Persevere

I felt like shit.

The moment I regained consciousness my body was on fire as if every muscle was torn to shreds. Looking around I saw that I was in the nurse’s office, sitting to my right was Toto. The female dwarf was fast asleep, her snores made the room shake as if there was an earthquake.

“Toto…YO TOTO!!”

I yelled out to the dwarf but she was too deep in slumber to hear me. I looked to my right to see a counter where a single wooden cup full of water. I grabbed it and threw it as hard as I could at Toto.

The wooden cup bounced off of the female dwarf’s body and the cold water spilled all over her.

“OUCH!”

Toto instantly woke up and put both her hands on her throbbing forehead.

“What was that for yah bastard!?”

“Good morning to you too,” I said. “I had to wake you up to save the building. The whole place would have tumbled down if that obnoxious snoring of yours continued!”

“Very funny…anyway, how do you feel?”

“How do you think?” I answered with annoyance. “How long have I been out for?”

“Three days. You honestly had me and Iris worried!”

“T-three fucking days!? Lord have mercy! W-what’s my grade on the exams? Did I pass?”

“I knew you would ask that the moment you woke up…”

Toto took out a folded piece of paper and handed it to me. Once I opened it I saw the massive letter “C”.

“A “C”?”

“Yep,” Toto said with a nod. “You did well on the written exam but as I bet you remember you lost in your duel which brought you down a few points.”

“Yeah…”

Remembering the crushing defeat Annie made my body heat up with anger. My heart started to quicken in its beats and my fingers tightly clenched the blanket. Even a few tears were daring to escape from my eyelids.

I was certain Toto wasn’t blind to my emotions flaring inside.

“You fought well, Baxter. Those bastards in the staff did you nasty! They paired you against the strongest student because they wanted you to fail!”

Toto shouted, anger elevating her voice.

“They did it for laughs and to make you give up!”

“…what’s the point of making me give up?”

I asked Toto in a low voice. As I turned to her I kept my head low so that she wouldn’t see me crying.

“Those judges…from back then during the entrance exam knew I was a Null. They saw how I fought and despite that they still accepted me! If they didn’t want someone like me in their academy then why…?”

Toto let out a heavy sigh before replying to me.

“It’s to make an example out of you. Those jerks wanted you to come to the school, wanted you to struggle, and wanted you to quit out of frustration. By doing that it would discourage other Nulls from even thinking that they could be Holy Knights!”

The female dwarf got up from her chair and inched closer to me. She put one of her strong and heavy hands on my knee.

“But you lasted longer than those idiots expected! Despite everything that was said and done to you—you persevered and kept trying to win! It annoyed them so much that for the midterm they pulled out their ultimate weapon to try and crush you!”

“Annie…and crush me she did…”

I sat up on the bed and turned to the window on my left. The sun was out and the sky was a gorgeous blue with only a few clouds. In the distance, I could see the castle where the front gates were open to welcome the Holy Knights who had returned from their mission.

The knight’s armor was damaged and covered in blood— whether if it was their own or their enemies I could not tell. But despite looking like they came back from hell itself they walked tall and held a strong presence. The sun shined down on their armor and they glowed with a blinding light as if they were angels. My heart pounded with excitement just seeing them.

“But…I’m not giving up. They could throw all the fourth years they want at me— I will push through! Any obstacle that gets in my way— I’ll cut it down!”

Toto smiled and let out a hearty laugh.

“That’s the spirit! And know that I am by your corner!”

I turned to the female dwarf with my eyes shining with water and wearing my biggest grin.

“I know…thanks, Toto!”

“No need! And also, what was that weird thing you did when you fought that fairy and the princess?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean! That technique where you straight up disappeared and reappeared! Not to mention you killed the fairy!”

I shook my head.

“I didn’t kill the fairy, I just deactivated its magic. That annoying insect lost its physical form but it should be able to regain it after some time.”

“Ah, I see…huh!? How the hell did you deactivate the magic!?”

“O-oh…well…I can’t tell you that.”

“Huh!?”

Toto pinched my knee which felt like a bite from a bulldog. I screamed out and tried to pull the dwarf’s fingers off of me but they would not budge.

“T-Toto, get off! My knee—“

“Nah! Tell me what you did!”

“I-I didn’t do anything!”

“Bullshit! Tell me what you did right NOW!!”

“OW OW! S-STOP! S-SOMEONE HELP MEEEEEEEE!!!”