A single day had passed since Raze woke up after the battle, and the academy test was soon to be conducted. He wanted to test many things out while training, but the academy’s healer, Lady Dana, and Sir Lukas made sure he wouldn’t move.
They had strictly warned him about how his wounds were still open and how they could cause damage if he were to move around, especially since he couldn’t be healed using normal healing magic.
Raze had even considered sneaking around and training, but those two had threatened not to let him participate in academy entrance if they found out.
Raze had no intention of risking his mission and ultimately his life for the sake of his impatience, so he decided to lay low for now.
But then, half an hour ago, an uninvited guest barged into his room.
The uninvited guest was none other than Ellara, her bright crimson hair tied in a ponytail while her crimson eyes looked bright, a far cry from the state she had been in yesterday.
He couldn’t understand how someone could change so rapidly.
Just yesterday, she had been hesitant about even entering his room, and when she did, she even cried, apologising to him for reasons he didn’t understand and here she was today, back again with some newfound determination.
Looking at her, Raze recalled how Sebastian always told him that females are more difficult to understand than any kind of theories.
So, Raze just stayed quiet as always, deciding to give up completely on understanding what went through her mind.
And more importantly, having her as a friend was useful.
He currently didn’t have any identity in this world, and sooner or later people would start digging into him, so having a connection or two was definitely useful for him.
Ellara was even more valuable as she was a noble, and although her uncle had taken over her family and she was practically exiled, in this world lineage spoke louder than other things.
Just having someone with noble blood back you was considered enough proof of identity or at least that’s what one of the Empire’s law books, which Raze had read in his free time in infirmary said.
So, he didn’t really mind keeping her close.
Still, he didn’t like not knowing things, as they often brought more problems than solutions.
—
Meanwhile, Ellara, who had barged in with intense determination, hadn’t done anything in the last half an hour either.
Although she didn’t say it out loud, she was here to help Raze. From what the healers had said, his body was still recovering. So, for helping her, the least she could do was help him recover.
With that thought alone, she had woken up early, handled all her morning activities, made herself breakfast, and arrived here as soon as possible with a packed meal for Raze but the moment she stood before him again, the memory of yesterday’s tears returned, and the words she had prepared completely vanished.
Her finger traced over the delicate silver ring she wore, hesitant whether she should give the food she had prepared to him or not.
She finally made up her mind and opened her mouth to speak, but Raze interrupted her.
“Hey Ellara, could you give me some water…?”
He asked with a calm voice, his glowing blue eyes looking over at her.
Although Raze didn’t really care about silence, Ellara’s awkward behaviour, coupled with there being nothing else to do, was wearing him out as well, so he decided to ask her for help since that seemed to be one of her intentions as well.
“Sure, I will bring water immediately.”
Ellara beamed, getting up immediately in excitement, her strides slightly wider and her lips slightly more curled.
She felt happy that he asked for her help.
“Thanks.” Raze replied.
But she didn’t even hear his words and immediately marched out of the room since the water in the room was empty already.
—
As soon as she left, Raze let out a deep breath in a moment of solitude.
“………”
Before he could relax any further, his senses flared as his body moved before his mind could. He turned around immediately, only to see a boy standing right outside his window.
But that wasn’t what caught his attention.
The thing that attracted his attention was the clothes of the young man or the complete lack of them.
He had green hair and striking golden eyes but he was walking around completely naked as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
Raze stared at him for a few seconds, the boy stared back as the staring continued for a few moments before the boy scoffed at him and left without caring about his inappropriate behaviour.
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Raze was raised alone in a castle far away from any kinds of people except the staff allowed to him but even those staffs were changed frequently except Sebastian to make sure he doesn’t attach himself with someone.
So, he never knew what it was like to be around people of his age or what he should speak but from all the books he had read, he knew one thing.
’Walking around naked was definitely not normal.’
Just then, Ellara arrived back with fresh drinking water, her face showing excitement as if she had done some great achievement and for the first time since arriving in this world, Raze felt uncertainty.
And all he could think was,
‘This world is weird…’
—
“Hey, Raze. I am back.” Ellara muttered, practically jumping with each step.
This was the first actual help Raze had asked for and she felt she was finally helping him but just as she was close to him, her legs got tangled and her balance stumbled. She managed to regain her balance immediately, but the glass in her hand slipped and flew forward straight for Raze’s face.
“Oh, no.”
She muttered, but just as the glass was close, Raze slightly leaned backwards without any expression as it passed by him harmlessly.
But unfortunately for Raze, the glass collided with the wall right beside his bed and the water fell spilled all over his bed, making his clothes slightly wet as well.
Silence spread through the room as Raze’s eyes twitched ever so slightly.
’I should have caught it’
He thought, but he knew better than anyone that the potions were making him sluggish and slow, so he couldn’t have caught it.
He simply looked at his clothes calmly.
Meanwhile, Ellara looked at him once, then twice, and then instead of apologising, she burst into laughter.
Raze looked at her, tilting his head slightly.
‘She cried yesterday, apologising for something that wasn’t completely her fault…’
‘And now she is laughing when it's her fault…’
‘I seriously can’t understand her…’
Raze sighed once again, reminding himself of how difficult it was to understand women.
—
After her burst of laughter was done Ellara walked towards him and helped him shift to another vacant bed with help of a caretaker.
