A Demon's Journey

The introduction of Azaroth seemed to give birth to another wave of anger in those Palm Valley School graduates.

It stemmed from the fact that they had been considered inferior to the Acadia School's students. Moreover, these weren't just empty rumors, but the Acadia School students would usually crush the Palm Valley School students during every inter-school competition.

This inferiority complex originated and continued to develop because of those inter-school competitions. Generation by generation, it became a mental block for many of the students of Palm Valley School.

And right now, many Palm Valley School Graduates had known that Acadia School's graduates were also present. They had used all their contacts and brought twice the number of students from Acadia School's graduates. There were even two 4 Star Warriors among them.

Here, in this camp, they had finally felt somewhat superior to the Acadia Academy, whether it was because of their numbers or the higher cultivation of their superiors.

However, now, as they saw their friend in that trodden state, they were seemingly told that nothing had changed. The situation was still the same as before, and they were still inferior to the Acadia School's students.

"You…! We won't let you go for this!" It was one of Rudy's friends as he hatefully glared at Azaroth.

Azaroth seemed to welcome that glare and even replied, "Sure. I will welcome a challenge at any time. But I hope there won't be such trash who would challenge me. That would just be insulting."

"I will kill you!"

A guy launched himself at Azaroth with a killing intent flashing in his eyes.

Azaroth raised his arm and waited for this guy to enter his range.

However, Aiden appeared and stopped this guy from even entering Azaroth's range.

"Stop it! You aren't his match. He is a 4 Star Warrior, and he can effortlessly kill a 4 Star Beast." Aiden informed these guys to make them give up.

"What?! You are telling me that this guy, who seems to be near our age, is a 4 Star Warrior?!" Another guy shouted while pointing at Azaroth.

Aiden replied with a solemn expression, "I don't need to lie to you. If you still want to go forward, that's sure. But I don't want you to be injured for no reason."

Those words did stop most of them in their tracks. Although they were angry, nobody wanted to be injured like Rudy.

"Don't think I won against this guy because I am a 4 Star Warrior. I only used the strength of a 3 Star Warrior. Isn't that right, Aiden?" Azaroth spoke to Aiden as if they were friends already.

Aiden was a bit uncomfortable as Azaroth spoke those words. This was indeed the truth, but he knew that if he did confirm it now, it would be adding oil to the fire.

"Sir Edwin, I believe I was showing you the entire camp. Let's leave this and continue our tour." Aiden decided to change the topic entirely.

"Sure."

Now, Azaroth didn't even glance at these guys who picked up Rudy and took him to the camp's healer.

Although Azaroth had broken Rudy's bones. He could still be treated in a single day by a healer. However, if Azaroth had used his Wind Elemental Attacks and then injured Rudy, leaving behind his Ardor in Rudy's body, it would be quite tricky to heal Rudy.

Rudy would be on bed rest for at least a week then.

As they were returning to the camp, Aiden looked at Azaroth and asked him, "Was there a need to be so heavy-handed on them?"

Now, all sorts of arrogance had seemingly vanished from Azaroth's face. He replied with a calm voice, "Humiliating them meant a better standing and more acceptance by the Acadia School's students. And unlike these people, they are actually talented."

"Also, this is a rivalry between our schools. If our positions were reversed, they would have done the same or worse to me without any guilty feelings."

"Still…We are going to be comrades. It's not a good idea to anger them." Aiden couldn't help but lower his head and sigh. He knew that he couldn't order Azaroth around. The most he could do was advise or request him.

"You still don't understand it. Once they know that I am a graduate of the Acadia School, they would already hate me. What I have done is willingly make them hate me but gain some advantages along the way." Azaroth said quite calmly as if he had planned this.

"I shall be honest with you, Sir Edwin. I am not a fan of such schemes," Aiden replied with a solemn expression.

"If so, it's a good thing you aren't a Noble or a Royal. Since our birth, we are thrown into an abyss of politics. The more you try to stay away from it, the quicker you will die." Azaroth gave a melancholic smile to Aiden.

For some moments, Aiden remained silent. As if he was contemplating Azaroth's words.

He spoke with a bit of seriousness in his voice, "Sir Edwin, please do not involve my disciples or me in this political battle."

"Hahaha… You worry too much. Why would I involve you in such battles? I have only been explaining this to you as a friend." Azaroth said with a light-hearted laugh.

~~

As Azaroth returned back, his cabin was surprisingly ready. It was made of rather sturdy wood, and Azaroth was sure that it could easily take a punch from that guy named Rudy and shrug it off.

