He remained still for about three minutes, he checked his body’s condition, he didn’t find anything broken. Viers felt sore, his body felt heavy but he managed to force his body up. He took a few steps away and started to peel the eggs, piss, and shit that were on him. There was still a lot of the filth remaining stuck on him but he felt it was enough.

He sat down a few meters away from the muck and excrement, he didn’t go to the dorm, he didn’t clean himself up nor tended to his wounds. His healing factor stayed off thus he didn’t heal in any way, Viers only sat and looked at his right hand. He held a small object there, the shape resembled an AAA battery from Earth. This was an object he put in his right pocket and he held this item in his closed fist without ever letting it go when the trio was beating him up.

The tube was a magic item he prepared for the eventuality if the fight was getting too dangerous for him, it was his quit button to prevent major or permanent damage. If used, this tube would release a very thick and irritating gas on a radius of ten meters. The gas effects were similar to tear gas on Earth but far more potent, for in case should they intended to take things too far, Viers could still make a getaway. He bought the tube using the money he took from Classmates JKL.

Kids, even after all that, they still fought with kiddy rules. They didn’t maim me, cripple me, or kill me. The damage was also not so serious, they didn’t use iron bat, knife, brass knuckle, or other tools, the magic ring at the start made me panicked a little but it turned out to be only an elaborate stun gun. Fools, they just lashed out at me to vent their frustrations. How very, very, stupid. If I’m in their position…

Viers grinned viciously.

Well whatever, I could save this one-off magic tube for future occasion. Now… I wait for the class to start.

Viers waited patiently, during the duration, four people passed the remote alley he was in but paid him no mind. His appearance was like a very dirty homeless beggar, even though Luxore was quite a prosperous town, there were always poor people everywhere.

When the time came, he made his way to the classroom. He chose a roundabout path to keep his approach low profile, some people still spotted him and gave him an inquiry look but he paid them no mind. He arrived when the class was in mid-session, he simply opened the door, walked slowly and limping to his seat. He didn’t say anything and sat down.

All the eyes were on him, there was silence until Nakala asked.

“…Viers, what happened?”

“I got mugged, it was the third time already, there were five people today. I think, the three were the same people that tried to mug me twice before. They covered their faces so I only have an inkling, they didn’t succeed with only three people so they brought help. And they also used some magic ring to paralyze me, they beat me up and smeared animal shit at me and peed on me. I was lucky this time they didn’t poke my eye or break my arm or cut my leg… Ms. Nakala, Luxore town is quite dangerous isn’t it? Should I tell my parents about this?”

Viers spoke slowly like he was in pain, his body was visibly injured and very dirty. Unpleasant smell started to spread, many kids covered their nose. Viers’s words were enough for the rest of the class to connect the dots, Nakala also wasn’t dumb and she knew the implication of Viers’s words.

If Viers was seriously injured and his parents were involved, she would be held responsible by the higher-ups for letting things turned bad under her supervision. The TC had a reputation to maintain, Viers’s parents may not be in town but they couldn’t be simply ignored, they could make waves, if words were to spread, she would be implicated whether she wanted to or not. It would be an ugly affair.

The chains of structure and society, I may not like it but there are rules. Rules exist to keep the society running, and in this case I can use it to benefit me! Rules… without them we live with the monsters and animals.

Nakala was silent, she was thinking about her next course of action. Shortly, she raised her hand and Viers was enveloped in a layer of water. Viers was a bit surprised, the water felt like jelly, he felt aches from his wounds. It was the comfortable kind of ache, like an open wound cleaned with an antiseptic, Viers’s wound was healing quickly. The other kids let out sounds of amazement for the display of their teacher's magic.

Nakala finished in about two minutes, his wounds were mostly healed and the filth on his body was cleaned completely, He wasn’t wet and was pleasantly surprised. The healing water jelly disappeared into thin air, Viers wondered to where it went.

“Class is canceled, you can train at the field or go back to the dorm. James, Tej, Raymond, follow me.” Nakala’s voice was different from usual.

“But Ms. Na-”

“No buts! Come.” Nakala cut James’s protest short and went out from the class. The trio had no choice but to follow, James gave Viers the stink eye as they left.

Viers stood up and was preparing to leave before Terry asked him.

“Are you alright? Want me to accompany you?”

“Nah, I already feel much better, Nakala healed most of the wounds and I want to be alone for some time. Thanks for the offer Terry, bye.”

***

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Viers left and went to a fairly expensive café at the town. He ordered a slice of strawberry cake and a cold glass of fruit juice. He sat at the quiet and relaxed store then arranged his thoughts.

It’s done… Nakala most likely won’t expel them outright, I didn’t say it was them. So when she called them earlier, was to give them a stern warning. If they mess with me again Nakala won’t let them off, I’m glad my provocation at the second encounter worked nicely. The healing I got was a nice bonus in the end.

Viers’s master plan was to lose at the third encounter, the more miserable and injured his appearance was, the better. He wanted to escalate the fight so the trio would find ways to defeat him thoroughly and miserably, if for the third encounter they didn’t escalate to that level, Viers planned to beat them up like their second encounter once more and humiliated them again. He would repeat the process as many times as necessary but he was glad the third encounter yielded him the results he desired.

