003. Ruby Greylion (edited)

Proofread by Dark Pride

The first thing he saw was a pair of big beautiful brown eyes watching him. 

"Are you okay? Is there anywhere that still hurts?" A beautiful girl in a white robe smiled at him, who was lying on a bed.

"I-I am fine. Thanks. What's going on? Where am I?" Adam pretended to be confused about what was happening.

'Too fake!' Eve said.

Adam, still acting confused, looked around. He guessed he was in a hospital, as he found many beds beside him.

"You are in the Academy Hospital. Some idiots almost killed you by accident. They played mana ball illegally around the magic hall, which hit your head pretty hard and knocked you out. It was fortunate they took you here quickly. If they hadn't, you might have died, or at least had paralysis." Her face reddened and her eyes narrowed in anger.

"But I am still alive and well, and it's enough that they took me to the hospital quickly, which saved my life. Tell them I forgive them." Adam showed his best smile to assure her he didn't hold a grudge against them. In his circumstance, he was even thankful to them, but he couldn't say that, right?

"No! That wouldn't be fair. They have to take responsibility for their actions," She shouted righteously.

A second later, the room was silent. Everyone looked at her, some blamed her, some just smiled but nobody scolded her. The girl then realized she had made a mistake, and she bowed to every one of them with an ashamed expression. Then she looked at Adam accusingly and whispered, "This was your fault."

Adam wanted to cry. 'Why is every girl I meet so unreasonable?'

'Someone once said women are always right. Yeah I know your pain. Just don't argue with them.' Eve said jokingly.

'Hey... You are one.' Adam argued.

'I am female, but I am not human. And when did I speak unreasonably?'

Adam wanted to cry again.

"I'm sorry miss. It was my fault," Adam gave up arguing with her.

"Hmm... Okay. I forgive you. I will examine your head once more, if I don't find anything wrong, we can go. Are you a new student?" She then approached him and held his head gently with two hands. A gentle blue light shone from her hands, which made him feel warm and relaxed. 

He stared at her long red hair which almost touched his face as her scent wafted into his nose. The scent coming from her caused his heart to race, "Y-yeah, I hope so. I-I still need to go to the magic hall to test my magic ability."

"Oh! good luck then. It's okay now. You should be fine. We can go outside to finish your business with those idiots, and you can go for your magic examination," She lifted her hands off his head and smiled gently.

"Okay, thanks for saving me. I hope I can return your kindness one day. I am Adam by the way. Adam Elbaz," he held out his right hand to her.

She looked surprised at first, then she smiled and shook his hand, "Ruby, call me Ruby."

Adam felt something was off, but he didn't think about it too much.

'Stupid! In this world, handshakes are only done by men. Later, just bow with your right hand crossed in front of your chest to greet a woman.' Eve explained while showing him the real Adam's memory about manners.

Adam stiffened instantly, then he glanced at Ruby. When there wasn't any abnormality in her expression, he was relieved.

'I will make sure to remember next time.'

'You need to study the manners of this world quickly.'

'I understand.'

'By the way, Don't you think her name sounds familiar? I'm sure I found her name in the former Adam's memory, it's related to...' Eve tried to say something.

Not wanting to make Ruby wait any longer, Adam cut her off, 'Maybe it's just a coincidence, even if that is the case, we'll know later,' 

Annoyed, Eve didn't say anything. She wanted to watch Adam make a fool of himself.

Then, Ruby and Adam walked out of the hospital.

***

Outside of the hospital, there was a boy with short blonde hair, pacing back and forth worriedly, "Will he be okay Pete?"

"How should I know? What I know is, if he dies, we'll be executed or at least sent to mine iron for the rest of our lives," said the tall black haired boy who was perched on a nearby bench.

The blonde boy then turned his body to Pete, "H-how about we run away?" 

"Brilliant idea Cleon. And you know what. We'll be chased by the Black Hound and captured in under three days. Then, we'll be executed without a chance to defend ourselves in court. You know how this works."

While they were arguing, a boy with blue hair who wore black noble style clothes and a girl with red hair who wore a white robe came out of the hospital building.

