Chapter 56: Ready

THUD!

Karl is thrown on the stone floor like a sack of potatoes. "Ugh!" He groans in pain.

Karl takes a look around and sees that he is back in the venue of the auction. But there is no light as the lamp is closed on the table. 'Where is everyone?'

He pokes the watch's screen with the help of his nose. A window opens up which brightens up the room. There is no-one in the room, he moves to the glass wall and sees nothing but pitch darkness. No lights, no people and an empty stage at the bottom. 'Looks like the auction ended.'

In the darkness, Karl moves towards the main door with the help of the light coming from his watch. He finds the door but it is locked. Karl tries to open the door with force but it doesn't even budge and he has nowhere enough mana to use pressure punch.

"Haah." With a frustrated sigh, Karl brings his remaining hand closer to his mouth and clumsily tries to move the screen with the help of his nose.

Back in the academy.

Ian is sitting on his desk, sulking through a boring lecture. The class is full of students who all have a bored expression on their face. Ian is sitting in the last row.

"Now, if you pass mana only through this part of the circle the result would be quite interesting." Everyone in the class seems to be listening diligently to the instructor.

"HAAA!" The student who is sitting beside Ian yawns shamelessly.

"WHO? Who has that?" The old instructor snaps immediately. The instructor is a small old man who has a bald head and bags under his eyes. Quickly, everyone in the class stares at Ian's direction. The boy who yawned sweats in fear. He slowly turns to Ian and winked at Ian while making a nervous face.

After seeing that every student is looking in Ian's direction, the instructor also looks at Ian's desk. "Tell me now! Who made that sound?" Ian sees Eden's scared expression.

'Help me this time bro.' This is what Ian reads after seeing Eden's face. Ian rolls his eyes and stands up.

"Mr. Hide. I think you misheard the sound. How could someone even think of yawning in the lecture of the great instructor Hide."

The instructor quickly looks back at the blackboard and coughs suspiciously. "Ahem! You are right. I am getting bit rusty." Eden gives a thumbs up for Ian. Ian just stares at Eden and sits back down.

"Well, Mr. Phirsecot. Please explain this hypothesis in your own words." Ian's expression doesn't change as he stands up once more.

"Uh. If you let mana go into-" Ian's watch suddenly vibrates. He looks down and sees [Leonard] written on the screen. "Finally!" Ian yells as he slams his hand on the desk.

Everyone in the class starts to laugh at Ian's unexpected answer.

"SILENCE!" The old instructor yells.

"Class representative, Ian Desouza Phirsecot! What is this behaviour?"

"Oh." Ian remembers that he is in classroom, he declined the call. The sound of someone laughing very demonically was heard in Ian's ears. He glances at his side and sees Eden laughing very loudly. There are tears in Eden's eyes.

"Mr. Hide. I finally caught the student who always slept in your lectures. It's Eden Borivia."

The old man's entire attention was immediately shifted from Ian to Eden. "Mr. Borivia, is that true?"

"N-No. Ian is lying." The instructor again looks at Ian for answers. But Ian remains silent. Instead, he is staring at a certain girl wearing glasses from the first row. They make an eye contact for few seconds.

Then, the same girl stands up. "Mr. Hide , I can also confirm that Eden always sleep in your class and that he made fun of your old age. Saying things like 'He cannot see or hear well. How can he teach us?'"

"Derica! Don't li-"

Before Eden could defend himself the instructor yells very loudly that shakes the entire classroom. "MR.BORIVIA! COME ON THE STAGE THIS INSTANT."

"T-They are lying." Eden tries to defend himself one last time.

"Do you think both class representative and vice class representative are lying to me?"

"But-"

"No buts! Come here." The temperature of the entire class goes up by few degrees. The vice representative of the class, Derica nods at Ian. She has darkish blue hair, if standing in the dark anyone would mistake them for black. 

"Mr. Hide. I got a message from our principal Estha, she has summoned me. Can I go?" Ian purposely asks in a low voice. The old instructor didn't hear Ian as he is busy yelling at Eden.

Midst of this, Ian walks to the window and jumps off it. Just before the impact, Ian summons his magic circle and slows down his speed. He quickly calls Karl.

