Next day.
The sparring session had gone better than Noah had expected. He wasn't ashamed of his performance.
Nor had any other student tried to mock him.
'When will the first event occur? I don't have a single idea, nor anything that can warn me.'
As always, Noah, who had no friends, was eating alone in the cafeteria once again. The loner was getting tired of it.
Many students were chatting with their friends while enjoying their lunch.
He took a chicken steak and chewed on it.
Noah was without a doubt a foodie, and free food always tasted better than anything else to him.
'Should I join some Adventurers Guild?' Noah wondered, remembering that he could join one.
In this world, there was a Hero Association in the human empire.
Everyone was categorized in a way similar to monsters. Those at the initial stage, such as Dormant Core (Low), were considered Rank F-.
Noah did have some idea about these things. However, the Hero Association did not accept anyone below Rank C-, which corresponded to Low Refined Core. On the other hand, the Adventurers Guild allowed individuals to register even if they were still at the Dormant Core stage.
Noah then started drinking his soup.
The Aurelian Imperium had the Hero Association, which operated under the Imperial Family. It only accepted individuals who had reached the Refined Core stage. These individuals were considered Rank C heroes.
Above that were Rank B and up to Rank SS, which corresponded to the Sovereign Core. No one could become a hero below the Refined Core stage, which was currently Noah's potential limit.
Heroes who reached Rank B were allowed to form their own Adventurers Guilds. The Adventurers Guild also ranked awakeners in the same way. However, they allowed individuals with Dormant Cores to join as Rank F adventurers.
The exact rank depended on the stage of their core: Low corresponded to F-, Mid to F, and High to F+.
He started thinking about it more deeply.
'But even if I want to join it... are we students allowed? Well, I'll try to find out later.'
Noah wanted to find a way to break his limit, his potential. But he had no idea how.
Just then, he heard the sound of plates or dishes falling onto the floor.
Clang!
But Noah didn't pay any attention to it, thinking that some student might have dropped their plate.
However, a commotion soon started in the cafeteria.
"How dare a lowly commoner like you touch me? You even dirtied my clothes!" An arrogant voice echoed throughout the cafeteria.
"I'm really sorry!" A familiar female voice followed.
"Sorry? You think you can just walk away after doing this? Your sorry won't clean my coat!" The male voice shouting arrogantly also seemed familiar.
"You really have some nerve, doing this to our Sir Edward!"
"We should teach this lowly commoner a lesson!"
The other two male voices were also familiar.
Noah finally looked in the direction where the commotion had occurred.
A few students were standing nearby, so Noah couldn't see clearly. But he knew who those three male voices belonged to...
'Those three idiots again?'
Those three were the third-rate young master, Edward, and his two underlings: Glasses-kun, Tetsu, and the fatty boy, Richard.
'Interesting... Is this... is this that first event... where a commoner girl gets bullied by a young master and then gets saved by the main protagonist? Where he beats those arrogant nobles? Then a short arc about teaching the young master a lesson starts?'
Noah's eyes brightened with excitement.
He got up from his seat, went towards the counter, and took more chicken steaks. He needed to enjoy this scene while eating something nice.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?"
Finally, amidst all this chaos, a strong voice echoed through the cafeteria. It was confident and aggressive.
Noah could already guess who it belonged to!
'Damien! Fuck, Damien actually appeared! This was just as I expected!'
Noah quickly moved towards the scene.
Pushing aside a few students, he finally saw what was happening.
The three students named Edward, Tetsu, and Richard were standing on one side.
Opposite them stood Damien. He stood tall, with a calm and indifferent expression.
Behind him was a familiar woman. Her black hair was neck-length. She was wearing big, round glasses. Her eyes were black. She had soft, fair skin and a cute face.
Noah raised one of his eyebrows.
'Mary?'
He knew that girl from the washroom.
'Now this is interesting!'
Though Noah didn't remember seeing her name on the character list of the game, there were many side characters and hidden heroines.
He hadn't paid much attention to the side characters while playing it.
Edward was standing with an ugly expression. He was clearly unhappy with another person intervening.
"Boy... I don't know who you are... but if you want a safe life in the academy, then don't mess with me."
"You just tried to slap her... That was wrong. How could you attack someone in the academy? If that wasn't enough, you should be ashamed of yourself for trying to hit a girl."
'Shit... It seems I missed the scene where he blocked Edward from hitting Mary.'
Noah was sad that he had arrived late.
But still, this wouldn't end easily.
He chewed on his steak while enjoying the show.
Noah was standing in front of the surrounding crowd.
Meanwhile, Damien's hazel eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Hahaha! You both are just lowly commoners. Do you know who I am?"
Damien didn't say anything for a while, as if he were thinking about something deeply.
"Are you... a spoiled child?"
Finally, he spoke.
"Pfft—"
Someone nearly burst into laughter but managed to control themselves.
Meanwhile, Noah smiled widely.
Edward's face turned slightly red with shame. His expression was full of rage.
"How dare you! Trying to make fun of me? Do you know who my father is?"
"You commoner, you have made a big mistake by insulting our Sir Edward."
"Now you will pay for this, you commoner."
"Please don't fight... It was my fault," Mary said from behind with a worried expression.
"Damien, you don't need to go against them to help me out."
Damien turned towards her. A gentle smile appeared on his handsome face.
"Don't worry. I am doing what is right. You were just walking with your plate of food and accidentally collided with him. You even apologized to him... yet the way he treated you and tried to slap you was wrong."
He continued talking, "Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you."
He turned and looked at the trio with cold eyes.