sitting in front of me on my sofa.

Yes, I changed our location for the talk.

"..Who are you?"

Her eyes looked directly into mine.

"Noah" I replied, breaking free of her eyes and sprawling on my bed.

"You are lying." She said, her voice calm.

"I am not, sure, I am not the Noah you know but my name is Noah" I replied. I had long since decided to tell her the truth.

Well, more accurately, the moment I say her eyes.

I wasn't going to deceive her, to begin with, the fact that she could tell I am not the Noah she knows about shows that she deserves to know the truth.

Noah wasn't just someone to her but a brother and to Noah she was his sister, a dear little sister.

His only family.

Confusion apparent on her face, I began.

"Have to ever heard of transmigration?"

And so I told her everything except about the hidden dungeons that I challenged.

The only things I told her were about my transmigration, how I spent last month trying to acquaint myself with the world, and how this world was a novel that I had read.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Are you sure this world is a novel?" She asked after a while.

"Get to the point" I replied.

"What if it's not a novel? What if the time in your world works differently than in ours? If you can come to our world then someone might be able to go to yours. So what if-"

"What if someone wrote the story of this world in mine and then I read the story of a world that ended but I ended up coming to this world that's in the past? That it?" I said cutting her in the middle.

"Hm," she nodded her head, looking at me.

"Might be the case, I don't know. All I know is I read a novel and now I am in this world of novel"

I shrugged.

I don't know what's the truth and not.

And currently, I have no means to learn about it either.

In the end, thinking about it is pointless.

I can make any number of theories and we still won't get anywhere.

"...Do you think Noah is in your body now?" She asked.

"Maybe. I can't say anything for sure as I said already. He might be dead, might be in my body, might be unconscious inside, or maybe even as we speak he is listening to us unable to do anything, not even able to control his own body, helplessly just sitting and watching things unfold. I can't guarantee anythin-" Before I can finish she cut me off.

"And you decide to make his grave," She cut me off in the middle, anger evident in her voice.

"That I did..." I replied unable to muster up a reply, I mean she is his family if she isn't permitting me and is dissatisfied with me for making his grave then who am I to argue?

Silence descended in the room as she rubbed her temples.

"By the way, do you really believe my story?" I found it baffling how she was taking in all the info.

"...I don't," She said with a bit of hesitation and paused before continuing "You might have some skill or artifact that helps you have an appearance of anyone. But you are in this academy and your retina scan as well as DNA are the same as Noah's, which means it might be an artifact even stronger but if that's the case there might be even a condition.. like killing the person you want to change yourself into" She said, her eyes intently watching me, trying to decipher something.

"Sure." I shrugged.

Whether she believes me or not, doesn't really matter to me.

It has nothing to do with me.

"Anything else you want to talk about?" I asked and she shook her head.

"Great then can you help me out with some stuff?" I asked

She raised her eyebrow.

I took my laptop and brought it towards her.

"Look, all these works are from my world. I want you to go through every comment and analyze them. See, if it looks like someone is giving the vibe that they know what all this is" I asked

"..You want to see if there's more like you?" She asked and I nodded. If there are other transmigrators I have no idea how the story might change and to what extent.

"Also, I need someone to manage. So manage these novels for me and the chapter uploads and finances. Thank you." I have got a free manager assistant.

"Why would I?" She retorted.

"Well, this gives you a reason to be in contact with me, you can try to learn about the truth with your own eyes. What I told is reality or am I someone who harmed Noah? Whichever the case, I am your only lead"

"Why do you think I want to look after him?"

"You don't?" 

"..."

"How much will I get for it?"

Guess there is no free manager assistant.

"...However much you want, just leave enough for me to buy stuff without a problem" I replied.

All I need is the amount to buy something I want to, other than that my money will simply rot.

She sighed as she asked

"So, if you have read the novel, tell me what's the deal with the academy?" 

"I take it you are willing to cooperate with me?" I asked

"Only as long as it's reasonable" She answered.

Great, we have a deal.

I began to tell her about the academy rules and after nodding she went back, I didn't miss the expression of sadness that she had made.

I am sorry.

I didn't know why I apologized but I did anyway.

Emotions are something that I shouldn't be feeling and yet I am feeling them.

I will have to make sure she doesn't get harmed in any way. I don't know how exactly she is going to be of use but she will be of.

...And since now I have someone to look after, things won't be as easy.

After taking a shower I went back to the training grounds, back to my slime hunting, I kept practicing till the morning, then I finally decided to stop and went back home, took a shower, ate my burger, and to classes.

Today will be our first class.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Alright everyone, settle down," Oliver said, clasping his hands.

I am sitting on the same seat I sat on yesterday and so is Julianna who seems to be a bit of busy body.

"Don't tell me you were training the entire night?" She asked and I simply nodded my head.

Unlike before I decided not to use my potions. I can survive using coffee, no need to waste my precious potion for sleep purposes.

Julianna rolled over her eyes.

"By the way, what's the change all of a sudden?" I asked, Julianna you see, is currently wearing a freaking hoodie.

I mean, the school does provide the hoodie-type dress code ...for girls only, point is, she wasn't wearing it yesterday.

"...I just did, don't mind" She replied, I couldn't discern the emotion in her voice but decided to let it be.

Who cares what she does, her life?

But ...I really don't like how this dress code isn't available for the boys.

This is just discrimination, I say.

"So, before we start let me tell you all about the Hero Course you all have taken part in," Oliver said, the projector behind him projected a slide on the screen, showing three different boxes.

"First year will teach you all about adventuring, this includes the knowledge related to monsters, dungeons, the resources that are brought from the dungeon, the way the guild works, and many more things. From the second year, you will learn about Heroes, how to catch the criminals who disrupt the peace in our society while also making sure you don't damage the property too much along the way, the rules and laws about heroes, and more stuff related to it, and in the third year you will be learning about True Heroes. Learning about military tactics, strategies, formations, and more stuff related to guarding The Last Land from outside threats. And in the end, you can choose whichever way you want to go and make a living"

Three years to teach us about three different routes and all these routes contain dangers and all these routes provide things society needs to function.

Adventurers bring resources that are used in everything nowadays.

Heroes protect the peace and catch criminals, basically the work of the police.

True Heroes are basically soldiers, guarding the lands from other species, even if there is a peace treaty signed, soldiers exist and so do little skirmishes, just like in my world.

"Today's class will be simple, we will talk about dungeons and a bit about their history"

...I am going to sleep.

"Don't you dare go to sleep"

I looked towards Julianna.

"And what can you do?"

"I can't do anything but look at the cameras in the classroom, I don't know much but I have a feeling they are all going to keep a check on every student and evaluate them. You know, academy ranking, grade ranking, and stuff in our app?"

...

Yeah, they are, I knew because of the novel.

"Where did you hear it from?"

"..Why do you think I heard it from somewhere?" The way she averted her eyes made my suspicions certain, she did hear it from somewhere.

"Coz you are dumb" I replied.

"Screw you." She said with a huff before she began to speak again "I heard it while I was passing by a boy with black hair and a beast folk girl with red hair and it convinced me"

Must be talking about Allen and Elinalise.

Allen is smart, makes sense.

"Hey, system-san, she isn't scamming me, right?" I asked my system which had been tailing her since yesterday.

And it replied

[No]

I see.

Oh, well.

I am sleeping anyway.

"Wake me up when class ends"

Julianna looked at me flabbergasted as she let out an exasperated sigh before beginning to focus her attention back on the projector screen in front of us.