The four servants were unable to escape quickly, as Nathan beat them relentlessly until they started crying and begging him to have mercy on them.
But Nathan didn't even bother listening to them. All he was thinking about now was hitting them—hitting them, that was all.
Steven, who had picked up Max's guitar from the ground, walked toward Max, whose eyes were wide in shock at what had happened, and spoke to him in a cold tone:
"How long are you going to stay on the ground?"
Max looked down in shock, then quickly tried to stand up and began fixing his silver hair.
Steven looked at him coldly.
'A vampire's physique should be stronger than a human's, so he should be able to protect himself—yet he doesn't even try.'
Steven moved the guitar closer to Max so he could take it.
Max quickly took the guitar and examined it anxiously to see if it had been scratched.
After Nathan finished beating the servants, he finally stopped and frowned slightly at his fist, which had been stained with blood. Then he looked back and asked Steven and David:
"Who has a handkerchief?"
Steven shook his head, and David followed—neither of them had one.
"I-I have a handkerchief."
Max took out his handkerchief and handed it to Nathan. Nathan looked at it briefly, then took it and began cleaning his hand.
Then he threw the handkerchief back toward Max to return it to him and spoke mockingly:
"A vampire who can't even protect himself inside the academy?"
"Tch, it would be better for you to leave the academy and live in a quiet countryside far away from fights."
(Author: Poor Max.—but he deserves it, he needs to build his character so he can take revenge.)
Max clenched his hand tightly. Nathan's words squeezed his heart painfully. Why should he leave the academy? He had many things to do after graduating, and the first of them was revenge for his old grandfather. Why was everyone telling him to leave the academy?
As the three were about to leave, Max's choked voice stopped them:
"I-I didn't want to fight so the academy wouldn't expel me, so why are you telling me to leave the academy?"
Steven looked at the protesting Max and spoke coldly:
"If you're afraid of small things, then you won't be able to achieve big things."
Max's eyes widened, then he lowered his head and stared at the ground in shock.
Steven didn't look at Max's expression. He simply turned around and walked away—he still had things to do before the chaos at the celebration began, and he didn't have enough time to teach this child.
David and Nathan followed Steven, leaving Max behind.
Nathan spoke to Steven with excitement and amusement:
"Ooh, what was that line? That was awesome."
David nodded as well, agreeing with Nathan's words.
Steven ignored them.
David took out a very small wooden teddy bear and held it out in front of everyone.
"Look what I got—isn't it cute?"
Steven and Nathan looked at David strangely.
Then, after Steven looked at the small wooden bear—about the size of a thumb—he put on a serious expression, took it from David, and spoke with a seriousness that shocked the two of them:
"Where did you get this?"
David spoke in confusion:
"This… I got it from someone who was distributing them."
Steven frowned.
"Where?"
David answered uncertainly:
"This—right after I entered the celebration plaza, someone stopped me and gave me this."
Steven turned and ran toward the gate, with David and Nathan following him.
When Steven entered the celebration plaza, he didn't notice any suspicious person giving wooden dolls to the students. Was it because of the restriction from the earring? But that was impossible—his senses were still the same, and the earring only restricted mana. So why didn't he notice?
Steven reached the entrance gate and looked around, but found nothing.
'Did he disappear?'
Nathan's voice interrupted his thoughts:
"Hey, why did you suddenly start running?"
Steven didn't answer him and only looked at the wooden bear.
'So this is the cause of the monsters suddenly appearing in front of the students.'
'But how do I know who got a wooden doll? I need to collect as many of them as possible—but how?'
Nathan placed his hand on Steven's shoulder and spoke with a slight frown:
"Why aren't you answering?"
Steven looked at Nathan and David, and an idea came to him.
"Can you two help me search for who got one of these wooden dolls?"
David asked:
"Why? What's the problem?"
At the same time, Nathan spoke with some anticipation:
"Sounds fun. Alright."
Steven didn't have time to convince anyone to help him search. He needed to find most of the dolls. He spoke to David indifferently:
"If you don't want to search, then don't."
And he turned to look for the dolls.
'I searched for them yesterday and found nothing. How did they appear now? And who is this person distributing them to students? Thinking again—what's wrong with the academy's security? Why are demon followers moving freely inside it?'
"Wait, Steven."
