Chapter 104
“Ugh…!”
A group of four or five students lay on the floor, their voices barely above a whisper, completely beaten down.
Among them, Nova glared coldly at one boy, gripping him by the collar.
“This… crazy bastard…”
Like throwing away a piece of trash, Nova tossed the boy aside.
He then kicked the fallen kid’s head as if it were a soccer ball.
The gruesome sound of bones cracking echoed through the air.
“This isn’t enough.”
“What?”
Nova raised his foot above the face of the boy, whose features were already shattered.
With both hands shoved in his pockets, he stomped down on the guy’s face mercilessly, as if squashing an insect.
“The pain you’ve caused Stella is nothing compared to this.”
Smash! Crack! Crunch!
“Stop… please…”
Smash! Smash! Thud! Crash!
“Stop it, you crazy bastard!”
At the cries of the other students, Nova finally halted his assault.
They shuddered involuntarily as they met his chilling crimson gaze.
“Did I say to stop?”
“You guys… do you think you can handle the consequences after pulling something like this?”
“And what about you?”
“What?”
“Did you stop when she asked you to?”
“What kind of nonsense are you blabbering about?”
“Do you really think you’ll get away with this?!”
“Exactly! Whether it’s the Three Great Clans or even the empire, they can’t do this to us!”
“You’re getting expelled on the spot, your family too, you dirty commoner!”
“A lowly commoner like you should know your place—you’re finished!”
Ignoring their rage-fueled outbursts, Nova pulled out some scrolls from his pocket.
He tossed each roll of paper right in front of them.
“What the…?!”
“W-What is this…?”
“Since the moment I enrolled in the Academy, I’ve been gathering information.”
The faces of the students twisted in horror as they read what was written inside the scrolls.
The contents detailed each of their critical vulnerabilities.
“I had to collect information to survive here without any prestigious family connections.
So, I diligently gathered your illegal crime records, and data on your pleasure-driven illegal slave purchases.”
“You… who the hell are you?!”
One of them, paralyzed with fear, rushed at him.
Nova didn’t even blink as he tripped the boy, who crumpled to the ground.
As a dagger lodged into the ground right in front of the fallen student, he couldn’t help but shiver.
“Eliminating you trash is a piece of cake, got it?”
With a murderous glint in his eyes, some of them even began to tremble in fear.
As if it were a final warning, Nova spoke in a lifeless tone.
“If you don’t want your family erased, apologize formally to Stella.
And if you ever insult her again, you’ll understand what I mean, right?”
The students, completely petrified by his killing intent, desperately shook their heads.
—
As Nova stepped out of the alleyway, shedding his bloodstained gloves, he saw a girl with gray twin-tails leaning against the entrance, watching him.
“Did you vent enough?”
“I didn’t really do it as a means to vent.”
If Stella were to remember, she wouldn’t have used such a method of discipline.
Though she was incredibly caring towards others, she was rather lenient when it came to protecting herself.
Thus, Nova felt the need to nail it in, ensuring such incidents wouldn’t repeat again.
“You can say you feel nothing after creating that mess, huh?”
“…I don’t deny it. And thank you for letting me know about the ones who troubled Stella.”
“You know I don’t extend kindness without a reason, right?”
“Yeah, I figured as much.”
Seeing her gesture for him to follow, Nova chuckled and decided to tag along.
—
“Hmm… Is it vacation already?”
Serena, out in the city to sell her new business idea, was deep in thought.
Having left home without a word five months ago, she would have normally returned to the Magic Tower by now.
But now that she had chosen the path of an alchemist, she had nowhere else to go.
“If I go back to the family, will I get scolded…? Well, they probably won’t say anything.”
Having managed to gather enough for a semester’s tuition in just a few months, there was no longer any reason to starve at every meal.
Unlike Stella, who was always struggling to eat enough, Serena recalled her memories of barely scraping by.
Tears of joy welled up in her eyes.
“Mom and Dad… I did it…!”
Now feeling more at ease, Serena abruptly found herself wanting to experience romance.
The reason was simple: witnessing the lovey-dovey antics of those around her made her wish to try it herself.
“Every time I see them stuck together, I really… want to experience it too…”
Honestly, she had brushed off the heartaches caused by their flirting by reading romance novels, yet her longing for romance grew within her.
Hoping to confide in Shia about her feelings, the response she received was:
[I already have someone, you know?]
[W-What!?]
[To be exact, I have an arranged fiancé courtesy of my family.]
