Chapter 11: Abuse of Power (4)
At dawn, William reported the end of his closed door cultivation to Robert.
Seeing the kid demonstrating his newfound control of his aura, Robert couldn't help but breaking into a wide grin.
"Good! Never forget this feeling of control! However, don't grow complacent after reaching this far. People in foundation establishment stage could control their aura with a flick of their fingers. If you want to reach that level, you have to keep training!"
"Understood, instructor!"
Now that his confinement period was over, William was free to roam the academy once again.
He decided to get breakfast at the outer disciples' cafeteria. It would be easier to find his friends there.
As expected, he spotted Sean and Gilbert right away.
"Hey, guys!"
William cheerfully called out to them. However, they didn't respond.
Thinking that they couldn't hear him from that distance, he hastened his steps toward them. At that moment, he caught Sean stealing a glance at him before he nudged at Gilbert and dragged him away.
William abruptly stopped. Even as his friends disappeared into the crowds, he still didn't move. The disciples around him shoved him away, irritated that he was blocking their way.
But William couldn't hear their complains. He was left aghast.
"...Sean?"
Those eyes... somehow they seemed to be filled with fear.
---
Every morning, William would try to search for his friends in the outer disciple area.
One time, he had spotted Cecily and the two spear-users. When they saw him, however, they quickly scrambled away.
Slowly, he noticed that the other disciples were also staying clear of him.
They never badmouthed him, nor did they blatantly ignored him. They just tried to move away as fast as they could, as if afraid of offending him but at the same time not wanting to have anything to do with him.
William wasn't close with the other outer disciples, so he didn't care about them. However, it was a different story when his friends were the one who did it!
He didn't get it.
Were they angry because he disappeared for a month? Maybe because he jumped ranks in cultivation without waiting for them? Or maybe... was it because he broke that disciple's leg?
That seemed to be the most plausible reason.
In that case, he would have to explain it clearly, at least to his friends. He wouldn't want them to misunderstand.
Yet the chance would never come.
A week had passed but nothing had changed. His friends still avoided him, and it affected his cultivation. His qi flow grew more chaotic because he couldn't concentrate properly during his meditation.
Thanks to that, he was graced with a royal head chop!
"W-what's that for?!" William shrieked. The sudden impact had abruptly thrown him out of meditative state, causing him to fall off his bed.
The perpetrator, Elias, just stared at him as a reply.
"If you can't concentrate, don't bother meditating. Do you want to undergo qi deviation?"
'Can't you just inform me normally...' is what William wanted to say, but being stared down by that pair of cold eyes made him gulp down the retort at the tip of his tongue.
"...I feel like my friends are ignoring me."
Instead, he had said out the things that had bothered him this whole time.
"...Oh."
The response, however, was simply too nonchalant for his liking...
"Just that? Can't you give me some encouragement or something..."
"Oh? You want that?"
Elias suddenly patted his head, as if placating a small animal.
"There, there, everything will be alright... something like that?"
It might be better if his gaze and his tone weren't so deadpan, though...
"Forget it," William shoved away the hand that was still hovering near his head.
"Well, I know that this would happen sooner or later."
"Huh?" William froze. "You- you know the reason why they ignored me? It's because I broke someone's leg, isn't it?"
"Who knows~"
Hearing that slight tease in his tone, William suddenly felt that life was really too troublesome...
"Aaargh, fine! I was an idiot to expect anything from you!"
"Heheh..."
Done with his share of fun, Elias took out an orange from his pouch.
"If I tell you that this orange is sweet, would you believe me?"
"Well... why not?"
The prince's lips curved up slightly.
"Even if I might've just tricked you so you would eat sour fruit?"
William went silent. He usually would say 'no way!', but remembering how Elias had teased him this entire time, that situation seemed plausible...
"You can't be sure about things just by hearing it from someone else. If you have doubts, find out the truth by yourself."
Elias threw the orange into the air. His hand quickly moved toward the sword dangling on his waist. In one swift move, he slashed upward, cutting the orange in two.
One half landed on the table, while the other one flew out of the window. Perhaps somebody below would get a refreshing surprise in the near, near future.
"..."
"...I'm still training," Elias remarked as he sheathed back his sword.
"I guess... I get it. But they keep on running away from me. What to do?"
"Are you a fool? Ah, wait, you are..." Elias sighed. "You're at least four ranks above them. What about them running away? Just capture one when their guard is down. What can they do?"
Capture... they're not rabbits, alright?
Ah, but that might just work...!
His mind was already formulating a plan. Meanwhile, his idle hands were playing with the other half of the orange, pulling a piece for him to eat.
