"Don't fuck with me, Melissa," I sneered.
There was no way she could know the medical name of that obscure flower unless she had extensively researched my background in secret.
It pained me deeply that whatever she was spewing right now might actually be true.
'A real chance to save my sister this time,' I thought, my chest feeling tight.
If I could just cure her, I could finally face my parents again. That single thought filled my mind, instantly pushing aside all the anger, the suspicion, and the risk of entering a high-level cave.
I would walk into hell for that flower.
Melissa raised her hand and patted my head gently.
She acted like she expected this entire conversation would go her way from the very beginning.
She had me in a chokehold, and she knew it.
I looked around the room at everyone else.
Zephyr, Raven, and Mia just stood there quietly in the shadows.
Since no one questioned her crazy plan to enter a restricted B-rank zone, Melissa must have offered something equally life-changing to each of them.
She found everyone's greatest weakness.
'A pendant?' I tried to make sense of her actual goal.
What kind of necklace was worth bribing four different cadets to risk their lives?
"So that is all there is for tonight's meeting," Melissa announced cheerfully, clapping her hands together.
"Let's all meet at the entry gates tomorrow morning. Please don't die before we reach the second stage. Good night."
She jumped down from her spot on the mats, grabbed Mia by the arm, pulled the quiet girl closer, and exited the ruined training hall with a bounce in her step.
Mia turned her head to look at me one last time before stepping out into the corridor, her stare making the hair on my arms stand up.
'Total weirdos,' was all I could think as I rubbed my tired eyes.
Raven exited shortly after the girls. He kept his hands in his pockets and did not say a single word to either of us.
Zephyr walked right in front of me.
He looked down at the floor for a brief second, his eyes shadowed, and then he started to move toward the door.
"Are you actually okay with this?" I asked him, keeping my voice low.
I knew keeping my thoughts to myself wouldn't help me save anyone. I needed to understand where the hero's head was at.
Zephyr stopped walking, "About what exactly?"
"About Melissa, you idiot," I snapped, standing up from the floor to face him properly.
Zephyr turned his head slowly.
"You were very close with her in the last life," I pointed out, watching his reaction carefully.
"Was she always like this back then? Crazy?"
"I do not know much about her true personality from before," Zephyr answered, his expression guarded.
"But she is definitely acting differently now."
"And you are okay with following a different version of her into a death trap? Why?"
"Because my only goal right now is you," Zephyr replied flatly.
I let out a laugh.
"You do understand I only killed you because you were being controlled by the Demon King, right? And let me tell you a fun fact. I killed that bastard right after I killed you. I finished your job."
Zephyr's eyes narrowed, burning with a mix of shame and anger.
"That possession would not have happened if you hadn't distracted me during the final raid."
"Which is exactly how battles work," I argued, stepping closer.
"The world was saved in the end. Everyone else lived, so what is this grand revenge bullshit really about? Your bruised ego?"
"Then why are you back here?" Zephyr asked, ignoring my accusation entirely.
"If the mission is truly accomplished, why are we back here at the beginning?"
"That is what I wanted to know too," I admitted, running a hand through my hair.
"I honestly thought this time it would be a simple, easy life where I just stay in the background and enjoy the peace. But nothing is going like I knew or you knew."
Zephyr stared at me for a long minute.
The killing intent from our earlier fight had disappeared.
"I won't kill you," Zephyr finally said.
"At least, not anytime soon."
He turned around and walked toward the exit.
But he stood still one last time at the doorframe, looking over his shoulder.
"Whatever she is planning down there, she clearly seems to know something very important that we do not," Zephyr said quietly.
"So we can just follow her lead and see where this goes."
He left the place, leaving me completely alone in the cold hall.
Melissa's face when she mentioned the pendant flashed vividly in my mind.
I went back to my room, locked the door, and finally rested.
'Tomorrow's a big day.'
The academy cave was located far towards the northern border of the territory, right near a small, gloomy city called Kravengard.
It was a bleak place where the least amount of population exists, mainly because there are at least ten dangerous caves just like this one scattered around the landscape.
But instead of being there, we were now in the main hall located in the academy.
Principal Boros would be addressing us today.
The cave excavation had been postponed for one month so we could train enough.
It happened both in the novel and my last life, too.
Except no matter how much we train, that cave is still going to take at least ten lives from this class.
While students were chattering among themselves, a long, grey-haired man wearing a single monocle entered the hall, immediately making everyone silent.
He had a patch over one eye and that small circle of glass over the other, giving him a scholarly but dangerous look.
Ten teachers walked behind him in a perfect line.
They were all wearing the academy's formal uniform: crisp white dress clothes with sharp golden outlines and the Royal Genesis crest pinned to their chests.
All of us stood up in unison to greet him.
The air in the room suddenly felt heavier, charged with the mana radiating off the staff.
He reached the stage and slowly looked over all of us.
He took his sweet time, making sure every single student felt the weight of his gaze.
Then, his eyes stopped on me.
The look lingered for a while.
It was way more than necessary for a simple welcome.
'Why is he looking at me like that?' I thought, my heart beating fast.
Boros was humanity's last defender. The one who stalled the demon king's summon until he was corrupted.
He saved my life multiple times, and I know his capability.
'Does he see something different in my core, or is he just checking out the guy who beat up a noble on the first week?'
Then, he finally turned his gaze toward the others.
"Welcome, students, to the Royal Genesis Academy."