For a moment I thought the bastard was there, using his invisibility to prank me. But no, he wasn’t. Ethan wasn’t there.
I already had suspicions about him, since he knew things about the region that a new student shouldn’t know. Now I was sure the guy was up to something. Fuck. Once again, someone had tricked me.
First it was that lady I had yet to get my hands on, and now Ethan. The worst part was that he was my roommate, so I’d have to look at his face every single day.
Without much choice, I had to play the only card I had, which was calling the principal. The principal was also suspicious about having me as his disciple so suddenly. Every single person in that academy was acting weird at that point.
But I had no choice. I called him.
"What do you want?" the principal said.
I gulped.
"Well, I might have left the academy and explored a nearby rift. Would you let me back in without getting expelled?"
"WHAT? Where are you?"
I did my best to explain where I was. Of course, I didn’t say anything about Ethan helping me out. Not because I wanted to protect him, but because I wanted to get the answers myself.
If he just got expelled from the academy, how would I get my revenge?
Anyway, it didn’t take long for the principal to find me.
"You look like shit," he said. "What hurt you? Isn’t this a rank F dungeon?"
"Yeah, I climbed up into the tree canopies to get a better look, and then I saw a fucking massive eye. It almost killed me."
When I mentioned the eye, I noticed a slight change in the principal’s expression. He knew about the eye. In fact, it looked like he wanted to ask me more, but held back.
And, to my surprise, he didn’t actually get me in trouble.
"Follow me. I’ll get you to the infirmary to treat your wounds, and get you some new clothes."
I followed the principal back into the academy. We didn’t go through that hole, but through a different exit, one not many people had access to. The principal scanned his card, and a metal door opened.
We walked through a few corridors. I spotted some people inside, wearing white lab coats. Looking at them gave me a weird feeling. Like I was a rat in a lab.
But no one came to talk to us. The principal led me straight to the infirmary. There were no students outside their dorms anymore, since it was too late for that. The guards didn’t let anyone leave. I was the only student outside.
The principal stayed with me while I got treated by a good-looking nurse in the infirmary. He even brought me new clothes, similar to the ones I’d had before.
Once we were alone in there, and after the pain had eased up a bit, the principal asked me a few questions.
First, he wanted to know how I’d left the academy without alerting anyone.
"It was just luck, honestly. Perfect timing. The guards were a little drunk, playing cards, and some were even asleep," I said.
Complete bullshit, of course. But the principal didn’t push for more on that. What he really wanted to know was why I went to that rift, and what I saw. Basically, he wanted to know more about the mysterious eye.
"Do you know about that eye?" I asked him.
The principal nodded.
"We’ve been trying to explore that dungeon and find out what the creature’s protecting, but we haven’t figured it out yet. I’m really surprised you actually survived one of those laser beams. Most hunters would die."
I thought I would die too. My dimensional cube and Bob had saved me.
"Maybe luck, again?" I said, shrugging.
"Bullshit. It was probably that cube of yours."
I just chuckled, not giving him an answer.
The principal then said something I wasn’t expecting.
"You’re skilled, surviving an encounter with that eye, even though you look like shit right now. But I think you can get strong enough to go back there in the future. Would you consider joining a task force down the line to find out more about that creature?"
The principal was trying to get me on a special team. I honestly liked the idea, mostly because I wanted to find out more about that eye, and maybe even kill it, since it had almost killed me.
"Maybe, yeah," I said. "Also, what about our missions? When will I be able to leave to explore rifts or fight monsters that escaped them?"
"Usually students get their first mission after 2 months of training," he said.
I decided to beg him. Bob wouldn’t last that long.
"You saw how skilled I am. Could you maybe... let me get some missions early?"
"How early?"
"Maybe... next week? Or tomorrow?"
The principal clenched his jaw, looking like he was fighting demons not to hit me.
"I... I’ll see what I can do and let you know. But please, don’t get into trouble, and hide those burns for tomorrow. No one can know you did this. I can’t cover for you forever."
It was my first day in the academy, and I was already causing quite the disturbance.
I stayed in the infirmary for an hour before heading back to my dorm. The pain was much more bearable now, especially with the medicine they’d given me.
I knew very well Ethan would be in that room, waiting for me, and I had no idea how to react. But I was sure of one thing: that bastard would pay for leaving me there.
When I opened the door, I saw him, soundly asleep on his bed. He woke up at the noise. Ethan looked at me with a face full of disbelief.
"How are you here?" he said, his voice cracking.
I slowly walked toward him.