Even though Shia seemed wary about it, the feeling of betrayal from someone she thought was a comrade made Serena long for love even more.
“Is there anywhere with a handsome, good guy…?”
‘As for personality, nice is good, but a bad boy vibe is a plus, too.
Someone who only has eyes for me would be perfect…’
“Just how far do I have to go?”
“Yeah, like that vibe…?”
While she was lost in thought, she suddenly caught sight of Nova and gasped in surprise.
Moreover, the girl next to him was none other than Lucid from the Three Great Clans.
“W-What?!”
Her mind went blank, as if she had just witnessed something she shouldn’t have seen.
“No way—cheating? No way… Nova wouldn’t do that…”
He usually drew a line when it came to female students, especially excluding Stella.
Even so, she thought she was being overly paranoid.
“Now that I think about it… didn’t he mention he was going to practice sparring with another clan last time?”
It was quite the buzz in Class A that he often sparred with Siel from the North and Scarlet from the South.
It was impressive for a commoner to grow by exchanging blows with two prominent heirs of noble families.
“Sure, he draws lines, but he sure gets tangled up with the ladies a lot…”
Of course, it made sense that he couldn’t best her in a duel, especially since the entire class could barely stand against her alone.
Yet still, his actions were rife with misunderstanding.
“…Maybe I’ll watch for a bit.”
She didn’t distrust him; it’s just that she could empathize with Stella’s feelings.
So, Serena quietly followed them.
—
“Where on earth are you headed?”
“We’re almost there. This is the place.”
The location they arrived at was an elegant restaurant, an obvious choice for high-ranking nobles.
‘A private dinner at such a fancy restaurant?!’
With the atmosphere growing more suspicious, Serena leaned in to listen.
“I’m not that hungry, can we wrap this up soon?”
“Impatient as always… Fine, let’s get straight to the point.”
Nova laid down an envelope the size of a B4 piece of paper on the table.
“As promised, here’s the information I was going to give you. Check it out.”
Lucid skimmed through the contents inside and nodded in satisfaction.
“Your work really is neat. Did you manage to acquire evidence of our competitor’s corruption?”
“I told you, as long as there’s trust between us, we can have a good relationship.”
‘What’s with this shady deal in the underworld…? Are they in a business partnership?’
“This is just a token of my appreciation; thanks to you, I can finally absorb that annoying competitor…”
With a smile, Nova grabbed the envelope filled with money off of the table.
“I’ll take this. And thanks for giving me that list of scumbags.”
Lucid eyed him closely, licking her lips.
“You’re quite the valuable talent, you know? Have you considered joining our family?”
“I’m not fond of being tied down. I’ve helped you plenty already, right?”
Lucid looked at him with a skeptical expression.
“That’s right… almost as though you knew the future… You slipped me some investment information.”
Nova shrugged it off lightly.
“You benefited a lot from that. Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Then again, it’s not just about having good insights—are you really capable of knowing the future?”
“Let’s stop the probing there. Mind if I ask you one?”
Lucid raised her eyebrows and replied.
“Go ahead.”
“What about your pet Anubis? Where is he right now?”
At Nova’s question, Lucid paused for a moment before answering.
“If it’s Anubis, he’s probably playing in the park with the kids.”
Nova’s expression twisted in confusion at her response.
“Aren’t you being too relaxed? You have a monster for a guard that was a prisoner of war.
What kind of conversation did you have with Vladimir to get such privileges?”
Lucid chuckled softly before responding.
“My relationship with him is not just that of a master and servant.”
“Let’s end the probing here. Can I ask you something now?”
“I don’t have anything left to say, and aren’t you the one asking too many questions?”
Just as he was about to get up, Lucid’s next words made him stop.
“I investigated your past.”
‘Nova’s past?’
Her words piqued Serena’s interest.
He had only mentioned being an adventurer, but in actuality, he never spoke of his past, not even to Stella.
“My past? It’s nothing special; I was just an adventurer… what do you mean…”
Seeing Nova trying to brush it off with a smile, Lucid grinned.
“Are you really okay with that? What if I tell the princess?”
“…”
Hearing that made Nova’s face turn icy.
“The Shadow of the Empire, a former assassin of an unnamed special forces unit—Codename: Red Demon, right?”
‘??? What the hell does that mean… Nova was an assassin?!’
“Hey.”
Nova’s eyes flared with a chilling bloodthirst, turning a bright red.
“Where did you hear that name?”
