“It's one thing to be randomly shoved into another team, but Erylin... Erylin is also...!”
Recalling Erylin's terrible state yesterday, Vanessa felt a wave of dizziness.
Why did things turn out like this?
Her best friend had collapsed for some unknown reason, yet she was still being forced to carry out this mission!
A female classmate beside her gently supported Vanessa's shoulder, frowning slightly with concern. “It's alright, Vanessa...”
Imeve frowned and stepped in front of the two men, her gaze freezing.
“An order from above? From whom?”
Seeing that Imeve looked quite young, one of the men spoke up, “Are you a student too? Your uniform looks different from theirs...”
The two men exchanged a glance and smiled.
Having worked together for so long, they immediately understood each other's thoughts.
Such a beautiful student, wearing such a luxurious uniform...
She had to be from a wealthy family!
How could they not rip her off?
The swordsman smiled greedily and held up three fingers.
“For you, let's make it thirty gold coins.”
“Hmm... how about fifty instead?”
Imeve pinched the bridge of her nose.
She was actually angry enough to laugh.
As the deputy commander of this rescue team, she was actually being extorted by her own team members?
They really couldn't tell who was boss here, could they?
Just as Imeve was about to teach these two ignorant fools a lesson, a voice suddenly shattered everyone's train of thought.
“Vanessa!”
The students who had already reached for the wands at their waists were drawn by this shout, their movements freezing in midair.
Under everyone's bewildered gazes, Ain quickly walked up to Vanessa and grabbed her arms with some excitement, a look of wild intensity in his eyes.
“What you just said... I didn't hear wrong, did I? You said you were shoved in midway?!”
“Are you sure!”
Not just Vanessa, but everyone else failed to react for a moment.
The students present stared at Ain in surprise.
We're about to start a fight here!
Why are you asking these weird questions now?
Vanessa's mind was still stuck on her confrontation with the two swordsmen.
For a moment, her brain stalled.
“What do you mean...”
“What you just said!”
Suddenly, a female student tried to pull Ain away.
“Ain, stop grabbing Vanessa like that. She was just hurt...”
Ain glared at her and said coldly, “Shut up!”
Not just that girl, but everyone was stunned.
They didn't even understand why Ain was so agitated.
At the same time, realizing he had gone a bit too far, Ain suppressed the excitement in his chest. He let go of Vanessa's shoulders and did his best to control his emotions.
“Sorry, my bad...”
Ain apologized to the girl, then took a deep breath, staring into Vanessa's eyes.
“You said earlier that you didn't want to join this mission?”
Vanessa replied blankly, “Yeah...”
“Then why are you here? Or rather, when did you join this mission!”
Vanessa frowned slightly, asking suspiciously, “Just yesterday morning. I even went to talk to Erylin about it...”
“Yesterday morning? Are you sure? Think carefully!”
Thinking back to yesterday morning when she went to Erylin to complain, only to have Erylin stubbornly defend Ain, Vanessa's anger flared up again.
She remembered what Erylin had said.
“He's different!”
And then, she remembered the scene where Ain was lying on the ground covered in blood, and Erylin had fought so violently.
Vanessa frowned and replied, “It was yesterday morning. How could I forget...”
Suddenly, she seemed to realize something and corrected herself, “But if you mean when I officially transferred from Group One to Group Three led by Instructor Finn...”
“That was actually this morning. Yesterday I just went to see Erylin early. Instructor Finn only sent me the message to join the team this morning.”
As if he had gotten the answer he wanted, Ain's mind began to spin rapidly. He lightly covered his mouth with his right hand.
“So that's how it is...”
“How could all of this be a coincidence...”
Imeve was also baffled by Ain's questioning.
Just as she was trying to figure out the meaning behind their conversation, one of the swordsmen took advantage of her distraction and quickly stepped in front of Ain.
“Hey, you guys, what are you whispering about!”
The swordsman glanced at Ain, who was deep in thought, and chuckled. “Ah, I remember you...”
“You're the guy who was lying on the ground yesterday.”
“You bled so much, are you really okay? How about we only charge you one gold coin instead...”
The companion behind him seemed to catch on and chimed in, “We can count the other two gold coins as the treatment fee Mr. Harrison left for you.”
The swordsman standing in front of Ain chuckled. “We really do care about the delicate little flowers of the Empire.”
The surrounding students could no longer stand their mockery.
“Ain, Vanessa, get out of the way!”
“Let us handle this guy first...”
The swordsman interrupted, “Heh, do you think you're—”
Right as the tension reached its peak, Ain let out a long breath. His gaze sharpened, and his cold words pierced straight into everyone's ears.
“While I'm trying to think, could you shut your filthy dog mouth?”
“Every time you open it, a foul stench comes out. As a swordsman, do you survive on eating garbage when you're not using your mouth?”
“Do you eat shit every day to keep a balanced nutrition?”
The moment these words came out, all the students gasped.
They looked at each other, their faces filled with utter bewilderment.
The swordsman was also stunned.
He had never heard such an aggressively combined string of insults before!
“What did... what did he just say?”
“I don't know, but it sounded incredibly foul.”
“Such profane language, coming from a student of the Imperial Academy?”
“Doesn't our Empire worship the Goddess of Light? Such filthy words are practically a desecration to Her!”
Vanessa pulled at Ain's arm. She had never expected him to step forward at a time like this, standing in front of her to demand justice.
“Wait, Ain, forget it...”
Vanessa looked at Ain with concern.
“Didn't you suffer such a serious injury yesterday? Besides, he's actually a Tier 4...”
Just as Vanessa was about to warn him about the swordsman's strength, the man drew his silver longsword. Adjusting his breathing, his gaze locked onto Ain, and he assumed a standard “Battle” sword stance.
Imeve also pulled out her wand immediately, wanting to stop it, but when she saw Ain's expression, she froze.
It was the first time she had ever seen Ain look so excited.
He didn't hear Vanessa's warning at all.
His gaze wasn't even on the swordsman.
The corners of Ain's mouth curled into a cold smile, and a raging fire burned in his eyes, as if it would swallow everything.
“Ha...”
“So that's how it is...”
“So this is what ‘predetermined fate’ means...”
“Now everything connects...”
“You bastards who dared to hurt Erylin...”
“I'm really sorry I couldn't wipe you all out sooner...”
Rate on N.U.
