Chapter 27 - Wesley's Refusal

After leaving the study to give Neal and the kids some time to catch up and talk, Wesley headed to the kitchen to get something to eat.

Being a prince, Wesley was always served food at his leisure. However, now that he was free from the constraints of the Royal Palace, he had picked up the habit of going to the kitchen to eat. At first, this startled the maids, who had no idea how to react, but as time went on, they adapted, always leaving some food in the kitchen for their odd master to eat.

After eating something, Wesley grabbed a bottle of water and immediately headed to the backyard. The backyard of the manor was almost twice the size of the front yard. The most eye-catching feature was the fountain in the center, with water spouting out in pretty arcs that looked dazzling under the sun. There was also a table with numerous seats near the fountain.

In a small corner of the yard stood a pitch-black pillar, covered with numerous slashes and cracks. Leaning against the pillar was odd upper-body armor with sleeves. What made the armor stand out were the numerous springs connecting its joints. This was where Wesley practiced his sword techniques.

Wesley walked toward the black pillar. He immediately donned the odd armor and began practicing each of his silent sword techniques. If someone were to watch Wesley's movements, they'd notice how slow each of his strikes were.

The slowness of Wesley's movements was due to the armor. The armor had iron springs connecting all its joints, so every time Wesley wanted to move his arms, the springs would resist him. This armor, bequeathed to him by the second elder, enabled Wesley to train the muscles needed to execute his techniques without having to bulk up his entire body. It also allowed him to observe and correct his posture. Although the armor wasn't as heavy as the ones given to strength-based students, it was still heavy enough to help Wesley improve his stamina and strength, as well as his Silent Steps footwork.

After a few hours of practice, Wesley noticed Neal, Lane, and the others walking toward him. Their faces were bright with smiles, and their eyes were red, probably from crying. As soon as they were within a few feet of Wesley, Neal, who had little Sala sitting on his shoulders, was the first to speak. Even though his voice was still a whisper, it was filled with excitement.

"Wesley!"

"Haha, Neal. I'm glad to see you guys finished with your introductions. I was starting to worry."

Neal looked at Wesley with eyes filled with infinite gratitude and spoke.

"Yes. It seems that, aside from Lane here, none of the others recognized me. And I didn’t even know Sala."

"Haha, that’s good. You guys should go have some breakfast. Come see me later, Neal. We should continue our discussion from before."

"Understood."

Neal immediately turned around and headed toward the manor. Lane and his three brothers respectfully bowed to Wesley before turning and running after Neal. Wesley just shook his head with a laugh and continued his practice.

After another hour or so, Wesley's practice was once again interrupted by Neal, who walked toward him. This time, Neal was not accompanied by the kids, and his face, although slightly red, was stoic and emotionless.

Wesley slowly sheathed his sword and took off the armor. He had been practicing for more than three hours, so his shirt was drenched in sweat, and his well-toned muscles were visible underneath. Neal was surprised to see Wesley's physique since he had assumed Wesley was a mage, but after seeing his muscles and sword practice, he began to doubt that assumption.

"Neal, please have a seat. I will be with you shortly."

Wesley immediately took off his drenched shirt and put on a clean one. Then, he slowly walked toward Neal, who was already sitting in one of the seats, and sat across from him. Wesley and Neal sat motionlessly for a moment before Wesley spoke up.

"Neal, you need to set up your networks as soon as possible. I am not comfortable with waiting for the four families to move without my knowledge."

"Yes. Everything has already been prepared since I expected my brother to still be alive. I only need to make some minor alterations to the original plan, but everything should be ready soon."

"Good. Also, in case Lane hasn’t already told you, there are some businesses that I directly control. Avoid these businesses so as not to have me in any way connected to the network."

"I understand your point, but that’s a mistake. If our network is ever discovered and someone notices that hundreds of businesses were infiltrated, except for those associated with you, it will look suspicious. So, I will place some low-level agents at these businesses."

"Haha, I didn’t think of that. Clearly, you're better at this than I am, so I’ll leave the details to you. I’ll prepare the funds for you tonight."

"Good. I’ll be heading out then."

"Before you go, Neal, I have a question."

"Yes?"

"Tell me, how did you manage to get into the basement last night?"

Neal was surprised by Wesley's question. Of all the things that happened last night, his entrance seemed the least precarious. But he immediately realized the point behind Wesley’s question and answered.

"It was an Earth technique known as Earth Meld. It allows me to go anywhere as long as it’s made of earth."

Wesley knew this was some sort of magic, but that wasn’t what puzzled him most.

