Clearing The World That's Inside A Novel

Chapter 57: Money Extortion

"You know, you are acting a bit too much like a mom," I complained unable to understand what this woman was doing standing at the entrance gate of my school.

"Is there something wrong with me to come see you off?"

...

No, not really.

But still, how did it come to this?

She was just someone I met at a café. We chatted briefly and discovered we both were in urgent need of doing some shopping and I, being a stranger in this world, asked for her help.

I mean how the fuck am I supposed to know which brand is good and which is not, or what type of clothes I should buy, I highly doubt this world people wear simple cotton or silk or any other type of clothing.

With the various kinds of monsters in the dungeon and the beasts roaming around in the world, they have got different types of clothes, different from my world.

It's not like I can't search for it on the internet or can't buy it from there.

But I'd be damned if I didn't even visit a single shop in this new world, I needed to learn the basic things, like making payments, how the buying procedure worked, what traveling by train is like, and the everyday stuff.

This world is a damn different world than mine and that's why I needed to familiarize myself with it, of course, a part of me was a teensy bit curious about what the amusement parks of this world would be like.

With these thoughts, I decided I was going to roam around the places in this world before entering the academy.

And I roamed around

...along with her.

We went shopping, hit the arcade, visited an amusement park, explored the central library, toured the museum—basically, everywhere I thought would be fun.

And now she is here with me to drop me off at the school where I will spend my next 3 years.

"It was nice to meet you, I had fun." She spoke up, it was hard to tell what expression she wore with the sunglasses, the mask, and the hoodie she wore.

This was where our time together would end. We didn't even exchange numbers, not even the names. We just spent two days together, and now we'd go back to our own lives, back to our everyday lives.

I will go back to dealing with the shit related to the novel's plot and she will go on living her life however she had been living.

"Well, it sure was."

I replied.

With that, I started walking towards the academy and she started to go back her own way.

There were no goodbyes, there was no need for one. We were just strangers, who happened to spend a little time together.

.

.

.

.

The procedure was smooth sailing from the moment I entered the school. I went through a security checkup and had my status verified once again which with the help of my system I managed to falsify.

Why did I falsify my status? Well, if someone who was G+ ranked until the last month managed to become an E+, it would stir trouble. Of course, it didn't mean I was going to act weak, I was still going to show my strength as that of an E+ ranker.

Since I am the absolute master of my system, I could command it however and it means I can always falsify my rank.

Would be fun when everyone starts going bonkers on how a G+ ranker is managing to display the strength of an E+ ranker.

At any rate, it seemed like the trips I had in the last two days were being helpful. After going through various security checkups in amusement parks, trains, malls, and hotels, I knew how the procedure worked.

The security checkup in this world doesn't involve any physical touch by the guard, all I had to do was simply pass through the security machine, and let it take my fingerprint and retina scan.

Afterward, I was given a bracelet with a non-interactive AI installed in it.

I remembered this detail from the novel.

All students of the academy wore this bracelet which kept records of the students' growth and performance and the stuff.

....

I don't like this color.

"I want a different color," I asked, right away.

I wasn't going to wear some shitty ass color on my hand for the rest of my 3 years.

Aww, hell nah.

"What?" The man raised his eyebrow as he looked up and down at me, I read his name from the name tag.

Bob.

Fucking Bob of all people, my luck is damned like always.

"I want a different color, preferably black," I replied as I remembered the details about Bob, he was annoying.

Too annoying.

He made a displeased face, which to me looked like a perfect punching bag of a face but I held it in.

Oh, how many times have I wished for him to die in the academy attacks but my wish had never been fulfilled. Whatever, I will make sure to change the plot of the novel.

"Here, a different color"

Saying so, Bob put a pink colored bracelet on my hand.

I looked at him, and then it turned into both of us staring at each other.

"If you have received your bracelet, please proceed toward the next section" I nodded toward another man who spoke up

Slowly, I lowered my hand with a pink colored bracelet on it.

I gave Bob one last look before I started to walk forward towards the next section, breaking the bracelet, right then and there.

.

.

.

Alas, my method didn't seem to work, Bob being the annoying fucker gave me another pink-colored bracelet while giving the kid beside me the black-colored one.

Just wait, Bob.

You will face the consequences.

Thinking so, I moved on to the next section where I received a phone and a laptop, in the span of 3 years that I have been going to live in this academy, students are only supposed to be using the stuff given by the academy with special pre-installed apps that we will be using for various stuff.

Unless the student has received some special permission they cannot use a personalized phone, laptop, and the kind of stuff.

After that, I submitted the previous ID that I was given through the letter about my acceptance into the academy and received my new ID, which I will be using from now on along with the key to my room, where I will be staying.

Before leaving, I asked them to give me a booklet containing the manual about structure of the academy, a map, and the shit.

