4 chapter 3
"Such a shame. The coward couldn't even kill himself
properly."
As David spoke confidently, the man called Jack next to him shook
his head.
"Nah. Someone saw that son of a bitch sneak a bunch
of sleeping pills from the infirmary yesterday. He must've
heard the rumors that you could die a painless death by
swallowing a bunch at the same time."
"He must've not taken
the pills then."David agreed with the other man Anthony.
"I think
so, too."
"Damn it. Want to make a bet, then? I bet ten meal
tickets that he died."
"Then I bet that he didn't."
"Same."
"Let's
do five each."Looking at each other, they grinned.
The other
students in the classroom glanced in their direction distastefully. No
matter how they thought about it, David's wickedness had gone too
far.
It was unbelievable how he could bet on others' lives so easily.
Even so, there was no one who dared to openly defy him.It was not
just his behavior that kept some of them quiet.
David had better
skills and was from a house of much higher status than them. But
such students were usually indifferent to the business of others.
They
were the type to not move until David's party tried to murder
someone in the classroom. The rest of the students were weak and
clumsily avoided Frey out of fear of being targeted.
Some were even
thankful for Frey being there.It was then that the door opened, which
quickly caught David's attention.
A handsome man entered the
classroom. His neat figure and calm expression exuded indifference.
Though now was not the time for such empty thoughts.
'Isn't that
Frey?'
He almost didn't recognize him if it weren't for his unique, faded
grey hair.
"What?"
"That's Frey, right?"
Other students alsochatted
among themselves. It seemed that David was not the only onebewildered by his suddenchange.
Frey looked around the classroom
and leisurely made eye contact with David. For a short while, their
gazes were locked onto each other.
David thought that Frey's
expression would be full of dread as usual, but it wasn't.
He didn't
know what happened last night, but human nature did not change so
easily.
'Hurry and lower your eyes already.'
He had it seen dozens of
times. The self-conscious demeanor that was unfitting of someone
from the distinguished Blake House.
But it was natural for Frey, the
disgrace abandoned by his family and the academy's worst
student.However today's Frey was different from usual.
He ignored
David and his typical high-strung appearance was strangely relaxed.
He had never seen Frey walk with his back so straight.Frey went to
his seat, sat down, and took out a textbook from his desk.
He started
reading each page in fascination as if he was lost in his own
world.
"Hah."David unwittingly exclaimed, dumbfounded.
His
reaction was rather dry. Meanwhile Jack and Anthony's faces were
already distorted. They made eye contact with Frey and had the
same reaction.
Jack became impatient and wanted to speak up, but
David called Frey's name first.
"Frey Blake."
Frey turned his head
and looked at David with indifference. Even his uselessly glossy face
today was unpleasant
He continued boldly
."Look. Didn't I tell
you? The bastard's a coward who's too afraid to even
die."
Jack and Anthony, who had frozen at David's words, quickly
remembered their roles. Their faces filled with ridicule and
contempt.
"Yeah yeah, you win.""God this sucks. Here, your
meal tickets."
Among them, Jack felt the worst. Not just from Frey's
attitude, but also because he just blew 10 meal tickets.
He calmed
himself, approached Frey and sneered.
"What's wrong? Did you
eat something wrong yesterday?"
He spoke in a gentle tone that
seemed to be filled with friendly concern, but his expression was
murderous.
But Frey did not respond and just kept reading his
textbook.
Jack's face hardened. Infuriated, he walked over as fast as
he could and took away Frey's book.
Only then did he look up at
him.
"What's your problem?"
"'What's your problem?' Hah."
Jack
was about to spew a string of curses. However, the moment he received Frey's attention, he stopped without even realizing it
.'Wwhat's with this bastard. Those eyes...'
His bottomless gaze seemed
to peer inside of him. Jack forced himself to keep smiling, feeling
both unnerved and terrified.
"Y-You thought sleeping pills were
good for your skin, huh? Seeing the oil oozing from your
face."
"Pfft haha!"
Anthony busted out laughing at his joke, causing
Jack to regain confidence.
"Give me your meal ticket, Frey."
"Meal
ticket?"
"Yeah, I just lost ten from my bet."
The tension from
earlier had completely left him. Waving the book he took from Frey,
Jack continued.
"I bet ten meal tickets on you dying, so how
could you show up to class like this? Thanks to you, I'm
gonna starve for a
while."
