Chapter 14: The lamb
The cafeteria building was much less gloomy looking than those surrounding it. It was still brutalistic in design, but the large windows on the walls and roof took a lot of the edge off it.
Thankfully, the large space didn’t feel crowded in the slightest.
I followed Shin’s lead to pick up a metallic tray off the side before joining him in line. Using the bit of time before reaching the front, I glanced around.
The line moved fast, so I was only able to catch a glimpse of the red-haired girl from earlier sitting at a table to the side, with those two girls from before gushing over her like lackeys.
I had a growing suspicion of her identity. It was obvious that she was likely Song. But more importantly, I had an inkling of her role in the original novel. Especially after hearing the name Song and seeing those two girls trailing her.
During the commoners vs. nobles arc in the novel, there had been a third-rate villainess disturbing one of the heroines. She’d gone by the name Song as well. But that Song had never been of much importance, just a minor character in the grand scheme.
’Well, she was. Unless there’s another transmigrator in her body, or she regressed.’
I couldn’t be sure without meeting her first. It was something I had to do by the end of the day at the latest. Any further and I’d be risking massive changes in the plotline.
Before I knew it, I’d reached the front of the line. I wasn’t quite sure what to order, so I just followed Shin’s lead. He’d picked some dark-looking eggs, some bacon-like strips of meat, and a light grey food that looked like a mix between flatbread and a pancake. Finally, a red syrupy sauce to one side of his plate and a cup of purple juice.
He surprised me a bit. Call me wolfist, or whatever it means to discriminate against wolves, but I thought he’d only eat meat.
’I guess he still keeps parts of his human biology.’
But the food looked decent, despite the strange coloring. We quickly found an empty table by the corner to sit.
However, before we began digging in, there was something I wanted to be sure of.
"Hey, Shin."
"Yeah..."
He answered as he struggled to pick up his utensil with his unwieldy claws.
"Do you know who Cadet Song is?"
He paused, dropping his fork before replying.
"Yeah, I do. She’s from the Kim family. Red hair, always followed by two lackeys."
Well, that confirmed my suspicions. This Song and the one from my novel were the same. Still, I needed more information, so I pressed.
"Is she popular around here or what?"
The wolfman nodded, attempting to pick up his utensils again.
"Yeah, her dad’s a paragon after all. Plus, she fainted along with you during the orientation ceremony."
"That makes sense, I guess."
The fork finally slipped into a stable position, making Shin let out a victory yelp. Though, given his voice, it made those sitting around us flinch.
He let out a wry smile at that, clearing his throat lightly before changing the subject.
"There’s some talk going around about a second awakening, in both you and Song. Is it true?"
There was no harm in telling him. With knowledge of my previous gift being public, it wouldn’t be long before people found out. Nobles especially.
"It is."
I replied while cutting off a piece of the pancake-flatbread and dipping it in syrup. Shin continued,
"Really. So did your potential get higher or what?"
"Yeah, it di—"
I stopped halfway, shoving a piece of the pancake into my mouth. The flavors immediately exploded, a rich berry-like taste that perfectly accented the dry fluffiness of the flatbread pancake. The texture was absolutely divine.
"Uh... thish ish shome good shii..."
I didn’t bother finishing what was in my mouth before speaking. Shin merely smiled at that, taking it as a natural end to the conversation.
For the next few minutes, I only concerned myself with what was in front of me. I wouldn’t have given a damn even if the protagonist was right next to me.
It was only after I looked up and saw that even with his unwieldy claws and teeth, Shin seemed to be eating more elegantly than me. At that, I began shoving food in my mouth at a slightly lower pace.
Unfortunately, all good things, it seemed, must come to an end. It didn’t take long before the food finished. On a side note, it turned out that purplish juice was just colored grape juice.
’Who would have thought, they still have grapes here.’
Though on second thought, it did make some sense, considering the massive hydroponic farms located back on the Japanese islands.
Anyway, with my meal done, I went back to my main purpose of being here: finding the main characters.
I carefully scanned all the seats, trying to find anyone matching their distinctive looks. I’d almost given up and decided they’d gone back to class when my eyes spotted two figures sitting at a lone table near one of the walls.
The first of them was facing toward us, so I could see her face. She was pale-skinned, with flowing yet dull ash hair and a sort of almost restless darkness hiding in her pupils. Her face was currently completely cold and impassive, as though indifferent to everything around her. Which was likely true.
’Racheal Solaris.’
Normally, you’d expect anyone bearing such a name to be bright and majestic. Truth is, the Solaris were. But Racheal’s gift had undergone a strange mutation, so she’d awakened almost completely different powers than the rest of her family.
Sitting across from her was a boy. Although I could only see his back, his dark skin and stark white hair were all I needed to identify him.
’Rowan Kade.’
The protagonist of this tragic world. The selfless, tragic, bitter sacrifice of this cruel place. He was the lamb.
Calling him lamb wasn’t just a colloquial expression either, it was the very nature of his gift. Sacrifice. Rowan was certainly the only one who had even the slightest chance of saving this world. He was the only one who had the potential of surpassing the Archon rank.
Even that was the bare minimum humanity needed to escape utter annihilation. In the original novel, he’d gone through hell and back to save humanity. Yet if I hadn’t cut it short, then he would have most certainly failed.
’But none of that has happened yet.’
Currently, he was still just a teenager being dragged around by Racheal because her greedy ass father wanted control of not one but two individuals with Archon potential. While Rowan had the capability of surpassing even the Archon rank, the gift test had only shown rank SSS.
It was also a phenomenon I was counting on to assist me later.
Anyway, what mattered now was that Rowan was a normal person. He wasn’t an orphan, came from what could be considered a lower middle income family from a domed city on the Japanese islands. Although life hadn’t always been kind to him, he still had a loving family, siblings, and a home to return to.
I’d never seen the fun in having a protagonist with a tragic backstory. Instead, I gave him a lot of things he cherished at the start of the story, then slowly and methodically took them away from him one after the other.
At the place I’d stopped in the novel, Rowan had become a rather cold and bitter thing. Still, he remained a good person till the very end.
’It’s just the kind of guy he was.’
I could finally understand my old readers’ sentiments when they’d call me a sadist in the comment sections. At that point in time, it hadn’t seemed like a big deal. Just some overly sensitive readers not understanding the meaning of character development.
’I really am a monster.’
I sighed, rubbing my forehead, trying to look at the positives.
’None of that’s happened yet. With my knowledge of the plot, even if he’ll still suffer, it doesn’t have to be as much.’
I could fix this. I definitely could.
’I’ll start with things I can affect. I will grow in power, and I will stop the destruction of this place. If only to survive, and if only to fix the world I’ve written.’
But even then, even if I succeeded in my plans to stop this world’s destruction, Rowan would likely still die before tasting the fruits of his labor.
The reason for that was his burden.
The brand of sacrifice.
It was a curse that artificially shortened his remaining life span to twenty years. What’s worse was that with every advancement he made, his life span was further shortened.
By the time he reached the level required to even attempt to save this world, his lifespan would be next to nothing.
To be sacrificed. That was Rowan’s fate. That was the fate of the lamb.