"I healed up your wounds, but it will take some time for your body to recover from stress and trauma," the nurse said after carefully examining Elliot’s body.

"So I would recommend you rest for a bit," she added.

"A bit being how long?" Fligrad asked as he lay on the bed.

"A week!" The nurse smiled and gave him a thumbs up. She hurriedly left the room to avoid any further questions or complaints.

"I don’t thi—"

Before Elliot could finish, she slammed the door behind her.

’What am I supposed to do for a week?’ He knew all too well that what she said was correct. His body was still feeling sore; he could barely move a muscle.

’Since when did Alex become that strong? The story hasn’t even progressed that far yet, and he has already acquired a tier 11 spell. If I had known, I wouldn’t have underestimated him.’

Elliot was lost deep in thought. He was pretty confident in his residual knowledge about the story, and Alex shouldn’t have acquired such a spell this early.

’No matter, anyone that was responsible will pay their due in full.’

He wouldn’t wait to get out of bed to pursue whoever was responsible for sending those fake letters to Flora.

’She could have been lying, right? Plus, the handwriting on the letter was identical to Seria’s, and it also had the Migalison seal on it,’ he continued to ponder.

The door banged open.

"Roomie!" Taumus ran towards him, hands wide open and with a bright smile.

Before he could hug him, Elliot pushed his face backwards. "I heard what happened to you. Allow me to give you a hug,"

Taumus continued to push forward.

"Thank you for your concern. But I don’t need a hug," Elliot used both of his hands and pushed Taumus off.

His words hit Taumus like a dagger to the heart, and he fell flat on the floor, arms and legs spread apart. His ghost could be seen leaving his body.

"I’m coming home, Sky Father." His ghost levitated upwards.

"No, you don’t!" Elliot slammed the ghost back into Taumus’s body.

"So you do care about me. I knew it!" He jumped to his feet.

"Sure, sure." Elliot rolled his eyes. "So, Taumus, I was wondering if you would be interested in a little payback plan?" A wide grin tore across his face.

"Sure. I’ll eat." A slight hint of killing intent surged from Taumus.

’Just as the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’

Alex and Taumus had never been on good terms ever since they were kids. Ever since Alex purposely disgraced him in what was supposed to be a friendly sparring match when they were just 9 years old.

"I was mocked for an entire month. I’ll never forgive that pompous bastard,"

Taumus grimaced as he vividly reminisced.

It was the annual Astrite Ball, a party hosted by the royal family to foster relationships between nobles. Taumus was a really cool kid; he could split a whole row of bottles with one sword strike.

The other noble children gathered around him just to watch him demonstrate his strength. Alex was not so happy about that. He was the prince, and even he wasn’t popular.

Prince Alex walked to him by the round table. "Taumus-kun, why don’t we have a little friendly sparring match? I’m sure the adults wouldn’t mind."

"I’m currently busy. So..." he replied.

"Don’t tell me you are scared?" Alex grinned.

"Sure, why not?" Taumus said. He was quite pissed by Alex’s taunt.

Alex recommended that they wear protective vests to prevent any sort of damage. The news of the sparring match quickly spread between the noble children, and they gathered around the training field at the back of the royal ballroom.

The match started. Taumus thrust his sword forward with the aim of hitting Alex’s arm, but instead his attack hit the ground. He tried again, but the result was the same. Alex lunged forward, Taumus raised his sword upwards to block the attack.

But in the same moment, he received a heavy blow on his arm.

"What the—" He realised he didn’t raise his sword at all.

"Taumus-kun, is everything alright?" Alex grinned.

"This fucking bastard. He must have done something," Taumus clenched his teeth.

Alex crouched his feet against the ground, a red-like aura surrounded him.

"2nd tier spell: Hexagon Thrusts."

He moved with increased speed such that his movement became blurry. He struck Taumus from eight different directions all at once.

Taumus fell to his knees after the intense barrage of attacks. He couldn’t move a single muscle. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"I guess he was all just talk after all."

"All he knows how to do is split bottles in half."

The nobles that once stood by his side complimenting his tricks all began to mock him.

Alex bent his head to the level of Taumus’s ear. "I hope the misperception spell wasn’t too much on you, Taumus-kun," he whispered as a wide grin tore across his face.

After all of these years had passed by, it was finally Taumus’s turn to have his payback, and he wouldn’t miss it for the entire world.

A week finally passed by, and Elliot was all healed up and free from bed rest.

"I suggest you still take it easy for a while. I wouldn’t want you visiting my office any time soon," the nurse let out a slight laugh.

"Don’t worry, I won’t be the one coming back," Elliot muttered.

"What did you say?" She attempted to confirm what he had just said.

"Nothing." He waved her goodbye.

On his way back to his dorm room, he could feel the intense stares of disgust from the other students and also hear their whispers.

"I think his victory against Liam was a fluke."

"Really?"

"How else would you explain him getting totally brutalised by Prince Alex?"

"We all know that Prince Alex is in a league of his own. Didn’t he get third place on the entrance exams?"

"Figures."

"I heard Seria hasn’t left her room in days."

"Why would she? The whore is probably too ashamed to show her face."

’These bastards. I wish I was allowed to pummel them.’

The stuff they said about him didn’t matter to him, but he was pissed about what they said about Seria.

"Elliot!" Deria called out to him.

"Where are you going? We were just coming to pick you up at the nurse’s office," Edith stated as they walked up to him.

"She discharged me early, and I was planning to get some things done," he chuckled.

"How’s your body doing?" Deria punched him on the arm.

"Do you plan to send me back?" He rubbed his shoulder.

"Oh, sorry." She took a step back.

"So how’s Seria doing?" He asked.

"Why don’t you ask her yourself?" Edith stated as they moved aside and Seria walked past them.

"Seria." His eyes lit up.

"It’s good to see that you are in good shape," she smiled.

"All this aside. You know how you asked us to monitor Flora and Alex?" Deria suddenly cut in.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Well, we overheard him talking to someone suspicious, not about the letters but something else entirely," Edith added.