“Hey Lucy. I don’t want to ruin your morning or anything, but the bell for breakfast had already been rung a few minutes ago.” I was woken up by Luna quite abruptly.
“Uhg…” I muttered, still feeling a bit bad, but way better than the night before.
“Did you … did you cry by any chance?” She asked as I rolled off her and dragged the blanket with me.
“No? Not at all.” I said calmly and slowly stood up from the bed.
“But … you know you can tell me anything?” She asked, equally dressing herself in her usual school uniform.
“I do know that, silly.” But I would never. She was kind and caring, but she didn’t have the strength to face my troubles. Even knowing about the possible future would probably change her to the worse and that was something I needed to stop from happening at all costs. She would never be ready to face my darker sides and thus, I didn’t feel that bad lying to her constantly. It was for her sake, so that she could remain the beautiful girl she was. “So, let’s get going, shall we?”
I said and opened the door to bump into Ellie ungracefully.
“I’m sorry…” She said without looking towards me at all. She looked insanely stressed for some reason and rushed towards the staircase as fast as she could. Maybe … just maybe I wasn’t the only one who had a bad night behind me.
“What’s wrong with her?” Luna asked with worry in her voice. She really cared deeply about her friends, that was for sure.
“Dunno …” I mumbled and walked after Ellie, but was quickly stopped by Olivia who slept in the same room as Ellie.
“Hey, hey … did you know someone likes Ellie?” She asked while scooting past us happily.
“What do you mean?” I asked and tilted my head in wonder. As far as I was aware, nobody had a crush on Ellie. But that may change overnight at the age they were in.
“She got a love letter! It must be Louis, right? These two are always together after all.” A love letter? How? I suppose Olivia didn’t know but the doors were only open in one direction after curfew. Well, there was the possibility that someone let the possible lover in … but it was still weird.
“I suppose you are right …” I mumbled as we finally reached the stairwell, Olivia already running towards the dining room to tell the others right away.
On the third floor though, I stopped momentarily and noticed Louis sitting in the front yard alone, seemingly deep in thought and brooding over something.
“I see …” It was possibly him who sent the letter, but I couldn’t help but think of it as too illogical to be true. Training each and every night to impress me was fine and all, but it also meant he wouldn’t give up so easily.
Shrugging my shoulders, I followed Luna who waited for me three steps further down and quickly arrived at the dining hall, filled with around sixty students eating breakfast. We quickly found a seat near a few other friends and began munching on delicious bread with cheese as Ellie walked into the room, looked around and fixated her moody gaze onto me.
“I have a very, very bad feeling about this.” Even though I didn’t do anything, I looked away from her as she strode towards us carefully, but also way faster than usual.
“Do you know where Louis is?” She blurted out directly while I inspected her very closely. She didn’t look very refreshed at all with eye bags and a messy hair. It was as if she was in quite the rush, even though she probably would like to hear Louis confession in pristine condition.
“Ehh … was he the one sending you the love letter?” Olivia interjected like chatterbox she was. But it was a fair question because everyone at this table burned to know more about the situation.
“What? No … it’s about something else.” She didn’t lie. At all. No confession, no love letter. And that intrigued me quite a bit. Olivia must have seen a letter of some sorts, otherwise she wouldn’t claim Ellie received a love letter.
“Ellie, don’t be like this. You got to share that secret with us.” I said and noticed how every single girl at the table was agreeing by nodding right away.
“There is no secret … did Louis talk to you today?” Why did that matter? And how was Louis involved in this letter in any way if it wasn’t a love letter? I honestly loved my abilities to figure out every single lie on the spot, but I’m these times, I really hoped they would go further than that, because Ellie certainly didn’t seem as if she was willing to spill the beans.
“No … why are you asking?” I said innocently and watched her as she turned her head away as if that would convince anyone of us. We all knew that there was something she would like to stay a secret.
