On the way to the Night Market, I split up with the group and made a detour to the banquet hall.
After carefully scouting the area, I took note of all the entrances, exits, windows, and any other potential escape routes.
I even inspected the building using the X-ray vision feature of my new bow.
After doing all that, I came to the conclusion that escaping this banquet hall after the massacre starts would be impossible.
The entrances and exits would be too crowded, and windows are situated so high in the wall that if I tried to escape using them, I would leave myself open for too long.
I can also break through the walls using my Gift, Mana Burst, but that would hurt the civilians who would be present near me.
Personally, I don't mind hurting them. However, if I kill someone, then it would go down in my records.
Not to mention I could get punished for putting my own life over a civilian.
Tch.
Why should I need to think about someone who I don't even know? Haa.
Anyway, since I won't be able to escape, my only remaining option was to fight.
So, I snuck into the banquet hall and set up some traps to help me stall for time and stay alive until Nero and Anastasia could kill the Vampire Assassin.
After ensuring everything was in place, I exited the hall before heading to the Night Market to join the main cast and Kent.
â€
As soon as I stepped into the bustling night market of the elven city, I was immediately greeted by a symphony of sounds and aromas.
The air was thick with the scent of roasting meats, sizzling vegetables, and sweet pastries.
The colorful lights of the market stalls illuminated the faces of the fair-skinned elves milling about, their pointed ears alert and attentive.
More often than not, I also saw some humans and dwarves mixed in among the crowd.
I admired shimmering jewelry and enchanted instruments and sampled skewered meats and fried dumplings from various kinds of stalls.
I marveled at the skill of some elven children playing a game related to archery at one of the game stalls while walking past them and watched people of all ages and races dance under the starry sky.
Ahh~
The rumors were indeed true. Silveserine's night market was something else.
As I walked deeper into the market, I soon found Kent. He was making out with some drunk elven girl.
Giving him a thumbs up, I walked past him with a smirk on my face.
Kent returned my thumbs up and quickly got back to what he was doing.
I arrived in front of a weapon stall and started looking around to pass the time.
I had no intentions of buying anything since I had already purchased new weapons quite recently, but window shopping won't hurt.
"Are you planning to make a purchase?" a voice interrupted me from my right.
I turned my head to face the source of the question and found a young boy with brown hair and emerald-green eyes staring back at me.
Although he was taller and leaner than most dwarves, his rough skin, broad shoulders, and slightly short stature revealed that he was a half-dwarf.
Despite his mixed heritage, I couldn't help but notice his striking appearance, with his shoulder-length brown hair and clear green eyes that gave him a handsome look.
It was Elijah Steelforged.
Of course, it goes without saying that I was still more handsome than him.
"Ahh, no." I shook my head. "I have what I need."
"I see," Elijah nodded his head. "You are an archer, right?"
"Mhmm," I hummed in reply.
Elijah touched his chin with a frown on his face. "Wait, come to think of it, isn't your Unit greatly imbalanced? Amelia, Anastasia, and you are all archers."
"Yeah," I shrugged while picking up a short spear to inspect. "Three out of five of us are archers."
"That shouldn't be right," Elijah said, stroking his chin. "The academy won't put a Unit at an obvious disadvantage."
Well, technically, they didn't.
Only Amelia is the real archer among us. I am a spearman, and Anastasia's real talent lies in hand-to-hand combat.
However, Anastasia nor I can't disclose their real talents yet.
I have to hide my spearman-ship in order to deceive Kai and the Cadet Council, while Anastasia has her own reasons.
"Anyway," seeing my not replying, Elijah let the topic slide and released a short sigh. "I'm sorry for my friend's behavior earlier. Chase is a bit hard to deal with sometimes, but I swear he's a good guy."
"Hmm? Oh, I don't mind," I waved my hand in the air to dismiss Elijah's worries. "But what I can't understand is why in the world he is so mad at me. What did I do to him?"
"Oh..." a troubling expression took over Elijah's face as he contemplated whether to tell me or not.
But after a bit of thought, he began to explain the situation to me.
"Chase told me that you were opposed to him being the leader of Squad 6 during the mock war," Elijah said.
As he was about to continue further, I interrupted. "Wait, just for that?" I asked, looking back at the half-dwarf. "He hates me just for that?"
"Well," Elijah averted his gaze. "That and you also pulled a knife on him. Plus, you did all that in front of Anastasia. It's a secret, so don't tell anyone, but Chase really likes her."
Yeah, believe me buddy, it's anything but a secret.
Letting out a sigh, I got back to inspecting the short spear in my hand. "I guess it's understandable why he hates me then ."
Not like I care. But I do need to know why someone hates me in case I might need them in the future.
"It's fine," Elijah replied. "He'll forget it sooner or later. By the way, I gotta admit, I was surprised by your strategies during the mock war. When I first talked to you, I really didn't think you could pull off something like changing the waves of a battle so easily."
"Haha, thanks." I chuckled before frowning. "Wait, we have talked before?"
"Hmm? You don't remember?" Elijah tilted his head slightly. "We talked during the Unit Test."
...You call that talking?! We barely exchanged a word!
"Oh, speaking of which!" suddenly, I clapped my hands as if remembering something. "You are in the same Unit as William and Hugh, right?"
"William, Hugh, Ella.... and Grace. They are all in my Unit, yeah." Elijah confirmed.
I noticed the fact that he took Grace's name at last and with clear hesitation, but I decided not to point it out.
It's clear that Grace had worked her Unit members to the point of even fearing the mention of her name.
Unfortunately, all of that didn't matter now since soon her title as her Unit's leader would be stolen by her former best friend, Ella.
Yes, I'll make that happen.
"Let me ask you something," I said, pressing my hands together with a smile. "What do you know about Hugh?"
Elijah raised an eyebrow. "Hugh Jass? To be honest, not much. He's quite active in class, but he keeps to himself most of the time. He's a complete introvert. Even when Grace was bullying him, he didn't retaliate in any way."
"Grace was bullying him?" I furrowed my brow.
"Yes," Elijah nodded with disgust. "She made him do her chores and run errands and stuff. Although she hasn't done anything like that since the Mock War, back then, Hugh didn't even try to fight back. He didn't even talk back. During the Unit Test that day with you guys, that was the first time I had seen him talk that much. Even I was surprised at how much he was talking."
"Hmm, is that so?" I narrowed my eyes.
And here I thought I would get to know something about the mystery guy. Oh well, I knew it wouldn't be that easy.
"Why do you ask anyway?" Elijah frowned.
"I was just curious," I said before calling the owner of the stall and waving the short spear that was in my hand. "Hey, I want this."
"I thought you said you won't buy anything," Elijah commented.
"I'm an equivocate person. What can I do?" I shrugged as the stall owner took the short spear from my hand.
"That will be two thousand Credits," the stall owner said.
Nodding, I made the purchase and bought the short spear before putting it in the pocket space of my smart bracelet.
"Anyway, I'll see you later, Elijah."
"Yes, I'll buy something too, I think."
Waving my hand, I left the stall and started exploring the market. Despite being Chase's best friend, Elijah was very different from him.
Unfortunately, in the novel, he was just a disposable character, much like Chase.
Unlike the main cast, he wasn't a fighter but a blacksmith.
Don't get me wrong, he could give even the likes of Quinn and Anastasia a run for their money if it comes down to fighting, but his real talent was somewhere else.
Blacksmithing â€" that was his real talent.
He was the greatest blacksmith ever born in the history of this world. He was 'The Forger of Heavens.'
But as fate would have it, he had to die before the final war even began. What's worse was that he died a meaningless death.
Well, lucky for him, I will change his fate in the future.
