Bu Sha

After a long silence, Liola asked: “If you knew Mizerui was strong, why did you try to attempt the impossible?”

Kaiser’s expression turned serious: “It’s because of my dreams.”

“Dreams?” Liola asked again.

“That’s right!” Kaiser suddenly stood up and shouted firmly: “My dream is to lie on a bed comfortably for the rest of my life without having to worry about food or clothing! And for my dream, I am willing to risk my life to do it.”

Was this being lazy or being diligent… Thought everyone inside the bus while facepalming.

“Ah! We’ve arrived at Aklan Academy, hurry up and get off.” Kaiser looked down at the time and said with frustration: “45 minutes left. Come on, hurry up. I don’t want to be reporting to in the gates of hell in 45 minutes.”

After the two jumped off the bus, a strange gate appeared in front of them. It was a head; that’s right, you’ve read it correctly.

The so-called Academy gate was just a spherical head, with a half-bald, with tonsured hairstyle. Its facial features were clearly visible, along with a Salvador Dali mustache.

The mouth was laughing and wide-open, and where its opened mouth lead to, was entrance to the academy.

Kaiser stared at it blankly before he said: “It really is a ‘laughing’ door!”

Liola could not arbitrate the architectural design of the building.

Because this world has a strange architectural style. Kaiser wasn’t surprised for long. He grabbed Liola’s wrist and dragged him into the mouth… No, the Academy gate.

He felt like a lamb walking into a tiger’s mouth…

Liola suddenly wanted to sigh. Why did his life, within a span of only half a day, change so dramatically? From being chased to falling into a strange world, and now he even had to do something he had never done—go to school.

“If Anise knew I’ve become like this, she… Would definitely be happy.” Liola laughed bitterly.

“What kind of trash…?” Kaiser turned around and curiously asked; but before he got an answer, he had already forgotten the question, and he started to say, “Hurry, let’s go apply now. Otherwise, in half an hour, we’re both doomed.”

“If it’s just me, even if I couldn’t beat Mizerui, I could escape.” Liola assessed the situation, and concluded.

“Da… Dage…” Kaiser said, trembling: “Going to school is fun. You’re a world-class Assassin, so you definitely haven’t experienced the joy of going to school, and now’s your chance. So you should fill your head with knowledge while attending school, because in this world, diplomas are the most important thing. Having a diploma will get you a good job, and having a good job will let you survive easily… Plus, you going to school will also save my life, so isn’t it hitting multiple birds with the same stone? You should never miss something that has more pros than cons.”

Kaiser was literally crying while holding onto Liola’s leg.

Going to school? Liola thought about it, and then nodded slightly. He had nowhere else to go, so perhaps the quiet campus was a good place. Even though the campus would later prove to be anything but quiet, but this was something Liola couldn’t anticipate.

Kaiser, who had been crying, saw Liola’s nod, and suddenly all his tears seemed to have retreated back into his eyes. He stood up as if nothing had happened, and yelled excitedly: “Good, let’s go apply then.”

Liola pointed with his finger, gesturing in front of them: “Which line should we go to?”

“Whichever line is fine…” Kaiser turned around and immediately saw many people forming in two snake-shaped lines, extending from where they stood to somewhere they couldn’t see.

Kaiser blurted: “Damn! Nowadays we have to line up for everything. Buying food, getting on a bus; I wonder… does dying require lining up too?”

Of course it does! He used to have a list of his prey lined up, waiting for him to execute them. Liola quietly thought.

“Look, look, there’re less people over there!” Kaiser said excitedly, as if he had discovered a new world. He dragged Liola again and started running. To someone as lazy as him, doing less was for the best.

Kaiser forcefully slammed on the table, and yelled: “We’re here to apply!”

The old man who slept in his seat while blowing bubbles from his mouth suddenly woke up and stared at Kaiser, clueless to what was going on.

“Old man, can you hurry up? Do you know we don’t have long left to live?” Kaiser looked at his watch, there was less than 15 minutes left, and said with frustration.

“Lad, relax, you will definitely live longer than me.” The old man said slowly but surely, and murmured: “What’s the hurry? I’ve already lived hundreds of years and I’m not in much of a hurry.”

“You are right, I will live longer than you, because if were die I am gonna kill you first.” Kaiser yelled angrily.

“Fine, I’ll let you apply. Don’t kill me.” After Kaiser screamed, the old man seemed a bit scared. He hurriedly prepared various files and placed them in front of Kaiser, and timidly said: “Just sign these and you will be admitted.”

“It’s that simple?” Kaiser skeptically stared at the old man.

“It is that simple.” The old man gulped and answered.

“What the hell, I thought we were going to be faced with a super difficult test before we would be admitted. But it turns out this easy. I was scared for nothing.” Kaiser complained as he took the files, and handed a copy to Liola.

Liola quietly received the files, but his eyes lightly scanned the timid old man.

“Let’s see what we have to fill.” Kaiser took the pen from the desk, and leisurely said, “Name and gender… That’s it?”

Yes, the 30 cm by 30 cm piece of paper only had two words written on it: Name, and gender… And the handwriting was very ugly!

Kaiser was not the only one who dumbfounded, even Liola skeptically knitted his eyebrows. The file was a little bit too convenient for him. After all, the only information Liola had to give was his name and gender.

