Chapter 325 Volume V - Chapter 43: A New Problem
After I left the library... I didn't have much to do, to be honest.
Lithoa had told me that I would probably meet a family that would try to kill me, and I did. But... he also said that they would give me something, and it hadn't happened.
When I think back over the events of the past few hours, I can't tell if I failed or succeeded, and trying to think about it is becoming exhausting.
I sighed lightly, focused my eyes in front of me, and looked at the busy city. Traffic was moving fast, people were everywhere. The skyscrapers and buildings were stunning. But after seeing it several times and experiencing the same feeling several times, it didn't make much sense anymore.
I sighed again, this time looking around. And after finding a park, I walked a little bit further and then I left myself on an empty bench.
It was only around four in the afternoon. I had four hours at least, considering the permission I'd gotten. I could go back without waiting for eight, which was what I had in mind. But I didn't always come to this city, at least this part of it, and if there was something I could do, I wanted to do it.
Still... no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't come up with anything. After about twenty minutes, I gave up and decided to go back to the academy. I didn't think much as I made my way back to the magnetic train station.
Actually... I guess I could try to wake Lithoa up. I'm already out of that library, so it shouldn't be a problem anymore. I could talk to him about what I've been through and try to get an idea.
So, when I was already inside the station, approaching the ticket point, I called out to my mind.
'Lit-'
But... I couldn't help but pause, even though it had only just begun. At the end of the slowly moving ticket line, I squinted, focusing on the bright yellow thing I saw out of the corner of my eye.
In the crowd of people, at some distance from me... something was visible, making no effort to hide itself. It seemed to shine through the pale color of the people and their clothes in general.
It was a young woman with hair in a ponytail and a color reminiscent of the sun. Behind her was another young woman with long, black hair. They easily attracted attention as people around couldn't help but look in their direction, but the duo didn't seem to care too much.
My eyebrows raised slightly as I watched the duo heading toward the exit of the station. I couldn't help but be surprised.
I mean, I wasn't expecting this... But considering I didn't want to leave the city in the first place, couldn't I use this? I wanted to spend some time anyway...
I finally nodded my head as I convinced myself again, and then I got out of the ticket line and started heading back to the city. I was moving a little bit faster than usual so that I could catch up with my targets. And it didn't take me long to catch up with the duo I saw. I could already tell where they were by the movements of the crowd.
Just at the exit of the station, the duo paused. The dark-haired one lifted her watch and unfolded a holographic map of the city in front of her. Then, they looked at it side by side. I approached them from behind. Soon, I could hear what they were saying.
"-hat store over there was good."
A familiar voice entered my ear, followed by another nodding in agreement.
"Yeah, I also went there once."
I stopped walking when I was right behind them, a slight smile on my face, and then I touched both of their shoulders briefly.
Lucia suddenly turned around. Sue followed her friend again, though a little slower. Finally, when our eyes met, there was a brief silence between us. But then Sue's eyebrows rose slightly.
"Adrian?"
I widened my smile.
"Yeah, I had a little errand in town. I was on my way back to the academy when I saw you."
"Oh, I see..."
Following Sue, Lucia pointed to a spot on the still-open holographic screen, smiling, even if it was barely noticeable under her usual black mask.
"We're going to a clothing store. Do you want to come?"
I looked at the store on the screen as I nodded my head to indicate that I was happy to accept the offer. It was one of the common stores I see in almost every city. But... for some reason, the space it occupied looked a bit bigger on the map than a normal store.
"Then let's go!"
As they started to walk toward the store, I followed them, and we were not silent the whole way. After a short while of small talk, Lucia became serious for a moment when there was a short silence between us.
She seemed to have something on her mind, but she chose not to keep it to herself.
"You're preparing for second year, right?"
All I could do in response to her words was to look at her face blankly.
Why did she say that so seriously? As if... something different was going to happen. I mean, something different was definitely going to happen... especially the internship thing, which sometimes made me wonder about the future. A lot of things were going to be accelerated because the increasing number of dungeons around the world was a big problem.