Nathan interrupted him. Steven turned toward him with annoyance.
Nathan spoke strangely:
"How are we supposed to collect the wooden dolls if we don't know which student has them?"
David nodded.
"Yeah, there are too many students. It's impossible to search them one by one."
Nathan nodded, then suddenly his eyes widened, and he smiled a dangerous smile.
"I've got an idea."
David tilted his head in confusion, while Steven had a bad feeling. His intuition never failed. Steven didn't know how Nathan could create chaos out of nothing—it was part of his personality even in the original novel, and Steven never knew the reason behind his behavior.
Of course, that was because Steven never thought about writing Nathan's life. Steven knew the circumstances of all the main characters—Kai, David, Era, Agnes, the twins, even Alyssa—and even knew how their personalities were built. But he knew nothing about Nathan except that he was a crazy student who committed murder and was expelled.
Nathan looked around briefly, then headed toward a nearby stall where several plates were stacked on top of each other. He "borrowed" them from the stall owner "politely."
Nathan carried them and walked toward the center of the area where everyone could see him.
Ignoring the stall owner's loud voice calling after him.
Steven sighed inwardly, already knowing what Nathan was about to do, and approached with David.
Nathan raised the plates in his hands and then—
Boom!!
He slammed them onto the ground with force, shattering all the plates and creating a loud noise that drew everyone's attention in the plaza. All eyes turned to Nathan at once.
Nathan smiled cheerfully and spoke loudly so everyone could hear:
"Now, now."
"Since everyone can hear me, hand over all the small wooden dolls you received when you entered the celebration plaza."
All the students looked at Nathan in shock and confusion and began whispering among themselves.
"What dolls is he talking about?"
The student next to him spoke as he pulled a small doll out of his pocket:
"Maybe he means this? But who is this guy?"
Another student warned:
"It's him—the rabid dog of the Anderson family."
Another spoke in surprise:
"So this is him?"
Nathan gave instructions in a voice everyone could hear:
"Now line up into three rows for inspection. The first comes to me, the second to David."
He pointed at David, then looked at Steven, smiled sideways, pointed at him, and continued:
"And the third lines up in front of the boss."
Everyone looked at Steven strangely and began whispering:
"Boss?!"
"Why is he calling him the boss?"
Steven sighed inwardly but didn't object. What mattered now was collecting the dolls before four in the evening.
Nathan continued with a warning:
"Anyone who doesn't hand over the doll will regret it later, because I will punish them personally."
Suddenly, a student stepped out and protested:
"Why should we listen to you?"
"There are so many of us—why should we listen to just three students?"
A student whispered to his companion:
"Is he crazy?!"
"Doesn't he know who he's talking to?! Besides the rabid dog of the Anderson family, there's also David of the Fabian family—his family alone could wipe our entire families from existence."
His companion felt fear just imagining it.
Nathan looked at the protesting student, lifted his eyepatch, stared at him for a moment, then put it back and smiled an amused smile.
"Good. It seems we have someone who will serve as an example for the rest of the students."
Nathan quickly approached the student, grabbed him by the hair, and slammed his head into the ground with all his strength.
Nathan looked at the student who had lost consciousness from the blow.
"Tch, he passed out."
"..."
Everyone was silent. If they could scream, they would have screamed at the top of their lungs. Of course he passed out from that blow—did you expect him to open his eyes, smile, and tell you to keep hitting him?
Nathan looked at the students and spoke with a frown:
"What, aren't you lining up now?"
The students quickly formed three rows, and Steven, Nathan, and David began inspecting them one by one.
They managed to collect thirty wooden dolls, but Steven still knew this wasn't all of them.
Even though he didn't know the total number, he was certain it wasn't just thirty.
Steven gathered them all, looked at Nathan and David, and spoke:
"I'll destroy them somewhere. I don't think we collected all of them, so stay here and be careful—and if you can, protect the students if they're in danger."
Nathan frowned.
"You're going alone?"
Steven nodded seriously.
"Yes. Don't follow me."
And he turned and left.
David looked toward where Steven disappeared and spoke to Nathan uneasily:
"Wait—he didn't even explain what's going on."
Nathan shrugged.
"He doesn't need to explain. I trust him."
David looked at him strangely.
"Why? Have you known him for a long time?"
Nathan smiled mockingly.
"Hmm… maybe."