How To Survive A Calamity-Chapter 264: Outside the Door [1]

I left Arslan’s office shortly after that, a few hours ago, full of mixed and messed-up thoughts. And even till now, the conversation still played freshly in my mind.

All that did happen.

In the end, there wasn’t much I could do but repeatedly and deeply analyze the conversation we had in his office. The Vice Headmaster of Aegis was clearly more than what everyone seemed to imagine.

And from our conversation, it was clear there was a lot more going on beneath the surface of the Academy.

’He said he had to bring forward his measures since the "Witch" was making her move.’

The "Witch" he spoke about... was it the Headmaster?

The Headmaster of Aegis Awakened. A distinguished and powerful figure, but that was as much as I knew about her. I don’t think I’d ever seen what she looked or sounded like, just like with Arslan until a couple of weeks ago.

It had to be said the two leading figures and heads of the Academy were both extremely mysterious and busy people. Arslan had only appeared in public before the first-year cadets once so far. And personally, I’d only met him three times.

Admittedly, I still knew very little. Now, even more than I imagined. But my instincts screamed at me that there was definitely something happening, something a lot bigger than me.

It reminded me that the world was much larger than me, yet it seemed dead set on dragging me along into whatever chaos was steadily brewing without a note of concern for my opinion.

In the end, I took Arslan’s offer to become his "unofficial" student, although I still didn’t fully know what that meant. But if I had to trust the flaky and mysterious red-haired Vice Headmaster, which I obviously didn’t, then according to his words, I had his official and unofficial backing for the rest of my stay in the Academy.

This momentarily stalled the looming threat and problem of someone or the Academy finding out about my Karma and secrets. Arslan was in a high position at the Academy, so I was a bit sure he could thwart and protect my back from any and all accusations going forward.

It felt surreal and very dangerous; just less than a full day ago, I was panicking about what to do to hide my Karma and nature, and now a way out just presented itself before me.

It was like fate was toying with me casually.

It made me stop to think about something briefly; did the System also account for this? Was I already predetermined to cross paths with Arslan like this?

If so, would that also make him a cog in the System and Meta’s spinning machine, weaving us a path to its ultimate goal? It was a scary thought, because thinking of it that way suddenly made someone as immense and grand as Arslan, with such a presence, feel small.

But Arslan D. Blank clearly had his own agenda, and it involved me. But the System also needed Arslan for some reason, and it used me to get to him.

So... did that make us both pawns of something much larger and terrifying?

’As much as I hate to admit it, knowing the System and Meta so far, a part of its ultimate goal is to get me stronger and prepare me for something much larger and worse to come.’

It was ironic and weird. Despite the disdain and mortification I felt for the System, I also had a vague sense of reliability with it. At the very least, even without anything concrete, I knew Meta didn’t want to kill me.

That could even be seen with how I’ve come so far lately; all of my problems and their solutions have been spoon-fed to me at the right time.

’Although half of those problems were caused by Meta, and half of those "solutions" are half-baked enough to keep me on my toes,’ I grumbled.

In the end, I said nothing to Meta and sat with my thoughts. Arslan said he’d ask something of me again when the time had come, and for now, I should go about my days in the Academy as I originally would. Everything concerning the sponsorship program would be settled by him.

Although he did warn me about some likely rumors and dealing with some responsibility when the time had come, I wasn’t sure what he was talking about.

Speaking of responsibility... didn’t Arslan say Nicodemus was the one supposed to be in my place?

But I killed him.

That was also how I got the Karma. And somehow Arslan got to notice and discover me. And just when it seemed like my world was slowly beginning to devour me, he offered me a way out.

’Everything does feel like it flowed accordingly. It makes perfect sense.’

I was grim as I walked back to my dorm room. But eventually, I gave in to a sigh escaping from my throat.

I had already taken Arslan’s offer and accepted to be his "student," whatever the mysterious red-haired Vice Headmaster’s intentions might be. As long as I could figure out a way to deal with this Karma and get stronger on the side, then I would probably even strike a deal with a Demon.

—Of course I didn’t mean that literally; I quickly backtracked on my thoughts. It was a Demon that got me into all this mess anyway.

Ahem!

In any case, Arslan’s last words, or orders, before dismissing me were to continue in the Academy as usual. When the time had come, he’d send for me.

That meant I was going to go about the rest of my day like I hadn’t just bargained my life and survival with one of the most dangerous people I’ve ever met.

Or at least that was the plan. It seemed today just had a lot more surprises and misadventures awaiting me.

The moment I stepped into the hallway from the corner, I stared forward, frozen in place. There was an unexpected visitor standing right outside my room door without moving an inch.

She had long, lustrous silver hair and cold, piercing red eyes that stared emptily at her feet. She stood by my door, leaning against it with both arms crossed. Her skin was fair and white, contrasting deeply against the cold red of her eyes.

Ceres’ expression was as still and beautifully solemn as a Greek statue carved from pure ivory.

Immediately, my instinct was to backtrack and turn around, pretend like I hadn’t noticed her, but wariness and confused curiosity won over my logic.

Plus, why did I have to run? That was my room, not hers. Ceres wasn’t even in this dormitory building.

Eventually, I pushed through my initial shock and revealed myself.

"Why are you here?" I said bluntly. My nerves were still on edge after everything that happened with Arslan.

Why did it seem like I was getting too many unwanted visitors lately? Yesterday there was that crazy bitch Alice who literally broke in.

’Wait,’ my eye twitched as I shot a sharp glance at my door, ’Ceres didn’t break in, right? She looks like she’s been waiting for a while,’ I thought.

Ceres raised her head and turned her gaze at the sound of my voice. Although I was fairly certain she probably already sensed my presence right from when I was at the corner. That was part of the reason I decided there was no point in pretending not to have seen her waiting.

"Where have you been?" she said in her usual flat tone.

"Out. You haven’t answered my question." I regarded her with a raised eyebrow.

Ceres adjusted her posture and stood up straight to face me, no longer leaning against the wall. "Waiting," she said.

I frowned, just a bit. "I can see that. But why?"

Following the pattern of recent unfortunate events, I got the feeling Ceres came with her own baggage—one that I really, really did not want to deal with.

Soon I’d realize my paranoia wasn’t wrong.