Chapter 7: Homecoming [2]

Thinking of the fight that happened only a few minutes ago, I realized the difference between fighting an actual being with intelligence and a monster. My small experience with the mountain tyrant from earlier had led me to assume that my tactic would be enough for me to trick and catch off guard whoever I was fighting, but during the fight, this almost led to my demise.

I clutched my shoulder while darkly reminiscing about the kick from earlier.

"Whatever, I got my revenge."

Next time, I would definitely be more prepared for a sneaky counterattack like that. Also, why was trouble always drawn to me? What were the odds that I came across some students getting robbed? While I can't expect my luck to be that good due to my casting as a third-rate villain, this really was too much.

Speaking of the robbery, why the hell did those girls run off? I help them, and that's how they repay me. 

In their situation, I probably would have done the same thing upon seeing an exit, but still, shouldn't they at least try to help me?

Also, in the original story, do those 4 girls just get robbed, or what the hell would have happened if I hadn't shown up?

I realize that by simply existing, I am causing the plot line to change, but surely, the change can be kept to a minimum if my presence is barely noticeable. But then I get dragged into stupid situations like this where I'm forced to do something or die.

Anyway, my plan to remain unnoticeable would stay for now, depending on if a situation actually affected my mortality.

I continued playing with my smartwatch until I finally grasped its basic features. The novelty slowly faded as I realized it was the same as an Apple smartphone except for the hologram feature.

I mean, you would think with magic and shit, they would be able to do a bit more, but I guess not.

Approaching the academy gates, I pushed my bloodied sword further into my trunk and took out my beautifully written essay.

"can't wait till those fuckers read it."

Surprisingly, the most important educational facility in the world only had 2 guards protecting the front entrance. They opened the gates after I nodded and showed them my student ID.

My first stop was the academy office, where I could drop off my essay, obtain my dorm key, and return my student phone. It wasn't like I needed it with my new smartwatch, but it would still be useful as entering the gym and training facilities would require it.

Opening the office door, I saw a scene similar to a hotel's concierge: two people dressed in suits were working behind a slick brown table.

Upon hearing the door open, the man on the right shifted his head upwards to face me and asked.

"What brings you here today?"

"I'm here after my ... suspension."

I felt an immense shame wash over me as the words "suspension" came out of my mouth. It wasn't like I was a model student back on Earth, but I had never done anything to warrant a detention, let alone a suspension. 

Upon hearing I had been suspended within the first week of school, I couldn't imagine what my mom would do to me.

It also didn't help that the worker's face was visibly distorted when the mention of suspension was made, as he probably thought I was some troublemaker.

The rest of the process went smoothly as after handing my 5 pages of bullshit; he handed me my dorm key, class schedule, and school phone.

Exiting the office, I headed to my dorm room. Since it was evening, there weren't many students hanging out, but I could see some entering and exiting the gym. I would be one of those people tomorrow.

Since the campus was enormous, on the walk to the first-year dorm building, I could admire the dark blue sea that shone under the moon's reflection. The trees swayed with the soft breeze that blew through the night wind occasionally and the occasional birds chirping that broke the silence.

As the dorm building entered my sight, I took my last few glances around the captivating scenery. However, one specific area took all my attention.

My footsteps grew to halt as I saw two students sitting on a bench together, admiring the scenery of the moon in front of them.

These weren't just any two students, mind you. One of them was Liam, the story's protagonist, and old Ren's greatest enemy. Although I had full control over Ren's body, seeing Liam would trigger some emotion of anger inside of me, but during the disciplinary ceremony, I was able to control it.

So what was different now?

The female sitting next to Liam was Lily. She is one of the book's main and most important heroines due to her early affection for Liam and her social status. Like me, Lily descended from one of the 7 great heroes who saved the world from the demons, but unlike me, rather than developing a hatred for commoners, she actually began to feel sympathy.

Something about her backstory caused her to feel like that, but honestly, I couldn't care less, as she low-key had the most annoying personality in the entire book. The only reason the Author kept her around was that she used her social status to back up Liam whenever he was in trouble with the law.

Although she didn't matter to me, it was an entirely different story to the old Ren. Even dumbasses like Ren had their reasons for causing trouble, so what was Ren's reason for attacking Liam? 

To impress Lily.

In blindsight, trying to impress a girl by doing what she despises the most was not a good idea, but common sense does not apply when you're talking about a third-rate villain.

Anyway, I doubted that Ren actually had real feelings for Lily, as he probably just wanted to keep his bloodline "pure" by marrying another noble worthy of him or something stupid like that.

