The new normal

Once the madman left, Rocky raised his eyebrows as he looked towards Sophia who was trying very hard to regain her composure.

She did not wish to look weak in front of Rocky, however, the humiliation she just experienced made it hard for her to keep a straight face.

"Don't spread this incident, please" she said, her voice cracking, as she pursed her lips and tried suppressing more tears from dropping.

"Nah, don't worry, I'm not the gossiping kind" said Rocky, as he was truly least concerned with what sort of image Sophia maintained in public.

Getting up to his feet, Rocky began stretching his body, trying to see if he felt good enough to leave as he turned his back on Sophia, giving her some space to wipe her tears.

Rocky wanted to keep an eye on Sophia and this incident did not change anything for him, however, seeing her slapped this hard twice, Rocky could not help but feel slightly giddy internally as those slaps oddly felt extremely satisfying to him.

Of course he would never gossip about it to a third person, however, those slaps and tears would be images that Rocky would remember forever, as every time from here onwards that he would look at Sophia, those teary eyes would be what Rocky would be reminded of first.

"Alright I'm off, cya later!" Rocky said, as once he felt that everything worked okay in his body, he headed for the infirmaries exit.

"Wait!" Sophia shouted from behind, as Rocky turned to look towards her.

"Just because our patron gods are at odds, doesn't mean we need to be at odds too...I at least am my own person, capable of making my own choices" Sophia said, as she subtly tried to play the ego card. Trying to insinuate that if Rocky did not feel the same way, then perhaps he was a slave to his patron god and not a free individual.

"Yeah, alright-" Rocky said with a soft smile as he waved her good-bye and kept walking.

Did he believe a single word coming out of her mouth?

Absolutely not!

Did he then think he should have called her out?

Absolutely not!

Rocky had no problems being fake and cordial with someone while hiding his true intentions.

Since the other party wished to not be enemies, he wasn't going to be thick headed and pick a fight for no reason, however, unless she gained his trust slowly through her actions over time, Rocky was never going to believe a single word coming out of her mouth.

The weight of words was only as much as the person speaking them and Rocky was never going to put any weight behind words spoken by his potential opponent.

***********

( Back at the dormitory )

Rocky felt pissed on his way back from the infirmary to his dormitory.

'Champion of Gemini'

'Look, it's him! That's him!'

'Woah, he looks so ferocious, I wouldn't mess with that guy'

Wherever he passed by, everyone instantly recognised him, as his anonymity lasted a grand total of one day within the university.

On the bright side, no-one dared to approach him, as the fear of the mad principal made everyone reluctant to crowd Rocky, as soon Rocky accepted this as the best possible outcome he could have hoped for.

Once again, the spotlight was concentrated on him, as his every movement and every action was scrutinized, however, at least now Rocky did not have to worry about his identity being exposed accidentally, as the worst had already come to pass.

Once he was back to his room, Buhara and Erin looked at him weird, as there was palpable awkwardness between the three.

"Puny human is Champion of the great god Ravan? Buhara loves Ravan….. respects Shakuni even more…. Buhara's father always say, if Shakuni points, orcs fight-" Buhara said, as he tried to break the awkward atmosphere.

"The church of vanity doesn't dislike the Gemini Gods either. It's so cool that Sir Rocky is a champion of Gemini, I'm honored to be your roommate" Erin said as he bowed slightly in front of Rocky, who immediately stopped him.

"Guys no…. I'm going to be selfish here and I'm going to ask you both for a favor, but this one time you have to agree…." Rocky said as he patted Erin on his shoulder as he faced Buhara.

"My life is hard as is outside this dorm, I don't want to be treated as a champion within it as well.

The three of us are roommates and teammates. This is as close to making friends that I'll ever get in this academy, so it's really only you two that I can ever ask for this favor.

Don't treat me as the champion, I'm just Rocky here" Rocky said, as Buhara and Erin looked at each other and smiled.

"Sure, Sir Rocky is odd for not wanting more attention, but it just goes to show how humble you are" Erin said, as being a church of vanity follower he did not understand why Rocky would not want more attention and respect, but he accepted his request anyways.

"Buhara will never give you respect ever again, Buhara promises. For Buhara you shall remain a puny human, Buhara will do you the favor you ask for" Buhara said, as Rocky nodded in appreciation.

He was glad that he had formed a team with these two early on and not fished for better teammates as things would have gotten troublesome if he did.

If nothing else, Rocky could feel that both Buhara and Erin did not have malice in their heart and that they were reliable people to trust.

"We have brought an extra course registration form for you, the deadline to post it is at the end of the day.

Since you were knocked out cold for the rest of the orientation, do you want me to summarize what the professors said and what courses we should take?" Erin asked as Rocky's eyes brightened at this question.

" Ofcourse, Erin, you're a lifesaver, I almost forgot that classes start tomorrow" Rocky said as Erin blushed and instantly replied "No…no, I'm nothing much compared to you and Sir Buhara, you guys are the real deal".

"Hahaha, yes Buhara is the real deal, Buhara filled all the mage classes! Buhara is going to become the strongest mage of them all! Buhahahahahara" said Buhara, who did not realize that giving compliments was a conditional reflex for Erin and thought that he really meant it.

Shaking his head, Rocky smiled, this room was probably as normal as his life could get.