Chapter 101 - 94: A Visit to the Royal Academy

Hiroshi smirked as he entered the throne room. He saw his classmates kneeling in front of Hikaru, making him smirk even more. Even the delinquents are kneeling in front of Hikaru, but near them is the lower body of a person. He didn't recognize it, so he just ignored it.

"So you've finally come, Hiroshi." Hikaru said as he closed the book he's reading.

Hiroshi walked towards him, ignoring his classmates. His smirk got even wider when he saw the crown on Hikaru's head, and said jokingly, "Of course I'd come back, your highness."

The summoned heroes were nervous because of how they treated Hiroshi back then. Back when they were just summoned, they all met the goddess, Deagaia. She was the one who judged their class and ranks. The ones who got an [E-Rank] were all immediately kicked out by the goddess. She said that she put them in the lowest depths of a very dangerous dungeon, a dungeon that has the only purpose of disposing of things that are useless to her.

The D-Ranks were treated as garbage, the C-Ranks were tolerated in the group, B-Ranks were looked upon by the lower ranks, while A-Ranks were regarded as special figures within the group of summoned heroes. However, S-Ranks heroes were treated with care by the goddess herself, going as far as blessing them with various abilities and skills.

There are 4 S-Rank heroes, 6 A-Ranks Heroes, 8 B-Rank Heroes, 5 C-Rank, and 9 D-Rank Heroes. Overall, there are 32 summoned heroes. But Hikaru killed one of them earlier, a B-Rank Hero. So there are just 31 Heroes now.

But the thing is, there were originally 60 summoned heroes. 20 Of them were E-Rank, so they were disposed of along with Hiroshi. So now, there were only 40 heroes left. But the majority of them are D-Rank heroes. D-Rank heroes are treated like trash or slaves by other high-ranking heroes. Some of them died because of the extreme abuse they received from the other heroes.

It was quite… unsightly for the heroes that had a huge sense of justice.

"Hahahaha, let's talk about what happened after I left." Hikaru said, "Oh, and you heroes, all of you can get out of my face now. Your faces make me uncomfortable, because of how unsightly they are." he insulted them.

"Yes, your highness!" All of them said while kneeling, and left through the opened door.

Keiko turned to look at Hikaru one last time, and left with her fellow heroes.

"So, what was the reason why you slaughtered them?" Hikaru asked, his expression was quite serious.

"They were cannibals, that's why I killed them. I'm sure you will understand, Hikaru." Hiroshi replied.

"Hmm, of course. It doesn't matter anyway." Hikaru said nonchalantly, "But I've been bored for quite awhile. I didn't want to leave the castle since there were too many things to take care of, after taking the crown forcefully from that lousy king. Responsibility was being pushed towards me. Thankfully, Cristoff was here to take care of the mountains of paperwork that came after taking the throne."

"Heh, that's your fault. Anyway, let's drink for now. I've bought some pretty good demon wines from the northern land, they're pretty good, I tell you." Hiroshi said as he took out a two liter bottle of wine from his spatial bag. He gave the wine to Hikaru and took out another one for himself.

"Since when have you been a drinker?" Hikaru asked as he opened the bottle of wine.

Hiroshi opened the bottle of wine and drank straight from the base, then he replied, "Since the day I became a criminal. It's hard being a fugitive, I tell you. I had to hide and hide and hide, 'till they find me. I continuously killed my pursuers, some of them were friends we made back in the guild. Then, the cycle kept rolling, like a never-ending joke."

Hikaru also drank straight from the bottle, he wiped his mouth with his hand after drinking the wine and said, "Don't worry, I'll make all of them pay. Those nobles who framed you, and the people of Unity. Though they were ignorant, it was said that ignorance is a sin, that's why they'll die from it. The things I've done is just a start, this is where it truly begins."

"So for now, let's drink your sorrows behind, my friend."

They cheered their bottles and drank their wine.

So, for the rest of the day, they drinked various kinds of wine that Hikaru found in the castle. Hiroshi passed out after drinking too much, while Hikaru was still just fine. He has maximum resistance towards poison, that's why the wine didn't affect him.

He had some servants bring Hiroshi to the most luxurious room in the castle, except for the King's room. That's his room.

For the rest of the night, Hikaru wandered throughout the castle. He visited the underground prison, where he kept all the heads of the noble families.

