Shadow Monarch: Heroines Could Hear My Thoughts?!

Chapter 70- To The Academy (Part 2)

"Rin… Rin… Psst, Rin." A soft voice called for the black-haired boy. He was deep asleep so he didn't react to it that quickly.

"Mmm, what is it?" He replied with an annoyed tone.

"You need to wake up, we are about to reach the border," Aria said in a hurried tone.

Hearing that, he quickly woke up and rubbed his eyes. Rin had almost forgotten that he was inside a carriage from how comfortable Aria's thighs were. They were better than any other pillow he had ever rested his head on. Besides, Aria kept gently caressing his face and running her fingers through his hair which was akin to a heavenly massage for his tired body.

Now, unfortunately, he has to actually leave that heaven and go back to the real world.

"It's been 3 days, huh."

The journey was rather quick as they didn't stop a lot throughout the trip. They also didn't face any threats, monster attacks, or even bandits. He had no idea whether this was because Aviresion was a safe haven or because of pure luck. Nevertheless, the trip went smoothly.

Looking out of the window, Rin's breath was taken away by the site. At the end of the way, there was a huge grass plain. The sight was worthy of admiration but that wasn't what made Rin speechless.

Right at the end of these grass plains was a gigantic cliff. He could see with his own eyes how dark the pit these grass plains were overviewing. It was dark, almost purely black with no ends to it on either side. Countless people could be seen standing there in groups. He recognized them as the students that came here to enroll in the academy.

"What the…"

"Amazing, isn't it?" Aria said with an excited smile.

"Why is there a massive hole there?" He asked.

"That's the Gate Of Licaria."

"Licaria? Wait, isn't that…"

"The land of demons? Yeah, it is. That's the only known way to reach the other side of the world where the demons live."

"Why are we here then?"

"Didn't you know? The academy is exactly above the gate."

"..."

"The great founder decided this place as the most suited location for his academy. He wanted to show future generations the dread and pure evil the demons could inflict on humans. Just one look at that gate and any person will feel really uncomfortable."

"What if the demons leave the gate and attack humans again?"

"Impossible. The gate is tightly sealed by an extremely strong magic formation that couldn't be destroyed."

"That's such a stupid idea." Rin sighed and tapped his forehead.

"Why?"

"Can't you see the glaring flaw in that logic?"

"Mmm, no?" Aria said after giving it some thought.

'This girl…'

"Let me explain this, Aria. Demons hate humans, right?"

"Right."

"So, if they have a chance to invade the human world again they will jump at that opportunity like hungry wolves, right?"

"Yes, possible."

"So, let's assume that in the future, the seal was broken. Who do you think will be the first to perish?"

Realizing what Rin meant, Aria smiled at him.

"So you think that demons can easily destroy the academy?"

"Pretty much."

"Oh, my cute Rin." She patted his head with an amused look on her beautiful face.

'She's treating me like a child.'

"Fufuf! I don't think you have any idea about the power level of the academy. So let me tell you something." She pointed out.

"The academy found a way to rank its students and staff through their power level, achievements, and their importance in general. These things accumulate and get quantified to create a number. That number will determine the student's rank in the whole school."

'Sounds so generic but I will allow it.' He thought in his head.

"What does generic even mean? Ehem, anyway, to put it in scale. The top 500 students can easily wipe out a whole city district singlehandedly. The top 100 can erase a whole city out of the face of the world singlehandedly and the top 10 students… Well, let's say that they are the closest to the peak of strength in this world. Each one of them is a monster through and through. They even have their own classes that they attend alone far from any contact with other students."

"Are they really that powerful?"

"Yes, they are and more. I can assure you that if they decide to rebel against humanity, they can easily overpower multiple kingdoms and win. That's not to mention the professors that are also extremely strong. And then, we have the headmaster… Also known as 'the strongest creature to ever exist'."

Rin's face frowned slightly at the funny nickname. It sounded so arrogant yet domineering.

"From what I heard, he's a mysterious man, at least a few hundred years old, and had even participated in the Blood Moon Massacre. He is power is unfathomable. But, to this day, no one had seen him at all except for very few people. He is the most mysterious human I have ever heard of."

'I can already see where this is going.'

Strong individuals mean trouble for many reasons. First of all, Rin knew for a fact that the plot will revolve around these individuals even though he never played this world at all. Second of all, he was worried about what kind of changes the butterfly effect will do to these people. They can just pop up in front of him out of nowhere and ruin everything for him, for all he cares.

"Rin?"

"Aaah. Nothing, nothing. By the way, what rank are you in, Aria?"

Hearing his question, Aria smiled proudly and said.

"I'm in the top 100. Exactly rank 78."

Rin was very surprised but also not quite. He knew that Aria was stupidly strong and even with all the skills and stats he had at the moment, he had no chance of beating her at all so it didn't come as much of a shock if she was in the top 100. Hell, she could toy with him with one finger while asleep and he won't be able to even put up a decent fight."

The carriage finally reached the grass plains and stopped. When Rin got out, the strong wind hit his face and made him squint slightly.

'There are too many people.'

Rin quickly scanned the place searching for Elise. They had agreed prior to this that they should travel separately.

But, no matter how much he searched, he couldn't see her at all. With a sigh, he turned around, he looked at Aria.

"What are you going to do now, Aria?"

"I'm going straight to the academy. This place is the testing area so I can't stay here."

"I see…" Rin's eyes looked down with a slightly sad expression.

"What? Are you going to miss me?" She asked.

"Obviously."

Seeing him like that, Aria had the sudden urge of hugging him tightly and eating him up. His sad face looked like that of a cute puppy that can't leave his owner.

'Ah! My cute Rin is the best. But, I don't want him to be sad.'

"Don't worry, it won't take long. I will be waiting for you on the other side. Ok?"

After that, she hugged him tightly and whispered in his ear affectionately.

"Be careful, Rin. Even though this test won't be something you will risk your life for, it's still quite hard. Just do your best and I'm sure you will be fine."

"Mmm, I know."

The two then hugged for a long time before unwillingly parting from the hug. Rin could see that Aria was holding tears.

"Why are you even crying, silly?"

"I'm worried…"

"Weren't you encouraging me just a moment ago?"

"Even then!"

*Flick*

Rin flicked her head lightly with a mischievous grin.

"It will probably take me a few hours. But, I think you can wait for a few hours, right?"

"You cocky rascal!"

"Hahaha!" Rin chuckled heartily at her cute pout.

After that, he bid Aria farewell and walked toward the large group of people standing there. They were all whispering to each other secretly as if they were speaking about some important matters which wasn't the case since Rin heard their topics and it was really mundane and unimportant. But, the tension and the stress made them act like that.

Sweeping the place again, with his violet eyes, he could see that most of them are commoners from their normal clothes with some nobles here and there. They were all from Aviresion since these are the borders between the academy and their kingdom. Other kingdoms conduct their tests within their own borders.

When he reached them, many eyed him silently as if he was some kind of unique animal. Their assessing eyes weren't malicious but weren't with good intentions either.

However, it didn't take him long for Rin to finally face the first hurdle in this test and it wasn't even related to the test.

"Hey, you!!"

Rin rolled his eyes secretly as he thought.

'And here we go.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for reading. Any support you give me is always appreciated no matter how small it was. Let's all keep it up :)