Kaiser waved, and declared he was done. The old man took the files while shuddering, and handed Kaiser some necessities: a washbasin, a set of toiletries, a set of sheets, a steel knife, a set of uniform, and lastly, a black card.

“That black card is your student ID, so you should take care of it. Entering and exiting the Academy depend on it, as well as your room.” The old man explained.

Liola received the same things. He held up the black card and examined the strange silver pattern on it. It looked like a pass with jewelry on it.

“Let’s go, Liola.”

He only looked at it for a short while, because Kaiser was already beckoning Liola from far away.

Liola thought, despite Kaiser calling himself lazy, he was actually quite quick to take action. So where was this supposed laziness be? As he was contemplated, he started walking towards Kaiser.

* * *

When Kaiser and Liola were far away, the timid old man suddenly stood up, straightened his back, and briskly laughed viciously:

“Ah, finally I’ve tricked… Another two students. As the principal of the School of Sorcery, it would be shameful if I couldn’t even get thirty students.”

“I forgot to tell those two, the School of Sorcery’s graduation rate is less than ten percent.” The old man laughed. After all, there is no such a thing as being enrolled with just a name and a gender.

“Graduation rate weren’t important. What’s most important was the survival rate was less than thirty percent. Wasn’t this the real reason why the School of Sorcery doesn’t have many people, isn’t it?”

The old man turned, and sure enough, a gentle and smiling face appeared before him,

“Mizerui?”

“Long time no see, Barbalis, and you owe me once again.” Mizerui greeted him as if they were old friends.

“What do you mean?” Barbalis curiously asked, not that he minds owing a favor, but why would Mizerui ask him to help handling people… at least he hadn’t seen it before.

“I helped you trick those two interesting students here.” Mizerui smiled.

“Oh?” Barbalis was interested, and curiously looked at Mizerui. Mizerui explained everything in full detail to Barbalis.

“It’s quite interesting. One is a man from another dimension with unfathomable strength, and the other seems to have exceptional magic fluctuation. I withdrew all of my magic perfectly. The outsider seemed to have seen through my disguise. They’re definitely not ordinary. ”

Barbalis murmured, and gestured to thank Mizerui, while smiling and hitting Mizerui’s shoulder: “Mizerui, my old friend, I can’t believe you send me such interesting people. I really owe you a big one.”

Mizerui blinked: “Not at all, just remember to share their progress with me.”

“Of course, of course. It would definitely be interesting. Hahaha.” Barbalis started laughing loudly, and his laughter could be heard all around the campus.

All the teachers and students who knew of the principal’s personalities shivered, hoping to God the principal will never find them ‘interesting’.

* * *

“This is really not fair.” Kaiser said, for the 34th time, “Why does the School of Knights and the School of Mecha Fighters have dorms that looked like five star hotels. But the where School of Sorcery lived, it looked like we should apply to the government to be a historic site.”

“There is no free lunch.” Liola said it as a matter-of-fact. The process of getting in this school was too simple. If the only difference with other schools were the dorms, then it would be a good thing. Still, he didn’t think it was simple, especially the old man.

“No wonder there were two long lines, and there was no one in front of the School of Sorcery, not even a mouse.” Kaiser circled the crude room. Other than two beds, two desks, and a bathroom, there was nothing but the four walls.

Kaiser covered the bed with sheets, climbed on it, and sighed comfortably.

“Kaiser, what exactly do people learn in the School of Knights, Mecha Fighters, and Sorcery?” Liola received a headache trying to figure out the three things he had never heard before. To him, this new world was full of mystery.

“Knights?” Kaiser laid on his bed with hands behind his head: “They are the profession with a great-sword or pike, equip themselves with metal, and they ride things to travel around.”

A bit hard to understand… Liola wondered if he couldn’t understand because he didn’t know much of this world, or was it because Kaiser’s ability to explain was lacking.

“Mecha Fighters is even crazier. It’s the called money-burning profession. Even if their machine looked like junk, it’s still expensive as hell.” Kaiser shook his head, and sighed thinking the rich people were quite wasteful.

“I… don’t understand.” Liola frowned.

“Well.” Kaiser puffed his pillow: “Liola, just remember: if you see people with armor, those are from School of Knights, don’t mess with them. If you see them with mecha armor, those are from School of Mecha Fighters, don’t mess with them. And as for the School of Sorcery… Don’t mess with them either. Though some of them may be weak, but who knows if you end up messing with Mizerui’s son?”

To sum it up, don’t mess with anybody… Looks like Liola can’t rely on Kaiser to try and understand this world. Liola sighed deeply.

“Oh right Liola; tell me, why aren’t you a normal assassin, but an assassin who doesn’t kill?” Kaiser murmured. An assassin who doesn’t kill? It’s a profession that pays worse than a Sorcerer.

Hearing this, Liola’s drifted back into his memories… This was about a year ago. The first thing he remembered was a long silky blonde hair dancing around in the wind.

* * *

“Liola, have you ever been unable to sleep soundly because you took a life?” A pair of sad, lake green eyes stared at him, not with blame, but with sympathy.

“I’ve never slept soundly.” Liola replied truthfully: “Assassin’s Rule #10, staying alert even when sleeping.”

The girl laughed bitterly: “If one day you couldn’t sleep soundly because you killed someone, then perhaps you aren’t a real assassin anymore.”

