RotDG Chapter 75: Congratulations

I probably should have been more… gentle when I was relaying what I learned from Wyll to Sonia. But I also didn’t really know the black-haired girl that well. She was usually quite stoic, and I didn’t think that this matter was that important to her.

After all, I wasn’t really someone who grew up with parents before. The only reason why I knew that I made a mistake was because of the influence of Eli’s soul— the vague recollection of memories from his life that I possessed made me feel extremely bad for Sonia after I casually told her that her father was dead.

Well, not like there’s anything I can do to change it now, I thought as I left her room, heading for the cafeteria.

It was lunch time, and I still needed to get something to eat to energize myself for the rest of the day. Especially since I was actually physically exhausted after staying up all of last night to hunt down Wyll.

Fortunately for me, there was still plenty of time for me to eat and relax even though I arrived at the cafeteria about half an hour after everyone else. When I was finally there, I had only barely just gotten my food, when Myrla suddenly spawned in behind me and dragged me to her table.

I didn’t even have time to react. After only a moment, I found myself seated across from the young girl as she leaned over the table and grabbed me by the collar of my uniform.

“You’re not running away from me this time!” she whispered harshly. “You’re going to tell me exactly what Sonia told you after we saved her life!”

“Alright, alright, I’ll tell you,” I said as I held my hands up. “There’s no need to be so rough.”

Myrla narrowed her eyes, before letting go of me. She settled down back into her seat and looked at me expectantly. I just started eating.

“After I finish my lunch,” I added as I chewed on a mouthful of steak.

The young girl crossed her arms and glared daggers at me. With that look alone, I almost choked on my food. I steeled myself and nodded at her.

“This weekend,” I finally replied, wiping my mouth with a napkin.

“This weekend?” Myrla raised a brow dubiously.

“I promised you I was going to bring you out on a hunting trip outside of the city with me, didn’t I?” I said as I nodded at her. “So when we’re doing that, I’ll explain everything to you.”

“Are you sure? Because I’m getting tired of being left out!” Myrla harrumphed and held her chin up. “Remember, I saved your life, so you owe me!”

“I promise, I’ll tell you everything, alright?” I said reassuringly. “So don’t worry about it, all you have to do is just wait a few days…”

I trailed off, before adding internally …for me to come up with a believable story to tell you.

“Fine, but I’ll be really upset if you put it off again,” Myrla huffed and leant back in her chair. “And you won’t like me when I’m upset.” 

“What’re you going to do? Steal my blankets so I’ll have to sleep in the cold?” I chuckled, and she snorted.

“Even worse— I’ll spill water all over your food so it becomes soggy and disgusting and you won’t even want to eat it anymore.”

“I think you’re the only one who’ll get upset about missing lunch, Myrla.” I grinned back at her.

She shrank back and covered herself in embarrassment. “Are you calling me fat?!”

“I don’t know what’s going on here, but I agree with Eli,” a voice piped up from the side.

Both Myrla and I looked up to see Kelton approaching us with a smirk plastered across his face. He sat himself down next to us as Myrla rolled her eyes at him.

“So what are we talking about?” he asked, looking between the young girl and I.

“Sorry, Kelton, but it’s a secret,” Myrla responded simply. 

“Come on, we shouldn’t keep secrets from friends. You two have been acting weird for the last few days. Can’t you let me in on this? I promise I’m good at keeping my mouth shut.” Kelton leaned closer and looked pleadingly at us.

Myrla hesitated when she saw that, before she looked my way. “Eli… should we tell him?”

“I mean, maybe?” I said with a shrug.

If it was only about the brief confrontation with the mawdrith, we could at least tell Kelton that much. Although, we had been tight-lipped about it so far, not uttering a word about it to anyone else. Now if we mentioned it here— even if Kelton kept it a secret— someone could overhear what we told him. Which would result in rumors being spread across the campus, and would eventually lead to people asking questions.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted that. Especially since the whole ordeal could eventually lead to the discovery of the Artifacts of Death in my possession— since they were what Sonia had stolen from the Holy Academy in the first place.

However, before I could make a decision, a susurration began to sweep over the cafeteria, drawing my attention. Myrla and Kelton looked up too, hearing the whispered voices and seeing the pointing fingers. 

At first, I thought that it was just a group of students who were causing a commotion. But then I spotted the two figures that were drawing everyone’s attention, making their way across the large dining hall, and even my eyes grew wide in shock.

The first figure that was striding across the cafeteria was a tall man dressed in white robes and a white pointed hat. He had long gray hair, but he didn’t look old. In fact, he looked young— perhaps in his late twenties at most. But the look in his eyes exuded an aura that indicated he was wise beyond his years. He walked with a wooden staff at his side, and he wore a kindly smile as he nodded at all the students who were staring at him.

Behind him, a middle-aged woman trailed along, wearing glasses on her face, and black hair tied up into a bun. She carried a book underneath her arms as she shot stern looks at each and every student she passed, like she was analyzing whether each and every single one of them were keeping up with the dress code.

These two weren’t students— nor were they even ordinary members of the faculty. They were the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmistress of the Holy Academy respectively.

Headmaster Kaelen Angelus, and Deputy Headmistress Claire Verena.

I blinked a few times as I watched them make their way through their cafeteria. But why are they here…?