In this world, instruction manuals and the type aren't normally used. Rather, they use digital stuff, in the amusement park or the museum that I had gone to, they gave me a small rectangular slab, around 8 or 10 centimeters long with a circular button on the corner right side, upon clicking that button a blue transparent hologram showed up which contained the map of the place.

In my world, something like that would have been expensive but in this world, they didn't care whether I returned it or not. Some people did return it and some just threw it in a dustbin and some took it home with them which made me realize once more that this world is more advanced than mine.

Anyway, the same was true for the academy. All the info was already in the phone they had given us but I still asked for the physical booklet. I preferred that and it wasn't like they didn't have the physical booklets, they just don't usually use them.

Once, I was given the booklet I started moving towards the bus.

There are several buses, each designed to take the students to their respective dormitories.

Hopping on the bus going towards Block - I, where my dormitory will be.

Relaxing myself on the seat of this air-conditioned bus, I opened the booklet and started reading it.

The Academy City.

That's how people usually referred to the Heroes Nurturing High School and the reason for that was simple, this academy is as huge as the city, itself.

There are several blocks in the academy, all divided into different categories.

Academic Block.

The academic block consists of 3 blocks, each dedicated to a specific year group.

Block A- First Years, Block B- Second Years, Block C-Third Years.

Each of these blocks had several lecture halls, training facilities, research facilities, libraries and the stuff.

Next is the Residential Block.

The residential block consists of a total of 6 blocks, each dedicated to a specific year group.

Block D&E- Third Years, Block F&G- Second Years, Block H&I- First Years.

Each block's dormitories accommodate 1,000 students and include facilities such as cafeterias, salons, arcades, gyms, health center clinics, and other stuff.

Next is the Faculty Block

The faculty block consists of 2 blocks, each dedicated to its role.

These blocks were for instructors, administrative staff, support staff, security staff, and other workers of the academy, these blocks consisted of similar stuff to students' residential blocks like dormitories, cafeterias, and the stuff, just more specialized made for them.

Next is the Working Block

The working block consists of about 6 blocks, each dedicated to the inner workings of the academy, as such maintenance, warehouses, storage facility, emergency equipment, and all the other crap that would be needed to run this damned academy that doesn't let out its students outside of it until graduation.

Next is the Event Block

It consists of a total of 2 blocks used for the names of suggested events, such as cultural festivals, sports festivals, tournament hosting, entrance ceremonies, and the stuff.

It was of course a restricted block that only opened during these special events.

Next is Hierarchical Blocks.

This block also consists of a total of 2 blocks, divided for the high-ranking students and low-ranking students in the academy, this block consisted of similar things to what a normal residential block would but just more specialized with better facilities for the high-ranking students and fewer facilities and stuff for the low-ranking students.

Middle-ranking students will remain in their initial blocks given to them

Next is the Special Block.

It was a single block that existed only for special students, personalized especially for them. These students are the crop of this school, hell the student council exists in this block, what more do I need to say?

Of course, this was also not accessible to all students.

Next is the Central Quadrant.

Its size was that of four blocks combined, at the center of the academy, surrounded by all the main blocks, where all the administration staff, surveillance, and command staff were, the building where the headmaster or principal or boss of this academy or whatever you wanna call him sat.

That was the overall distribution of the blocks within the academy, along with restricted blocks which simply told us to not go anywhere near there.

I turned towards the page with the map image of Block-I within the booklet, as my stop arrived and I stepped out of the bus.

Passing through the arch gate, I finally entered Block I. All that was left now was to find my dormitory building.

The place was bustling with students. Some have come along with their parents, just for today, the academy allows the parents to enter the academy grounds to see off their kids.

Of course, there are a few rules that the parents have to follow.

They have to leave before the entrance ceremony starts, they are not supposed to enter any buildings, they are only allowed to enter the residential block their child has been assigned, and they have to enter empty-handed.

Since everyone was currently moving towards their dormitory, I decided to enjoy my time exploring a bit of this block, deciding to take a detour towards a less crowded place, I had no interest in mingling in this crowd.

I looked at the map and decided to visit the nearby cafe, after walking a little further I decided to enter the alleyways to navigate my way through.

As I entered the alleyway, I realized they were different from the open paths of the academy, they were small and darker, with no security in place.

It was the very definition of a place your parents would warn you to not enter.

A place where you could end up gett-

I raised my hands up in the air, feeling the edge of the cold steel touching my throat.

I just jinxed it, didn't I?

"On the first day of the academy? Seriously?"

"It's not my first day" A soft, sharp voice entered my ears which told me that it was a girl who was holding the knife on my throat.

Not the first day, it meant she had arrived days prior to the academy.

It wasn't like the academy didn't allow students to enter before the entrance ceremony, it was just that once you entered the academy, you could not leave.

That's why many students preferred to come to the academy on the day of the entrance ceremony.

