"A date? With me?" John looked at Maria, dumbfounded.

"Yes, that's my condition."

"Are you trying to kill me? Have you any idea what kind of status you have inside the Academy?" John complained without thinking of holding back. He believed when he invited her to the party that he had already been pushing his luck. Maria wasn't just a random individual; she was the second daughter of the Sword Duke. What kind of impression would the students have if they saw her hanging out with a commoner? Jealousy, anger, hatred, John was confident he would become the receiver of all these negative feelings.

"Forget it. I don't want to inconvenience you..." Maria murmured as she started walking faster. John could even discern that tears were threatening to appear in her eyes. He didn't expect that his words would hurt so much the girl.

"Wait!" He shouted instinctively. He was even surprised by his reaction.

"Do you need anything else?" Maria asked, emphasizing the last part of her sentence.

"At least, be disguised when we go out or else they will lynch me..."

"Of course! Do you think I am insensible? Don't worry! It's not my first time; no one will recognize me, hehe." Her gloomy appearance disappeared like it was an illusion leaving the boy dazed.

She tricked me, he thought. His guilty conscience clouded his judgment forcing him to agree rashly. John honestly believed that Maria's mentality was in bad condition after the incident in the Forest of Lost Memories. He was the one who was responsible for this, although the girl didn't know it. Maria had lost all of her subordinates and comrades in one day. It wasn't the dragon that killed them; he was the murderer, her enemy. That's why John didn't want to play the role of the friend she desperately needed; the youth didn't want to break her more. He knew, however, that her status was an obstacle for her to open up to others. What was the reason that John was unique? Because of his memories, the shackles of authority didn't apply to him. He didn't see the people of higher status as gods, but simple humans. John suspected that Maria felt that from him instinctively.

"This is so troublesome..." he murmured as he looked up high. At times like these, he didn't want anything else than lie down on a green meadow and gaze across the vast blue sky. Alas, his position belonged to the starless night.

The party gathered the herbs quickly this time. It was evident that Helena had become accustomed to the procedure, but the biggest gain for her was the lessons taught by the two brothers for surviving in the wildlife. John had finally found how to finance the organization that was planning to form. He only needed to meet with Irene, but the problem was how to be granted permission to leave the Academy. As a first-year, John didn't have, unfortunately, the freedom to move around freely. In the beginning, he didn't consider it a problem; his teacher would probably allow him to leave for a few days. However, the conversation in the guild today changed his mind. He didn't have an option but use the name of the princess to persuade Matias. After all, John's primary reason for wanting to go out was to visit the other guild in the Capital. Naturally, he wouldn't mention that to Matias, just that she needed him to run an errand. Angelica's contract wouldn't let him investigate personally, but he would assign that mission to Irene. That kind of job needed time, in the end, that he didn't have, or else the Counter-Espionage would have found the demon a long time ago.

The next day John headed a little sooner in the auditorium, hoping to find Matias before the beginning of the lecture. After the test of their teacher, the lessons were conducted in the morning in order not to create suspicions. Matias didn't teach them anything either, only talking about the Academy. His purpose was to allow them to familiarize themselves with their new surroundings. When John opened the door, he found his teacher sitting on the chair behind the desk and sleeping. The sound of the squeak awoke Matias, who wasn't very happy with this interruption.

"Did yesterday's punishment create you any psychological problems regarding the time? " His statement made John glare at him for a moment, but the youth didn't dare to contradict him.

"I wanted to talk to you in private."

"Oh? Did anything happen?" Matias asked, interested.

"I need to leave the Academy for..."

"No!"

"But I didn't finish..."

"No is no. Do you think you can come and go wherever you want? You are a soldier; if you wanted personal freedom, you should have never enrolled here." Matias said and gestured him to leave, indicating he wasn't willing to listen to anything else.

"Even if it's an order of princess Adrianna?"

Upon hearing John's remark, Matia's gaze sharpened, the atmosphere seemed to frozen.

"If you ask for forgiveness now in case you are lying, I might pretend not to hear what you just said."

"You know better than me that I wouldn't dare to say such an easily exposed lie." the youth replied, indifferent to his teacher's hostility.

"I will grant you your request, but I don't like it. When you return, I'll make sure you receive all my dissatisfaction." Matias said and threw him a golden medallion.

"You can go out with this, but if you lose it, not even the princess will be able to save you. You have two days to return; if you don't, I will personally propose to the Academy to expel you. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir!" John saluted and proceeded to leave. He made sure first to inform his brother that he would be absent for a while, as well as the princess.

John didn't dare to take out his uniform before arriving at the outside area. The medallion might be enough to allow him to exit the Academy, but the outfit he was wearing was his identification proof for passing towards outside. It had been only a few days since his enrollment; nothing changed in the world in this short period. If John found something different compared to before was that some people were paying attention to him. The youth had stopped being the usual plain-looking individual anymore. He was a soldier of the Empire now. However, John didn't like being the center of attention; he only wished to change clothes as soon as he could. Unfortunately, he didn't know that he was already the topic of a conversation somewhere else.

"Are you sure you saw him leaving?" A young man asked, surprised. If John were here, he would recognize him as the leader of the group that attacked him that night in the Academy.

"Hahaha, I thought I would have to give up when the second daughter of the Duke interfered with our revenge, but that guy is like he is begging us to go after him!"

"But why did the Academy permit him to leave?" another individual of the group wondered aloud.

"It doesn't matter. That bastard seems to have some connections, but I don't plan to deal with personally this time." He said as his gaze wandered around the people of the group before landing on someone.

"You! You'll go to my family and tell my servant that I want revenge on that guy. Warn him to do it secretly. If Lady Maria learns about this, I don't even want to imagine the consequences. I know! There is a murderer in the Capital; we can frame him for the crime."

"Do-do we have to go that far for a commoner? The risk is too big..." Someone stuttered.

"Shut up!" The young man shouted enraged.

"That bastard not only dared to touch my brother, the son of a Baron, as a commoner, he even made the daughter of a Duke despise us. Since that guy was generous enough to give me a chance to deal with him once and for all, I would be mad if I didn't do it."

"But Lady Maria..."

"Lady Maria will never learn anything. Even if she did, why would she care for trash? She was probably defending the prestige of the Academy, that's why she involved herself in something insignificant as this incident. That ant took advantage of the goddess's kindness; it's our duty to render justice."

Although his words were selfish, they were also justified. Not many knew that Vladimir and John journeyed together with the Order of the Red Rose on their way to the Capital; much less, they were witnesses of the incident that happened in the Forest of Lost Memories. Even if the young man knew, he might have proposed the same plan again. Because for him, John wasn't anything else than a commoner in his eyes. The Academy might have reduced the cases of discrimination with its strict rules; it was impossible to extinguish the sense of superiority from the nobles, though. Commoners also didn't dare to defend themselves against the bullying they underwent because there would be one day that the Academy wouldn't be able to protect them anymore. Neither their family...