There was a time that when I went on a date with my girlfriend (which broke up with me after 2 weeks) in the big mall. Even though she’s beautiful, I still can’t help looking at other women’s backs. I’m a guy after all. That’s probably the reason she left me though.

***

Continuing where we left before…

The headmaster started breaking the seals on me. Every time he did, a sound of thin glass breaking can be heard. Because of it, I instinctively tried to dodge the broken parts of the seal which flew around. It turns out that it was like a hologram-like effect if undone. Sora laughed at me despite my situation.

It continued for an hour. I don’t know how many times the headmaster repeated the process, but he seems to be getting tired as times passes.

We asked him to rest for a while, but he replied “Your life is in danger so I can’t stop. Besides, this is a good exercise for me.” While looking like he’s enjoying this.

“There are only 20 left, but some parts of the broken script are slowly getting automatically repaired.”

“So troublesome, Godfre really knows how to make a challenge. This makes me feel a little nostalgic.”

--Are you serious?

Sora told the headmaster in a monotone voice. Since the headmaster is enjoying the seal breaking, he didn’t mind.

I feel like neither of the two can feel the air of the situation. Is my life really in danger?

I lost the feeling of pain a while ago, so I’m just sitting on the chair while getting sleepy.

The only person in the room who’s is in high spirits is the Headmaster.

He lets out Ouh and Wah sounds every time he finishes a chant.

He’s very energetic for an old man.

After some time, the headmaster stopped his chanting and dropped on the chair behind him. He is breathing heavily and has sweat running down from his head.

“I’m tired! Sora, how many layers are left?”

“10, but 5 are in a stage of automatic repair.”

“Can you continue this in my stead?”

“Only if you return me my magic weapon, I can’t chant spells without a catalyst yet, you know that.”

The headmaster made an I-guess-it-can’t-be-helped face then swung his finger and drew something on the air.

“>”

A magic circle appeared mid-air. Suddenly, a black dagger started appearing magically.

I’m not interested in that, but instead—

“Is that infinite inventory like the ones I saw in games?”

--That one.

I’m always fascinated by the idea of having an infinite inventory. It’s because it can let you carry things without minding the weight or shape. It’ll be great if I had one.

“Unfortunately, it’s not. The dagger I summoned came from the dungeon of the academy. I stored things in there so that it wouldn’t get stolen by thieves.”

What!? You’re breaking my heart!

I look at dagger after Sora took it in mid-air.

It has a really nice design for a dagger. It has a tuning fork-like shape which extends to 13 inches in length and 3 inches width. The handle is long enough for Sora’s hand to hold it. The blade is jet-black in color while its sharp edge has ivory color. The butt of the handle has a red gem attached which makes it look like a real fantasy weapon. All in all, it really looks cool.

“You heard the name before right?”

“Yeah. I can actually understand why it’s called [Black Hermit’s Dagger].”

Then Sora made a proud face.

“I actually made this myself. Not literally though.”

--I don’t get it.

“I hunted some of the materials for its creation. The blade is made out of Mithril and I had it coated with a thin layer of orichalcum which end up looking black. The red gem on the butt was relatively expensive since it came from a broken dungeon core, it costs was almost a thousand gold coins. The handle is made out of the branch from the world tree and is wrapped in lightning wolf’s leather. For the labor, I hired the second best blacksmith in the city of dwarves. The overall cost is ten times more expensive than regular magic weapons which are only on the level of a hundred gold coins. It took me 2 years just to have this.”

“So expensive…”

While saying out the details, he got gloomy and gloomier. “But it was worth it though.” He said while trying to cheer himself up.

“Now then, I’ll start the chanting.”

“#### ### ### ## # # ## ###### ## # #### #### ### >”

When Sora swung his dagger, he slashed thru 3 layers of the seal.

I can feel my strength getting stronger every time he did.

“#### ### ### ## # # ## ###### ## # #### #### ### >”

--And again,

“#### ### ### ## # # ## ###### ## # #### #### ### >”

--And again,

“#### ### ### ## # # ## ###### ## # #### #### ### >”

--Until only one remained of the seals.

Sora is huffing and puffing from tiredness. Unlike the Headmaster, he seemed tired just releasing a few spells.

“The seal is thicker than I thought.” He said while starting to chant again.

“--#### ### >”

This time, he was in shock. I can visually see the last seal in front of me crack, but it did not break unlike the others. After a few seconds, the crack disappeared.

“What the!? It’s thicker than before.”

The headmaster had finally regained his strength and stood up from his seat. He carefully studied the rotating writings on the seal.

“Hmm… This one’s at least 5 times thicker than the last one. It’s thick enough to be called an intermediate level barrier. Regular > isn’t enough for this.”

“It’s that tough!?”

“So we don’t need to used > for this but offensive ones huh.”

“No, using offensive ones are dangerous for Key. He might get hurt if we did.”

The room fell into silence.

Sora and the Headmaster put their hand on their chin while thinking deeply for a way to destroy the last seal.

