Chapter 139 Volume III - 60: A Bunch of Amateurs

Chapter 139 Volume III - Chapter 60: A Bunch of Amateurs

I saw a couple of two people as I looked for someone from James' group. But when I saw that they were a couple who were hugging, I sighed and turned to another group. Then I whispered to Adrian.

"Look through the groups, look for someone who looks like they're following someone. Look for one of your friends if you can find one. Basically, we're trying to find someone from James' group."

"All right, Alice!"

Adrian quickly got into the mood and started looking everywhere, even faster than me.

For a while we looked at every group we passed and every group we saw, finding nothing. After a few minutes, we came to a dormitory building and Adrian suddenly paused.

"This is the building. She must have gone upstairs already."

"Then we're going upstairs too. Let me meet your friend."

Adrian nodded obediently and we quickly entered the building.

We didn't take the elevator. We went up the stairs and I looked in every corridor.

There was no one on the first floor. Neither was the second floor, nor the third.

I rolled my eyes and sighed deeply.

Amateurs...

"It was on this floor, that room." n0VeLusb.c0m

Adrian walked quickly in front of the room, but he didn't knock. He waited until I arrived.

After a few seconds, the door opened.

"Hah, Ris-"

Adrian had spoken excitedly, yet he choked on his words.

There was not the purple-haired girl he had described to me. Instead, there was a huge student standing in front of us, almost two meters tall.

The only thing that identified him as a student was the card on his badge. Anyone who saw him without recognizing him could swear he was not a student.

"You weren't here before, are you one of the people who couldn't come?"

The giant of a student said nothing and simply stepped aside to let us pass.

"Thanks?"

Adrian said with a little doubt in his voice and went inside.

One side is amateur, the other side is stupid.

With a sigh, I went inside too. After we went in, the giant behind us closed the door but didn't move forward with us. He continued to stand in front of the door and when he realized I was looking at him, he gestured toward the living room.

Adrian made a face as if he realized something was wrong. Nevertheless, he walked confidently into the living room and I followed behind him and finally went in.

There were six people standing in the room and only one person sitting on the sofa. This person had light brown hair and gray eyes. The cup in his hand was steaming, probably tea. His outfit had an order and harmony that was not easily seen. There was not a single wrinkle on him, he looked like he was wearing a suit without a jacket.

The boy took a sip from the cup in his hand, then turned to Adrian with a slight, well-adjusted smile on his face.

"You're here at last. You kept me waiting so long, Adrian."

With those words, his eyes turned back to me. His expression didn't change a bit, but he seemed to be thinking.

"You brought a friend with you, how nice. Alice, if I'm not mistaken, right?"

Does he know my name...? The whole award ceremony thing after the preliminaries apparently made me more stand out than I thought... I drew a lot of attention to myself because of that stupid thing.

"Yeah, you must be James."

James made a friendly face and gestured to the seat opposite him.

"You seem a lot friendlier than your friend next to you. Why don't you tell him to stay put?"

I only had to look at my side once to realize what he was saying. I didn't even need to look. It was impossible not to feel the waves of mana emanating from Adrian's body.

"Do as he says, Adrian. Calm down and sit down."

Adrian didn't say anything but sat with me, clenching his fist. James took another sip from his cup without breaking his posture in the slightest.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"No."

"Come on, it's not like I'm going to poison you."

"We had a drink before we came, so there's no need."

James handed his cup to a student standing next to him.

"It's a shame, I've already had it made."

The student took the cup without a word and left the room. James leaned back with his hands clasped in front of him. Adrian spoke at this moment.

"Where are the owners of the room?"

"It's right in front of you, this room belongs to me now."

Adrian started to move, but I put my hand in front of him and stopped him, so he backed off again.

"The former owners, where are they?"

"Ah? You mean them... The girl Risa is sleeping in the other room, don't worry."

"Sleeping?"

"Yes, she has a bump on her head, unfortunately. She seemed to have a headache, so we moved her to the other room. She's resting now."

Before Adrian could do anything, I interjected myself.

"Are you giving us one last chance?"

James opened his clasped hands and spoke excitedly.

"Yes! You really are easy to communicate with, unlike some people."

It's not so bad, even though he's an amateur. He's putting us in a place we can't escape from and asking us to reconsider his offer.

"And what makes you think we won't betray you?"

