Skills test plot (4) Saving Stella part 3 (Warning: dark content)

As the notification popped up, the doors to the banquet hall flew open and in walked a tall and handsome young man. He looked like one of those guys that would smile and have a swarm of screaming girls that came running from miles away. The young man would then stop in the midst of a herd of screaming fangirls and in a narcissist way, he shouted the word, 'Aura' like in that one Korean drama with the secretary and her narcissistic boss.

I... I hated when I'm right. He did what I described he would do and most of the girls in the banquet hall came rushing over to him... screaming. As I looked at the crowd of girls surrounding him, I noticed that none of my students were among them.

I turned around and the group of socialites was still there, chatting away like if the the big entrance with the screaming girls didn't bother them. The girls on the other hand had different expressions on their faces but none were the expression of what the other girls - who are now praising him like a god and boosting his ego - are expressing.

I heard Lucy asked, "who's he?" and Racheal responded with, "he's the king's son, Prince Marlos Sepetum." "He looks like a douche to me," commented Stella and Racheal gave her a quizzical look, "What's a douche?" Stella simply responded by pointing a finger to the prince. I had to chuckle at Stella's straightforwardness, out of all my students, Stella had never been the one to shy away from speaking out her thoughts. Racheal laughed but the other socialites didn't. I could already tell that Racheal would become a fine woman in the future and with a thought I shouldn't have had, I turned back towards the direction of the table.

As I approached the table but my plate of food was no where to been seen.

"Sir, if you're looking for your plate of food, it's over there with Chia." Sam stated as he stood beside me and I had no idea he was there.

Sam looked at me and grinned.

"Sir, most people who are hungry normally wouldn't be aware of anything else but the satisfying taste of food to sedate the hunger. I know what your thinking, your thinking, 'why would Chia have your food'... Good question."

"Yes, why would he take my food..."

"Sir, I need to be honest with you, I saw you leave your plate of glistening pork and was about five seconds away from taking it for my own when Chia who also saw you leave, slapped my wrist away from the food. He then said something about the girls not treating you right and that if he was in their position this would've never happened... he took your food to keep it warm for your return."

I was shocked.

"I know what your thinking sir, this situation sounds like one of those genre of stories that girls like to read... I'll pray for you sir." Sam gave me a small salute before he walked over to a seat and sat down and then nodded to me to go and get my food back. I looked around for Chia and found him sat near a fireplace with a plate of food in front of him. My food was placed in front of the lit fire as he watched. He looked sad, so I walked over to where he was sitting. I had no idea if what Sam implied was true but as a teacher I should put those thoughts aside and find out what was bothering him.

"Hey Chia, why are you here all by yourself? Why aren't you with the others?"

Chia without responding, leaned over to the plate of food from where he was sitting, picked it up and held it in his hands, in front of me.

"Sir, you should eat. You haven't eaten since we got here and you look pale."

I took the food from his hands and thanked him. He patted a spot next to him and without any other question, I took it. Chia smiled at me before turning his head back towards the fireplace. I thought about if I should ask what he was thinking about but decided to ask him later since my stomach would kill me for even a second more of delay. As I picked up the fork and speared it into the meat, I could see the juices seeping out of where the fork had pierced. Chia had done a very good job at keeping my food not only hot but also kept it from drying out. I was amazed since not many people, especially someone as young as him to know how to do that. I place the meat into my mouth and 'Bam' my mouth exploded, as juices ran down my throat. I was so hungry my mind blanked out all thoughts, as my hand started to shovel the food into my mouth. I could see for a brief moment as I stopped to take a breather from the delicious meat, that from the corner of Chia eyes - to anyone else was watching the fire - was actually watching me. I also could feel Sam's presence who was sitting at the food table behind me, enjoying this.

Once my plate was emptied, I placed it next to me and leaned back to let the food in my stomach settle. I wanted to apologies to Chia for the lack of eating manners I've shown but when I turned my head to him, he was gone. At some point in my devouring of the food, he must've gotten up and left. I wouldn't want to sit next to me too if I saw myself eating like that. Chia is a mystery even before all of this.

He's an exchanged student that started midway through year 11 and basically became the second best student in my class right after Lucy. He's quiet most of the time and rarely talks to the other students but would help those that was struggling in studying for the test or needed help with an assignment. He reminds me of Gasper from Highschool DxD, a male that looked feminine to a point that if he was wearing girls clothing no one would've suspected that he was even male.

"Sir, how did it go with Chia?" Sam called out from behind me.

"What do you mean by 'how did it go?'" I responded picking the plate off the floor and got up.

"Sir, I watched way too much anime to not know what this situation is... or will be." I turned to Sam he watched me from the seat he still sat at when I left him.

"Oh. Come on, sir. Chia is a girl or maybe half of one I don't know but he's feminine and I don't just mean acting like one but radiating of it. He's like one of those anime characters that is said to be male but look, acts and feel feminine. In my own opinion, I think he likes you and that's all I'm going to say on it."

"I think you watch and read too much anime for your own good sometimes." I said that as I walked to the table and placed down the plate. I then looked down at the plate and wondered if what he said was true. I mean I'm a teacher who taught these kids for two years so I should've at least know the basics of my students, shouldn't I?

"You're popular, sir. Even though you don't see it yourself... Anyways sir, I've been wondering about this for a while now but what do you think would happen to us? tomorrow I mean. Like you said I've watch way too much, read too much and I know something will go down tomorrow... all we need to figure out is who is the protagonist."

"Honestly, I don't know... but what I do know is that we need our rest, you look tired so I suggest you should head back to your room and sleep because I know I need one."

"Yeah you do sir. I mean what you just ate was a 'blessing and a curse'."

"Har, har. Good night, Sam."

"Good night, Sir."