“The script on the seal is an Original by Godfre. Breaking it from the inside is would take half a day judging from the length of the script.”

The headmaster muttered and then said, “Truly fascinating” while looking at the writings on my seal.

Then Sora made a Hah expression while hitting his palm with his fist, looks like he’s got an idea.

“What about I steal the seal with my dagger? It might be possible.”

The headmaster turned his gaze towards Sora.

“Are you sure you can do it? Stealing a spell without understanding its nature is dangerous.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I can do it.”

“Make sure you can do it dude, my life’s on the line.”

-- Actually, I don’t feel in danger right now.

Sora cut the edge of his thumb with his dagger and spread his blood in the black part of his dagger. Now, writings on the dagger can be seen which wasn’t earlier. It’s probably the blood reflecting the light.

“I’m going to start chanting.”

“Blind and no shadow,--”

--oh it’s English.

“--wanderer of the darkness, unguided and lost in time, wanders around the abyss in endless circles, keeper of souls and guardian of spirits. I pray to the hermit, >”

During the chant, black miasma came oozing out from Sora’s clothes. The dagger on his hand made a dim blue light and the red gem made a pulsing glow. After that, Sora’s shadow and the miasma around his body flew towards me—no, the seal around me.

The seal started shrinking little by little as it gets pulled towards Sora’s dagger.

“That’s some resistance, but it’s nothing I can’t handle!”

After saying so, Sora made a battle cry and poured more strength to his power.

The seal didn’t crack. Rather, it’s getting pulled away from me little by little.

Suddenly, I can feel something getting ripped inside me again. But it doesn’t hurt that much unlike before and I gained a little resistance to pain because of that.

“Impressive” the Headmaster commended Sora while observing him.

After a few minutes, the seal got pulled away from me.

Sora swung his dagger in five directions forming a star.

“>”

Like what the Headmaster said earlier, sealing a seal sounds really stupid, however, it worked. So it’s not really that stupid.

The dagger absorbed the seal and sealed it on the middle part of the dagger in blue crystal formation adding to its shape. Now, the dagger looked complete.

But, at that moment, Sora suddenly made a pained scream while covering his eyes.

“Sora! What happened?”

“So bright! Key’s too bright!”

That’s weird. Rather, I feel weird after Sora removed the seal. It feels like my body is getting light and for some reason, I feel hot too.

After Sora deactivated his Magic Eyes, he can now look at me without any problem, but his eyes look terrible.

“What do you mean about Key being bright?”

The headmaster asked Sora worriedly.

“You know my Magic Eyes can see the amount of mana a person has in light formation right?”

After saying that, the headmaster’s eyes grew in surprise.

“Yes, just like you though. Key has an absurd amount of mana. He’s so bright it’s like I was directly staring into the sun.”

The headmaster looked at me and then looked worried.

“Then, that probably is the reason why he was directed with [God’s Encroachment].”

Sora made a confused face while looking at me.

“I don’t understand. Why would the gods target Key just because of his mana?”

Before the Headmaster could talk, the door of his office slammed open.

There, a girl holding a white staff is standing. Her fluttering hair is like gold while her skin is pinkish white. Her eyes were sharp and are filled with dignity. Her height is only lower than my chest. Moreover, her chest is B cup. I can tell just by looking at it. All in all, she’s short and beautiful.

“I felt a great magic wave coming from here.”

The girl said while walking towards us. But she glared at Sora though.

“Cherlaine Relyzine Goldenbloom, what is your business here?”

Sora asked the girl with a threatening voice. But since he’s wearing a pained face, it’s not really imposing a threat.

“I was going to see the Headmaster to ask him about something. It has no relation to you or what so ever.”

“Ho? I thought that you were going to beg to take your Golden staff back.”

Sora said while swinging his dagger like a fan.

The girl’s eyes grew the moment she noticed that it was a dagger.

“[Back Hermit’s Dagger]? Why do you have that?”

“Oh nothing, the Headmaster returned it to me.”

--Really? You’re mocking a girl?

The girls face was getting angry, but I can sense a little jealousy mixed in that.

She turned towards the Headmaster who was about to leave the office without saying anything.

“HEADMASTER! What’s the meaning of this!? Why is Darkus Saint getting a special treatment? Didn’t you say that our magic tools would be returned by the end of the week?”

The Headmaster made a broken smile while slowly getting away.

“Ha-ha… It’s because we had something to do earlier, young one. It requires Sora’s dagger for us to perform it.”

“Something to do? What kind of excuse is that?”

Then suddenly, the Headmaster ran away.

He’s fast for an old man.

“Mah?! How could that old man just run away!?”

--She might be pretty, but she’s all so pretty noisy.

Then the girl turned towards Sora who was making a face saying “Too bad” mocking the girl.

What was her name again? Cheryl, Che, Cherylain? Gah! I’ll just call her Cherry.

Then finally, she noticed my presence.

“Who’s this commoner?”

