"Man, that fight against teacher Iaves was brutal. Even with prince Alva and Mr. Yolte helping me, we couldn't snatch the badge."
"You can't just sit down next to us and blurt that out! You haven't even told us how the fight went!" Theo snapped at his bodyguard.
It was already the early morning of the fifth day. We were all on the carriage back to the city, pulled by those massive lizard beasts.
Out of the nineteen students who took the test, not a single one failed. No one was forced off the island; everyone managed to last until the end.
As for badges—of the six up for grabs, four had been stolen. Or, as Fran put it in her case, "given out." Alongside Teacher Enyoll Iaves, only one other examiner managed to keep their badge.
Kind of depressing that I was on the examiner side that failed. But since even Crowbell lost—well, gave his badge away—then I don't feel like I could take much pride in it anyway.
"The only thing I can say is that Prince Alva and Mr. Yolte became my friends. And by extension, your friends too."
"I highly doubt that," I muttered, remembering how little I got along with Ximuss and Lyon.
"Speaking of friends... my liege, who's this girl?"
"Sh—"
"I...! Am Elizabeth Bato, currently ranked fourth in our class," the glasses girl declared, adjusting her frames with practiced precision. "I made a deal with Prince Theo to be introduced and join this group."
"Nice to meet you!"
"This isn't the first time you've seen her!" Theo snapped, annoyed that his bodyguard was acting like Elizabeth was a stranger despite her being only one rank below him.
"I'm in a good mood, so I'll be clear and say it once: don't get close to Alen. Understood?" Fran's tone was harsh, but her smile gave her away. She'd been much more cheerful since our moment together.
"If we're going to be in the same group, she'll have to be close to me."
"Y-yes, don't worry about that, Princess Von Themys. I have no plans beyond friendship. In fact, I fully support you two!" Elizabeth said, forcing a grin and raising a trembling thumbs-up.
For a moment, silence hung over us.
"Well... at least you're smart enough to understand how things work," Fran said, turning away.
"Welcome to the group, I guess," I added with a smile, not sure how else to react.
---
Meanwhile, on the other side of the massive carriage, the rest of the S class gathered.
Some were asleep on the floor, while most sat together sharing their experiences.
Most of those experiences were miserable. Being pampered nobles, few of them had ever spent a full day surviving outdoors.
"Griffa! I heard you and your group stole Alen's badge!"
"Yeah! Was he really that strong—overqualified for the test? Or was he just a fraud?"
The three girls were surrounded, bombarded with questions.
"No, no, no. Even three-on-one, we barely won," Sylla Darema said, waving her hand side to side.
"He beat both Treyaro and Alva in a two-on-one, didn't he? I'm not surprised."
"We would've lost if it had been a real fight," Griffa Irea admitted, her gaze lowered. The others stared at her. "He held back..."
"Even holding back, he dealt with me too easily," Cremia Dolche added, embarrassed.
"Holding back? What do you mean?" someone asked.
"He never used the spells he's known for. No sandstorm, no wind scythe," the elven girl explained.
"Not only that—he never attacked directly with his daggers. He only defended with them. If it had been a real fight instead of a test with a clear condition, we wouldn't have stood a chance," Griffa said, still expressionless, though frustration churned inside her.
"No way..."
"He's that strong?"
"No wonder Julius Der Botcam sought him out."
"Not just Julius—Teacher Crowbell and Director Goldenlaw keep a close eye on him too."
"And the queen of Montanev confronted him as well."
"No wonder he leads his group..."
Whispers spread like wildfire, imaginations running rampant.
The whole class looked toward the group of the top five students gathered, next to each other, Alen standing out among all of them as the one who glued te whole group together.
To them, he was an anomaly. Friends with Montanev's cold princess. Defended the sinner Kaida Thican against that same princess' bullying. A peasant from nowhere. Yet the strongest people around kept gravitating toward him.
"Hey, Ximuss. I heard you fought Treyaro and Prince Alva. How was it?" someone asked.
The blue-haired, mohawked boy scoffed, irritated. "I couldn't do anything. They just fought each other and treated me like an obstacle to dodge."
