webnovel

The Novel's Shadow

After dying, I opened my eyes to a new world, the world of a novel. With a new identity of a side character called Keith Devans, I will work in the shadows and help the protagonist whenever it is needed. Even with such a dream, the world of the novel is still dangerous for a side character like me so using the knowledge of the novel and obtaining some skills and talents I will become one of the strongest. Or so I hoped.

Onjou · Fantasy
Not enough ratings
62 Chs

Alicia Drajar (1)

After the ceremony ended, all students started to head out along with some teachers, I decided to remain sitting because I wasn't a fan of crowds and I knew that the way back to the apartments was gonna be packed with students.

I was still also quite annoyed to be placed in class S1 because I would have to interact with the main characters at one point and that could end up messing up the storyline.

And I would also have to fight against multiple demon contractors that would be attacking the academy because they are targeting the new SS ranked prodigy and the successors of the 3 households, just for being in the same class.

I turned my head after feeling someone tap on my shoulder and saw Monica with a huge smug face, looking at me in the eyes.

"Looks, like we will be seeing each other quite often don't you think"

"Yeah"

"Don't worry, if you have anything you need you just need to ask me for it"

I already knew that Monica cared greatly for her students and that was a nice trait and all, but she was also someone that pushed her students to the limit, that was why the protagonist was able to achieve a great level of growth during the school arc.

"Oh, can I ask for the library's keys", I suddenly remembered.

"Of course, you will probably have them by tomorrow so there is no need to worry"

With that out of the way, I decided to go eat something and then head back into my room and probably call mom to see how she was doing.

Standing up, I gave a bow to Monica and went on my way.

I was on my way to the cafeteria when I encountered, Alicia, which was talking to some guild scouts.

After noticing me she decided to end the conversation she was having and ran up to me and grabbed my wrist, I was confused but couldn't really do anything about it with my low stats.

"Sorry, I have plans with this little guy right here so I will be excusing myself"

"Please, miss Alicia th-"

Before the man could say anything, dragging me along, Alicia started to walk away.

After walking around for almost 5 minutes, she finally let go of my hand and apologized to me for dragging me along.

"Sorry, you see these guild scouts are always coming for me every time there is an event at this school and think they can just offer me any amount to join their guild."

"Mhmm"

"Like sure, joining being part of a famous guild is the dream of many but I don't want to be tied down to rules and have to follow others for no reason whatsoever."

"That could get pretty annoying"

"Right, and imagine them boasting about their guild all day and how with my help they will become the greatest guild in history, it is just so annoying"

"That crazy"

"Anyways, sorry for dragging you on this, how about I buy you something to drink for helping me out this time"

"Okay"

Even after all that she kept complaining about the guild scouts all the way till we reached a vending machine.

After having a better look at Alicia I noticed that she was quite similar to the protagonist, she had golden hair as well as golden eyes, so I decided to ask her a question.

"Uhm, Alicia, do you have a brother"

After putting on a bright smile she said, "Yup, he is the same age as you and he is really talented, you probably heard of him right, he is the only human that has ever had a SS rank potential, isn't my little brother too talented."

Seemingly in a good mood, it would appear that Alicia was a bro-con, but what bother me was that in the novel, the protagonist's sister was barely mentioned, she was so much of a side character that she didn't even have a name, and would later on just go missing without as much as a word.

That was why when I first met her, I was not able to recognize her, but I should have been able to tell from the name, Alicia Drajar, but I was too focused on thinking about the library that I had forgotten the name of the protagonist.

Also, why would someone that had the potential to be S+ be suddenly disregarded and not only that but someone that should be close to the main protagonist?

'Maybe I can use Alicia to build my mercenary group', I thought to myself thinking about all the possibilities, not only that but with her being an S+ hero, it would help us achieve a high standing in the human domain, and using her as the front of my operation would help me keep myself hidden from the public eye.

But I decided that right now wasn't the right moment to discuss it with her, and should probably wait until the protagonist has suffered some attacks to finally reel her in, but from now on I should probably get close to her and get to know her better.

Soon snapping me out of my thoughts was Alicia putting a cold can of soda next to my cheek.

"What are you thinking so much about, hmm"

"Uhm, nothing much, anyways does the library committee have a room for meetings", How do you like that, my great techniques at switching topics.

"HMMMM, yes we have a room it's inside the library do you wish to see it?", She asked giving me a glare filled with suspicion.

"Yes, of course", With no other option but to accept, we started walking to the library.

After scanning her pass, we entered the library and walked all the way to the other side, and turned left. There was a set of stairs that led to a door.

"This is it", She said looking proud of herself.

