"Do you even have any ide-!"
Lilith stopped speaking and her eyes widened in surprise.
Then, she grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me happily.
"Nathan your eyes! They"re red again!"
For obvious reasons, Eth wasn"t able to use my art, at least not properly.
This along with the green eyes made everyone worry. They thought something serious was going on with me.
So, my eyes being back to red meant I was recovering. Resulting in Lilith"s joy.
"How did this happen?"
"He got hit. Eyes back to red. Can use his stigma."
Leon answered in my stead like a tape recorder.
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"Can he not lie?"
What was with this disgusting cliché? Lie properly, will you?!
EVerything he said was a truth. The only lie was that it happened in the Stage-0 Dungeon while he was supposed to say it happened in Dungeon of Trials.
He wasn"t even lying!
Yet he could barely form a sentence.
Fortunately, Lilith didn"t pay attention to that broken tape recorder.
After a few minutes, she calmed down and also sat with us to study.
Seeing everything had settled down I decided to question her.
"How did you find us?"
"I was in the public training center and noticed a quaterfly was buzzing there. Looking closely I found that it was Leon"s."
Apparently, Leon"s quaterfly went to Lilith to bring her here.
I turned to that big golden dragonfly who was hiding behind Leon. Afraid of Lilith.
"Serves you right. Who told you to bring her, here?"
Then we resumed our studying.
"Look…."
"Hey…"
"Why not…."
"No, we should…"
Leon and Lilith began talking to each other.
Leon, who had been worrying about his grades this morning, had a carefree smile on his face.
I shook my head when I saw his smile.
"How can he smile? Can"t he see how stressed I am? But don"t worry as your good friend I will share my stress with you."
I pulled Leon and whispered in his ears.
"Name: Lilith Ashdown; Year:1st year; Stigma:[Blood Bang], Overall Rank: 23rd"
Leon looked at me with a questioning gaze.
I stopped him and continued.
"Written examination rank from the entrance exam:4th; Score:1000/1000; Note: A genius. She is the 35th person to get full-score on Ward"s entrance"s written examination since its founding 70 years ago"
She was ranked 4th in the written examination because the top3 got more than perfect scores.
"Even if she doesn"t study she will get full marks but you on the other hand…"
Lilith was that one friend who will always waste time playing and partying. Yet will always get a high score.
Leon, after listening to me scooted away from her.
"We should.."
"Maybe that will…"
"Why aren"t you list….
"Leon, listen…."
From then Leon didn"t give in to worldly desires and focused on studying.
"You are doing good, my child."
Satisfied with him I also focused on cramming.
Dozen minutes later Lilith grumpily gave up and also focused on the books in front of her.
Several hours pa.s.sed like this.
It was around evening when another "hindrance" joined.
"Can I sit here?"
"Yeah"
Cadmus pulled back a chair and sat on it.
Unlike Lilith, he quietly began studying.
"What is that?"
I looked at where Lilith was pointing.
A 3 feet long green rattlesnake with a pair of bat-like wings was wrapped around Cadmus" neck.
I inwardly gave Lilith a thumbs up. I also wanted to ask that question since the beginning.
"Joe."
"Joe who?"
"Joe my Quaterfly. I customized it."
We nodded our heads at the explanation.
It seems changing the appearance of our quaterfly was also possible.
***
Cadmus was going through the library when he saw an odd group.
Leon, Nathan, and Lilith were sitting at a table in an inconspicuous corner.
These days it wasn"t uncommon to see them together. Though most of the time it was Leon and Lilith who followed Nathan everywhere.
As Cadmus walked closer he noticed that all of them were studying.
Seeing this he got an idea.
"I need to get closer to Leon. This is a good chance."
"Can I sit here?"
"Yeah"
Cadmus pulled a chair and sat. Then he began quietly studying.
He knew that it was best to get closer slowly than to suddenly try to talk to him.
Then Lilith asked him about his quaterfly.
"What is that?"
"Joe."
"Joe who?"
"Joe my Quaterfly. I customized it."
Cadmus answered Lilith while caressing his quaterfly.
At his caressing, Joe"s eyes lit up. Then it looked at everyone and shook its tail in different patterns.
Zzgzgzgzg- Zzgzgzgzg- Zzgz-
"Level 11, Level 11 and Level 15"
The levels were in order of Leon, Nathan, and Lilith.
The customization Cadmus had implanted in Joe was a low-level appraisal.
Checking Leon"s level Cadmus inwardly grinned.
"I need to recruit him no matter what."
Leon was already Iota-rank even though he has "low" potential.
Cadmus had his eyes on Leon since day one.
