Two days later.

So Noelle decided to sleep in today again. No matter how many times I told her to get up or she’ll lose credits, she still pretended to sleep. It was the same thing yesterday. Was the pain of being rejected that much?

Seeing as how she ignored me I decided to let it go. She could handle her own problems or let her overpowered daddy help her. It was her third day and yet she was already staying absent.

Noelle didn’t seem like that much of a cold person like her brother. I could tell that Abel must be the one who her brother inherited his attitude from. 

I only heard rumours that he was a strict father to his children. He would take them to mana rich environments where they could train when they were younger. Raid dungeons at a young age. It wasn’t any different from how the other heroes train their children.

The one they call the “Ice Princess” had to survive in a cold harsh mana environment so that she could improve her ice magic. It sounded ridiculous but the results were drastic. She was able to improve her magic by two tiers in six months. 

As she is the child of Zenith, it made sense that her talent for magic was so high. The children of the heroes didn’t get strong out of nowhere after all. Who knows what Clark did to get to being the strongest.

After I closed our room’s door, I felt my stomach rumble.

‘Ugh. I forgot to eat last night.’

On this academy island, students are forced to buy their own food if they miss the scheduled eating times. Since I was out all night, I slept later than usual. 

Breakfast time was already over.

‘Lilith can’t even provide me with funds.’

She was too prideful to ask Ashura for money. The two were already working together to rise in rank.

‘Maybe I should follow Emilia’s advice and become a playboy.’

I might be shameless here but I think my new face was indeed handsome. Maybe I could use my charms to win over a girl from a rich family and leech off her. Sheltered girls are the easiest targets since they know nothing of love.

‘I sound like a scumbag.’

Since my survival was at stake here I had no choice but to go through with that. 

‘Either I do that or I go adventuring. I don’t think Emilia is that nice of a person to lend me money.’

There are ships dedicated to transporting students to the forest if they want to hunt monsters. The forest students usually hunt is called the Twilight Forest. Monsters rank A and below usually roam around the forest. There’s a dungeon in the centre of the forest. They call the area surrounding it the Twilight Zone.

I might head there once I feel I’ve grown strong enough that I don’t need Dáinsleif’s help.  

Anyways, I reported back to Emilia about the five kills I managed to achieve. Since she was adamant on not giving me any sexual favours, I had to accept a few bottles of those level up potions. She told me that it’s a potion from the demon world so humans don’t know of it.

If they knew what it could do then the entire continent would cause a ruckus. It’s an elixir that can increase someone’s level depending on the person.

I already took one bottle and this was the result:

My level went up by eleven. It did nothing for my other stats though. My attack power was still comparable to an average level 70 person. It was strange that my stats didn’t coincide with my level. Only my HP and AG were abnormally high. 

I get that it depends on the person how they level up but this is just ridiculous.

Even if my identity was found out then I would have no way to protect myself. A hero would be able to crush me with one finger. Since I wanted to enrol in the tournament I was sure that the children of the heroes would be able to crush me as well. Not all of them are that strong though. The only ones I would have to look out for would be Noelle, Clark, the Ice Princess and many others.

I was certain that Clevan would have it in for me as well.

I haven’t seen the bastard yet. 

After I walked out of the room and shut the door, I headed for class.

The corridor was filled with students on their way to class. Winter was coming so everyone was wearing thick coats to stay warm from the cold.

The academy buildings was separate from the dorms so I had to walk quite a bit to reach the first years building. 

I noticed a girl standing by a balcony. She was wearing a robe that all of the mage division students wear.

She was looking at the students that were playing around in the playground. 

Her hair fluttered in the wind revealing her side profile.

‘Huh?’

I looked at her face in a daze. 

I instinctively opened the door to the balcony and walked towards her.

“Celeste…?”

The girl flinched when she heard her name.

She still looked as gloomy as the day we met. Her big red eyes blinked repeatedly as she looked at my face. 

“U-Um… Do we know each other? Kyaah!?”

I didn’t answer. I hugged her tightly in my arms. 

She shrieked in surprise. 

Her entire body stiffened.

I saw Celeste release mana from her hands. 

I hurriedly moved away.

“W-Wait! It’s me. Luther!”

“…?”

Celeste gazed at me with a blank expression. 

“...Luther...?”

It was a few moments of silence before Celeste realized what I said.

She ran into my arms.

**

The two of us skipped first period and came towards the garden. We were surrounded by white flowers that released sweet fragrances. 

