Saga of Atlantis-Chapter 116: Rumors 2

"What rumors?"

"That you are a part of the Dark Church," she replied, a conflicting expression adorning her face.

"....What?" I asked, frowning at her words.

"Yes, since morning, I have heard at least three people talk about it," she replied, nodding her head.

"They were saying that you joined them before arriving at the academy."

"What the heck?" I mumbled as I massaged my head.

Why are there rumors about this now? There weren’t any rumors about this until yesterday.

... until I met with Jaquab.

’Ahh, fuck my terrible luck.’

Did that bastard spread rumors about me being a part of the church after I didn’t accept his offer?

Or did the royal family do that?

’There goes my image.’

Even though these are just baseless rumors with no confirmation, I am sure this will affect my reputation even more than it did previously.

Being a part of a group that is hated by every being in the kingdom is more than enough to make me isolated from the rest of the people.

Just the fear that being close to me can even make them look like they are also part of the church was enough for people to stop engaging with me.

’And here I thought my reputation couldn’t go any lower than it already is.’ I sighed as I thought about it.

I looked around, and sure enough, people were not wearing pleasant expressions whenever my eyes met with them.

They either fearfully averted their gaze, or they just behaved like they didn’t see me.

’Why is she staring at me though?’ I thought as I looked at Aeloria.

She wasn’t shying away from staring at me; even when our eyes met, she didn’t avert her gaze.

I observed her for a while before shifting my attention towards Angelina.

She wasn’t looking anywhere but was focusing on the book placed on the desk.

Even now, Eden’s feelings are affecting me, making me feel affectionate towards her.

However, now I had enough control over myself and my feelings for her to completely ignore her presence.

After scanning the room, I shifted my gaze back to the girl beside me.

"Why are you still here?" I asked, looking at Emily.

"You know, you are risking your reputation by being close to me," I said, squinting my eyes. "I wouldn’t have been surprised if you had shown me a cold shoulder."

"I don’t have anyone else to be with," she replied in a timed voice, embarrassment evident on her face.

’No, I am not buying that,’ I thought as I looked at her.

Apart from Aeloria, her behavior was the most drastic one, so much so that she was completely different from her game counterpart, who was always on guard against boys, not even talking to them because of her and her mother’s tragic past.

In the game, she was just one step away from hating men entirely—that is, until Aron helped her in her arc of the story.

But now she isn’t even guarding herself against me, and from what I have noticed, even if we were both alone in a closed room, she wouldn’t panic that much.

"Now that I think about it, didn’t you once say that we met in our childhood?" I asked, remembering her words.

I wasn’t thinking much about it at that time, but now that question is definitely out of place.

"Ahh, forget about that," she replied, waving her hand. "The one I was talking about was much older than you that time, both in age and in appearance."

"How did you mistake that it was me then?" I asked in confusion.

"Well, how do I say...you both give off the same type of feeling of peace, so I just asked about it?"

I frowned even more at her reply.

I can understand that I might give off a feeling of peace because of my Apex Chad body, making women feel at ease around me, but what about that guy?

"Who was that guy again?" I pressed further, trying to know more.

"Someone who helped me and my mother in our difficult times," she replied with a tinge of sadness.

I wanted to know more about who he was, but I immediately stopped when I noticed Fatima coming in our direction.

"Good morning, Emily," Fatima greeted with a smile as she took a seat beside Emily.

"Good morning, Eden," she said, smiling at me. "Every day, I get to know more about you."

"Yeah, good for you," I replied, shifting my focus towards the door as Sophia entered the class.

~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~

"Can’t you go somewhere else, Fatima?" I grumbled as I sat down on the bench in the canteen with the first-year students.

I placed my hands on the table as I waited for the food to be served to us.

"I can sit wherever I want."

"So go sit down beside your wannabe noble friends; stop being around me."

"And leave poor Emily alone with you? No, Eden, not going to happen; who knows when your inner beast will awaken?" She replied sarcastically.

"What do you think I am?"

"A beast."

I will kill this bitch someday.

No.

I will let her face the consequences naturally in her story arc.

"HEY BRO!"

As I was cooking up some plans, a loud voice with a tap on my shoulders woke me up.

"What?" I asked, looking back towards Breg.

"Can I sit here?" he asked, and without waiting for my reply, he sat down.

"You should mind your manners; sitting without permission is not a good thing," Fatima commented, looking at Breg with a smile.

"I have a girlfriend," he replied, leaving everyone at the table speechless.

"Nice one, bro!" I said, raising my hand for a high five, which he happily accepted.

"That’s nice, though it sure is unexpected for a monkey to have a girlfriend," Fatima retorted.

But my boi totally ignored her as he said, looking at me, "You know, bro, some boys were spreading some rumors about you this morning."

"What did you do then?" I asked curiously.

"I beat the shit out of him," he replied, grinning.

"Damn, boi, you did good," I replied, nodding happily.

"You shouldn’t fight in the academy," Emily said, her gaze on Breg.

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"I don’t care; they were tarnishing my brother’s reputation. How could I just ignore them?" He said it in a serious tone.

"You have a reputation, Eden?" Fatima exclaimed, looking at me with astonishment.

"Not funny, idiot."

"Anyway, where is Nora?" Emily asked, looking around.

"There she is," Breg said, pointing in one direction. I looked there, and indeed, Aron, Cassia, and Nora were coming in our direction.

"How are you guys?" Aron said with a smile as he looked at us, specifically towards Emily and Fatima.

"Good," Fatima replied, and Emily just nodded her head.

"You haven’t talked to me for a while." I commented, looking at Cassia.

"My grandfather told me to be careful around people like you." She replied without looking at me.

’That fucker really did tell them to stay away from me, huh.’

I need to do something about him. In a few months, I will come to the point where Eden truly started his villain journey in the game.

And the next event in the game was the start of that. As Eden slowly started to lose his mind when he looked at Angelina happily talking with Aron.

About Aron, this was also the event in which Aeloria started to like him as well as she was his partner on the trip.

I also need to be careful about that old man’s position as well, as he is the one who is working as an ’eye’ for them.

And if they notice any type of change in the situation around Aron, they will send someone after me whom I can’t deal with easily.

"You got the same advice, Aron." I asked as I looked at the hero.

"No, I just don’t like being around people like you." He said it with a smile as he looked at me.

"You changed your way of talking quite a lot in a few days as well, huh?" I said, and at my words, he visibly flinched.

’So something really did happen." I thought as I noticed the shift in his behavior.

"What do you mean?" He said this as he glared at me.

"Anyway, have you guys checked who will be your partner on the trip next week?" Fatima said as she looked at everyone.

"When did that get disclosed?" I asked, looking at her.

"Lady Sophia told us about this in our class." She replied, "They have posted a notice on the board."

Ahh, I was dozing off in her class because I couldn’t sleep properly last night.

"Have you checked yours?" I asked.

"Yeah, me and Emily are the partners." Fatima replied, smiling happily.

’Same as the game, huh?’

"I checked yours as well, Eden." She said this as she looked at me.

"Who is mine, then?"

"Aeloria."