Home / Fantasy / Reborn to be a Hermit / Unwilling Accomplice
Unwilling Accomplice
Author: BlackDaisy
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

Rina observed the boy in front of her. 

They could have guessed he was demon kin ever so easily. 

There are just far too many telling points. 

His skin never tans. His hair is too black. He covered up his forehead with bangs, but Rina could see traces of two black spots, the telling point of where the horns are supposed to be. 

His fingers are tapered, so are his toes. 

Sure, he cut the nails off to make it look normal, but Rina could see, unlike humans whose finger nails are wide, Edam’s are getting curled into themselves ready to become claws. 

On top of that, she remembered Edam always went to the flower field in the morning, despite being punished many times. 

It’s a demon trait of being unable to resist the temptations. 

No matter what, since she is not the person whom he had a crush on, it’s impossible for her to control this guy. 

So, she just had to make him her accomplice. 

After all, in a school, if there’s only one person rejecting the admission of the royal academy, which comes with a stipend, it’s not going to look good. 

Rina has never been good at talking. 

So, she went straight to the point. 

“ If I tell you that you are going to face a great disaster when the magic test is through, will you believe me ? “ Rina asked Edam. 

Edam stared straight at Rina. 

“ Will I have a disaster when the awakening is through ? “ he asked. 

“ Yes. “ Rina answered. 

Edam still looked doubtful, and kept staring at her. 

“ I believe you. “ he whispered after some time. 

“ I have a plan to avert this disaster. However, there is no free lunch in the world. If you choose this route, you will lose something of equal value. Do you want in ? “ Rina asked. 

Edam nodded. 

“Then, follow me. “ Rina said, as she directed him to the assembly hall 2. 

“ I will distract the lecturer, you should grab two of those admission forms there, get it ? “ Rina asked. 

Edam nodded again. 

His wounds already healed. He had accelerated healing as the demonkin, on top of that, their school healer is pretty skilled. So, he had no trouble sneaking around with Rina. 

“ don’t forget to grab two quills too. “ Rina reminded him, as she went towards the proctor. 

“ Sir, They are serving breakfast in the staffroom. There are sweet pastries. “ Rina told the proctor. 

She has heard this man complain more than once that they always inform him late, for he would hog all the sweet pastries with no consideration for his colleagues. 

“ I heard there are even custard cream buns from Fab-Gello in there. “ Rina told him. 

He looked tortured as he looked at the forms. 

Rina waited. 

If she were a child, she would have immediately offered to look after the forms. 

However, she was not. 

If nothing else, her previous job taught her patience to the extreme. 

“ Song Rina ! Do you wanna do a teacher a small favor ? “ he asked. 

“ Sure, Sir! “ Rina answered. 

“ You keep watch on these forms. When a student takes a form, you place a tick against their name. Teacher will be right back, you wait here for me. “ the foodie teacher said. 

Rina nodded like a good student. 

The teacher looked back to Rina in doubt after five steps. 

Rina smiled at him innocently, with her hand pressed against the forms tightly, and the quill against the roster. 

The teacher gained confidence, and left the room. 

Just as Edam was about to approach her, the teacher leaned back from behind the door to check on Rina. 

Seems there’s a reason the other staff sent him here. 

With his cautious and upright personality, the forms would never get into student’s hands before the awakening. 

Rina handed two worms to Edam, along with two quills, then, on the roster, she put two checks against their names. 

Fortunately, both their names fall a bit in the middle, so, unless someone deliberately looks for the names, they would not notice it. 

Rina closed the pages, kept watch on the door for the teacher diligently. 

After some time, the teacher came back, with bread crumbs all over his mouth, and building cheeks. 

“ Run Along, Song Rina. It's time for the awakening for the second batch of students. “ the teacher sent her along. 

Rina ran along as fast as she could, and hid in the garden, squatting in the bushes to avoid being found. 

Edam followed her despite his doubts. 

He squatted along with her, his expression very innocent, like a child following what an adult is doing. In this situation, it looked like a three foot tall petite girl ran and squatted in the bushes. a five foot long tall and thin man follows her, to squat in bushes like a child while waiting on her orders. 

It is such a pity no one saw this picture. It was quite funny to watch. 

“ What do we do now ? “ Edam asked, his voice full of pre-pubescent childishness. 

Edam had been extremely late to puberty. 

