With the assassin caught and publicly denounced alongside Michael Millridge, Nulla had nothing to do. They continued teaching, waiting. The classes went smoother, with Michael’s pro-noble faction crumbing with their icon revealed as a horrible individual. The sudden power vacuum led to Princess Veronica taking them in and solidifying the equality policies recently enacted.
With the next week seeming like nothing really was going to happen, Nulla proposed leaving to Athena.
“Why?”
“I’m bored. Nothing else is going on here. I’m leaving, are you going to?”
“No. But, can you wait a bit longer? It’d be suspicious.”
“Then what else do you propose? Stick around the rest of the year?”
“No, just give me a week. HE has ties to newsgroups and police at this point, so next weekend you’ll head out and get assassinated.”
“Oh. Yeah, that’ll work.”
With the plan set, Nulla headed out to the nearby forest. Calling an agent, Nulla set out to see if anything of interest was in the forest. The forest seemed rather untouched, with no roads, and the vegetation was untouched a few minutes of walking in. Reaching the edge, Nulla was stopped by the arrival of the agent.
“Hello Sir. What have you called me for?”
“Two things: Current plans for my death, and stories about this forest.”
“So far, just that it’ll be next weekend, and that we’ll pull some connections to make a big, grand portrayal of your death. Nothing about your death is finalised as of now.”
“The forest?”
“I don’t know anything.”
Nulla turned back to the edge, to where the footsteps end. Nulla began to focus, mana trickling into his eyes. Slowly, as the mana in his eyes increased, Nulla began to see the barrier. The intention began to flow into Nulla's mind. “Twist space, prevent perception, return the uninvited.”
“There might actually not be any stories about these woods. The barrier here returns people and prevents perception of the barrier, the woods, and the sudden returns. Wonder what’s inside. Elves? A powerful artifact? I’m thinking that’s how I should die, I went too far in my investigations.”
Excitement returning to Nulla's expression, Nulla opened a hole and stepped through, the agent following behind.
∅∅∅
“So, are you a Null Born?”
The agent reacted in shock, before nodding in response. “Athena created me, alongside some others. Is- Is that a problem?”
“No,” Nulla faced forward again, seeing a glint in the trees. A small rustle, much like wind rushing through the forest sounded off.
“Get back!” Nulla dragged the agent away, narrowly dodging the arrows.
“Leave, and we shall spare you.”
“Hrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm… I have a better plan; I figure out what’s going on here instead!”
“Then we will kill you.”
“Then you best get going,” Nulla said to the agent, who scampered away.
The arrows flew swiftly, aimed towards Nulla's vitals. Unable to dodge normally, Nulla [Time Stopped] out of the way, firing a magic arrow into the trees, then dashed forward and struck the trees. In response, elves began to drop from trees and surround Nulla.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
As Nulla gets into a fighting stance, a spell forces Nulla to the ground. The elves then grabbed and dragged Nulla’s paralysed body.
∅∅∅
Nulla awoke in a cage, leading to a guard running out, presumably to call someone over.
“Hello,” a leader-looking figure appeared from the entrance.
“Hello. Are you planning to kill me?”
“We’re seeing if we can avoid it.”
“Shame. Thought this might be an excellent way to get to my next job.”
The leader narrowed their eyes, before asking, “Any words in your defence?”
“I await your judgement. But if you kill me, I’ll be open to wishes!”
The leader turned and left, likely to Nulla’s jury.
∅∅∅
A guard came later, taking Nulla out and before a court.
“We have sentenced you to death. Any final words?”
“Please throw this body in front of the Mirabel Academy then.”
“Fine. Now die!” a member dashed at Nulla, who shifted to make the blade pierce his heart.
“SIR! People are attacking!” a scout yelled.
Nulla took the opportunity to separate his soul to watch the people invading. Making sure none of HE was involved, Nulla made a new body hidden in the woods. Sneaking out, Nulla heard the calls of the invaders.
“We found an elves forest! We’ll be making a fortune today!”
Nulla used [Town Spanning Vision] to listen to the Elves.
“Slavers! Evacuate!” a member of the court yelled, while the one who killed Nulla led the army to intercept.
With the wish concluded, Nulla called his tools and swiftly travelled to the back, planning to flank the invaders from behind. When the elves began the battle, Nulla began his assault as well, cleaving many into two. In minutes, the army was crushed.
“Thank you traveler for your help.”
“Your wish is granted! I’ll be off now, I have to throw my body in front of the Mirabel academy, see you later!”
Leaving the elves in shock, Nulla practically skipped over to his body. Before Grabbing the corpse and Nulla stored it, Nulla decided to obfuscate the time of death for fun. As he left, he contacted the agent from earlier to inform of his death, and the need to get on it. Nulla made sure to emphasize that the story needs to show how the elves were defending their territory, the teacher died due to stubbornness, and the army was illegal slavers.
At the edge of the woods, Nulla magically formed a perception-distorting cloak and deposited his corpse at the main entrance. With the body in place, Nulla looked around for anyone and checked the time. Soon it would be the start of classes.
Nulla sent a message to Athena about his death and hid in the shadows. And waited. Soon enough, Athena came out and screamed. Quickly the rest of the students and staff rushed out, contacting police soon after. As everyone came, one of the agents Nulla contacted earlier came out of the forest. They told the story, of how Nulla had entered the forest without permission and as such was killed. They mentioned how slavers quickly followed, and how the elves managed to fight them off.
Nulla, satisfied with the wonderful story, slipped away to a nearby HE base. Reading the wall of requests, another Athena came up to Nulla.
“Hello.”
“Hi. Have you come to ask about my death?”
“Yes. How much of attacking the elves was an act?”
“None of it really. I was planning to die in the woods, and getting into a fight worked out. I got executed, and took the opportunity to make a new person and came back.”
“Ah. Well, I currently wish for you to rank up.”
“Oh, you’re quite clever Athena. See you later,” Nulla left with a wave back to the guild.
∅∅∅
Veronica read the report on Nulla Murphey, both his past and his death. He was clearly suspicious, with reports of his past being contradictory, saying he has none, was summoned, is a nobleman from a foreign country, and is a Null beast. The death reports were rather interesting though. His backpack, sword, and armor were taken. Whoever took them was either knowledgeable or desperate. The cause of death was a stab wound, but it looked like the body had lept forward before becoming rigid and being dragged back. It seemed he had leapt into the path of the blade. Two possibilities: a very competent swordsman predicted and responded to the altered path, or he had been wanting death. Ever since the assassins were caught, Nulla had an abnormal tiredness; no, veiled apathy. So why had he gone into the woods? To die? Couldn’t be, no one knew that elves lived there.
Veronica set down the papers. Investigating the death of a random teacher wouldn’t do much.