A Side Villain…

Origin Academy was the premier educational institution situated at the heart of Origin city. In theory it was a place where the next generation of heroes, leaders, warriors and likes were created and nourished but in actuality this place was far more than that. It was a place where both commoners and royalties of different races and kingdoms were present and all of them were treated equally.

 

Once you step into the gates of Origin Academy your background and your status was nullified. A commoner from the Human Kingdom was equivalent to that of a prince of the Elf Kingdom and vice versa and because of that its acceptance rate was less than one percent.

 

The academy had some fixed seats for royalties of all the races and the rest of the seats were distributed based on the merit of the individual. An entrance was conducted and one had to qualify it in order to get entry into the academy, the level of entrance was also quite high as it not only checked your theoretical knowledge but also the practical application of the same.

 

So how in the world did Akira get into such a wonderful place which was almost like the Ivy league colleges back on Earth?

 

Well at first he had no desire whatsoever to get into this place but when he heard that Lily wanted to enter the academy and was preparing hard for the entrance he also made up his mind to enter the academy and be together with her. A silly reason to begin with but then again human idiocy is not something that can be underestimated. For a month Akira shut himself in his room and cramped up all the books required for the entrance exam and to the surprise of his parents and disbelief of Lily he managed to crack it.

 

“That simply means the previous guy could do anything he wanted if he put his mind into it.” Akira said to himself.

 

He was rummaging through the memories of the previous guy, the memories which were never shown in the game like how Akira managed to get into the academy, what was the cause behind it? And it seems out that Lily was the reason for it, he was scared of the fact that since both of them were already drifting apart and once she gets into the academy it would be game over, he would never be able to pursue her and his value which had already been reduced in her heart would plummet to zero.

 

“Just how much was this guy infatuated towards her that it made him crack the toughest exam in the entire world?” He said to himself and continued walking towards the academy.

 

On the way, different students could be seen wearing the academy's uniform which was a navy blue blazer over a white shirt and black pants with white shoes. These students were all in the first year and it was their first day much like Akira’s and the main cast. Due to the fact this was the first day of Academy the entire city was in a festive mood, shops and streets were decorated with different ribbons and lights of various colors, the sky was adorned by a large banner congratulating the students for making it into the Origin Academy.

 

All in all it felt lively and warm, it was like the entire city was happy and they had every reason for it as these students were the future of the world.

 

Akira reached the gates of the academy and there he saw many senior students helping the newcomers in finding their classes or simply welcoming them. He walked towards one of the seniors and gave him his papers to verify.

 

“Are you a new student?” The senior asked while checking his papers.

 

“Yes, it's my first day here.” He replied.

 

“Welcome to the Origin Academy as per your merit in the entrance you are allocated class 1-E.” The senior told him.

 

Classes for the first year were divided into five sections and the basis of division was one's merit. A was the best section where most of the royalty would be, B was second best where the best commoners and some royalty who couldn’t get into A were put into. C, D and E were similarly ranked with E being the lowest.

 

“Thank you for your assistance.” Akira replied.

 

“Not a problem and don’t worry that you are in E class, getting into the academy is a huge thing to do in the first place.” The senior thought that Akira was disappointed with the E class.

 

“Hmm.”

 

In the game you only visited the A or the B class as most of the plot was limited to those two only but now that he was in the E class it was for the best as he would be far away from main characters and subsequently far from the story.

 

“This is a blessing in a disguise.” He murmured to himself but this did not go unnoticed by someone who was standing behind him.

 

“What is a blessing?” Someone asked and Akira turned around to see who it was but instantly regretted doing it. A pair of pupils that were enclosed in vertical slits was staring at him and the psychological pressure radiating from those eyes was immensely heavy, it was like how a predator looked at its prey.

 

‘Gulp’

 

Fear was the emotion that was currently pumped into his body, the fear of someone so strong who could kill you by the flick of their hands and you would be rendered useless to resist. This was the power granted by Dragons, creatures who were always ranked at the top of the food chain no matter what the universe was.

 

After a few moments he calmed down and looked at the face of the person standing near him. Crimson red hair flowing over her shoulders, a face which was unblemished by the passage of time, eyes which represented her Dragonian lineage and body which would put even a succubus to shame and lastly a tail which proved beyond any doubt who she was.

 

Evelyn Maddock daughter of the principal of Origin Academy Edward Maddock, Current president of the Student Council, Half Dragon and one of the strongest members in the protagonist harem. Heck she was even stronger than the protagonist if she used her real Dragon form but didn’t it come with a cost? This was her bio which I remembered from the game but looking at her in real life is something else isn’t it?

 

“Umm hi?” I gave her an innocent smile as she was one of those bubbly characters who would always be happy and make others happy too but beneath all that bravado of hers something else was hiding.

 

“Hi I am Evelyn Maddock, the current Student Council President. Are you a new student?” She asked a little loudly gaining attention of nearby students and honestly it is a bad thing as gaining this much attention on the first day itself would be suicidal for someone like me.

 

Fortunately vice president Ichinose Musashi comes from behind and drags Evelyn away from here, those two were always like this weren’t they? Ichinose Musashi was an orphan who was picked up by Edward Maddock to be a little sister to Evelyn who was the only child in the Maddock household, well that could be corroborated to the low fertility rates of dragon but putting those things aside those two girls bonded pretty quickly but somewhere down the line Ichinose started acting like the older sister and Evelyn became the younger spoilt one. Oh and by the way she’s also a part of the protagonist's harem, he is quite a lucky guy getting both the sisters.

 

Taking advantage of the ruckus caused by those two I went inside the school grounds. This was just the first day and somehow two members of Protagonist’s harem had managed to cross paths with me and if the trend continues then maybe my beating is still in line? No, that can’t be true. I have done everything right, Lily and I are not engaged anymore neither are we in the same class so there’s no way that could happen.

