2 The Memories

"Are you bullying Arthur again?" The loud voice echoed in the hall.

Leo had fallen five meters away from where he was before.

Kylian and Cristiano didn't dare move in the presence of the girl who had made a face-breaking entry.

"Malissa, why the hell did you kick my brother?" Both Kylian and Cristiano spoke in sync but they couldn't hide their helplessness.

"Shut up." Malissa didn't give them an inch as she moved towards Arthur.

Arthur had already rolled on his bottom to sit up as straight as he could. Right after sitting up, his eyes went onto Leo, and seeing Leo lying on the ground with his butt raised, Arthur was quite pleased.

"Thank you for helping me again," Arthur said to Malissa with a smile on his face.

'It's my seventh year here, and there was never a time when I was in trouble and she didn't save me. She is my orphanage savior.' Arthur thought to himself while looking at Malissa.

Unlike the trio and Arthur, Malissa wasn't their age. She was sixteen and at the same time, she carried herself in a manner where no one dared to go against her.

Though she was an orphan, the lack of parents didn't make her any less perfect as her strong sense of justice was nothing short of what the true nobles of Losmo carried.

Arthur gazed at Malissa who had come to his rescue, her striking beauty illuminated by the dim lights in the hall. His saviors beauty was well matched with a complexion he perceived as fragile and delicate, akin to porcelain. But, at the same time, he knew Malissa had an unwavering strength that he, Arthur lacked.

While helping him stand, "What are you looking at?" Malissa asked Arthur who was staring at her weirdly.

This wasn't their first meeting since they had been together for seven years.

Even though Malissa had been here before him, she was the closest to Arthur and the same went for Arthur.

"Nothing at all," Arthur said with a cheeky smile before turning towards the others.

Knowing that Kylian and Cristiano wouldn't go against Malissa who was years above them in age and also one of the top prospects of the academy, Arthur took this chance to taunt them before leaving the hall with Malissa.

As they left the hall, Malissa stopped and looked at Arthur.

From his big belly to his feet, then right at his chubby face, Malissa stared hard at Arthur.

Feeling the eyes of Malissa going all over him, Arthur couldn't help but let out a slimy 'uwu' sound, unconsciously.

"Sigh." Malissa sighed before bursting out with a laugh

"Even her laugh sounds so melodious tonight," Arthur said before things settled down around him.

Anyone handsome could have even a girl like Malissa falling for them with this heartfelt line but Arthur knew he wasn't that guy.

Malissa had a sad look in her eyes, undisturbed by Arthurs's praise for her, she grabbed Arthur by his shoulders.

"The director wants to see you. Even if something goes bad, just come to Mysticlore." Malissa told Arthur before taking out a sealed letter envelope.

Arthur didn't know what was in the letter, he didn't know what could go bad in this meeting that the orphanage director was calling him for, but he wasn't worried about the two things that he didn't know about.

Instead, he was shocked that Malissa, someone who had been saving him for the last seven years was telling him to come to the academy where only magicians can study.

Knowing that he was called trash by everyone in the orphanage, Arthur's smile vanished. He was disturbed by Malissa's invitation.

The only thing he could think of was that this pale beauty was intentionally making fun of him, which he blurted out without realizing.

"Are you making fun of me?" Arthur asked her and instantly forced a smile on his face after his words entered his ears.

"You know I would never. Just pass this on to a teacher at Mysticlore Academy. Along with my recommendation and your knowledge of magic arts, you will surely be accepted." Malissa told Arthur before pushing the letter inside his shirt.

Arthur was taken back for a moment, and knowing Malissa and the worried tone lingering in her voice, he knew that she was sincerely looking out for him.

Arthur nodded his head and for some reason, he could feel his heart palpitate.

'Just why does the director want to see me?' Arthur wondered nervously.

He had always taken the bullying head-on from the idiotic triplets simply because they were the director's sons.

'But, now he wants to see me? Does he want to apologize for all the bullying I have been through thanks to his mistakes?' Arthur could only hope for the best without knowing the worst that could happen.

"Now go, the directors waiting for you," Malissa told Arthur who was already wondering about what the director wanted to see him for.

"Mhmmm." Hearing her Arthur knew that he was supposed to go alone so he moved in the long corridor alone.

The further he went, the further in past his mind traveled as memories of his past rose like a fueled nightmare.

A flashback that started from the beginning.

