The next day, I woke up with all kinds of thoughts on my mind. So many things had occurred yesterday that I had no idea what to make of the current situation. The demons were back. Actually, they were never gone in the first place. It was hard to take in because a few weeks ago, I truly believed that we had killed every last one of them. But it seemed we hadn’t managed to exterminate them; they were a sneaky bunch after all.
Still, even if they were back, I needed to act like nothing strange was happening. I was currently on my way to the Apex Building, and honestly, I didn’t want to see my students. I knew their parents had put a lot of things in their minds about me, like the fact that I’m a killer, among other things. But that was only a detail; I could deal with their judgmental looks. I just couldn’t deal with the fact that I wasn’t doing anything.
I was just teaching kids. Demons are still out there, and I’m here putting on a show for teenagers, trying to make them stronger. I don’t know, it didn’t feel right to me.
I kicked the rocks on the way to class as I crossed paths with a few older students who were just glaring at me as if I was some monster. I sighed. The media didn’t know the full story, so no one would. I guess I’ll be recognized as a villain for a while now. The one who killed a fellow professor.
Oh well. That’s my life now. I never cared about what people thought of me and that wouldn’t change now after all this time.
“Caedrel!”
I heard my name being shouted a few meters behind me. So, I turned around and saw Ava running in my direction, her hair still all messy, and with her usual lab coat. I couldn’t wait to see what she had to say to me.
‘I’m a monster? Why would you ever do something like that?’
I clicked my tongue. Whatever it was, I’d just brush it off. I had already heard it all; none of it really mattered anymore.
She arrived next to me, completely out of breath, and raised her hand against my chest, forcing me to stay still.
“Ah… you could have at least stopped!” she said, her head raised, revealing a beautiful smile. “I wanted to talk to you before you headed to class.”
I nodded, indicating that she could continue.
“Well, it’s about yesterday… we didn’t really get the chance to talk about what happened back there.”
I waved my hand to dismiss her. “I already heard it all. You don’t need to add more to it.”
She clenched her jaw. “Tsk. Look, I saw what happened. I know what really happened. I’m not stupid; I know you wouldn’t kill anyone for no reason. The Emperor also wouldn’t let you go for no reason.”
Finally, I had met a smart person. If only everyone could make the same connections as her, but no… they were blindly trusting rumors.
Either way, I wasn’t sure what to say. So, I went with a classic.
“Thank you for trusting me. It means a lot.”
She smiled as she noticed that I had already started walking away from her. “Hey! Don’t push me away, okay?”
I looked back, turned around, and continued walking, but there was a slight smile on my face.
I guess there were two people I could count on.
Darla and Ava.
Quickly after that conversation, I arrived at the Apex Building, which was bustling with a lot more people than usual. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but there were at least twice as many people in the building. And it wasn’t twice as many adults; it was twice as many teenagers.
Still, I didn’t comment on it and just headed to class where some students were already waiting. It seemed that even after what they had seen yesterday, some had decided to attend class.
I headed to my desk as usual, and the students glared at me with a frown.
“Is there a problem?”
Olivia, Ava’s daughter, raised her hand up high instantly. She knew the answer as usual.
“It’s your clothes, sir. Why are you wearing something like that?”
I looked at myself. I was wearing the same thing as usual: a tight black shirt and some black gloves. I was definitely not wearing anything weird. Though, now that I looked at their clothes, I realized that there might be something wrong with what I was wearing.
“Why are you all wearing swimsuits and bikinis? Are you planning on going to the beach or something? And why do you all have luggage? Are you all leaving the Royal Academy because of me?” I frowned.
“Oh, you didn’t see the announcement on your smartwatch? Because of yesterday’s events, they organized a week-long outing to the nearest kingdom.”
First off, there were a lot of confusing things in what she had just said. The first one was the smartwatch, or whatever she had just said; I didn’t have anything like that. Was I supposed to have one? The second one was that we were leaving the Royal Capital and no one had told me. The third one was, why are they wearing swimsuits if we’re going to the nearest kingdom?
“We’re leaving today?”
She nodded fervently.
“Okay, still. Why are you wearing a bikini?”
That was the most important question out of them all.
However, when I asked, almost everyone in the class started laughing at me, and they began muttering to one another.
“You really don’t know anything about the world apart from the war, huh?” Olivia said without any restraint. To be honest, I was surprised that she was so blunt about it. But she was also right; I didn’t know much about the world apart from the war.
“I don’t.”
“Then, I guess I’ll be the one teaching you something today.” She smiled at me. “The nearest kingdom, Atlantis, is underwater.”
