Proofreader: Myself :>

Being safe rather than sorry felt smarter here.

“Is it fine if I don’t answer?" I asked the professor, "I’d prefer to keep it to myself for now“

"Certainly, I hope I didn’t offend you in any way. I was simply curious.” He seemed somewhat disappointed but let it go anyway.

“Sorry for my reluctance, I must get going now.”

“Of course, see you next class.”

The presence I felt had not left me at all since the conversation had started.

Wary of such eyes, I pressed onward past the classroom door. Confirming that it was closed and no one was around me, I decided to confront my gut feeling.

“Who’s there?”

In the middle of my sentence, I noticed her.

Once again, Serina moved in front of me. Her motivations were unclear, leading me to remain cautious.

“…”

It was the same as usual, where an awkward silence would find its way through a crevice between the both of us.

In the same style as before I confronted her, “I asked earlier, is there something you need from me?”

“No," She gave a clearcut, monotone answer as always.

I thought for a second and came up with another question to end the awkwardness.

“Then, why are you always… watching me?”

“No reason,” She gave an aloof answer.

“What, do you want to become friends or something?"

“…” She paused for a moment as if she was genuinely considering it. “Maybe.”

For some reason, this was becoming infuriating more than it was confusing. Not only was she massively different from her game counterpart, she was just... inhuman.

It was almost as if she couldn’t bother putting any visible effort into conversation, as if she had forgotten how to interact with others entirely.

I wondered… “What happened to you?”

Such words had unintentionally slipped from my mind.

“…”

The once expressionless Serina dissipated and an invisible aura spread out across the hallway.

“Geh-“ Sweat beads rolled from my forehead.

Her seemingly forlorn eyes regained focus as she took a step toward me.

“What do you mean?”

Such a fierce gaze filled with killing intent disabled my ability to speak.

I gulped, “Ex-exactly what I said.”

“Do you know?”

Every second, the pressure seemed to increase. My legs felt like crumbling, but I wouldn’t let myself fall here. Something told me that this was not the place to falter.

“Kn- know what?”

“My secret.”

“Huh…? What are you on about?” Numerous points of the story replayed in my head, where nothing could relate to this current predicament.

Serina furrowed her eyebrows, detecting no lie from my murmur. She took steps back and breathed in deeply. Where in an instant, my body was rid of a massive burden.

The mountain on my shoulders simply vanished.

“I should be going now,” A faint red colour was seen on her face as if she was embarrassed.

“Seriously, who the hell are you really?” I sighed.

“…”

“Alright then, stay silent, and I’ll be on my way.”

The idea that there was still a possibility for romance between her and anyone else was scratched out immediately. I turned away, hoping not to get involved with Serina again.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Wait.”

What did she want now?

“What?”

“I apologise for my misunderstanding,” She whispered and bowed.

At least she still has some form of humility left.

“Yeah sure I forgive you, now leave me alone,” spouting out my parting words, I began walking.

“Luke.”

“Hmmm?”

“I’ve had a change of heart.”

“And what may that be exactly?” I asked, laced with sarcasm.

I didn’t bother turning around. It would probably be something nonsensical anyway.

“Will you… be my friend?” She stammered in a trembling voice.

“I- I… wait, I uhhh… what?”

The drastic changes in her mood were too complex to follow. What am I supposed to do, say yes and move on? My head was burning up from this unexpected course of events.

Every time I met this girl, I felt my lifespan decrease more than anything else.

“You can think about it, I will await your answer," Leaving such fleeting words, Serina turned away.

In a moment she was gone, leaving me standing alone in the hallway by myself. I scratched my head not knowing what to think.

"Alright then," I convinced myself into denial, “Nothing happened, simple as that."

I had to begin some sort of steady training routine from now on, before and after classes. My swordsmanship and magic usage were bottom of the barrel. They did say training facilities were available at any time, it’s just that, I have no idea where they are.

Within the halls of the Golden Nest, I wandered around reading the signs for at least a chance of finding where I was. Expectedly, I passed the same places at least a few times.

Stomp… stomp… stomp…

The sound reverberated from a set of stairs I hadn’t noticed.

