Wasn't My Intention

After I got to the first aid tent, I laid down on a bed and dozed off immediately without realizing. I woke up a while later, but I was no longer in a tent. I was now in what looked like a nurse's office, and I heard a voice that I wish I hadn't.

"Looks like you're up."

I looked across the room and saw the girl from before, the one I had shot, and who had left a nasty wound on my back.

I made an annoyed look, and began to talk to her.

"What do you want? You must have some reason for talking to me."

Perhaps it was my tone, or something else, but she changed her attitude pretty quickly. 

"I... I wanted to apologize... The Academy watched the video cameras, and what you said was true... I attacked you without knowing the full story."

My eyes widened slightly as I heard this. I decided it wasn't worth it to make her feel any worse than she already did.

"It's fine. It was a chaotic situation, you should just do better to not let your emotions dictate your objective reactions."

After I said that, I took out my phone and began to mindlessly scroll through articles about the attack on the Academy. It was impossible to keep the situation contained, since the Academy had to report the deaths of student to their families, and so every trending article was about the attack that happened only a few hours ago. I also found articles about myself and the girl across from me. 

Her name was Hannah Stonewall, and she was someone who was said to be the next Sword Saint. After reading it, I felt a little less bad about being man handled in our fight earlier, but I still felt that this world was very big. Someone as talented as that was just a single student at the Academy.

I then went and read some articles about me, and saw that many of them were actually criticizing me. They portrayed me as a cold hearted killer, someone who inherited the gift of violence from my long family line. Truly the heir to a family with an extensive history of war.

'They think it was easy for me to kill those people..? What a fucking joke.'

I was upset that I had been portrayed as the bad guy when I saved lives, but I was more upset that they thought I wasn't bothered by it. I was extremely bothered by it, but there was nothing I could do. I told myself that this was the kind of world I was living in now, but I still felt guilt.

I had almost completely forgotten about the girl in the room, when I received an unexpected notification.

[Congratulations on positively impacting the hero!]

[Hero will now strive to keep their emotions in check, bringing them closer to becoming a true hero for all.]

[Lucky Shot (F-Rank) skill has been rewarded!]

'Wait... I influenced the... he-'

It was then that I realized something. I looked up from my phone and saw the girl across from me also on her phone.

'SHE'S THE FUCKING HERO? I SHOT THE HERO ON MY FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL?'

I facepalmed as I realized I had put myself in a terrible position with the hero. While, yes I had taught her an important lesson, I had still killed her hometown friend. I could feel that our relationship would be strained, to say the least. 

'Whatever... I guess it's too late now. I should check the reward from the quest earlier.'

[Emergency Quest complete!]

[Double Tap (F-Rank) skill has been rewarded!]

'Skills'

I said in my mind. A panel appeared, different from my status screen, where it showed all my skills. I wasn't sure what kind of skills I had gotten, but I would gladly take any skills that could help me in combat. The fight earlier went well for me, but only because the conditions were right.

The flintlock pistol was... Ass.

The reload was well over 40 seconds, and the damage was only good against people who had weak defenses or not paying attention to me.

I had tried to shoot a couple of the older attackers, but my shots simply bounced off them. Mana shields were very common, as it was a basic spell, so I had opted to hunt down the students. They had weaker shields, or simply no shields at all, which allowed my bullets to tear through their flesh. 

A bullet was still a bullet after all. I also had to continuously run away from fights I had started, where if my bullet didn't finish them off immediately, I would have no way to defend myself due to the extremely long reload speed. 

Then there was the problem of mana efficiency. The shots took a lot of my mana, and while I didn't have a way to quantify the cost, I estimated that each shot took almost a fourth of my mana. I had to wait for my mana to recharge several times during the attack, which wouldn't be possible in most fights. 

This fight made me realize how terrible my stats were, and understand the weaknesses of my weapon. However there had to be benefits to my weapon once it grew more.

However, I was feeling more optimistic after reading my two new skills. 

[Lucky Shot][F-Rank]

[Each shot has a 5% chance to deal double damage.]

This skill, while 5% was low, was really good if it managed to activate. Plus! It was only F-Rank, which meant that it had room to grow. If I managed to raise it up, the chance might reach something much higher.

[Double Tap][F-Rank]

[Load your next shot with mana, allowing for two shots to be used without a reload between the two.]

[Synergy: Has a 5% chance to activate Lucky Shot.]

Synergies! Yes! Skills that fed back into a loop to other skills! I was happy for the skills, but why the hell did they both rely on chance? Because they were inconsistent, I would still need to find ways to defend myself in between reloads. I would have to think about this another time, for now I decided to just relax.

However that also soon came to an end, as the nurse entered along with a few other staff members.

One of them I recognized as Professor Gram, who I had learned was the head combat instructor for all grades. The hero who had fought on the frontlines for years, and now taught future heroes. Alongside him was another person I recognized. 

