A Side Villain…

 

“Coming dear.” Jasmine said and went on to open the door failing to notice the surprise on Akira’s face.

 

‘How in the world is she here? Wasn’t she and the others supposed to be doing that SIT or whatever instead of being roaming here and there?’

 

‘Sigh’

 

‘What a mess, here I thought that I would be getting some alone time with Jasmine and of course the universe has to butt in and cause troubles.’

 

The door opened and the protagonist plus his future harem walked in, they had many expressions on their face, the common being excitement, anticipation, some joy and a little belonging.

 

Even Alexandria was showing this many emotions which is strange considering that only training or a duel brings this much from her, maybe she was feeling nostalgic about her home back in Amazon island. She along with the rest of the group moved inside and greeted Jasmine.

 

“Hello miss Jasmine my name is Richard Von Astrom and it is great to finally see you in person.” Richard came in front and bowed elegantly.

 

“Oh hello and nice to meet you too.” Jasmine replied with her usual smile.

 

“Hello I am Aurora, Lily’s classmate.” The Elven princess did a small bow but it still had that refiness and etiquette of a royal.

 

“Alexandria.” She kept it short.

 

“Why don’t you guys come in and have something?” Jasmine said while taking them inside where Akira was sitting and enjoying his drink.

 

“Yes guys let’s go and I will make the fruit juice that is made from the special fruits grown by my mother.” Lily said enthusiastically and brought them into the room only to be shocked after seeing the scene.

 

Akira was sitting there on one of the sofas with one leg on the other and sipping on the drink brought to him by Jasmine. He did notice them coming inside but decided not to pay any attention as it wasn’t going to do anything.

 

“You! What are you doing here?” Lily shouted while pointing a finger at him.

 

“Too Noisy.” He sighed and continued on with the drink.

 

Lily’s face reddened at that remark of his but she quickly got back to her usual face and said,

 

“Why are you here? How did you enter my house?” She was clearly not happy seeing him here, in a corner of her mind that the whole engagement annulment thing was still going on.

 

She was still afraid that this guy might go back on his words and then she had to endure all of that again but his recent behavior has caused her a lot of surprise. 

 

Earlier he would miss no opportunity to be near her but since the start of academy he had maintained no contact with her heck even if she tried she couldn’t see him neither inside of the academy nor somewhere in the city.

 

“I was the one to call him here.” Jasmine said and Lily looked at her in disbelief.

 

“Uh guys, why don’t you sit inside? I want to talk with my mother.” Lily said and pulled her mother into another room.

 

Richard and Aurora had understood all of this drama that was unfolding and it was getting a little awkward for them to continue being here while Alexandria only saw this as normal bickering between parents and child.

 

So she moved forward and took a seat in front of Akira who hadn’t changed his expressions one bit from the start and was keeping a stoic face but now that situation was something like this he wanted to take his exit from here.

 

Richard also sat down and to alleviate the unpleasant situation in the room he decided to talk with the other guy present there,

 

“Hello Akira how have you been?”

 

“Good as always.”

 

“That’s great and by the way congratulations for getting the second rank in the literature exam.” He said getting stares from Aurora.

 

Akira smiled and nodded his head that he didn’t wanted to say any more than required and that seemed to earn a frown from Richard as he didn’t expect him to not say nothing at all.

 

“Yes, that indeed is something interesting.” Aurora said while adding in her mind, ‘but still he isn’t going to get the first position.’

 

Richard then replied something which got him and Aurora into a conversation conveniently ignoring the two other people that too were sitting there but not for long as Jasmine and Lily entered the room along with a tray holding glasses containing the fruit juice.

 

Lily was definitely pissed off but kept quiet as she looked at Jasmine who was keeping that usual smile on her face but all the people that were present couldn’t help but shudder a bit as that smile was not a sweet one.

 

Akira was particularly amused at this development and wanted to ask what went between the mother daughter duo but seeing that this wasn’t a good time he kept quiet and sipped on his drink which unfortunately had finished.