“Anise… In the past, I couldn’t sleep soundly because I killed someone, but as you can see, that part of me is gone.” Liola’s face showed a rare expression of sadness and worry.

* * *

“Who is Anise? Does she have something to do with you not killing?” Kaiser asked curiously.

“I promised her, never to kill again.” Liola stated the only promise he had ever made in his life.

Hearing this, Kaiser became really interested in the story. He puffed his pillow again, laid comfortably, and asked Liola: “Tell me the story between you and Annie.”

Liola hesitated for a while, and finally started telling the story of what happened in the past year.

“Anise was a Master Doctor; at least that’s what everyone says. It seemed like no one she cured had ever died. That year, because the organization accepted a commission, we kidnapped Anise. Who knew Anise’s medical skills were so exceptional? Rather than killing her, as stated in the original contract, the organization was willing to pay the penalty for breaching the contract. Anise was placed under house arrest, and she stayed within the organization to treat assassins who were injured on the job…”

* * *

One year ago…

Liola stood quietly in the center of the hall. But although he stood in the center, his existence was frail enough for others not consider him as a living person.

His black hair, black clothes, and even darker eyes. Had it not been for the bright red blood dripping from his right arm, people would have mistaken him for an obsidian statute.

“Li, you shouldn’t be hurt.” The leader’s eyes were very cold, and one could tell he was extremely dissatisfied.

Liola didn’t answer, because an Assassin didn’t need to answer. Liola’s silence didn’t cause any more dissatisfaction, for his behavior was, after all, trained by the leader himself.

“Go find Anise and get yourself patched up.” The leader grunted, and commanded Liola

To follow the leader’s orders, Liola turned and walked away, exiting the hall silently to find Anise.

“Master, I heard you were hurt?”

As soon as Liola left the hall, Yasha, who had been waiting outside for a long time, immediately called him.

She looked at Liola’s bleeding arm, feeling quite perplexed. She had always been jealous of Liola’s abilities as the best assassin.

Upon hearing the news the best assassin was injured, she should have been happy about his failure… But, when she saw Liola’s wound, her heart sank a bit.

Liola stopped, turned and asked his apprentice: “Where is Anise?”

Seeing the expressionless face on Liola, Yasha felt angry. She was his apprentice, but he was always greeting her with indifference.

Yasha pouted, but she had to answer the Master’s question: “In the Bamboo Forest of the Sky, 1st sector.”

1st sector of Bamboo Forest of the Sky was coincidentally where Liola lived. He turned around and left without hesitation, always leaving the angry Yasha behind. She ran directly into the hall, to complain to her dad about her Master’s heartlessness.

The leader’s expression changed far from how it was when he was spoke with Liola. With a smile, he listened to his daughter’s complaint, and answered helplessly:

“You are the one who forced me to assign Liola as your master, and I’ve already told you: Liola is definitely the best assassin in the world, but at the same time, also the worst Master in the world.”

Although he was heard Yasha complaining to the leader again, Liola did not think anything of it. Instead, he walked towards the 1st sector of Bamboo Forest of the Sky to comply with the leader’s order to find Anise.

Before long, the melancholic Bamboo Forest appeared before him. As Liola was walking through the forest, he activated ‘Heart of Consciousness’ — a move that increased his perception to the max. It was a move the leader taught Liola himself.

In an instant, ‘Heart of Consciousness’ sent Liola’s mind in all directions, quickly finding his target within the dense forest.

Liola knew every living being’s size, repository rate, and even body temperature. He found a person inside the forest, and concluded it to be Anise, the person he was looking for.

Liola walked towards his target without hesitation.

After brushing aside the final bamboo leaves blocking his way, the silky blonde hair and elegant silhouette appeared before him. She was kneeling on the grass, leisurely tasting the tea in her cup.

“Anise?” Liola asked.

Anise raised her head, and her clear green eyes held their gaze looking at Liola.

She spoke softly: “I am Anise. You… Are hurt.” Anise quickly noticed the person in front of her was bleeding.

Anise immediately opened the medical kit she carries around, and took out bandages as well as several bottles.

With a hurried voice, she said to Liola: “You, over there, come here. I’ll help you patch up this wound. I can’t let you keep bleeding.”

Liola walked beside Anise, and after being pulled by Anise. He sat on the grass, letting the girl next to him do work on the wound on his right arm.

Liola let Anise do as she pleases for two reasons.

First, it was because it was ordered by the leader. And secondly, Liola had already used ‘Heart of Consciousness’ to determine Anise didn’t know Kung Fu at all.

“Okay. Hmm, my bandaging technique is still just as great.” Anise wiped the sweat from her forehead, and began to appreciate her work. She then asked smilingly at this unknown patient of hers: “What’s your name?”

“Li.”

“Li what?” Anise curiously asked, “Your name can’t be just Li?”

“Li… Liola.” Liola hesitated. Finally he revealed the full name he himself had almost forgotten.

“Liola!” Anise’s green eyes brightened: “Aren’t you the legendary and best assassin in the world? Wow, I didn’t think I would ever meet you. But you don’t look as vicious as they say.”

With a quiet and elegant exterior, Anise was surprisingly talkative. She held onto Liola and talked for hours.

