“You… you… you scum from the slums!”
Di Lun gritted his teeth in anger, only managing to spit out a meaningless retort.
“Scum really have no manners, daring to speak to Master Di Lun like that?”
The two lackeys rushed forward to back Di Lun up when they saw he was agitated.
“Alright, alright, you two stop barking and go play somewhere else.”
Xi Ya didn’t even give them a glance, waving his hand in the air as if shooing flies.
“Let’s go. Don’t mind them.”
Xi Ya walked straight ahead.
The two lackeys wanted to stop him again, but thinking it would dirty their clothes if they touched him, they had no choice but to step aside.
The noble students watching from the sidelines kept criticizing Xi Ya for his lack of manners, but Xi Ya let it go in one ear and out the other.
‘You all call him an uneducated commoner—why should he bother showing you any manners?’
‘Every single one of you is too cowardly to do anything but talk behind his back. Even Di Lun is better; at least he dares to face him head-on.’
‘And even if Di Lun does come at him, Xi Ya isn’t afraid at all. An orphan like him, whose family register has only one page, has nothing to protect. Back on Blue Star, that would make him invincible.’
Xi Ya paused.
He remembered how this part of the story ended: Di Lun would throw out one last line…
“You just wait!”
Di Lun shouted from behind them.
“Fine. We’ll wait.”
Without turning his head, Xi Ya raised his right hand.
He wanted to give the international gesture of friendship, but afraid Di Lun wouldn’t understand, he changed it to a thumbs-down.
Though it wasn’t as aggressive as the other gesture, it still pissed Di Lun off considerably.
“Hmm~ Xi Ya, aren’t you afraid of offending him?”
Feili tilted her head, watching his performance.
“Why should I be afraid?”
Xi Ya wasn’t afraid of offending the second son of Count Barnet at all.
That whole family were villains in the game.
Even if Di Lun hadn’t come today, he would’ve ended up clashing with the Barnet family sooner or later, since he was with Feili.
Besides, Di Lun wouldn’t survive past Chapter 2 in the plot.
Xi Ya knew exactly how Di Lun would try to get back at him.
Who’s afraid of him?
Bring it on.
“What can he do to me in the Academy? And outside, I’m not scared either. Threaten my family and friends? Sorry, but I don’t have any family or friends.”
After saying that, Xi Ya realized that he had been alone in this world all along.
How pathetic.
‘What’s there to be pathetic about? I’ve made it this far on my own. Why be afraid of loneliness?’
‘True, I have no one to rely on, but at least I won’t be dragged down by others, right?’
“Is that so~ You weren’t like this before, were you, Xi Ya? Ever since you came back from the ruins, it’s like you’ve become a different person~ Could it be…”
Feili gave a meaningful smile.
Xi Ya immediately grew alert.
‘Why does she keep testing me?’
This question wasn’t hard to answer.
“You wouldn’t understand. When a person has been through life and death, they learn a lot of things.”
Xi Ya turned to Feili, putting on a thoughtful expression.
“After escaping from those ruins, I realized that you can’t keep selling yourself short. I suffered in the slums for over ten years, and after all that struggle, I finally made it to the Royal Capital to study. Why should I take this kind of crap from these nobles anymore? We’re all human; there’s no inherent superiority or inferiority. Why should I coddle them?”
“Maybe I used to be a bit insecure, unable to hold my head up in front of nobles. But now, even though I didn’t have their advantages, I still passed the exam and got into the Elite Class, just like them. I think I’m pretty amazing now—no worse than them. So why keep swallowing my pride?”
As he spoke, Xi Ya put his hands on his hips, with a look that said, “I’m awesome.”
‘Ah, who can blame me? I’ve got strength, and with strength comes confidence.’
‘Try picking any random noble and tossing them into the slums. Let’s see if they can accomplish what I have.’
“Xi Ya talks so reasonably~ But from what I recall, wasn’t someone’s score forty-first place? If someone hadn’t been caught cheating and disqualified, that someone wouldn’t have gotten into the Elite Class at all~”
Feili saw Xi Ya’s confident expression and taunted him in a syrupy voice.
Xi Ya was completely silenced.
‘What, should I be thanking you? Thank you for giving me the chance to enter the Elite Class?’
‘And here I was, drawing all the fire for her, getting us out of that noble siege early.’
‘But Feili just stabs me in the back in return.’
‘Folks, I’ve run into a toxic girl. End the topic immediately!’
Xi Ya ignored her, walked straight to the office door, and knocked.
“Come in.”
Xi Ya pushed the door open.
Behind the desk sat a female teacher in uniform.
She wore round-framed glasses, and behind the lenses, a pair of wine-red eyes were focused on scanning the documents on the desk.
Her long black hair was tied into a high ponytail that swayed gently as she tilted her head.
She was the magic teacher for the first-year Elite Class, Sophia Keaton.
Sophia was a young female teacher from a remote town.
She was only twenty years old.
Logically, at such a young age with shallow experience, she shouldn’t have been qualified to be the Elite Class’s teacher.
But Sophia was an exception.
She was exceptionally skilled in the four-element magic of water, fire, wind, and earth, with extremely high elemental affinity—completely on par with the veteran teachers who had taught at the Academy for decades.
It was said she had also been recommended by the Dark Night Witch.
So naturally, she became the magic teacher for the Elite Class.
However, her light affinity was extremely low—so low that she could barely use any light magic at all.
The teachers found this very strange.
But with the recommendation of the Dark Night Witch, who dared to question her?
With his memories from his previous life, Xi Ya knew that Sophia wasn’t human.
She was actually a member of the Blood Clan.
‘Twenty years old? She might even be two hundred.’
‘I wonder what kind of disguise magic Sophia uses. Blood Clan females usually have cherry-blossom-white hair and scarlet eyes.’
‘As for elemental affinity, the Demon Race’s natural talent for the four-element magic is far above humans. So it’s no surprise that her four-element magic is outstanding while her light affinity is abysmal.’
‘Even among the Three Major Demon Clans, the Blood Clan is the weakest. If it were the other two—Demons or Dragonborn Demons—they could blow up all the crystal balls in the Academy.’
‘But that’s all Xi Ya knows. The game plot rarely mentions Sophia. After Chapter 2, she never appears again, nor does any Blood Clan member similar to her. She must be just a minor supporting character. I have no idea what the game development team had in mind by designing her.’
‘What happened to Sophia afterward? What’s her true identity? Xi Ya has no clue.’
‘Whatever. She barely participates in the plot anyway. Why bother about her?’
“You’re back. Did you finish the entrance exam?”
Hearing the door open, Sophia looked up.
“Teacher Keaton, we’re done. Here’s the commission letter.”
Dailina placed the letter on the desk.
Sophia took the commission letter, leaned sideways against the back of her chair, and crossed one leg over the other, revealing her black-stockinged thigh under her pencil skirt.
“Good.”
She raised her right hand, cast a space magic, and tossed the letter into it.
Then she clasped her hands together and smiled at them.
“Congratulations on passing the entrance exam.”
“Thank you, Teacher Keaton.”
“You were gone for so long. Did something happen?”
Sophia’s expression turned concerned.
“Mm, yes. When we were at the ruins…”
Dailina wanted to explain what had happened but didn’t know where to start.
“Let me tell it.”
Feili stepped forward, signaling Dailina with her eyes.
Dailina nodded and stepped back behind her.