"Am I dead?" mumbled Hayato when he opened his eyes again.

Hayato's body was now lying in the Rank F classroom. Several Rank F students seemed to be surrounding him, slowly Hayato woke up and looked around.

"You were unconscious for a long time too, you weakling," Raff taunted while patting Hayato's back.

"Ancient human?" said Hayato while turning his eyes to Raff.

"Just woke up, but already mocking me, you freak," Raff grumbled.

"Did you die with me?" asked Hayato.

"I'm still alive, asshole!" snapped Raff as he punched Hayato.

"Ouch!" yelled Hayato as he held his cheek. "You don't have to hit me that hard to prove it!" snapped Hayato as he glared at Raff.

"It's good that you're fully awake, I'm tired of waiting for you here until my stomach is starving. I'm going to get something to eat first," Raff said as he stormed out of the classroom.

"You're running away because you're afraid I'll slap you back!" grumbled Hayato.

"Are you okay?" asked a Rank F student.

"Of course, that duel wasn't much for me," Hayato replied proudly.

"I didn't think you could even control mana that well," Nova said.

"Hahaha... of course. I hid it on purpose to look weak," Hayato replied. "I deliberately cancelled my skill and chose to slash, I didn't want to finish off Prince Gill," Hayato explained.

"Really?" asked some students who looked shocked.

"Hahaha... of course. I myself believe that my attack was actually enough to cut off Prince Gill's attack, but it cost me all of my mana," Hayato replied while wiping his fringe. "I didn't expect to survive his attack without Raff's help," Hayato mused.

"Then please teach me how to control mana like before," several Rank F students said in unison.

"So this is the thrill of being the main character that people admire?" thought Hayato with a happy look on his face.

Raff walked to the food stand behind the library. There were many other students enjoying their meals. But there were no C, B, or A students there. This was because C, B and A students always ate in the restaurant building next to the teachers' building.

"Welcome Raff!" Toron greeted cheerfully.

"I'll order the usual menu," Raff replied with a smile.

"Ready. Raff's special will be cooked soon, please wait," Toron replied with a laugh.

Raff just nodded and walked over to the empty dining table. Raff's gaze shifted to the dirty laundry on the furniture, it seemed Mei Li wasn't there today. Instead, a middle-aged man was washing dishes.

"Please enjoy, I added a small portion of shrimp especially for F rank students who dare to enter the dungeon," Toron said as he set the food down.

"Hehehe... thank you," Raff said. "By the way, where's Mei? Is she on vacation?" asked Raff.

"Hmm... actually she got permission last night to go back to the village where she was born," Toron replied as he sat down and looked around. "Something bad happened in Pulla Village, she wants to go there and try to fix it," Toron continued in a half-whisper.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"What kind of bad things?" asked Raff with a serious look on his face when he saw Toron's attitude.

"Pulla Village has been overrun by bandits, and the Count Doughness family that rules the area can't do anything about it. The bandits are too strong to deal with, even the Tier A quests that were distributed to the Academy Guild and the Capital Guild have been withdrawn," Toron whispered.

"Pulla Village?" muttered Raff in surprise, as he still remembered that there was a Tier A quest in the Academy Guild related to Pulla Village.

"The information about the withdrawal of that quest was also highly classified. But Mei found out about it from the letter her younger siblings sent her," Toron explained.

"Please tell me what happened there," Raff said.

"The bandit group called the Seven Beasts has been in control of Pulla Village for two weeks. Count Doughness tried to make a quest to eradicate them from his territory, but Count Doughness' daughter was kidnapped and brought to Pulla Village as a hostage. The quest was cancelled, and the bandits asked Pulla Village to be their headquarters," Toron explained.

"Count Doughness had no choice, so he agreed to rescue his daughter. Now that Pulla Village has been surrendered to the bandits, there is little the Ruttera Kingdom can do, since the lives of the villagers are at stake. The only option for the kingdom is to destroy the bandits and all the villagers," Toron continued.

"Is that why Mei went there to save her family?" asked Raff.

"Yes. Her two younger siblings live with their grandmother in the village because their parents died five years ago. Mei wants to take them out of the village, I've tried to stop her and asked her to ask the teachers here for help. Professor Nia would have been willing to help," Toron replied.

"But Mei refused, saying it might hasten the kingdom's advance. If many people know about the problem of Pulla Village, the Ruttera Kingdom will make the decision to destroy the village faster, that's why Mei wants to go there alone," Toron continued.

"Haven't any adventurers accepted the quest yet?" said Raff thoughtfully.

"I asked the Academy Guild last night. It seems that there is a group of third-year Rank B students who have done the quest, and they also said that there is another group from the capital guild who have also done the quest. But these two parties haven't reported in yet," Toron explained.

"Should Mei just leave it to the adventurers, or maybe she's confident in her strength?" asked Raff, looking at Toron.

"No, no. Mei is just too worried about her family, she can only rely on her above-average physical strength. That won't be enough against the bandits who know magic. Mei doesn't want to make trouble with them either, she'll just pretend to visit her grandmother and leave the village with them soon," Toron explained.

"I hope everything goes well," Raff said with a smile.

"Yes. You can enjoy your meal to get stronger," Toron said as he patted Raff on the shoulder.

Raff eagerly began to enjoy the food that was served to him. After that, he went back to the dormitory to rest. Hayato himself had just returned with some other Rank F students after practicing at the academy for a while. The night atmosphere in the Rank F dormitory only became quiet after midnight.

"Maybe I should do another quest tomorrow," Raff muttered as he lay down on his bed.

"Raff!" Hayato's voice suddenly came from outside the room.

"Tch. I was just about to sleep, you bully," Raff grumbled as he got up to face Hayato. "What's wrong?" asked Raff.

"We have to go to Pulla Village now," Hayato replied with a serious look on his face.

"Huh? Why go there at night?" asked Raff as he scratched his head.

"Pulla Village is currently overrun by bandits, many residents there are in danger," Hayato explained.

"I know, I just heard about it this afternoon. But there are already adventurers from the capital who are going there, there are even academy students who are doing quests to go there. Let's leave it to them," Raff said casually.

"You knew, why didn't you tell me? If I had known earlier, we would have gone there already," Hayato grumbled.

"What's the point? There are already adventurers going there, there's no point in us getting involved," Raff said.

"The fate of the villagers is at stake, Raff! Why didn't you just tell me and go with me?" grumbled Hayato with an angry look on his face.

"I knew they were in danger, but someone was already taking care of it. If no one was trying to handle it, I would have just gone there," Raff replied.

"I still don't understand your attitude. Do you know what happens to adventurers and academy students who go there, huh?" grumbled Hayato.

"So what? Did you get some new information?" asked Raff.

"Yes. Professor Nia told me that a third year Rank B student came to her residence to inform her about the situation in Pulla Village. His injuries were so severe that he had to be admitted to the professor's residence, the Rank B adventuring party from the capital of twenty people had been slaughtered," Hayato explained.

"What?" muttered Raff with a shocked look on his face.

Continued...