AUTHOR'S REINCARNATION IN A FANTASY SETTING

Chapter 358 Suggestion [1]

After that, I went to the next class which was physical training. Well, calling it just "physical training" would be an understatement since sword arts, learning to cast spells and actually casting them, hand-to-hand combat, and everything related to that were covered in this class.

I was glad that today the topic was hand-to-hand combat since if it was sword arts I wouldn't have been able to pull it off without the Requiem sword and Req.

Once the classes were over and it was evening I left the academy building, strolling forward in the grass fields inside the campus as the sun began to set.

By this time I was starting to build up an appetite therefore I decided to stop by the cafeteria first. The new cafeteria here had many dishes I had never tried before so I was kind of curious about it as well

Hence I picked up my pace and headed toward the corridors that lead to the café. After a few minutes, I was there and saw that the place was already starting to get filled up with students.

I went to the counter and ordered for myself and once I got my order, I looked around to find a seat and finally settled for the one beside the big glass wall with a full view of the campus outside.

I'd brought a couple of sandwiches with a filling that I had not seen before and a large cup of coffee. Taking a sip of my coffee I stared outside through the glass wall as I continued to think about all the things that were going on.

In fact, I was thinking about this stuff almost all the time. Getting stronger, protecting my parents, dealing with Akumi, surviving…it all was probably starting to take a toll on me mentally.

And just so it happens to be, right now Req was out as well due to lack of mana. She was my only partner in crime and after spending some time without her I was beginning to notice her absence.

As all this was going through my mind I noticed someone taking the seat in front of me. This was a table meant for two people anyway so I was expecting this to happen, although not like this.

I tried to ignore the person but soon felt their gaze upon me, and a few moments later the person spoke up.

"Hello there," she said. Looking in her direction I saw that it was Alada.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"Come on now, that's not the proper way to talk to someone," she said teasingly.

"The proper way is what I want it to be," I replied.

"Fair I guess," she mumbled, as if satisfied with the answer.

"Again, why are you here?"

"There's no particular reason really. There's a lot of uproar about you in the academy so I thought why not go and see how you're ACTUALLY doing," she said.

"Mind telling me what exactly is this uproar you speak of?" I asked.

"Don't tell me you really don't know?"

"No, I more or less have an idea. Just that I want to hear it from a consumer's point of view," I said.

"Well, it's mostly the talk about how you survived being out in the calamity for over a month and came back alive. Though that's just the base of it," she explained.

"What do you mean?"

"Students have started seeing you as a powerful individual. After all, it's common sense that no normal person could have gone through what you did and lived to tell the tale. The attention you so desperately avoided is now all coming back to you all at once."

"That's kind of strange. I thought I gave an official explanation saying that I basically hid until the beasts were out of sight and then ran till I reached Havenreach," I questioned.

"You really thought that was gonna keep the rumors from exploding? And even if your story was taken as a fact, running away from demons that only a handful of people could fight against. That's a pretty heavy achievement in itself.'

"Well, that's true," I said.

"What are you gonna do now? You hated being the center of attention, didn't you?" she asked, looking curious.

"It's not a problem. When I came back to the academy I was already expecting all this to go down, the 'being center of attraction part' as well," I stated. "I'll deal with it for the moment, people will eventually get bored with the topic and move on."

"Hmmmm. It's a good plan, but you might face a problem," Alada mentioned.

"What that might be?"

"What will you do about the final exams? They are in three months from now. Students will be tested based on their magical and physical ability," she explained. "I have seen what you are capable of and if all of that were to be put in public, yeah you'd be up there beside Leon as the star of the academy."

"Ah, I forgot about the exams. The first year is ending, isn't it?" I mumbled.

Three months from now the final exams will be conducted for the first-year students of the Silver Garden Academy. After all the academies had merged as one, the officials had decided to not make the students repeat a year and let them move on to the second year.

This was mainly done so that there could be space for new students as at the moment humanity needed as much firepower as possible to fight against the demons, and the Silver Garden Academy was the best place to produce it.

After all, even if you put the Hero program aside all the students who will graduate from the academy would be joining the SAF (Special Armed Force) which was made specifically to fight against the demons and consists of highly capable swordsmen and mages.

Of course, the SAF was something created by loli_pop in the novel—the overly simplified name was the obvious representation of it.

"Have you thought about how you'll deal with the exams? I've heard it is going to be pretty hardcore so just hiding your powers might not be plausible this time," Alada said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Well, I haven't given it much thought but it shouldn't be much of an issue. I'll deal with it when the time comes," I replied.

'I already have too much in my hands at the moment.'

However, as I said those words, a slight smile lit up on Alada's face. She shifted forward in her chair, looking at me.

"And that's where I have a suggestion to make," she said.

I took a sip of my coffee.