She even used the excuse that talking was a part of the treatment, to order to get Liola to stay and to listen to her go on and on about who is the most famous, who is the most handsome, and how she had once treated the Hero Swordsman Bell’s menstruation pains.

For the first time in his life, Liola had an opinion, and it was… The woman talked far too much.

The sun had set and the sky had been filled with stars. Anise had been talking to the point where she was so thirsty; she drank a bucketful of water.

Her stomach started growling. It wasn’t until then, when she had finally decided to let Liola leave.

“Remember to come back to me for another ‘treatment’.” With an innocent smile, Anise lied.

In fact, Liola’s injury wasn’t severe. With the help of Liola’s own Ki, the wound would probably heal within a couple of days, without the need of re-applying the bandaging.

Hearing Anise’s words, Liola’s face, which was originally expressionless, twitched twice. This was also the first time he had this expression and a feeling of helplessness.

And starting from when he met Anise, Liola suddenly found himself having many ‘first’s’.

* * *

A satisfied snore suddenly dragged Liola out of his memories. He looked towards Kaiser, only to see Kaiser sleeping so deeply, his saliva had been dripping from the corner of his mouth.

This sight clearly indicated to Liola, the guy who asked the question was obviously looking for a bedtime story, but fell asleep before he finished listening to it.

Liola sighed again. Strange, ever since he had met Kaiser, he seemed to sigh more and more… Is it a good or bad thing? Liola thought while lying on the other bed in the room, and that was how he spent the rest of the first day in an alien world.

* * *

“Kaiser, Kaiser.”

Kaiser frowned, and buried his head further into his pillow. His hands also waved around, trying to hit the snooze button on the ‘alarm’, and at the same time, he murmured:

“Stop bothering me, I want to sleep.”

Seeing a boy who buried his head under the pillow, and who didn’t get up after Liola tried to wake him up for a span of half an hour. Liola felt it was easier to kill a gosu rather than waking up Kaiser.

After a short silence, Liola heard Kaiser’s even breath again. Helpless, he said: “I’m going to school.”

As soon as he stepped out of the room, Liola was faced with another scenario, putting him on wit’s end. A delicate girl with blue hair and blue eyes stared at him with both fear and anticipation. What now?

“Y-You are in the School of Sorcery too?” The girl asked timidly, but she clearly already knew the answer, for Liola is wearing a dark gray robe, instead of the uniform of the other schools.

“What’s the matter?” Liola responded concisely.

“Uh, well… Today’s your first day, right? I’m sure you’re not familiar with the school. Would you like for me to show you around?” The girl asked with a shaky voice. Her shoulders were trembling so much, it was as if she were talking to a monster who would eat her at any moment.

Liola suddenly felt like he was being taken advantage of. However, he does need someone to show him around. He decided to wait and see. He nodded, and followed the trembling girl to the first lesson of his school life.

“My name is Purity. What’s your name?” She asked after they walked for a while. She continued to look to her left then her right, and she seemed extremely nervous as if an assassin would jump out to kill her at any moment.

“Liola.”

“Oh, what a strange name.” Purity came to the same conclusion as Kaiser.

Though, as soon as she said it, she anxiously said: “Uh, I don’t mean to criticize you. What I mean was, your name is a bit strange, b-but it’s not necessarily a bad name… Just a bit weird.”

Liola wasn’t interested in what others thought of his name. Instead, he was interested in the people around them hiding their bad intentions. These people had been tailing them ever since they stepped out of the dorms. Seeing Purity scared to death, those people were probably after her.

“D-Do you know how to beat people up?” Purity suddenly asked.

“No.” Liola answered directly. He doesn’t just beats people up. He kills them.

Purity heard this, and her shoulders collapsed, and replied sadly: “Oh, then you should walk to class yourself; just walk straight down this road and you’ll be there.” 𝙛𝑟𝑒e𝘸𝑒𝗯𝘯𝗼𝘃el.𝒄𝒐m

After she said this, Purity walked ahead of him as if she was a martyr, though this martyr’s legs couldn’t stop quivering, as if she was going to fall at any moment.

Purity took no more than ten steps when the people hidden from sight jumped out.

There were five of them, all wearing blue clothing. The clothing should be similar to the ones Liola was wearing, a school uniform. But the clothing on the five people was adorned with metallic things. It looked like some kind of weapons, and somewhat looked like armor.

“School of Mecha Fighters?” Judging from the messy description from Kaiser, Liola concluded. Considering he wanted to understand this world, this would be a good time to see what the Mecha Fighters really were.

Purity anxiously took out an old magic staff under her grey robe. The staff was adorned with a thumb-sized jewel, with a crack in it. It was obviously a low quality staff.

“Purity, school starts again. We haven’t seen you in a whole month, and you know we missed you very much.”

The leader, Jetter, showed the smile he had been hiding. Knowing he inflicted fear in Purity, his smile grew broader.

“Jetter…” Purity was so scared, she almost dropped her staff, let alone casting any sort of spell.

She started begging: “Jetter, please let me go. I-I’ve never done any harm to you, so why are you treating me like this?”

Jetter didn’t reply, but instead smiled and raised his hands, to aim the barrels on the side of his arms toward Purity.

Liola, who was watching the scenario, was… Curiously looking at Jetter’s arms. Huge pieces of metals lined up on his shoulders and arms.

