Chapter 27: False Peace

"A ceasefire, huh? What for, Vael?"

The question caused Vael to pause for a moment as he sat inside their makeshift base, which had been built not far from the Arcane Kingdom.

"I don’t know~."

After hearing Vael’s answer, Azrath rose from his chair and stepped outside for a while. He was neither angry nor disappointed. Perhaps Vael had chosen a ceasefire to give himself time to think of a strategy. That was what Azrath believed.

The heavy rain that had been pouring down finally stopped, and a ray of light emerged from above. The sun began to rise, casting its light across Haruki’s face.

"Ah, it’s morning already?"

Haruki began looking toward his academy. From a distance, he spotted what appeared to be someone waiting by the academy’s main gate.

He took a few more steps forward to get a better look at the person waiting there. The closer he got to the academy, the clearer the figure became.

It turned out to be Vila, who was waiting for him. The moment Vila spotted the figure she had been waiting for, she immediately ran toward Haruki.

"Haruki!"

Vila’s gentle call made Haruki feel a slight warmth in his chest.

"You were waiting for me?"

"Of course! You’re the one who hasn’t come back yet!"

Haruki continued walking toward the academy. He then turned to Vila and asked,

"How is Teacher Lukas doing?"

Vila fell silent for a moment, unsure of what to say about Teacher Lukas’s current condition. Seeing the sudden change in her expression, Haruki immediately understood that Lukas was still in critical condition.

Upon reaching the dormitory, Haruki told Vila to head to the infirmary while he went to change his clothes, which were completely soaked.

"I’ll wait for you there, okay..."

Haruki simply nodded before continuing toward the boys’ dormitory. The rainwater clinging to his clothes slowly dripped onto the floor, and the water trapped in his hair fell to the ground as well.

The students who happened to see Haruki began whispering about him again. He also overheard Magnus and Philip becoming the subjects of their conversations.

Whether those conversations were good or bad, Haruki didn’t care. After all, this was something he had always experienced in his real life back at school.

...

"Hey, look at that guy. He’s so quiet..."

The whispers entered Haruki’s ears while he was at school in his real world.

"I heard he’s a bookworm. Trying to show off how smart he is, huh?"

"Just looking at his face makes me sick."

Those were the kinds of things Haruki had heard while living in the real world.

Ever since my first day of elementary school, I had never known what it was like to have friends.

Both of my parents had passed away when I was young, or at least, that was what my grandmother had told me. I had been raised by her since childhood, and she was the only person I considered a companion to talk to.

However, after I entered high school, my grandmother passed away due to old age. From that moment onward, I lived alone in her house, which had now become my home.

It was truly a hollow feeling to lose someone I loved, especially someone who had always been there to talk to.

Ever since I entered my first year of high school, I had never been like the other students.

While they were busy making friends, I simply read the novels I had saved on my phone. Yet even in high school, I still became the subject of gossip because of my quiet personality.

Whenever I sat in my chair, I would often imagine what it would be like if I could kill all the students who talked behind my back. Perhaps then, I would feel more motivated to go to school.

Sometimes, I also wondered what it would be like if the characters from the novels I read could become my friends.

Then, when I entered my second year, I finally made a friend named Takeru.

He was the first person who ever greeted me. I had no idea whether he was simply messing with me or playing some kind of game that involved giving people commands.

But he kept greeting me again and again, and eventually, we became friends, even if we weren’t particularly close.

And then, out of nowhere, I suddenly found myself inside the world of the novel I had been reading, along with a system of my own.

When I first arrived in this world, I killed the soldiers who attacked me and Vila.

I killed those soldiers without the slightest hesitation or guilt. Normally, an ordinary person would feel awkward or struggle with the experience of killing someone for the first time.

Yet I had killed those soldiers as though I were someone completely devoid of emotion.

After entering this world, I began to feel that staying here was far better than returning to the real world.

Because it was here that I finally found friends like Vila, Philip, and Magnus.

I was also grateful to have met teachers who were genuinely kind to me, such as Teacher Lukas and Teacher Aelin.

"What am I spacing out for? Heh."

Haruki was now standing right in front of his room. Just as he was about to turn the doorknob, the door suddenly swung open.

Standing on the other side was none other than Magnus.

"Yo, Haruki. So you finally came back."

Magnus looked Haruki up and down, noticing that he was completely drenched.

"You should change your clothes first."

Haruki placed his wet clothes into a wooden laundry basket before putting on a fresh set of clothes. He then dried his hair with a towel.

"Looks like Philip hasn’t woken up yet..."

"Did you hit him too hard?"

"Huh? No way he’s that weak..."

The two stared at each other before bursting into laughter, as though nothing had happened outside.

"Now that you mention it, Philip isn’t that weak."

"Alright, I’m heading to the infirmary."

Haruki slowly turned the doorknob, stepped outside, and closed the door behind him. He then hurried down the corridor, desperate to see how Teacher Lukas was doing.

"Please don’t die..."

His hurried steps soon turned into a run as his concern for Teacher Lukas grew overwhelming.

When Haruki arrived in front of the infirmary, he immediately pushed the door open.

Inside, he saw only Aelin, Vila, and several other teachers.

"Teacher Lukas!"

He rushed toward where Lukas was lying and saw that his body was covered in bandages. Nearly every part of him had been wrapped.

Haruki could barely contain his shock at the sight of Lukas’s body, almost entirely covered in bandages.

"Teacher Aelin! Is Teacher Lukas going to be alright?!"

Aelin said nothing. She could only struggle to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes.

For the first time, Aelin, who was usually lively and cunning, looked utterly devastated. She was so overwhelmed with sadness that she couldn’t even bring herself to speak.

Meanwhile, somewhere else or more precisely, at the Frostval military base Vael was sitting leisurely in his chair when Azrath approached him.

"Hmm? What is it, Azrath?"

"How long is this ceasefire going to last?"

Azrath’s question left Vael confused for a moment before he eventually broke into a sinister smile.

"Until I get bored. Then I’ll go back and have some fun over there~."