The Devil’s Cage

Kieran didn’t speak after the Dark Eater knelt down on one knee. Instead, he took the communicator on the table and waved it at Frost Wolf.

The intelligent Frost Wolf ran over, took the communicator with its mouth, and ran outside.

Through the special connection from the companion contract, Kieran sensed that Frost Wolf had taken the communicator far enough.

“Lester, does anyone among the Dark Eaters have a Proper Meal class food?”

“Based on my knowledge, none. Dark Eaters are raiders; unless something unexpected happens, they eat whatever they plunder right away to increase their own strength.” Lester shook his head.

“Is that so?”

Although Kieran had similar deduction before this, he still felt a little pity after knowing the truth behind it.

However, it didn’t stop him from asking Lester about other things.

Compared to the information he got from books, the information from Lester was no doubt more true, well-rounded and detailed.

“The Dark Eaters have a very loose hierarchy structure. There may be some gathering at times, but most of the time, the higher ranks only provide shelter for the members, not for free though. The members have to pay a certain fee to acquire shelter; otherwise, no help will come at all.

“Competitions between members is rare but not entirely nonexistent. If a life or death battle breaks out, the whole alliance doesn’t provide help to either of the involved, nor does it stop them.

“The Dark Eater Alliance in Theorate once got annihilated by E Block Principal, Romuse, but they came back quick enough and were more careful than ever.”

Lester told everything he knew to Kieran, including those secrets he did not tell Senile and the recording officer.

“Came back? How many are there?” Kieran asked the question that concerned him the most.

“I’m not sure, but based on the last gathering, where only 30 showed up, the total number might not be the minority, because many of the Dark Eaters would never join such a gathering. They are more used to sending representatives on their behalf, and the number that appeared in the gathering wasn’t something one or two Dark Eaters could muster.” Lester voiced out his own theory.

“When is the next gathering?” Kieran asked.

“If the dates remain unchanged, it should be during one of the three days of Theorate’s Anniversary,” Lester said.

Kieran knew about the anniversary celebration, from books of course.

Starting from the second Friday of October each year, until midnight of the following Sunday, the three-day weekends were used to celebrate Theorate’s Anniversary. Curfew would be lifted for the three short days and all the students from each year would come out to party all night however they wanted.

Fireworks and floats in parades were a must, but what caught Kieran’s attention was the ‘Food Competition’—a fighting competition that allowed the winner to purchase food at a discount price of one tenth or less.

Kieran, drooling unconsciously, took a deep breath and swallowed all his saliva.

He had to be patient for some time before the anniversary and there were much important things before his eyes that he had to attend to.

Another half an hour of conversation later, when the sky slowly lit up, the conversation finally ended.

“My lord, if you are worried about the communicator, I can help you modify it a bit,” Lester said all of a sudden after the conversation ended.

“Okay.” Kieran looked at Lester with a rather surprised gaze. He didn’t know Lester was good in mechanics or able to modify a communicator. Frost Wolf brought back the communicator, and Lester skillfully pried it open. Kieran was smart enough to not watch through the process.

A bunch of soldering and electrical wires were total strangers to Kieran; he couldn’t understand anything.

Even though he was a solo player and tended to make himself more all-rounded, his goal was more concentrated in battle, not trivial skills.

As for skills outside battle?

One could never be skillful in everything and all-knowing, it was just like one should not expect to hand over the food in his hand to a stranger.

20 minutes later, Lester reassembled the communicator and passed it to Kieran.

“It shouldn’t be a problem now. I’ve added an extra defensive module, so others can no longer eavesdrop, and even if someone could truly break the defensive module, it would make an alarm,” Lester explained.

While Kieran familiarized himself with the communicator, the whole dorm was already bustling with noise and excitement. The freshmen had woken up from their dream to welcome a new day.

A day in Theorate was destined to never be normal though, especially with the happenings of last night spreading throughout the ranks of the freshmen.

Whether it was the 50 casualties or the Dark Eaters turning over a new leaf, everything sounded so magical and unbelievable in the freshmen’s ears, and when those two unbelievable stories originated from a single person, that person instantly became legendary.

Every freshmen who walked past Kieran’s dorm would slightly stop to pass a revered gaze; even Standler and Maica were no exceptions, Maica more so than anyone.

“The difference is that big?” the aide of the First Seat mumbled softly.

Being very fond of fighting, Maica was never afraid of one, but because of that, he knew where his limits were.

A single man versus fifty at once.

Even if Maica had some special abilities, he wouldn’t be able to emerge a victor in that scenario.

50 men would cause a qualitative change with their numbers, but in fact, any one of them was an opponent that Maica would have had to take seriously, and if the number of opponents exceeded two, Maica would surely lose.

Maica knew that perfectly well since he knew who the 50 men were.

“Stop thinking about it, the First Seat is unlike us.”

Standler slightly regretted telling his friend about the story after he saw how depressed Maica was after waking up.

“Em…” Maica nodded but his eyes were out of focus.

“Don’t forget that we are here to report to the First Seat,” Standler emphasized but Maica did not return to normal.

Standler sighed. He walked to Kieran’s door and wanted to knock on it, but before he could, the door opened up.

“Morning, First Seat.” Standler jolted a little before he greeted.

Not just Standler, but even the other freshmen in front of the room greeted Kieran politely when he came out.

“Morning, First Seat.”

“Mm.” Kieran nodded in reply.

The freshmen then left in a hurry.

