Capítulo 3: The Strongest Student And His Mischiefs (II)
"I'll bring your table's server right away."
"Thanks."
After ordering for all sixteen of us, I noticed the nearby table stealing non-stop glances at me.
Their curiosity wasn't that subtle, and I could practically feel their stares.
'They must have heard everything, huh...?'
Anyway, everyone seems pretty excited about the competition.
It was good to see, but my plans were a bit too complicated.
I still needed to finish my preparations and two weeks wasn't much time.
I'd have to come up with an excuse to slip away and handle what needs to be prepared.
I'll need to get better equipment and probably will need to train my secondary weapon.
Which is a gun, more precisely a model similar to a desert eagle.
So, I'm thinking of stealing one of the protagonist's opportunities which is the morph-weapon.
A weapon that doesn't have a necessary aspect. It could transform into any weapon—sword, gun, axe, whatever you needed
I'm sure it doesn't really matter to Lucas, since in the future, he'll receive an even more overpowered weapon.
'The only unfortunate thing is that past the academy's competition, I don't have much knowledge about the novel...'
'But, let's not worry about that for now...'
"Aestrea!"
"Go request a song already!"
"Yeah, pick something good! Nothing too boring!"
These kids.
"Alright, alright, I'm on it."
A sigh escaped my mouth as I stood up.
The pianist was playing something soft and soothing as I approached him. I requested a famous tune from our region—something that could please my classmates.
Thankfully, he knew the song.
After sorting the payment with him and the maid, I started heading back to my table.
And that's when it happened...
Thud!
Something—or rather, someone—crashed into me.
A flash of silver filled my vision, and before I knew it, Ella was on the floor, mumbling softly.
"Ow..."
She looked up, her wide, startled eyes locking onto mine. Her silver hair shimmered in the café's lighting, and her face... well, it was the color of a tomato.
She froze, her mouth opening and closing like she wanted to say something but couldn't find the words.
"Are you okay?"
I asked with a soft tone. I really didn't see her coming.
"I-I'm fine!" she finally managed to squeak out, bowing her head so quickly I thought she would hit the table next.
"That's great..."
I let out a relieved sigh.
"Pfff...!"
The sounds of laughter reached my ears.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed her table watching us closely. One of the girls—a lively-looking one with a sly grin—was barely hiding her laughter behind her hand.
While Rose adjusted her glasses while smirking slightly.
Lucas sitting with them didn't look as entertained. His dark eyes narrowed slightly, his spoon pausing mid-stir in his coffee.
'Oh... I almost forgot that he has a crush on Ella...'
'Well... not like I care about it though.'
"Sorry about that," Ella stammered embarrassingly, stepping back like she wasn't sure if she should stay or bolt.
"Don't worry, princess; I didn't see you coming either." I smiled back at her.
"H-huh... p-princess?" her eyes widened significantly.
Ah...
I nearly forgot that her identity had not yet been made public.
So, I need to quickly make an excuse.
'Think!'
My lips quickly curled into a softer yet charming smile as I added.
"With such beautiful and unique hair, if you're not a princess, who is?"
"I-I… th-thank you…" Ella's face, somehow, turned an even deeper shade of red.
Her wide eyes blinked rapidly, and she stammered.
It was quite funny, she didn't know how to reply to my words.
She bowed again, this time a little slower, clearly trying to regain her composure.
Behind her, the lively girl from her table was practically in tears from holding back laughter, while the one with glasses, Rose, adjusted them yet again, her smirk widening.
As for the other now, she had her head buried in the table, don't know why.
Lucas, though?
He didn't look happy.
Not one bit.
'Ah… guess I hit a nerve there.'
Ella fidgeted on the spot, unsure of what to do next, so I decided to ease the tension.
"Be careful next time, alright? We wouldn't want you running into anyone else."
"R-right!" she squeaked, stepping back.
But then, realizing how awkward she looked, she dipped her head once more and hurried back to her table.
As she plopped into her seat, her friends immediately leaned in, whispering and giggling like they'd just witnessed the juiciest gossip of the year.
Lucas... only glared at me before averting his gaze from mine.
Shaking my head with a small smile, I returned to my table.
"Sorry for taking so long."
"Ohhh, what happened?"
One of my classmates asked, grinning like he'd just caught me doing something scandalous.
"Yeah, who was that? She looked like she saw a ghost."
"Nothing. She just bumped into me, that's all."
"Just bumped into you, huh?" A girl sitting across from me raised an eyebrow. "Didn't look like 'just' anything from where I was sitting."
"Stop making it a thing." I rolled my eyes to the side.
"Sure, sure," she teased, leaning back with a smug smile.
These kids...
...
As we left the café, the streets were bathed in the soft, golden light of the setting sun, making the city feel alive in ways that made my quiet academy seem like a distant memory.
Students scattered in all directions, laughing and chatting, as they decided where to go next.
I stayed a few paces behind, letting the energy of the city wash over me.
It was a far cry from the peacefulness of the academy.
'I'll need to act as fast as possible... so, tonight should be a good time to start.'
The morph-weapon is one of the underground labs, which means that I'll need to go to the black market first.
Lucas normally would get it a day before the competition because he 'accidentally' meets a little girl who was running away from robbers and immediately beats them up.
Then, he talks with the little girl and gets news about an experiment lab that focuses on making weapons using virgin blood.
And children are the first target of them because they have the purest blood for this kind of thing.
'Of course, the first thing I'm doing is destroying the lab...'
I'm no hero, but this kind of messed up thing needs to be obliterated of the face of the earth.
However, getting into the black market isn't necessarily an easy thing because I don't have a pass or card for it.
'Mhm... It seems that I'll have to do it the hard way.'
A forced entry.
The black market guards should be in the middle stages of B rank, so I should be able to deal with them.
I only need to be lucky enough to not meet one of the black market's bosses.
More especially, Yara Devereux.
She's the person who holds the most shares of the black market, holding a perfect 51% that grants her authority over the entirety of the black market.
Lucas meets her when he destroys the laboratory, and she has been interested in him since that point.
And for their future relationship...
'I don't know... Never go into that part...'
So yeah, I just need to avoid them.
"Oi, Aestrea, you coming or what?"
One of my classmates called out, snapping me from my thoughts.
"Yeah, I'm coming."
For now, I'll play along, and enjoy this moment of peace.
But once everyone settled in for the night, I'd make my move.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder