The next day, Noel continued training together with everyone else. However, the bullies were shocked to see Noel’s bruises gone overnight.
They never thought someone would help Noel.
After the long training and washing their bodies, the bullies once again stopped Noel.
“Stop there.” They stood in front of Noel, blocking the way to the dining hall.
Noel narrowed his eyes and glared at them. “What do you want again?”
“How do you recover from your wounds?”
“That’s not important. We only need to beat him up again. Since there will be no trace tomorrow, we can beat him up every night,” another bully said with an arrogant tone. 𝘰𝑣𝘭.𝗇𝓔t
“That’s right. It’s rare for us to be able to beat a noble… Oops, a fallen noble.”
Without even asking that question, their intention was clear. They wanted to beat him again because they were not satisfied with the disappearing bruises.
But as soon as they stepped forward, a smile appeared on Noel’s smile. The thought had been in his mind since yesterday.
There was a way to suspend them, but he chose to solve this matter himself. If he somehow brought them to the training ground, the instructor should see their action and deal with them.
However, their suspension would be an extremely dangerous situation since he didn’t know what kind of thing they would do in desperate situation. After all, the bullies would likely do something even more notorious.
He had learned from his family’s execution that he shouldn’t leave his enemies alive because they would plot against him in one way or another.
Hence, there was a way to settle everything. He only needed to kill them in the first mission a few days from now.
That was why he couldn’t afford to have them suspended yet.
To create this kind of situation, Noel confronted them with a confident smile to intimidate them. “Do you think why the bruises on my body has disappeared?”
“…” It was an obvious question, but none of them could actually answer. After all, they didn’t want to admit the fact he got help from someone else. Even a noble title couldn’t bring them too far here, let alone a fallen noble.
Still, even though he was a fallen noble, as long as there was someone stronger than them, they shouldn’t want to antagonize them.
And Noel’s plan was to act strong when he was actually weak. He stepped forward and glared at them. “I have forgiven you once because my house has fallen. But that’s it…”
His last tone had a trace of chilliness as though he was planning to kill them.
“…” The bullies subconsciously stepped back. Their expressions gradually changed.
He took another step and started looking down on them. “Come on. I am waiting for you to beat me.”
Even now, their names weren’t important in his mind. As long as he remembered their faces and voices, that was enough.
It wasn’t because he looked down on commoner. He simply had no time to deal with them.
“What’s wrong? I’m here in front of you.” The smile on Noel’s face became even bigger, annoying them.
“Should we do it?” One of the bullies whispered, trying to get the answer from the guy that invited them to beat Noel.
However, there was no answer from the guy in the middle. Instead, they found out that he took another step back as if he was scared of Noel’s provocation.
The latter took advantage of it and pressured them even more. “Come and hit me. I want to taste the pain you inflicted me yesterday.”
Noel’s intention was clear. He wanted to use this chance to frame them or something. When that happened, their career in this fort would be over.
It was already hard to even get admitted as a trainee here. There was no way they would waste it because of this cheap provocation.
“Shut up! I’m being generous tonight.” The guy gritted his teeth and turned around. “You’re lucky tonight.”
Noel’s expression darkened the moment they walked away, staring at their back. His gaze was cold as he remembered what the instructor said last night.
‘Once again, I know how naive I was in the past. Like the instructor said… This world is truly a brutal place. If you are strong, no one will bother you. Yet, when you become too strong, you will become a threat that needs to be removed like how the royal family ruined my family. And if you are too weak, your life isn’t even in your hand. Such a cruel place to live in.’
Noel took a deep breath, calming his heart. He immediately entered the dinning hall to eat some food before heading back to the training ground, finding the instructor sitting in the middle of the training ground.
The tranquil atmosphere made it look like the instructor was illuminated by the moonlight. Just by looking at him could soothe one’s heart.
Noel observed him for a minute before slowly approaching him, wondering if he could disturb him or not. Even though this opportunity came from others, he planned to fully take advantage every chance he got.
So, he steeled his resolve and greeted him. “Sir Shale, I have come.”
“You should stay quiet and sit down in front of me instead of calling my name.” Shale shook his head in disappointment. “You should see that my eyebrows twitched a bit, signifying that I’m aware of your presence.”
Noel fell silent, not making a single excuse. But this action actually surprised Shale as he couldn’t help but ask, “You’re not going to give me a reason?”
“I know that I’m wrong. If I told you I didn’t see it or didn’t know how to respond, you would probably say, ‘I need to observe the demons so as to not miss any details that I can take advantage of,’ or ‘I need to stay sharp.’ That’s all,” Noel explained this time.
“Passable answer.” Shale nodded in agreement since that was probably what he was going to say. He paused for a moment and gradually opened his eyes, looking at Noel’s expression. “Do you know what I have been doing this whole time?”
“No.”
“Connecting myself to my spirit.” Shale pointed to the ground in front of him. “Sit down in lotus pose and take a few deep breaths. I’m going to teach you how to meet your spirit.”