'Come on! Pick up!' The call rings for few seconds before Karl answered.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Ian starts to yell at Karl. "DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW SHE FELT? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?.....What?"

2 hours later.

A servant belonging to the Chamber household opens the door to the venue no 2353 and Ian steps into the room.

"Mphm!" A strong foul smell comes from the room which made Ian cover his nose. The servant runs forward and starts the lamp which brings light all over the room.

GASP! Ian loudly gasps as he spots Karl sitting on the couch. "LEONARD!"

Ian quickly grabs Karl's shoulders and move his entire body like jelly. "Answer me! Are you there?" Ian continues to ask.

COUGH! Karl coughs some blood. "Y-You disturbed my sleep." He smiles at Ian.

Later that same evening. Karl is wakes up in a white bed. The first thing he does after waking up is to check is right arm which is there covered in plastic. He sighs in relief.

Karl slowly sits up and observes the room. In his mind, the first word that came in his mouth was 'Cheap'.

'Not to brag or anything. But whenever I wake up in any hospital bed, it gets more luxurious than the previous one. This broke that streak.' He thinks as the bed made creaking sounds and the wall looked like it could come down any second.

There is only one small window in the entire room which far away from the bed, creating a suffocating feeling.

CLICK! The door opened as an old granny with glasses walked in the room. "Oh dear! You woke earlier than I thought."

"Y-Yeah."

"Are you hungry? Do you want something to drink?" The granny asks with a smile, showing her broken teeth.

"N-Nothing. Thank you. Is Ian Phirsecot here?" Karl asks.

"Oh, that handsome young lad? Wait, I send him in."

"Sure."

The granny exits the room. 'Damn. Halfbloods were better.' Karl thinks as the maids from the hotel comes to his mind.

In few seconds, the door is slammed open as Ian dashes into the room. "Yo!" Karl lifts his hand.

Ian clenches his fists and takes a deep breath. "Who did this to you?"

Karl notices the seriousness in his voice. 'Am I the pookie here?'

"Vampires." Karl answers.

"What?" Karl tells Ian the story from where he left to get Andressa. Ian takes a seat on the bed and facepalms himself.

"To think those bloodsuckers infiltrated this deep." Ian whispers.

"Well, it was a fun fight. It was my first time fighting an illusionist which was a whole new experience." Karl comments.

"You should be grateful that you got away with such trivial injuries." Ian slams Karl's confidence on the ground.

Granny walks in the room with dish full of red apples. Karl grabs one and takes a bite. "Is that so?"

"Of course. If it was any adult vampyer, you could have died or even worse you could have become their slave for eternity." Ian explains further.

Karl remains silent and takes another bite.

'But it is undeniable fact that Leo defeated a noble along with it's servant.' Ian looks Karl. 'Just when I thought I was becoming stronger. You set another incredible accomplishment. Just how did you become this strong?' Ian sweats visibly as he stares at Karl.

"Hmm? What?" Karl asks.

"N-Nothing. Leave that, if you made both of them submit to you. Why did you only took the sword?"

Karl takes another bite before answering. "To be honest, I was scared that they would come up with some other trick. That is why, I just took the fast way out and don't want them to chase me just for dumb spell book which can be bought somewhere else."

Karl sees that Ian is just staring at him. "W-What?"

Ian chuckles loudly. "I never thought that you would admit being scared."

"S-So what? I am human too. I get scared too." Karl admits with an annoyed face.

"Yeah, Yeah. Anyways, are you going to fight tomorrow?" Ian asks with a serious tone.

"Knight succession tournament, right? Time flies."

"You don't have to fight. I can fight in your place. I have become stronger due my training with father. I won't let you down." Ian suggests.

Karl takes the last bite of the apple and puts the remaining part in the dish. "I am already in your debt as you are giving me fight in your spot." He sluggishly stands up. "I don't want any more debt."

Ian smiles silently while looking at Karl. 'Was he always this tall?' Just few weeks ago, Karl's head touched Ian's shoulder but he looks like he will reach his neck easily.

"I am going to fight and get those tears."

"Nebula's tears." Ian corrects Karl as he stands up. "I order another batch of mana recovery potions."

Karl quickly turns back and looks at Ian. "About that."