With dark circles under his eyes, Trimur was lying on his bed. Nothing was going as he had planned. He thought that for once in his life his father would acknowledge him. But it turned out as the exact opposite. Not only did he not acknowledge him but rather he almost disowned him, On top of that he got rejected from Euros Academy, the one thing that would've taken him far away from his dad.

He had to take the second option, Kirschbaum College, which was a pretty high ranking academy but nowhere near Euroses rank.

'I can't believe that I got rejected from Euros! My Rank is pretty good for a newbie but they still rejected me. It's like they wanted me to be humiliated by my father.'

Today was the first day of his journey as a Ranker. Even though life had been tough on him, he saw the new life at the academy as a chance to get things turned around.

When he arrived at the gate he noticed a group of guys laughing in a circle. At first he didn't really think much of it but getting closer he noticed that they were bullying a girl. She had her clothes ripped and her nose was bleeding. Immediately something in Trimur screamed 'HERO!'. He knew he had to rescue the girl. Not only did his consciousness as a young man not allow him to look away but the girl also looked kind of cute so maybe if saved her life she would...

"Hey! What are you guys doing! And why is nobody helping her? Stop immediately!"

Trimur jumped into the mess and tried to stop them with words only at first.

"The f#ck?? Who are you, school shooter?"

Trimur looked at the guy perplexed.

"School shooter? Who's a school shooter?"

The guy started laughing. The other guys around did the same. In a couple of seconds the entire circle had erupted in laughter. One of the guys even fell to the ground and had his hands on his stomach. Tears were running down his cheeks.

"Man, who would've though that someday a school shooter would save somebodies life. This gotta be straight out of a movie!"

"Hey! What's wrong with you guys? Stop harassing her or else-"

"'Or else' what? Huh? What're you gonna do?"

Trimur started clenching his teeth. He didn't want the situation to get to this place. Even though he knew that he decent potential, this was literally his first day at the college and he had almost no combat experience.

One of the guys started walking in his direction. He threw different signs at him and tried to intimidate him.

"Stop right there! I have a D+ Rank. You're going to get hurt!"

For a second there was silence but that silence got interrupted by an even louder laughter immediately.

"Pffft! There is no way a person like this exists. Hahahahaha. No way!"

Trimur was baffled. He had a complicated look on his face. He was trying to get these guys to stop the bullying on another person but here was, getting bullied himself!

Thump! The guy who was coming at him pushed Trimur to the ground.

"Hahahaha! Yo guys, this midget here was trying to intimdate us with his 'D' Rank."

Another guy came up and started kicking him in the back. His hits were pretty strong as he was a Ranker. Trimur had no idea what to do. His self esteem had gone to the ground.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Ey you. Yes, you come here."

The girl who was getting bullied just a minute ago slowly stood up went to the bully.

"Kick him."

"Wha-at?"

Slap!

"I said kick him!"

The girl put her hand her now red cheek.

"Yes!"

She went to Trimur and tried to not look him in the face.

"Sorry." She managed to let a little 'sorry' out but then proceeded to kick him in his stomach..

"Aaahh!"

trimur couldn't believe what was happening. The girl who he had tried to help, now turned on him and was participating in bullying him. With a burst anger suddenly started to appear.

'This b#tch!'

While other students had joined in messing him up, he started to retaliate. He first pushed some of them away. They went back immediately. they weren't on the same level as Trimur. They only had joined so they would not become victims themselves. 'Follow the herd.' This sentence described the situation perfectly. With a big leap forward he jumped into one of the guys and punched him in the face. The guy flew away a couple of meters.

A surge of energy entered Trimur's body. His anxiety had left his body. He started giving out punches and eating some as well. He continued that for a minute until one of the guys who hadn't joined the fight now came in. He grabbed Trimur by his jacket and threw him into the air. Trimur couldn't do anything as the force which threw him into the air was a lot stronger than him. A wind kick was added to the force and Trimur flew away twenty meters to the back. Landing on his back Trimur realised that the guy was way stronger than the others. As he was about to get up another kick landed in his stomach.

"Blurggh."

A pool of vomit was on the ground. Trmiur was holding his arms around his stomach. Tears were rolling down his face. Never had he experienced this type of pain before.

"You little b'tch. Who do you think you were talking to, huh? You thought that you could come over and act like some hero?"

"Let's leave for now. Someone might tell the teacher."

"I remember your face! Be ready to die after lessons."

The guys left and the crowd started to dissolve.

...

"What is it, Johan?"

Vidle had a worried expression on her face.

'What is he going to tell me?'

Johan crossed his legs and put one hand on his face. Looking her straight in the eyes he pondered for a while before he said anything.

"You're hurt, aren't you?"

"Wha-t?"

Shock was visible on her face.

"How...?"

"Don't worry about it. I have a suggestion for you. You wanna hear it?"

"A suggestion? What suggestion?"

"Well, first sit down."

After a couple of seconds, Videl slowly walked towards the chair.

"You wanna go to college?"

Surprised, Videl looked up.

"College? No, I don't want to go there."

With a smile Johan asked her: "'Don't want' or 'cannot'?"

She looked at him again with wide opened eyes.

"What do you mean...?"

All of a sudden Johan sat upright and looked her even deeper into the eyes.

"You can't go to college because your Rank is too low for that, right?"

"Yes. That's why I became a maid."

"Sure. It doesn't have anything to do with your injuries, no?"

Videl became stiff and looked at him with slight horror in her eyes.

"I... I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what?"

"I...Please don't do anything to me!"

Tears started to build up in her eyes. Her head lowered itself slowly.

"Do anything to you? What am I gonna do?"

Now it was Johan who was flabbergasted. He did not expect this reaction.

"Please, I will do well as a maid. Please don't hit me."

"Wait, wait, wait. First stop crying. I promise I won't do anything to you, that you don't want."

"Really?"

Johan nodded. He went ahead and wiped her tears off with his handkerchief.

"Now, tell me what you mean by 'hit me'."

After calming down she looked a little better.

"Well, before I came to the main von Parseval family I used to work for somebody else. At first everything was alright but when they noticed that I had grave injuries and that I could not really defend myself, they started abusing me."

She pointed at her scar.

"This was one of the things that they did to me."

"I see."

Although seeming rather calm under the table blood was coming out of his hands.

'Who dared mess with my maid.'

"Videl, I can help you get your health back. I know a way to get your core stronger."

"Wait, really?"

She seemed to have small sparkles in her face. It was as if little stars started shining in her face.

"Yes, I can heal some of your injuries myself and there are some items which can help you. I'll help you get them."

In reality he no idea if such a thing even existed, let alone where one would get somethiing like that. On the other hand he had Bahamut and his family, so he would somehow get to it.

"That's really kind of you, Johan But I have to refuse."

Her smile declined to a gloomy expression.

"I don't have anything to pay you back with."

"Well, I'm sure you do."

He looked at her with a little smirk.

"No way! I mean Johan I would not want to do that."

With a blush Videl looked down.

"Do what? It seems that you have misunderstood something. I just want you to be my shadow."

"What??"