"...What are you doing here?" I ask Rouge, who appeared out of nowhere in my house. Considering we’re on break and I never called her for private training, she shouldn’t be here.
"I saw someone with a dangerous scent and a strange appearance on top of your building..." She mentions someone I’m certain is Maya, though she wouldn’t have been able to see that if she wasn’t already watching.
"And what are you doing near my house? I don’t know where you live, but I’m sure it’s not near here." I say to her as I step outside, looking up to where I see Maya sitting on top of the safety railing at the building’s edge.
"...I...want you to come with me to my house! I deserve to receive training too. Everyone is getting stronger and I know it’s because of that! So I want it too." She speaks in an extremely serious tone.
’Deserve? What a conceited girl...’ I don’t say anything, but her demanding tone and her way of speaking as if I’m obligated to do this irritates me. At least she seems determined, though.
"Are you serious?" I really wasn’t expecting this right now, since I’m busy with what’s coming. I was even preparing my combat equipment and running new tests on my prosthetics with Ashlyn’s help. Ashlyn has been helping me a lot with ’communicating’ with the Cube, and in exchange I let her sleep at my house.
’Am I really believing that the hooded woman will manage to stop the island?...’ I only now realize how ridiculous that sounds. What guarantee is there? She’s done some unique things, sure, but stopping the island is another matter entirely.
Almost no one has permission to stop the island. For someone to manage it, they’d need to file countless requests and receive support from numerous people to lock the island’s floaters in place.
"Yes, Professor Zenith, I need help!" She doesn’t catch the sarcasm in my tone and acts as if I’d actually asked a legitimate question.
"Okay... I guess I can give you some help, but nothing as extensive as with the others, because I don’t have anything planned for you yet and... you’re already somewhat skilled." She already knows the basics of combat and is at an intermediate level.
She already controls her power very well, has good refinement of her abilities, and also shows she has experience even if it isn’t much. In other words, she’s already ahead of the others in that regard.
’What limits her most is that her power is one of the simplest, with the fewest different applications...’ There aren’t as many applications compared to the others. Obviously her power has plenty of applications, but compared to Eirwen and Tanya, her options are far more limited.
"Perfect! Come with me, I already have a car prepared." She says, grabbing my hand. I pull my hand back, stopping her from dragging me along.
"Hold on, I have to lock up my house. Besides, why were you so confident I’d accept that you even prepared a car?" Unfortunately, Rouge will never achieve what she wants. I can see she wants to be stronger than her classmates, but with her power, that’s impossible.
Rouge’s power loses in several aspects against the others. Tanya will never be surpassed in raw power, Eirwen will never be surpassed in range and control once she learns to properly control her abilities, and Charlotte will never be surpassed in precision. Rouge is strong and has a future where she’ll get even stronger, but she’ll lose in those aspects no matter how much she trains.
"Because you’re the teacher."
’I guess that’s not a valid reason, since I’m on a break... whatever...’ I lean toward the outside of the building.
"Hey Maya, I’m heading out." I warn her as I grab my house key and lock the door, following Rouge to her car. The car waiting for us is quite expensive, but not exactly something extremely wealthy people would own.
’Matches what I figured...’ To my surprise, Rouge is the one driving. I expected her to have a driver, not that she already knew how to drive herself. In the end, they’re all adults, so I guess it makes sense she’d know how since she has the means for it.
"Is your house far?" I ask, disinterested, while pulling out my phone and turning on the GPS to record exactly where we’re heading. An old military instinct of always knowing precisely where I am.
"A little. You wouldn’t mind if it takes a while, would you? Normally I stay in the academy dorms, but since I want to get stronger, I think my house is better."
’I wonder what her house is like...’ I’m not one to visit students’ homes. I only know about Eirwen’s house—which has since relocated because her first house was frozen to the point where everything shattered.
I just wait while looking at my phone, but something strange happens on the screen. I’m receiving a signal from Nadir’s contact.
’Huh? How... the Ship has a signal range limit and... o-oh!! Impossible...’ I look out the car window and see Maya flying above a circular platform following us. She glances at her phone and gives me a wave.
’Are we really getting close to the Ship? The hooded woman... why is she doing all this...’ Nadir must have also noticed he’s receiving signals from Aurora Island. That means the hooded woman was serious about stopping the island, though I didn’t know she planned to have Nadir there.
"Something wrong?" Rouge asks curiously.
"No, just keep driving." I stay quiet while sending Nadir a message asking if he saw a hooded woman appearing at the Ship or wherever they are. Nexus obviously sees the message, but I don’t write anything revealing.
’...Now I just wait. Even if there’s signal, it isn’t good... we must still be about a week away.’ As we move away from the city, I realize Rouge lives in the forest area, which is genuinely a surprise.
After all, the island’s forest area is private, and it’s not a place where you can normally build a house.
"Is your family one of the island’s founders?" I ask curiously as the car turns onto a dirt road. The only people I can imagine living in this area would be someone who participated in the founding of this island.
"...I don’t know... I don’t know much about my family... they aren’t very present, and only show up occasionally to visit me... plus I didn’t inherit the family surname."
’That makes sense. I wouldn’t recognize her by surname. Important families usually only pass their surname to their heirs... so Rouge isn’t an heiress...’ The road ends at a small, quite elegant house protected by a neat wooden fence delimiting the property.
’Her parents seem to care about her. Even if they don’t look after her, they gave her a private plot of land that’s worth a lot... or maybe they just wanted to get rid of her while maintaining a certain image...’
"What kind of training do you expect to receive from me?" Since I have nothing planned, I expected she might have thought of something.
"I want to learn how to use my powers more... precisely. I want to get stronger too." She stops the car in a garage while opening the doors. I step outside, taking in the scent of nature.
"What do you think?" She asks with a confident smile.
"I don’t like it. I hate the smell of nature. Plus, this place reeks of wet dog. Did you have dogs here?"
"...Yes, I had dogs, but—"
"Don’t get things mixed up, please. I don’t hate nature, but this strong smell of flowers, plants, and animals is something I don’t like." I’m far too accustomed to the smell of the city or the smell of ruins. Not to mention Aurora Island, being so high up, heavily influences how we breathe, and the forest area changes the air entirely.
It’s like taking someone who’s always lived in snow and dropping them in a desert. Their body isn’t used to such an unfamiliar environment.
"The training I can give you has to be brief, because I’m busy... I’ll only give you four days of training. Whether you learn anything in that time is up to you." I glance at a tree and spot Maya. Is she really not going to stop following me? I don’t think the hooded woman will just show up out of nowhere.
"Who is that woman? And why won’t she stop following us?" Rouge asks, a bit wary.
"Ignore her. She’s someone important, and she’s just... curious about something. She won’t do anything. Now, since you only want to get stronger, how about we have a little duel?" When I propose this, she perks up.
"You can use your powers as long as they’re not for attacking. Seems like a good restriction to force you to be creative. Your powers won’t always be useful for attacking a monster, so I want to see how you’d handle that situation." She nods.
"Come with me, Professor Zenith. I have a training area..." She gestures with her hand for me to follow while my focus is split between training her and what I actually need to do.
"Rouge, why do you want to get stronger so badly?" I ask a somewhat innocent question about it.
"...I have my reasons." She doesn’t say anything, and I don’t press further since it’s her private life.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter