Free Web NovelChapter 11: Ancient sword
Ruthless looked down, and a sword lay there, its dull thud momentarily drowning out the monotonous hum of the hall. At first, everyone looked at Ruthless, but seeing the unremarkable steel in his hands, they quickly lost interest, turned away, and resumed discussing and examining the swords.
’They must not care about this. They are insanely curious about which sword they will get.’
Since this sword had fallen at Ruthless’s feet, he, of course, picked it up. But it turned out to be not some super-powerful sword, but a mediocre C-rank sword. Its blade was matte, without any magical glow, and the simple leather hilt was worn in places.
"Alright, it’ll do," he said, weighing the weapon in his hand and sheaching it.
In that same second, other sounds of students began to be heard from the armory doors—a loud hum of voices, laughter, and the confident thud of dozens of uniform boots.
’So, all the freshmen will be choosing at the same time,’ Ruthless noted, stepping back slightly into the shadow of a tall rack.
First, the most honored guests entered through the doors, namely Lucian and Celestia. They looked just as they did on the stage. The guy was actively talking to the girls around him, smiling dazzlingly, while the girl with a gloomy face immediately headed for the S-rank swords without even glancing at the others. Her steps clearly and firmly struck a rhythm on the blue floor.
’Lucian must also be the only one in Class S.’
At that moment, Lucian immediately looked at Ruthless and smiled slightly. After that, he began walking step by step toward where Ruthless stood, smoothly bypassing the students preoccupied with their choices.
’He’s coming toward me. Does he want to talk?’
’I must be as careful as possible; he has an intelligence of 70... He is the smartest person I have met so far.’
’He also has the Path of Disguise, which greatly helps him hide his true face. If he suspects that I know this, he has every chance to simply kill me.’
Ruthless slightly slumped his shoulders and gave his face that same timid, simple-minded expression with which he usually met danger, awaiting the approach of the royal heir.
"Hello, if I’m not mistaken, you’re Ruthless, aren’t you?" Lucian said with a smile on his face. He casually placed his hands behind his back, projecting friendliness in his entire demeanor, yet his sharp, attentive eyes scanned Ruthless down to the smallest detail.
"Yes, sir, my name is Ruthless, just as you said," he replied with the same smile, but looking a bit frightened. The boy shrank back slightly under his piercing gaze, flawlessly playing the role of a shy commoner.
"Oh, don’t worry, just use informal speech, we are peers after all. And furthermore, I see you are very smart, since you made it into Class A," he said, pointing a finger at Ruthless.
"You might be right, but I still have a long way to go to reach your level, since you are in Class S while I am in Class A."
"Well, we shall see about that in the future. Whether I got into this class because I’m truly smart, or simply because I had power..." he said with a smirk. His voice grew quieter for a moment, and something chillingly cold flashed in his soft features.
’Was that a challenge? But I couldn’t care less about this challenge, because it’s not profitable for me. On the contrary, it could be very risky, and the reward isn’t worth it,’ he thought.
Ruthless put on a slightly frightened face, as if he began to fear that the prince would crush him, and apparently, Lucian noticed this. The tension between them became almost palpable, hidden from the eyes of the students buzzing around them.
"I’m talking about the future exams," he said again with the same smirk, visible only to Ruthless.
"Fine, I’ll be waiting," Ruthless replied sharply, averting his eyes as if trying to break the oppressive eye contact.
Lucian looked at Ruthless’s hand and saw that he was holding that same mediocre C-rank sword he had recently picked up.
"I see you have a bit of talent," the prince said, looking at the sword.
’Lifting a C-rank sword is a talent? Though for guys, maybe...’
"Well, it’s not an A-rank or S," Ruthless replied with surprise.
"I know, but in this academy, 99% of guys can at most lift a D-rank sword, so you can be proud of yourself. Even I can only lift a B or A-rank at most," he said with a slightly sad face, masterfully regaining his mask of vulnerability and sincerity.
