14 Gift of Bad or Good Intentions?

Wiping the blood off my nose with my sleeve, I nearly fell to my knees in exhaustion due to mental overload.

Thankfully, everything was over.

However intense those eyes on the first day may've been, it felt like the ones in the arena, although fewer, was even sharper.

Jess and Francis were the final blinds remaining on stage. Cormier was eliminated a while ago and although that loss wasn't one that I desired, reducing the number of battles I had to focus on allowed me to improve the quality of my commands as well as how quickly I was able to read and anticipate the future.

The number of blindfolds my group was able to snatch, because of how focused the other groups were on attacking me, was double digits higher than the next closest team.

My partners looked like they were still in disbelief because they were staring at themselves with pride while also gazing at me with these eyes of admiration mixed in with fear.

As we were called over by Vivian, I could sense the intensified eyes full of envy, rage, hatred, and disgust watching my every move.

"Congratulations you four," said Vivian. "Originally, I didn't imagine a single group to have the most points and be the last survivors."

She chuckled and grabbed a box behind her.

Pulling off the lid, there were eight eggs, six of them were gold while two of them were black.

As soon as she revealed them to the class, a collective gasp could be heard.

Everyone had a feeling what these eggs were even without an explanation.

Envy turned into greed, greed turned into blood-thirsty desire, and that desire made the entire classroom hostile not just to me but also to the other partners in my group to a lesser extent.

"As Third Class students, I'll give you three two golden eggs each as your prize," said Vivian, picking them out at random and handing them over to Jess, Francis, and Cormier who all carefully held them in their hands as if they were holding onto their brain and their heart simultaneously.

"I didn't really expect a single group to gather the most points as well as survive the longest," she laughed.

It wasn't intentional but it sounded like she was provoking the other students that had lost the exercise.

"Now... these black eggs, they're so hard to care for that I'll only be giving one to you Bell. Even a First Class student might struggle to hatch it without killing the creature," she said while grabbing one of the eggs with the stillest of hands.

I didn't expect to receive an egg which was a stable of a modern fantasy novel where the main characters always acquire a random egg that hatches to reveal a baby dragon or at times — a freaking loli.

I felt more nervous taking the egg from her than I was in the fight with Diamesca.

Carefully holding it in my arms, I was worried about how sweaty my palms were turning.

"Unlike your partners who received two eggs, because you only received one, I'll compensate you with a grade bump. And if you'd like, you can gift this other egg to another student of your choosing," Vivian informed me. "Obviously they have to be Second Class or higher."

That grade bump made a few students who were at risk of failing the class let out a tear of envy.

Offering me the choice to gift the other egg, I didn't know if this was her way of trying to get the class to hate me even further for not choosing them specifically or if she was trying to turn the hate they had for me into one of appreciation.

However, because I was aware of Maya's exclusive news that was sure to be released any time soon, I didn't feel the need to waste the black egg on a student who would bring me no benefit other than a fickle sense of gratitude that was purchased with a gift.

So instead, I asked Vivian, "Can I tell the name to you in secret?"

"Go ahead," she said, showing her ear to me as well as casting a bubble around the two of us, preventing the other students from overhearing us.

A lot of these students could hear whispers as if they were screaming.

I took my time, providing Maya with the chance to make her way into the bubble undetected and listen in on what I was going to say.

"Could you give the egg... to Diana?" I requested, with my acting face on.

Vivian's gentle face that smiled, the one she always had on, it slowly disappeared.

A multitude of thoughts must've run through her mind before she finally responded, "What are you trying to do?"

Her voice sounded a little hostile and although she didn't want to show it, the negative feelings she must've had for Bell leaked out in her words and on her facial expression.

"Are you trying to play a cruel joke on that poor girl you traumatized? Hmm? Is that what you're trying to do?"

She was asking those questions without raising her voice but the anger in it was potent.

I could almost visualize her red hair lifting up into the air like a demon and bursting into flames.

Pretending to be hurt by her words while also understanding that she wasn't wrong to assume the worst, I took a second before responding.

'Was that good?' I asked Liona.

'It was!'