"Then it's worse than people think, huh?"
"What is?" Ximuss asked, confused. Everyone else seemed to know, except for him and the three girls who had recently been promoted into the S class with him.
"C'mon, you should know. You're new here, same as Dolche and those two."
"Those two?!" Tarian Ebenly and Cecilya Redwick snapped at the careless student.
"That the gap between the bottom of S class and the top ten is bigger than the gap between top A class and bottom S class," Griffa explained, folding her bird-like wings around herself.
"If Griffa, ranked eighth, struggled against Alen, ranked fifth, even with numbers on her side... then the real divide starts above us."
"And where's that line?"
"Either Griffa herself is the marker, or Yonaiker Raiten, ranked seventh," one student said.
"Didn't Yonaiker steal a badge?"
"I did. But it was a group effort with three others," the elf replied, lying on the carriage floor, trying to sleep.
"You still acted as our leader."
"Thanks, but honestly I'd have preferred more teammates."
Both Yonaiker and Griffa looked uneasy. They were clearly the ones people saw as the threshold between the strong and the weak.
It was like a crater separated them from those just above in rank.
Lyon Alva had been the first to widen that gap. After the lion prince, everyone else below the top six was considered weak.
Seeing the top five gathered together, and Lyon sitting alone in the corner, many students quietly resolved not to fall behind.
---
The morning of the fifth day began with our arrival at the academy gates. Crowbell informed us that, since we'd all taken the test, everyone was allowed the day off—a free day for all.
"What's the plan now, guys?" Elizabeth asked. She didn't look nearly as tired as the rest of us.
"Sleep. I want my bed," Theo muttered, slouching as he wandered off.
Cecil laughed and followed the blonde prince. "Haha! That's not an efficient way to spend your time, my liege!"
"Then what are we doi—"
"Don't even think about it!" Fran cut in, cold. "If we spend time together, it'll be just Alen and me."
"But Theo's right. I need a bath and a proper nap to get my energy back," I said, joining the two other guys and leaving the girls behind.
At the Golden Dragon house I dashed to my room and into the private bathroom for a well-deserved wash. Clean and dressed, I summoned one of the Eleventh Songbird Squad.
"Sheiran, come!"
The little goblin popped out from beneath his black cloak. I handed him a folded paper and explained the plan.
"Write a letter? But I don't know human writing," he protested.
"Here." I handed over the same letter copied on another sheet. "These are the characters and the order you need to write them in."
"Why me, mister?" Sheiran asked, though he didn't resist.
"If I wrote it in my regular hand, I could be tracked. I thought about using my left hand—tryig to use non-dominant handwriting to fake the writting and make it impossible to track me down with my writting. But I can write equally well with either hand. That wouldn't work."
"I get it. So don't copy this exactly. Some imperfections will look more natural."
"Exactly."
"Tonight's finally the night, Alen?" Tinalara asked as she stepped out from the cloak.
"I'm ready to smack some bad guys and win!" Gola chimed in, hugging Tinalara with enthusiasm.
"Why the letter, anyway?" Sheiran asked.
"It'll buy us help and reinforcements... probably."
"A 'probably' is better than nothing," Gola said, rolling her eyes with a small amount of sarcasm.
"What now?" Tinalara asked.
"Now we wait and prepare for tonight. I hope you've got everything ready—even Rachnera."
"She's in top condition," Sheiran said.
"Mister! I'm in top condition too! I'll defend everyone with my shield. Nobody gets hurt under my watch," Gola declared, bursting with excitement for her first mission with the Eleventh Songbird Squad.
"I'll deliver the letter at night. Once that's done, hide in the cloak until I call for help."
"Understood!" Sheiran and Gola replied in unison, full of enthusiasm.
The contents of the letter talk about the group of drug dealers that could cause a lot of trouble in the future.
Of course, I avoided as many details related to te future that happened on the game's routes.
The most important thing I made sure that the letter mentioned, was the location of the group, the urgency at which this should be taken care off, and encouraging words toward the one this letter is destined to.
Kaida Thican. I need her to also try to take down this event and succeed.