"Then tell me, Neal. If you had such power, why didn’t you just go kill the four families?"

Neal simply shook his head with a resigned look on his face and spoke.

"Sigh... I can’t be blocked by walls and things like that. But Earth Meld is a famous technique of Earth Mages, meaning there are ways of countering it. For example, by building walls with a layer of metal."

Wesley suddenly understood why Neal, who clearly had the power to go anywhere, was somehow restricted. But he was also surprised that his Dark Warp wasn’t restricted by something like this. He immediately made a mental note to research the capabilities of his Dark Warp as soon as possible. Wesley then glanced at Neal, who was standing, and spoke.

"I see, that’s a shame. Come see me later to collect the funds."

"Till then."

Neal immediately muttered something under his breath and sank into the ground, disappearing from the backyard. Wesley got up and walked into the manor to take a bath.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Two days later.

Currently, Wesley was heading towards the academy. It wasn’t yet six in the morning, meaning this was his once-a-week attendance of all his classes. Wesley was only interested in the two classes of light magic and swordsmanship, with the other three simply being fillers. This meant that he consistently attended these two classes while only attending the others once a week to keep up.

Coincidentally, today was also the day Wesley would receive the results of his end-of-year exams. The academy held its annual examinations at the end of the year, and all students were required to pass at least half of their classes to be allowed to move on to the next year.

Naturally, Wesley passed by Michael's Inn to eat breakfast. Since Wesley went to the academy early once a week, it had become almost routine for him to have breakfast at Michael’s, which had strengthened his relationship with the innkeeper, Michael.

After almost an hour, Wesley finally reached the academy around six in the morning. The bell that signaled the start of the day reverberated across the campus, causing Wesley to head straight towards his first period: History.

As soon as Wesley walked into the class, he saw that it was half-filled, with the eighth elder lazily sitting at the front with his eyes closed, as if he were sleeping. This eighth elder seemed like a kind, amiable old man, but Wesley wasn’t fooled by his appearance. He knew that this old man was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Wesley simply walked toward the front of the class, where a burly youth with a large greatsword sat next to him. Wesley himself had a sword on his hip, but compared to the incredibly menacing size of that greatsword, his seemed like a plaything. Wesley sat in the seat next to the burly youth and looked toward him with a friendly smile on his face.

"Hey, Kellan."

The youth, who seemed to be half-asleep due to the early hour, jerked his head to look at the person who spoke his name. He hardly ever had anyone sit next to him, and even less frequently did anyone speak to him. So, hearing someone speak his name so friendly was, to say the least, rare.

Seeing the thin, blue-haired, green-eyed youth who had sat next to him, Kellan smiled at him and spoke in his croaky, roar-like voice.

"Wesley. Good morning. I didn’t see you there."

Over the last year of school, Wesley and Kellan had become rather close friends. Not only were they both swordsmen, but they also shared three classes, which made it difficult for them not to meet. Furthermore, Kellan's quiet, aloof nature made it hard for people to approach him, but Wesley often sat with him and talked to him without reservation, causing them to naturally become friends.

Wesley and Kellan continued speaking for a few minutes, as did most of the people in the class. However, everyone was instantly quieted down after a few coughs from the elder who sat at the front:

"Good morning, children. As many of you already know, today we won't be learning anything. Rather, I will be announcing the end-of-year exam results for this class. First, you must understand how the ranking works: those of you who are in the top twenty pass, while those at the bottom twenty fail. Any questions?"

This was how the Academy evaluated who passed and who failed. Your passing or failing in a class was determined by your ranking, which meant that fifty percent would always fail, regardless. This system served as motivation for students to perform better in their studies, but it also helped to distinguish those with potential from the rest, always separating the herd. Furthermore, the percentage of those who fail and pass becomes more stringent as you advance in grades. For example, in second-year, forty percent pass while sixty percent fail; in third-year, thirty percent pass while seventy percent fail.

After no one raised their hands to ask any questions, the eighth elder continued speaking:

"First place, Menail Cel; Second place, Elmer Treo; Third place...."

The elder continued with his list until he reached tenth place, at which point his face lit up in pleasant surprise, and his eyes landed on Wesley:

"Tenth place, Wesley. Hohoho, Wesley, to be able to pass while attending only once a week... impressive. Eleventh place..."

Although the elder’s praise caught the attention of some students, what caught their attention the most was how none of them had ever heard Wesley’s family name. To be without a family name implied one of two things: first, Wesley could be from a super famous family and unwilling to let people know his name, or second, he could be a beggar orphan with no family, hence no family name. Most people thought the latter was the case, which only served to deepen their contempt for him.