"Teacher... I... I know this may come off as disingenuous but... I'm not asking you to give her the egg because of any bad intentions. I promise on my family name," I told her.

Vivian's ruby eyes began to calm down a little bit, understanding that using my family name in a promise was something extremely powerful, and if I were to be caught lying, it could mean being exiled from the family.

That'd never happen because my family loves me too dearly but it wasn't something she needed to know.

"Then what? What are you trying to do by giving this gift to her?" she asked, curious about my intentions.

"I... I know she can't forgive me for my actions but I was hoping that the egg would bring her some sense of happiness," I explained my purposely naive thought process.

"Wouldn't she find the gift hateful and reject it?" asked Vivian who was completely right to assume as such.

"I... maybe. Maybe she will but if there's a small chance that I can bring a little light into her world that I've made so dark, I think I should take it," I said with genuine determination on my face.

She stood there for a while, not blinking or moving a muscle on her face.

I assumed she was going through all the consequences in her head and after what felt like an hour even though it was less than a minute, she nodded her head.

"Alright. If that's what you wish. I wasn't going to go back on my promise, to begin with. If you deem this action of yours to be correct, who am I to judge?"

I could see that she was still suspicious of me, but I reckoned she was convinced to some extent by my acting.

"Thank you," I said, giving a slight bow which surprised her as it wasn't something she expected me to ever do.

It must've felt like seeing a fish out of water — a criminal out of their element.

Deactivating her bubble, she began to lecture the class about the mistakes every student made. As expected of a teacher in the prestigious academy, she was able to notice everything that was happening simultaneously in the arena without missing a single detail.

For the leaders, most of her criticism involved their commanding skills while for the blind, her criticism was geared towards their response to the commands.

Leadership is a two-way street. It can't exist without a leader and followers that listen to the leader without fail.

It sounds obvious but some people don't understand that fundamental aspect.

Dealing with the undesirable attention of my classmates as best as I could, as soon as class was over, instead of walking to my next class right away, I contacted Jerman to pick up the egg.

I didn't want to risk anything happening to it and with these students who had evil intentions against me, that risk only increased.

"Take this back safely and place it in an incubation chamber. Do not let anything happen to it," I told Jerman who nodded his head and drove off with his guard raised to the max.

I finished the rest of my day without no more sudden deviations from the original novel which I appreciated.

In passing, as I was walking to where Jerman was waiting outside for the second time in the span of a few hours, I saw Maya with her friends.

That meant two things.

Her mana had either run out after hours of following me around or she was unable to follow me all the way into my home to investigate because although her presence is undetectable by even the most powerful demons, if she stepped into any room that deactivated mana completely, her power would turn off, exposing her.

It could also be both options.

Unaware of the layout of my home, she had to assume there would be a room like that and couldn't risk it.

She tried to play it cool by staring at me with the same glare that her friends were giving me but I could sense in her eyes that it was a false look.

I took an internal deep breath, concluding that my acting job had worked on the one person who was hardest to trick.

Getting into the back of the car, I couldn't even fall asleep despite being even more tired than the previous day because my excitement in succeeding with my goal was making my heart pound like crazy.

"What are you so happy about?" asked the shitty god who just arrived at the scene.

"Jerman, turn off your ears," I said.

Nodding his head, he clicked a button that blocked whatever sound made in the backseat from being overheard.

"Aren't you a god? Can't you just read my memories or I don't know... know everything that happened in the universe with the snap of your fingers?" I asked, mocking him.

"No, I can't do either of those things."

"Why?"

"Because that's not how things work around here," he responded.

'But you're a freaking god. What?' I thought to myself in disbelief. 'What's the use of being one then?'

"You really want to know what I'm so happy about?" I asked the shitty god, shaking my head at how disappointing this shitty god was.

Other than ruining my life and writing a terrible novel that should've been axed after the first sentence, what powers did he actually possess?

"I do."

"I'm happy that I'm a step closer to fixing your goddamn mistake. Bell Agnus... is another step closer to being the character that he deserves to be," I explained my emotions.

'I'm a step closer to returning home,' I sighed.

Then like always, the goddamn bastard turned mute and didn't say another word after receiving the checkup from me.