Arena Twenty-One: Buried Grudges I

[Humans are emotional beings.]

[Harm them once, they hold grudges. Harm them twice, they become openly hostile. Harm them thrice, they become your arch-nemesis.]

[Of course, not every human is like that. Humanity can be described in two words depending on the situation, either 'Naive' or 'Stubborn'.]

[Yet, these same humans who can hold grudges for years, can not remember the person who helped them yesterday.]

[Perhaps that is what is to be expected.]

...

"Hm... To develop two skills in a day... That's unheard of."

Principal Flora rubbed her temples and leaned back.

"Anastasia, do you vouch for his words?"

"Yes, mother."

Anastasia nodded before looking at me.

I smiled, reassuring her. I had only told them the partial truth, omitting all the information about the gods and goddesses.

Principal Flora hadn't shown any hostility towards me so far, but she wasn't overly supportive either. I couldn't trust her completely, yet.

"So, you told me how you awakened your skill, and that it makes your summoned weapons powerful. But what exactly does it do to you?"

Principal Flora asked, looking at me.

"It lets me enter a near-invincible state and increases by SP limit by twenty thousand units, my lady."

"T-twenty thousand?"

The principal seemed shaken. She asked me once again whether I was sure or not.

"Yes... It also increases my damage reduction rate to 100%."

Truthfully, my SP was at thirty-two thousand right now, but I assumed that telling that to her would result in something bad.

"That's too overpowered... What a waste. If only you were selected as an Elliot..."

"Haha... I wonder about that too, my lady."

I could only chuckle wryly. Forget about being an Elliot, I didn't even know what my class was.

"Anyhow... I don't think that we need to go to the Shard Centre at this point. Your new skill... [Alter Ego], was it? It's too powerful to be revealed. Not to mention, a unique skill."

Principal Flora commented as she looked at the tablet on her table. On it was my current health status, as well as Anastasia's. We had gone through a checkup a few moments after coming here.

Though, I had more or less guessed what would be the result displayed on my status screen.

Nothing. No irregularities, or health issues were detected.

[Eternal Bliss], be it a bit lacking compared to the other skills, was still an A-rank skill.

"But what would I do about the classes?"

I asked, pushing away those thoughts for now.

"Hm, you will just claim your [Aether: Summoning] skill as your only skill. I'll make sure to classify that skill as an A-rank. That way, it wouldn't be too hard to accept. You will use that in the practical classes and tests."

"Understood."

"Dismissed."

With those words, I stood up and bowed. Anastasia gave a slight nod before heading back. I followed after her, leaving Principal Flora behind.

"What exactly are you hiding, Arnold Tilgen?"

I felt like I heard an ominous whisper behind me, but ignored it as I stepped out of the room.

As I thought, Principal Flora had a great intuition.

...

"You sure put yourself in a bind this time, my lord."

The boy in the cell looked up hearing those words. He stared at the person behind the glass door.

"Ah, you're here, Michael?"

"Yes, my lord. Seems like you have been expecting me?"

The robed man replied in a resigned tone.

His lord was, as always, quite troublesome.

"What about the guards?"

The boy asked as he watched Micheal open the cell door with his card.

"I have altered their memories. They don't remember anything about you."

The man replied while messing with the code pad outside the cell. Finally, he seemed to have found the correct code. He punched the number inside and clicked open.

[Do you want to release Cell-A-1]

[Yes]   [No]

A screen appeared in front of the robed servant. Without hesitation, he chose one of them.

"Of course, yes."

With a hissing sound, the glass door opened.

The boy, Phillips, came out of the cell while stretching his hands.

"Ah, feels nice to be out again."

"My lord, this is the last time you can get out like this. My memory skill won't work on your family anymore."

"That's quite sad. But I'll be careful from now, don't worry."

Phillips smiled reassuringly.

"Hah, I can't trust your words..."

"Ah, the amount of trust you have in your lord is worrying, Michael."

