SLAM- Asher brought his foot around Gerald’s leg and kicked the back of his calf. As Gerald buckled, Asher grabbed his face and smashed it onto his knee.

 A sickening crunch followed by the sound of popping tendons was all that was needed for him to crumble onto the ground like a rag doll. 

Asher took off his jacket as his next opponent laughed nervously before delivering a punch which the former swiftly dodged. Holding his jacket by its sleeves, Asher wrapped it around the latter’s torso.

Two others of Callum’s minions charged in.

Asher stepped on the foot of the man that lunged at me, then hurled the lackey in his coat in a judo throw-like motion onto him.

Sidestepping an incoming blow from a punch, Asher grabbed the second man’s fist, and pushed in his knuckle, effectively dislocating it. He cradled his hand to himself with a pained cry as Asher aimed a kick at his solar plexus, silently watching him collapse. 

Asher observed Callum warily as he- threw a liver punch at Gerald?

Then Callum grabbed his victim by the hair and whispered to him, “You fool, you can’t beat Asher.”

‘Ah, I forgot how much of a manipulative bastard he is. By dealing damage to his own lackey that was attempting to assault me, he’s making it look like he wasn’t a part of it. He never was the one to involve himself in trouble if he was going to get caught.’

Before anyone could express their shock or even react, someone else intervened.

“Excuse me, what is going on here?”

Everyone paused to turn to the teacher who just entered the room. Her name was Kathy. I didn’t know much about her except the fact she was a relatively young individual. As expected of a Xira graduate…

Despite not directing the question to anyone, she turned expectantly at Asher.

“They were trying to bully Elijah, Professor Kathy.” He replied.

“Hmm…” Kathy pondered for a second as her eyes flickered over to me.

This woman, who had treated me as air before, now acts like I’m dirt? It was a slight improvement, but not one I appreciated. It wasn’t because of my efforts, it was because of Asher’s. 

“Well, I suppose I could let this go since you were trying to protect the boy… if you didn’t resort to violence. You'll need to spend lunchtime with me as punishment. The professor trailed off as she batted her eyelashes coyishly.

What a disgusting person, trying to make connections through seduction.

Asher was oblivious to it, but luckily he rejected politely, “Professor, I have a student council meeting at that time though.”

“Well, that can’t be helped, I’ll deduct twenty points instead.” She decided.

‘Protagonist buffs… Of course, he gets away with beating- no, absolutely crushing people with only twenty points. 

“Teacher’s pet…” I grumbled, under my breath.

‘What are points, papa?’

‘I forgot to tell you? Points are the currency and system of Xira city for the students. They can be earned through class contribution, exam marks, part-time jobs in the academy, etc.

For people like Asher, a hundred or so points is like gum, but for people like me, every single point is hard-earned, I can’t afford to get a twenty point deduction like that.’

“Yo? Elijah? Can you hear me?”

“Hm?” I stopped talking to Kaida and glanced up to see Asher sitting on my table.

“Want to sit with me?” Asher pointed a finger to the back rows.

“Nah, I’m fine,” I responded

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, but you’re always welcome to sit with me, bye then!” Like the main character he is, Asher walked dramatically to his spot as the wind blew his hair and girls swooned when he waved at him, of course, oblivious to it.

Wait… Wind? Where did the wind come from? The classroom is enclosed…

Darn, it must be nice being the protagonist, the wind would go out of its way to defy logic just to make you look cool…

It wasn’t even funny at this point. Where the hell did that wind come from??

‘It’s okay, you are my protagonist.’ Kaida looked at me with pity.

‘OI! I didn’t ask for your stupid pity!’

‘I’m not pitying you, I just saying, you are my protagonist.’ She said, still looking at me like she would to an injured puppy.

‘...’

I ignored her for the rest of the lesson. 

Professor Kathy picked on Callum’s gang for the whole lesson. A normal teacher would send them to the hospital sector, but this Asher simp said that they were still conscious and therefore, fine. 

Wait… 

A thought drifted into my head.

What if…?

I needed to know now.

The rest of the class passed by in slow motion, I edged to the end of my seat impatiently as I watched the clock ticking away.

***

‘NOOOOO!’

‘Why?’

‘WHY?’

‘Shut up.’ My contractee whined 

‘You don’t know how devastating this is!’

‘Why need another dragon when you’ve got me?’

‘?’ ‘Why not!?!?’

While I was in class, A thought struck me., ‘What if I could make a contract with multiple dragons?’

Obviously, this was ground-breaking. A 13-year-old boy, contracted with TWO dragons? 

I would be worshipped, well, to be honest, I would rather live in peace though.

But who in the world would refuse to contract with a dragon?

‘Hypocrite’ Kaida spat, reading my thoughts.

‘I was shocked okay? I wasn’t thinking properly!’ I said

Kaida’s whining aside, the biggest problem lay with the book itself. Or rather, the lack of the book itself. The book used to summon dragons had disappeared!

What if someone stole it? And got multiple dragons? 

Kaida interrupted my thoughts again, ‘it wasn’t stolen.’

‘How do you know, huh?’

‘I don't, it’s a hunch.’

‘AHHHH Whyyyyyyyyy-’

‘Can you be quiet!’

‘NO!’

‘DUNG DUNG DUNG DUNG DUNG DUNG DUNG DUNG DUNG DUNG-’

‘No, I’m sorry!’

‘Hmmm… then will you let me play Mario Kart again? I really liked Luigi!’

“Elijah Horton, can you answer my question?”

“LUIGI’S DUNG!” I screamed.

“...”

Everyone in the class turned to me.

F*ck…

Kaida looked like she wanted to pass out. 

“Yes… The answer to melee weapons can be divided into three categories, and brass knuckles belong in Luigi’s dung…” Professor Kyle deadpanned.

“So Elijah, at what point did you zone out?”

“...”

Should I tell him I didn’t pay attention at all…?