That’s half the reason he is bullied. His voice is surprisingly sweet and almost all the girls liked his voice, including Elora, his crush. 

Rina never quite understood it, given that they are almost seventeen. 

However, if he is half a demon, this all makes sense. 

Demons come to their juvenile period late, running from twenty five years to more, depending on how long the certain species lives. 

Most common demons become juveniles at thirty five years. Thus, even if it’s a bit accelerated because Edam had been a human, it won’t be any time before twenty. 

“ Now we fill our forms, rejecting admission to the royal academy. “ Rina told him. 

Edam looked at her sharply. 

He wanted to go to the royal academy. It’s his only way to make any sort of income, in order to look after his mother. 

He has no hope of living in this village, if not for his magic. His magic measurement had always been high, and it is his only hope to get out of this village. 

Now, to let go of such an opportunity, just because Rina says it ? he is not very willing to believe her. 

“ Is it really to my benefit ? “ he asked. 

“ Yes. “ Rina answered. 

“ The benefit of listening to you and not listening is the difference between heaven and earth?” Edam asked her again. 

“ Yes. “ Rina answered. 

“ You are willing to die if it were false ? “ he asked with gritted teeth. 

“ Yes. “ Rina answered without hesitation. 

Edam frowned after listening to her, then started writing with the quill. 

That quill was a blood quill. It’s used only to sign the documents, yet, Edam was writing with it so easily. 

Rina retrieved her own, and started writing with hiss. She kept moaning in pain as she wrote. However, unlike Edam, she only signed her non consent. For the rest, she just used ink. 

They both dried and tied up their forms, then went to attend the awakening as usual. 

“ Song Rina ! Edam Forest ! You two must be quite happy to tarry around outside. How about I decline your awakening on the count of being undisciplined ? Ah ? Ah ? “ The teacher who was guiding the students to awakening poked their foreheads in utter anger. 

“ Sorry teacher. We just wanted to know what awakening feels like. We stopped by to talk with the first batch. Please let us attend awakening. “ Rina begged. 

Edam looked at her disgustedly. 

Despite not going through puberty, he is still a boy with a rebellious spirit. 

On top of it, Rina is a bit of a teacher's pet on the usual days. 

As any persecuted student should, he hated the teacher’s pet to an adequate degree. 

If he was not busy running away from his bully’s every day, Edam was sure to put bugs in her bag every day. 

“ So, what did you hear ? “ The teacher asked with a somewhat softened attitude. 

Edam turned around to look at the teacher in betrayal this time. 

Rina pouted. 

“ They won’t tell me. “ she answered. 

The teacher felt sufficiently vindicated, given the class is under clear orders to not reveal what an awakening feels like. 

“ Get in. Don’t make any noise. Wait for your name to be called. “ The teacher advised. 

Rina walked back in to the class. 

Unlike Edam, she was not bullied. 

There’s a very simple reason for this. She is a good student with top marks. 

So, the only sort of bullying she faces is isolation. Which never quite affected her the way the bullies hoped it would, for Rina is tired of human interaction after all the ‘looking after siblings. ‘. 

She sat in her seat happily, looking around and figuring out all her classmates once more. 

Like her, most of her classmates are mediocre in the amount of magic they have. If they have ten or one wont make a difference when every spell needs fifteen to work. 

Thus, even if they go to the royal academy, they can’t do a thing to change their future. They toil in the field as citizens now. 

They will toil as slaves to the nobility or die hunting in dungeons based on unreliable information. 

Related Chapters

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   Awakening

    “ Song Rina “ The teacher called. Rina got up obediently. In fact, awakening is not something that one experiences while conscious. They lie down in a specific bed with the blessed tree’s leaf or branch, depending whether you are in a village or city, and come out when a specific amount of time has passed. However, citizens of the capital have access to the Blessed tree itself. You pay gold to lie under it, more gold you can pay, more time you can stay, more clear you are on your talent. However, the key point here is talent lies with the genes. Just because a random nobody spent a year underneath the blessed tree does not mean he could awaken as a sage. In the first place, you have to hold the potential to become a sage. Thus, with her limited talent, this leaf was enough to awaken her. In her last life, she did not know what her magic talent was until the time she died. This time around, she probed her magic core as soon as she walked out. It felt hollow. Hollow ? Hollo

