I Reject Quests

As the orange-haired young man separated from the group of three and walked away, the remaining two looked at his back and then looked at each other.

"So… what's the deal with him?" The jet-black-haired beauty asked.

"He is one of us." Amya gave a vague reply.

"What? One of us? Ah…" The other party wasn't much involved with the workings of LYS so she didn't immediately figure out the association she had with her. "Did you force him?"

"Oh my! That hurts! You know how I am. Did I ever once in my life force someone to join our movement?" Amya playfully showed an exaggerated expression.

"Sure, you didn't…" The black-haired beauty had to admit.

"Relax. I gave him four hours to decide what he wants to do. If he does want to join LYS, he would come to me. If he doesn't want to join, he can do whatever he likes. Simple!" Amya explained.

The black-haired beauty indifferently nodded while looking at the back of Famin. It had to be said that – there are no common people in the 1st Grade Classes. She kept track of everyone in her class. Among them was a person who was severely underwhelming. He had no redeeming qualities.

If it wasn't for the fact that there's enough evidence to prove that the person was talented, no one would have believed it.

'I didn't know that he was a Yvadian. Perhaps I should help him.'

"Cersi? What are you thinking?" Amya asked, curiously staring at her friend.

Cerci looked at her and replied honestly. "I was just thinking that he needs help."

"He needs… What kind of help?" Amya was suddenly confused.

"He is bullied every now and then. Maybe we could gather some two to four people and raise awareness for his bullying."

Nowadays, the best way to deal with bullying in schools or institutions is for a group of people to publicly confront the bullies and bring the matters of the bullying public. It was proved to be very effective.

"Oh! Makes sense. He didn't look that bright to me. Now that I think about it, he looks like the perfect target for bullying. Don't worry, I'll look into the matter."

Cersi didn't say anything

***

Class 1-S.

The classroom was empty.

It was of no surprise to Famin who stood by the entrance to the classroom.

Lectures are rare. Educators are allocated to the students.

Famin walked to his locker and unlocked it by taking out a key from his pocket.

There was a bottle, a pair of shoes and socks, some packets of chips, and a small key. He took the small key and locked it.

Then, he proceeded to get out of the classroom quietly.

A minute later.

Edu – 34

He was sitting in a small room with only a single moderately large desk and two chairs. On one side, there was a television fixed. There was a single window. Other than that, there was barely something noticeable.

This was the room he is tutored by his allocated educator. Most often, it's highly unlikely for a single Educator to get the job of teaching a single student. The reason Famin got the "honor" was because of certain circumstances.

Before he applied to the academy, the academy had already decided on the distribution of the other students in the First Year 1st Grade Class.

'Hmm… it's already 8:30… He's going to arrive in a while.'

Famin looked at the clock and waited for his Educator's arrival.

A few minutes later, the door opened and a man in a formal suit with glasses entered the room. The man looked relatively young, seemingly in his late twenties.

"Good day. How are you doing?"

Sitting opposite Famin, he asked.

"I'm good." Famin briefly answered. It has been around two weeks since he had met his Educator and found it hard to understand the kind of person he is. Adding on to the fact that he was mostly unsocial, other than study-related matters, they rarely discussed miscellaneous topics.

This is supposed to be unusual because Educators aren't simply teachers. They give their students knowledge, guide them, help them, and oftentimes acts as a counselor. Not for one year. Not for two years. But for three years. By now, almost everyone in his class had gotten to know their Educators.

"Today was supposed to be… As far as my memory is concerned, I don't think I had any classes. Correct?" The Educator asked Famin who shook his head.

"Today was supposed to be the continuation of where we, uh, left off three days ago."

"Three days ago? Let's see… ah, it's History. Thanks for the reminder. I think we left off at… the Makings of Early World History?"

"Yes. We have completed the Great Cores Experiment incident regarding Steven M. Kornell who is often hailed as the 'Father of Mana Mechanics'."

"Correct. Kornell was a revolutionary character for his time. Back when everyone was fear-stricken by the authoritarian regimes of the government, even here, in EDK (Eastern Dream Academy). It's funny when you consider that he was a little more than a lunatic. So, do you remember the year it happened?"

"2756 CE. One hundred and fifty-eight years after the earliest human civilization in the post-apocalyptic period began."

"What was the era referred to as?"

"Growth Era, Second Phase – lasting from 2700 CE to 2812 CE," Famin responded as soon as he was asked. He might not be the sharpest tool in the box but that doesn't mean he had no sharpening tools. Starting from middle school, he was rarely negligent in his studies.

"Great. To summarize, explain to me the outcomes of the Great Cores Experiment. How did it affect the upcoming future?"

"Well, it led to the first direct opposition against the government. It decreased the sovereignty of the Dictator who was active at that time and weakened his internal influence by a lot. Many other sovereigns in the bordering nations took advantage of the geopolitical situation and weakened the Dictator and his Ministers' foreign influence. These two factors accelerated the nation's disintegration into six independent provinces."

Famin stopped speaking.

The Educator nodded. "The huge nation that encompassed more than thirty percent of the entire continent of Green now disintegrated into six separate independent provinces. It happened in the Year 2795 CE which is just three decades after the famous Great Cores Experiment. Twenty-three years later, in 2812 CE, all the six independent provinces declared themselves as sovereign kingdoms and together formed an empire under a democracy. That marks the end of the Growth Era, Second Phase."

"A… democracy?" Famin found it a bit difficult to believe.

The Educator smiled, having expected the response. "The Growth Era – Second Phase was a time where historical moments are commonplace. From the Uprising of the Hegemonic Acno Dynasty to the Bird's Cry Massacre of 2800 CE, the historical significance from this… a little more than a hundred years is immense compared to other Eras."

"Wasn't the Great Cores Experiment the most significant event in the era? The start of the era, 2700 CE was the year when the Dictator of the formerly unified six provinces came into control and in the Year 2812 CE, it ended when the six independent provinces were recognized as a single nation."

"The disintegration of the Great Nation of Kulberg and the recognition of its provinces as separate nations ended the era. That's for certain. However, the Great Cores Experiment was just one major cause of the disintegration. As you study further, you would come to know how several powers were working behind the scenes. Besides, there's way more interesting events that happened during this time which affected far in the future."

"Oh…" Famin nodded obediently.

The Educator tapped on the desk with his pen two times, then he looked at the other person in the room with a serious expression. "Alright. Before I get into the next event, there's something I need to ask you. It's personal and you have the option to not answer it."

All of a sudden, Famin felt that the temperature of the room had gone low. "I… I'll try to answer it to the best of my abilities."

"Are you a devout Yvadian?"

The question was out of his expectations. Taking a few seconds to recover, he thought for a moment.

"No… not really." Famin shook his head.

"I see…" The Educator nodded his head, then continued. "How much do you believe in Kursh?"

Kursh is the One Supreme God of Yvadians.

Famin opened his mouth to answer but couldn't produce a sound. After repeating the process of closing and opening his mouth, he eventually replied. "I, uh, I don't know."

"Is that an honest answer?" The Educator squinted his eyes.

Famin appeared to be in distress. "It's complicated, Sir. Actually, I was supposed to be an orphan. Later, I came to know that I had parents who were Yvadians but due to certain circumstances, I don't acknowledge them as my parents… and thus…"