15, Month Fall-Quatre, Year Elizabeth 402

06:30, Elizabeth Magic Academy

 

After the incident in the morning, Wilson went back to his own room. He slowly calmed his mind down. This problem had been continued for some time already after all.

The first night he found out about this problem still craved in his mind. He still remembered it as if it was just happened yesterday.

The first time it happened was the day after school started. When he woke up in the morning he suddenly noticed a black spot in his right hand. At first, Wilson didn’t pay it much attention initially but, slowly, the spot continued to grow bigger day after day. Strange thought also suddenly started to appear in his mind. It was subtle in the beginning, like an intangible sound whispering beside his ear. Then, it slowly began to change. The sound became more noticeable, forming a word he didn’t like to hear—Kill.

Horrified, he sought help from the school physician but he dismissed it as stress. Wilson, of course, didn’t believe it. He went back to seek help from his family. His father, Duke Waylon, quickly suspected it as some kind of curse. He passed the artifact in the family heirloom to Wilson, the black bandage of suppression. This artifact could suppress any magic in any form. But it was only a temporary solution. To undo a curse, one had to either found a way to counteract it or kill the one placing the curse on them.

They didn’t know what the curse was and, needlessly to say, they didn’t know who had placed it. Duke Waylon quickly launched an investigation in the school but nothing useful came up. This meant that the latter option, to kill, was out. Out of option, Duke Waylon then decided to find out more about the curse but, before he could do anything, unrest suddenly occurred in the north of his family’s land. That was why Wilson asked his father to focus on the matter on the more pressing matter and put his own problem on hold instead.

He tried to find a way to resolve this himself but, no matter what he did, it all failed.

Wilson ate breakfast and showered absentmindedly. Then, with the help of his maid, he got changed into his school uniform. The uniform consisted of a white shirt—with a small school emblem at the breast pocket—and simple black pants. As the current season was fall, people usually wore another layer of clothes on the outside. That didn’t apply to him though, he only went out of the room with only his uniform. As one who was aspiring to be a knight, his body was stronger than a normal mage.

He followed along the hallway leading to his class. Some onlookers looked over his black bandage that was covering his right arm curiously. Most didn’t, though, as they already saw more than enough in the past months.

The boy ignored those gaze and opened the door to his classroom. The majority of people in his class had already come as it was only some time left before the homeroom began. He disregarded the look of his classmate and walked directly to his desk, located in the back of the room and in front of the window.

Most gazes were quickly retrieved from him as there rather focus on a subject much more interesting than him.

Alice Claude.

2 weeks had already passed since the break finished, yet her popularity didn’t drop at all. In fact, it continued to increase. As the current number one genius in the school—square level early phase mage, It was certain that everyone wanted to get along with her. Everyone in the class congregated around her desk—to talk with her—hoping to get her attention even if slightly.

Seeing this, Wilson scoffed silently.

After all, while she was at the lowest, it was these same people that trampled on her. And now that she was back at being genius again, they—going back on their own words—wanted to curry favor from her. Such hypocrite action was so laughable that even after 2 weeks it still made Wilson snicker.

“Alice, I heard that you are practicing the Aquatic Ray of Annihilation, isn’t that spell difficult?” one of the boys in the group tried to talk to her. He seemed to be a son from marquess house though Wilson couldn’t remember his name.

“No.”

“Alice, there seems to be a new cafe open today, would you like to come with us?” one of the girls in the group—probably their leader—tried to invite her. She seemed to be a daughter of another marquess house, which Wilson also didn’t bother to remember the name.

“I am busy.”

Alice knew all of their scheme of course. Wilson could see that she was not interested in any of them at all. She looked cold and aloof. Her face was expressionless and her replies were curt. She only engaged in conversation with her friend, Mary Rose. It was understandable. After all, Mary was the only one that stood by Alice when she was down.

After watching those clowns’ actions for some time, Wilson then shook his head. His eyes looked toward his right arm.

But I am a clown too.

Now that that the bad heat was taken off from Alice, the people in the class were looking for a new target of ridicule. Most nobles were like this, they only wanted to trample on someone to make them felt better about themselves. That was why more rumors about Wilson started to circulate more in the school. It was still not as bad as when Alice was. After all, even if he looked strange now, as a triangle stage late phase, he was still one of the more powerful people in class.

After some more random thought passed by, his homeroom teacher came into class. The crowd quickly dispersed, scattered back to their own seat, and the homeroom finally started.

“Alright everyone—”

Elnora Tucker, his homeroom teacher, was young—only about early twenty, but her magic talent was so good that she was scouted to be a teacher starting this year. After that, she was assigned to be the homeroom teacher of Wilson’s class.