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   The skills

    The skill Rina chose was a simple skill, but of ‘SSS’ rating. Not that they know that at this point. After all, ratings are a new world thing, still ten years away. However, Rina knew that the skill orbs with black edge, encasing orange glow are all superb skills. She crumbled the skill expectantly. [ Inch Blade ] [ a blade the size of an inch that could cut through anything. ] The skill explanation said. No more. Nothing other than that. What the ?! Isn’t this an SSS skill ? What in the world is she supposed to do with a blade the size of an inch ? Rina was in tatters inside, but she did not show it outside. After all, this is an SSS level skill. This is still far more than what she would get when she attends the royal academy. “ Thanks, Sir. “ She said, and moved aside. Edam came up. He looked at her as he selected the skills. His hand moved to ‘otherworld search ‘. Rina frowned. He moved forward. His hands moved to the other skill that’s glowing slightly orange.

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   Elephant Rope

    Edam did as Rina said.His eyes widened in surprise as he felt the magic move. Rina moved back, allowing Edam to have his moment. First, the smell intensified, turning into a sharp tang of chemicals. Then, the water turned almost black. The reed in the middle of the swamp started growing extremely fast. Just as the water turned clear, there was a boat load of dead frogs and tadpoles floating atop the water. Then, even the dead frogs started decomposing. The water turned slightly murky, then extremely clear. There were blind white fish swimming all over in the water. The reed has grown to the height of two storied houses, with a gigantic leafy foliage atop it. Rina watched the entire process in fascination. As the reed grew and grew, she recognized what it was. It’s elephant reed. The elephant rope, which is used to tie the elephants and hanging bridges is made out of this reed. It’s a bit of a rare plant, given it’s considered a crossover from the demonic continent. She d

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   Realization

    With the help of her inch blade, it was easy to make the rough basket with vines. She first sharpened a small thumb sized branch into a wooden nail. Then she split the bamboo branches into perfect two and half foot pieces, and arranged them on top of one another, forming a nine pointed star. She made a small hole on top of the nail, and inserted a small branch through it so her nine branches wouldn't move. Then she started threading the vines through the branches circularly, like a spider weaving her web. Half way through, she combined two branches into one to create that basket structure. In the end, she threaded the last vine through all the branch ends to close it. In the end what appeared in front of her was a rough tote bag style basket, which may not hold fine stuff, but could carry plenty of rough things. In the end, she trimmed off the wooden dowel she used for the center, and placed a rough bamboo chip on top of that, so that pointy end won't hurt anyone. Her basket read

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   Desert Death

    Rina worked in silence. She leveled up once by the time she finished elephant reed, despite not cutting as many times as she did when mining lime rock. She paddled the raft all the way to the front, then got off the boat, stepping right on the reeds. She jumped on the reeds all the way, to create some bruises on the reed. Then, with a vine, she started threading the reeds into a bunch, one reed in twist. She pushed as much of the reed's body in the pond as she could, then she started working on the tops. Elephant reed, as the name suggests, does bear some resemblance with the elephants. Especially the gigantic man sized leaves at the end of the reed. Only, these leaves could not be cut without burning off one’s fingers, or melting metal. Fortunately, she has a blade which is neither metal, nor mana. She cut through the membrane exactly in half. She repeated it with all the reed, once she’s done, she pushed off all the reed into the pond, leaving only an edge of the vine sh

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   Bright Manor

    Bright manor was a surprisingly small, yet lavish place. The gardens that lead to the manor are full of greenery, yet, one could see almost all the plants in the gardens are functional in one way or another. There are fruit trees full of foliage. They were cut and made to look pretty, but they serve half as decoration, half as food source. The hedges are full of lavender, which is currently in bloom. Sure, they could be called ornamental plants, but this variety is a special honey producing kind, which is full of nectar. The bees buzzed around the bushes, yet, the main walkway is free of insects. The principal of the town school trudged the walk way dejectedly in his best suit. He is thinking over the excuses he could make to the lord so that he could mitigate the effect of two students taking up skills before attending royal academy. At present, the school principal’s only saving grace is that he had never discussed the performance of students in front of the lord beforehand.

