Chapter 114 114: Ali Grimstone

In the wake of absolute authority, no amount of plea could be done to do anything of significance.

The memory of a man, sunken in despair, chained by steel-tight binds, staring at his direction with melachonlic eyes... flashed through himm

...It wasn't exactly a secret nor a hidden truth the whole Kingdom favored nobles more than civilians. In the law; in the rights; and even in the help they receive. They were far more treasured and protected.

Everyone knew that, including him.

Somehow, nobles were always at the top. It didn't matter on which category was it, they were at the top. They were always there...always there... to take everything away from the ordinary.

He— Ali Grimstone —was part of the ordinary taken away by the nobles.

...He was an ordinary person, living an ordinary life with an ordinary family in one of the many ordinary cities in the vast Kingdom. His life, at its core was ordinary.

All of those are true, except for one part. Perhaps calling himself an ordinary person was underselling it. Compared to others, he had some talent over magic and imagination that many others were lacking of.

The talent of magic—the potential to be a Miracle Invoker.

But he saw nothing of worth with it, anyway. Life was just fine the way it was to him. He was happy with the small, family restaurant they were in.

With the restaurant and his family around, he didn't have to worry over his future and health. As for fame... it was a double-edged poison he would like to avoid at all cost. With all that, there was no worth at all in risking his life fighting extraterrestrial races of other dimensions.

He could had simply lived life as it was and he would have no regrets over it. In fact, he would have preferred it over being in the academy in hopes of becoming a Miracle Invoker

Other teenagers in his age might find the job a glorious and envious fantasy, but that was merely because they were ignorant teenagers. They lacked knowledge of the truth in the path of Miracle Invokers.

He was a teenager; but in no way was he ignorant. He knew of the truth, the cruel truth. Once as a child, he had met a wandering Miracle Invoker. It was an extremely rare sight, since most, if not all, Miracle Invokers only stayed at the Royal Capital.

Like an ordinary child, he was giddy. A fan of swords and magic, battles and heroism. He had the typical fantasy as any other. In the sight of a man that held miraclous powers, he was overcome with amazement and envy.

But that was quickly shattered once the man talked. Ali didn't know whether he should thank the man—or resent him for the insensitivity he displayed, but what was done was done. He wasn't one to dwell in the past.

"Kid, you like magic and heroism? I can sense you have talent for it." The man spoke raspily, a mocking sneer was etched on his face. "Let me tell you this. There's no real magic nor heroism. It's a fake. All gibberish. If anybody can do what you can, its no longer magic. Heroism is dead. It's no longer alive since the last few eras, what we are... are just mindless, vain wretches fighting over nothing but our selfish desires. Thats what we are. If you like that, you're welcome to the club."

...After that, he quickly changed his mind. No longer was he a fan of swords and magic, battles and heroism. In the following days, he abandoned the thoughts of ever becoming a Miracle Invoker.

It's crazy how one person's perspective could drastically change another's perception over the world.

But one person's perspective could really drastically change a perception of a person over the world; that encounter with the Miracle Invoker was but the first that changed his perception of the world, but not the last.

The second... Or the last encounter was a bit more different. A 'bit different' was underestimating it a little. That last encounter broke everything he knew about society and world.

It was an encounter with a noble.

Living in a far-away city from the Royal Capital, barely any noble were to grace the city with their presence. Because of that, he and many others lacked any knowledge of them aside from the news from the media.

A quick run-down of history is enough to know how wrong getting news from the media is. With the media pandering and the 'virtous' reputation they held, nobles were akin to heroic celebrities on most civilian's eyes.

With the media pandering and their reputation, an image of an elegant, brave and chivalrous person popped out of his mind. He was always doubtful of that image, rightfully so. It felt similar to the surface of Miracle Invokers, fake and illusionary.

To add in his doubts, in the media there were some throw-aways of their evil and cruel reputation... but he didn't really knew much about it as they remain vague and unexplained. The only key point was; to always respect nobles.

...However, he didn't really care enough to know more than the surface of the noble's, after-all a meager civilian from a far-away city will never meet a noble from the Royal Capital anyways.