Looking at Pete and Cleon, who were arguing with each other, Ruby shouted, "Pete! Cleon! Come here!"

Pete and Cleon turned their heads, and saw Ruby and the boy who they hurt this morning. Thankfully, it looked like he was ok. Finally, that took a load off their minds. 

They literally ran over to Ruby and Adam. If they hadn't remembered that Adam was a noble, they might have hugged him. 

"Thank God, you're fine, sir. You know, my friend was already prepared to run away, if anything happened to you." With a relieved expression, Pete joked.

"Hey, what did you say? I never said anything like that," Cleon started to panic.

"Where are your manners?," Ruby stared at them, but Adam could tell she wasn't really angry, and she even enjoyed the situation.

"Please pardon us, Your Highness, we were too excited. Please accept our apologies for injuring you sir," Pete bowed and said sincerely. 

Seeing Pete bow, Cleon immediately did the same, "I-it was my fault sir, I was the one who kicked the mana ball because the building hindered my view, I couldn't see you."

Adam saw their sincerity, but Pete's words made him remember something. He looked at Ruby guiltily, "Y-your Highness, d-does that mean you are...?"

'She is the princess, Ruby Greylion. I wanted to tell you that a moment ago. Serves you right!' Eve said coldly.

'I'm sorry....'

Seeing Ruby smile at him meaningfully, Adam froze for a while. After sobering up, he bowed to Ruby nervously, "Pardon me, Your Highness, for being impolite."

"Now... Now... Why did you become formal? Honestly, I hate those formalities. I am just a princess whose brother is a crown prince. Please raise your head, Sir Adam Elbaz," Ruby said.

"Thank you your highness," Adam stood up straight again, but this time, he didn't dare to look at Ruby or speak carelessly.

Looking at Adam, she let out a sigh and said, "Sir Adam, It's us who have to apologize. In fact, Pete and Cleon are my teammates. I'm the manager of the Hellcat battle ball team, so I wanted you to punish them. Their actions are irresponsible and dangerous. They almost killed you, although it wasn't intentional, it still deserves a punishment."

Adam knew he couldn't avoid asking them to take responsibility, and these boys were subordinates of princess Ruby. He couldn't request too light punishment or it might tarnish her reputation. People would say she used her position to protect her subordinates.

He also couldn't request too heavy a punishment or he would offend her. So he chose a practical punishment, such as financial compensation. It was an easy thing for royalty. They might lack something, but they have never lacked money.

"Alright, then financial compensation. I hope your highness can take care of it for me."

After saying that, Adam felt something was wrong. He looked at Pete and Cleon who looked away with weird expressions. Then, he glanced at Ruby whose face went pale.

Then it hit him, why did a team which was being managed by a princess have to train illegally and not in a training field? And why did Ruby herself have to rescue him, and not an ordinary healer? 

'I'm so unlucky.' Adam sighed in his mind.

'No, you fool! It might be your chance! Think! we met with a poor princess and her two goons. This is a hidden quest. Help her!' Eve shouted in his mind.

'I'll try'

"This might be a better idea. You said you are managing this team, Your Highness? Is the team new?" Adam tried to dig for more information.

"Yes, actually, we just founded it last week. We still don't have enough players." Ruby said softly, if Adam was a little farther away, he probably wouldn't have heard it.

"Your Highness, what is your target? Do you want this team to compete in the Heroes League, the Major League, or the Champions League in the future?"

Confused, Ruby turned her head to Pete, "Pete, what is the difference between them?"

Adam was dumbfounded, 'How could the manager not even know the divisions of battle ball league?'

'Don't ask me,' Eve was also surprised.

Pete's face reddened in shame."It's like this Your Highness, the battle ball professional league has three divisions. Heroes league which is held in each of the five regions in our Kingdom, every new team starts from here. Then there is Major league, which is held at the national level. And Champions League which is held in the Seven Alliance, but for now we just want to participate in amateur title cups, specifically the Silverpool Summer Cup and the Silverpool Winter Cup."

"It's just like he said," Ruby said shamelessly.

"O-okay." Adam answered awkwardly.

'Such a simple ambition,' Eve said

'Yeah....'

***