On the day of the demonstration, he was awed when he saw Leon"s perfect swordsmanship.
Later, when he saw him defeating Lark, Cadmus was convinced.
Leon was special.
Cadmus had seen with his own eyes how Leon had defeated Lark. He knew that Leon didn"t cheat to defeat Lark.
The final affirmation he got was from Dungeon of Trials.
At that time Cadmus had already known. Their defeat was set in stone.
But waiting and hiding was worse.
If the Royal Demon recovered even the help that arrives will become useless.
This was why he brought Leon along with him.
Leon was his trump card.
It was a gamble but with nothing to lose that was the only way.
And the gamble was a huge success.
Leon took down the Royal Demon singlehandedly!
"I shouldn"t smile."
He suppressed his smile.
During the break given by Ward Cadmus had already subdued Ken.
After using the blackmail materials against Ken and defeating his alter ego "Kaneki", Cadmus has forced him to sign a master-servent contract.
Now, he was planning to use him from the shadows.
"The make-up practical exams."
Only a few cadets knew about this.
After the written exam competes a make-up practical exam will happen.
Ken will antagonize Leon at this time.
Cadmus was planning to befriend Leon by helping him against Ken.
Cadmus" goal was to become the strongest in the world.
For it, he was going to make a team that will also be called the strongest.
"I will bring you under me."
***
"I will bring you under me."
I bet this was what Cadmus was thinking. He was trying so hard to hide the grin that was etched on his face.
Seeing this I wondered how unlucky Leon was.
In the novel, Cadmus slowly realizes Leon"s potential and tries to bring him under himself.
He even succeeded almost once.
Fortunately, Leon declined.
Cadmus was the most hated character in the novel. The reason?
He always acted kind and friendly towards Leon. He will bring help at the most crucial times and help Leon financially too.
Heck, even we, the readers, liked him!
Then comes the revelation.
It was the third year and the Ward was being attacked by the Round Table.
A bomb was about to go off.
Leon was struggling to protect it and many cadets had already died.
While fighting Leon was desperately searching for Cadmus.
Cadmus" stigma [Chains of Euthymia] could seal things.
If they found him the bomb could have been sealed and diffused.
Finally, Cadmus arrives.
But he was not on Leon"s side.
He arrived as a member of Round Table.
While Leon was in shock the bomb goes off. Taking down Ward and hundreds of students that were left there.
Cadmus" betrayal hit him hard.
"It hit us readers hard too."
But Leon being the dumb idiot he was, still believed in Cadmus. This leads him to never give his all in exterminating Round Table.
As a result, Round Table does many heinous things. Blowing cities off, Ma.s.sacring, and Freeing the prisoners of Tartarus.
"If only Leon never befriended this snake."
Zrrr-
While I was contemplating over the novel someone pulled the chair beside me.
"Susan?"
Susan was now sitting beside me. Hearing me, she turned to me.
"I went to your room but you weren"t there."
Everyone at our table froze at her words.
"Rank 1 who always acts aloof went to meet him personally?!"
This was what their faces were saying.
Seeing the interest in Cadmus"s eyes rising toward me I felt cried inwardly.
"What did I do to deserve this? And why are you speaking this in front of everyone?"
I turned to Susan.
"You didn"t need to come yourself. I would have brought your books to your room myself."
I winked repeatedly.
"Take the hint! Take the hint!"
Whatever she wanted to talk about could wait!
If Cadmus set his eyes on me I was in deep s.h.i.t!
Finally the implications of what she just said dawned on her.
She just made it known that we knew each other!
"Are you smart or are you stupid too!"
How can she make such a mistake in front of people?
Fortunately, she understood my signal and played along.
"I needed to study too. I thought I should take them myself."
"I will bring them later."
"Hmm"
Finally, Cadmus" interest died and he went back to reading.
But the person diagonally sitting across me was staring at me with shiny eyes.
Her eyes were literally screaming: When did you two get close?!
I decided to ignore her and focused on studying.
"A Yawn…."
A few hours pa.s.sed by and now it was beyond midnight.
I looked around me.
Leon, Susan, Lilith, and Cadmus. From the main cast, almost everyone was here.
Only Anna was missing.
Stretching up I decided to take a walk before studying again.
Leon, Lilith, and Susan were already asleep.
"I"ll be leaving then."
Cadmus stood up and left before me.
I was about to go when I looked at everyone again.
Susan was sleeping while leaning on the table. Leon was asleep in a sitting position while Lilith"s head was resting on his shoulders.
Kachk-
Clicking a photo I walked out.
"Hehehe, promises must be kept."
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