Chapter 21: Forever alone

Chapter 21: Forever alone

There were only 25 students in Nero's class, and he knew each of them well. 18 of the 25 were either orphans, or had at least one of their parents dead. This was a morbid detail, but the reason Nero knew it was because it was something discussed quite often and openly in class.

There were countless orphanages and government initiatives, so none of them grew up in hardship, but without parental supervision many students often developed bad, or even delinquent-like habits. But, even if they weren't friends with Nero, everyone at least avoided giving him trouble. After all, he was generally very friendly and easy to get along with - especially when they knew he could beat them up really badly if he wished. That made things a lot easier.

Silas, the kid Nero was talking to at the moment, was someone he gave special attention to at school.

"Nero, you know I... I can't do it... It's... It's just..."

"I have faith in you," Nero said, placing a hand on his shoulder, startling him. "I've moved into the hostel. Room 1G, come by directly after school. We can begin the project right after, so that you can be home before dark."

Without waiting for Silas to respond, Nero began walking towards Harold's table, but then suddenly paused. He bent down to his ear and whispered, "be careful of pretty girls with unknown agendas Silas. They'll try to use you."

Silas did not even try to respond. He only looked down at his lap, and tried to get his hands to stop trembling as Nero finally walked away.

"Is he bullying you?" asked Vanessa, her former energetic expression replaced by a solemn one. "I know schools don't always handle that kind of thing properly, but if he's bullying you, you can tell me. I'll help you out. We'll look out for each other."

Silas only shook his head for a bit, but then jerked as he realised something and looked up at Vanessa.

"No, it's... It's nothing like that. He's not bullying me, it's more like... tough love. More importantly, you're new, so you don't know. You shouldn't pick a fight with Nero. Instead, be friends with him. Your school life will get a lot better. Even... even I..." it felt like he had more to say, but the words eluded him. His mind kept on straying to what Nero had told him.

3 pm. 1G. He had to go there today. His thoughts started racing, and he even forgot he was talking to Vanessa.

The new girl, Vanessa, clearly aware that her conversation with Silas was at an end, returned to her seat, though her gaze kept straying to Nero. He was quite rude. He completely disregarded her handshake.

"You're Vanessa, right?" asked a girl sitting close to her, an amused look on her face. "You can forget about trying to attract Nero's attention that way. His heart is ice cold. He only has eyes for his spear."

"Foreign exchange student, from Nova."

"Foreign what? What is that?" he asked upon hearing the unfamiliar term.

"Foreign exchange student. It's a program to deepen diplomatic ties between allies, involving sending promising students with deep links to the establishment to foreign countries to develop connections and learn a bit about each other. She probably has a prominent background if she's here from Nova. She just got here today, you missed her introduction."

"The timing of her arrival is too unusual. She's likely a spy. I think... you made the right call about investigating the rumours about the ruins. If there are spies in places even we can interact with, then I can't even imagine how many more there are hiding. This 'ruins' thing might end up interfering with our plans, so gather as much intel about what's going on as possible."

"Don't you think you're jumping to conclusions?" Gabriel asked, looking at Nero sceptically. Where would one even get a fully trained, 15 year old spy?

"Gabe, there's a lot about the situation we don't know. But whoever attacked the AAB clearly knew something was going to happen before it did, and even foreigners from across the lake showed up just as strange things began happening in the city. This matter, whatever it is, is going to get bigger. We need to start taking precautions right now."

Gabriel looked at Vanessa as if trying to see through her disguise. Was she really a spy? If the situation in Aetherpeak was really reaching such a level, and he had not detected it at all so far, then he had been really lagging. He was not sure if Nero's theories were completely correct, but it couldn't hurt to be cautious.

Nero, meanwhile, put all other thoughts out of his mind and focused on what the substitute teacher was explaining. It would be extremely beneficial for him if he learnt everything in class the first time when it was being explained so that he wouldn't need to waste time in revision, and for that he could not be even slightly distracted.

He did not even let his thoughts linger on the fact he had been paying close attention to Vanessa even after he had walked past her. Although everything else about her seemed relatively normal, including the obsession with knives - who didn't like small knives they could hide all over their bodies - the thing that alarmed Nero the most was that she walked without making any sound.

He would continue to pay attention, just in case he was mistaken, but while she walked from Silas back to her chair, he had not heard the sound of a single footstep from her. It was extremely alarming, as that was a more difficult feat than it appeared to achieve completely subconsciously. She probably did not mean to do it, as it betrayed the extensive amount of training she probably received.

If Nero had to guess, he would say she had been trained in many fields, but had little practical experience, which is why there was the oversight.

One could ask why Nero felt he had the qualification to make such a judgement. The answer was simply because his no good father, who hardly ever went to work, had taught both him and his brother too many strange things. He could no longer judge what was supposed to be common knowledge among everyone else or not, for he knew all sorts of strange things.

Class continued normally, and nothing unusual happened after that. The substitute teacher left, and one of his regular teachers entered to conduct one of his regular classes.

It was nearly 11 am by the time Nero was finally pulled out of class. His new schedule had been made, and he was ready to attend his new mandatory classes.