Only Wisdom Awakened - Chapter 265

Chapter 265: Fed Up
As he wolved down the food brought to him by the waitress, Hans noticed a figure slowly closing onto him.

He closed his eyes and tasted the last bite of his plate before turning around ninety degrees and seeing Emma seated in the wooden chair just beside him.

“Is everything done?”

Hans asked as he let the fork down on the table.

“Yes, I am sorry for what happened, it seems like it was all just a playground for my butler”

“Talking about him… who is he? He looks strong”

“He… is someone I accidentally saved”

“Accidentally?… you mean it wasn’t part of what you can see?”

“That’s right, it happened accidentally, and I now consider him somewhat like a grandfather, even though he definitely doesn’t deserve it”

Emma seemed to be still pretty upset about the prank pulled by the old man, so Hans tried to bring the topic of discussion elsewhere.

“I assume you might have some explaining to do… the fact that you came to help me even though you were supposed to be in another city…

Probably means that you knew what was going to happen.”

A few seconds of silence accompanied Emma’s shame.

She was silently trying to find a way to talk to Hans.

“You see… what I know and what happens isn’t exactly the same… just the fact that I know the future means it will change, and there’s no guarantee anything I know will turn out to be useful.

But fate isn’t like that… even if you know it, fate is going to strike, even if you prepare, it is not something you can stop.

So many have known their fate and were led right back to it as they tried to escape from the inevitable.

If it’s like that, why try to stop it? You might think.

But not all fates are the same… some can-”

Emma couldn’t finish what she was saying because Hans cut her off:

“You know, this is interesting and all, but I think I’m pretty tired of this, it’s getting annoying, hearing you talk about things I couldn’t care less about”

As he said that, the way she looked at him changed.

She was shocked, her eyes widened in surprise, out of all the things Hans could have said, Emma didn’t expect something like this.

‘What? What does he mean?’

“It seems like I haven’t made myself clear… we’re done”

Hans got up from his seat and left a hundred-dollar note on the table.

“Order yourself something nice, it’s your money after all”

As he said that, he turned around to reach the exit, but he was soon stopped by Emma:

“Wait! ”

She grabbed him from his wrist while he was walking away.

“… What do you mean?… we’re done?…”

“I couldn’t be any clearer… I don’t want to see your face, it ticks me off”

“What?! I brought you here just to get you healed and-”

“You brought me to my grave! And then you barely managed to fix things! I’m sure you already knew about that woman’s… characteristic.

Had you just told me I wouldn’t have risked dying, and also… all this fate thing… if you really want to break fate so much, then do as you please, but do not put my life at stake, put yours, because the moment I die, so does my family, and so does everything I’ve worked for!

I haven’t seen you in years, and the next thing I know you write me a poem telling me to come to Italy, just to let me fight a woman with the same face as my mother, without even telling me.

You are just crazy, I don’t know how I’ve put up with all this shit up till now.”

“I’m crazy?! I’m doing all of this for….

Forget it! This is not the time to argue, you have to grow stronger and-”

“Shut it, just shut it please, hearing you say that makes me want not to do it.

I cannot stay with you Emma, you’re living a different life from everyone else…

If we are not in the same boat, and you don’t want to tell me everything… I cannot just stay with one leg on your boat and one on mine… I’ll end up falling, and you probably know that… I bet you do.”

“If you really want to do something useful find me a spiritual fruit, I don’t need anything other than that, I’ll grow stronger on my own, so I can land you a hand when you want to use me again, but for the rest, you can consider me a perfect stranger.”

Leaving the girl speechless, Hans walked out of the bar.

He was fed up… Emma didn’t seem to have any intention of revealing everything she knew anytime soon, and from what he knew, she could simply be trying to win over his favor by saving him, when in reality, she was the one who put him in danger.

Omitting some information wasn’t a problem only if that information wasn’t important…

If Emma knew something about the crimson lady that could’ve helped him, he expected her to tell him…

At that moment, while Hans walked down the road made out of old stones as the gentle breeze caressed his face and the sun rose to the highest spot in its path, the worry that even Emma, just like Kenta, might have not been a trustworthy person he could count on during difficult times, begun to sprout inside Hans’s mind.

“Sigh…”

‘Even If I don’t trust her, maybe I could have made use of her knowledge… nah, it makes me feel uneasy being with her… I think it’s better like this’

Hans ended up in an association branch where they treated him with the utmost respect and booked him a flight for the following day.

Since the association branch in Greece had some peculiar books about skills control, Hans spent almost all night reading and talking with Caelan, who expressed his negative opinion of the books the boy was reading.

At around three in the morning, when the dim and warm light of the reading lamp still cast a golden shade on the room’s walls, Hans closed one last book.

He was done reading everything he thought would be of any use to him or would give him any wisdom.

“Eleven huh… eleven stat points just for reading… that’s more than an epic class’s two level-ups

And it took me what? Like thirteen hours…

Some people at my level need to hunt all day just to level up once every couple of days, or even more, and yet I managed to acquire this much in just half a day…

I did say it before… but this is a broken ability, anyone would have become as strong as me if they had been granted this opportunity…

Not that anything’s wrong with that… I just need to make use of it to get my parents back, I won’t need it anymore after that.

It’s just… it feels a little demoralizing knowing “I” am not any better than the others.”

With that thought in mind, Hans managed to sleep peacefully, even if it wasn’t exactly what one would call a positive thought, realizing it made him feel at peace with himself.

In the meantime, on the other side of the world, someone else was facing a challenge they thought to be as difficult as a fight with a top awakened…

The second-year tests were ongoing at the US Hunter Academy.

Even if the academy didn’t issue any tests throughout the whole first year, things changed at the start of the second year…

After a briefing of almost one month in which they went over already studied subjects, all students were subjected to a general written test and three specific tests of their choice.

Every test lasted seventy minutes for a total of 40 questions.

The three tests of their choice accounted for twenty points each, meaning half a point for every question, while the general test was double the amount, meaning every single question was worth one point.

To pass the test, the students had to score a total of at least 65 points, which while for some seemed like an easy or reasonable number, for others was like a nightmare…

And right that moment, as Hans was falling asleep, the first class was undergoing its general test…

On one of the little desks, a white-haired girl carefully read the first question on her paper.

“If a gate happens to erupt right beside you in a crowded area, what’s the first countermeasure you have to take: choose two of the following…

1. Fight off the monsters that come out of the gate and save the civilians.

2. Call for backup.

3 Use the nearest mana detection device to evaluate the gate’s rank.

4. Evacuate the surrounding civilians by shouting.

5 enter the gate and prevent any monsters from coming out…

With a smug on her face, Claire marked off the first and the fifth options.

‘I knew it… it was useless to study, taking the maximum points couldn’t be easier than this’

She thought confidently.