Chapter 6:Homecoming [1]

Only after around 5 hours did I arrive back at the town near the academy. The academy was put on a man-made island off the town's shore, so it was essentially its own world. There was only one way in and out of the academy, so one would think that the security would be top-notch.

The reason for these excessive security and safety measures is the existence of djins. Djins are humans who sign contracts with demons, tainting their souls, and in place of demons, these humans commit heinous acts.

With all this security, one would think that the academy would be safe from these people. However, reading the book, I could not count the number of times a djinn infiltrated the academy as a teacher or student.

Looking outside my carriage, I saw that there was some sunlight left; I decided to explore the town a bit before reentering the academy.

Since Celestial Academy was closed off to the outside world, once I went inside, I wouldn't be able to leave unless it was for a club trip, so I decided to savor my freedom outside for the time being.

If we were to call the city near the Academy a town, then the mountain city I had just stayed at would be an ant. Its population was almost ten times greater, and I could see stores, inns, merchants, and restaurants at every corner.

After admiring the city through carriage for a few minutes, I paid the driver a golden coin and stepped down. Various sounds immediately entered my ears as I was dropped off the main street, but that wasn't annoying.

Perceiving everything around me, or the passive ability of the Dragon's Eye, made it really annoying for me to walk around in peace.

I DON'T CARE ABOUT AN ARGUMENT GOING ON 20 FEET AWAY FROM ME!

As I walked around, checking out every store, one finally got my attention. Rather than it being some new shop I had never seen before on earth or some shop that contradicted every law I learned in my world, it was a simple antique shop.

One item inside the antique shop specifically caught my attention: a pair of wired earbuds hanging from the shop's display window.

Did this world have music?

Though mine was confiscated after the incident, the academy gave every student a communication device that resembled an iPhone. You could download apps to communicate with friends, play games, and search for things on the web.

It wasn't that surprising, as this world was precisely the same as mine, except for the fact that nobles and magic existed. Those may seem like two huge differences, but besides some cities seeming more medieval and there being no democracy, everything else stayed the same.

One big difference was that countries did not exist. Instead of several countries that contained humans, one kingdom ruled over all the humans in this world. This kingdom was, of course, ruled by the royal family.

Also, rather than humans being enemies to each other, our enemies were the monsters and secret organizations of djinns that roamed the world.

Of course, though, with magic existing, this world was far more advanced than Earth, as things like magic gates existed so that you could travel thousands of miles within seconds. As a student at the academy, these warp gates were available to me; however, due to their enormous cost, they were only put in significant cities, so I was forced to travel by carriage to the mountain base town.

Speaking of traveling by carriage, one thing about this world really bothered me. How the hell can they build warp gates but not figure out how to invent a car?

As a car and motorcycle enthusiast, my disappointment was visible when I realized that carriages were the only form of transportation besides warp gates.

However, if they were not invented, I could make one! By upgrading my motorcycle with the newest gear every month, I had grasped the basic knowledge of how to build one, so surely it couldn't be that hard.

Anyway, that would be a task for another day.

Seeing the earbuds in the store's windows piqued my curiosity. Did my favorite artists from Earth exist in this world? 

The bell ring signified my entrance, so I immediately went to the windowsill and grabbed the earbuds. It seemed the only pair was available in the store, but that made sense as most people probably used wireless earbuds.

After looking around the small store a bit longer, I found some others I recognized, like a drone and some chargers.

I also picked up a black sweater from the shop to cover my school blazer. Even though the area was crowded, I still got some weird glances because of my blazer, and I didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention.

Next, I decided to go to a shop to buy a "phone" as even if the school gave us one, it probably blacklisted some stuff some social media.

Only 2 blocks from the antique store, I found a store that seemed to sell electronics. As I neared the entrance, the doors opened automatically, and a drone with a robotic void greeted me.

"Please ask me anything if you need assistance."

Looking around the store, I realized there were smartwatches instead of phones. I put one on to test it, and as soon as I clicked the small screen on the smartwatch, a big holographic screen appeared in front of me.

"Really, they can do this, but not a damn motorcycle."

After paying 3 gold coins for the most advanced smartwatch, I realized that the sunlight was fading, so I decided to drop off my stuff at the academy and sleep.

Walking towards the academy's gates, I realized the streets were empty. Although it seemed suspicious, it did make sense as there was no reason to come to this area unless you were entering the academy.

As I was configuring my smartwatch and figuring out how to use it, a loud feminine void appeared in the alleyway near me.

"HELP"

Peering into the alleyway, I saw a group of 4 girls, similar age to me, slowly backing away from a huge muscular man.

