Becoming a Shadow in the New World

Noticing Sid's gaze, Asagi clicked her tongue in annoyance.

Sid looked away, not wanting Asagi to see the suspicion in his eyes. His intuition told him that Asagi was lying, and he naturally trusted his intuition more than their fragile friendship.

But this matter has nothing to do with him after all. Asking once to express concern and gain some goodwill is enough to maintain their superficial friendship. Asking again would be a mistake; he'd be lucky if he didn't get disliked. He's not a man with low emotional intelligence.

"Has anything major happened recently? I've noticed the classmates are all gathered together talking about what?"

Upon hearing this, it was Aiba Asagi who looked at Sid with a somewhat surprised expression.

Do you think someone who's been sleeping all day would know the answer to this question?

Sid nodded in response to Aoba Asagi's gaze.

How many things in the world can be kept from her? Thanks to her, Sid doesn't even dare to record images of Shadow Power on his phone.

"Although I do know some things, your confidence in my intelligence makes me feel like I'm being used as a tool. Sigh."

See, I told you she knew. As for her complaints, Sid really didn't care much. Even though she seemed very unhappy about being treated like a tool, it was questionable whether she would even remember it the next day.

"After all, you're my only friend at school. If I don't ask you, who else should I ask?"

That's what he thought, but Sid still gave Asagi a verbal explanation.

"Okay, what do you want to know? There have been a lot of big events lately. Let me make it clear first, I can't guarantee that these messages are true. Most of them are things I saw online."

Sid knew this much; unless it really concerned her, Asagi had no interest in seriously investigating most of the things she knew.

"I knew I wouldn't ask such vague questions. Hmm... let's emphasize the things that are most likely to be related to us."

"Hmm...that makes sense. Let me think, does it count if we have another transfer student coming over soon?"

"Is there anything special about them? If not, let's just ignore them. What's so special about transfer students?"

It's quite rare for ordinary schools to have transfer students, but it's really not rare for their school to have transfer students. It was originally designed to be a prestigious school, and people from various powerful groups or commoner geniuses transfer over from time to time.

"Is it surprising that the two new transfer students to the senior high school are the two strongest young people in the Underworld? One is Seraog of the Baal family, and the other is Theodora Astarte, who defeated Agares and succeeded as the overlord. I also collected some information on them and their families. If you need it... What kind of look is that?"

"No, it's nothing."

Looking at the woman in front of him pulling up various documents from her computer, Sid suppressed his urge to complain.

You call this mostly information found online? You've even collected information on the other party's family members. What are you trying to do? Do you want to set up your own business and get your own king's pawn?

Of course, this was just a rant. Sid didn't think Aiba Asagi would be that stupid. Her talent was good among the students, but that was all. Joining someone else's team and getting the master's permission to start her own business was very likely. But right now, she had to rely on her talent to acquire a pawn. She didn't have any extraordinary family background. In short, she was dreaming.

"There's a new transfer student in the first year of high school recently. He seems to be from some Lion Organization. He's very promising and quite strong."

"(Whispering) I don't know for a moment whether she's here to compete with me for a piece or to become my subordinate."

Sid was shocked.

"Asagi, what were you saying just now?"

She really intended to compete with others for the free chess pieces released by the school. Didn't she know that 80% of the free chess pieces released by the school had already been reserved by those descendants of gods and demons from noble families who, for various reasons, couldn't compete with other members of their own families?

The remaining two-tenths are even more difficult; they require competing with true ordinary geniuses.

"Oh, did I just say something?"

Seeing that Asagi was pretending to be stupid, Sid remained silent for a while, but decided to pretend he hadn't heard clearly.

"No, I must have misheard. Where were we?"

"Besides that, there's another interesting piece of news: the 'saintess' from the first year of high school has reportedly dropped out and hasn't been to school for a while now."

"Saint?"

"She's not a real saint; it's just a nickname given to her by her classmates."

"Since you've dropped out, there's no need to talk about it anymore. Let's find someone else."

"Gone."

"Gone?"

Aiba Asagi nodded.

"Although there are still some things, I don't think they will affect us... no, there's one more thing."

As if suddenly remembering something, Asagi Aiba brought up a page on her computer.

"What's the matter?"

"It is said that Emperor Netheril, one of the world's strongest, truly among the top five, and known as the God of Magic, Demon King, and Savior of Witches, will appear at the Three Kingdoms Friendship and Peace Conference held in Aldeqia, and the venue is Itogami Island."