The metals on his shoulder looked like huge shoulder pads, while the metal on his arm had claws on the end. It extended from his shoulders all the way down to his arms. They were wider than his arms.

Purity, whom had already gone pale, was on the ground, hoping the situation would end with no more than a few days in the hospital. Other than this, she had no other wishes.

As she waited, nothing happened, which was unusual for Jetter. Instead, Jetter turned towards Liola, who was standing no more than a few steps away: “Hey, aren’t you planning on saving this damsel in distress?”

“No.” Liola plainly answered. Why would he fight strangers he hadn’t met for ten minutes?

Although he wanted to see the Mecha Fighters’ weapons, he was not planning on testing them himself.

Jetter was stunned at his reply and started laughing: “What a cold-blooded guy! Purity, looks like you found the wrong guy to help you.”

Cold-blooded Liola felt something in his heart, and suddenly heard the screaming of a young girl.

“You emotionless thing, are you worth my sister’s sacrifice?”

Similar to his memories of the past, Jetter’s mocking face appeared in front of his eyes again. Liola’s eyes suddenly became cold. He… was starting to get mad.

* * *

“Hmm, I’m hungry.” Kaiser lay on his bed for a long time. There was only one thing that could ever get him out of bed—hunger.

His unwilling head rubbed against the pillow few times, and finally sat up with his hairs sticking up. He rubbed his eyes, and suddenly found a person in his room:

“Hey! Liola? Didn’t you go to class?” 𝐟𝐫𝗲𝙚ｗ𝚎𝐛𝙣𝐨𝙫𝘦𝗹.c૦m

Kaiser scratched his head, trying to recall. When he was sleeping, he seemed to have heard Liola saying he was going to class.

“Mm… I ran into a bit of trouble.” Liola frowned lightly, while slowly eating his breakfast.

“What kind of trouble?” Kaiser’s skin began to itch. He’s not afraid of anything, except trouble.

“Liola-dage!”

Liola hadn’t said anything, and the old door to their room was suddenly opened. The one who ran in, was delicate girl with blue hair and blue eyes — Purity. She was carrying a few plates full of breakfast: sandwiches, desserts, coffee, and bacon.

“Wow, breakfast!” Kaiser immediately jumped down from his bed, ran in front of Purity, and took away those steaming breakfast. He started stuffing his mouth, and was still was able to inquire Liola:

“Wow, she is, after all, a girl, and she was so thoughtful and brought us breakfast, Liola how could you possibly call her trouble? And even if she’s trouble, she is at least a sweet burden.”

Liola didn’t answer. He was wondering, how would Kaiser react after he knew the truth? Probably angry to the point of dying by this ‘sweet burden’.

Kaiser kept stuffing, almost suffocating himself. Purity hurriedly brought some juice to Kaiser. He looked thankfully at Purity, and said to Liola:

“You see? What a considerate girl. And she’s so pretty. Say, don’t be so picky nowadays, you should keep this girl.”

[T/N: Kaiser is saying Liola should marry her.]

Liola remained quiet, while Purity blushed, and quickly clarified: “Kaiser-dage, it’s not like that. Purity just met Liola-dage. Thanks to Liola-dage’s helping hand, Purity wasn’t bullied by Jetter.”

“Helping hand?” Kaiser skeptically looked at Liola. This guy actually gave a helping hand?

“Yeah, Kaiser-dage didn’t know? Just a while ago Liola-dage was really fierce. He fought off five School of Mecha Fighters students in just a few moves.” Purity’s eyes shone with admiration, ignoring Kaiser’s wide open mouth with surprise.

She continued: “Just now, before Jetter could even realize, Liola-dage clubbed him from behind and he fell to the ground. And then, Purity could only see Liola-dage’s shadow flashing around, and then everyone was already down on the ground.”

Kaiser was quiet for a while, and then finally pointed with a shaking head, and said: “Didn’t I tell you not to mess with students from the School of Mecha Fighters?”

“Accident.” Liola explained with a single word.

“Accident my ass! Didn’t you know they are not to be trifled with?” Kaiser pulled his hair in frustration:

“There are tons of people with money and power in school. This time you beat them, but now you will never be able to live in peace. R-Right, from now on, we will go to class separately. Don’t tell anyone you know me, and even if you do I will deny it.”

In response to Kaiser’s heartlessness, Liola simply said: “Purity will be hiring us as her bodyguard, paying one silver a day.”

“What did you say? Hiring us?” Kaiser ground his teeth and yelled.

As soon as Purity saw Kaiser getting mad, she crouched to the ground, holding her hands together and cried: “S-Sorry, Kaiser-dage. Purity shouldn’t call it hiring. It’s more like begging. Please, Kaiser-dage…”

“Is it one silver per person per day?” Kaiser held Purity’s hands, and asked with shining eyes.

“Uh, yes.” Confused with the situation, Purity carefully answered.

“Boss~~ please get up.” Kaiser grabbed Purity by the waist and carefully set her down on a chair, then immediately put some breakfast on the desk in front of her.

He started pouring juice into her cup, and asked as if he were an obedient dog: “Boss, how about some juice? Or would you like some bacon? You’re so thin, so eating more would be healthy for you.”

“Uh…” Purity looked at Liola, who was still eating breakfast without any emotion, with perplexed eyes.

