The Angelic System That Turned My Life Into Hell

Chapter 147: Dropout

Tomorrow was the day when the tournament’s VIPs, who were the representatives of different nations, would depart. That also meant that the people in the shelter had to make up their minds tomorrow as to which nation they wanted to live in either temporarily or not.

"..."

"..."

It was currently noon when Mika sat with a black-haired girl on a bench, isolated from the other people.

"Could I ask you what the reason is for calling me out here...?"

That girl was none other than a former red-class student and teammate of Gerard.

Judi Rein.

However, she was previously threatened by Cail to sabotage her team during a mission, which led to the incident at the Desolated Fortress.

Plagued by her guilt and regrets, she ultimately decided to drop out of Loogam.

"Are you fine?" Mika asked, wearing an indifferent expression as he stared at the vast horizon.

"Yes." she replied, casting her gaze below.

"Luckily, my family and I were near the academy, so that we were able to evacuate safely." she added.

She wore a smile and yet it did not reach her shallow eyes.

"That’s good to hear." Mika said in a monotone voice.

"..."

Judi clenched her arm.

She knew that there was more Mika wanted to know with his initial question. That was because he was not the first one to approach her like that.

"You don’t have to take pity on me." she muttered without breaking her smile.

"I dropped out on my own accord. You will just waste your time trying to persuade me to come back."

"..."

Mika glanced at her.

"Even if it’s not Loogam, don’t you want to begin anew? This may be your chance to enter an academy of your choice." he asked.

But Judi just put up her hand in front of his face and shook her head lightly in denial.

"It’s true that I was a good magic student on paper, after all, I managed to get into the red class. However..."

She lowered her hand.

"The things I’ve done are inexcusable, no matter how you look at it. I have betrayed my comrades and put them in great danger. People had to lose their lives, rescuing them."

Her gaze wandered to the clear blue sky.

"I’m done with magic." she said with her mouth turning back to a thin straight line.

"But isn’t it a waste? You’re a B-rank, you know? Don’t you want to unleash your full potential as a mage?" Mika asked, staring at the same sky.

Again, she just shook her head.

"Even if some people are good at certain things, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they like doing it."

With a small smirk, she turned her head to Mika.

"And to be honest, it’s not like my life turned out for the worse just because I quit." she said with a slight chuckle.

Then, she stood up from the bench.

"..."

Mika’s eyes narrowed.

"Don’t you have any regrets, leaving like this? Are you sure you want to end it like this? Don’t you want to get revenge on Cail?"

Mika, too, stood up as he uttered those questions while Judi was about to leave.

"I sure do have regrets. Many of them."

"Then-"

"I spent most of my remaining time at the academy with agonizing about what I wanted to do. I wanted to get back at him. However, I had to face the reality. I was not strong enough. And I knew that no matter how much I’d train, the gap between me and him wouldn’t close."

"..."

Mika could not argue against that.

After all, Cail would not wait for her to get stronger. He had a reason to grow more, so he surely would have put as much effort into getting stronger than she would have.

"And instead of blindly chasing after revenge and drowning in my own despair, I chose to end it in a way, which would harm me and everyone the least."

One last time, she turned her head back to Mika.

"Let’s talk about something nicer the next time we see each other, okay? Oh! And send my regards to Lily and the others!"

Following those words and a soft smile, she bid him farewell.

"..."

Mika could not say anything back to her.

He had to accept her words and the path she was set on.

So he just turned on his heels and went in the other direction.

[Where are you going now?]

"I think about going to Gerard. He told me he wanted to introduce me to someone."

[I see. And I thought that you would chase after that girl.]

"And then what? Persuading her to do something she clearly doesn’t like would be pointless." Mika said slightly irritated.

"Furthermore, she spent much time thinking about her decision. Throwing some shallow words in the hope that she would change her mind would be an insult to her resolve." he elaborated with a sharp gaze.

"Hey, brat. Whom are you talking to?"

"!"

Mika quickly turned his head in the direction of the raspy-sounding voice.

At first, he thought that no one was nearby, enabling him to converse with the system without interruptions.

However, just a few benches away from the one, where Mika and Judi were a few moments ago, a middle-aged man with long unruly black hair and a stubble beard sat there.

His eyes were dark green and under them were dark bags.

"This may be my first time witnessing someone losing his mind and talking to himself after a breakup, hahaha!" the man laughed.

"Breakup?"

"Hm? Wasn’t she your lover? Sorry, my bad then." he apologized quickly.

But his embarrassed expression turned stern immediately.

"Well, back to my question. With whom were you talking?"

He had a smirk on his face as he slowly walked over to Mika.

"With no one, maybe you’re imagining things." Mika tried to throw him off.

"..."

The man came closer.

"Wait a minute... Have we met before...?"

He was narrowing his eyes as he caressed his chin.

"?"

Mika tilted his head but he, too, had the feeling that he knew that man.

"Ah! You’re that Mika Elbar, right?" the man stated after remembering it again.

"Hmm... Are you perh-"

"This makes things a lot easier, haha!"

"What do you m- What the-"

Mika was caught off guard when the man suddenly pulled out a dagger and aimed it at him.

A small wound appeared on Mika’s cheek.

"Are you insane? What do you think you’re doing, attacking me here of all places?" freeωebnovēl.c૦m

Mika had his hand on his sword, ready to draw it anytime.

"You, a black-class student, played an essential part during the invasion! That means that you surely are in the possession of a relic! Now show it to me!" the man raised his voice in joy.

"Tch!"

Mika drew his rusty sword, which did not turn into Excalibur like every other time.

[You are not going to fight back?]

"I won’t show this jerk Excalibur."

[Are you doing this out of spite?]

"Perhaps." Mika replied with a stoic expression.

[...]

Even if he was handicapped in the offense, defending against that man should be enough with the rusty sword.

"Haha!"

With a crazy-sounding laugh, the man leaped to Mika, launching a dagger thrust.

Mika parried it with his sword and created some distance again.

"Were you eventually talking to your relic? But wait... Is communication even possible? What is it saying? Can it speak our language? Does it have any answers to its origin?"

The man was flooding Mika with questions.

"..."

As a result, Mika was taken aback.

"Come on! Just a little bit! Show me your relic for a minute!" the man begged as he kept attacking Mika.

"Can you decide already?! Either attack me or ask me for a favor!" Mika retorted, blocking and evading each attack.

Mika hit the man’s hand with his sword, which led to the dagger being thrown to the ground.

"Ugh...!"

He followed up with a kick to the stomach and then got grabbed at the back of his collar, only to be thrown to the ground with the back first.

"Did you calm down?" Mika asked, slightly out of breath as he pointed his sword to the man’s throat.

"Just as I expected from someone, who fought actively against demons." the man stated relaxed, holding his hands up to his head, signaling his defeat.

"However..."

A smirk crept unto his face.

"!"

He grabbed the dull blade and pushed himself up.

From another pocket, he pulled out another dagger and directed it at Mika.

"You will regret this..." Mika grumbled as his eyes were about to change their color.

But at that moment, someone else appeared, stopping both of them in their motions.

"Mika? Mr. Togin? What are you doing?"

It was Gerard, who just happened to pass by in the area.

"Gerard?" the other two uttered baffled at the same time.

They ceased their hostility towards each other as they directed their focus on Gerard.

"So you already came in contact with him, huh?" Gerard said with a smile.

"?"

He walked to the man’s side.

"He’s the one I wanted to introduce you to."

"Huh?"