43 Hated Genius

Ark hesitated.

Should I raise my hand?

The head master held his hand on his forehead and scanned the crowd.

"Where is Ark, I know your here. I confirmed it with the attendance. Raise your hand."

Ark held his head in his hands.

Fuck. If I don't raise my hands, I'll get on the bad side of the new head. If I do, I'll get exposed that I was sitting in the noble floor... but wasn't the noble floor just abolished? The nobles would still hate me. But... they don't know I'm not a noble.

"Ah, the boy I'm looking for is a commoner so help me search the bottom floor."

Fuck. What do I do now. Could I say later in that I was sick?

"Ah you sir, you got anything to say?"

Ark turned around and saw James holding his hand.

Ark couldn't help but murmur.

"He won't do what I think he is going to do right?"

"Headmaster, I know for a fact that ark is in this room. We came here together but were separated by the crowd."

"He fucking did it."

"Huh, you say something?"

"... no."

A noble suspiciously glanced at Ark before facing the front once more.

Ark groaned.

There goes my peaceful life that wasn't really peaceful.

Ark raised his hand and sighed.

The headmaster immediately noticed and called him out.

"Student with the black hair, are you the one called Ark?"

All of the students in the room turned to stare. Sighing, Ark answered.

"Yes I am sir."

The headmaster immediately brightened up.

"As expected as a model student. You were already advocating for equality for nobles and commoners even before I gave my speech. Impressive."

Ark wanted to deny it but couldn't due to the expression of the head.

It... it was just an accident though.

Ark could feel the burning gazes of the nobles as they glared at Ark from the sides.

"Come up here boy, I had wanted to meet you ever since I read that essay you did in the entrance exam. Although you did average on the combat test, I'm sure you will improve."

"Ahahaha, thank you sir."

Ark reached towards his pendant and started to mess around with it.

I can feel the noble students cursing me even from all the way here, should I have just stayed quiet?

Ark glanced at the crowd on the lower floor and did a double take. Some of the students had eyes filled with fervor and respect while others held admiration.

Ahh... my peaceful life...

"Your essay on the weak points of monsters was absolutely fantastic! It clearly showed your in depth understanding on the different body forms of monsters and how to effectively use this knowledge to eliminate monsters!"

...

(Dusk)... wasn't this the essay you wrote randomly because you wanted to pick a subject that no one really cared that much about?

... yeah...

"On second thought, you should be an amazing fighter! What class are you?"

"I'm an archer."

Need to keep my identity as an assassin as a secret, since Reeves said so.

"Ah, what a shame. You could have been a fearsome assassin if you wanted to... but being and archer isn't bad. If you become great at aiming, then you will also become a feared archer after we put your knowledge on weak points into the equation."

"Hahaha, thank you."

The head made a wistful look.

"I tried to get the higher ups to allow me to integrate the paper into our curriculum but they refused to and took the paper away from me. What a pity."

"Hahaha..."

Why do I have a bad feeling?"

"It was a pleasure meeting you Ark."

"Same to you sir."

Ark turned around and almost tripped down.

The disparity between the upper and lower floor was as vast as heaven and hell. The lower floor was filled with eyes shining with excitement and admiration. Ark would be fine with it except for the fact that the people with the most reverent eyes were boys. They reminded him of fangirls at a BTS concert, or a bunch of wolves stalking their prey.

The upper floor was leaking enough killing intent to kill a person with a single look. They seemed to murmuring something, as if they were casting a curse upon Ark.

Ark quickly got off the stage and walked towards James. James had weird expression on his face as he watched his best friend come nearer and nearer.

"I didn't know that you were this intelligent."

Ark made a frustrated face.

"The problem is that the essay the head was talking about was something I considered to be basic knowledge."

"What exactly was this essay about?"

"I merely stated the fundamental weak points in different monsters. Such as humanoid monsters having this small area in the neck region where blades will have an easier time beheading the monster. They also have this very tiny spot on the forehead that allows an arrow to effortlessly pierce through the skull. A quadrupedal monster is a bit trickier, they have the obvious weak spots such as the tendons on their legs and eyes. Surprisingly, the weak point of a quadrupedal monster is their mouth. Sure their fangs are deadly but if you go past their teeth, you can slice right through their mouth and to the skull."

Ark glanced at me like I was a monster.

"...You monster..."

"Isn't this basic knowledge?"

James stared off into the distance, looking like a wise hero from a myth.

"Ark, listening to you makes me remember this one saying. One man's trash is another man's treasure..."

"What the fuck was that supposed to mean?"

James let out an exasperated sigh.

"I wonder how you can be so dumb while being so smart."

"Shut up."

"I would kill to have your brains."

Ark's expression become dark.

"I wouldn't, because of this brain of mine, I have become the number one hated person by the nobles."

"I'm turn, you got named as a genius who has gained the admiration of all of the commoners."

Ark sighed.

"So now I'm a hated genius..."