“I-I am full. I’ll come again in the afternoon to go to class with you.” Purity really didn’t know how to respond to Kaiser’s sudden fervor, so she ran off.

Seeing the boss was gone, Kaiser sat down bluntly, and continued stuffing his face: “Why would you go help her? No matter how I look at you, you’re not someone who would save a damsel in distress or being a Good Samaritan, especially if it would cause trouble to yourself.”

Upon hearing Kaiser’s critique, Liola was a bit peeved: “I wanted to kill all of those people and Purity, so they wouldn’t cause us any trouble. Then I remembered I can’t kill anyone.”

“… Don’t let the boss hear that, otherwise we will have no money to live on.” Kaiser shrugged.

Though he hated trouble, he did need the money to live on. Now, as long as they could protect an innocent girl in a peaceful campus and get paid for it, there was nothing wrong with it.

“Purity and the silver-eyed bastard, come out here! Come out here and duel with me if you dare.”

But God seems to contradict Kaiser’s hopes, as if to mock him. The screaming was accompanied by strange disturbances, which shook the ancient sites… No, shook the dorms, and dust began to fall.

Kaiser swallowed the cake in his mouth, and turned to look at Liola. That’s right, silver eyes. It could only mean one thing: trouble was here.

“Liola-dage, Kaiser-dage!” Within the same day, Purity barged in their room for the second time, with tears on her face, and couldn’t stop shaking.

“Ahh, what do we do?!” Kaiser once again pulled his hair in frustration, with a face as if he was saying he was the unluckiest person in the world.

After pacing around for five minutes, Kaiser feebly put his head on the desk: “We should just let him scream. We’ll be fine as long as we don’t step out of these ruins. They can’t possibly wait outside for long time.”

“Food?” Liola lightly replied.

“With your abilities as the best assassin, sneaking out for a couple pieces of bread shouldn’t be a problem, right?” Kaiser replied, unconcerned.

“B-But…” Purity’s face turned white, and she stammered.

Kaiser raised his head abruptly, and yelled angrily at Purity: “Hey, don’t think a silver a day is enough to make me risk my life against Mecha Fighters.”

“S-Sorry…” Purity was scared to tears, and did what she do best: crouching and shaking in the corner of the room.

Liola quietly stood by the window, looking at what appeared to be a metallic monster standing at about ten meters high, and sitting inside it was Jetter.

So this was the real Mecha Fighters? Liola analyzed this monster he had never seen before, while thinking about what the best way to defeat his enemies. But since he had never fought with one of these, it was hard for him to analyze.

The best way, Liola thought, was to personally see it in action first.

God seems to bless Liola. After getting no responses from a few yells, Jetter started to move the machine to express his foul mood, and started destroying the ancient ruins of a dorm. As soon as the Mecha Fighter turned, the door turned into a pile of rubble.

The loud sound caused the entire dorm to panic… The so-called entire dorm, only consisted of the lazy Kaiser who slept ‘til noon, and Purity who was intercepted on the way to class.

“Damn, now what?” Kaiser climbed to the window, and saw the Mecha Fighter doing some deconstruction on the ruins.

Staggeringly, he asked asked: “What… What is he going to do? Demolishing the dorm? Aren’t there any management people in Aklan Academy who will intervene?”

At this time, Purity’s crying voice could be heard: “B-Because the School of Sorcery only has one teacher. The principal of Aklan Academy: Principal Barbalis.”

“The only teacher is the principal? The School of Sorcery shouldn’t be this terrible!” Kaiser was more confused than before.

“But the p-principal said, he will never intervene any conflicts between students. He said conflicts with other students are a part of the learning process. So, even if the dorm of the School of Sorcery is destroyed, no one would say a word about it.”

Purity frowned, if the dorm were demolished, wouldn’t she have to live in the jungle at night? No, that’s the best ending. In the worst case scenario, she could be buried alive underneath these ruins.

“Damn! What a principal. No wonder the School of Sorcery’s dorm are in ruins, and it might even be demolished.” Kaiser ground his teeth and yelled.

“Your school is really not peaceful.” Liola still coldly standing beside the window, but his eyes were staring at the Mecha Fighters downstairs, and his brain continuously analyzing the ‘enemy’s’ every action.

“Bastard!” Kaiser grabbed Liola’s face: “Who do you think caused all this? Huh?!”

Kaiser pulled his own hair, and then grabbed Liola by the collar: “You should handle your own troubles.”

Liola didn’t reply, but lifted his eyebrows, as if he were saying, ‘how can I handle it?’

Kaiser paced for a few more minutes. The Mecha Fighter downstairs had already destroyed about a third of the dorm. Kaiser finally sighed, and gave a command: “Purity, go gather uniforms.”

“Uniforms?” Purity froze.

“Yes. We have to disguise Liola so no one can recognize him.” Kaiser’s face turned crazy and deceitful.

“These damn rich students from the School of Mecha Fighters! Today, I, Kaiser, am going to make you guys pay for destroying the dorm where I live!”

With Kaiser’s orders, Purity paused briefly, and then went around gathering uniforms.

Is Kaiser unhappy with the Mecha Fighters’ contempt or… Because they’re rich? Liola started thinking about this question.

“Kaiser-dage, i-is this okay?” Purity held a set of white clothes.