“Thank goodness … have you seen him?” She asked and looked through the whole room once more.
“He is in the front yard.” Ellie turned around frantically, and went back the way she came right away.
“Now I want to know more.” Olivia said and stood up, leaving her half eaten meal behind to rush after them.
“Uhm … I’ll try to stop her.” I said after a few second and stood up to rush behind her, but made sure to give her enough time so that I wouldn’t actually interfere with her investigation. I wasn’t filling to intrude in Ellie’s and Louis’ privacy openly but if Olivia wanted it to do for me, I wouldn’t say no.
And thus I walked out of the front door a little bit late to say anything as she gave her best to wrestle the letter out of Ellie’s hands which had just retrieved the piece of paper to reveal it to Louis.
“That’s not a love letter …” Olivia mumbled as I got closer and laid my hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, I don’t think anyone of them wants us to be around right now.” I said and glanced at the duo. Especially Ellie seemed really angry at us, and possibly even me because I was around while Louis was … depressed?
Well, thankfully Olivia didn’t mind their protests and opened the folded piece of paper to read it quietly while I looked at Louis and Ellie. I didn’t need to know the contents of this letter right away as Olivia would tell me anything anyway. It was better to stay on Ellie’s good side and not read it while she tried to go around Olivia who had turned around to shield the letter.
“You got a letter from the demon king? And you are making a fuss because of that? You too, Louis? And you both fell for such a cheap prank?” Carelessly, Olivia let the letter fall to the ground and strolled past me to go back inside, completely bummed out that she couldn’t get a story out of this. Well, it would be great for a good laugh, but she couldn’t tease Ellie or Louis that much.
Looking at Ellie and Louis though, they felt completely different as both balled their hands into fists.
Now, that reaction intrigued me. Curious, I picked up the dirty letter and skimmed over it quickly.
‘You are one of us. We came to save the world, but we quickly realised we were lied to by the god of hope and his allies.’ The god of hope … wasn’t that the one who spoke as I could look take a look at how the reincarnators looked before? ‘Do not take what he said at face value. I want to put an end to this war between demons and other races as much as you do, but I also need to put an end to this injustice the world is experiencing right now. And truthfully, I need the help of anyone of us I can get. Sadly, I cannot give you any more information about my reasons as the gods, the sole reason for the misery we are in are observing everything I do. I know it’s much to ask for, but will you join me? I could really, really need the company of my old friends. My trusted aid will ask you this question again, and I sincerely hope you will join me.’
Signed ‘Demon King Menod.’
Well, that was a shocker. The demon king was a reincarnator? It would explain how a single person managed to control most of the demons. But I seriously couldn’t comprehend why he even started with his little rampage. As far as I was aware, all of the reincarnators came from a vastly more civilised world, someplace where you don’t start a war without thinking.
So either he had gotten crazy on this planet, or whatever was written on this piece of paper was true … which meant there had to be a reason for him to start rebelling against the group of gods which were in charge … or he presumed to be in charge.
Honestly, I couldn’t help but to crinkle the letter a little bit as I slowly started to comprehend what that meant. I had found someone else who fought against the gods and he may have all the information I needed.
But I wasn’t too quick to jump to conclusions either. He had cleansed part of the northern lands for example, which meant couldn’t be as friendly as he claimed to be in the letter. One had to be rather cold blooded murdering a lot of humans which also meant he was someone who I would have a hard time negotiating with. He was an ally of some sorts for the time being … but he was also someone I was incredibly wary about.
“Why are you looking so grim? That’s just a bad joke.” I said and crumpled up the whole letter in front of their eyes.
“I … I know.” What a bad liar Louis was. He trembled a bit as he answered and looked at the ground the whole time, which wasn’t a very convincing well to tell me: ‘Hey, I have totally not been thinking about the letter the whole night and I am totally not depressed that the demon king is someone of us reincarnators.’
