Rise of the Darkness Tycoon

Chapter 11- The Result of Good Intentions

“Hey there, Calvin.”

“…”

Calvin could only stare in shock at the bright smile of the familiar young woman in front of him, who glanced at his arm coated in darkness and added, “Never knew you were an elementalist too.”

At that, Calvin silently withdrew his energy, the darkness covering his arms fading away without a sound. He exhaled softly, then looked up at the teenager before him, taking in her appearance.

She had a slender build with a curvaceous frame and average height, along with brown skin, golden eyes, and black waist-length hair tied in a ponytail, with chin-length bangs framing the sides of her face.

She wasn’t unfamiliar to him, as Calvin Carter had known her. She was from a different class in Calvin’s grade in school. Her name was…

“Ashley…”

“?”

The young woman raised an eyebrow at her name being called, and at this, Calvin glanced in the direction she had come running from and asked,

“What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? Well, pretty much what everyone who comes to a market does. Buying stuff,” she replied with a shrug.

Taking a step closer, she continued, “I didn’t see you in school this week, so I asked your homeroom teacher what happened, and she told me you were hospitalised.”

Glancing at the alleyway around them and the men lying on the floor while groaning in pain, she added, “This certainly doesn’t look like a hospital.”

“I was discharged this morning,” Calvin immediately said. Before he could speak any other words, Ashley replied.

“Discharged in the morning and fighting thugs in the afternoon, with elemental powers I’m pretty darn sure you didn’t have last week? What the hell happened while you were in the hospital?”

“A lot.”

Calvin’s response made it clear he had no desire to elaborate, but whether Ashley realised this or not, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and spoke.

“Well, I’m very curious about this ‘lot’ that happened. How did you suddenly awaken as an elementalist? And with the rare but powerful darkness element, at that.”

Her continuous questions were gradually making Calvin run low on what little politeness he still had left, so his next words came out a bit edged in tone.

“And why do you care to know?”

However, Ashley’s reaction was nothing like Calvin expected.

Instead of stepping back from his darkening tone, she nodded to herself in understanding, a faintly nostalgic look on her face as she spoke.

“Ah, there it is. The usual Calvin.”

“…what?”

Ignoring Calvin’s shock, Ashley continued speaking.

“I was kinda surprised, you know? You were answering several of my questions without any barbed responses. Normally, you would…”

She paused, raising her fingers and lowering them one by one as she listed them.

“Either tell me to stop talking to you, completely ignore me, or look at me like I’m some self-righteous person who only came to you after you were bullied just so I could feel good about myself.

On our last interaction, you even called me an ‘Arrogant Rich Prick.’”

“…”

Calvin had no words as the memories of Calvin Carter’s interactions with Ashley surfaced in his mind, and he could only sigh heavily.

“Given all that, it’s only natural I find it weird you spoke to me normally, even if only for a little bit,” Ashley said with a light shrug.

“Aren’t you the weird one for still trying to talk to me despite the way I’ve treated you?” Calvin immediately shot back.

His question made Ashley freeze in silence, and she raised her fingers to her chin, quietly rubbing it as she spoke.

“True. You can say I’m the weird one. But at the same time, not really…”

She snapped her fingers right after speaking, and the ground around the E-Rank earth elementalist on the floor cracked open, curved pieces of rock rising and arching over his body and mouth, sealing him to the ground and stopping him from moving or speaking.

Then, she continued answering Calvin.

“Regardless of my personal views on right and wrong, bullying is a fundamentally irrational act and is completely ridiculous as far as I’m concerned. If I find myself witnessing an incident of bullying, it’s only natural I take action to try to stop it.”

The young woman paused at that moment, her tone turning introspective as she muttered, “Maybe I am a self-righteous person who just wants nothing but to make myself feel good.”

Her sudden introspective tone made Calvin swallow the words he was about to say. He exhaled softly, then spoke.

“Your intentions were good, but the result of good intentions isn’t always good.”

“Huh? How so?” Ashley asked, blinking in confusion.

Calvin took a moment to look at her properly, and seeing that her confusion was genuine, he understood that she really didn’t know what had happened to Calvin Carter.

“I was hospitalised, wasn’t I?” he began.

“Ah, right. How did you end up in a hospital anyway? Your homeroom teacher refused to tell me.”

“Of course, she refused to tell you I got involved in a construction accident and had metal pipes fall on my head.”

“What?!” Ashley exclaimed in shock, instantly closing the distance and reaching out to grab the sides of Calvin’s head, her worried eyes scanning for any wounds.

Calvin frowned at the fact that he couldn’t even react to her sudden speed, reaching out to grab her hands and stepping back as he spoke.

“Hands off.”

Ashley didn’t try to grab him again, but her shock and worry were still clear on her face.

“How are you fine already?!”

“Elementalists heal faster than normal, don’t they?” Calvin asked with a raised eyebrow.

“But head injuries aren’t normal injuries either!”

“Then let’s say I heal faster than the average elementalist,” Calvin said, his tone final.

Holding up his hand to stop Ashley from flooding him with more questions, he asked, “Has it occurred to you to question why I was at a construction site in the first place?”

At that, Ashley blinked, then frowned faintly.

“…what were you doing there?”

She seemed hesitant to ask the question, and noticing this, Calvin silently revised his understanding of her.

‘She’s perceptive.’

Still, that didn’t stop him from saying what he wanted to.

“I was there because of an incident involving the same bullying you see as irrational and ridiculous.”

Ashley didn’t respond, and Calvin took that as his cue to continue.

“You’re the daughter of one of this city’s richest men, and you’ve had the resources to become a D-Rank Elementalist at just 18, which is considered impressive in this part of the country.

People fear you. That’s why when you intervene to try to stop bullying, it actually works, on school grounds at least.”

Ashley’s expression darkened as Calvin continued speaking.

“However, like you said earlier, bullying is irrational. Teenagers with a lot of unstable emotions are prone to a lot of irrationality. If they can’t carry out their bullying on school grounds, where they know you or teachers trying to get on your good side are bound to interfere, then they’ll take it off school grounds, to places you wouldn’t normally think they’d be around.”

There was no need for Calvin to say anything more, as Ashley already understood the situation.

They had taken Calvin Carter out there because they had been trying to avoid Ashley, who always interfered with them.

What’s more, that construction site hadn’t been the only place. They had dragged him to other places before as well.

This was the result of Ashley’s interference, and the reason why Calvin Carter’s attitude towards Ashley had been harsh even though she was trying to help.

Her actions had simply expanded the range in which he was being bullied, from just school.

Ashley stepped back slightly as the realisation sank in, her expression filled with gloom as she quietly muttered,

“I’m…I’m sorry.”