"A contract, of course. After all, I have a lot of 'friends'. They wouldn't refuse if I asked one of them to exercise their right to a monthly contract, would they, friends?"

Each of the students around us nodded at the same time. This gave James a satisfied look on his face.

"So, what do you think, are you going to reject my offer here and become my target right now... or are you going to throw away the last chance I've given you?"

Adrian responded to James' offer with a huff, not giving me a chance to speak.

"We decline."

"Hmm? I must have misheard."

Adrian continued without waiting for me again.

"Unfortunately, you heard right."

James sighed slightly, disappointment on his face.

"It's a pity, I could have made good use of you, but now... you will suffer the same fate as the others."

Adrian took up a position ready to pounce at any moment, and the others, realizing this, prepared themselves.

"The others?"

James smiled.

"Are you sure you want to know? That pure heart of yours that wants to help everyone might not stand for it."

As soon as James finished, Adrian stopped holding back. He leaped out of his seat and jumped at James. He moved so suddenly and quickly that several objects in the room were thrown out of their places. But James didn't move a muscle, just stood where he was and smiled. Just then a moan sounded from next to us, it was full of pain and Adrian paused as he heard it.

There were only a few inches between James' neck and his hand.

"Our friend Risa's head seems to be throbbing even more, look at her voice coming all the way here."

Adrian's eyes widened. And not because of surprise, the veins in his eyes were almost visible. It was easy to see that he was angry. His face was uncharacteristically ugly.

He turned slightly toward me. He narrowed his eyes as if pleading, silently shouting 'do something'.

"I have a hostage, Adrian Caleo, it's a real weakness to think about people who have nothing to do with you. And now you are losing to me because of that weakness. I don't need to lift a finger to take you down, even a few random students passing by will do. Even if you beat me, someone else will take over my group and they will attack those who are closer to you. Besides, your dear 'friend' that you want to save is in the next room, can you beat me before she gets hurt? We don't want that to happen, do we?"

James gave a small gesture from his seat. Adrian turned around, there was someone behind him, but he paused at James' words.

"Don't move, you'll be responsible for the consequences."

Adrian didn't dare move and continued to stare at me. He made silent cries for help, he felt so helpless that I could feel his desperation from where I was.

I still didn't help him, I just watched him. I didn't reach out my hand or change my expression. For a moment, a very powerful wave of mana emanated from Adrian's body. It was really strong, so strong that a few students lost their balance just because of it, but that was it.

The mana wave soon disappeared. Adrian looked at his hands in confusion, as if he could not control his own body. Then his eyes slowly closed and he collapsed to the ground.

The student who had just stood behind him had a syringe in his hand.

"Now that we've settled this... What do you think, Alice Liate?"

I remained silent and slowly looked at Adrian's body.

He's really stupid... if it wasn't for one hostage, he could probably take down everyone in the room, including me, but he hesitates for a reason like this.

He has one of the highest potentials anyone can have in this day and age, but one of the greatest weaknesses anyone can have.

I almost feel sorry for him.

"Alice, your expression hasn't changed at all during all this. You must be someone like me, you must know the benefits of working together."

"Sorry, I don't like working with others."

"You may not like it. The important question is... do you have a choice?"

"Of course, I do."

James paused. Then his eyebrows raised in surprise, he looked curious.

"Interesting... very interesting. What is this choice? How do you plan to get out of this situation you're in? What miraculous power can save you?"

"Save me? Why would I need to be saved? You're a bunch of amateurs, you think you've got me surrounded."

I kept a straight face, not even a smile. The smug look on James's face changed instantly.

"Let me guess, you've been trying to curry favor with your noble parents since you were little, haven't you? You've probably practiced every day. I guess you've even threatened your stepsiblings. And you've done your best to keep them down. But have you ever thought about what real nobles do?"

James said nothing, just looked at me coldly, his eyes narrowed.

"You think you understand some things. You think you've seen all the dirty things in your lifetime. But what intrigues, what assassinations, what spies, what slander, what lies beneath the surface of that iceberg that you think you understand all about... Do you know what's going on underneath the water?"

James's face turned even uglier.

"You're trying to buy time. Who did you call? The authorities?"

He finally started to get on my nerves. I frowned, narrowed my eyes, and grimaced as I looked directly into his eyes.

"Why would I try to buy time in front of a bunch of amateurs?"

I raised my hands, brought them to my neck and spoke coldly.

"Let me show you what I'm talking about."