“Great. Lunch is over in a few minutes, so you might need to hurry back …” I said and turned around, but stopped a few metres afterwards.
“You can go ahead.” Louis said and thus, I shrugged my shoulder and went back into the hotel, the letter still in my hands. I didn’t go back to the dining room though, but rather headed towards the bar where the teachers had their meals. Standing in the doorframe, it only took a few seconds for Hannah to approach me and guide me into an unused room.
“I believe the one blowing up the two statues for whatever reason and the one who delivered this letter were the same person.” I said and grabbed my chin in wonder. It was also possible that those two incidents weren’t connected in any way, but I had a hard time believing that.
“It’s a first year?” It has to be. Or it was a teacher. Otherwise he wouldn’t be around.
“If they were smart, the person would have waited until they were second year … but whatever.” This way they could have stopped after one year and everyone would be suspicious about the third year. Now, everyone has their eyes on the first years. “ Can you ask the staff to unlock all of the doors during the night as well? I don’t want any student to think giving these two a letter was a hard task.” It was better to play it down and to make sure the other kids did thought of this as a prank. It it got obvious that one had to open locked doors … the students might think a little different.
“Sure thing.” Hannah said and frowned slightly.
“Have you noticed anything else?” I asked a bit hopeful.
“Not at all … which does worry me a bit.” She said and closed her eyes, only to shake her head a little while later. She couldn’t remember anything relevant.
“Likewise … and after I confirmed Ellie with my compass, I couldn’t find anyone else …” The problem with finding Ellie was that she was always close to Louis which made it near impossible to distinguish these two from the distance. Additionally, I still hadn’t figured out completely how this compass worked, except that it only started to work once I met the reincarnator. Additionally, it was more likely to point to the last person I thought about but that wasn’t always the case.
Thus, I could say for certain the messenger wasn’t a reincarnator which did limit me somewhat.
“Hmm … we should hurry a little.” I said, just as the bell rang to announce the end of breakfast , and the beginning of the first activity of the day.
“Hey Lucy. I don’t want to ruin your morning or anything, but the bell for breakfast had already been rung a few minutes ago.” I was woken up by Luna quite abruptly.
“Uhg…” I muttered, still feeling a bit bad, but way better than the night before.
“Did you … did you cry by any chance?” She asked as I rolled off her and dragged the blanket with me.
“No? Not at all.” I said calmly and slowly stood up from the bed.
“But … you know you can tell me anything?” She asked, equally dressing herself in her usual school uniform.
“I do know that, silly.” But I would never. She was kind and caring, but she didn’t have the strength to face my troubles. Even knowing about the possible future would probably change her to the worse and that was something I needed to stop from happening at all costs. She would never be ready to face my darker sides and thus, I didn’t feel that bad lying to her constantly. It was for her sake, so that she could remain the beautiful girl she was. “So, let’s get going, shall we?”
I said and opened the door to bump into Ellie ungracefully.
“I’m sorry…” She said without looking towards me at all. She looked insanely stressed for some reason and rushed towards the staircase as fast as she could. Maybe … just maybe I wasn’t the only one who had a bad night behind me.
“What’s wrong with her?” Luna asked with worry in her voice. She really cared deeply about her friends, that was for sure.
“Dunno …” I mumbled and walked after Ellie, but was quickly stopped by Olivia who slept in the same room as Ellie.
“Hey, hey … did you know someone likes Ellie?” She asked while scooting past us happily.
“What do you mean?” I asked and tilted my head in wonder. As far as I was aware, nobody had a crush on Ellie. But that may change overnight at the age they were in.
“She got a love letter! It must be Louis, right? These two are always together after all.” A love letter? How? I suppose Olivia didn’t know but the doors were only open in one direction after curfew. Well, there was the possibility that someone let the possible lover in … but it was still weird.
“I suppose you are right …” I mumbled as we finally reached the stairwell, Olivia already running towards the dining room to tell the others right away.
