Chapter 519: The Price of Freedom
After understanding how uncomfortable he felt in this environment, he pondered the subject a little between each match.
Days passed as the answer he sought remained an elusive whisper he failed to grasp until the competition’s last day.
Of course, he didn’t forget to put the white tigers’ participant in their places. He also met Morgane, who performed surprisingly well with her soul affinity.
Without much effort, she inflicted horrible pain on her hunched adversaries, making their faces distort in agony, their tears flood the arena, and their screams chill the spectator’s blood. But as promised, she shrugged and gave up without a fight when he met her, causing a public outrage.
And now he was walking through the corridor, remembering the mentally torturous matches he had taken part in. Even if the first time was fun, the next one already annoyed him. The third against a student from the academy of summoning was even worse, especially with his adversary’s abusive comments.
From this match onwards, everything went downhill, including his mood.
’Why do I have to sacrifice my pride for Shepard’s gains? I mean, he helped me a lot in the past, but it didn’t cost him anything. On the contrary, I already repaid this debt and more by offering him strong allies, advisors, honor to his college, and rare materials. So, is it really alright for me to suffer for someone else’s benefit?’
The question began to haunt him as the public curses rained on him harder after each of his apparitions. Even if he knew his own worth and had a solid mind, being scorned by everyone still affected him negatively. The worst part? He knew it but bit the bullet and pushed through.
A heavy sigh escaped his bitter smile as he walked, head lowered and shoulders slumped.
’At last, this horrible experience will end today. Never again! I’m not someone who enjoys being looked down on when I’m much better than the rest. I don’t enjoy interacting with these hypocrites, either. I want to be free to say and do what I want!’
The thoughts rumbled and clicked like gears finally finding their places. Why did he burden himself so much with so many people? Why did he even try to interact or go along with them when only Julius, Nova, and Arun truly mattered to him?