But... we've already talked about this before. It was not a question she needed to repeat now, at this very moment, with such a serious expression.
"Preparing for what...?"
Lucia continued quickly, without any reaction.
"I'm talking about who you're going to support, who you're going to join, or whether you're going to form your own faction. Have you done any research on the upper classes?"
What is she talking about...? I don't understand...
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Lucia just looked at me after what I said. After looking at my expression, which made it clear that I really didn't understand anything, she let out a deep sigh. However... she didn't seem too surprised. It was as if she had expected something like this.
"You already know that the first year is very different from the other three years. The classes were taught in the style of high school, and since we were still learning most of the material, they were kind of preparing us for the next years. It's not just the classes or the attitude of the school toward the students that distinguishes the first year from the others."
My eyebrows furrowed as I focused completely on what Lucia was saying. She seemed to be talking about something really important. And... things I didn't know.
"Have you ever noticed that during your first year, rather than seeing upper years in the garden or around the campus, you never interacted with them, and they also never even bothered to do so?"
I paused involuntarily for a moment, thinking about what she had said and the half year I had spent at the academy... and I realized that she was actually right.
I never spoke to a single person from the upper years properly. I mean, there were a few among Risa and her friends when I was dealing with James, but even they were usually too hesitant to talk to me.
It was really strange, considering that three quarters of the academy is made up of upperclassmen.
"This is because the academy specifically warns the upper years not to have any interaction with the first years. This rule was put in place a few years ago because there used to be a lot of cases of students who didn't know how the academy worked being tricked by upperclassmen."
My eyes widened slightly as I realized where the conversation was going. Sue sighed at this point, as if something had annoyed her.
"Now that we're going into second year, this wall between us will be completely removed. In short, we will be interacting with powerful people in the upper classes; we will also interact with the factions formed by the children of guild leaders and pillar families. They will invite us to their factions and guilds, and they will naturally try to eliminate those who do not accept as they will see them as enemies of their factions. The people who will be most affected are those at the top of the ranks, and especially you, Adrian."
Because I'm not a noble, my background doesn't bind me to anybody or any community... on top of that, I'm first among the first years.
Now I understand what she's talking about. And this... is something that could really come back to me as a problem.
"I... I didn't have the slightest idea about that. Thank you for telling me."
Another addition to my problems... perfect.
"But you also mentioned something about forming my own faction. Wouldn't I be a bigger target if I tried something like that...?"
Lucia nodded her head in agreement.
"Of course, you would. But you can also try to grow by choosing to resist them. Being one of the people in control of a faction has more advantages than you think. If you can get a few of the upper classes on your side, I don't think it would be too difficult to compete with the other factions. In fact... I think this is actually one of the things Aiden had planned for the future when he formed our study group."
Her last sentence caused me to stop where I was for a moment, and then my eyes widened involuntarily. Not only me, but also Sue, who had been walking quietly beside us until now, paused and reacted in a similar way to me.
Even when I thought about it, Lucia was... absolutely right.
I was the first in the ranking... Lucia, Julian, and Celine, who came from the pillar families and were third, fourth, and seventh in the rankings respectively... There were exceptions like Alice and Sue, but in general, our group consisted of people at the top of the rankings.
"I don't think he formed the group just for that purpose. He was really good at fostering the friendship between us and he approached us all in a friendly way. To think that he had ulterior motives or that he brought us together with that in mind... it seems absurd. But I'm sure he had the future in the back of his mind. It would be absurd for someone like him otherwise."
She paused briefly after her words. Then sighed as her expression fell slightly.
"Of course, his current situation is a bit... troubling right now. The start of the second year is less than two months away. I have no idea if he'll be able to come back during that time, or what will happen if he does. Most of the upperclassmen must also be taking his presence seriously. So, if he manages to come back, they might try to prevent him from forming his own faction. So... he's a completely unpredictable variable right now."
Finally, Lucia turned her gaze to a street not far from us and pointed to a signpost.
"Anyway, we'll talk about this in more detail later. For now... let's just do what we came here to do. The store is just over there."
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