On the third floor though, I stopped momentarily and noticed Louis sitting in the front yard alone, seemingly deep in thought and brooding over something.
“I see …” It was possibly him who sent the letter, but I couldn’t help but think of it as too illogical to be true. Training each and every night to impress me was fine and all, but it also meant he wouldn’t give up so easily.
Shrugging my shoulders, I followed Luna who waited for me three steps further down and quickly arrived at the dining hall, filled with around sixty students eating breakfast. We quickly found a seat near a few other friends and began munching on delicious bread with cheese as Ellie walked into the room, looked around and fixated her moody gaze onto me.
“I have a very, very bad feeling about this.” Even though I didn’t do anything, I looked away from her as she strode towards us carefully, but also way faster than usual.
“Do you know where Louis is?” She blurted out directly while I inspected her very closely. She didn’t look very refreshed at all with eye bags and a messy hair. It was as if she was in quite the rush, even though she probably would like to hear Louis confession in pristine condition.
“Ehh … was he the one sending you the love letter?” Olivia interjected like chatterbox she was. But it was a fair question because everyone at this table burned to know more about the situation.
“What? No … it’s about something else.” She didn’t lie. At all. No confession, no love letter. And that intrigued me quite a bit. Olivia must have seen a letter of some sorts, otherwise she wouldn’t claim Ellie received a love letter.
“Ellie, don’t be like this. You got to share that secret with us.” I said and noticed how every single girl at the table was agreeing by nodding right away.
“There is no secret … did Louis talk to you today?” Why did that matter? And how was Louis involved in this letter in any way if it wasn’t a love letter? I honestly loved my abilities to figure out every single lie on the spot, but I’m these times, I really hoped they would go further than that, because Ellie certainly didn’t seem as if she was willing to spill the beans.
“No … why are you asking?” I said innocently and watched her as she turned her head away as if that would convince anyone of us. We all knew that there was something she would like to stay a secret.
“Thank goodness … have you seen him?” She asked and looked through the whole room once more.
“He is in the front yard.” Ellie turned around frantically, and went back the way she came right away.
“Now I want to know more.” Olivia said and stood up, leaving her half eaten meal behind to rush after them.
“Uhm … I’ll try to stop her.” I said after a few second and stood up to rush behind her, but made sure to give her enough time so that I wouldn’t actually interfere with her investigation. I wasn’t filling to intrude in Ellie’s and Louis’ privacy openly but if Olivia wanted it to do for me, I wouldn’t say no.
And thus I walked out of the front door a little bit late to say anything as she gave her best to wrestle the letter out of Ellie’s hands which had just retrieved the piece of paper to reveal it to Louis.
“That’s not a love letter …” Olivia mumbled as I got closer and laid my hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, I don’t think anyone of them wants us to be around right now.” I said and glanced at the duo. Especially Ellie seemed really angry at us, and possibly even me because I was around while Louis was … depressed?
Well, thankfully Olivia didn’t mind their protests and opened the folded piece of paper to read it quietly while I looked at Louis and Ellie. I didn’t need to know the contents of this letter right away as Olivia would tell me anything anyway. It was better to stay on Ellie’s good side and not read it while she tried to go around Olivia who had turned around to shield the letter.
“You got a letter from the demon king? And you are making a fuss because of that? You too, Louis? And you both fell for such a cheap prank?” Carelessly, Olivia let the letter fall to the ground and strolled past me to go back inside, completely bummed out that she couldn’t get a story out of this. Well, it would be great for a good laugh, but she couldn’t tease Ellie or Louis that much.
Looking at Ellie and Louis though, they felt completely different as both balled their hands into fists.
Now, that reaction intrigued me. Curious, I picked up the dirty letter and skimmed over it quickly.