Kaiser held the uniforms in the air, and realized they were uniforms from the School of Knights. The tailoring was simple but well done. The clothes were adorned with silver lining in the shape of clouds to show their elegance.

“Where did you get these?” Kaiser gulped. If the clothes were to be sold, it would probably be enough to pay for a semester’s worth of fees.

“It’s Purity’s brother’s.” Purity blushed: “Because Purity really likes older brother, so before school started, stole a set of clothes from the drawer.”

“Ahahaha, even God helps me.” Kaiser burst out laughing: “Not only can I frame the dishonorable School of Knights, after I’m done with this, I can even auction off this uniform, and I won’t have to worry about money for this semester.”

“What!” Purity tried to grab the clothes back, but how could a clumsy girl like her be faster than the crazy Kaiser hell bent on getting more money?

Kaiser easily ducked Purity’s hands, and threw the clothes to the guy by the window: “Liola, put these on!”

Liola frowned, but Kaiser said: “Don’t say no. If you want to live peacefully and stably in this campus, the best way is to direct Jetter away from you. But if you’re going to keep getting into trouble with the Mecha Fighters, then that’s your business; but don’t ever say a word of you knowing me.”

Liola was speechless, and he took the clothing and went to the bathroom.

“Next we need something to cover his face.” Kaiser scratched his head: “But Liola’s eyes are too unusual. I wonder if I cover the best assassin’s eyes, could he still fight? I heard all gosu don’t rely on their eyes…”

“… Even if I cover my eyes, doing so would make him suspicious. It would be easy for him to know it’s a disguise.” Liola walked out wearing the School of Knights’ uniform.

“You’re right.” Kaiser turned around, and immediately screamed: “Damn, who are you? Why are you pretending to be Liola?!”

Liola was speechless.

“Liola-dage is really handsome!” Purity said with shining eyes.

After putting on the righteous Knight’s uniform, Liola’s dark persona seemed to have disappeared completely. Now, Liola didn’t look like an Assassin, but more like a Prince or a Knight.

“Tsk tsk, the appearance of a man really depends on his clothes.” Kaiser exclaimed after he saw the new Liola.

“Eyes?” Liola disregarded what they thought about his looks, and asked the most important question.

Kaiser snappily answered: “How should I know? You just had to have such a particular eye color.”

“Hehe, hello, everyone!” A baffling laughing sound suddenly appeared in the corner of the room.

“Damn, you again!”

“Who is this?”

“Ah, hello little beauty. My name is Mizerui; you may call me Mi-dage.” Mizerui showed his gentle smile, and even his temperament was courteous, making it hard for anyone to nitpick.

“Miseroy, what are you doing here again?” Kaiser asked snappily, and then hurried added: “We are already in Aklan Academy; you can’t turn on your words and kill us.”

Mizerui waved quickly: “Not at all. I would never do that. On the contrary, I’m here to help you.”

“Help us?” Kaiser was curious.

“Yup.” Mizerui smilingly took out a silver mask: “Put on this mask specially made by Mizerui, and it will cover Liola’s face. Not to mention, his eyes would turn into a golden color.”

“Why do you want to help us?” Liola replied coldly.

“Hehe.” Mizerui laughed without replying. As he laughed, his body seemed to have faded until the silver mask dropped onto the ground and Mizerui was nowhere to be found.

Kaiser grabbed the mask in confusion. Although he had no idea what Mizerui was planning, but the mask was definitely useful to them. Kaiser gave the mask to Liola. Now the issue was, if Liola wanted to wear it.

“I feel like I’m being taken advantage of.” Liola said, but he still took the mask because he was really curious about the metallic monster outside.

He wanted to know if the plan he had concocted would be effective against Mecha Fighters.

In response to Liola’s dissatisfaction, Kaiser shrugged: “I have always been taking advantage of you.”

You sure are truthful… Liola put on the mask and, without any worries, put his hands on the window pane, and jumped out.

Seeing Liola was finally willing to do something, Kaiser sighed with relief. “Looks like this thing is settled,”

Kaiser showed a deceptive smile towards Purity, and then put out his palm: “Don’t forget to pay for overtime!”

Liola, jumped out the window, jumped around the building with ease, and within just a few jumps, landed lightly on the back of the Mecha Fighters.

His landing was so quiet; it was as if a feather had fallen on the machine. The controller, Jetter, didn’t realize the metallic machine had suddenly gained a visitor.

“Should I break the joint, so this Mecha Fighter couldn’t move? Or should I destroy it completely?” Liola could not decide. In the past, the organization always had orders, and all he did was followed them, but now…

“Go righteous Silver Mask! Go defeat the dorm-destroying criminal! Cut it into pieces so the souls of the dorm can rest in peace!” Kaiser cried at the window. Not only did it give Liola an answer, it also helped Jetter realize the existence of his enemy.

“Kaiser-dage, I think y-you aren’t helping?” Standing beside him, Purity timidly asked.

“Ah, Liola is very strong. If I don’t help out the enemy, then the Mecha Fighter would die without even knowing what happened.” Kaiser grunted: “Considering you paid us for overtime, it’s my duty to make the person who bullied the boss feel more pain.”

Saying a sentence counts as making it happen? Purity thought quietly.