The students who mostly came to the academy earlier were those who wanted to get away from the outside world or kids who didn't have anyone on the outside to say goodbye to.

You get the idea.

But...

"I wasn't talking about that, I was just saying, that getting threatened on the very first day of the academy doesn't sound like a good start to me."

Given that I knew, that someone had set their eyes on me the moment I entered the alleyway.

Technically speaking, I am an E+ ranker. The first years that entered the academy were all mostly around F or F+ ranked kids.

So, I was automatically one of the strongest students in the first years.

Added, that the senior students are not allowed to enter the first year block, it was almost impossible for any kid to threaten me.

"...Unlucky." She said.

She wasn't wrong.

But she misunderstood who was the unlucky one.

Even with the cold steel touching my neck, I could still deal with her easily.

But let's not resort to violence, talking is how civilized people act.

"Extortion in such a broad daylight, you sure got the guts. Aren't you afraid of what the academy might do?"

"Hehehe, dumbass"

Did I just sense some sort of giddiness in her voice?

What the hell?

"These alleyways don't have any security cameras, the security guards don't look into alleyways, do you know what that means? That means, the academy purposefully made this place for the students to act however they see fit. Unless I truly do something awful there's no harm that will come to me even if you go crying to the teachers."

And why do you sound so proud to explain it to me?

"And why would the academy not intervene?" I asked.

"Hehehe, you are really dumb! Let me explain, this academy is for the students who have come to become the heroes, if they can't protect themselves then how are they going to protect others?"

Yeah, I know, everything she was saying matched with what I knew from the novel.

In these alleys, students conducted all sorts of unruly behavior, bullying, smoking, and the typical stuff.

Just like she had said, the academy turned a blind eye to such events for a single reason, for the students to grow and solve their problems on their own.

It won't be wrong to call it a disgusting way to do things but it is what it is.

Of course, in case things escalated the academy would intervene right away.

Just because it looked like the place wasn't being scrutinized didn't mean it wasn't. And just because the academy was turning a blind eye didn't mean they didn't know what was going on.

I could still feel it.

Being scrutinized.

Well anyway, I still decided to play the dumb role, I mean she sounds pretty happy explaining it all.

No reason to spoil a kid's fun.

"I don't think the academy made such a statement, how did you gather such information?"

"Because we entered the academy way before others did!"

"We?"

"I came with my best friend!"

So, it was her friend that figured things out.

"Where's your friend now? Does that friend of yours know what you are doing?"

"He isn't here, right now. That's why I came alone! I plan on surprising him with the money I will collect!"

Does he know or not?

"Wouldn't he ask you where you got the money from?"

"By extorting? He knows." She said it like it was an obvious thing.

Oh, so they are both in it together.

"You said, unless you do something awful the academy wouldn't bother with you, right?"

"Hm! Hm!"

Even though I couldn't see her face I could tell she had nodded her head quite a several few times.

"So, how is money extortion not awful? What would count as awful?"

"Extorting money isn't awful! If I cut off your hands or injured you enough that the wound wouldn't heal unless a high-ranking healing potion or an elixir itself would be needed, it's not awful!"

Jeez.

The contrast is so baffling.

Her excited soft voice when compared to what she was talking about was just surreal.

It was like having a cute little kid shouting he gonna burn the world, something along those lines.

"So, how much money do you want?"

"Hm...?Oh, right! Give me the money!"

Did she just fucking forget...?

She is dumb.

"How much?"

"However much you have!"

"I can only give you about 100,000 E"

I didn't mind giving this much money considering how rich I am but of course, if she started demanding more money, hmm.. I will just give her.

In a way, you can say I simply found this dumbass a bit funny and was willing to give the money for it.

While I do say she is dumbass and funny, she hadn't for once lightened the grip on the knife touching my neck.

She is strong.

Not enough that I can't deal with her.

But, someone who is strong, someone who is this dumb, a pair of friends who came to the academy early, as a novel reader, it was enough for me to realize that she is part of the main cast.... most likely.

And if she is who I think she is, I didn't mind her taking my money.

"Uh..eh..Um... okay" Her voice faltered and I understood why.

The amount I offered was much higher than she expected.

Well, I am rich. What can I do?

I took out my phone that was given to me by the academy and then transferred the money to her.

"We done?" I asked and she pulled her knife back.

"Hm"

With that, I started walking towards the cafe.

"Um! You shouldn't turn right, there's a lot of hooligans there!"

Did she really just say that?

"You know, you are something of a hooligan yourself" I turned back to look at her.

"I am not! Anyway, bye! See you around the campus Mr.Rich guy!" Saying so, she ran away as I caught a glimpse of her.

And just like I had thought, she was part of the main cast. Elinalise, a beastfolk, an E+ ranker.

"Then what the hell are you?" I couldn't help but ask that even though she already left, slowly shaking my head I started walking and turned left instead of right.