Aeren looked at Bale. "Bet?"
Bale looked at Aeren as a smile emerged on his face. "Yes, a bet."
Aeren studied Bale and asked, "Hmm, what do you have for me?"
Bale wasn't surprised by Aeren's question. Since Bale and Grivok were from D-class while Aeren was from C-class, Aeren likely had more resources than they did.
Bale maintained his smile and took out a knife that looked as if darkness had swallowed it whole. Aeren looked at the knife without reacting.
Bale looked at Aeren and said, "This knife—we got it from our last quest. I think your specialty might be assassination with knives, right?"
Aeren looked at Bale and said nothing.
Bale studied Aeren and thought, Aeren must be surprised by this knife. After all, this knife is ranked higher than S-rank, and I think Aeren can tell just by looking at it.
"What do you think? Want to bet?" Bale asked.
Aeren looked at the knife and could tell it was more powerful than they realized, but did he need this weapon?
"Let's bet," Aeren said.
Bale's smile grew wider as he looked at Grivok with a knowing expression. Grivok smiled too.
Bale thought, Aeren took the bait! Hahaha! What an idiot, swayed by simple profit without knowing his opponents. If Aeren knew about us, he'd never have the guts to accept this bet. they recently defeated the top student from B-class because he kept ordering us around. they used the same tactic and beat him half to death. This idiot is just C-Rank and trying to look down on us.
Aeren looked at Bale and said, "But..."
Bale's eye twitched. "Don't tell me you only want to fight one of us. I know I can't beat you alone, and we didn't even ask you for anything."
After a few seconds of silence, Bale said sarcastically, "And the mighty C-Class number one student wouldn't bully us if we fought one-on-one, right?"
Aeren looked at both of them and said, "I want this whole dormitory as my bet."
Bale was shocked by Aeren's answer and thought, Is he still looking down on us? You'll regret this, but it'll be fun to watch. Hahaha!
Bale looked at Grivok, who nodded his head.
Bale looked at Aeren again and said, "Fine."
Aeren nodded and asked, "Where should we spar?"
Grivok looked out the window and saw an empty area in the academy park. Since it was nighttime, he said, "Let's fight there."
Aeren, Grivok, and Bale left the dormitory and came to the garden—a place filled with green grass everywhere and surrounded by trees.
Bale surveyed the area, climbed a tree, withdrew his bow, and aimed at Aeren. Grivok drew his sword and waited for Aeren to get ready.
Aeren took out his knife and assumed a fighting stance, signaling the beginning of their match.
Grivok stepped forward to reach Aeren just as Bale released his arrow. Aeren didn't dodge the arrow at all—he let it hit him as he advanced toward Grivok, and their sword and knife clashed.
Both Grivok and Bale were surprised by this reckless frontal assault and momentarily lost their guard, but they quickly adjusted themselves. They looked at Aeren, whose chest was bleeding near his heart.
Grivok pushed Aeren away, and another arrow came flying—this time aimed directly at Aeren's heart. Just like before, Aeren didn't dodge. Instead, he forced himself toward Grivok, punched him with one hand while blocking his sword with the other, and knocked him unconscious.
With one opponent down, Bale's hand hadn't even reached for his next arrow.
Bale's eyes widened as he looked at Aeren with fear—he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Aeren's heart had been pierced by arrows, yet he was walking toward him.
When Aeren reached Bale, Aeren pierced the archer's heart with his bare hand.
Bale's eyes opened wide as he vomited blood from his mouth. Looking at Aeren, he gasped, "Who are you...?"
Bale died.
BOOOOOM!
Someone arrived to save Bale, but it was too late.
Aeren looked at his chest, removed the arrow, and drank a healing potion as the newcomer tried desperately to protect Bale's lifeless body.
Aeren found himself surrounded by people in knight armor.
Principal Valerius emerged from among the knights, looked at Aeren, then at Bale's corpse.
Aeren's chest healed completely, leaving no wounds behind.
Valerius looked at Aeren and asked, "Why did you kill a student, Aeren?"
Aeren looked at Bale's body and said, "You mean this puppet? Do I need permission to kill a puppet?"
Valerius raised his eyebrow and studied Aeren—no sympathy, no anger, no smile, nothing. Aeren looked completely empty. "You look more like a puppet than that student did, Aeren."
Aeren looked at Valerius and said nothing. Even if Aeren tried to explain anything, they would just think his mind wasn't stable—that he was a psychopath.
Valerius disappeared from his position and appeared next to Aeren, pinning him to the ground. "Didn't I warn you to behave, and you still had the guts to commit a crime in my academy?"
Valerius had been watching from the beginning but hadn't interfered, thinking it was just a small sparring match between students. He hadn't sensed any killing intent from any of them.
Valerius looked at Aeren with anger, gritting his teeth. "You will answer every question I have after the event. I'll come to meet you in prison."
Valerius looked at the knights from the Royal family knight and said, "Take him to the darkest prison you can find."
Aeren didn't resist and went with the flow.
The knights looked at Aeren, hurriedly approached him, and walked away with him in custody.
Valerius looked at Alistair and said, "Forget it, Alistair. He can't be saved anymore."
Alistair looked at Valerius and said, "If I hadn't saved Aeren that day, we wouldn't have witnessed this."
Alistair thought it was his fault for saving Aeren that day with everything he had.