It was actually a pretty large room with no windows, inside of it were two desks at the back of the room and many bookshelves stuck to the walls, and a large table near the center, which could possibly be used for meetings.

"Not bad", I muttered out loud.

Hearing this Alicia put a big grin on her mouth and let out a little laugh.

"Oh, do you see the 2 desks at the end of the room, from now on the one on the right will belong to you."

"Okay"

"You don't really seem too happy with my surprise.", She said with a gloomy expression.

"Well, with only 2 people on the committee it would be obvious as to who the desks would belong to, don't you think"

With a disappointed expression, Alicia guided me back to the entrance to the library and shooed me away.

It was already 7:30 after all the talking, so I expect the cafeteria to be filled with students but with no other choice as it would close down at 8, I had mustered the courage to head into what would probably be an extremely crowded space.

And just as I guessed the cafeteria was filled, I was barely even able to squeeze through the entrance and be able to place my order.

After looking around I was able to see that most people were at the entrance, and wondering why I turned my head in the direction everyone was looking and I understood why.

Arthur, Ciel, Noel, and Monica were all sitting together and talking to each other.

After getting my order which was 2 sets of the menu, one with steak and the other with lobster, I was headed into the corner of the cafeteria until I heard something that made me frown.

"Ah, Keith comes here and eat with us", Monica said to me.

After glaring at her, I went in her direction, sat next to her, and ignored everyone else by taking out a book relating to telekinesis that I got from the library and I read while eating my meal.

Noel was quite the extroverted, tomboy character so she tried to start a conversation with me.

"So what's your name"

"Keith"

"What class are you in?"

"Class S1"

"Oh so we are from the same class, what a coincidence"

"Yeah"

A smile flashed across her face but one could feel the anger coming from inside of her, and to try to change the conversation Monica stepped up and changed the topic of conversation.

"So it would seem like all four of you will be under my guidance, which means that all of you must put your best effort during my class, understood."

At her words the other said "Of course", but I decided to ignore the conversation.

Soon Monica seem to have noticed what I was reading.

"Oh, you are reading a book about telekinesis, are you interested?"

Now that was a topic I was interested in.

"Yes"

"Well, I don't know if you know this but I'm the greatest user of telekinesis so if you have any questions you should ask me"

Without any hesitation, I asked many questions relating to telekinesis such as restrictions, advantages, disadvantages, and more, and thanks to that I learned a lot.

"Then last question, how do you use telekinesis?"

"Oh, it is quite hard if you are not used to it, but you have to control your mana to surround the object you wish to use your telekinesis on, and after that just move according to however you please, of course, certain actions may use more mana than you think."

"Let me try it"

"Haha, it is not as easy as you think, and not only that you also need to have the talent to be able to per-"

After hearing her explanation I tried it on my fork, thanks to my gloves I was able to control my mana around the fork but because of my lack of mana, I was only able to lift it a few centimeters above the table.

Feeling too excited about being able to learn about telekinesis and trying it, I had failed at my first rule in life, to not stand out, I forgot that the telekinesis talent is one of the rarest one and hardest to master, meaning that what I just did now could probably only be performed by like 1000 in the whole world.

Feeling the stares, I immediately got up and walked away fastly as to not remain in that suffocating environment, I did hear someone calling me from behind but I decided to ignore it.

...

"Ah, Keith, wai-", Monica said.

"He sure went fast", Noel said with a smile on her face.

Ciel who was a magician was also in awe at what she has just seen, not only was this the first time the boy seemed to have used telekinesis but he was also able to lift something around 20 cm above the table, meaning that his mana control must be way above her league.

Arthur also had a surprised expression on his face.

Monica who now had a huge grin on her face said, "Hmmm, it seems I have found my new disciple."

This caught everyone by surprise as Monica was known for never accepting anyone as her disciple even if they had the telekinesis talent.

Ciel who was curious as to who he was now asked Monica for his name.

"Oh, were you not paying attention, hehe, his name is Keith Devans, he is 17 years old and is also part of the library committee."

"Hmm, I see"

Noticing something weird, Noel asked a question.

"Is anything wrong Arthur?"

Snapping him out of his thought, Arthur responded with a simple "Yeah".

But what he was thinking about was the things that his skill showed him.

Arthur had a skill called [True Colors], this skill allowed him to be able to tell what someone wanted from him. During the ceremony, he saw many approaching him with intentions of deceiving him, using him, and a lot worst.

Only Ciel and Noel had true intentions of friendship, while Monica here had the intention to train them hard for the future.

But the young boy that just ran away, had the intention to avoid him while also protect him, which was something that caught him by surprise as this was the first time he found someone whose intentions seemed to contradict one another.

'What an interesting kid', Arthur thought to himself.