After the elder finished his list, half of the class was frowning, while the other half was smiling. Wesley simply turned to Kellan, who was sitting next to him with a wide smile on his face. Kellan had surprisingly placed twentieth in the rankings, thus barely passing.

"Haha, Kellan. Stop smiling so much, and let’s go. We have geography next."

Kellan simply nodded while smiling, then stood up. He and Wesley walked out the door to their next class. Their next class was geography, which Wesley was somewhat proficient in, while Kellan was terrible at it. The smile that had been plastered on Kellan's face all but disappeared as he realized what was about to happen.

And as if agreeing with Kellan’s fear, he miserably failed his geography exam. Wesley, on the other hand, barely passed, placing near the cutoff line. Wesley looked at the dejected Kellan and let out a small laugh before speaking:

"Kellan, don’t be so heartbroken. We have strategy and tactics next. You’re great in that class, so you should have passed it."

"Do you really think so?"

"Of course. You’ll see when we get there."

After reaching the strategy and tactics class, Wesley’s prediction came true. Kellan placed first, while Wesley placed tenth again. This greatly improved Kellan’s mood, causing him to puff out his chest and smile continuously like an idiot. Wesley couldn’t help but laugh and bid Kellan farewell as he headed to his next class, which was Light Magic Studies.

Wesley had already passed more than half of his classes, so he met the minimum requirement to advance to the next year, but he still attended his next class. Wesley knew, however, that there was no way he had passed his Light Magic exam.

Upon entering the class, Wesley sat in the one empty seat near the edge without speaking to anyone. Most of the students in the class thought very little of him, with some not even bothering to acknowledge his existence. However, Wesley never bothered with anyone in that class either, so he just sat there, waiting for the teacher.

After a moment, the third elder walked in and headed toward the front of the room. His gaze swept across the students, but when it reached Wesley, the elder simply looked away as if no one was sitting there. Wesley laughed inwardly at how little this teacher thought of him but didn’t really mind it.

"Now it is time to announce your end-of-year exam results. First place..."

Since there were eighteen students in this class, only the top nine passed. So, when the elder announced the ninth person's name, he simply stopped and said:

"The rest failed, so there is no need for me to continue."

The elder then walked out nonchalantly. Wesley shook his head at how apathetic and cold this third elder was, but he hardly cared about him. He simply got up and left the class to head to his final class: Swordsmanship.

After leaving the main school building and heading toward the swordsmanship classroom, Wesley was surprised to find the second elder already standing in front of the class, his ever-present smile still plastered on his face.

This second elder was the one who had left the most profound impression on Wesley. Despite his amiable and easygoing appearance, Wesley viewed this elder as a monster — the kind that walks when you walk and stops when you stop, to the point that you believe there's nothing there, but pounces on you at the first chance.

Wesley didn’t dare look this elder in the eye, so he walked with his head down and stood quietly. Once all the students were present, the elder began speaking:

"Good, everyone is here. Let's begin with your rankings. First place, Kellan Dole; Second place, Wesley; Third place...."

Kellan and Wesley placing first and second was not a great surprise to anyone, as Kellan's great strength and Wesley's techniques were far above their peers. There were nearly fifty students in the class, and the elder announced each of their ranks. After finishing, the elder put away the sheet with the rankings and spoke:

"Congratulations to those of you who passed. As for those who failed, do not be discouraged. The way of the sword is as boundless as it is deep and cannot be summarized by these simple tests, but we must do so for convenience. Remember, one learns thousands of things more from failure than from success."

"Now, I have a few more announcements regarding your rankings. At the end of each school year, the academy holds a rankings competition where students spar against each other, with their rankings on the line. It is a great opportunity to test your skills and improve them in combat. Naturally, it is not possible to have the entire student body participate, so each class appoints two students to represent them. If those two students achieve good results, the whole class's rankings get boosted. I was thinking of sending Kellan and Wesley, since they are the top two in this class."

The entire class erupted into murmurs and whispers. A chance to increase one’s ranking was rare, and now they had such a chance, so every student was naturally excited. However, amidst all the excitement, a single person raised his hand as if to ask a question. Seeing the raised hand, the elder slightly furrowed his brow and spoke:

"I am not taking any questions, Wesley."

The entire classroom quieted at the elder's words, and all eyes fell on Wesley. He slowly retracted his hand, then, taking advantage of the silence, spoke in his soft, yet firm voice:

"It is not a question, elder. I just wanted to say that I decline to participate."