 

Calming myself I decided to head towards my class but destiny had something else in mind as right in front of me were Lily and a boy who is the protagonist of this world and the one because of which Akira had taken his life. Richard Von Astrom is second heir to the Astrom kingdom, on the official records he was the most intelligent person among his age group, the strongest among first years in the academy, on the unofficial records he was much more than that and he’s also the character about whom I knew the most. He had the typical purple hair that most of the Astrom family members had, a charming smile which maybe was common to all the protagonists and from the large spear on his back you could tell  that he was a spear user and not just any but I guarantee that in the future he was going to be the best spear user in the world.

 

This situation where he and Lily are together should be their first meeting where she couldn't find the way towards the A class and he somehow ‘accidentally’ bumped into her creating the ever cliched meeting and now both of them were going there together. They were talking with each other, laughing in between and after looking at this I was ready to be assaulted by the nausea that the previous guy’s feeling always brought but to my surprise my inner self was calm like a ocean, there were nothing present there, no jealousy, no sadness, no anger towards the prince, it was plain indifference.

 

“Looks like those emotions have finally died down.” He commented on his state and left the place.

 

Lily who was happily going on her way with her new found friend happened to look at the back of a retreating Akira and having been together with him for so long she instinctively knew that it was him. Her mood instantly dampened and she clicked her tongue in annoyance. Yesterday when her mother told her that Akira really had annulled their so-called engagement she was stunned but happy nonetheless as finally she would be free but after seeing him here she was not so sure about that.

 

All of this didn’t go unnoticed from Richard’s eyes, as a prince he was taught by various experts and to catch the change of emotions on someone’s face was nothing difficult for him. He followed her gaze and noticed a boy going towards lower ranked classes. That boy looked normal so why did her mood get so bad after seeing him? He knew that he shouldn’t ask and she might not tell him but he did it anyway,

 

“What’s wrong Lily? Do you know him?” He asked in a caring voice.

 

“Ugh.. he’s a fri- an acquaintance, yes an acquaintance.” She stuttered in between her sentences.

 

How could Richard not tell that she was lying, her ability to lie was quite pathetic and infront of someone like him it was useless.

 

“You know I can tell that you are lying.”

 

“Umm do I really have to tell you?” She was not sure why but she didn’t wanted to tell him about Akira.

 

“We are friends right? We should help each other.” 

 

He said and smiled a flashy smile which made her blush and in the end she told him everything that had transpired between her and Akira, mostly she told him her version of things which only highlighted how bad he was and how he repeatedly irritated and annoyed her to the point where it was too much for her take. She continued and even told him about their engagement and recently how he annulled that.

 

“So that’s how it was. I am so sorry for all the things that you had to go through.”

 

“Please don’t be sorry it was not your fault to begin with.” 

 

Like that they reached their class and decided not to talk about it anymore. But how could Richard let go of this issue? He had to make him pay for the things that he did to her because she was her friend and maybe because he had that protagonist syndrome?

 

Akira had also reached his class and was sitting at one of the last benches completely unaware of the fact that despite his measures the scene had still gone the same way as it had in the game. The insides of the classroom were exactly the same as he had seen in the game with six rows and five students in each row a total of 30 students were present in each class making the first year grand total of 150 students.

 

In the crowd of the 30 students sitting ahead he could vaguely guess that barring one or two the rest were most likely going to mob characters and no one in the academy was going to pay any special attention towards them and it was just the best thing he could have ever demanded for. Going unnoticed by the masses and only focusing only on grades and adventuring in the dungeons would be a peaceful life.

 

When he was engrossed into his own thoughts a few of classmates took notice of him and one of the guys was the neighbour of Lily and had long coveted her but how could have Akira allowed that? So he threatened this guy and made him back off even Jasmine had told him to back off and because of that he was furious but couldn’t do anything to vent out. However today his luck seemed to be quite good. He got up from his seat and wanted to go towards Akira who was looking outside the window but at that moment someone came in.

 

“Hello everyone my name is Phillip Woods and I am going to be your homeroom teacher.” Phillip was an elf and since elves lived a long life so it was in expected range that most of them would learn various things and with the establishment of Origin Academy many eminent people from the elf community decided to become teachers here. Phillip was quite famous in the Academy as not only did he teached in lower classes he also had special lessons in the upper classes, He was also Akira’s second favourite teacher behind her.

 

“Okay so since today is only the first day it has been decided by the principal that first year students will be having a half day and in this half day you are allowed to explore the campus.” Mr. Woods said.

 

After that he began to lecture about the history of this academy and the city, how it was established by powerful people who had a big dream about……….  He basically told them about Game’s folklore which was known to all the players so Akira didn’t bother to pay any attention towards it and after first class ended he went out of the class towards the place he most wanted to.

 

The guy who was also waiting for the class to end stood up from his place but after seeing that Akira had gone out of the class he also followed him but since it was a new place for him he couldn’t manage to properly tail him. And out of frustration he cursed out loud,

 

“Shit, He got away. This time I wanted to make him pay for the humiliation he did to me but he got away.”

 

“I can help you in taking revenge.” someone said from behind him.

 

“Who is there? Come out.” 

 

“Your name is Ryle. A few years ago Akira humiliated you in front of everyone, especially in front of Lily. I am the only one who can help you take revenge.” after saying that someone came out of the shadows and after seeing him Ryle was shocked to his core but composed himself and asked the figure,

 

“How do you know all this?” Ryle asked.

 

“That doesn’t matter now does it? What I can offer you is how to ruin Akira’s life.”

 

“Count me in.” Ryle being the gullible guy easily accepted his offer not knowing the underlying implications of it.