She was one of those serious type teachers. Her long black hair was always neatly combed and tied to a ponytail. She almost always wore a blouse and a skirt as if it was only her style. And even though she looked serious, her young age actually made her very popular with students. The fact that she was quite a beauty also played a large role in that.

Elnora was a very responsible teacher. He heard that she gave some advice to Alice even when she was at the lowest. Not only that she even tried to help him multiple times.

They were all failures though. Some even made his conditions worse.

After failed times and times again, Wilson asked the kind teacher to stop which she complied reluctantly.

Wilson sighed to himself and then looked out toward the window.

It wasn’t that he hated homeroom or was bored of it. It was just because that homeroom was where many people gathered in one spot. It was a place that always stimulated an urge inside him to build up again.

Kill...

A faint sound started to sound inside his head. Wilson lightly touched the black bandage as if to confirm that it was still there.

He prayed that the homeroom would end soon.

 

 

UNKNOWN DATE

UNKNOWN TIME, UNKNOWN PLACE

 

Wilson looked at the corpse in front of him.

Corpse.

The woman, who used to be his homeroom teacher, was now lying motionlessly on the ground.

KILL.

She was dead.

In his right hand, his bare right hand that had turned black, there was a spear.

It was soaked with blood.

Her blood.

KILL.

He killed her.

The urge had consumed him.

His eyes turned from the usual black color to red.

Red.

KILL.

Strangely, he didn’t feel bad at all. He felt refreshed.

Then he laughed, maniacally, against the world.

KILL.

 

---

16, Month Fall-Quatre, Year Elizabeth 402

05:25, Elizabeth Magic Academy

 

“...!”

Wilson woke up. He found himself on his bed in his own room. His back soaked with sweat. It was so much that it was uncomfortable. He ignored it and quickly glanced around his room only to find that nothing was out of the ordinary.

His weapon, his sword and his spear were all clean. There was no trace of blood in them.

He then glanced at his right arm.

It was still there, covered in his black bandage.

It was just a nightmare.

Wilson sighed in relief after realized that. The dream was so realistic that he was actually worried that it would happen. He felt like he could even smell the iron scent of blood. He felt like he was actually a monster there.

He felt like he killed someone yet he was joyful about it.

I feel sick...

He couldn’t imagine himself being such a bloodthirsty monster. As a knight, of course, he would not hesitate to kill someone but that didn’t mean that he would kill indiscriminately.

Myles family was a traditional knight family. They all believed in chivalrous code and only conducted themselves in honor. Wilson, also, aspired to become like that.

But now he wouldn’t be so sure if he could be like that anymore.

With all this urge that had been built up inside him, he probably accidentally killed someone innocent in the future.

Just like in the dream.

Wilson then thought about stopped cultivating as a knight completely. This way he would not kill someone accidentally. This way someone would not die unjustly because of him.

Giving up on his dream to protect the other, isn’t that what a knight supposed to do?

Wilson wanted to cry but because of his pride as a knight, he had to try suppressing it. He failed. A drop of water from his eye dropped into the back of his hand. The rate of it started to become quicker and quicker until all those drops became a river.

He was scared and hopeless.

He was scared of himself and the killing nature inside him. He was scared of the future that would become of him if he got consumed by it.

Someone help me.

He prayed, to no one in particular. He just wanted someone to help him.

Anyone.

Please help me.

Ding!

As if to answer his prayer, a strange sound suddenly rang in the room. It was a sound he hadn’t heard before in his entire life. It sounded like a bell.

After the sound had come, it felt as if the room had brightened considerably. He then noticed that there was a pure white tablet on the table beside his bed. It was a tablet that he didn’t remember seeing it before.

He should fear when such a mysterious thing suddenly appeared in his room, yet—strangely—he didn’t.

Wilson reached his hand toward the object as if he was spellbound, his crying stopped.

The tablet was light and felt nice to touch. As a noble, Wilson knew instantly that this item was crafted with a person with high skill in craftsmanship.

On the tablet screen, there was a picture of a gentlemanly old man in a black robe that he hadn’t seen before in his life. His face, covered in a black hood, was unfathomable but his golden eyes were radiated with profound wisdom.

Beside his picture there were texts that appeared foreign to him yet—somehow—he understood all of it.

[(Q&A Session) You are invited to my wisdom chamber! Sage Khun will answer all your questions!]

[Live in 3 minutes (16 September, 18:30)]

[5 waiting]

[LittleSnow: Yay!]

[EmperorOfYellowKingdom: @LittleSnow you are in every stream, aren’t you?]

[LittleSnow: Of course, emperor! I would never any missed great sage Khun’s stream.]

[Roboto_1291: @LittleSnow How many questions did you send?]

[Roboto_1291: remember not to send too much like last time, okay?]

[LittleSnow: I didn’t send that much!!]

“What... is this?” Wilson asked but there was no one to answer him. After all, he was alone in his room.