One look at that guy, and I could tell that he could easily beat all 4 of those girls. I could maybe beat him with my dragon's eye, but honestly, the odds were 50/50.

As an ex-gambler, those odds were too bad for me to step in, so I decided to go along with my day.

Just as I turned around to continue walking down the street, I heard the burly man behind me scream.

"And who the hell do you think you are?"

Wait, he's not talking to me. I continued walking, but the voice once again yelled out.

"Hey, you son of bitch, I'm talking to you."

Still somewhat confused, I turned around to face the man. Why the hell was he focusing on me when he had 4 girls waiting behind him?

The man was now aggressively walking towards me with a mocking expression on his face.

The 4 girls behind him immediately ran, seeing that the guy focused no longer on them. So much for being a hero; these girls ran off without helping me.

Seeing me standing still in a daze, the guy threw out his right arm in an attempt to punch my face.

Immediately seeing that it would get violent, I activated the Dragon's Eye, and with the time slowed down, I could easily dodge his punch.

Then I threw a counterattack punch, which connected with his stomach. Though my strength stat was the lowest of them all, punching the specific area in the stomach would cause acid reflux, immobilizing the man for a few seconds.

While the man was recovering, I took my sheath out of my trunk and held my sword in my right hand.

I could feel blood swelling up in the area of my right eye, but that pain wasn't too much yet. Without the advantage of slowing time, I knew this fight would be impossible for me, so I had to end it quickly.

Seeing me standing in combat position with a sword, my man scoffed at me.

"Ha, do you think that sword will help you? My playthings are running away, so I'll end this quickly for you."

This time, I took the offensive and charged forward with my sword.

The djinn threw a violent punch at my right shoulder, but I avoided it by ducking. However, he seemed to predict me as he moved his right leg towards my ducking position.

Although I could see the kick coming, my reaction was not fast enough, so the kick connected.

Immediately, I flew back 2 feet from the impact of the kick. The pain in my right eye was slowly getting worse, and my shoulder was in pain after the kick. My time was coming.

Seeing my struggle to get up, the djinn laughed and charged towards me.

"Now"

This was the moment I had been waiting for. Although he was a bit wary before, his confident and cocky demeanor left room for error.

I analyzed his posture with the slowed-down time until I finally found a weak spot. His neck was completely unprotected.

Rather than standing up, I had actually been in a position that a track runner uses when awaiting the horn to start the race.

As the horn starting the race blared into the air, I blasted with my sword towards the man. In the man's eyes, it looked like I teleported as I disappeared from my floor and appeared right in front of time.

Of course, the djinn had no time to react, so I plunged my sword straight into his neck without a second thought.

The djinn dropped to the ground with a bang and laid there lifelessly.

One hit was all I needed to win the entire fight.

As I deactivated Dragon's Eye, I could feel a sharp pain in my right eye, and there was even blood dripping onto the floor from my face.

Since this was my first time using it today, the blood loss didn't seem to be that much; however, I could still feel my legs somewhat giving out.

 After plunging my sword into the djinn's heart to ensure his death, I searched his body for money.

Indeed, there had to be some reward for me doing all of this.

Thankfully, I found 5 golden coins in his right pocket, so I quickly put them in my pouch. I had actually made money today!

As I looked around the empty streets around me, I realized that leaving a dead body here, even if it were a djinn, would be suspicious, so I threw it into one of the trash cans.

Then, I grabbed a clean pair of clothes from my trunks and wiped all the blood from my face. Entering the academy looking like Zuko would only lead to me being asked countless questions, so this was necessary, even if it required ruining a perfectly good shirt.

My shoulder was still in pain as the man's kick had caught me off guard, but I ignored it for now, deciding that sleep would probably solve it.

Walking out of the alleyway like nothing ever happened, I continued on my way to the Celestial Academy gates.

-*- 

Immediately, the 4 girls ran out of the alleyway and back towards the school.

"Why are we running..?"

"Idiot, that guy was going to rob us; what do you mean why?"

"But, the other guy was help-"

"Exactly, why should we let his sacrifice be in vain by staying there? He was trying to help us by distracting the guy, Yena."

"But, is it ok for us to leave him there?"

"Forget about it, Yena; we gotta return to the academy."

"Aline, you know none of this would have happened if we didn't sneak out."

"Alice, how the hell was I supposed to know we would be robbed? I'm not some foreseer of the future."

"Do you think the guy back there is sa-"

"OH FOR FUCKS SAKE, YENA SHUT YOUR MOUTH, HE'S FINE."

"yeah, he wouldn't have helped us if he was going to die, Yena."

"...alright"