Chapter 304: More Rumors

He wasn’t even given the chance to wave at them before Aubrey was already in his face.

“Who was that?” She asked loudly.

He used a single finger to push her forehead away from him as her nose was practically pressing into his own.

“Have you ever heard of personal space?”

Aubrey smacked his finger aside and threw her arms around him, squeezing tightly. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means… never mind,” he said, his voice muffled in her chest.

Lily thankfully helped peel her off of him and he was able to see the light again.

“You should hear what some of the other students are saying about you!” Aubrey exclaimed.

His face twisted in confusion. “What do you mean?”

He didn’t know if he wanted to hear what people were saying about him. They already haven’t been that nice to him about the Reinera stuff. He had even heard people accuse him of manipulating her with some kind of magic, turning her into his slave.

He didn’t see how they could think that, if that happened, he doubted he would be alive to see tomorrow. Her family would likely wipe his existence from the continent.

“I think I’m good,” he said.

“What? Come on, some of it is hilarious,” Aubrey insisted.

He deflated and let out a depressed sigh. He had a feeling he was going to hear what it was, regardless of whether he said yes or not. “Okay, what are they saying?”

However, once he said this, it was like the floodgates were unleashed and they all started speaking at once.

“I heard some theorizing that you somehow experienced some sort of time dilation rift where it was actually three years instead of several months,” Edgar said with a wide smile.

“Some say you are actually a bastard son of a powerful House and that is the reason you are so strong,” Derek added with a knowing smile.

“Although most are whispering that you are the princess’s gigolo and that her family gave you a bunch of treasures to consume. Which helped you advance to Tier 3 so quickly,” Aubrey said proudly as if it was something he should be pleased about.

He squinted at her in disbelief. “Why do you make that sound like that’s a good thing?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I mean, she’s a princess, I feel like that is a compliment.”

“In what world is that something I should be proud of?”

“I don’t know, but I know I would be,” she said enthusiastically.

He shook his head in disappointment and was already regretting his decision to ask them what they had heard.

***

It seemed like deja vu or something because once again, he found himself getting stared at by half of the student body as he walked around campus. Only this time it wasn’t because people found out he was friends with their local celebrity.

This time it was because he had shown the school that he wasn’t just some weak Tier 3 first-year. He had proven that he was someone that people needed to take seriously.

This was funny because almost the entire time he had been at Goldencrest, students had underestimated him. Of course, he did a lot to help this sentiment spread, but it remained a fact that people believed him to be a less-than-stellar representation of strength.

His prior incidents with weak monsters at the beginning of the year probably didn’t help him either.

“I still can’t believe you beat Bethany,” Joshua exclaimed from next to him.

“What? Do you know her or something?” Tia asked curiously.

“Yeah, her family and mine are pretty good friends. She would come over to our estate from time to time when I was younger with her siblings to play. My cousin is actually still really good friends with her,” Joshua replied.

“Oh yeah, you mentioned that your cousin was a fourth year. Is she also participating in the tournament?” Polux said.

“Yeah, she is. But she doesn’t think she will be able to get a slot for the Inter-School Tournament. Her skillset doesn’t specialize in pure combat. She has more of a supportive role on her own team,” Joshua explained before turning to Julius once again.

“Regardless, I know Bethany, which is why I know that she didn’t hold back like some of the people are claiming. She would not have blitzed you from the start if she were. She only does that when she is taking it seriously. Which makes your achievement all the more impressive.”

Julius smiled in gratitude at Joshua’s compliment and continued to snack on the muffin in his hand.

Unfortunately, it would seem that not everyone was convinced that his win was exactly ‘legitimate’. Once the wilder rumors died down, there were still an alarming number of students who believed that his win was a fluke. This was especially more common among students who weren’t there in person.

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“Those people are stupid. Anyone who was there in person knows what happened. The ones who were and are still denying it are just coping. Like I have been telling you guys for months, Julius is very strong. He is so strong that I am already making bets on him winning the entire thing,” Polux stated firmly.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself Polux, while I must admit that Julius is stronger than any of us thought even after you telling us, he still has to beat the likes of Liam Abrams, Irene Greiche, Derek Zenith, Edgar Crow, and others,” Tia said and he couldn’t help but notice that she placed much more emphasis on Edgar’s name when she listed them. It would seem that her crush still hadn’t gone away and that made him chuckle internally.

“Well, it’s too late, I already put in most of my money earlier this week,” Polux said with a proud smile.

Julius whipped his head over at the wolfkin boy and he wasn’t the only one. Joshua and Tia had similarly given the boy looks of confusion.

“Wait, you were serious?”