The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

ASTRID pulled down the cap on his head, to make sure that not a strand of his hair would show to others.  He was currently inside the big auditorium of Redwood Academy for Performing Arts, sitting on one of the seats and listening to the vice-president welcoming all the incoming freshman this school year.

All the freshmen of the three departments were here.  Which actually surprised Astrid.  He thought that each department would have their own orientation.  But he guessed this was probably much more efficient.  At least, it would save the faculty members time and space for orientation.

He wasn't really interested in whatever the vice-president was saying.  So, he just kept his head lowered and tried his best not to attract attention to himself.  His followers on his [Cyberspace] account had stabilized to 360,000.  Although it's not much in comparison to big stars, it's still quite a lot in terms of being a newcomer who still hadn't had any works to his name. 

He was sure that there would be people here who would recognize him.  They were all aspiring artists.  Having someone of the same starting point be ahead of them would certainly piss one or two people.  And Astrid really didn't want to go through that drama.

He planned to just stay for the orientation and leave immediately once its finished.  Then, go straight to the Imperial Military Academy to meet up with Reas.

Truthfully, if their attendance wouldn't be checked, he would not even think of attending this orientation.  He wondered at first how they would check the attendance of each student.  He didn't expect that before entering the auditorium, they had to press their thumb on some fingerprint identifying machine. 

Astrid was again reminded that he was living in an era with very advanced technologies.  Something simple as checking attendance shouldn't be a problem at all.

The speech of the vice-president continued.  By the time he was finished, it already felt like forever had passed.  After him, it was the turn of the deans of each of the three departments.  Thankfully, the three deans didn't make their speeches as long as the vice-president.

The content of their speech was pretty much the same.  Welcoming the students into their respective department and encouraging them.  The speech of the three deans combined didn't last for 30 minutes. 

After that, they were told that AI robots would be around the campus offering tours.  They could go to one after the orientation and do a tour around the campus.  They were also free to just go home.

Astrid did not hesitate to pick the latter. 

He didn't need to have that tour since he had already familiarized himself with the map of the academy.  He already knew which way to go and which way he shouldn't.  He's not directionally challenged.  So, he's not worried that he would be lost once class started.  Which was tomorrow by the way.

He fixed his cap and walked out of the auditorium.  He quickened his steps to make sure that he could leave the place as fast as possible.  He even took the long way just so he could avoid most of the students.  And he was almost successful too. 

Why 'almost' you asked?  Well, just as he was walking near a parking lot that was now barely used because of its location, he heard a rather suspicious conversation.

"Can you hurry it up?  We need to get this bastard out of here before someone passed by and sees us!" one voice said.

"Do you think I'm slowing down on purpose?  This guy is heavy despite how he looks," another one said.  "But we're really lucky that he passed by here or else we probably wouldn't be able to do what the second young master had ordered."

"What luck?  It's obviously thanks to the information provided by the second young master," the one who first spoke retorted.  "The young master clearly knew the habit of this bastard."

"But this one is really pretty.  Don't you think it's such a waste to just leave him for dead?  Maybe we should sell him somewhere.  We'll definitely make good money."

"Are you kidding?  If this little bastard is left alive, the chances of the lord finding out what we did would increase tremendously.  Then, it would be our necks on the line.  It's better to just let him die."

Astrid, who had already stopped walking, felt like he was really unlucky.  The last time he took a shortcut, he witnessed some students bullying another person.  Now that he took the long way, he just heard two people planning a murder.  Maybe next time he should have just walk on the right path. 

Still, he couldn't just walk away after hearing what he just heard.  How could he when he knew that someone was about to be killed if he just walked away and pretended that he didn't hear anything.  He wasn't that heartless.

But seriously, how could these two be talking casually about letting someone die?  Were they so confident that no one would pass by here and overhear them?  What a waste of money.

He carefully walked to the direction where the voice came from and then quickly hid himself behind a nearby tree so as to not alarm the two of his presence.  He peeked from the tree and saw two men.  One was carrying an unconscious teenager while the other was opening the trunk of a parked car.

Astrid opened his Terminal and took photos of what the two were doing.  He made sure that their faces would be crystal clear on the photos.  Then, the moment one of them put the unconscious boy inside the trunk, Astrid pushed his mental power towards the two.   

He didn't pull back with his punches and used enough force to have them foaming in the mouth.  But not too much that he would fry their brains.  And, as expected, the two fainted with their eyes rolled back and saliva drizzling down their mouth.

The next thing Astrid did was to rush to the two quickly.  It just so happened that the key to the car fell down along with one of the two men.  He picked up the key and opened the back seat of the car remotely using it.

He peered down on the trunk where the unconscious teenager was and was surprised to see that the other was indeed quite pretty.  He had light silvery blue hair that curled around his small face.  His long eyelashes of the same color formed shadows on his snowy white cheeks.  And his naturally red lips were slightly parted.

If he was from the acting department, then, he certainly had the looks.

Realizing that this was not the time to be ogling this guy, Astrid lifted the other and put him on the backseat.  He glanced at the other two unconscious men and then unceremoniously stuffed both inside the truck.  After closing it, he went to the driver's seat.  Then, he inputted their destination on the car's GPS system.

The car slowly floated and then flew to the direction of their destination – the Imperial Military Academy.

Astrid then opened his Terminal and sent a message to his brother.

[Is the prince still there?]