 

Lily moved forward trying to give her friends some drinks for refreshment but somehow either her mind or body were not on track as she stumbled and the tray along with glasses fell down.

 

“What!!” Lily yelled after coming to senses of what was going to happen, the others too realized and wanted to help but they were a bit far and tad slow.

 

Akira being the nearest to her was going to get splashed by that meaning that the dress he was wearing was also going to get spoiled and his mother would definitely not like that so he quickly casted a spell.

 

“Water shield.” The drinks coming at him striked the shield but could not do anything but trickle down from there staining the carpets.

 

“I am so sorry, sorry let me help yo-” Stopped the culprit when she got to see who it was.

 

Despite the water shield stopping the impact his trousers were stained by the trickled down juice and if not treated they were going to leave stains so he stood up and tried to go outside knowing that none was going to help him here.

 

“I- I will help-” Lily tried saying something but she stopped knowing that it wouldn't be right.

 

‘Yeah you have already done a fantastic job so why don’t you keep that help to yourselves.’ He thought in mind and went outside of the house his mood sullied.

 

“You guys stay here.”

 

Jasmine said and went after him leaving the group there. Richard seeing this tried to dissuade Lily who was in deep thought,

 

“It’s okay, it's just a drink, nothing to worry about.” 

 

“Yeah you are right it’s just a drink.” Lily too recovered and sat down.

 

Aurora had an amused face while Alexandria had some complicated reactions as when Akira used his spell she felt that the mana pattern was similar yet different than the one she is finding but that was more enough to place some doubts in her mind.

 

Jasmine stepped outside only to find that Akira was quickly leaving the boundaries of her home so she increased her pace and reached him.

 

“Akira-kun where are you going?” She asked.

 

“Mom would kill me if she got to know that I have spoiled this dress so I need to get it fixed.” He replied while turning around.

 

Jasmine sighed and came forward then with a flick of her hand mana flew out attacking the stains and making them disappear making Akira look at her in astonishment.

 

“Don’t tell me you don’t know the basic cleaning spells.” She said and giggled.

 

He got flustered because it was really a fault on his part, in all his endeavor of getting the attack and defense spells he forgot about the basic ones used in households and some shops.

 

“No, I was thinking about something else.”

 

“Fufufu… you can’t lie with that face. Anyway you are not mad are you?” She hesitated asking that.

 

“I am but not at you.” He replied.

 

“That’s good though I am sorry about what happened inside, that girl was not in her right state.” She explained.

 

‘Sigh’

 

“Well I would be going if there’s nothing else.” His mood was not good and he wanted to head home.

 

Jasmine, understood that it was not the best time to engage him decided to let him go but not without a promise of visiting her again when he gets time to which he happily agreed.

 

With that he finally left that place and began wandering around as there were still a few hours left before dinner and there wasn’t much to do back at home.

 

Walking around brought him to the market district which was as lively as it could get and just as he was thinking about what to do a loud voice caught his attention,

 

“Oi kid come here.” Ah yes it was the fat mouthed uncle Adam yelling at him from his shop.

 

He quickly made his way towards him and said,

 

“Uncle Adam thank you for your assistance that day if it-” He couldn’t continue as he was pulled into a tight bear hug by the centaur.

He was literally getting strangled by this over affectionate uncle of his and the best part is that he didn’t know the reason behind it. His fingers tapped on his shoulders letting him know that it was more than enough.

 

“Oh sorry about that, I sometimes forget that you humans are frail without mana enhancement.” Adam said and laughed off like it was nothing.

 

“Haah… haah.. Hah..” Akira was taking long breaths to stabilize himself.

 

“Unc- uncle Adam what was that about?” He enquired.

 

“What ‘what’?” His uncle asked confusedly.

 

“Ohh! I just wanted to congratulate you on completing your first mission.” He smirked.

 

“Ah yes, thank you for that.” Akira replied.

 

“Still I didn’t think that you would have to go through all that.” He said with a sigh.

