Zero to Hero (Prequel/prototype)

Chapter 26. Aftermath

"Ken. It's 8:30, we have to hurry, or the free breakfast will be over." Indra said softly as the girls gathered outside Ken's dorm room.

"KEN! GET UP!" Clare shouted while telling Indra that she needed to work on her voice.

Not long after, Ken opened his dorm room and greeted the six girls and the group headed down to the dining hall for breakfast on a typical Sunday morning.

As the group got down to the common room and headed out, they were greeted warmly by multiple groups of people along the way and the same happened when they reached the dining hall.

Two months had passed since the encounter with Luke and things had changed greatly for Ken and the girls. The very next day after they discussed Ken's plan, the group started spreading the message, and it didn't take long for the message to reach most of the commoners and nobles alike that the princess of Yelwraek was looking for servants.

On the surface, the story that was spread was that Clare was looking for servants but in reality, Ken and the girls were gathering information on which of the commoners were getting targeted, abused and who needed a helping hand.

Once most of those that needed help were identified, Ken got Clare to put on a dramatic show. Over the next few days, they gathered and interviewed most of the commoners in the first year in the dining hall right in front of the whole academy like it was a selection process but in secrecy, offered any and all that wanted the help, especially those that had already been taken advantage of and abused the opportunity to be affiliated with Clare.

Within a single week, almost all of the first-year low-class commoners that weren't already connected with someone of status that protected them from Luke's tyranny are now part of Clare's newly established servant group where according to rumors that was spread around, she would use the servants however she pleased and whenever she wanted.

To the older students who aren't in the know of what was going on between the first years, Clare's behavior was dismissed as eccentric behavior of a powerful royal and since those with money and power are often known to behave sporadically due to boredom or for whatever else reason, no one really questioned why the princess of Yelwraek suddenly wanted a hundred servants and for what purpose she was utilizing those servants..

For Luke, Ken's pray for peaceful resolution was answered, and he seemed to have hit the nail on the head that as long as Clare did not confront Luke directly and challenge his status, Luke made no effort of retaliation or wanting to escalate this issue any further over the commoners that are now no longer getting severely bullied or abused.

As Ken suggested, bullying the commoners served Luke no actual purpose and with Clare's grand display, everyone is now aware of her claim to those commoners. For Luke to want and dispute that now, it would have led to a very public escalation and thankfully, Luke wasn't about to do anything that pointless for no gain and Ken was finally able to breathe easy after more than a week of endless stress.

Turns out, Luke was the actual idiot after Ken and the girls dug around for more information. It would seem, during his break home, Luke happened to fall in love with a commoner girl but since she already had a lover, he got swiftly rejected and that rejection led to his sudden fury against the commoners in the academy and many people ended up getting hurt.

Unfortunately, because of his status, a simple foolish temper tantrum by him ruined the life of many students and those scars will remain no matter how much time passes. Thankfully, with Ken's quick and decisive plan and Clare's position, they were able to rescue the majority of the commoners before the situation got fully out of control.

For those that got saved before they had to drop out or getting taken advantage of, they became extremely grateful to Clare and even those that had to go through the most terrible ordeal are thankful that the worst is now behind them, and they can begin the journey of healing.