"This is definitely fake; I didn't know anything about it."

Asagi Aiba stopped typing and looked at Sid with a strange expression.

"While I don't believe the legendary Netheril Emperor, who is said to be elusive and rarely seen, would appear before the world so easily, why do you sound like the Netheril Emperor himself?"

"You should know that this is just a rumor right now, but Sid, you're so sure about it. If it hasn't happened yet, fine, but if it really did, this would be spreading rumors. If those witch fanatics find out, Sid, you can just wait to be arrested."

"Uh... isn't it just the two of us? I believe you won't expose me. Is there anyone else, Asagi?"

Regarding Sid's attitude, Aiba Asagi could only say...

“You’re really thick-skinned. You need to understand that some forces are already suspecting that those witch fanatics have reached the point where they can find out about their king just by mentioning him.”

Sid broke out in a cold sweat.

"You're exaggerating, Asagi. It's impossible no matter how you look at it."

Asagi rolled her eyes at Sid.

"So it's no wonder that Sid failed Roseweather's exam. She's a legendary figure who almost sent Eurasia flying into the sky and destroyed the entire world with a single spell. It's not surprising that she could create a spell of that level."

Thankfully, Asagi didn't turn around, otherwise she would have noticed the strange phenomenon that Sid was sweating profusely despite the air conditioning being on in the classroom.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Asagi Under Surveillance

"So, nothing else major?"

Sid asked with a skeptical attitude.

"That's all. These are the things that might be related to us. Although there are still some things, they are either minor and will subside in a few days, or they happen somewhere far away and have nothing to do with us."

Asagi Aoba confirmed this, and said, "Don't you trust my intelligence capabilities?"

"Oh, I see. Looks like I was overthinking it. I'll go back to class now."

"Oh, right, be careful these next few days, and it's best not to go out at night."

"..."

Sid stopped in his tracks and looked back. He saw that Asahi Aoi had stopped suddenly, looking puzzled.

She...does she think I'm asking gossip questions?

Sid thought about it for a moment, but still didn't say it aloud.

"What, have there been terrorists at night lately? They're telling me, a magic swordsman, not to go out at night."

As he said this, Sid pointed to the sword placed beside the seat.

"I don't know, it was a message from the management commune that told me to be careful lately."

Judging from Lan Yuqian's expression, she didn't seem to realize that this news was unusual.

"Hmm? This is suspicious. This kind of news didn't spread among the people and reach Asagi's knowledge, but was notified by the higher-ups managing the commune. It feels like there's a conspiracy."

Asagi, did the management of the commune assign you any tasks?

The unusual aspect of this message is quite obvious. First, the main content of the message is that there is danger at night, and that some creature or thing may be harmful to the people on the island. The management commune is reminding its employees out of concern.

Then the question arises: how did the commune know about this?

Given the current speed of information dissemination, if something happens somewhere on the island, the news will spread throughout Itogami Island in less than a day. However, he couldn't find any similar news despite his deliberate search, which means that nothing has happened yet.

Since it hasn't happened yet, how did the commune know about it? Did they have precognition?

He didn't believe the commune had that ability, so there was only one possibility left: they knew about it, or even orchestrated it themselves.

At the very least, they have intelligence on this matter. Although they don't know why the island's administrators would want to harm its inhabitants, Sid doesn't care. He knows without even thinking that it's some dirty political exchange.

"Now that you mention it, it does seem rather suspicious. They even asked me to..."

Before she could finish speaking, a mechanical voice came from Lan Yuqiancong's bag, interrupting the conversation.

"Miss, the management of the commune wants me to notify you to go there immediately. It seems that the program you wrote yesterday has a problem."

"Moguwai, are you kidding me? There's something wrong with the program I wrote?"

I took my phone out of my bag and turned it on. A blue cat icon immediately appeared on the screen.

"I'm sorry, Miss, that's what the management commune told me. I've checked it, and there is indeed a problem with the program."

Upon hearing the AI's response, Asagi had no choice but to admit that there was a problem with the program she had written and that she needed to go back and fix it.

"I'm sorry, Sid, you heard me too. I have to leave now. We'll have to talk another day. Please ask my teacher for leave for me."

"It's alright, I was the one who contacted you. If you have work to do, just get going."

In response to Asagi's apology, Sid said he didn't mind and told Asagi to hurry up and leave.

Sid narrowed his eyes as he watched Lan Yuqian's figure disappear quickly.