We were separated from one another to not rip ourselves off. As I walked away, I turned back and gave him a scornful look, then continued my walk. He gave me a loathing look in exchange, pointing that our hatred is mutual. This is the first time since my moment of death that I felt so much wrath and the desire to exterminate this sin of a man.

I walked slowly to my teammates, giving them an indignated look, and asked them what happened.

Diving into the subject a bit more, I learned that William thought that we lost, saying that "I think I was defeated before the instructor stopped the fight, so we might've lost". When I heard that, I became more angry, but I gritted my teeth and suppressed my anger.

After the teams were back to their places, the instructor gave the verdict:

"Before I give the verdict, I am going to say my thoughts on this battle.

First things first, I want to congratulate both teams for their incredible performances. I hope the other teams observed carefully and will give us even better battles.

The MVP of this match is, without a doubt, Lucas Zachary. Even though he didn't put down the enemy's team leader, he showed incredible tactic, leadership, and combat skills that defied his age. The same thing goes for Ryan Rayburg, who showed us his exceptional capabilities in leading a team.

But the winning team is Team A, led by Ryan Rayburg. As for Team B, don't be angry, because we played a type of match where if the leader is deafeted that team loses. In real life, you fight until the end, even if the leader dies in battle.

That's all for today, we will continue with the rest of the battles tomorrow. Dissmissed."

When he said we were free to go, we went on our way to the dorms, talking about the class. Helen was the most talkative as always, amplifying anything she said with onomatopoeias "And Lucas punched the enemy with a bam, and then for the finishing move, he spinned in the air with a swoosh and kicked that Ryan guy in the face. "I wasn't that incredible, but it's more curious how she saw all that, I mean, she was supposed to fight her enemy. Well, it doesn't matter, a loss is a loss.

William saw my anger and tried to calm me down.

"Come on, man, it's not that bad, it's not your fault, if something it's mine for being the leader, if you had my role, we might've won."

The others approved of what William said and told me that it's not the end of the world that we lost.

They are right, but I know from my past memories, that in my world, if you lost, it didn't matter how, the punishment was inimaginably painful. They were practically torturing you in training, and in the next battle you had, you were driven by fear to beat your opponent. That was my life in the 'Army of Swords'. I remembered that someone was so scared to go through that again that he hit his opponent so many times until he killed him. For that, he went to the therapist, and I never saw him again.

They tried to cheer me up and make me feel better, but I was still angry, so I said:

"You say that the instructor praised us and said we were good, but if I were to summarise that, he said that we lost in style. After all, the only good part of losing is fixing your mistakes, but in a real fight, you might not have the luxury of that."

"That's pretty deep, you sound like an old hunter. And it seems that the only one approving of you is Riley." said Helen, pointing the last part out.

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Riley behind us moved his head in approval with an expression, saying something like, "I understand you, I feel the same as you."

We parted ways with Helen as she went to the girls dorm, so we walked forward while she turned to the right.

Me and William had our room on the 4th floor, and Max and Riley were on different floors. As we got into the room, I went straight to the shower to cool off and clean the dirt and sweat from me. After William took his shower, we put our clothes in the respective washing machines, because yes, we have two washing machines, and headed downstairs to eat. I took for myself an escalope with a salad and some mashed potatoes and started to eat. William took some medium-rare beef with some radishes and some sauce. He said that this has some exact number of calories needed for his growth, typically William. Looking at our food, it looked like I took some junk food and he took some personal chef dish. It's exactly like that: mine is food, his is a dish. He didn't do it with bad intentions, and I don't have a problem with it, so we're not going to have 'beef' over it. Humour is not my forte, but I tried. Anyway, we had our meal and then headed to our room. When we were at the door, I told William that I had to take some air, and he was ok with it, saying he was too tired and he had to sleep.

So where did I go to get air? Any normal person would go outside, but I'm not normal, so I went to the roof.

When I arrived there, I leaned on the railing and looked into the distance. As the wind blew through my hair, I looked at the peaceful city before my eyes. As peaceful as the capital city can be, but peaceful, unlike my world, where every city I passed by was in chaos because of the monsters and the damn political system of who has money has power. I was one of the few who climbed the ladder on my on merits but also with the help and influence of my instructors, who pushed the ropes in my favour. But there were very few people with my luck. Most of the 'plebians' who entered the army ended up as cannon fodder. That's probably why I was resented by more and more people as I climbed higher and higher in status.

Well, anyway, it seems like today was a full moon, and because of its light, you could see the barrier surrounding the school. You could also see clearly all the rustic-style houses, as well as the lively streets near the taverns, ending with the royal tower in the middle of the city. Standing at 100 metres tall with marble and golden motifs all over it, culminating with the motif of the crown at the top of the tower, a crown that also glows in the dark like a lighthouse guiding the ships through the dark waters.

"It truly is beautiful,isn't it?"

All of a sudden, I was brought back to reality by this sudden voice. I couldn't turn around because of the fear and the power I sensed from him being no joke.

"And to whom I owe this visit."

"I see you inherited the etiquette from your parents, young master."

Upon hearing that, the only thing I was able to say was "What?"

"You remember your real parents, don't you? You still hear their voice in your dreams, am I right?"

"H-how do you know that?"

"Because I was the one who was supposed to take care of you, your babysitter, you can say. My duty was to keep you hidden and alive from your family and in order to do that, I sent you to one of your mother's friends along with a letter, and she sent you to the parents you have now. They don't know whose child you are, but they know that you are not their real child. You have a long way ahead of yourself, but as your mother Amalia said, "Lucas, live your life to the fullest,without any regrets, and I'm sorry I couldn't be beside you on this journey. But always be sure that me and your father are watching you from above and wish you to be happy, now raise your wings, sweetheart."

Those words played into my head, and I broke into a screaming cry as my subconscious knew all this. Only in this moment could I see the man through the tears streaming down my cheeks.

He took two steps forward and then crouched down, wiping the tears from my cheeks with his hand. I couldn't see his face because of the hood, and between my sobs, I asked him if he could tell me his name.

"I would've liked to introduce myself as a mysterious man, but you can address me as Alpin.

Don't worry, we will meet again, and little by little I will tell you everything about your parents, because right now I would place too much burden on you."

He then turned away, and before he left, he told me:

"Until we meet again, grow stronger, young master."

After that, he disappeared into the night, leaving me there with those words still playing in my head.