As a response to the new ambience, I prepared my body to run away at any moment. With every passing second, it grew louder and louder. My heart rate accelerated, with sweat beginning to form.

“Hello, Luke.”

It was an elegant, refined voice, typically attached to a villain mastermind.

“…”

Steadily, they approached from the below stairs, inching ever closer to my location.

“No response?”

Finally, they became visible standing a mere two metres away from me.

“… Charles?”

He gave me a perplexing look hearing my mutter.

“How interesting, referring to the future king of the Empire by a mere name?”

I had to ad-lib here, he wasn’t supposed to make such a clear approach to anyone in the first week. I gulped in a breath of fresh air, flipping a switch in my head.

I am a snarky piece of shit.

I am a talking-back machine.

Yes, that is me.

“We are in the esteemed hero academy, where power determines position. Am I wrong?” I added a subtle tone of condescendence.

Not missing a beat the prince responded, “Indeed you are not. Although, I seem to have heard that perhaps you did not achieve your position through ‘abnormal’ means.”

“Ha-ha-ha. I admit that I did not enter this class through the ‘normal’ route, however, you must have heard of my top score in the written exam amongst the cohort. I dare not assume otherwise.”

“Of course, your achievements are not to be undermined, in fact, you should be praised for being the first in history to do so. Yet, such knowledge is not an immediate source of power. We witnessed your prowess against that peculiar teacher, but it seems you aren’t particularly experienced with it.”

Fuck… he guessed my ability that quickly?

I felt veins popping out of my forehead dealing with this guy.

“That certainly is one way of viewing it,” I could only bluff my way out of his correct assumption.

“Would you care to elaborate?”

“My power, you could say I tried to apply it in a new way. Such normal methods would not be able to leave a scratch on that monster.”

“Certainly… it as you say,” He paused revealing a slight smirk that disappeared immediately.

“Phew,” I breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Thank fuck.’ That small smirk confirmed his approval of me. Finally, I could leave this vicinity with that win.

“Additionally, I heard from the saint candidate that you bear the curse of a bad sense of direction. Is that true?”

“Yes… it is,” A crooked expression akin to a smile was let out on my face.

I couldn't argue how his personality was described as a person to 'hate losing.'

“Then as a fellow ‘classmate’ let me guide you on your way.”

He straightened his right arm as if he was a butler letting in a guest. I didn’t know if he was trying to taunt me or if it was simply etiquette.

Charles led me down the flight of stairs, eventually leaving me dumbfounded at my inadequacy.

“As you can see, our dorms are straight ahead. The school training facilities are on the opposite side, across from here.”

The fact that I passed by this place seven times, and it was right under the entire time?

I could almost feel the prince snickering at me.

“Now I must bid my farewell, our encounter while coincidental was unexpectedly fruitful. May we meet again tomorrow.”

“Yeah…” That was a lie. Such a person would never waste time meeting a classmate.

I left for the training area he pointed at, seeing that I had half a day to waste. There was nothing really to do, except force myself to train. After all, in this game world, there would be no mercy later on.

Thinking about it already created illusions of pain in my body.

-X-

Runalia POV:

In her office, while school’s first day raged on, she gazed at the magic snapshots of both Luke and Erin.

After observing his interactions with the Demon King’s daughter, an idea had seemed to sprout in a scaly stalker’s mind. From the very moment Runalia realised his potential, there was no doubt that she would provide every opportunity to further his growth.

This pure desire would warp however, with her witnessing the advent of Luke’s progressing relations with many of the exceptional female students within the Platinum Generation.

‘So, why not have Luke learn more about Erin’s father?’ She had found that idea to be genius.

In retrospect however, such a thought would be nonsense. But from the perspective of a millennium-old dragon virgin, this without a doubt would work.

‘By taking advantage of Luke’s bad sense of direction, leading him to the grave of the Demon King would be a cinch!’ Runalia childishly chuckled in her bedsheets. 'Truly he was destined for greatness!'

'Especially those eyes, I thought I'd never see them again.'

In their first interaction she hadn’t noticed, but now she was sure that the eyes Luke possessed was from ‘that’ accursed race.

‘Everything’s A-Okay! I’ll bring him there tomorrow!’

And in a span of two seconds such a worry was quickly exorcised.