“You’re from School of Knight?” While controlling the metallic machine, Jetter saw Liola in his white uniform, and his eyes were filled with rage.

It’s not surprising the academy students were segregated based on their schools, and each having deep-rooted hatred toward one another. It was at the point where they would fight to death whenever they saw each other.

“Fine, let’s show you School of Knight what our rank-C Mecha Fighters can do.” Jetter said as he stopped destroying the dorm, and turned around to deal with this unwanted guest.

But, Liola was on the back of the Mecha Fighters. Jetter smiled coldly, and controlled the Mecha Fighters to jump up and down, trying to shake Liola off. But this move not only didn’t shake Liola off, it didn’t affect him at all.

Liola lightly moved around the Mecha Fighter. At one moment he was on the machine’s arm, and another he was on its chest. Finally, he jumped between the machine’s legs and touched it.

“What is Liola-dage doing?” Purity was dumbfounded, and with a blush she asked.

“Uhm, I think he’s probably sexually harassing the metallic robot.”

“He doesn’t seem like the sort of a guy…”

“You only know his appearance but not his personalities. How would you know if he has any kind of fetish?”

Fortunately, what happened next cleared the suspicion of Liola sexually harassing the machine.

Jetter swung the arms of the machine wildly trying to catch Liola, but failed. Afterwards, Liola came out from beneath the Mecha Fighter, and unexpectedly stood still in front of it.

Jetter was certainly not going to miss this golden opportunity. He raised the arms of the machine, and slammed them down toward Liola. It looked as if he was about to crush Liola into meatballs…

Klang!

A light metallic sound could be heard. Kaiser, who had been standing there next to window, showed an deceptive smile.

The only person unaware of what had happened was the controller of the Mecha Fighter. He still was trying to get rid of the enemy. Then, a series of metallic sounds could be heard. It was apparent the sounds came from the Mecha Fighter.

Jetter panicked. But before he could do anything, the Mecha Fighter crumbled. There was no explosion, and it was not cut with a sword. All of a sudden, the metallic monster crumbled into what it was before — a pile of metallic parts.

Jetter fell from a three-story height to the ground, and dislocated parts of his face during the landing. His hands were still holding the control stick, fully unaware of what had just happened.

[T/N: 3 stories is equal to 10 meters.]

“Hey, bully! Don’t think too highly of your School of Mecha Fighters. Look at how righteous the School of Knights is! They saw you destroying the dorm, so they came and stopped you. Go learn how to be a hero from them.” Kaiser yelled at Jetter arrogantly from the window.

“Wh-who are you?” Jetter’s face turned white. He didn’t know the School of Knight were so strong, they could dismantle a Mecha Fighter single-handedly.

Liola remained quiet. What did Kaiser called him again? Silver something…

Fortunately, Kaiser came to his rescue. He pretended to be a crazed fan, and screamed: “Long live Silver Mask! Long live Silver Mask!”

“Silver Mask?” Jetter showed anger, but was too scared to do anything, especially in front of Liola’s cold eyes.

“Just you wait. The School of Mecha Fighters will not let you get away with this!” Jetter yelled fiercely at Liola, and immediately turned around to escape.

Liola stood alone at where he was. However, a crowd began to gather around him. Liola felt uncomfortable because he was used to hiding in the dark.

Considering there were many audiences, if he jumped back to the dorm, then it would’ve been pointless for him to be wearing a mask.

Clueless, Liola caught a ball of rolled up paper thrown at him from behind. He looked up, and saw Kaiser lazily put his head on the window pane. Along with the two thirds of destroyed dorm, the whole scene had felt unfamiliar to him.

Liola read the rolled up paper, and coldly said toward the direction where Jetter escaped: “The School of Knights awaits your revenge!”

As soon as he was done framing, Liola turned handsomely, and suddenly disappeared from where he stood.

“Wow, Liola-dage is really cool.” Purity’s eyes showed admiration as she praised.

Purity was not the only one who had eyes of admiration.

Many of those who crowded around also praised the mysterious man, for who had ever seen someone destroy a Mecha Fighter single-handedly?

Not to mention Liola’s cool figure captured many hearts of the women. There were already many people trying to guess the identity of Silver Mask.

“Quiet. Aren’t you afraid people might find out who he is?” Kaiser said leisurely. But with them being on the fifth floor, no one could hear them.

“Let’s talk about something more important!” Kaiser’s eyes shone suddenly.

“What? Is Jetter going to come for revenge again?” Purity began to worry.

“That’s not the problem. Jetter would be going to the School of Knight if he wants revenge, what does it have to do with us?”

Kaiser couldn’t possibly care about someone who couldn’t even take a hit from Liola. What’s more important was…

“It’s time for afternoon tea. I’m thinking a silver a day, plus you get us food.”

“Uhm…” Purity found it a bit hard to accept someone who loves money and food.

* * *

“First day in school, and they haven’t even been to class yet, but they’ve already destroyed the School of Sorcery’s dorm. Looks like those two little guys were more interesting than we had anticipated!”

“Silver Mask. Ahahaha, I haven’t heard such a… Silly name… In a long time…. Ahahaha!”

Although he questioned whether the person had the right to make fun of the name, he remained quiet. He didn’t want to know what kissing the ground would feel like.

“Looks like this is going to be a fun year.”

The two looked at each other and laughed. It was just all too interesting!