Unsurprisingly, Ren's actions against Liam helped Liam grow closer to Lily as she began feeling sympathy towards Liam, which caused her to spend more time with him.

After looking at the two on the bench for another moment, I quickly regained my composure and walked into the dorms.

Although it may not seem like a problem now, as I'm mostly able to control my emotions, it would only take one second for Ren's underlying anger to take control and cause me to do something stupid, so staying away from Liam was necessary.

Next, I opened my dorm door and entered the luxurious suite. Due to my demotion to Class D from my suspension, my room's size did drop a little, but compared to the small, rough cave from the mountains, it was heaven.

Dropping my unopened trunk and my desk, I discarded my clothes and took a shower, as the fight from earlier had caused me to sweat a bit.

Since today was Friday, and there would be no classes for the next two days, I began planning my schedule.

Slumping down on the bed, the comfortable mattress and exhaustion presiding inside my body slowly overtook me until I finally fell asleep.

-*-

I started the next day by changing into shorts and a shirt before heading to the gym. I knew staying in shape was a requirement for survival at this school, so I wanted to finish it early in the morning, allowing me to enjoy the rest of my day exploring the million-dollar campus.

After scanning my mobile phone, I entered the gym and was immediately starstruck by the massive interior. Hundreds of treadmills, benches, various machines, and weights were spread out neatly in the 30,000-square-foot area.

A specific area that caught my attention near the back of the gym was the gravity rooms. There were 10 rooms fully constructed with marble with small keypads outside. By adjusting the force of gravity applied to you, students could train more vigorously. Strong monsters and people also gave an imposing aura that increased the force of gravity on things around them, so these rooms allowed students to simulate that so they would not be surprised later.

Seeing that I was blocking the gym's entrance, I awkwardly moved to the side and found a treadmill.

After a 10-mile run, I was almost sweaty, so I grabbed a nearby towel and dried myself. Thankfully, there were also huge water dispensers and fruit baskets placed all around the gym, so I recovered within 5 minutes.

Following my exercise with the weights, I went to the locker room to shower. Finally, I left the gym and went toward the cafeteria with high expectations. A school willing to spend that much money on a gym was sure to have world-class food in its cafeteria.

The cafeteria was even bigger than the gym, so I patiently waited in line for the food after putting my stuff down on a chair in the corner. As the sweet aroma of the food blew into my nose, I began wondering.

Where had this been all my life?

I almost shuttered, remembering the disgusting cafeteria food served to me in high school. Never again would I have to eat a week-old ham and cheese sandwich for lunch!

After sitting down with the steaming plate of food in front of me, I noticed that the hall was surprisingly uncrowded, even though it was supposed to serve the first, second, and third. Year students.

Maybe people liked sleeping in on Saturdays? It didn't matter to me, so I began diving into the food before me.

The soft, creamy flavor of the pancakes and the salty flavor of the potatoes combined in my mouth to make a masterpiece that almost brought me to tears. Even after realizing that I had obtained the dragon's eye, I wasn't this happy.

As more students began crowding in, I put in my earbuds, connected them to my smartwatch, and used them to block out the noise.

I put my plate away and headed out of the cafeteria towards the library. Since I received my class schedule yesterday, I would now have to pick up my textbooks. Besides the week of school I missed, I was already 16 years behind everyone else, so many sleepless nights would be spent here.

Unsurprisingly, even fewer people were in the library as who would want to study on a Saturday morning. Looking at the course information on my school phone, I picked out the books that I would need and placed them in my backpack.

Then, I also began exploring the library. Although it wasn't as big as the gym, it still contained over 10,000 books. After finding a book on the world's modern history, I sat down on a bean bag and zoned out while reading. My first class tomorrow would be history, and I knew personally how harsh the guy was as he gave Liam detentions countless times for not paying attention.

I was probably on his bad side already from being suspended, so I didn't want to piss him off further by not even knowing things that were considered common sense in this world.

The book mostly focused on my father and the other six heroes who banded together to save the world from the demons.

Snapping me out of my book, a small feminine voice spoke.

"Sorry, could you help me with this?"

Looking up from my book, I saw a short girl with light blue hair pointing towards a book on the top shelf. I didn't immediately recognize her description in the book, so I dropped my guard and picked up the book from her.

After handing her the book, she looked at me momentarily like she wanted to say something, but she just scurried off in the end.

Recalling my actions just now, I began thinking.

Aren't I delinquent and an abandoned noble? Can I do helpful stuff like this? A sudden change in my behavior would definitely make people think I was a djinn, so doing too much would be a problem.

Well, I guess that was my one kind act of the day.

[A/N: The cat finally makes its appearance tomorrow!]