Now that he thinks about it, he'll have to return these people back to their noble families. If he doesn't, there would be no fun ruling this kingdom. These people are used to being superior, what will happen if he breaks their pride through and through?

They would try to kill him or take over the throne over and over again, and everytime, he will be there to ruin their plans. This will be fun.

And then, he'll humiliate their descendants, the future of their noble families.

For Hikaru, ruining their lives is quite fun. Most of the noble families in this kingdom are really, really evil people. Corruption runs throughout the entire kingdom, but that's why Hikaru can justify his actions towards them.

After taking care of those pesky nobles, Hikaru would then take care of the wars happening between the beastmen kingdom and the human kingdom.

He will not end the war, mind you, but he will host something similar to the hunger games that will also replace all of these wars. That will be really fun.

About the heroes, he'll do something about them soon. The goddess of this world has been silent, she's not making any move after he took over the throne. She knows who he is, what he is and what he's capable of. That goddess used to converse with some of the priestesses in the church, but he heard rumors that the goddess had not been responding to them.

Honestly, this world is just too much fun for Hikaru. He's like a child getting a new toy to play with, a master puppeteer that controls all of his puppets.

This entire world is just Hikaru's play thing, a very expensive play thing.

As Hikaru hummed in the darkness of the night while walking through the hallway, he smiled. His smile has a psychotic feeling into it, while having the essence of the devil.

A truly crazy person now owns this planet. Hmm, I wonder what he'll do with it.

Tomorrow came, and Hikaru freed all of the nobles he caught, except for the Royal Family. They returned to each of their families respectively, but they were missing a few. Hikaru killed a few of them, because they were too annoying.

Remember, these nobles don't deserve any kind of sympathies. They're the kind of people who would torture people out of fun, just because they're commoners or slaves. Hikaru's just using their logic against them, so it's fair in a way.

Hiroshi was still sleeping like a log, he hasn't even woken up once after drinking all that wine.

Since Hikaru is in a good mood today, he decided to visit the Royal Academy. That academy is where all the children of the nobles enrol, and from time to time, some commoners will be mixed in.

He had Cristoff behind him as his escort. He hasn't seen most of the capital yet, so he's quite excited to show off.

The headmaster himself welcomed him in front of the gate of the academy.

"Good morning, your highness. Such a lowly one such as myself can never imagine that his highness would visit this academy." The headmaster flattered him.

The headmaster of this academy is a short old man. He has long grey hair, brown eyes, a wrinkled face, long eyebrows, his ears were drooping, and he wore an old grey robe.

Hikaru surveyed the school and saw that this is indeed worthy of its name. Tall thick walls surrounded the entire academy, a wide space for students to practice, and Hikaru can see the tall luxurious buildings inside the walls of the academy.

"Cristoff, how are the grades here separated?" Hikaru asked him.

Cristoff then replied, "The grades here are separated into first, second, third, and fourth years. Once a student graduates, they'll have to choose what kind of class they'll take. Most students choose being either a Wizard or an Archmage. Classes that have magic in it are considered special in the kingdom. All of them enrol in this academy at the age of 14, and graduate at the age of 18."

"Hm, my gratitude." Hikaru said after hearing the explanation.

"No, your highness. Such a lowly one like myself doesn't deserve your gratitude." Cristoff kneeled as he said that.

"Calm down, I'm just saying thank you." Hikaru tried to calm Cristoff, while having an exasperated look on his face. Most of his servants in the castle are like this. It's like he's some god or something. Sometimes, it just becomes pure cringe when they do that.

Cristoff stood up again and Hikaru just sighed.

Hikaru then turned to the headmaster and said, "Old man, can you take me to these fourth graders, I want to see how special they are. And if they're lucky, I might teach them a thing or two about magic."

"Yes, your highness."

Hikaru hasn't realized it yet, but the people of the Kingdom already regard him as their savior. 40 Percent of the population in the Kingdom are living in the slums, while 30 percent are commoners, and the rest are nobles. But since the day he dropped the tax to 1 Silver Coin per person, the people in the slums managed to save some of their earnings and rent a normal looking house. While the commoners are living happily because they have the budget to eat at good restaurants, buy gifts for their families, and save up for their medical problems.

Most of what Hikaru did in the Kingdom changed people's lives for the better.

He is nothing short of a messiah to them.