Abraham Cambry. The current headmaster of the Academy of Cambry, and an Archmage.

"It's good to see you're both awake. I hope your injuries were healed successfully?"

Abraham said, looking at the girl and me. I checked my wounds again, and other than some soreness everything was fine. I knew that with healing magic, there was also no chance for a scar to be left normally. So I nodded to his question. The girl across from me nodded as well.

Smiling, Abraham continued.

"I'm glad to hear that. Now that wasn't the only reason for my visit. On behalf of the school, I would like to reward the two of you for your actions during the attack. Hannah Stonewall, you managed to singlehandedly defeat over ten attackers, and safely escorted more than twenty students to safety. For that, I wanted to award you with a sword of your choice from our armory."

To this, Hannah's face brightened significantly. It seemed this girl was a sword fanatic.

"Thank you, sir. I was not expecting a reward, I was simply doing what I could in the situation."

"Either way, we reward those who act like heroes here at the academy."

He then turned to me.

"And you, Young Master Darius Crow. Surprisingly... You were involved in more than twenty confirmed kills on the attackers. You even picked fights with people you had no chance of beating, but thanks to your timely distractions, others were able to defeat them. You managed to even defeat five student traitors on your own... How impressive for someone who..."

I felt a chill travel down my spine, and my hair stand on ends.

"Has no talent in magic, or skill in weaponry."

Abraham then smiled at me with suspicion on his face. It was now that I knew I had to prove myself not a spy.

I took out my pistol, and held it out to Professor Gram, who was standing closest to me. I didn't even realize he had been silently making his way to my side, but I now realize this was less of a reward ceremony and more of an interrogation.

Professor Gram then began to inspect my weapon, while I began to plead my case.

"You're right, I don't have any talent in magic or using weapons, but I had discovered I had some talent with this weapon... It was a relic I had gotten my hands on in the black market..."

The headmaster's eyebrows rose slightly when I mentioned the black market. This was because I had just confessed to committing a crime, by buying illegal goods at the black market. However I had to tell him this story, because there was no way to explain how I suddenly received the weapon. 

This, paired with the knowledge that someone who was desperate would very likely visit the black market for a lifeline, even if it was illegal.

The headmaster simply nodded, and looked to Professor Gram for his opinion on the weapon in his hands.

"It's nothing special... Yet. It is indeed a normal weapon, but because of the ease of use for someone with a poor mana pool, it is one of the only weapons that can produce as much power for as little mana for someone like him. Also, it is interestingly a weapon capable of growing with it's owner."

Gram's evaluation was spot on, which was a testament to his extensive experience in combat and with all types of weapons. He then handed the weapon back to me, but as I grabbed it I felt a crushing aura.

Professor Gram was releasing his killing intent on me, and I was finding it hard to breathe. I looked across from me, and saw that Hannah was fine, which meant he was targeting me specifically.

"Let this be a warning boy."

Gram leaned in closer to me.

"If we discover any connection to demons... We will not hesitate to exterminate you."

"Gram."

Headmaster Abraham spoke, immediately diffusing the immense pressure.

"That's enough."

Professor Gram stepped back, and walked over to Hannah, fully ignoring my existence again. I then saw him talk to Hannah in a light tone.

"I heard you are extremely talented with a sword. I will be your personal mentor during your stay at the Academy."

I then saw him smile.

'Ah, I get what kind of person he is a little better now.'

My evaluation of Professor Gram was this: 

A straight shooter. Not a fan of underhanded tactics or deception, and a die hard patriot. A man who was the exact opposite of the type of person I was. I felt that, with his instincts, he probably already knew what kind of person I was and that was why he was so openly hostile towards me. 

As I came to that realization, I saw the Headmaster observing me from the side with a smile. I looked at him, and he simply smiled.

"I think you and I can get along a little better than you and Gram. For your reward, since you don't have a weapon of specialty, I decided to introduce you to someone who might be a good mentor. Her name is Alice Redington. You'll be meeting her tomorrow, in the old school building."

I bowed my head slightly in thanks for the reward, but I was unsure of how much of a reward it really was. I would have been happy with some protective gear or a relic, but I felt like the headmaster was truly trying to help me. So I put my faith in him for now, and accepted the reward without complaint. 

He then turned and spoke to both of us.

"Since it is late, you two should head back to your dormitories now, and get some rest. Classes will be delayed a week, but your mentors will be expecting you tomorrow. Again, I thank you on behalf of the Academy, and I look forward to seeing you two grow into heroes."

With that, Headmaster Abraham and Professor Gram left the room.

I then stood up, gathered my stuff, and left the infirmary. I then made my way to my dorm, and collapsed on the bed. Ready to end a stressful day, and try to move on from today.