 

“Well it wasn’t a lot to say about but it certainly did help me in many ways.” 

 

“Bahh!! Whatever kiddo I am just happy that you will get the medal tomorrow. It would be so good to see my friend’s son up there.” He said tearfully, getting gazes from the bypassing people.

 

“Haha…It’s fine uncle Adam nothing you should get so worked up for.” Akira said while waving his hands.

 

With that situation under control he moved away from there and went towards his father’s shop which also had quite a few people visiting it. He also moved in and helped him with the work there and they made some small talks.

 

After an hour or so his father said, “that’s enough Akira you should head home. I have some work to do.” 

 

“Are you cheating?” 

 

“Whaa-?” His father’s eyes widened at that.

 

“Well don’t get caught and don’t be late or mom might get angry.” He said while showing a toothy smile giving away his act.

 

“Scram brat!!” His father yelled at the top of his voice.

 

He fled while laughing and thinking that his father was too strict with himself and needed to relax a bit or he might collapse because of all the work and tension that surrounds him. 

 

Akira was right in that aspect as his father might not show it but he was always working overtime, his body being overstretched and overworked and it needed some rest. 

 

Sure this world’s potions, spells and other things can cure almost anything but prevention is always better than cure and it was his responsibility as their son that he does his best to make their lives happier and easier.

 

Akira was on his way back home thinking about the stuff that happened today and he had to say it was bitter sweet, his meeting with Jasmine had been awesome but then Lily had to barge in and kill the moment. 

 

It was like this when he felt that something was off, he couldn’t exactly tell what it was but he felt that a pair of eyes were staring at him. He discreetly looked at his surroundings trying to pinpoint the source of this discomfort but to no relief.

 

Everyone he would come close to those eyes they  would wander off leaving no trail behind for him to follow and now this was becoming a problem. His mind went through a list of all those who could be behind this but no one specifically came up.

 

‘Could it be the cultists? They are a vicious bunch of people who remember their grudges but it is still too early for that. Then someone from the academy?’

 

He decided to play along for now and started walking to the clock tower situated right in the middle of the market district.  While walking he was slowly circulating the mana in his body so that it would be ready if there was an attack.

 

Reaching near a big merchant’s shop where a lot of people had gathered he quickly blended within the crowd and just when the feeling of being watched became haphazard he activated his ‘concealment’ spell.

 

‘Tsk’ He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

 

The battle with Amelia and her puppets had proved a bit too much for him to handle and if not for the ‘Ror’ and timely assistance of medics by Ivan Feodor he had to recuperate for a week but even with all that he still had to rest for two days before engaging with anyone.

 

Still the five minutes timer indicated by the system was more than enough for him to blend into the crowd and become a ghost. After successfully becoming invisible to most of the people and hopefully to the one trailing him after that he decided to get the high ground which in this case meant the clock tower.

 

Climbing the clock tower was surprisingly easy? He had expected it to be more difficult but with him now at 5th tier closing onto 4th it was a child’s play but to him it was something special as it reminded him of the famous game ‘Assassin’s Creed.’

 

On the top of the tower he got to see a breathtaking scene of the entire city in his visage but forced himself to find the one who was in his pursuit. He poured mana into his corneas and focused his gaze in the crowd.

 

After a few minutes of scanning the crowd his gaze landed on a somewhat similar figure and made him sigh in annoyance.

 

“This girl is troublesome.” 

 

Instead of leaving he decided to watch her antics which made him laugh at how bamboozled she was getting when seeing that her target had escaped from her grasp. She did not waste any time and bolted in one of the roads hoping to find Akira who was sitting on the edge of the tower.

 

His spell weathered off on its own after a couple of minutes but there was no way she could see him now. He now sat at the top of the clock tower watching the horizon.

 

The scene from the top could be only described as something out of the world as the city looked like a sparkling diamond tossed in starless sky. He was lost for words seeing this but remembered that it was getting late and had to go home. 

 

“Still should I do something about her?”