“Sorry about that, Raze.” She muttered, helping him arrange his stuff on the table beside the new bed. “It’s just that when I saw your face like that, I just couldn’t help it.”
Raze sat on his bed with a new set of patient clothes.
“What do you mean by a face like that…?” He asked, he was quite curious to understand if he had given away any emotions so he could manage them well next time.
But instead Ellara laughed again.
“This is the reason… You know, you almost never have any expression on your face. Even now, while asking, your face was completely blank with that slight tilt, it somehow feels too funny.”
The fall of water had made her forget her return back to how she was during the trip.
Raze noticed the difference immediately.
So, making someone laugh, makes their guard down.
He noted this.
Although he had read countless books about human emotions, he was learning many new things everyday in this world.
Meanwhile Ellara continued to laugh for a few more seconds.
“You know, Raze, it’s not good to always be so serious, you should let your emotions in on your face sometimes. Otherwise you won’t have any friends besides me and Lyla for the whole academy.”
‘Emotions…? Friends…?’
As soon as he heard her say that, the cold crimson eyes of his mother appeared before his eyes, the same eyes that locked him in darkness whenever he dared to show emotion.
Still, he knew that if he had to complete the mission, or at least stall the restrictions the empire had planted within himself until he somehow found a way to remove them completely, he needed to understand how to befriend someone.
Because if he ever wanted to catch the one who was fated to destroy the cosmos, it would have to be through winning her trust.
‘If it could have been achieved through pure strength, the Empire wouldn’t have sent me here.’
Raze understood it well.
So, he looked at Ellara seriously.
“How to do that…? How to make friends?” He asked, trying to curl up his lips slightly, trying to smile.
The smile had worked on Yuna before, so he didn’t doubt his capabilities to imitate emotions, but instead Ellara held her stomach and started laughing even louder.
“What are you doing…? Are you threatening me to hand over some secrets to make friends or what? Because that definitely can’t be a smile.”
Her eyes teared up as she saw Raze raising one lip up while his eyes didn’t even move slightly.
“But it’s alright because I will teach you everything you need to know about befriending someone.” She muttered confidently.
Raze nodded seriously without knowing that he himself was a loner and that he was asking for information from an even bigger loner who had actually never stepped out of her house and didn’t have any friends of her age except her maid, Lyla.
—
After a few more confidential promises, Ellara finally left, leaving Raze with a small lunch box. She said she had made it for him and had completely forgotten to give it earlier.
Raze opened the lunch box and closed it immediately, tilting his head.
‘Do the people in this world give poison as a sign of friendship…?’
He thought because whatever was inside that box was definitely not edible food. He slid the lunch box slightly on his table before picking up the book he had left incomplete due to Ellara’s arrival.
Since he wasn’t allowed to train, he had decided to understand this world better and for that, he decided to read books.
One book in particular had caught his eye immediately. It was from a solo traveller who claimed to have journeyed through nearly eighty percent of habitable land.
Travel Logs of Asman.
Just as he was about to delve back into the book, a knock on his door disturbed him as soon a woman walked in. She had brown hair, green eyes and was wearing an overcoat with the academy’s insignia.
‘A staff member…’
“You must be Raze, right…?”
She asked in a soft voice as Raze nodded. “Yes.”
The power he felt from her wasn’t very strong like Ragnar but there was a weird unsettling feeling coming from her, something which made Raze even more cautious.
“Hello, I am Amy, secretary of Principal Ragnar. He asked me to create an identity for you since you don’t remember anything.” She continued, her eyes narrow as if scanning Raze for any sign of deception. “Do you still not remember anything about your past…? Or any clues about your family…?”
Raze didn’t let any emotion show on his face as usual. “No, Ma’am, I still do not remember anything.”
He kept his words limited because he knew the more he spoke, the more chances there would be to catch his lies. He might not know how to show expressions but he knew how to hide them and his intent.
She looked at him for a while before throwing a card towards him, which floated slightly before landing neatly on the table beside his bed.
“That’s your official identification. The principal himself vouched for it, so don’t go around doing anything shady. And don’t lose it.” She said the words calmly. “If you remember anything about your past, contact me. We will help you find your family.”
“Do you have any questions?” She asked, ending her explanation.
“No, Ma’am.” He replied.
He wanted to ask them why they were being so nice or what they wanted, but he knew not to add useless complications unless they mentioned them themselves, which they didn’t.
So he stayed quiet.
“Okay, that’s all. Good luck for the academy’s entrance exam, Principal Ragnar seems to have high hopes for you.” She turned around towards the exit.
Before exiting, she turned her head slowly. “Ahh, one more thing, if you see a naked green-haired pervert anywhere, report it to the staff immediately.”
With those words she walked out completely.
Raze looked at the door once before picking up his identification card. The card had his name, and there was a small note at the bottom saying insert your mana or aura.
Raze followed the instructions as the card glowed for a few seconds before his face appeared on one blank corner of it.
His name, Raze, shone in golden letters. There was no mention of his surname as he had deliberately hidden that.
He looked at the card for a moment before silently putting it back and picking his book back up.
The entrance exam would be starting soon… and he wanted to complete reading this book before it began.
Your thoughts? What do you think about the story so far? Favorite character? Any theories?
Next Chapter: The Ascension Academy Entrance Exam officially begins.
? My update schedule might be a bit inconsistent this month due to college stuff. Thanks for reading and supporting the story!