"Then it makes me even more confused. If you are really that powerful, then why do you even need someone like me, who isn't even a proper human?" She asked as she stared into my eyes with all seriousness as she didn't even blink as she kept observing me.
"We all have our secrets, don't we?" I smiled as I stood up before walking away from there continuing,"I will be meeting you more often now. Let's talk about making you more powerful when the time comes and you can think about the deal till we meet next."
Slowly, I moved away from there as I sensed Lilith sitting there motionless, processing everything. She must be thinking about the deal I proposed and I wonder what decision she would make.
'For now, let's eat something for real. All this aroma of food is making me hungry,' I thought as I left the restaurant and looked around for another dining place nearby.
After a few minutes of looking around, I found another restaurant where I decided to go. But before going to that restaurant, I stopped at a nearby currency exchange station where I exchanged some Monster Cores for Arcadia Coins.
From that point, time passed really fast and by the time I realised it was already evening. Bernette, Eliza, etc. Everyone else passed well with flying colours. Meanwhile, I was taking a leisurely stroll, as I passed my time, simply looking around, enjoying the quiet time I had to myself.
I went to various eateries, a bunch of entertainment areas and watched a few magic tricks which weren't really that hard to see through. After I was done with everything, I bought an ice cream and then decided to advance towards the area where the final results of the Unorthodox division would be displayed.
Though before I could do so, a black-haired girl, who was probably running away from someone, suddenly came in front of me, almost crashing against me, though I swiftly stepped aside and let her fall.
-Bam!
She falls to the ground after hitting a few more people and hurriedly stands up as she looks around with a panicked face. I moved closer to her while trying to see whom she was running away from, but I did not find any face in particular.
"Want some ice cream?" I spoke without really caring about the situation and she looked at me, a bit taken aback as she looked in the direction where she came running from before looking at me.
I observe the urgency on her face before speaking,"doesn't look like whoever you are running away from is coming here. Why not catch your breath and have something to cool you down? This flavour is nice. One of my favourites among the ones I tried here."
Hearing my words, I see her calm down a bit before she looks around and apologises to those around her and then looks at me before speaking,"thank you, but I should be leaving now."
Then I saw her moving in the same direction where I was going and I chuckled a little, soon mixing in with the crowd before hiding my presence and moving towards the place where my ranking would be shown.
After another 30 minutes, I reach the location and find the same girl there as well, looking at the board with a dumbfounded expression. She seemed like she couldn't believe what she was watching.
'Judging by the smile that is masked by that stupefaction, I guess she made it into the Academy as well,' I thought before moving towards her and asking,"did you make it?"
"Aah!" A bit shocked, she turns around before she catches her breath and glares at me as she speaks,"you? Look. I am not interested in you and I don't have time for this. Can you please not follow me around?"
The other people present there turned to me, with a look of slight disgust, before one of them came forward and spoke,"Excuse me, miss. Let me handle this."
That man was around 20 years old and by the looks of it, he too had come here for an Unorthodox test and that confidence… he probably made it as well.
'He doesn't seem like a bad guy… just a bit immature for his age, I suppose,' I thought as I observed him before speaking,"I-
Though before I could even speak, another man spoke from behind,"scum like you are the reason why girls can't walk around safely in the streets these days. One day you are following, another day you are stalking them before you prey on them. People like you should be beaten down to the point that you won't even look at girls."
'An escalation? Is he someone who failed to enter the Unorthodox group and now is trying to take out his anger at me? Hmmm… looking around, everyone else is almost the same as they are agreeing with him,' I thought as I turned at that girl who looked like she had nothing to do with this.
However, the first guy realised that it is going too far than what it should be… Hmmm, I wonder what he will do now?
The crowd started riling up against me and I just stood there eating another one of my ice cream, enjoying its flavour. It was really tasty, maybe I should try to get the recipe for it.
'Maybe if I could add a bit of strawberry, it will become even better,' I thought as I saw one of those guys touching my shoulder before proceeding to pull me, but before he could do so…
"WHAT THE F*CK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!!!" a voice came from a distance and everyone turned to the source of the voice to find a blonde-haired girl looking at the crowd with fury in her eyes.
Lucy… and Lucas too, huh? There was also Dalton standing there observing me eating the ice cream. Everyone here knew who Lucas was, and I stood there wondering what they were doing here.
"Calm down, Lucy. Do you really think he would need your help with this?" Lucas spoke as he looked at me with an apathetic and cold gaze. The crowd took a few steps back before I sighed and moved forward towards Lucy.
She wasn't looking at me but glaring at the crowd who were literally scared of Lucy's mana surge. I simply patted her and said,"it's alright. Calm down, will ya? Getting angry for a stranger like me isn't really normal, you know?" She, hearing my words, calmed down in a moment before looking at me and speaking,"you aren't a stranger. You are the only friend I have right now, as my brother won't allow anyone near me."
"I am pretty sure he won't allow me as well," I said as I observed the narrowed gaze of Lucas at me before Lucy spoke,"well, he can't do anything about you, so it doesn't matter. Plus, he knows that you won't harm me anyway, so he doesn't really mind you being around me… or he does mind, but not as much as others."
'How does he know that I won't harm you?' I wanted to ask but let it go before turning around to see the same girl who caused all the commotion to move forward with a shy face as she moved towards Lucas and spoke,
"Sir Lucas… I am Rita Cleve, I am the daughter of-"
Though Lucas cut her off as he spoke,"I saw the whole commotion. You made my sister angry, I don't think I have anything to talk about with you."
Dalton, who was observing the situation, moved forward towards me and said,"My name is Dalton. May I know your name?"
I nodded at him before answering,"Aidan Williamson."
Hearing my name, everyone except Lucas and Lucy became dumbfounded before turning to look at the rankings of the Unorthodox division.
[Rank 1: Aidan Williamson. Score: 234,425
Rank 2: Sabrina Carter. Score: 56,234
.
.
.
Rank 10: Rita Cleve. Score: 48,340]
Even Dalton kept staring at the scoreboard before finally paying attention to me as he asked,"is that… you?" His eyes seemed really shaken and he couldn't believe he was really looking at the score he was looking at.
'I think the highest anyone ever scored was 102,567 made by one of the fourth years, four years ago. His Unorthodox ability was to create artefacts with simple objects. The artefacts can't increase combat ability, but anything else was possible,' I thought before turning at Lucy as I ask,
"What brings you here, though?"
Lucy then realises what they came here for before Lucas speaks,"we were here to bring the Unorthodox ones to the facility. Since their test was already done, they can immediately shift. Though I didn't think…"
Lucas trails off in the end before I smiled at him as I thought,'you did not think that I would be in the Unorthodox rankings?'
And then Dalton gulped a little before he started calling all the names before all 10 of the Unorthodox began walking towards the inner circle of Arcadia Academy, where we would be allowed to watch the final selection before we would be assigned our dorm rooms.
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