However, it was clear that they were making their way towards me, and that made my ring finger instinctively twitch. I hid my hand behind my back as the possibilities of why they were here raced through my mind.

Could they have figured out— but how? I tried to wrack my mind to find a way out of this mess.

My gaze drifted across the room, searching for Sonia, but she wasn’t here. I had left her in her room just half an hour or so ago. I had thought that she was going to just be moping around, trying to feel better. But was it possible that she could have ratted me out?  

No, it doesn’t matter even if she did, I thought as I focused on the situation at hand. What matters is I need to get out of this situation.

But I hesitated, unable to come up with a course of action, so I decided to just wait and see before I reacted. And that was when Headmaster Kaelen Angelus came to a halt right before my table, before Deputy Headmistress Claire Verena stepped up right next to him as the susurration sweeping over the cafeteria grew louder.

“Attention!” she said, her voice echoing throughout the dining hall. 

In an instant, the entire cafeteria hushed up. All the whisperings died down, and heads turned to face both the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmistress.

The latter cleared her throat as she stepped to the side. “Headmaster Angelus has something to say, so please remain silent and direct your attention towards him.”

“Thank you, Deputy Headmistress Verena,” Kaelen said as he smiled at her, before taking a step forward.

He swept his gaze over the cafeteria as all the staring students just looked back at him in awe. And why wouldn’t they? It was not every day they could see the Headmaster of the Holy Academy— ordinarily, Deputy Headmistress Claire Verena was the one who would be walking around campus and updating students on the day-to-day news of the school.

“Greetings Initiates of the Holy Academy,” Headmaster Kaelen Angelus said as he placed a hand on his chest. “It has been a while since I have addressed you, but today is a special occasion because an incident from outside of the school that involves a few of our students has come to my attention.”

I paused when I heard that. I relaxed my hands, letting them hang limply from my side. I realized that I was worried for nothing— that I had forgotten what the city guards of Albus had said. I just calmed myself as I listened to the Headmaster of the Holy Academy continue.

“Two days ago, there was an altercation in the outer city of Albus which involved a rampaging greater demon. Fortunately, with the brave intervention of three of our students who held off the greater demon until the timely arrival of a passing Inquisitor, there were only a handful of minor injuries amongst the evening crowd.”

Headmaster Kaelen Angelus spoke as he nodded first at Myrla, then at me. Most of the watching students in the cafeteria failed to notice this subtle gesture. Instead, they exchanged shocked looks, some of them even breaking out into quiet discussion.

“A greater demon?”

“But how?”

“It had to be a group of Disciplines—”

As they spoke amongst themselves, only a single student’s gaze seemed to dart my way, noticing Kaelen’s nod. It was Cecil— my elven roommate, and a saint. He narrowed his eyes at me when he heard that. But he said nothing more as the Deputy Headmistress cleared her throat, and the chattering students quietened down in an instant.

The Headmaster of the Holy Academy continued.

“When I heard this, I was impressed by the actions of these brave students of the Holy Academy, and I believed that they deserve to be rewarded for what they did. But I wasn’t quite able to come up with an adequate reward for them that wouldn’t be unfair to the other students of the school.”

I furrowed my brows when I heard that. I didn’t know where he could be going with this— but neither did the rest of the students in the cafeteria. So we had no choice but to wait and hear the headmaster out.  

“You see, in the past, I have been criticized for the seemingly arbitrary criteria for being chosen as The Headmaster’s Honored,” Kaelen said, shaking his head, before a smile spread across his face. “That is why I decided to take this opportunity to come up with not only an adequate reward for these brave students of ours, but also to solve these past criticisms that have been levied my way.” 

He held up a finger as he spoke simply.

“Distinction Points.”

Headmaster Kaelen Angelus swept his gaze across the room as he explained.

“They can be earned through receiving a distinction grade in your classes, but they can also be earned through accomplishing an extraordinary feat in an extracurricular activity. And if you end off the school year with the most amount of Distinction Points, you will be chosen as The Headmaster’s Honored.”

I placed a hand on my chin when I heard this, intrigued by this concept. But I wasn’t too excited about it either, considering that I didn’t even know much of what being The Headmaster’s Honored entailed.

However, the rest of the listening students began to perk up in excitement— even Myrla and Kelton looked around with wide eyes when they heard that. But the Headmaster of the Holy Academy wasn’t finished.

“Now that I got that explanation out of the way,” Kaelen said as he looked towards Myrla and I. “Come up, Eli of Velmond, and Myrla Arthus of Rucius.”

The excitement of the students in the cafeteria vanished when they heard that, immediately replaced with shock. Cecil nodded to himself, looking like he expected this. Meanwhile, Claudius and his goons just blinked in confusion, not processing what this meant.

Both Myrla and I did as the headmaster said, leaving Kelton behind as he stared at us, realizing what this meant. 

Kaelen continued as Myrla and I came to a halt before him.

“As recognition for what the two of you— alongside Sonia Redheart of Albus— did just the other day, saving hundreds of innocent lives by risking your very own lives, embodying what it means to be a student of our esteemed institution, you three will be the first recipients of a Distinction Point.”

The Headmaster of the Holy Academy smiled at both Myrla and I as he placed a hand on our shoulders, before he finished.

“Congratulations.”

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