Chapter 11: Adaptation [3]

Although a little less dazzling, another object lay next to the sword and skill book at the base of the statue.

A small and tightly sealed white envelope with a red stamp.

The red stamp looked oddly familiar, perhaps because of all the blood I had seen today.

Out of the three objects at the statue's base, it seemed the least dangerous, so I decided to examine it first.

Reaching my right hand out, I first touched it with my finger, and upon feeling normal paper, a sigh escaped my mouth.

Picking up the envelope, I slowly lifted up the seal, not daring to tear it, until finally it was open.

Hovering my right hand over the envelope, I peered inside, surprised to see a folded piece of paper waiting inside.

A blank skill book, one of the most powerful swords in the world...and a letter?

Placing the letter between my thumb and index finger, I carefully removed it from the envelope, unfolded the paper, and laid it in my hands.

======

Dear Applicant,

First, we would like to congratulate you on being among the few students selected out of the hundreds of thousands to be accepted to Glaive.

We pride ourselves on being the world's number one combat and magic academy, so as accepted students, you are nothing short of the best.

Moving onto logistics, please arrive at the academy by September 1st.

For directions, head to the capital city and take the Northern Golden Gate Bridge to Ventetia, the island on which the academy is located.

There is no need to bring any luggage as everything you need should be supplied; however, please note that once you enter the academy, it may be a while before you can exit.

Upon arriving at the academy, you will have one full day to rest and unpack in your temporary dorm rooms.

Then, the ranking exam will begin.

That is all you need to know for now; more information will be given upon arrival.

- Glaive Admission Team

======

"..."

Staring at the letter in front of me, I couldn't help but open my mouth in shock.

"The final antagonist...went to school with the protagonist?"

Surely, a plot twist like this should have been mentioned in the book, right?

While it was shocking at first, logically, it did make sense.

As I could see from the system menu, the demon prince was currently extremely weak.

And what better way was there to get strong than to attend the world's number one combat academy?

With state-of-the-art training facilities and teachers who could turn a homeless man into the strongest soldier alive, Glaive was undoubtedly the number one academy in the world.

However, one thing still bothered me.

Why wasn't this mentioned in the book?

After thinking for a moment, I could come up with three possible scenarios.

The most simple one was that... the demon prince had just ignored the invitation and never gone to Glaive.

Of course, then, there was the question of how he became so strong, but then again, a lot could have happened in the years preceding the demon prince's final fight with the protagonist.

The second and most unlikely scenario was that the author had simply decided to not mention the demon prince's presence at Glaive for some unknown reason.

However, the third, and in my opinion, most likely scenario, was something much more complicated.

This world "mirrored" the book I knew and had read.

But... the demon prince's rise to power had never been mentioned in the book.

In fact, as a reader, I had always assumed that the demon prince was simply born strong.

But now, as a possessor of his body, I knew that was false.

All that was stated in the book was that the demon prince was extremely powerful and a villain.

The outcome was clear.

Make a powerful demon prince by the time the protagonist is ready to fight.

That's what the world needed to do as a copy of the book.

However, the way there was not.

There was an uncertainty...had the demon prince always been strong, or had he become strong over time?

Thus, the world made a decision on its own, without help from the book, making the demon prince start weak and become strong.

These items in front of me: the empty skill book, the overpowered sword, and the Glaive acceptance letter...they were not my father's will.

They were the world's way of making me strong.

A way to turn the weak-born demon prince into the book's final antagonist.

In other words, the "plot armor" I thought I had from the book didn't exist.

Even though, according to the book, I was supposed to live for ten more years to fight the protagonist, I could die at any time.

And, if I did...another demon prince would be created.

Perhaps, unlike me, he would be born strong, or maybe he would be put in the same situation as me.

All that mattered to the world was that in ten years, a strong demon king would be available to fight the protagonist.

Shaking my head, I carefully placed the letter back on the statue's base and looked away.

Just like that, my dreams of living peacefully until my eventual fight with the protagonist were gone.

Although I thought it was almost impossible at the time, I could have very well died in the fight with the hero and his army earlier.

The world was now giving me an opportunity to be strong.

It was telling me to take it or be replaced.

Maybe that's why I was tranmigrated to this world...

Too many former demon princes had failed while trying to become strong enough to face the protagonist, so the world had discarded them.

The world had run out of souls to use in this world, so they had randomly picked mine from another world.

Sighing, I shifted my gaze to the empty skill book in front of me.

An empty skill book meant one of two things.