His physical body was walking towards the directors' room at the end of the long corridor but his mind was already in a place where Arthur was looking at a woman whose face was blurry.

Even though the features of the woman's face weren't visible, Arthur could somehow tell that she was a beautiful woman.

'Mother. Was she my mother?' A voice rose in his head as a glimpse of his past flooded his mind.

He could remember himself being held by a woman with unprecedented warmth, Arthur was too young to be consciously aware of everything.

The woman faded as the whole space from his past turned to sand which slowly blew away, layer after layer.

Each layer of the glimpse into the past was replaced by the next memory.

Arthur was three.

He was walking perfectly.

He could speak like a grown adult.

His body had grown well even though it was just him and his father.

In a small room, it was just him and a man who had a red sword strapped to his waist.

'Father.' While walking, the present Arthur couldn't help but make a face of resentment.

A betrayal was behind his current expression as his memories flooded closer to the present.

Arthur moved closer to the Orphanage Directors room as a sentence of his father rang in his head.

Back when Arthur was three, in the small room where he lived with his father, his father, McCumore had said something to him that still lingered in his mind whenever he thought of his father.

"Arthur, I am sorry and she was sorry too. We did something that wasn't meant to happen. You were our mistake and since we couldn't end you, you will have to suffer unjustly." That was the second to last time McCumore had spoken to Arthur.

Arthur stopped in the corridor and felt weak in his knees as the words of his Father reverberated in his mind.

He hadn't triggered these memories of his past, intentionally.

Because of the bullying, it was a recurring mechanism that his mind had developed over time.

No matter what kind of bullying he went through, his mind would reassure him that no bullying was worse than the words and betrayals he had already lived through.

"He couldn't kill me, thus he abandoned me here," Arthur mumbled as he walked forward with a heavy step.

The memories of the past jumped to when he was six.

Arthur was holding McCumore's hand while standing at the gates of an Orphanage.

"The run-down orphanage."

Just like the name, the orphanage was worn out. One could even say that it was in tatters.

Arthur couldn't help but laugh at the slogan used outside the orphanage, not knowing why he had been brought here.

"Arthur, never stand out. Live your life here, in peace. I will return to take you back in a year or two." McCumore's two bits of advice with an irresponsible promise left Arthur speechless.

Before he could even try to form words to convince his father that he would do anything to remain with him, the director of the orphanage came out.

"I will leave him in your care," McCumore said to the director before flicking a gold coin at him.

With a greedy look, the director rubbed his hand after grabbing the gold coin.

"Don't worry. I will treat him like my own son, Mister-" Even though the director didn't even know the identity of the man who was leaving his kid here, he didn't mind as getting a gold coin was already enough of a payment to quell his curiosity.

Since a gold coin was a years' worth of funding for his orphanage, the director smiled as he pulled Arthur to his side.

"Son, let's be good with each other for the next year or two." The director showed a hideous smile to Arthur which still stuck with him like a traumatic experience.

A random man that he was meeting for the first time was calling him his son so lovingly but Arthur didn't feel nice at all.

He had realized how powerful of a force, money was and how worthless he was that his father was leaving him at an orphanage.

Arthur watched his father turn around and leave without looking back even once and that's how his life as an abandoned son started.

Arthur stopped in the corridor and mumbled four words before continuing towards the Directors room.

"He never came back."

The flashbacks continued.

The bullying started from the first month of his being in the orphanage.

Once everyone knew that he was missing the mana-root system which made him mana-less resulting in making him someone unable to use magic, his peaceful life was over.

That was also when the young Malissa stepped up to help him.

She was also the one who told Arthur about someone who was the same age as him.

Their King who had just been crowned, Lomlos.

With Malissa as a friend in this disturbing orphanage and Lomlos, a made-up rival that covered Arthur's mind, Arthur didn't find it hard to wait for his father's return.

Just like that, a year passed.

Another year passed.

Three years passed.

Five years passed.

His father never returned and Arthur who was an abandoned son ended up as an official orphan.

He never ate much but the stress accumulated over the years because of the betrayal, these anxious thoughts, and being a talentless person in this world where everyone was blessed with mana, Arthur became his present version.

A talentless bullied fat blob.

The present Arthur had stopped in front of a door with a sad look on his face.

Forcing a smile on his face, he knocked on the door.

"Director, I am here," Arthur said loudly but his voice was shaky.