Right... that should've been the case... How laughably wrong that thought was.

In a curse of fate; the devil spoke. A noble really came to his city.

The noble, adorned with the fanciest clothes he had ever seen, walked through the city entrance with grace and poise, attracting everyone's stare towards his figure.

Once word spread about his appearance — everyone in the city, even the mayor itself, abandoned their schedules just to make time to get a sight and personally greet the noble. That short event was like a sudden unannounced fiesta for the town.

Him and his family were also in the crowd, interested to see the noble coming to town. In truth, he didn't really care much about the noble. But his family begged to differ, they cared a lot.

Because of that, in courtesy for them he decided to come along with them, because why... not? There were a lot of reasons why he shouldn't had and not one of those reasons crossed his mind at that day.

Utter ignorance, from his part.

While they were watching the nobleman slowly walk throughout the city, a girl, roughly about 5-6 years old suddenly obstructed the nobleman's path.

It looked like nothing but a simple obstruction, that was until the girl was tripped to the ground... letting her ice-cream fall as the nobleman's clothes were stained.

At that moment, everyone held their breath. He knew why. The nobleman's face suddenly morphed into an annoyed frown, completely overtaking the calm expression he wore previously.

The nobleman clicked his tongue, snapping his finger.

Beside the nobleman, a burly guard sneered and suddenly kicked the girl to the side. Everyone's eyes suddenly widened at that scene. It was too sudden. The mayor himself displayed an expression that they couldn't believe it either.

"Ah! N-no..!" The girl cried out.

But that was not the end of it, the guard slowly walked to the injured girl at the side. A dreadful, ominous thought erupted in his mind. He darted his eyes, trying to look for the parents of the girl.

"Mo-mmy...!" The girl cried again, gripping her body in pain. "Uwaaaa...!!"

However, the crowd was too packed with people that everyone was basically indistinguishable to one another. In every second he tried finding the girl's parents, the footsteps of the guard came closer to the girl.

At that moment, he was wondering on why there was still no intervention from the mayor or anyone in the crowd yet. It turned out, the mayor was scared shitless, unable to even raise his head from the nobleman's sharp gaze.

No one was intervening while an innocent child was hurting.

...He didn't know what got into him, but his mind was furious. His body reacted before he could even think. He ran towards the girl, screaming at the noble and guard. It happened in a quick moment.

A few seconds later, he regained control of his body back. The realization of what he had done hit him. He slowly raised his head and the expression of the nobleman was no longer simply annoyed, but furious. Rage filled, maddened anger.

The guard walked to him.

At that moment, he knew he made a mistake. His family also knew that. Because of that... in the shock of everyone, his father suddenly ran towards him and tried to save him from the burly guard's assault.

However, before his father could come close, the fist and kicks of the guard came first to his body—knocking him down in the ground, unconscious. After that, he didn't know of the following events that transpired until he woke up.

...The news that followed after made him regret ever waking up. It made him want to sleep for all eternity just so he could escape it. While he was slumbering, his father was apparently taken away by the law for assaulting a noble.

That reality didn't hit him until he saw his father in a prison cell with closed eyes while tightly binded by steel-clad chains on his arms and legs.

Apparently, his father had really hit a noble in anger. And it turned out, he was never the knowledgeable wise teenage he touted himself to be. If only he was more calm, more focused, and more knowledgeable.

...That event was always a deep-rooted regret on his mind. If only he knew about their true faces, perhaps he could've prevented it from happening. But in the end, that was all... what if's.

It was useless to think about the 'if' scenarios. And like his father said, a man always owns up to his mistake. He doesnt avoid it nor shift it from others, he takes it with full responsibility.

With that mindset, he did just that. The only way to counter a noble's authority was through being a Miracle Invoker. It didn't matter if he didn't want to be a Miracle Invoker, he needed to be one.

Because of that... he landed right through the greatest magical academy in the Kingdom. And in a short period of time, all of those were going to vanish... simply vanish, because of his mistake.

How unfair.