Phillips just laughed it off and took the robe from Michael's hand.

"Let's get out of here."

He muttered while donning on the robe.

"Yes, my lord. The car is waiting for you outside."

"Good. I wouldn't want to walk back to the mansion."

Phillips laughed before starting to walk. Michael followed him closely.

"But my lord, if I may... Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Put Lady Anastasia at such a risk?"

"That, huh... At first, well, the beam wasn't harmful. I had decreased the amount of radiation in it. Sure, if it had hit her, she would be out for a day, but otherwise, no harm would come. However, once I saw Arnold suddenly appearing in front of her, I decided to increase the beam's power."

"What if the boy failed to stop it? Wouldn't that have killed Lady Anastasia?"

"Well... I did increase the beam's power slowly. I wanted to put him on the brink."

"But..."

"He exceeded my expectations. Truly fascinating, that boy."

"But my lord..."

Michael still wanted to say something, but his lord turned around and smiled at him like an angel.

His smile looked so pure, so innocent. Just like it had been ten years ago, when he was just a child.

The old servant could guess what Phillips was going to say seeing that smile.

"Don't you think, evolving at the brink of extinction, lighting up the fire of life just as it vanishes, is the most beautiful thing in the universe?"

...

I walked out of the main building with Anastasia.

The whole campus was silent, except for the occasional chirping of the birds.

It was a serene, peaceful scene.

"So... What do we do now?"

Anastasia asked me while looking at the birds flying over our heads.

"Well, I guess we have the whole day to us, don't we? Why don't we just roam around aimlessly?"

"That sounds nice!"

Anastasia turned her face towards me. Her beautiful smile made my heart skip a beat. The difference between her usual expression and her expressions when she is with me left me shocked every time I saw it.

"Ahm... Yes. I know a good place to sit, why don't we go there?"

"Oh! Yes, I'd love to!"

I led her to the same place where I had found Roxy. Without the latter though, the place felt oddly empty.

I could imagine her sitting there, among the trees, sunlight falling on her face as she read a book. A real book, not a digital one.

Shaking my head, I decided to forget her for now. I was here with Anastasia, not with Roxy.

"This place looks beautiful..."

Anastasia commented as she sat down on the bench and patted the place beside her.

"You haven't seen this place before?"

I asked, sitting down. The breeze coming through the trees felt nice.

While the climate was controlled by the Tower Of Babel, it still felt a bit too hot to my liking.

"No... I usually spent the past few days inside the classroom."

"Oh..."

I could guess why she did so. Seeing her crestfallen, I felt a bit bad, so I decided to cheer her up.

"But hey, now you saw this place with me. It's also the first time I showed someone this place."

"Really?"

She asked, smiling. I smiled back.

"Yeah. So let's keep it our secret."

"Yeah!"

She nodded happily. I quickly muttered an apology to Roxy inside my mind.

"A secret?"

However, the words that reached my ears made me shiver.

I wanted to run away. I wanted to close my eyes and curl up until 'she' passed by.

But again, I wasn't about to do so. I had been through much worse before.

"A-ah, hi, Roxy."

I turned around and smiled at the beautiful girl... No, at the incarnation of fear and denial.

"Arnold! Long time no see!"

She smiled like a blooming flower, a stark contrast to her black goth dress and veil. I could only smile wryly and answer as chills ran through my back.

"Y-yeah... H-haven't seen you around. Were you busy?"

"Ah, family matters."

Roxy smiled and answered, but then her eyes fell on Anastasia, who was up until now hidden behind my body due to the viewing angle.

But now, she had stood up, and was glaring at Roxy.

"Why is she here, Arnold?"

Her chilly voice made my heart almost stop, not just skip a beat.

"That is what I want to ask. Why is she here?"

Roxy hissed from the opposite side, glaring at Anastasia.

"Oh... That's..."

I suddenly found myself in a pincer attack... And didn't have any good feelings about that either.