--Commoner?

I stood up from my seat and fixed my clothes. I then gave my hand to her.

“Pleased to meet you, my name is Key Godfre Chardelier. I just moved here yesterday.”

She looked at my hand and then glared at me. For some reason, she didn’t like it.

“Hmpf, I’m not interested in upstart nobles, especially Darkus ones.”

--This little…

I got a little annoyed by her high and mighty attitude towards me. But I didn’t show it on my face.

“Hey, whitey, he’s not a Darkus student.”

“Didn’t I tell you not to call me “that”?”

Then she sighed a little then looked at me.

“Then he’s a Helius. Why are weak people getting chosen to enter Helius fraction these days? Are the gods forsaking us?”

--So looks is the only thing good in you huh. Now I understand what Sora meant earlier.

“Apparently, he’s not a Helius either. We just had the ceremony a while ago. Turns out, he got rejected by god—no, every god and became an irregular.”

--So that’s what they call irregular here huh. It doesn’t sound good though.

Cherry looked at me with disdained eyes and grunted.

“Don’t get near me. You might spread your heretic disease to me.”

Okay, I’ve had it. I don’t like this girl.

“Shut up you spoiled woman. I almost died during the ceremony just so you know.”

Looks like I angered her.

“Spoiled… Then it might be better if you died! Your presence in this Academy would destroy our reputation. Housing a Heretic is such a huge disgrace for Half Moon Academy.”

It hasn’t even half an hour and this girl already hates me, quite outrageous.

Sora stood between us and blocked her.

“You don’t have business here now that the headmaster is gone, please leave.”

Sora let out a very strong killing intent while talking. He brandished his dagger for Cherry to see.

It seemed to work because Cherry’s flinched a little while staring directly to Sora’s eyes.

But she didn’t go down.

“Befriending a Heretic, that’s unusual for a Saint even from the Darkus’ side. But, it’s quite expected if it came from you though, Guillotine Rogue Knight.”

--What’s with that Cool Nickname? Is that what they call Sora?

After saying so, Cherry left the office silently.

I can see that Sora is slightly depressed after hearing his nickname. So he didn’t like that huh.

***

Moments after, Sora and I went outside the office and headed towards the gate. Since I didn’t get the chance to get any blessings from any god, I don’t have to enter the school, although, I could still enter a class if I wanted to, but I don’t want to attract unnecessary attention.

For some reason, Sora is coming with me.

“Don’t you have class, Sora?”

“Nah, I don’t need it anymore. I’ve already learned most of them before I arrived in this world. I only entered this school as a formality since I’m serving the Royal Family.”

--That’s some mature way of thinking huh.

“So, what was that Cherry girl earlier?”

“Cherry?”

“That golden haired girl earlier…”

--I haven’t told him about that. Slip of the tongue.

Sora scratched his head while looking like he’s thinking about what he is going to say.

I can understand complicated stuff you know.

“Uhm, let’s see. You heard a while ago that the Oracles called me Darkus Saint, right? Cherlaine Remlyzine Goldenbloom is the other side’s saint, Helius Saint.”

“So that shorty was a big shot huh. No wonder she was acting high and mighty.”

“Hahahaha, don’t say that whenever she’s around, she might kill you.”

“So, what was that all about? When she called you Black Rogue Knight, you got all gloomy all of a sudden.”

After I asked him, his face turned sour. It seems I asked some bad things. I have to change the topic.

“I’ll tell you than soon enough.”

But he got ahead of me.

We arrived in front of the gate, when outside, I was wondering where to go. I still don’t feel like going home.

“So, where are we going to go?”

“Huh?”

--He’s coming with me?

“Opps! What I meant was: “Where do you want to go?” I could give you a tour in the capital. Name it, and I’ll take you there.”

“Then--”

***

After saying what I want, we went to a place downtown where lots of people have gathered.

Most people here are men in dirty clothes and are wearing brown leather which is obviously coming from dead animals.

“Here we are: Magic Weapons Shop!”

Sora and I are standing in front of a store which is known to have strong magic swords. Although the front shelves are obviously regular swords, the back shelf should have them.

When we entered the shop, a breeze of hot sweat filled air welcomed us.

Apparently, there’s a forge inside the shop.

“Oh, welcome, welcome. I see you’ve brought a friend, Black Saint.”

A small stout bearded man suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It seems Sora and him are acquainted.

“Dishi, I’d like to introduce my friend. His name is Key, a noble.”

“Nice to meet you Sir Noble, Which kind of Magic Weapon are you looking for?”

“He’s not going to buy anything yet. I’m just touring him to the best places and stores in the capital.”

“Such flattery doesn’t bring me wealth, only gold.”

Even though he’s small in height, his morale is quite big, although it’s about money.

“I’d like to see the best magic sword in this shop.”

When I told the short man, he was slightly amused and said, “another one of ‘em huh.”

“Well then, I’ll show you the best there is.”

-End of Chapter 3-