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   Spider in the corner

    Elora looked at the shell shocked ballroom, gleaming with pride.She had always known that she was the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, now the kingdom will know the same as her.She could see it in her mind’s eye. The day is not far when princes compete for her favor.The ladies of the capital, who were ever so proud of being the first to buy any fashion on the street, will compete to copy her dress, only to realize they could never match her beauty.She will bestow her token to the choice of the champion in the joust, she would have a knight who is eternally devoted to her, the crown prince will serve her breakfast in bed, for he could not bear to let her walk to the dining hall o

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   Maiden in the tower

    Mordi immediately picked up one of the garnish leaves on the plate, and put them in his mouth, spreading them on his teeth, giving him a rotten teeth look. He turned around with a leery and ignorant look, looking like a hillbilly villager, even more uncivilized than a random tenant of the village. “ Hallo ! The Mastah chef told me to take these upstairs. He’s short on man powah ! so, me is helping out. It’iz a secret.“ he whispered. “ You .. ! “ The guard said. Mordi gentry probed the guard’s mind, suppressing the fright on his mind. Just a little bit of leak of the emotion is enough to raise the guard’s suspicions. ‘ Did I see this guy in the stables ? ‘ the guard was wondering. He needn’t have worried at al. Mordi gave a sigh of relief before continuing. “ Brotha’h ! Nex’d time you come, I will give ya a bettah horse ! Do me a favor. “ Mordi whispered, pushing the champagne glass towards the guard. The guard looked around, and stole one of the goat cheese canape on the plate

Latest Chapter

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   

    Villain

    Rina was shocked with the revelation she had. In her past, this entire wall would have been gone, being blasted off by the dimensional crack. Even if one were to say some official is touched in the head just enough to try and save citizens, thus, treks through the flooding waters to reach their village ! then ? ! By then, the water level would have released, by then, the buoy wall would float down to its stand, resembling a real wall. Even if Sherlock Holmes himself came to investigate, unless they are investigating the flood as a deliberate accident caused with ultimate malicious intent, not a single person would see the clues at all. The Villain would get away with it all ! If not for herself. ‘ Damn ! Doesn’t this make me a savior ? ‘ Rina grumbled. She worked diligently to open the valves opposite to the village side. This way, water will flow out into the desert of demons.Opening these valves is very easy for her as a space-mancer. However, there are too many of them, so it

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   

    Malice

    “ However, not starving is one thing, growing up with power and riches is another. I love being a noble, little brother. I think I am very suitable for enjoying the luxury and power of the world. Don’t you think so ? “ Davina asked him. Morde stayed silent. “ The girl ! you just bring me the girl. I will dissolve the debt between us. How about it ? “ Davina asked, pointing at Rina’s picture. Morde disagreed. He may not know what was the exact power of his family, but he does have a hunch. Now, looking at the paintings and Davina’s lavish quarters, he could fine tune it even more. However, as someone who studied the mystic arts, there is one thing he will abide by, even when all other principles are lost. ‘ one must not meddle with time ‘ Whatever power his sister has, it has something to do with prediction. He will do as she asks. He will find Rina, and tell her to run. Run to a far and remote place, so that no one will be able to find her again.

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   

    Maiden in the tower

    Mordi immediately picked up one of the garnish leaves on the plate, and put them in his mouth, spreading them on his teeth, giving him a rotten teeth look. He turned around with a leery and ignorant look, looking like a hillbilly villager, even more uncivilized than a random tenant of the village. “ Hallo ! The Mastah chef told me to take these upstairs. He’s short on man powah ! so, me is helping out. It’iz a secret.“ he whispered. “ You .. ! “ The guard said. Mordi gentry probed the guard’s mind, suppressing the fright on his mind. Just a little bit of leak of the emotion is enough to raise the guard’s suspicions. ‘ Did I see this guy in the stables ? ‘ the guard was wondering. He needn’t have worried at al. Mordi gave a sigh of relief before continuing. “ Brotha’h ! Nex’d time you come, I will give ya a bettah horse ! Do me a favor. “ Mordi whispered, pushing the champagne glass towards the guard. The guard looked around, and stole one of the goat cheese canape on the plate

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   

    Spider in the corner

    Elora looked at the shell shocked ballroom, gleaming with pride.She had always known that she was the most beautiful woman in the kingdom, now the kingdom will know the same as her.She could see it in her mind’s eye. The day is not far when princes compete for her favor.The ladies of the capital, who were ever so proud of being the first to buy any fashion on the street, will compete to copy her dress, only to realize they could never match her beauty.She will bestow her token to the choice of the champion in the joust, she would have a knight who is eternally devoted to her, the crown prince will serve her breakfast in bed, for he could not bear to let her walk to the dining hall o

