Virelle entered the room with an arrogant smile. The previous day, she had defeated the Class S teacher and, because of that, had officially taken over the position. After introducing herself to the students, she took off her coat and set it aside as she prepared to deliver the announcement she had received from the director.
"Very well, students. Now that I have introduced myself, I would like to announce that the director's training will be rescheduled for next week."
"What?"
The news immediately caused an argument among the students. Several voices began mixing throughout the room, but Virelle simply raised one hand, making everyone stop to listen to her. It was at that moment that she noticed the absence of Enrico, Yumeha, and Rank 1.
The absence of the first two surprised her slightly. Rank 1 had already been called by her family, so her absence was understandable, but Enrico was not the type to arrive late. Virelle had arrived ten minutes before the scheduled time and, unless he was training somewhere, he would normally arrive even earlier.
"The reason the training will not happen is simple. Five students will be randomly chosen for a test mission. In this mission, you will recover a low-level core that was stolen from a store."
The students exchanged confused looks. Virelle noticed the doubt on several of their faces and continued explaining. The core had been stolen from the owner's house, and its owner was willing to pay for its recovery. Since thefts of low-level cores had been happening frequently recently, they decided to take advantage of the situation to test some students on a real mission.
Valença raised her hand.
"Yes?"
"Why randomly?"
"Because, besides wanting to test some students, we also want to give everyone a fair chance, including the weaker ones. This way, no one will be able to choose who participates, and everyone will have the same opportunity."
The owner of the core had offered a considerable amount of money to the team that managed to recover it first. Besides the financial reward, the participants could also gain recognition and even acquire enough experience to increase their strength during the mission.
Before leaving to retrieve the small circular barrier that Director Hao had prepared, Virelle gave one final warning.
"And one more thing. It won't be just the academy participating in this mission. The owner also hired two other teams. One of them belongs to the second-largest academy on the continent, and the other is made up of members of the Mercenary Guild. They will use this mission to choose some rookies they may hire for important jobs in the future. Therefore, be careful."
"And that's what happened, my Ketsumei."
Rina was one of the first to approach Enrico when he finally arrived in the room and began explaining the situation in greater detail. Virelle returned shortly afterward carrying a transparent sphere. Inside it, several small pieces of paper began spinning.
She looked at Enrico and discreetly nodded as a good morning greeting before placing the sphere on the table.
"Sit down. I will draw the first name."
The students took their seats, and Enrico did the same. Inside, however, he began hoping to be chosen.
He had not managed to land the final blow on Elowyn during the battle between classes. Because of that, his mission had still not been completed. The only way to consider it finished would be to defeat her or make her admit defeat, and Elowyn obviously had not done that.
For that reason, Enrico wanted to participate in that mission. He needed to have some card up his sleeve before the next confrontation.
The problem was that the mission was based on a random selection. In the original story, some characters had participated in it, but now everything was happening about three months earlier than expected and there were new people at the academy. There was no way to know whether the same individuals would be chosen.
'I hope I'm chosen. This arc has a dungeon, so I can add a second fake dungeon to train in. It would be good-level training.'
[Of course that was your first thought.]
'And it always will be.'
Virelle put her hand inside the sphere and took out the first piece of paper. She opened it in front of the class.
"Kai."
Kai immediately shook his fist in the air, celebrating.
"Yes!"
Enrico was not surprised. Of course Kai would be chosen. That protagonist luck always seemed to attract new enemies and allies whenever he participated in important missions.
Virelle took out the second piece of paper.
"The second name is Valença."
"All right, teacher."
Valença had also participated in the original mission. Up until that moment, the selection was following exactly what happened in the story Enrico knew.
That was precisely what he did not want.
The situation had already changed too much. Enrico had disappeared from that part of the story a long time ago, so he needed to find a way to interfere before everything returned to following the same path.
Valença, apparently not caring about the drawing, approached Enrico and began messing up his hair. He did not complain, but noticed Serenya right behind her watching the situation with a sulky expression.
Virelle took out another piece of paper.
"Next: Maevon Calendir."
"All right, teacher."
Enrico observed Maevon for a few seconds. He was Rank 8 in the class, and that was good. Since Maevon had not participated in the mission in the original story, his presence there meant there was a chance that the mission would take a different direction.
The next piece of paper was opened.
"Elaris."
The Council President stood up and thanked her for the opportunity. Enrico watched her for a few seconds. It had been some time since he had seen her, so he ended up looking a second time.
Elaris noticed and discreetly waved at him.
Enrico returned the gesture.
Virelle put her hand inside the sphere again.
"The last..."
Enrico tightened his hands on the table.
'Let it be me. Let it be me...'
Virelle opened the last piece of paper.
"Elowyn."
'Damn it.'
Enrico slammed his fists against the table, startling the students around him. Realizing what he had done, he immediately composed himself.
"Sorry."
He sat back down, but his irritation did not disappear. Especially because, when he looked at Elowyn, he noticed a smile on her face.
She had noticed.
She had probably understood that he wanted to participate in that mission and was now enjoying his frustration.
[I'm sure she wasn't the only one who realized you wanted to participate.]
'Yes. You're right.'
Enrico looked around.
Several students had noticed his reaction. Now, the only thing he could do was curse his own luck and think of another way to enter that mission.
Virelle put the sphere away and continued:
"We will leave on Friday afternoon, after classes. Therefore, the selected students must prepare to travel. The mission will take place in a location between the territories of Sanos and Tianlong."
"All right."
The five answered almost at the same time.
While the chosen students began preparing for the mission, Enrico continued thinking of a solution. He could not simply enter as a student from another academy. That would be considered an affront to Sanos Academy, even if his intention was only to participate in a mission.
Besides, he did not want to draw unnecessary attention.
The simplest plan would be to become a rookie mercenary and pass the first test so he could participate in the mission from that side. That way, he could act without directly involving Sanos Academy.
The only problem was his identity.
Enrico could not simply appear using his own name. If they discovered that a Sanos Academy student had secretly joined a team of mercenaries to participate in a mission organized by another academy, there would certainly be problems.
And he did not intend to abandon the academy.
He only wanted to use the mercenary mantle during some missions.
'I will have to use another identity and...'
"Enrico, let me tell you what this mission will be like. So don't worry."
Kai approached and began talking about what he imagined would happen during the mission. As he explained, he made several gestures and seemed increasingly excited about the possibility of facing new challenges.
"It's a shame you won't be able to participate."
"Yes..."
Enrico answered calmly. Inside, however, he had already decided.
He would participate.
He just would not do it as Enrico. His eyes went toward Yumeha, wondering whether he should take her or not.