For I Am A Side Character - 99: The End of the First Event.

From the distance, Soril was seen leaving the dungeon. His face and every other suit of appearance was completely clean and recovered, as if he was untouched by any sort of obstacle to be called on.

And all of this was thanks to God’s will where he mended the broken pieces of his armor back to its original state. So that once he left the dungeon, he wasn’t suspected of anything too suspicious, especially about how Class-A was defeated all in a matter of about thirty minutes.

The moment he exited the dungeon, he was greeted by the sight of the people oddly confused by the sight of what was before them. Because just beside the exit was the scene of the screen playing the on-live video brought by the drones, but seeing its state, all of the cameras pointed to the Class-A student was offline, especially that of Soril. And again, this was thanks to God’s Will that he was able to erase any sort of evidence to be made.

Walking up to his classmates, he was greeted with cheerful smiles.

“Look, we got second place.” said Kenji as he proudly presented Soril the scores put out before him.

“…Hmm, from the looks of it, Class-A got fourth place?” asked Soril as he was a bit taken surprised by this.

“Yeah….its weird. Just about half a while ago, their drones were put offline and after that, minutes later it was recorded that they were all taken out. Something must have happened to them inside the dungeon.” said Kenji.

“Really? That happened?” he asked as he acted oblivious to the situation.

“It did. By the way, what took you so long?” asked Jessica as she wondered why Soril took his time leaving the dungeon.

“I meet a few monsters on the way…and since we already got second place, I didn’t really wanna rush it.” he said.

“Really?”

“Eh, the dungeon wasn’t that dangerous for me. So I took my time.” he said.

“Did you heard the explosion that happened inside the dungeon while you were in there?” she asked as she referred to the explosion caused by Jessabelle when she brought out her skill [Sun’s Birth].

“I did…it really caused some of the dungeon’s ceilings to come down.” he said.

“Huh, we felt it all the way here too. It must have been a skill from the Class-A. judging on their level, I can expect something of that calibre to happen.” she said.

”Might be, anyway, it looks like Class-B got last place while class-E got third place. What happened there?” asked Soril.

“Well, after Class-D got extremely lucky with defeating the Class-B boss room and finding a crystal source early, Class-B was automatically put in last place and Class-D got first place. After we took second place, it was left to Class-A and Class-E to take third place.”

“Did class-E finished with their resource collection?” asked Soril.

“No, that’s the surprising part. About six members of their class was able to get pass the exit, but they didn’t have a single piece of crystal on hand, that should have disqualified them from the event, but luckily they still had another member inside the dungeon. So it wasn’t their end yet, but everyone thought that it was already guaranteed that they would take the fourth place, yet about a few minutes ago, class-A was defeated. Making Class-E automatically take third place.”

“And another thing that was weird about Class-E was that when they got out, they collapsed on the floor. It was like they were all out of energy the moment they stepped out.” said Zelisha.

“…It isn’t that weird. Maybe they just fought with a monster that they couldn’t handle and so they left the dungeon tired.” said Soril.

“No, that’s not it. You weren’t there so you didn’t know, but Class-E was acting really strange when we confronted them inside the dungeon.” said Jessica.

“You confronted them?” asked Soril.

“Yeah, they acted like they were a bunch of zombies out to eat our brains, but instead of brains, they were more focused on the crystals…thankfully, we got away with the crystals, while they got nothing.” said Zelisha as she acted confident.

“I didn’t know you guys had to experience something like that. Did the teachers find anything strange about their behavior? Didn’t the drone caught the live video of why it happened?”

“Not really no. Its just like what happened with your drone and the rest of the other drones , it went offline.” said Jessica.

“Their drones turned offline too?…Hmm, oh wait, speaking of drone, here.” As Soril was reminded of it, he then pulled out the drone that was supposed to be on his side, was now inside his mystical space bag. Because right after Soril turned the drone off with his skill, he was able to place it inside his bag. This was another evidence pulled away from the scene.

“What happened to it?” asked Jessica.

“I don’t know. After the drone was able to inform me about your success in taking second place, it suddenly turned off. It must have been a malfunction.” said Soril as he acted naturally by his lie.

“…Hmm, I’ll give it to Ms. Sera then.”

Just after Soril’s exit from the dungeon, soon enough, the teachers were getting worried over what happened to the class-A students. So they had to act fast by sending in the recovery team. Just ot have an updated look on the situation, another drone was sent to follow the recovery team.

About a half hour later, there was an announcement on the screen.

With the drone following the recovery team, in the distance, they witnessed the sight of four students walking in the dark dungeon. Those students were none other than Jason who was heavily injured, Audrey who was also pale to the bone, and two other students who were also from class-A. Along with them were the other three who were being carried. Jessabelle was being carried by Jason, while the other two were carried by the other two conscious class-A students. Over all, they were complete, but they looked beaten and injured.

