Chapter 34: Absence

It was pouring.

Standing in front of the Academy main gate, Rewen looked at the sky for the fifth time. 'Still dark.' He looked around and only found a couple of students. It's no surprise. He came half-an-hour early alone. He didn't even have his breakfast. Waking up at 5, he took a quick cold shower and went out with an umbrella in hand and bag in back.

Behind him, Zaplin was quietly humming a tune when he noticed his classmate standing like a wood before the gate. "Hey there bud, why so early?" He went up to him and patted him on his back.

"I could ask the same to you." Rewen responded with a smile. "Anyways, I have got to do something important. Can you fill in my attendance for the day? I swear I'm not kidding around."

Zaplin was a bit taken aback by his sudden request. He thought for a moment before answering. "I'm afraid attendance can't be easily manipulated. If you have a good enough reason, then come with me to Ms. Cutlin's office. What do you say?"

"Alright, let's go."

***

Ms. Cutlin looked at the young man in front of her and asked in a gentle tone. "Why do you want to take leave?"

"As you have likely found out from the scans, I have interference and I'm not in the best condition today. Therefore, I would like to take a leave."

Ms. Cutlin's eyes twitched.

Standing beside Rewen, Zaplin was shocked at the discovery. 'So he had interference? I didn't know that. I guess some people like to hide the fact.'

"Forgive me if I'm crossing my boundaries but you don't seem to be much affected. Is it really worth taking a leave?"

"I'm afraid so."

"In that case, fine. Now, sign here." Ms. Cutlin took a thin stack of paper and placed it over the table.

***

"I think I have done more work than I would have by staying at the Academy. The papers never ended. How many was it? 14? No. 17. Probably. Imagine a sick student coming to ask for a leave. He would die before he could complete signing off those damn papers."

"Honestly, I don't get why you have to include your personal details and write the same thing over four times when the Academy literally has them stored."

Rewen and Zaplin chatted a bit before parting ways. The former walked out of the Academy while the latter went to his classroom.

"Rewen? Where are you going?"

Rewen stopped in his tracks. He recognized the voice. It was Svety.

"I'm taking a leave."

"Oh? Leave? Why? Are you having any problem?" Svety came near him and asked with a confused face.

"Didn't I tell you about interference? It is acting up. I got to rest for a day."

"Mhm…" Svety nodded lightly. "That's troubling. Wouldn't you be alone at home? Why don't I help you? Yes, that could work."

"What? No. It wouldn't. I just need to rest. I'm not sick that someone needs to nurse."

"Don't be stubborn, Rewen. Your health is serious." Svety grabbed his hand.

"Listen here." He looked at her seriously. "I'm going to be fine. You should go now."

"I'm going with you." She loosened her grip on his hand but still didn't let go.

Rewen didn't have the time and patience to deal with her. "Don't follow me." He said that before walking away not bothering to turn back and look at her.

---

Requested Mission: Find X

Clues Unlocked: Mischief in the Slums

---

This was the whole reason he is so worked up today. After waking up today, he brainstormed ideas to get rid of the threat looming over him and his family. The first thing that came to his mind were daily missions but dismissed the idea as soon as that came because he understood that daily missions were not enough. He needed to speedrun quests and missions in order to get stronger. Thus, he came to the conclusion and asked the system to give him high-reward missions which it did give. He couldn't care less if it was high-risk high-reward. The rewards are all that matters to him right now.

***

'The slum mentioned should be in the Extreme South of the Town. Never really went there but I heard it's not a good place." Sitting in one of the front seats of the bus, he muttered subconsciously.

"Of course it isn't a good place. Slums are never considered a 'good' place and the reason shouldn't be too difficult to guess. Unless, you know, there are some problems in your intelligence." A young girl sitting across him berated him in a sharp tone.

Rewen tilted his head to see the speaker. The girl looked less than ten years of age and had a serious expression on her face. He wasn't particularly offended by her but it left a bitter taste in his mouth that a girl half his age disrespected him. 'I should probably laugh it off excusing her behaviour. Replying back would only make me seem childish and narrow-minded. But the thing is, I don't want to laugh it off.' With that in mind, he pretended to not hear what she said and play games on his smartphone.

At this moment, a blonde-haired woman sitting near the young girl spoke out in a harsh tone. "Is that how you speak to your elder!? I demand you apologise to the brother right now!"

"Nope!"

"What did you say!?"

"I said nope! N.O.P.E. Nope!"

"Feya, this wouldn't end well." She couldn't believe how rude her daughter was being and turned to Rewen. "Brother, I hope you didn't mind her words. I..." She hesitated before discontinuing.

Rewen heard and saw the entire banter and he had arrived at the conclusion that the daughter was spoiled and bratty. He gave a subtle smile to the blonde woman. "Not at all. I'm sure your daughter is just having a bad day."

The blonde woman returned a smile. The young girl was about to speak something but when she noticed her mother's frightening eyes, she gulped her words down her throat.

Eight minutes later, he got up as the destination had arrived. As he was planning to get off the bus, he felt a small hand touching his hand.

"Take this." It was the little girl. She shoved a candy into his hand.

Rewen wasn't sure how to respond to this sudden explosion of generosity. He saw the blonde woman smiling at her daughter. From her expressions, he could tell that this wasn't planned by her. The little girl took the initiative to give him the candy which Rewen found very wholesome. He patted the girl's head.

"Thank you."

"Your welcome."

"Let's hope to meet again." Saying so, he got off the bus in good spirits. He wasn't an expert in conversations, especially with children so he had decided to keep it short and simple.

'Slum? This doesn't feel like a slum at all. It's more like a barren village in the middle of a desert.' Looking at the surroundings, he thought. There were small settlements but all of them were mysteriously quiet. Not a single person could be found on the street. This definitely isn't how he thought the slums would be. The only thing that entered his ears was the sound of the sand drifted by the wind.

"This looks more like a haunted place. I'll just look around." He wasn't sure if this is what the clue meant because the clue itself was very vague. Strictly speaking, he was trying out his luck.

He walked around, going from alleys to alleys with no sign of life. "Hmm?" Finally, his eyes caught sight of a small figure. He ran towards it and saw a small boy trying to pick up something from the drain. As he approached the kid, the boy noticed his arrival and looked at him. "Could you pick my ball from the drain, Uncle?"

Rewen didn't mind the kid calling him 'Uncle'. "Only if you tell me why the place is so silent."

"That's because…"

"Because?"

"That's because you are an idiot, Uncle!" The boy's innocent face turned bizarre.

*Baam*

A club collided against Rewen's head from back as he fell.

"Third one of the month! Haha! Good job there, kiddo." A skanky-looking man along with several other middle-aged men revealed themselves.

Two men picked Rewen up and everyone including the boy left the place. However, while the group was chatting and laughing merrily with each other, they failed to notice a small curve in Rewen's lips.