It's been a day since Yaroslav separated from Fyodor and the rest of his men.
Wearing Fyodor's armor on his exhausted body placed a lot more burden on him.
Andy soon realized why the young man, even as a General of the Northern Frontier, didn't wear armor to battle.
And yet, despite his fatigue, he didn't stop to rest. Yaroslav held on to the reins of his horse, pushing forward.
From afar, he could see the towering walls of the Volkov palace, his cousin's palace.
Andy had been sulking internally the entire journey, Yaroslav's comment about what a real man is, kept on ringing in his head.
He felt he was to blame for Zeladin's death the more he pondered on it. The only thing that distracted him from his thoughts was the size of the Volkov palace.
Because of the snowy weather, it was hard to make out the intricacies of the palace's architecture.
Just as Yaroslav started to get closer to the livelihoods of Groscow's city, he received a warning from the system.
[Warning, remaining in the Fragmented Shard any longer at this point will result in your demise. Please pause the usage of the Shard and return to your body!]
As soon as Andy saw this, his mind went on hyperdrive.
How!?
It was all so sudden that Andy started to panic.
And then it crossed his mind that it's been two days since he activated the shard.
If paused now, Andy might lose the chance to earn enough completion rate, however if he didn't… it was too risk.
Looking at the completion rate, Andy quickly paused the immersion, returning back to his body.
The moment this happened, everything felt it had been dulled. Colors that didn't seem to strike Andy the same.
Especially when it came to his body. It felt heavy, and weak. This was his sense of readjusting back to his body. All of this wouldn't have happened if his Identity synchronization with Yaroslav wasn't so high.
Bang, bang, bang!!!
"Anderson, open up!" A voice called from behind Andy's door.
His eyes opened with recognition as he jumped up his bed and ran towards the door.
Opening it midway, Andy peeked out and saw a familiar face. A man with chubby cheeks, receding hairline and no chin, stopped his hand from hitting the door once again.
"Mr. Peter, what's wrong?"
"Shit, You creepy sucker. I was about to have the door brought down. The academy's been searching for you for two days."
"Searching for me? Why, what's wrong?" Andy spoke groggily and rubbed his eyes as if he had just woken.
This good for nothing, has he been sleeping for the past two days!?
"Have you forgotten that you have final exams coming up?" Peter frowned as the shell of Andy's stuffy room reached his nose.
When he couldn't take it anymore, Mr. Peter started walking away, but then he paused.
"I heard that that dandy friend of yours got expelled…" He spoke with some emotions in his voice.
"…yes."
Mr. Peter sighed and shook his head. "Bless his soul. He was such a giver. Hey, you better pay your rent earl—" he held his tongue back. "I'll give you a grace of 5 days. Even though you're part of the graduating class, you wouldn't want to have to pack to common dorm before graduation."
After he left, Andy shut his door, confused. Mr. Peter was one of the few… the only staff of this institution that Andy liked to an extent.
He spoke of Zeladin in the past tense, isn't that admitting that he's dead.
At the same time, Mr. Peter sounded honest when compared to Principal Ganaf. If he was aware of what happened to Zeladin, what happens to the students that graduate from this institution, then why show sympathy?
…
Why then did the system say that'll die if I didn't exit the immersion?
The school could be looking for him, however, final results exams? Andy was one of the few who didn't take it seriously before Zeladin was murdered.
And now that he knew the truth, he cared not for it anymore.
Something wasn't adding up, and Andy couldn't help but connect it back to Melinda.
"I should show my face a bit before they…" Andy paused, he could hear two students who weren't occupants of this hostel, mumbling about something.
"That's the guy Corey started that rumor about?"
"Corey didn't start, he heard from someone and then told another."
Corey? That Corey? Andy wondered.
"Let's head back. He didn't commit suicide. Pay up, 12 merit points."
"Fine, let's go tell the rest."
Andy didn't even think twice about it. He quietly exited his room and silently followed these two.
…
"How was it Peter, is he the one we're looking for?" Principal Ganaf asked.
"No, as I said before, it's highly unlikely that he's the one. He couldn't have killed Melinda, nor could he be the same person that you've been searching for." Peter frowned, annoyed with the principal.
"The boy has been sleeping for at least two days straight. He oozed of sleep and bad breath. If he was the culprit then with what strength or abilities would he have to be able to achieve that?"
"You're frustrated again."
"Why wouldn't I be? Disturbing me with things that don't concern me. I've said it times without number, apart from collecting rent, I want nothing to do with this madhouse that you all have created!"
Principal Ganaf smiled. "And yet, here you are."
Peter growled and a threatening aura came off the man. "Anderson is not the person you're looking for. Melinda was third stage Pre-Initiate wesen, even if Anderson became a Fourth Rank Mage or whatever you guys call it, he wouldn't be able to take her down without the right tools."
"And yet, she's missing."
"Ganaf, don't piss me off anymore than you have today. Last warning."
Principal Ganaf smiled and began walking away. "Good day Peter. Let's meet on the kids' graduation."