‘You are one of us. We came to save the world, but we quickly realised we were lied to by the god of hope and his allies.’ The god of hope … wasn’t that the one who spoke as I could look take a look at how the reincarnators looked before? ‘Do not take what he said at face value. I want to put an end to this war between demons and other races as much as you do, but I also need to put an end to this injustice the world is experiencing right now. And truthfully, I need the help of anyone of us I can get. Sadly, I cannot give you any more information about my reasons as the gods, the sole reason for the misery we are in are observing everything I do. I know it’s much to ask for, but will you join me? I could really, really need the company of my old friends. My trusted aid will ask you this question again, and I sincerely hope you will join me.’
Signed ‘Demon King Menod.’
Well, that was a shocker. The demon king was a reincarnator? It would explain how a single person managed to control most of the demons. But I seriously couldn’t comprehend why he even started with his little rampage. As far as I was aware, all of the reincarnators came from a vastly more civilised world, someplace where you don’t start a war without thinking.
So either he had gotten crazy on this planet, or whatever was written on this piece of paper was true … which meant there had to be a reason for him to start rebelling against the group of gods which were in charge … or he presumed to be in charge.
Honestly, I couldn’t help but to crinkle the letter a little bit as I slowly started to comprehend what that meant. I had found someone else who fought against the gods and he may have all the information I needed.
But I wasn’t too quick to jump to conclusions either. He had cleansed part of the northern lands for example, which meant couldn’t be as friendly as he claimed to be in the letter. One had to be rather cold blooded murdering a lot of humans which also meant he was someone who I would have a hard time negotiating with. He was an ally of some sorts for the time being … but he was also someone I was incredibly wary about.
“Why are you looking so grim? That’s just a bad joke.” I said and crumpled up the whole letter in front of their eyes.
“I … I know.” What a bad liar Louis was. He trembled a bit as he answered and looked at the ground the whole time, which wasn’t a very convincing well to tell me: ‘Hey, I have totally not been thinking about the letter the whole night and I am totally not depressed that the demon king is someone of us reincarnators.’
“Great. Lunch is over in a few minutes, so you might need to hurry back …” I said and turned around, but stopped a few metres afterwards.
“You can go ahead.” Louis said and thus, I shrugged my shoulder and went back into the hotel, the letter still in my hands. I didn’t go back to the dining room though, but rather headed towards the bar where the teachers had their meals. Standing in the doorframe, it only took a few seconds for Hannah to approach me and guide me into an unused room.
“I believe the one blowing up the two statues for whatever reason and the one who delivered this letter were the same person.” I said and grabbed my chin in wonder. It was also possible that those two incidents weren’t connected in any way, but I had a hard time believing that.
“It’s a first year?” It has to be. Or it was a teacher. Otherwise he wouldn’t be around.
“If they were smart, the person would have waited until they were second year … but whatever.” This way they could have stopped after one year and everyone would be suspicious about the third year. Now, everyone has their eyes on the first years. “ Can you ask the staff to unlock all of the doors during the night as well? I don’t want any student to think giving these two a letter was a hard task.” It was better to play it down and to make sure the other kids did thought of this as a prank. It it got obvious that one had to open locked doors … the students might think a little different.
“Sure thing.” Hannah said and frowned slightly.
“Have you noticed anything else?” I asked a bit hopeful.
“Not at all … which does worry me a bit.” She said and closed her eyes, only to shake her head a little while later. She couldn’t remember anything relevant.
“Likewise … and after I confirmed Ellie with my compass, I couldn’t find anyone else …” The problem with finding Ellie was that she was always close to Louis which made it near impossible to distinguish these two from the distance. Additionally, I still hadn’t figured out completely how this compass worked, except that it only started to work once I met the reincarnator. Additionally, it was more likely to point to the last person I thought about but that wasn’t always the case.
Thus, I could say for certain the messenger wasn’t a reincarnator which did limit me somewhat.
“Hmm … we should hurry a little.” I said, just as the bell rang to announce the end of breakfast , and the beginning of the first activity of the day.
