CLEAVER OF SIN Chapter 951: Friendship

At another hotel far away from the Gentle, several kilometers away, within one of the rooms, a girl with caramel skin, black hair that flowed down her back, and amber-gold-colored eyes could be seen using a white towel to wipe the sweat from her face while wearing a skin-tight training suit.

She was Arianna Haellight.

She had just finished her training, having thrown herself into an extremely intense regimen after losing to Asher and witnessing him grow stronger once again in real time after consuming the Fruit of Dawn.

She sighed softly before taking off her training suit as she headed toward the bathroom for a bath. After a few minutes, she stepped out of the bathroom and ordered some food, as she was quite famished, having trained continuously since the award ceremony without stopping.

It didn’t take long for the food to arrive, and as it did, three other girls who appeared to be around the same age as Arianna entered the room, following behind the kitchen staff who had brought the food.

Seeing the three girls, Arianna sighed before speaking, "I already knew the three of you would come the moment my door opened. It’s a good thing I ordered enough food to feed four people," she stated as she shook her head, having anticipated their arrival at this precise moment.

The kitchen staff simply placed the food on the table before turning around and leaving without wasting a single moment. While the staff member was a fan of Arianna, the hotel’s rules and management did not allow anything beyond simply carrying out her duties.

The three girls were Arianna’s friends. They all possessed black hair but had varying eye colors. Their names were Clara, Maeve, and Celeste.

The trio had been Arianna’s friends ever since they were little, long before she became the Arianna the world knew today, and they remained the only friends she truly had, as they were the only ones who had never wanted to get close to her for personal gain or any benefit of the sort.

"Not everyone is as talented as you, Arianna, and because of that, we don’t have to lock ourselves away in our rooms and train until we drop dead," Clara stated as she sat on the bed beside Arianna, casually picked up a chicken thigh, and began eating it.

Arianna remained silent as she had no words to offer Clara, simply shaking her head in response.

"No need to say anything, Clara. Now that she has lost, Arianna is probably going to lock herself up even more and train until the end of time," Celeste teased as she sat on the couch with a smile on her face.

At the side, Maeve sighed before stating, "We should be consoling Arianna. She has never lost a fight before, and now she has," she said, her green eyes shifting toward Arianna as she spoke, "Don’t push yourself too hard. You can always win the next battle. You are Arianna Haellight, after all," she encouraged.

At Maeve’s words, Clara and Celeste both fell silent for a moment before sighing and shaking their heads. They had already spent the two days before the award ceremony consoling Arianna, with Arianna repeatedly telling them she was fine and wasn’t bothered by the loss. Yet Maeve seemed to be the only one who still wasn’t convinced by Arianna’s words.

"Maeve, as I’ve said countless times before, I’m fine. Losing a single fight doesn’t mean I’m suddenly going to sink into depression or start contemplating suicide or anything of the sort," Arianna replied with a shake of her head as she picked up a plate and began to eat.

Her amber-gold eyes met Maeve’s green ones as she continued speaking. "Besides, speaking of me losing, you and Clara both awakened on your third attempts, and I lost to Asher, who also awakened on his third attempt. Shouldn’t the both of you have found some fire of determination to train?" she asked.

Maeve, Clara, and Celeste were all commoners, just like Arianna. The four of them had grown up together and had remained the best friends until now, all being the same age. However, unlike Arianna, neither Maeve, Celeste, nor Clara possessed an overpowered father or mother, as the trio hailed from ordinary families like any other commoners.

Being the same age, they had all undergone their awakenings during the same year. However, Maeve and Clara awakened on their third attempts, while Celeste awakened on her second attempt.

Maeve and Clara had simply accepted their reality. While they trained every now and then, they never pushed themselves to the limit the way people like Asher and many other geniuses did. After all, what was the point?

Because of their late awakenings, neither of them managed to enter the Constellation Academy, and only Arianna Haellight and Celeste were admitted into the Academy.

When Arianna awakened on her very first attempt, none of the trio were surprised. After all, her father was none other than the Black Disaster, one of the strongest men in the Empire. Besides, they were genuinely happy for her and immediately told Arianna, with shameless grins, that they intended to milk their decade-old friendship for everything it was worth.

And what was the very first thing they did?

They convinced Arianna, who was the most talented genius and the daughter of the Black Disaster, to persuade the Principal of the Constellation Academy, Raiden, to hire them into the Academy as minor staff members, such as kitchen workers or janitors, simply so the four of them could remain together.

Since only Arianna and Celeste had made it into the Constellation Academy, it was the only option available to them.

Arianna immediately agreed, as it cost her nothing. She simply made her wishes known to Principal Raiden, who immediately rejected the proposal. However, Arianna simply reported the matter to Azazel, and Azazel casually informed Raiden that if he couldn’t employ two commoner girls to work at the Constellation Academy, then Arianna would not be attending the Academy at all.

Just like that, Raiden was left with little choice but to employ Maeve and Clara into the Academy. Well, not exactly forced, considering it was something so insignificant to a man of his stature that it barely qualified as an inconvenience.

With that, the four girls remained together within the Constellation Academy without their friendship ever breaking apart. As for Celeste, she wasn’t exactly a top-tier genius. While she was certainly above average, she wasn’t someone who could truly be called a shining star among her peers.

Although Maeve, Celeste, and Clara had often joked about taking every advantage they could from being friends with someone like Arianna, in the end, nothing ever came of those jokes. Throughout all these years, forcing Raiden to employ Maeve and Clara had been the only favor they had ever asked Arianna for, and they had never requested anything beyond that.

Of course, being best friends with Arianna had earned Maeve, Celeste, and Clara an enormous amount of attention, as numerous young men attempted to court them every single day. Some constantly sent gifts, while others showered them with gold coins and expensive presents day after day, all in hopes of gaining Arianna’s favor through them.

The three girls naturally took full advantage of the attention. After all, who knew how long such treatment was going to last?

Even the work assigned to them at the Constellation Academy, which mostly consisted of cleaning duties, was something they rarely ever did, as the department responsible for supervising them practically gave them leave every single day.

However, Maeve and Clara were far from idiots. They knew every act of kindness, every expensive gift, every confession, and every favor offered to them was merely an attempt to get closer to Arianna through them. Because of that, they ignored every love confession, every invitation, and every attempt to curry favor, never allowing themselves to become tools in someone else’s pursuit of Arianna.

They might enjoy the free gifts and occasional benefits that came with their association, but there was one line they had never crossed, and they had no intention of ever crossing it. Their friendship with Arianna had begun long before her name carried the weight it did today, and to them, that friendship was worth far more than all the wealth, influence, and opportunities the Empire could offer.