30 Beef

Along the way, he talked about what happened with Cal.

Cal never said anything and just let Rewen continue to speak what he had in mind.

"Yeah, so this all happened. What do you think?"

"It's not good." Cal finally opened his mouth.

"I know it's not good but I want to hear more!"

Cal sighed. "This is what happens when a world doesn't change."

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll know soon enough."

(Flashback ends)

…

In the bus.

Rewen snapped back from his thoughts and he stared at the pregnant woman deciding what to do when he sudden;y noticed something. "Aren't you…?" It wasn't him who spoke.

Rewen got up and gestured to the pregnant woman to sit on his seat."Sit."

The pregnant woman looked at him with mixed emotions before eventually accepting his offer.

Holding one of the supports, he stood up amidst the standing crowd. Quite a few took notice of his actions and shot a look at him for a while before minding their own business. Soon, he started getting bored.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Turning to the pregnant woman, he asked.

"I'm working in this condition. Do I need to say more?"

"What about your husband?"

"You know my husband?"

"I don't. I just assumed for natural reasons."

"He's working."

"I see. Your life must be tough…"

"It is."

"Hope the child's future is bright."

"Please stop with the sarcasm. If you think that giving me a seat will automatically give you a moral high ground and the rights to make fun of me, then you're dead wrong."

"You did make fun of my friend that year so obviously I'm not going to let you sit on my seat comfortably that easily."

"Like I'm sorry. Okay? I was dumb and young back then. Everyone makes mistakes in life, don't they?"

"Nevermind." Rewen shook his head and stopped talking with her.

He quietly stood in the bus for a while before an elbow bumped in his right arm. Looking back, he saw a brown-haired short heighted guy with a yellow shirt.

"You are pathetic, you know." The brown-haired guy directly said that to his face.

"Quite a shame." Rewen nodded with the reply before turning around. He wasn't interested in having a verbal dispute. Although he was generally quite hot-headed and ready to slap and hit faces whenever he got the chance but he doesn't want create a chaos in the bus.

The brown-haired guy was surprised at his reaction and for a moment, couldn't come with a comeback. A few seconds later, he chuckled while looking at his friends. "See? Not only is he pathetic, he is also a pushover." However, the reactions he got from his friends were not to his liking.

"You are not funny bro! Just admit it." A young woman sitting near to him laughed. She was the elder sister of the brown-haired guy. Her name was Riley.

The brown-haired guy awkwardly laughed.

"Enough laughing. Call that meme guy and let him sit next to me." She then turned to the middle-aged man sitting next to her. "Can you pleaaaaase do me this favor? I have got some urgent talks with him."

"Huh? S-sure." The middle-aged man wanted to say 'no' but couldn't because he was a normal office worker. From their conversations, he guessed that they were Mages. He didn't want to get into conflicts with them for such a minor reason. Thus, he stood up.

Meanwhile, Rewen kept standing like a block of wood. He hadn't heard anything since he was thinking about what to order for dinner. '...Okay, I'll settle for Beef Steaks-"

*Tap*

The brown-haired guy tapped on his back.

"What is it?" Rewen asked with an annoyed face. He didn't like thoughts getting disrupted.

The brown-haired guy pointed to the empty seat. "Sit there."

Rewen got confused. 'First, he said I'm pathetic then he asked me to sit on an empty seat. What's his deal? Since I was given the seat, why don't I sit on it?'

"Okay." He went ahead and sat when he noticed a black-haired charming young woman sitting next to him.

"You're the meme guy, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"I saw your morning interview. You were pretty cool."

"Glad you think that way."

"Oh? Which way would you not be 'glad'?"

"Not trying to be rude but how about you guess that yourself?"

"Mmm… let's see. You would not be glad if I thought you were trying to cover up. Am I right?"

"Yes."

"You go to Eastern Dream Academy, don't you? I'll tell you what, it sucks."

"Okay."

"I participated in the Shinu District Competition. There were 204 participants and out of them, more than thirty were from Eastern Dream Academy. I literally sweeped the floor with a single offense spell. Every single one of them went down after a single attack. What do you have to say about your Academy?"

"It's been two days since I joined the Academy so I couldn't say I feel a strong connection to the Academy."

"I see. But your Academy sure sucks, isn't that right?"

"No. It doesn't."

"But it did have weak Mages who have recently graduated. Weak to the point that even I, a graduate from Tier 2 Institution, could handle them at ease."

"Academy doesn't determine your strength. It only determines how much you have learned and how fast you have learned. Talents are a major boost to one's strength but it doesn't determine anything more than the span of three years. There is a reason why Tier 1's are Tier 1's and not Tier 2's. You might be stronger than the ones you have fought with but they are but a minority and don't represent the entire strength of the Academy."

"Sure. I'll take them to be the minority. What about the others? Why have I not met any strong Mages from your Eastern Dream Academy yet?"

"How would I know that?"

"In short, your Academy sucks, okay?"

"No."

"Come on man, we all know the truth. It doesn't hurt to say it."

"You should really stop the recorder. You know, it's really cheap." He had long noticed the weird way she was holding her Pad. He had suspicions and confirmed his suspicions while talking to her. 'Why are people so troublesome these days?'

"So you noticed this? Good. You are smarter than you look."

"You are as dumb as you look." Rewen didn't feel the need to restrain himself anymore.

"HAHAHAHA! Are you seriously trying to pick a fight with me?"

"Yes, I am. The fact that you needed to confirm makes you even more dumb."

A man from the same group stood up and held Rewen's shoulders. "Kid, that's no way to talk to your senior. It's better if you apologi-"

"F*ck off, your presence and advice is of no relevance to me."

"Let's take this outside. Shall we?"

"Sure, I'm dropping at the next stop."

As the man was about to respond, Riley put out her palm gesturing to him to not speak. "The next stop, it is. It will be a brawl between you and me, agreed?"

"Perfect."

"It's decided then. Lain, you go to the apartment along with the others. I will come in a bit."

Lain, the brown-haired guy, had an uninteresting look. "Why bother Sis?"

Hearing that, Rewen laughed. He initially thought that since she was dropping the next stop, her stop would also be the next one. He hadn't expected her to be so dedicated. Of course, there is still the chance that she is just scaring him.

The bus stopped. Rewen got up, followed by other passengers including Riley.

He walked up to the exit of the door followed by her and just as Rewen was about to get to the ground, he felt the sudden movement of her legs that was directed at his ass and immediately activated [Freestyle Knights Combat] technique to dodge it.

Rewen grinned and showed a middle finger to her.

It took a moment for Riley to realize that she had kicked in the air.