Chapter 31: Second-years
Chapter 31: Second-years
John Crimson grabbed some items for himself, Theo, and Elliot from the lady at the counter, placing them on a tray. Then, he turned around, looked that they were sitting at a table near the exit, and started to walk towards them. He was heading back to their table, but in the middle of the way back to his newfound friends, someone intentionally tripped him over, knocking him down to the floor of the cafeteria and causing the contents of the tray to sprawl all over him and soiling his uniform.
“Ugh.”
John grimaced in discomfort after he fell to the floor of the cafeteria. The cafeteria was pretty big and contained two floors. The freshmen and second-year students used the first floor, while only second-year students could step onto the second floor and take a seat there. The students here to take a bite or just chat crowded both the floors.
As John was trying to stand up from the floor, a haughty voice sounded in his ears.
“Look what we have here! It’s the Hollow from the Crimson Magician family.”
Ever since the start of the new age and the birth of magicians, there have been families that explored a lot of Xavier, deserted settlements of the ancient civilization, completed their trials, salvaged a lot of technology, magic knowledge, and so on, and also produced a lot of magicians, they are called magician families!
The iron rule of magician families is the same as magician communities. The strong get to decide what happens to the weak!
John belonged to one such family, and being a Hollow didn’t help his case. Still, he benefited greatly from having a magician mother belonging to the Crimson Magicians Family. He got money and could purchase things that others can’t. Of course, he was still bullied and despised by people a lot as he was a weakling.
“Why the hell did you trip me over?” John stood up to glare at the student sitting at the edge of the table next to him as he was sure that he is the one who tripped him over. However, his eyes immediately lost strength and anger as he realized that he is a second-year student of the magician academy, a being far powerful than himself.
“Hey, what did you say?” Len said in a rough voice, looking at John in disdain.
“I-I said nothing.” John lied through his teeth, worried that he might get beaten to a pulp if he dares to put up a strong front when he doesn’t have an equal amount of strength to back it up.
“That’s what I thought,” Len said, accepting the lie that John hadn’t said a thing with a sly smile on his white face.
“I will be taking my leave now,” John said, trying to get away from here as fast as possible.
“Did I allow you to leave?”
As those words sounded in John’s ears, John felt someone’s hands on his shoulder. With a quick look behind him, he noticed that it’s Len.
“What? Ugh!”
John moaned in pain as Len suddenly applied a great deal of force on his shoulder, pushing him down to the ground and forcing him on his knees.
“Why? Why are you doing this to me?” John asked as he raised his head to look at Len.
“Why you ask? You dirtied me shoe so you better clean it up!”
“Nice one, Len!” Lamaze said, whistling in joy.
John’s eyes narrowed in anger, deep frown lines appearing on his head.
“And what if I refused?” He said in a calm voice, but his body was trembling in anger.
“You may be new here, but that doesn’t mean I’ll let you off easily. A world of pain awaits you once you refuse to clean my shoe. Guys, Aren’t I right?” Len said with a smile, feeling joy at treating the weak in the way they deserve to be treated, just like slaves.
“Damn, right.”
His friend cracked their knuckles, ready to beat John the moment he refuses.
“These bastards, bullying me just because I’m a weak magician.” John cursed the group of students surrounding him in his mind. “Well, I can’t do anything about it or complain to anyone. No one’s going to help me out of this situation. Better act as their slave than getting beaten to submission.”
Everyone around them turned to look away from John and the bullies, looking anywhere else but not at them. The freshmen and the weak magicians who haven’t awaken were worried that they would become the target of the bullies if they stared at them for too long or tried to interfere with their business, so they looked away, having no intention to extend a helping hand towards John. Whereas the second-year students and the powerful ones weren’t interested in helping John as he was a hollow, a magician with the damned destiny to never awaken in his entire life or possess an ability, something that is considered extremely valuable in this society where strength matters the most and ability determines a person’s strength.
“So, are you going to clean it not?” Len said haughtily, moving his shoe with a bit of dirt on it a step away from John.
“Yes, senior,” John said in a shaky voice, finding it hard to control his anger.
“Good boy,” Len said after hearing John’s answer.
“Damn it!” John cursed in his mind as he stood up to get some tissue paper from the table next to them.
However, the very next moment, Len shoved him to the ground and said, “Hollow, use your uniform to wipe it clean.”
“Hahahaha!”
The group of students surrounding John laughed out loud.
“These pricks.” John cursed in his mind, gritting his teeth and using his cuff to clean the mud off Len’s shoes.
“This should teach you some manners. Next time don’t trip and dirty other people’s belonging.” Len said, looking down at John with an evil grin on his face.