"Bwahaha!"
"Yeah it's Frey's
fault!"
David and Anthony jeered enthusiastically. In comparison,
Frey's reaction was simple.
"F*ck off."
"..."
Once again, silence
engulfed the classroom. The students gaped at Frey with their eyes
wide open. Of course, Jack's expression stood out the most.
"What
did you say?"
His hesitation toward Frey disappeared in an instant
and turned into anger. Jack had a very imposing physique and vicious
impression for a magician.
When seen by others, he would even be
mistaken as a mercenary.When Jack grated his teeth threateningly,
some of the weak-hearted students paled.Frey, on the other hand,
remained calm.
Actually, he was rather annoyed by him.
"Give me
my book back and get lost."
Jack was not the type to be babbling
over such provocations. He immediately put his anger into action. His
cauldron-sized fist struck Frey in the face.
"Huh?"
Or so he
thought.
'What?'
Jack quickly realized that Frey was standing right
next to him.
'W-what happened?'
When did the guy who was just
sitting in his seat stand up? He felt like he had seen a ghost.
Whereas
Frey simply stared at the dumbfounded Jack.
'What the hell is up with
this guy?'
As he scrutinized these guys in more detail, Frey's
memories clearly surfaced - from the moment he had entered the
academy to the end of his life.In the beginning, his life was decent.
Everyone smiled and treated Frey well, and he was happy. He felt as
if he had finally found a place to belong.That was until they had
discovered the truth.
He had a hopeless mana sensitivity and could not even use 1-star spells properly. Even worse, he was a totally
abandoned son of the Blake House.
"Trash."
"A bastard like you doesn't even deserve to attend the
academy."
"I'm begging you, so just hurry up and die."
In Frey's memory, David's horde were devils. Even Lucas'
impregnable mental strength could not prevent Frey's body from
trembling so weakly.
He could guess how much he had suffered until
now. He had had a hard and painful life. Above all, it was due to the
fact that he had no one to rely on.
"..."
Frey accepted his memories
completely. And at the same time, he made a judgment. Frey did not
intend to retaliate against David and his party.
This was because the
level difference was too great. It is like an adult getting involved in a
playground dispute.But it was not the same. David's party's atrocious
acts were as vicious as any other corrupt aristocrat.
"I can't."
"Wwhat?"
Jack was a little scared from the sudden change in Frey's
attitude and how he vanished and reappeared like a ghost.
But
mainly it was his eyes.His eyes were like bottomless pits. Just by
looking into them, he felt as if he was being sucked into his soul.
Frey
recalled his memories when he was Lucas. By the time he was hailed
as the Great Mage, he had garnered another name, the Great
Teacher.
He raised, led, and supported many of his
disciples.However, he did not consider himself a good man. Because
Lucas never forgave those who pointed a sword at him. Nevertheless,
thanks to him nurturing a spirit of deep discipline, unnecessary
disputes tended to be avoided as much as possible.
But now it was
different. 4,000 years.
He had been sealed in the abyss for a long time. Regardless of how
much Lucas kept his reason intact, it was difficult to stay alone in a
space where there was nothing.
He had been on the brink of
madness hundreds of times, and had several occasions where his
consciousness had nearly been consumed.But Lucas had succeeded
in maintaining his self-awareness.How? There was only one way.
He
expelled his violent emotions endlessly. He constantly recalled the beings who had sealed himself away. His outrage neared bloodthirst.
For months, he would mutter words of hatred and curses so profane
that they were difficult to say aloud.Clear mirror, still water was essential to increase the rank of one's magic, but Lucas at
that time had no choice.
Had he maintained only such static
emotions, his consciousness would have been consumed by the
abyss ages ago.
Phwack!
"... Kgh!"
Jack was unable to make a sound.
All of a sudden, he felt severe pain in his abdomen and could not
even breathe properly.
He felt like he had been impaled by a spear.
His eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness, his body slamming
against the ground with an audible thud.
"W-what was
that?"
"What's going on?"
Jack had fallen down in an instant. At
least it appeared that way to the students in the classroom. No one
saw what really happened.
'...'
It was Frey. His actions were
surprisingly simple. After activating mana all over his body to
drastically improve his physical ability, he brought his fist into Jack's
stomach. And with a faster move than the previous, he recovered
it.
However, this series of processes was unorthodoxly fast. At least to
an extent the other students would never realize.
