n

n

n“Move! Make space for the next ones!” one of the guards told Shang with annoyance.

nShang moved to the side, and a couple of seconds later, Soran appeared on top of the wall.

nSoran had a nice conversation with the stationed guards once again before leading the team down the wall.

n“And that’s that,” Soran said as he turned to everyone. “It was nice seeing some of you again.”

nSarah immediately left without saying anything. Apparently, the Magic Contract annoyed her quite a bit.

nElver and Astor also said their goodbyes before following Sarah.

n“Shang, follow me,” Soran said after everyone left.

nShang only nodded and followed Soran.

nAfter a couple of minutes, they returned to the academy.

nSoran immediately led Shang to the main building and to the fifth floor, which was reserved for teachers.

nThe two of them entered Soran’s office and sat down.

nSHING!

nSoran summoned a gigantic stack of papers, which heavily hit the desk in his office.

nThen, he looked at Shang with a smile. “Want to find out who hired the Cleaner?” he asked.

nShang’s eyes shone, and he nodded.

n“Tell me what you know and who you suspect,” Soran said.

nShang recounted his thoughts about who could have wanted him dead.

nIt essentially boiled down to that it had to be one of the students._<

/sub>

nSoran nodded. “That’s what I thought,” he said as he took the huge stack of papers into his hands.

n“Tell me of everyone you met that might have a motive for wanting you dead.”

nShang thought for a bit and decided to go in chronological order.

n“The guy in the entrance exam. The one I beat up,” Shang said.

n“Michael Brestow,” Soran said as he searched through the papers until he found the student’s file.

n“He’s in the Preparation Grade right now, and he is about average. Nothing has changed for him. I severely doubt that it’s him,” Soran said.

nShang nodded. He hadn’t thought that he would have been the one to send the Cleaner, but Shang wanted to be thorough.

n“Stars Gerbon,” Shang said. “I was the reason for his strongest helper leaving, and I beat his two cronies up. I also tore his jaw off.”

nSoran grimaced a bit, but he looked for Stars’ file.

n“His body was very powerful back then, thanks to his background,” Soran said. “After you two met, everyone around him abandoned him. He had trouble adjusting for the next couple of weeks, but he eventually settled in. Right now, he’s in the Advanced Grade, and he belongs to the top 30%. From what I’m reading, he also stopped using his background.”

n“Apparently, he’s also rather popular with the other students, and whenever someone brings up his old behavior, he gets angry out of shame. His family has the funds to hire such a powerful Cleaner, but I doubt that they would do so because of a mere spat between two students. His parents might even want to thank you for putting some sense into him,” Soran said.

n“I doubt it’s him.”

nShang nodded, but he was also surprised about something. “How do you know so many details about the students?”

n“The teachers are required to report nearly everything about every student,” Soran explained.

nThen, Soran sighed. “And it’s my job to read through all the reports and create a file. I hate that part of my job.”

n‘Understandable,’ Shang thought.

n“What about his three cronies?” Shang asked. _<

/sub>

nSoran got the three names of the cronies from Stars’ file and looked through them.

n“Advanced Grade. Below average due to laziness,” Soran said as he put the first file away. “Not him.”

n“Advanced Grade. Doing pretty well. It’s also not him.” Soran put the second file away.

n“This one’s dead,” Soran said.

n“Dead?” Shang asked. If Shang was involved in this guy’s death…

n“Don’t worry,” Soran said as he put the file away. “He died about 18 months later in the northeastern Wild Forest. You can imagine what he died to.”

n“Vanishing Snake?” Shang asked.

nSoran nodded.

n“It’s not him.”

nAt that moment, Shang furrowed his brows.

nAfter the incident with Stars Gerbon, Shang only had one more run-in with the students.

nAnd it was the worst one.

nAfter that? Shang had been a normal student, and he hadn’t even argued with anyone. He had simply stayed by himself and went to his lessons.

nWas it one of those three?

n“I had one last fight with three students,” Shang said.

n“I remember,” Soran said with a frown. “That wasn’t a pleasant day.”

n“To be honest with you, back then, I tried my very best to convince teacher to expel you. You can imagine how that went,” Soran said with a bit of guilt visible on his face. _<

/sub>

nShang nodded. He wasn’t surprised that Soran wanted to expel him back then. Soran hadn’t really kept his dislike a secret from Shang.

nHowever, Soran never tried to use any underhanded methods to get rid of him. He had voiced his concern to the Dean, and he had been shut down.

nInstead of making Shang’s life difficult with underhanded means, he simply dropped the matter.

n“I can understand why,” Shang said.

n“I regret my decision now,” Soran said. “Thank you for understanding.”

nShang only absentmindedly nodded.

nSoran looked through the files and retrieved three of them.

n“First, the guy you kicked,” Soran said.

nSoran read through the file.

nThen, he raised an eyebrow.

nShang raised an eyebrow in return.

n“He left the Warrior’s Academy three days later,” Soran said.

nShang furrowed his brows. Now, they were up to something.

n“But his file doesn’t end here,” Soran said. “Just a couple of months ago, some of our students met him outside.”

n“It was in the weekly match between the Anti-Mage Class and the Mage Academy.”

n“Apparently, he became a Late Apprentice, and he wasn’t weak,” Soran said with surprise.

nShang looked with a questioning look at Soran.

nSoran looked through the file again, and he had to chuckle. “Interesting. He was below average in our academy, but he quickly became rather good in Magic.”

n“What irony. He nearly got beaten to death and gave up the warrior path. But instead of turning into a nobody, he began to shine as a Mage.”

n“If I were to take a guess, I believe that he might even feel thankful to you,” Soran said with a chuckle.

n“After all, without you, he would probably still be near the bottom in our academy.”

nShang thought back to that day.

nHe had kicked the guy with all his power, broke several of his bones, and the guy had been convulsing on the ground as he was choking on his own blood.

nWho would have guessed that such an event would result in the victim finding their own path and rising through the ranks?

n“I very much doubt that it’s him,” Soran said.

nShang agreed.

n“Next, the guy you threw against the ground,” Soran said.

nThen, he read through the file.

n“He had some troubles after your incident,” Soran said. “Apparently, over the following weeks, he was afraid of sparring, and he basically turned into a hermit. He spent weeks on end only in his room, training.”

n“Two months later, he came out of his self-imposed isolation and took part in the lessons again.”

n“Surprisingly, during the first lesson, Mervin noticed his polished swordsmanship.”

n“And he took him in as a personal disciple,” Soran said with surprise.

nShang was also surprised by quite a bit.

n“Right now, he is at the top of his class when it comes to swordsmanship. He essentially acts as the senior in the class and teaches others.”

nThen, Soran snickered.

n“Loran calls him Mervin Junior.”

n‘Mervin Junior, huh?’ Shang thought.

nMervin was someone upright, honest, and kind.

nShang doubted that a personal disciple of Mervin would want to spend that much money to get rid of Shang.

n“I don’t think it’s him,” Soran said.

nShang only nodded.

n“Now, the last guy,” Soran said.

nAt that moment, the bloodied face that had haunted Shang for so long had returned.

nThis had been the worst one.

nShang hadn’t thought of that incident in a long time.

nSoran looked through the files until he found it.

nAnd when he lifted it, the file unfolded several times until it was as long as five files.

nShang’s and Soran’s eyebrows lifted.

nBut instead of reading, Soran put the file away.

n“I remember now,” Soran said. “I remember compiling that huge file.”

n“I think we found the one that hired the Cleaner.”

nThe bloodied face haunted Shang once again.

nBut this time, it was in real life.

nAnd it was very dangerous.

n