8: So anticlimactic and vain
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I take off my hood, revealing my face for all to see.

“Sage,” I call his name for the first time, “want to hit a nice restaurant? I will pay.”

“No.”

So in-character. You can pretend to be a greedy leech every once in a while.

I don't push and I feel that Sage is not going to stay with me anymore. There's is a sense of loss. So much to learn, and now it ends. My hand reached into my pocket, where the mana battery he gave me is.

“Next time, I will take you as a disciple once you won't be using me as a means to escape.”

He disappears, leaving me mildly annoyed and terrified.

Of course he knew. I knew it myself, and that scary guy can read me so easily. But to think this antisocial guy is good at reading people. Or is it because of it that he is antisocial? Humans do suck.

Suddenly, I don't want to eat anything. My stomach continues to growl, but I simply burn mana.

Feeling like a kid who ran away from home and came back with his tail behind his legs, I go to the Reinhardt mansion.

A few meters from the gate, I freeze.

Escapism is a wonderful thing, so let's continue. I can go gamble, do drugs, alcohol or whatever hedonistic pleasure losers pursue. I have the money—not my parents', but my very own funds. There are so many unhealthy ways to deal with my problems, why not use one?

Despite thinking as such, I already know why not. I will never do that, unfortunately, because I don't want to let the people that don't judge me down.

Like my nanny, Katherine... or the princess.

“Just be brave,” I whisper.

I am afraid, like never before. Confronting my family feels so much scarier than anything else I have encountered. It's so stupid, and at the same time, proof that I care of how they perceive me.

They have power over me.

They can easily crush my heart.


Flashback: Percival - 2 days before leaving with Sage

The hero that saved the imperial academy from the terrorists, Percival, wasn't in the least happy about his achievement, which was tremendous.

His enemies were weakened thanks to the sacrifice of his teachers, and he only then realized that he killed everyone so the mastermind couldn't be found. It meant that the future might hold the deaths of more people.

Also, despite trying to ignore it, the reality of killing Chris didn't disappear.

His closest friend in the academy was a traitor. Chris was a mole from the start. The reality was intensified as the results of the investigation that showed Chris's background falling apart.

Percival was hurt, naturally, but he found it disgustingly easy to hide it.

A matter of merely not setting up instructions to make a sad face.

“How are you doing, Perci?” His father, Kyle Reinhardt, finally took the time to sit with his bedridden son.

Kyle, the Lagless. A hero of his caliber was naturally busy, Percival understood, but he found himself hoping he would be there for him more.

“I feel fine. Didn't the Saintess personally heal me? I would have to relay my thanks later.” He smiled a little.

“Son, about Chris...” Kyle started, but seeing how he struggled over his next words, Percival interrupted.

“It's fine, it doesn't bother me.”

“No, it's not that...”

“Seriously, I am fine,” Percival insisted.

He thought he was calming his father, but Kyle's expression took a turn, showing anger and disbelief.

“Percival, you slashed at him without hesitation. Did you know about Chris beforehand?”

“No.” Percival shook his head. “I just struck blindly thinking there is a threat there.”

Kyle stood, shaking his head as if he doesn't know his own son.

“I don't like it, Perci. The way you go for the kill is wrong. Life should be cherished, but you... you don't cherish them, do you?”

Percival couldn't answer.

He realized his father heard how he killed the terrorists and it left the wrong impression, but correcting him felt impossible.

It's true that he killed the terrorists with a brutal efficiency, but it was because his own life was on the line that he had no other choice.

“You didn't hesitate to kill, not even when you saw it was Chris. I have seen the footages; you didn't even flinch.”

Because he couldn't let others see his weakness.

Because he was so shocked giving the order to his facial muscles didn't occur to him.

“It's my fault. I will teach you the weight of the life I fought to save in that damned war. Please, just reflect for now.”

Kyle left the room, leaving Percival shocked.

He rushed outside, but his father was gone. Instead, Percival saw his little sister, Juliana.

Their eyes locked for a moment, but instead of rushing to hug him like usual, his sweet little sister stepped back, cowering in fear.

“Brother, stop scaring July.” Theodore, his younger brother, came and covered Juliana as if protecting her. From Percival.

“Theo, why are you like this?” Percival felt emotions stirring him, boiling and raging inside. His voice was flat.

He knew that Theodore was jealous of him because of the succession issues, but he never outright showed fear like that, as if he was really afraid Percival would do something to him.

“We saw it,” he said as if that explained everything. “You are crazy. Insane. Don't come near us.”

Every word was a jab in the face.

Theodore and Percival didn't have a good relationship, but they were brothers connected by blood. They didn't hate each other, and Percival was rather fond of his brother, feeling the need to protect him as well.

But not just him, but also sweet little Juliana rejected him. Percival felt his heart freezing, painfully aware of his unchanging cold face.

He walked away, setting the motions and escaping in the most pathetic way.


I greet the guards, who then in turn bow down.

“Lord Percival! It's good to have you back!” one of them say.

“Without your presence, My Lord, everything was a mess,” the other one adds. “If it weren't for Miss Katherine, I don't want to imagine what would've happened.”

Naturally, because father and mother, both warriors from common birth, are weak to paperwork.

I took on myself to help them and thus my burden was immense from a young age. Rather than succession lessons by teacher, I was already doing the work of the head, mostly.

Theodore has been diligently taking his lessons for years, but he can't fill my shoes just yet. Katherine, on the other hand, is extremely capable and trustworthy.

I don't immediately enter, instead I ask the guards how they are faring and how are the kids and whatever bullshit I would remember but not give a damn about.

I really don't want to go in.

“My Lord, please don't let us bother you.” The guards only move out of the way, but I would rather tell they pushed me inside.

I walk slowly, but inevitably reach the front door. All my instincts scream at me to escape, as if the end of the world is coming.

Come on, Percival. Just muster some goddamn courage and enter the fucking door!

Taking a deep breath, I open the doors.

A few servants greet me, but there's no sign to my siblings or parents. At first, my paranoid mind thinks they avoid me, but then I remember it's day time. They are at school and job.

What did I expect, a big welcome party?

I take a long shower, washing away all the dirt that had accumulated through my journey. My stomach growls again, but instead of eating a full-course meal made by a chef, I use Burning. It's now a habit. Probably a bad one.

My reflection is unfamiliar to me, thinner and paler. I lost weight, my features sharpened, and deep dark circles adorned the corner my eyes.

A yawn escapes my mouth. I decide to head to sleep for now, informing the staff and locking the door.

I place the crystal Sage gave me at the shelf and stare at it as sleep slowly overtakes me.

Emptiness drowns me, gnawing at my consciousness, waving my failure at my face.

So this is how it ends, without being able to do anything about it.

So anticlimactic and vain.


The flow of time eludes me as my consciousness briefly resurfaces from my dreams, only the darkness of my room points it's nighttime. My throat is parched and I feel too hot, kicking the blanket away.

Seven Evils System acquired.

The System will prepare you for your role as a future Evil.

I hear these words ringing in my head, but I quickly dismiss it as the making of my mind.

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