They knew why Standler and Maica had to be there.

They didn’t want to be around and affect Standler and Maica’s report. Even those curious freshmen who wanted to have another glance at Kieran to find out what was so different about him did not stay behind.

Standler and Maica would be reporting some important business to the First Seat and if it did not go well, the freshmen would be the ones who suffer.

“Is there anything?” Kieran asked.

“It’s about the tutorial class. The class that was originally scheduled to be this weekend has been changed to this morning, and instead of only the 3rd year students conducting the class, representatives from 2nd year, 3rd year and 4th year will be participating as well,” Standler said.

Standler paused for a while and looked at Kieran’s calm and dull face.

“Based on what I heard, this is the tradition of the upper years showing off their ‘strength’ in a ‘friendly’ way. Therefore, although the demonstrations will not cause any casualties, swollen faces and broken bones are normal. The First Seat and his aides will be the main targets for the demonstrations,” Standler said with a bitter smile.

“Is it compulsory?” Kieran asked.

“It isn’t…”

“Then I will not be joining,” Kieran said.

“But if you do join and win, you might be able to get Bento class food corresponding to the upper year…”

“When do we begin?” Kieran said all of a sudden.

‘Hey man, aren’t you changing your mind a little bit too fast just for the sake of food?’

The corner of Standler’s mouth twitched as he looked at Kieran but he still replied with a clear voice. “10 a.m., E Block field.”

“I’ll be there on time.” Kieran then closed his door.

Standler’s bitter smile grew heavier at the shut door.

He still had a lot of things to report to Kieran regarding the First Seat’s duty, but he was smart enough to not knock on the door.

Standler dragged the blank Maica away to the cafeteria. However, when Standler reached the cafeteria, he realized Kieran was ahead of them, despite them leaving him in his room.

“You are really on time!” Standler ran up and said as he walked beside Kieran.

There was also another cool young man in his 20s beside Kieran.

‘Is he the Dark Eater?’ Standler wondered.

“It isn’t gentlemanly to let the food wait,” Kieran said.

“I hope you can be a gentleman at all times. At least when your First Seat duties are due, you should practise it on the tasks instead.”

Since he ran into Kieran again, Standler would not give up the chance to remind him about his responsibilities.

However, Standler realized how naive he was when he heard Kieran’s answer.

“That is why I have you guys, right?” Kieran spoke with a very surprised face as if Standler had said something illogical.

“But we can’t fully represent you!” Standler emphasized.

“Of course not but… the things the First Seat didn’t finish, the First Seat can pass to his two aides, right? You guys are doing a good job, keep it up! I believe in you!”

Kieran nodded in acknowledgement and gave an encouraging gaze to Standler. He then hastened his steps and left Standler and Maica behind.

Standler raised his hand at Kieran’s back. He was trying to hold him back, but nothing came out in the end.

“Maica, I think our workload just increased… Huh? Maica?”

When he turned around to his friend, wanting to rant about the increased workload and discuss about the distribution of work, Standler realized his friend, who was in a blank state before, was somehow walking up the stairs of the cafeteria. He strode in quickly after that.

Standler was left alone on the spot. He looked in front with a blank gaze before he sighed with melancholy.

…

“Set A, B, C, each one set. Lester, what do you want?”

The battle last night not only rewarded Kieran with items, but he also got enough cash from the attackers too.

“One B Set.”

Lester scanned the menu and picked the most delicate-looking one.

The serving speed of the cafeteria was fast as usual, similar to Kieran’s gobbling speed.

Nine servings of breakfast were quickly swept clean, yet Lester only finished up his single plate of breakfast after Kieran.

Lester stood up and wanted to take the tray to the sink, but before he could, he felt like they were being watched.

Lester placed the tray down without a second thought and stood in front of Kieran.

“Who is it? Come one!” Lester shouted.

“Please don’t misunderstand, 2567 and I are old friends.”

As the voice came, Oliford Ryde in his signature black suit with a red handkerchief in his front pocket walked in.

Lester did not leave Kieran and looked at Oliford Ryde with alarm. His instinct told him the well-dressed gentleman was dangerous.

“It’s alright, Lester.”

Kieran told Lester to stand back before he looked at Oliford Ryde, who was showing a polite smile full of courtesy.

“I hope you still remember the time of our deal.” Kieran reminded him.

According to the deal made, Kieran would use one Bento class, which was almost a Proper Meal class, and two normal Bento class, plus seven more Fast Food class to exchange for a true Proper Meal class food. The preparation time was set for a weekend, and it was due soon.

“Of course, I remember. That is why I am here. But 2567, you are really a surprising one. Your stories shocked a lot of people around me. And I heard you’ve been to Professor Smith’s research lab?” said Oliford Ryde.

His words sounded respectful at first, but all of a sudden, he had switched the topic.

“Em.” Kieran nodded without much expression.

“What do you think about that place?” Oliford Ryde was being careful with his words.

“What do you mean?” Kieran asked, knowing what Oliford Ryde meant but playing dumb.

“I hope that we can work together at a deeper level. The payment is an above Proper Meal class food. If you agree, we can sign the agreement right away.” Oliford Ryde smiled.

“Oh? What kind of work would be worth an above Proper Meal class food?” Kieran was moved by it.

Although Kieran was really moved by the food, he knew he must be vigilant at the moment.

Of course, his face showed an excited look, and it created a misunderstanding in Oliford Ryde’s mind. He whispered, “Do you know what Professor Smith is researching?”