The recovery team quickly took action of taking them and carrying them out. Another half hour later, the recovery team was able to exit the dungeon with all of the Class-A students.

Almost everyone was shocked to see them in such a state. And with how severe their injuries were, they had to be taken to the hospital.

One of the major teachers of the academy had to assist. One of those being Jessabelle’s father who looked worried.

And when Jason was being carried to the ambulance, in just a small second, he caught a glimpse of Soril staring from the distance.

“…”

“…”

No words were said, but an understanding was made.

[Never tell them what happened.]

The event was ended early and it was said that further announcements would be made after the incident was investigated upon.

****

As of now, Soril was found glancing in the distance on top of a building. He could see that beside him was Tyen-lin who stared in the same direction as he was.

“…Why did you ask me to come here?” asked Tyen-lin as she looked to the window where Jason and the other Class-A students were being admitted in.

Right now, Soril stood on top of a building where it was near the hospital Jason was brought in.

“…I’m curious if there was any sort of movement from any demon fanatic in the academy lately?”

“…That’s your question? I thought you were more curious about what happened to Class-A.” she asked.

“…” But Soril remained silent.

“Wait…don’t tell me it was a demon fanatic who caused this?”

“I’m not sure. But whatever it is, I need to look into it.” he said, clearly lying in the skin of his teeth.

“…That shouldn’t be your focus, but fine, I’ll tell you. As long as it involves a demon fanatic, I’m willing to give you this information.”

“…”

“There were reports from one of the crows that a trespasser was found lurking in the academy since three days ago. They still haven’t decided to move forward with the investigation, but judging by the behavior of this group, it was certain to be another demon-related action.”

“…Why didn’t they apprehend the trespassers?” asked Soril.

“The Crows wanted to dig deeper into their motives. As of now, the trespassers have been seen going into the libraries and searching on topics about gates and whatnot…”

“…I find it hard to believe that some trespassers would go search some things in the library. The books there can be found available anywhere, so why the academy?”

“You might not now this, but the academy has a secret vault filled with all kinds of books and items chained and hidden from the rest of the world. And the only people who has access to that library is the principal and a few other teachers who are well trusted in the academy.”

“…I see. So you think that this hidden vault is what those trespassers are after?”

“It might be. Most of the time when a tresspasser was a found lurking near the academy, their target is mostly the hidden vault.”

“…I see. Thanks for the information.” as Soril said, this he turned his back to Tyen-lin and decided to walk away. But before he could Tyen-lin asked him to stop.

“Wait, before you go…what do you intend to do with this information?” she asked.

“…”

“Because if you intend to confront the trespassers, I recommend that you don’t. My master has yet to make the call to take action.” by what she meant by master, she meant the principal of the academy, Lionel Crufter.

“…Then I’ll ask for his permission first then.” as he said this, he took a light step off of the building and disappeared into the air like a ghost in the wind.

***

As the sun was about to set, Soril only had about six hours left before time runs out in his mission limit. Without wasting any time, he landed near the window of the tallest tower of the academy, and inside he saw the gaze of the principal working on a few paperwork in his desk.

Without any sort of invitation, he lets himself in.

“…What brings you here?” asked Lionel as he turned his eye to the boy who entered without his permission.

“I came here to ask that you give me access to the Hidden vault inside the academy.” Said Soril.

“Is this about the trespassers?” asked Lionel as he continues to write on his desk.

“…It is.”

“Did Tyen-lin told you about this information?”

“I asked her.”

“…Hmm, and why should I give you permission of such a thing?”

“To capture the trespassers.” he said.

“Do not kid with me boy…I can see it in your eyes that you’re after something more than just the a couple of trespassers.”

“…That will depend on what I’ll gain from them.” he said.

“Tell me, as the head of the crow coop, what exactly are you after?”

“…Like I said, it’ll depend.”

“…”

“…”

As the two stayed in silence, with Soril not giving an inch to Lionel’s pressure, Lionel finally submits and agrees.

“Fine…but I’m not letting you go alone.”

“…”

“You need to take Tyen-Lin with you as a witness and support.”

“…Okay.”

“Be warned, whatever she reports back will be the full truth. So if you so ever do anything suspicious that would lead to the harm of the civilians, then I will surely punish you myself.”

“I understand.” as Soril said this, his eyes were firm and strong.

It wasn’t the gaze a mere liar nor a guilty person would make. To the principal, it seems that whatever Soril was about to do, it seemed like a loyal cause…but it wasn’t the same kind of gaze made by a member of the house of shadows. His eyes spoke of a different relation…a purpose unlike that of a shadow’s call.

With that, Soril was given a comical key from the principal. This key was the only item needed to open the vault hidden in the academy.