Brynn Gaynor didn't say anything about how he readied this house. It was as if he wanted to keep this information a secret.

However, Azaroth didn't need him to say anything. He already understood that there was a Wood Element expert in this location.

As someone with a variant element, which differed from the basic elements, the wood element had many uses. Especially near a forest or in a forest, the Wood Element user could be considered to possess a source of inexhaustible energy. Even the strength of their techniques would be strengthened.

During ancient times, the Elves races used their Wood Element in their Divine Forest with the amplification from their Guardian Deity, the World Tree, managed to force the Demon Race into retreat.

Although the energy provided by this forest couldn't be considered in the same leagues as the Divine Forest with the World Tree, it was still quite a lot for his current level.

'Well, I have the time to find this person. If this person can pledge loyalty to me, that would be quite nice.'

Azaroth went inside his house and began to cultivate the Heavenly Demon Meditation Technique.

In the blink of an eye, it was nighttime. And it was unknown who it was, but somehow, the event that occurred during the afternoon had spread to the entire camp.

"Did you hear that news? Someone from our school beat that Rudy guy from Palm Valley School. Haha…"

"Yeah. I heard that even after Madam Tia tried to heal him, he is still on bed rest for the rest of the day. Serves him right!"

"Yup. Didn't those bastards humiliate us just because they brought two seniors at the 4 Star Rank? If not for the presence of Goddess Sophie, we might have been bullied every day. This is what they fucking deserve!"

"Not just this, but I also heard that this person from our school is also a 4 Star Warrior. If that's so, then with his presence, we at least won't be bullied anymore by those Palm Valley School's graduates."

"Does anyone know his name or where he is living? I haven't seen a new face here yet. We need to thank him and invite him to our circle."

"You are right. I was just too excited that I forgot about it. Let's go and ask the town lord's secretary. That bitch definitely knows where he is living. I heard that he just came to join the camp today, so it shouldn't be that hard to find him."

Many of the Acadia School's graduates were quite happy to hear that a graduate from their school knocked down these graduates from Palm Valley School a couple of pegs.

Not just that, but they met with the secretary of the town lord, who naturally informed them where Azaroth was living.

And soon enough, these people were near Azaroth's wooden cabin.

The oldest among them knocked on Azaroth's door.

They received no response in return. But these people found it quite normal and knocked on the door a little firmly this time.

This time, they heard a calm voice, "Who is it?"

"Brother, we are also the Acadia School's graduates. We wanted to meet you and thank you for helping us vent our frustration by beating those Palm Valley School's graduates."

"Oh. It's my fellow brothers. Wait some time. I will get ready and open the door."

The people heard his voice and stepped back and waited for Azaroth.

After approximately 1 minute, Azaroth opened the door in his Spiritual Clothes. He looked at the people who had come and could more or less recognize half of them because of having ready Edwin's memories.

"Edwin Rhodes! It's you?!" Nearly half of them whom Azaroth recognized also recognized him back. It was naturally because Edwin could be considered somewhat famous in the Acadia School.

The other half of the people who didn't recognize him remained puzzled over such a surprised tone from their fellow friends.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Albi, Ronan, Caleb, Reece, Sir Douglas…"

Those whom Azaroth called sir were his seniors when he was studying in the Acadia School.

It was Douglas who suddenly laughed, "To think that the one who was called the weakest amongst his generation has risen to become the strongest amongst all of us. Congratulations, Edwin."

"Yes, Sir Edwin. You have truly surprised us. Also, we heard how you thrashed that Rudy guy. Hearing it was really satisfying. Hehe…"

The ones called Azaroth senior were his juniors when Edwin was studying in the Acadia School.

During those times, not a single one of these people respected Edwin. In fact, they even despised him. But now, all of them were seemingly talking with him as if they were good old friends back then.

Azaroth didn't find it strange. He had long become used to the fact that in the world of Martial Arts, strength was necessary to gain respect.

Even though he knew that these people could be considered hypocritical. But did he really care about this?

Their words, whether they praised him or flattered him had little to no effect on him. It could be considered some minor entertainment for him, though, so it wasn't bad to let them continue.

Besides, the world wasn't a black or white place where everything was straightforward. It was made up of shades of grey. Each person does what he believes in. Azaroth didn't want to waste his time contemplating things from a moral standpoint. The ones who preach justice should be the ones who should waste their time on this.

What he was interested in was invincibility! For that, no matter what his path led him to, he wasn't going to shy away from making use of everything.