“Where have you been all this time? I thought you were dead...”

I smiled wryly.

‘Would it be okay to tell her?’

I’m the servant of a demon lord. The enemy of humanity. Lilith may be the lowest ranking demon lord but that still doesn’t change the fact that she’s a demon lord. Her race itself is a sin in the eyes of the heroes.

“Luther?”

Celeste held my arm.

“It’s complicated. Let’s just say I received the necessary help to survive.”

If Lilith hadn’t found me lying there then what could’ve happened to me? There was no guarantee that Dáinsleif could’ve fended off those zombies endlessly. 

After the day I went on my first mission I was unable to use the silver aura of Dáinsleif. It might be that I used too much of it. 

I shouldn’t rely too much on my sword. There’s no telling if Dáinsleif will be able to remove those errors from my status window. If those errors don’t get removed then I’ll never be able to level up like a normal person. I’ll stay the same. 

Celeste and I remained silent as we sat on the bench.

A few seconds later she spoke.

“Lady Sylvia changed.”

Celeste suddenly spoke.

“Huh? In what way?”

“She’s not eating properly. She has an irregular sleep schedule. I keep hearing screaming coming from her office at night. When I peered through the walls using magic I saw her brutally torturing a man. When I asked Miss Anna why she did that, she replied that the man was from an enemy household. There’s always noises coming from the dungeon as well. A few dead bodies was moved out of there last week.”

I could still vividly remember those corpses that laid on the dungeon floor whenever I was sent there to clean the place. I was even given a job to move the corpses out of the manor since the maids didn’t want to do it. 

I mentioned before that I always do menial tasks for them in exchange for currency. That was one of them. I had to clean guts, faeces, and all sorts of other disgusting matter off the floors. 

That was the other reason why no maid would approach me in the manor. I always smelled like a different kind of animal that digs through the trash. A bath wouldn’t always help. 

“How was your first day? Make any friends yet?”

Celeste shook her head.

“I tried talking to people but they all avoid me. Was I too aggressive at my approach?”

“It’ll take a bit of time to get used to being around people. Don’t worry.”

“Luther.”

“Hm?”

“Why were you with that girl called Emilia? Is she your benefactor? The two of you looked close too.”

Celeste’s face was right in front of me as she questioningly gazed at me.

I waved my hands in a fluster.

“N-no. We just work together. She was assigned as my partner.”

“Ah, I see! That’s a relief!”

Celeste clapped her hands with a bright smile.

When the two of us stood up, we heard the clock tower bell ring. A few seconds later the students ran out of their classrooms.

“We can’t skip another period unless we want to lose credits.”

“Haha. You’re right.”

Celeste fidgeted.

“S-So, err....” Her eyes looked all over the place. “C-Can we hang out later again?”

Now that I though about it, the two of us didn’t spent that much time together in the manor since she was recovering. We had a few meals together back then but that was it. 

The two of us didn’t really get to know each other.

I hugged her again and whispered.

“That would be great. I want to know more about you, Celeste....”

Her entire face reddened. She pushed me away and covered her face.

“I-I need to get to class!”

Then she ran off.

I laughed and waved her goodbye.

Celeste looked healthier than back then. She didn’t look so gloomy when the two of us spoke. She had a smile on her face throughout our conversation.

I noticed that Celeste had bandages on her hands. 

‘The scars must still be there.’

That meant that the Holy Temple still hadn’t accepted their request. They wouldn’t make an exception just because Sylvia was an imperial princess before Augustus’ rule(Sylvia’s brother).

‘Emilia is knowledgeable about a lot of things so I should ask her what I should do to help Celeste.’

Maybe I could somehow use my dragon abilities to heal her. 

I was about to move but stopped when  I felt a sharp needle pointed at my neck.

The students who were walking out of their classes were frozen in time. No, everything was frozen in time.

My body shivered when I felt God eyes activate.

‘A death variable? No, it’s red.’

It was unlike the previous times I faced danger. The red that came from behind me was darker than the other times.

“Don’t move, dragon. Turn around slowly.”

I did as the female voice said.

‘Huh?’

The first thing I noticed was her pitch black eyes and ash black hair. Even if I sensed no killing intent, the red aura around her body was even more than when I met Tess. 

There were two horns above her head. She was wearing a dark purple long dress. 

“Look at the little servant I found.”

She smiled, revealing her razor sharp teeth.