Chapter 27: Pity
Amidst a wide space, filled with nothing but fog, a figure was standing alone. The figure was standing menacingly above a child.
The child was kneeling under him, unsure what his father wanted to say. The man's shadow appeared angry, yet he did not utter even a single word.
A scene like this was only familiar to Alastor. Watching it made him amused, rather than being heartbroken or such.
"Do you realize your mistake?"
The father said without sparing the child a second glance. The child, the young Alastor, looked up at his father.
His face was scrunched up in confusion.
"I wonder… Can you tell me, father?"
The father gave a tired sigh before kicking the young Alastor ruthlessly, making the older Alastor's gaze turn colder for a few moments.
'Such a good father I had,' he scoffed.
A distant memory from the past like this should not be appearing in his dreams now. Perhaps the exhaustion had finally caught up with him, and decided to torment his sleep?
The memory slowly faded away eventually, but he still remembered the answer that his father wanted at that time.
On that day, Alastor saved a young maid from his uncle's abuse. Hurting his uncle, and causing a huge havoc in the mansion.
Alastor thought his father would not care. Alas, he was mistaken that time.
His father beat him up and trapped him for weeks without food or water, and Alastor was confused even after everything had ended.
Why did his father hurt him?
What did his father consider as wrong?
'Only years later that I realized. He was punishing me for showing mercy for that maid.'
The maid who was almost dying.
A normal person may look at this with disgusted gaze, however, Alastor actually nodded at it.
His eyes opened lazily as he pulled himself into a sitting position, mumbling, "Mercy is a weakness, I must agree."
Another day had started, and Alastor was already thinking of what he should do next. His body was healed, however, not fully.
Standing up and stretching, Alastor was actually amazed at Arisa's healing abilities. She actually fixed his broken veins, although his circles could not be healed by normal methods.
He also wondered, did that mean she was aware of his body's condition? Perhaps she did not know. Though, it would have been funnier if she actually was aware.
"I wonder if she will plan another attack on me? Oh, and I need to tell Evan about how his sister is going to be safe even without my help."
So much work, he almost sighed again but his sigh turned to a chuckle.
In the previous world, he could not even spend one hour working, yet now he would never be able to rest properly. At least for a while.
Did that bother him? No. Alastor was happy, in fact.
After having some food and doing some light exercises, Alastor headed towards Evan's dorm. Alastor was awake too early today, he found Evan still fast asleep when he arrived.
Alongside the way, Alastor was also able to notice how everyone's gaze changed while looking at him. Instead of wanting to be as far away as possible from him, now those gazes were more timid…
Disheartened, if anything.
'The Ascension Battles were almost forgotten, what happened to me did not only bring it back, but I showed how effective it was.'
And Alastor was right. After he entered Evan's dorm, the students in the hallway started to gossip about it.
In particular, one orange-haired boy stood between his classmates, his eyes slightly shining as he looked behind.
"He really did outmatch himself, heeeh~?"
The students agreed with him, one even wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulder, "I suppose. Why do you care, though?"
"Ha! Are you really asking?"
Lips curling into a mischievous smile, the orange-haired boy shook his head. His disappointment was laced with excitement.
"Listen, although you may think what happened is just normal… It's clearly not the case. Just look around you all!"
Gesturing towards some students, he added.
"They are all hyped right now! They know, Ascending is possible. They have no reason to stay still, they can fight!"
Discreetly, some orange mist made sure that his voice reached everyone's ears. The mist did not stop at that, it penetrated their skin, as he said his last piece.
"No matter how bad you think you are, there is a chance. If the infamous Alastor was able to almost wash away that nasty reputation, and to Ascend to class 2… You also can."
The eyes of the students shone before going back to normal, allowing the boy to chuckle inwardly.
'I should thank Alastor for feeding me this much!'
At the same time, on the other side of the Academy, the principal was sitting face to face with Arisa. The princess was unable to sleep, which was obvious from the dark circles under her eyes.
The principal was less strict this time, she even gave her some warm tea. Apparently, Arisa was seriously in some trouble.
"Please, principal, I am begging you to hear me out this time as well…"
"Your highness, I don't particularly understand what you would ask from me. But depending on the nature of your request, I assure you that I may consider it."
Arisa sighed, she knew asking for the same thing was impossible. The principal was not going to listen to her just due to some dark circles and fatigue she had.
Rather, Arisa was actually feeling in danger. She had messed up big this time. Her father was now quite angry with her, and she was unable to do anything to help herself.
This princess was powerless now. Her only chance was the principal. The only powerful person aside from the Imperial family, and also the only one who could oppose the Emperor.
The memories from the call the previous night made her almost tearful as she fidgeted a bit. She gulped, then slowly asked.
"Can, can you make sure I stay here?"
"Hmm?"
Arching a brow, the principal sipped from her tea.
"You may want to explain that again to me."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone