Author's Reincarnation in a Fantasy Setting

"I agree with Mr. Ryfin here. And Ellyn, it's now a fact that Mr. Challes kidnapped Anya's brother, Mr. Ryfin said he saw him taking a student out of the academy," Leon acknowledged.

The kid was speaking as if he'd encountered many people who were two-faces but in reality, he hadn't.

"What should we do now? This message also says that there's a time limit. He will be killed if I don't make it there before dawn," Anya chimed in.

She was quiet until now. After this message, her worries had only increased but she was somehow keeping hold of her composer and thinking rationally. From the inside though, she was as unstable as a neutron.

"We should go then, and as quickly as possible," Leon suggested.

Ellyn nodded to his suggestion and so did Anya, though it seems like Ryfin still had something left to say.

"If it came to combat, then will the three of will be able to stand against Challes? And if necessary…kill him?" he asked with a serious expression on his face which was totally unlike him.

"Kill Mr. Challes?" Ellyn repeated his words on instinct, though it looked like the words were put in her mouth by someone else.

"Leon, you are the strongest of the three. Can I expect you to do it?" Ryfin appealed as he looked at Leon who had broken into a cold sweat.

Different from Zero's former world killing wasn't actually a rare thing here. If a person had done something wrong which is beyond redeemable then he'll be killed.

And if two people are fighting seriously—whether it be in a duel or a fight for survival—it is an unspoken rule that both people are willing to keep their lives on the line and upon their death only they will be responsible, not anyone else.

Even so, Leon was the 'good guy at day and horny at night' type of person since he was the protagonist of loli_pop's novel. Taking the life of someone else wasn't easy for him, but it was not impossible either.

Understand it with this example; say he killed a guy in the evening. Then he will be in a slight depression for that whole day but the next morning he'll behave as if nothing happened.

The same rule applied here also.

"Yes, Mr. Ryfin. You can leave that to me. I'll try to best to protect my friends even if I'd have to take Mr. Challes's life for that," said Leon with a confident smile on his face.

"I see."

Ryfin wasn't expecting too much from him even though Leon was the 'strongest first-year student'. If there was someone else in place of Leon then maybe Ryfin would've gone with them himself but right now, he didn't evaluate Challes to be worthy of his time.

"You all should get going then, as she said there isn't much time left," Ryfin stated as he stood up.

The walk clock hung in the room said that the time was sharp 6 pm. That means only 6 hours were remaining before this day will be over and according to the message, Zero will be killed.

The three students—Anya, Leon, and Ellyn, rose to their feet and started getting ready to leave. This was going to be a really long evening for them.

***

It was dark, maybe I was in a closed room or an area similar to that since there was no source of light. But let's call it a room for now.

I was sitting on a wooden chair and my hands and legs were tied to the chair with a thick rope. On top of that, a cloth was wrapped around my mouth, making it impossible for me to speak clearly.

Quite a few hours had passed since I was dumped into this room and was tied to this chair by Mr. Challes—though I don't think the 'Mr.' part is needed anymore.

I was getting bored by now but before I could fall asleep, a door to the room opened. For the first time in a while, I saw light along with the shadow of a man.

He was Challes.

He stepped inside and then closed the door again, after that he activated a magic circle placed near the door and the room was suddenly illuminated. Apparently, that magic circle was the switch to turn on the magic light on the ceiling.

"So you're awake?" he asked in a rather formal manner. His voice resounded in the whole room since it was mostly empty, causing his voice to hit the walls and come back.

Though I was wondering one thing; how am I supposed to tell him if I'm awake or not when this cloth is stuffed inside my mouth?

He slowly walked toward me. The guy was a homeroom teacher in the best academy in this kingdom but his clothes right now were not like that. He was wearing a plain grey shirt and pants along with the glasses he used to improve his eyesight.

By the way, him thinking that I was asleep until now was fair, to be honest. After all, according to him, he'd stabbed me in the back with an anesthesia-coated dagger…so I must be unconscious.

He didn't have the slightest hint that I could've known about him already. Yeah, I knew. This same thing had happened before with the Zero in loli_pop's novel, that's how I knew when and how he will attack.

Thus I was prepared for it. But I didn't know what type of anesthesia or poison he will use, that's why I had to command Ellyn to bring me an antidote that worked on all basic-level poisons.

He's in touch with a few senior students who are in the healing magic course and was able to borrow that antidote from them. It was a boy from the third year who gave her the antidote and yes, he gave it without anything in return.

Let's just pretend that Ellyn never had to go on a secret date with him, which in reality, she never wanted to.