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   

    Bright Manor

    Bright manor was a surprisingly small, yet lavish place. The gardens that lead to the manor are full of greenery, yet, one could see almost all the plants in the gardens are functional in one way or another. There are fruit trees full of foliage. They were cut and made to look pretty, but they serve half as decoration, half as food source. The hedges are full of lavender, which is currently in bloom. Sure, they could be called ornamental plants, but this variety is a special honey producing kind, which is full of nectar. The bees buzzed around the bushes, yet, the main walkway is free of insects. The principal of the town school trudged the walk way dejectedly in his best suit. He is thinking over the excuses he could make to the lord so that he could mitigate the effect of two students taking up skills before attending royal academy. At present, the school principal’s only saving grace is that he had never discussed the performance of students in front of the lord beforehand.

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   

    Desert Death

    Rina worked in silence. She leveled up once by the time she finished elephant reed, despite not cutting as many times as she did when mining lime rock. She paddled the raft all the way to the front, then got off the boat, stepping right on the reeds. She jumped on the reeds all the way, to create some bruises on the reed. Then, with a vine, she started threading the reeds into a bunch, one reed in twist. She pushed as much of the reed's body in the pond as she could, then she started working on the tops. Elephant reed, as the name suggests, does bear some resemblance with the elephants. Especially the gigantic man sized leaves at the end of the reed. Only, these leaves could not be cut without burning off one’s fingers, or melting metal. Fortunately, she has a blade which is neither metal, nor mana. She cut through the membrane exactly in half. She repeated it with all the reed, once she’s done, she pushed off all the reed into the pond, leaving only an edge of the vine sh

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   

    Realization

    With the help of her inch blade, it was easy to make the rough basket with vines. She first sharpened a small thumb sized branch into a wooden nail. Then she split the bamboo branches into perfect two and half foot pieces, and arranged them on top of one another, forming a nine pointed star. She made a small hole on top of the nail, and inserted a small branch through it so her nine branches wouldn't move. Then she started threading the vines through the branches circularly, like a spider weaving her web. Half way through, she combined two branches into one to create that basket structure. In the end, she threaded the last vine through all the branch ends to close it. In the end what appeared in front of her was a rough tote bag style basket, which may not hold fine stuff, but could carry plenty of rough things. In the end, she trimmed off the wooden dowel she used for the center, and placed a rough bamboo chip on top of that, so that pointy end won't hurt anyone. Her basket read

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   

    Elephant Rope

    Edam did as Rina said.His eyes widened in surprise as he felt the magic move. Rina moved back, allowing Edam to have his moment. First, the smell intensified, turning into a sharp tang of chemicals. Then, the water turned almost black. The reed in the middle of the swamp started growing extremely fast. Just as the water turned clear, there was a boat load of dead frogs and tadpoles floating atop the water. Then, even the dead frogs started decomposing. The water turned slightly murky, then extremely clear. There were blind white fish swimming all over in the water. The reed has grown to the height of two storied houses, with a gigantic leafy foliage atop it. Rina watched the entire process in fascination. As the reed grew and grew, she recognized what it was. It’s elephant reed. The elephant rope, which is used to tie the elephants and hanging bridges is made out of this reed. It’s a bit of a rare plant, given it’s considered a crossover from the demonic continent. She d

  • Reborn to be a Hermit   

    The skills

    The skill Rina chose was a simple skill, but of ‘SSS’ rating. Not that they know that at this point. After all, ratings are a new world thing, still ten years away. However, Rina knew that the skill orbs with black edge, encasing orange glow are all superb skills. She crumbled the skill expectantly. [ Inch Blade ] [ a blade the size of an inch that could cut through anything. ] The skill explanation said. No more. Nothing other than that. What the ?! Isn’t this an SSS skill ? What in the world is she supposed to do with a blade the size of an inch ? Rina was in tatters inside, but she did not show it outside. After all, this is an SSS level skill. This is still far more than what she would get when she attends the royal academy. “ Thanks, Sir. “ She said, and moved aside. Edam came up. He looked at her as he selected the skills. His hand moved to ‘otherworld search ‘. Rina frowned. He moved forward. His hands moved to the other skill that’s glowing slightly orange.