’Ah, now it’s clear why he said that. But if that’s the case, what is the minimum a typical girl would lift?’ he asked himself, but did not voice it to Lucian, deciding it wasn’t that important at the moment.
"Thank you," Ruthless replied, now with a more sincere smile, bowing his head in appreciation.
At that same second, the female students in the hall began screaming, and to understand why everyone was shouting so much, the two boys decided to look in the direction everyone was staring.
It turned out that the younger sister, Celestia, had lifted an S-rank sword, and today she was the only one to lift such a powerful weapon. In her hand, the blade flashed with a dazzling, pure light that momentarily illuminated the white-and-blue vaults of the vast hall, and a powerful wave of pure energy emanated from the weapon in all directions.
Everyone began to shout with delight—either because she looked cool as a role model, or because such a strong classmate was among them.
Moreover, the professors and Eleonora Cromwell herself began to sincerely congratulate each other, and the tense atmosphere, even from the dialogue with Lucian, evaporated as if it had never existed. The noise and jubilation of hundreds of voices filled the entire space, completely swallowing the recent solitude of the two boys.
’I know such swords are very strong, but I didn’t think lifting one would cause such a stir.’
"Beautiful, isn’t she?" Lucian said, looking at Celestia. His eyes narrowed, reflecting the distant flashes of light from the S-rank blade.
’Does he love her, perhaps, or are there other reasons?’ he asked himself again, but this time he finally decided to ask the prince.
"You are right. Do you love her, perhaps?" Ruthless asked with a sincere smile, also looking at Celestia.
Lucian looked at Ruthless for a moment after the question was asked, and his smile widened, becoming even more mysterious.
"Maybe yes, and maybe no..." Lucian said, turning back toward Ruthless. Apparently, he wanted to leave already.
’An ambiguous answer that can confuse an opponent,’ Ruthless began to analyze.
"Well then, goodbye, maybe we’ll see each other again," saying this, he headed toward the A-rank swords. His graceful figure was quickly lost among the crowd of cheering students.
’A very cunning person. Apparently, the intelligence in the stats doesn’t evaluate all intellect, but only general data, while paths that require intelligence can add a buff to it.’
’He has an intelligence of 70, and I have 600, and essentially I am nearly 9 times smarter than him, but he still somehow doesn’t look like a person who is stupider than me.’
After this internal psychological analysis, Ruthless decided to ask for approval from Professor Eleonora to leave the hall and head to his class. He noiselessly slipped through the celebrating crowd toward the exit, tighter gripping the hilt of his new C-rank sword.
But while walking to his class, he accidentally bumped into a girl who was in a great hurry and outwardly looked like a professor. The impact was unexpectedly strong—Ruthless was knocked back, and he barely kept his feet on the slippery floor of the corridor.
’It hurts... So this is what power is like, when just a collision causes such great pain.’
"Sorry, I’m in a hurry, so just sorry!" she said with a ridiculous face, as if someone were chasing her. Her uniform robe was disheveled, and her glasses had slipped slightly to the side.
In her arms was a large box, and Ruthless saw it immediately. The box was made of heavy dark wood, completely covered in dull silver runes that pulsed almost imperceptibly, as if holding something back inside.
"If it’s not a secret, what’s in that box?" he asked with a smile on his face, instantly hiding a fleeting grimace of pain.
"In this box is an ancient sword that was found on an unexplored continent. So far, no one has opened it; they say opening it without a special ritual is very dangerous. We will announce it at the academy soon, so just wait!" saying this, she ran further down the corridor, tightly clutching the precious cargo to her chest.
Ruthless remained standing in the middle of the empty hall. The clicking of her heels quickly faded into the distance, leaving only an echo.
"Interesting, very interesting indeed..." a very eerie smirk appeared on Ruthless’s face, completely distorting his previously innocent expression. His eyes narrowed, and his fingers on the hilt of the C-rank sword twitched slightly in anticipation of a new variable in his plans.