Now Nakala have to rein them in or she will be implicated in this mess, and who wants that? This means that the trio is currently cooked by Nakala’s nagging and unless they don’t care about expulsion and other consequences, they will leave me alone, no more fighting encounters.

Viers was making a play, he painted himself to be the victim. He arranged that the class knew the cause of the matter and when Viers appeared defeated and humiliated, Viers would gain their sympathy. Kids generally had a sense of justice, mostly because of their upbringing.

Parents thought them morals, taught them what was right and what was wrong. Therefore when the trio achieved victory through unfair means, most didn’t approve. It wasn’t overly complex, Viers just needed to make a somewhat believable show for a bunch of teenagers.

The WHY am I doing this is so I’m free from their bugging. From the very first encounter I knew it would become a long affair. Therefore, through forceful means, I make it short. I make Nakala get involved to make her threatened the trio with expulsion, they will not want that so they will have to behave.

Viers let himself got beaten and disgraced willingly, he could fight back but it would only prolong their conflict. Viers was afraid of the escalation that followed after that, their parents could get involved and the matter could develop outside of his control. It would lead him to a downward spiral of inconveniences.

I could defeat them if I wanted to, curb-stomp battle them like other MC but the Spring of Wisdom showed me of what could happen to MC who didn’t think what came after they defeat their enemies. They spent tens or even hundreds of chapters to get themselves out of the hole they dug for themselves! Very common happening in the world where there’s always someone stronger like the one I’m in now. I must not be trapped in such idiotic plots.

The reason Viers didn’t just get them expelled was to prevent them from making problems for him in the future. He needed them to stay at the TC but stopped making problems for him, Viers used Nakala for this.

Because it will not be over after they get expelled! I will only release three beasts with grudges to the wild, so to speak. They will be bitter by the expulsion and cook up nasty plots, make various troubles and traps for me, they will be able to strike when they want because they were no longer playing in the same field... At least that’s what I would do, who knows if they could think smart like me. The seed of conflict was already sown and I had no intention to let it grow.

All of Viers’s actions since his second encounter with the trio was based on the fact that he already marked the three of them for death.

If it were up to me, I would have killed them during the second encounter, I did tell them not to fuck with me. I didn’t consign them to death at the first encounter was because we were acquaintances and they were only fifteen years old so they get some leniency but since they initiated a second encounter, that leniency was burned to Armageddon. Especially after what they did to me at the third encounter… Those that did that to me will definitely die, JKL and those two thugs, they all are merely walking corpses to me now, just with more life than actual corpses.

In other stories, we would somehow become friends. The protagonist fought the jerks, and one side saved the other side from some crisis, then they kissed and made up. They would become best buddies and the flower of friendship between them would bloom until the end of time. Bleeerreech… I want to vomit.

I don’t care about that diabetes-inducing-sweetness possibility, the more likely possibility is they will become a pain in my ass, like those annoying antagonist that simply won’t die because the protagonist was too soft-hearted to make the cold and rational decision. But the protagonist always wins in the end so even if they make idiotic decisions, the problem will somehow resolve itself like an act of God.

Or worse, the universe somehow finds a way to make one of them my nemesis like those insufferable trashy characters in wuxia stories! Most likely it would be Classmate J because he’s the leader… In the future, they will get some plot device that made them as strong as the strong version of me despite being so much weaker before, simply because the will of the universe wanted us to have an epic duel with the fate of the world on the line… I will not have it.

THEY. MUST. DIE.

But I’m still weak and can’t bear the consequences of killing them openly, from the town’s guard, from the TC, from their parents. So I must be smart and kill them in ways that cannot be traced back to me, and so it’s best that they don’t get be expelled. That means I have before graduation to kill them, if I failed to kill them before graduation, they would evolve into some more major antagonist characters than simply Classmates JKL and make more troubles in the future for me. All of this is very possible… isn’t this a side-quest? Good, I will make sure they die.

Viers decided to kill three fifteen-year-old classmates because of three reasons.

The first was because they made him lost precious time that he used to deal with their antics, even the time Viers spent thinking to deal with them was blamed and billed on Classmates JKL.

The second was, since they were already bitter enemies, he would utterly and completely terminate them with extreme prejudice, no mercy and no hesitation.

The third was because of mere paranoia… Viers was aware of them all. He realized the facts and didn’t feel any guilt or remorse about his decision to decimate them.

Now that I think about this calmly, if I swallowed my pride and simply apologized to Mirella by kneeling down or something, can this all convoluted plots be avoided and I would be friends with them?

Possible… it might be yes and it might be no. Will I bow my head simply because someone asked? NO, HELL NO. Besides, I got a very nice way of resolving who’s right and who’s wrong in this case. It’s very simple actually.

Those who die are in the wrong.

Those who live are in the right.

Viers put a spoonful of the strawberry cake into his mouth, the texture of the cake melted in his mouth, it was sweet and delicious.

Let's make them dead, OK Viers?