Chapter 20: History class
The distant sound of rain crashing against the barrier filled the night air as I walked back to the dorms.
The staff let me leave immediately after Evanka was through with me. I didn’t find Alice in the shrine when I was leaving, so I assumed she’d get back to me about communication later.
My mind couldn’t help but wander back to the deal I’d made with Evanka.
In a way, it was more than I ever expected to gain from the interaction. I’d only gone there hoping to reduce my official potential to Demigod. The part about serving her had just come to me in the heat of the moment.
All in all, it was a rather favorable deal.
It gave me some protection from rabid noble factions. They would certainly still come for me. Those of Demigod potential were still immensely valuable.
’It should be a bit more manageable now though.’
It also stopped whatever hell announcing my potential would have caused.
Most importantly, I’d now gained Evanka’s unofficial backing by serving as an agent for her. In all honesty, I wasn’t exactly sure what that entailed.
I hadn’t gone into much detail on her agents like Alice’s activities back in the book, but I could still somewhat draw the situation from the details I had of the book and her character.
Evanka left Bastion to find a path that escaped the inevitable end of this world. It had been the first vision she’d ever had. It was also the cause of her complete disillusionment with playing politics in the republic.
Still, even though she was gone, she wasn’t willing to leave the academy completely vulnerable to attacks. That was why she had agents, those she could control to thwart her dangerous visions from coming true.
’Participating in such operations might be for the better. At least, I’ll have some more knowledge of what happened behind the scenes.’
Of course, one would certainly wonder why any tragedies even happened in the academy with someone as powerful as her watching over it.
The reason was twofold.
Firstly, her burden, the stitched tongue, prevented her from sharing her prophecies with anyone. So she could only give vague instructions to her agents and hope they were able to neutralize the implied threat.
Also, although she was an Angel, she hadn’t been able to foresee many of the tragedies that occurred in the academy. That was due to a rather simple reason. She was too far from the academy to get accurate visions of it.
Even the few she could accurately see took most of her energy, and in the place she was, doing that willy-nilly was akin to playing Russian roulette with five chambers loaded.
I wondered how harrowing that first vision must have been that she’d deemed it better to find answers elsewhere than even try to help from within the republic.
I knew what that vision had been of course, but witnessing it was something entirely different.
I sighed at that.
There was a nonzero chance I’d witness that ending as well, especially if things went according to the plot.
I wondered how I’d feel then.
Soon enough, I stood before the station stairs again. They were completely empty compared to their state this morning.
Before climbing down, I turned, giving the academy a last look.
A look at the street lamps gently illuminating the walkway.
At the fireflies floating in the dark sea of grass like stars in the night sky.
At the blue light softly released by the central tower.
I couldn’t help but find a weird sense of pride in that.
’This world can certainly be beautiful.’
I walked into the empty station.
"...And so the pledge was made with the burning of all flags. That all nationalities were rendered meaningless, that all cultures were considered one, that we would not repeat the mistakes of old, that we shall not destroy ourselves in meaningless conflict. Such is the promise of the founders. Such is the promise of the people. Such is the promise of Bastion."
I groaned, struggling to focus on the class as nausea threatened to drown me.
"You good, man?"
Shin whispered beside me.
I didn’t answer him though. I could already see the history instructor giving us the stink eye.
’Shit...’
I’d tried exercising this morning. The physical conditioning class from yesterday had been enough of an eye-opener for me on the state of my body. It was far too weak to be of any use to me now.
Hence, I tried following the words of a famous bald hero back home, only to very quickly realize this body wasn’t cut out for it.
I couldn’t finish a quarter of the objectives, let alone complete them.
Still, I pushed my body to the limit. Not to the extent I couldn’t function afterward, but to the point I felt like absolute shit.
I could already foresee my future mornings being this awful. This body and its burden were nigh crippling. I had to build tolerance for it.
I sighed, resting my feverish head on the desk. The history instructor continued regardless.
"What I have just provided you with, cadets, is a summary of the formation of our great nation. We will cover more on the Gang of 3, the incompetence of the previous reorganizational regime, and the early policies of the republic in our next class. Any other topic will be discussed at a later date."
He gave a frustrated look to the rather disinterested class before sighing.
"Dismissed."
He mumbled something under his breath afterward, though I couldn’t exactly tell what from the back seat.
The class erupted the moment he stepped out, with cadets quickly forming groups before heading to the cafeteria. Not everyone was in a hurry though, some merely sat down to chat.
Weirdly, I noticed a lot more people looking at me compared to yesterday. From commoners to nobles, even Varic and his clique tossed me curious looks. None approached me yet though.
’Has word of my Demigod potential already spread?’
It was the only explanation I could think of. Plus, I already expected most nobles to be aware of it by this morning. This sort of info tended to spread exponentially fast.
A sharp poke to my side knocked me out of my thoughts. I glared at Shin.
"Fuck... I hope you are aware that you possess claws. Are you trying to fucking gut me?"
The wolfman merely scratched the back of his ear.
"Oh yeah. Almost forgot, sorry about that."
I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.
He continued before I could even retort.
"Anyway. You’ve been looking out of it all morning. You doing fine?"
Maybe it was because I didn’t have to listen to the history instructor drone endlessly, but I was already feeling a bit better.
Not by much though, but enough to the point I could focus somewhat clearly.
"I’m fine, really. Just a bit sleepy is all."
He didn’t look like he was buying it, but I didn’t care.
"Hope you’re not too sleepy for our next class. Wouldn’t want your face getting smashed in."
"Why don’t you worry about yourself, Wolfie."
As much as I wanted to brush off his words, there was certainly a real chance of me receiving a beatdown next class.
’Combat practice.’
It was the practical portion for today. While it’d likely just be light sparring for now, a lot of cadets here were nobles.
They’d been trained by their households from tender ages in expectation of their awakening. It was one of the aspects where nobles trounced non-nobles.
’I pray I get a commoner.’
I could really only hope for the best.
"I’m sorry, Wolfie?"
I ignored his question, quickly changing the topic.
"You heard of my potential yet?"
Shin let out one of his terrifying smirks.
"I kinda already guessed it, with Song having the same potential and all. Still, how lucky. Did you do anything special to get a second awakening?"
"No, definitely nothing I can remember."
I lied as easily as I breathed.
I looked at the emptying classroom.
"We should probably get going as well."
Shin seemed to be of the same mind as he stood up without argument.
I quickly joined him, and before long we were out of the classroom.
On the road to the cafeteria, an idea popped into my head.
Apart from Maki, I hadn’t had any serious interactions with the main characters so far.
I wondered if that was the case for Song as well. I sent her a message,
[Victor: How’s it going, Song. You had contact with the MCs yet?]
Soon enough, we stood before the cafeteria again.
I was already familiar with the motions. Picking a tray, standing in line, then getting my food.
Though the lunch lady did give me a strange look the moment she saw me get a burger again.
What can I say? It was just that good.
Unfortunately, it finished all too quickly and I was forced back to reality.
I sighed, glancing at Shin who was just about done with his meal.
’Guess I better start heading for Combat Practice. Yay.’