I watched Sam as he got up and trudged towards a guard who escorted him back to his room. I went around and told my other students one by one to head back too. I made sure everyone was escorted by a guard before I too turned in.

No one fought me which was reassuring considering all teenagers especially those who was about to graduate, wanted to stay up late and have some fun. I realized now that my students saw me more than a teacher, they saw me as a person who they could trust and wanted what's best for them.

I've seen many teacher who had left or hated their job because, what teacher would want to raise their voice or hand against a child, let alone an upcoming adult because of their behavior in class.

We as teachers, who wanted our students to learn and grow, to prepare them for the outside world. We don't want to become their parents... we don't want to do things that would make our students fear us but be seen as someone who could bring out their potential. I may be a freshly graduated teacher but what these students of mine did for me, speaks volumes. They were there when I graduated and I would make sure I would return the favor.

I laid on my bed and stared at the ceiling as I thought about the harsh truth and I knew I wasn't ready for any of it. In manga's and anime, the protagonist would face many hardships and tribulation to forge an happy outcome in their story but what scares me is if I'm really the protagonist, then would my students be my tribulation? It's not about this world or anyone in it that would become my enemy but my students. I'm afraid of what I know would happen and how I would be able to change it. I'm afraid of things I don't know or wasn't aware of. I...

I was about to think myself into a rabbit hole when an image appeared in front of me. At first I couldn't see what it was in the image but then I saw a vertical slider on the side that allowed me to adjust the brightness in which made the image so much brighter. To my surprise, it was of Stella sleeping in her room and at first I thought this is creepy and was about to turn away because I do not want to spy on my students sleeping but then I noticed something.

The door to Stella's room opened and two guards walked in, they walked straight to Stella's bed and what happened next jolted me up off my bed into full alarm. It was a kidnapping, the guards slowly crept up to her and strangled her into unconsciousness, her body flailed against the attackers but the men were too strong and Stella went limp in their arms. Then one of the men hauled her over his shoulder and carried her out of the room.

I immediately walked to my door but stopped when another image came up but this time it was of a door and there was guard outside, standing guard. I then looked closer and noticed a mark on the door, a mark that looked like the one I did so I would know which door was mine.

I opened the door and the guard who stood next to it without hesitation turned around towards me and stared me down. I just witness my student being kidnapped so I wasn't in the mood for any of his antics.

"I want to go to the bathroom." I told him as I acted out the 'I wanted to pee' act by holding my crotch. But the guard wasn't having it as he pointed to a little pot under my bed.

"There." He scoffed as he pointed to the chamber pot... damn he got me there.

I didn't have time for this, every second I'm dealing with this asshole was time that I'm about to lose Stella. So I decided to give up the door option and apologized to him because I didn't want to arouse suspicion on another plan I had brewing. I swallowed my embarrassment, thanked him for wasting his time and closed the door. The guard returned back to his position and that was when I noticed that he wasn't fully armed. He wore only the bare essentials which was a giving tell that they probably didn't see us as a threat. That would've been true if it was any of my students or the me in the beginning of my past life but now I'm trained.

The torturous training both Sara and Garret had given me so I wouldn't look stupid or helpless in front of my students will now help me save my students. I may still be inexperienced to the guy from the other side of this door but the guard had given me an advantage... a weapon. I hurried to my bed and grabbed the chamber pot from underneath, I then walked to the desk and took a hot pitcher of water and poured it into the pot. I poured it slowly enough so it would've sound like I was peeing.

I then went over to my bed and grabbed my bed sheet and dunked the cloth into the hot water. The sheet was billowing out steam from the heat of the water as I pulled it out and the water started to soak in.

The heat that was radiating of the sheet scorched my hand as I held it. I walked over to the door and swung it open and before he could react, I wrapped the sheet around his face. I pulled down on the sheet, in which pulled him down towards the ground as well before his hand could flail towards his sword that was still sheathed.

He was about the same height as me and strong but the thing was, I caught him of guard and with the momentum of pulling him backwards, in which gave me the leverage. It was spontaneous and could've snapped his neck in the process but thankfully that didn't happen.

The heat from the sheet and the conduction of the metal helmet he was wearing was enough to cause him to fall unconscious. I pulled the sheet away from his head and saw a heat rash formed on his face, he was bright red and the helmet felt very hot to the touch. I dragged him into the room and was about to run out through the door when a message popped up.

{Partial 'Mastermind skill' unlocked}

{Partial 'Mastermind skill' activated (Converter)}

My hand shot out like if someone had grabbed my hand and pulled it out. A white string shot out from my hand and into the head of the guard. As I took a closer look at the string, the string looked more like a chain... a white chain. For a few seconds nothing happened but then the guard's body lifted up from the ground and was now facing me. The chain then stopped flowing from my hand as it fully entered into the guard's head. His eyes shot opened as white light glowed from them. He looked like an angel without wings.

{ultimate is now on cool down. (3:00)}

[Congratulations: You've now obtained your first companion. (Type: Royal Guard)]

His profile popped in front of me along with a linked icon next to his name. The icon was of a white chain like the one that shot out of my hand. Interesting, but now was not the time to think about it. I used helping hand and selected 'target heal' to heal the guard's face from the first-degree burns I've made. After checking if the guard was alright before leaving the room.

I ran out of the door and to my surprise, the guard followed me. Glad thing he wasn't wearing any heavy armored boots or he would've made a tone of sound. He was however, wearing light armor which would protect him and in return protect me. Also he was a royal guard so I could use him to help me get past other guards.

Unluckily, I would soon put that to the test as I heard the 'clanks' of armored footsteps coming our way down the hall. My heart skipped a bit as I heard more footsteps but this time it came from behind us but the sound was loud and sped up as if they were running.

Oh shit.