Playing Along [2]

In front of me, at the entrance gate of the apartment complex, Grace was talking about something with Alberto.

I knew all that was being discussed between them.

Okay, maybe not everything, just a gist of it. The point is Alberto was asking her to be a spy for them.

Kai Wiseman, the puppet master of the first arc, has already anticipated a mock war to happen between the two classes.

I couldn't help but be surprised by Kai's genius again. The guy was basically predicting the future here.

In the novel, despite being only a minor villain, Kai was considered very smart with an intelligence stat of 179.

The Intelligence stat is like a measure of someone's IQ, but it also takes a lot of other factors into account.

Yeah, you can guess how smart he is.

Hehe. I like smart people. Breaking them mentally is really fun~

T-Talking with them is really fun!

I meant to say talking with them is really fun!

Good lord, my tongue is slipping so much these days.

Ahem, anyway, I casually started walking toward the main entrance without even trying to hide.

"Lucas!?" and sure enough, Grace noticed me.

In response to her call, I merely gave her a quick glance and kept walking.

"W-Wait!" she shouted, but I, of course, kept walking.

"The lady is asking you to wait."

And just as I had expected, Alberto suddenly appeared before me and blocked my way.

Good lord! Now that I was seeing him up front, I couldn't believe how tall this guy was!

Was he really just 18?!

But did I feel intimidated? Hell no.

"And who are you?" I asked as a smile formed on my lips. "This lady's knight?"

"No, I'm the man who'll beat the shit out of your face."

The smile on my face turned into a smirk. His response was just as I had predicted.

Was I now feeling intimidated? Hell no.

So I gradually raised my hands and got into a boxing stance.

In response, Alberto arched his eyebrows in confusion. But in the next moment, he too raised his hands, ready to fight.

The smirk on my face deepened.

In the very next second, I moved my foot and…

"I'm sorry, good sir."

Bowed my head and apologized.

"Wh-What?"

Even Alberto was confused by my actions.

I raised my head and gave an amicable smile, "I should've stopped when the lady had asked me to. My bad."

"Ye-Yeah."

Ha! The poor guy didn't know how to respond. He was ready to fight me.

It's not like fighting him would be a problem with my armor and my spear art.

Unfortunately, I am not going to reveal my trump card here, especially in this stupid situation.

A wise man once said— Beware of indulging in battles for the show, for when you face a true adversary, they shall be left astounded by the depth of your might!

That's why, for now I will play along.

"Lucas," with a sigh, Grace called out to me again. "Did you hear anything?"

"What were you guys talking about? No." I faced Grace and shook my head.

"I see," in reply, she closed her eyes. "You can go."

"Okay," nodding my head, I quickly exited the scene and went inside the complex.

†

As Grace watched Lucas' fading back, a deep frown formed on her face.

"Are you sure about letting him go?" right then, Alberto asked the blonde girl.

"Of course not," she replied almost immediately. "The way he acted, I think he heard us."

"What do you want me to do? Should I go and beat him up?"

Grace couldn't help but roll her eyes at Alberto's suggestion.

Does this man know nothing else but violence?

And another thing she didn't like about him was that he always had to have someone telling him what to do.

It was like he couldn't function without a master.

That's the reason that despite being almost as strong as Kai, Alberto was working as his henchman.

Yes, Grace herself was also working under Kai, but that was only to achieve her goal of gaining power.

In a way, both Grace and Kai were very much alike.

They both craved power and influence and were willing to do whatever it took to get it.

Whereas Kai wanted to become the Cadet Council President—the King, Grace wanted the position of the Cadet Council Vice President, the Queen.

The other reason Grace was associating herself with Kai was that, out of all the first-year cadets, not only was he one of the strongest but also the smartest.

In fact, she recognized the fact that he was even smarter than her, despite her valuing her own intellect very highly.

Of course, he was very arrogant.

She knew she could never tame him and make him her pawn due to his level of arrogance, so she decided to work for him instead by being a part of the Young Elites.

For her, Kai Wiseman was nothing but a free ticket to her success in the Academy.

"Grace, I asked a question. Should I go beat–"

Like a puppy, Alberto was waiting there for orders. But before he could repeat his question, Grace cut him off.

"No need," she said while rolling her eyes again. "He's not a threat. For starters, no one would believe him even if he were to reveal our plan."

"But him exposing us could still make at least some cadets suspicious."

At Alberto's response, Grace couldn't help but think to herself:

'Huh, for a dog who only knows how to follow orders, he does make some pretty logical arguments.'

Crossing her arms, she touched her chin as she said, "It's fine. I'll dispose of him before he can reveal our plan."

Grace's calm and confident demeanor caused Alberto to agree passively by meekly nodding his head.

Despite his intimidating physique, he was submissive toward her. The power dynamic between them was apparent.

However, even though Alberto couldn't dispute her further, he desired to propose taking action against Lucas immediately.

He wanted to neutralize him right here and right now.

Since he came from slums, Alberto has lived his life by fighting on the streets. But soon he figured out he was not like other kids his age.

He was tall and strong. He was physically gifted with brute strength.

So to no one's surprise, he started using his monstrous brute strength to dominate the streets and not long after, he made a name for himself.

The rush of adrenaline he used to get while drawing the blood of his enemies was a feeling unrivaled for him.

Over the years, he engaged in numerous fights and learned from both his victories and defeats and created his own empire— his own gang.

Sure, they weren't the strongest in the city, but he and his 165 gang members were proud that they were at least the strongest in their area.

Well, this belief of theirs shattered when one boy came knocking on their door, looking for a fight.

His reason was that he wanted to beat up the person who dared to hit on one of his girlfriends. That person was in Alberto's gang.

Everyone thought that the boy had lost his mind or something.

After all, who in their right mind would challenge more than a hundred people to a fight alone?

They tried to send him off and spare him a beating of a lifetime, but the boy didn't budge.

So naturally, they decided to thrash some sense into him.

…However, they soon found out that they were no match for the boy.

In only about little more than an hour, that boy single-handedly took down the whole gang and made their leader, Alberto, grovel before him.

That day, Alberto became acutely aware of the despair that comes through the difference in strength.

That day, for the first time, Alberto sensed an unfamiliar feeling quelling up deep within his heart—fear.

So many years have passed but to this day, Alberto still can't forget the look in that boy's eyes—the look of sheer insanity and dominance.

That boy was Kai Wiseman.

Kai, being the opportunistic bastard he is, used the fear he drilled into Alberto and made him his pawn.

That was the first and last time Alberto experienced that kind of fear— that kind of darkness from someone.

Until…

Earlier when Alberto matched Lucas' gaze, he saw the very same look in his eyes—the look of sheer insanity and dominance.

He saw… the very same darkness looming over him.

Although in his mind, Alberto knew that Lucas wasn't a threat to him, his instincts, on the other hand… were telling him to run.