"Gah...!"
It was sour. Really sour!
Elias's grin was so sickening that William had to try his hardest not to punch that face.
---
The archery range in the outer disciple area. That was William's destination.
After juggling through the candidates in his head, he decided that Gilbert would be the best person to kidnap- to ask.
He'd skipped his morning practice just to hide in the archery range's entrance before anyone else had arrived. Gilbert himself was a training addict like him, so he was sure that the boy would show up earlier than everyone else.
Lo and behold, here he come!
Right before the boy could pass through the gate, William, who had been hiding behind a large tree, quickly grabbed his wrist and pulled him away.
"W-who are you!?"
Gilbert immediately manifested his aura to its maximum output, intending to break free from his captor with a sudden burst of strength. However, William was ready for that. His aura concentrated on his arms, keeping Gilbert in iron grips. No matter how much the boy struggled, he still couldn't get away.
"Gh... what do you want- eh? William?"
When he noticed that it was actually his friend, Gilbert stopped his struggle. He turned his gaze away, not willing to look at William directly.
"Gilbert, I'm sorry... but I have to know. Why are you guys ignoring me?"
Gilbert didn't reply. His silence only made William more anxious.
"Is it because I've broken a disciple's leg before? It was an accident! That guy had attacked me first. I couldn't control my qi properly, and ended up putting too much strength in my fist. Ah, but I've learned how to-"
"William, stop it."
His explanation was abruptly stopped by that sentence.
"Let's just... pretend that nothing had ever happened between us. That's for the best."
For a moment, William's grips weakened slightly, allowing Gilbert to tug on his arms. However, his grips tightened once again, even firmer than before.
"No. I don't want it! You're my friend! The guys too! I can't just pretend otherwise!"
They were the first people that had welcomed William so warmly in the capital. He had even thought of them as brothers and sister that would walk through the path of cultivation together.
So why...?
"If I did something wrong... I... I'm sorry for that... but please tell me why!"
Gilbert was clenching his fist, trying to contain his emotions. For a moment, he looked like he was going to run away again, even if he had to cut his arms off.
But then, he suddenly let out a sigh. A long, tired sigh.
"You know what? Screw this. I'm tired of running away."
He turned around, and then pulled his collar to the side, showing what was hidden underneath.
Bruises covered his skin, some already healed, while the others were still slightly blue. From the looks of it, it seemed that new wounds had been dealt before the old one could recover.
William's eyes grew wider with each passing second.
"W-why..."
"The third prince. You should understand by now," Gilbert laughed in self-mockery. "It's not even by his own hands. It's just some lackeys in qi condensation stage."
"Did this... did the others also..."
"I told them not to fight back. As long as they're willing to grovel like dogs, that prince wouldn't be too unreasonable. I'm just like this because I was too stubborn."
He was so confident after advancing to the second rank of qi condensation stage. He'd thought that he would be really powerful. Well, he did win against the first aggressor. But then, they kept on coming. And again. And again. In the end, he was too tired to fight back.
His injury only looked horrible in the surface. The academy had provided him enough salves and pills to recover his body. However, the scar of having his confidence shattered just like a fragile glass wasn't something that any medicine could heal.
In the past month, Sean was the first to be targeted. The two spear-users, Duncan and Mace, were next. It seemed that Cecily was also harassed by their female colleagues. Gilbert was the longest to resist, but in the end, he also fell.
The entire outer disciples were warned: if they dare to be familiar with William, they would also suffer the same fate!
As for the instructors, because of the third prince's status, they had turned a blind eye as long as their harassment wasn't done in the public. They only helped the victims to heal as soon as possible, but remained unwilling to confront the source of the problem.
"They told me that if I still insist to be your friend, then they won't stop just at that."
He thought that he had finally become a martial artist, capable of holding his head up high with pride. It turned out that, when push comes to shove, he was just a coward.
He had abandoned his friend just for the sake of his own safety.
"Forgive me, William..."
This entire time, William had been listening in silence. To tell the truth, toward the end of Gilbert's monologue, he had been growing more and more distracted.
Something was brewing inside him. Something that he hadn't experienced before.
To suddenly know that someone had created such cruel design on people that he'd held dear... for the first time in his life, his anger had reached its boiling point.
It was the first time that he was consumed by an unquenchable rage!
Gilbert shook. The William in front of him right now felt different, too different compared to the usual calm and good-natured William.
"Do not apologize. You've done nothing wrong."
He let go of Gilbert's wrists. And then, he turned around and started to walked away.
"...I'm sorry for involving you guys."
"Wait, William-!"
Before Gilbert could stop him, William had dashed off like the wind.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone