Alright, whatever happens, just stay calm.
Misen knocked and entered the room, as I followed in after him. The Headmasters' office, with the man himself, Raedal Yiserir, seated in front of desk inside. He was slightly balding, with white hair and a long white beard.
Despite his age, I could sense that he wasn't weak by any stretch of the imagination. He apparently kept his Anima to himself, and I couldn't see any physical mutations that could clue me in on what it was.
"Ah, Kuro Black, welcome. Let's cut straight to the chase, shall we? According to Misen Ragiu, you and your group assisted him with the Quest that I assigned him upon orders from the royal family. And when you came across the objective of the Quest, a virtually unknown plant, you were quick to identify it. You must know that seems a bit suspicious. Please understand that we aren't accusing you of anything, but are simply requesting an explanation in order to avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings."
He seemed to be telling the truth...looks like they weren't trying to convict me.
"Sure, no problem. But before that, I'm a bit curious about something, do you mind?" I replied calmly.
"Very well, what is it?"
"This was a pretty important assignment, so why wasn't it given to an official Adventurer instead of a Student Adventurer?"
"Ah, that's a good question. The truth is, until the alliance with Goldway is officially secured, the Rustlands will be in quite a tricky situation. If any of the other nations had been planning to attack or take over us, it will become significantly more difficult to do so after we're officially allied with Goldway, so their last chance to do so will be before that happens. To that end, all our Adventurers have been made alert, they must remain within the Rustlands and be ready to defend it at a moments notice. Right now, Quests are only being carried out by the Academy's Student Adventurers. There's not a single full-fledged Adventurer who is taking on Quests right now. In fact, the royal family decided that even for the mission to Goldway that departs next week, we will not be sending any Adventurers to act as bodyguards for our royal representatives, the Adventurers will continue to be stationed inside the Rustlands as a defensive measure. Our hope is that the presence of all our Adventurers will be enough to deter any potential attacks. Of course, this may very well be simply a paranoid or overly cautious measure, but it is better safe than sorry. So, instead...the representatives we send to Goldway are to be guarded by a select group of our strongest Student Adventurers," He explained.
Huh, come to think of it, whenever I had gone to the Guild to take on a Quest lately, it was always pretty uncrowded.
Wait, what was that last part again?
"Uh, what did you just say, sir?" Asked Misen, his eyes widening.
"Is that...really a good idea?" I said incredulously.
"Why not? The current batch of students at this Academy possibly have the greatest overall potential we've ever had in the history of the Rustlands. Just so you know, both of you are potential candidates for this all-important mission," Replied the Headmaster, with a smile.
Huh...
...huh...
...huhhhh!?!?!?!?!?!
Was this for real?
A Quest to Goldway...I'd no doubt get to face some powerful monsters, perhaps even some enemy Adventurers, plus I'd get to see a bit more of this world as a bonus.
"W-wait, are you being serious? Just for my own reference, when you say potential candidate, how likely are my chances of being included?" I inquired eagerly, before I could stop myself.
"Haha, what's this? That's quite the hopeful glint in your eye, young man! I like your enthusiasm. Very likely, actually. The chosen students will almost certainly consist of those who made an impression in the Brawl of Glory. Also, if I can be a bit honest and a touch unprofessional, you youngsters are actually a lot stronger that most of our nation's Adventurers, in fact I can guarantee that you two are stronger than all of those who are B-ranked or below, and even most of our A-ranks would pale in comparison, a lot of them were quite stunned to see so many powerful young fighters in the Brawl of Glory. If I had to estimate, I'd say that both of your abilities are just a little bit short of S-Rank at the moment. This country only has four S-Ranked Adventurers at the moment, they're all quite powerful in their own rights, to give you an idea, I can guarantee that two of them are stronger than Ekai Zabel, and the other two are at a similar power level to him. Of course, there is the difference in experience to consider, therefore a couple of instructors will also be selected."
Just four S-Ranks in the entire country?
This made a lot more sense now, with such a few genuinely strong Adventurers, they definitely couldn't afford to stretch themselves thin with the very real possibility of an attack from another country. Even if the chances of that happening were slim, it wasn't worth the risk.
And if there were any spies here, it wouldn't be too hard to stir up some chaos from within. You know the poison I use to coat my needles? That stuff can be readily found in almost every weapon and equipment shop, it would be pretty easy to buy a bunch of it and add it to the water supply or something like that.
Seriously, as someone who had been an assassin for over half a decade, I can confidently say that pulling off assassinations in this country would be ridiculously easy to get away with.
Despite that, the crime rate in the Rustlands was pretty low, at most you'd hear about minor robberies, vandalism or something equally trivial.
Anyway, I'm getting a bit off topic.
"Heh, I know nothing's finalized yet, and that there's no guarantee that I won't get left out, but I can't help getting excited," I grinned.
"Yes, I can see that, but before your name can be added to that roster...I will need you to explain how you knew about this plant. We can't have any room for suspicion or misunderstandings, I'm sure you understand."
Oh, in all the excitement, I'd forgotten about that. No worries though...I had come up with a workable explanation on the way here. I just needed to deliver it convincingly.
"Oh, sure. It's really not a big deal though. Let's see, I came across that area last week, a day or two after I'd received my Student Adventurer Card. I was exploring the forest area, looking for strong monsters to fight, when I noticed the arrow markings on the trees. Naturally, I got curious, so I followed them and found myself in that clearing. While I was in there, I got pretty hungry, so I used a lightning bolt to shoot down a bird. My lightning brushed against one of the buds of the plant and burnt it a bit, and when I accidentally inhaled the fumes, I found myself feeling all chill and relaxed. And yesterday, I recognized the path when Misen was leading us, but he mentioned that it was for a really important Quest or something so I decided to keep it to myself. And when we got there, I sort of felt the temptation to smoke it but at that point it felt too awkward to admit that I had already been there before after pretending to not know that area, so instead, I acted surprised, then exclaimed and 'recognized' it," I lied, using air quotes at the end there, "And that's about it, I think."
Alright, I think that was a decent cover...
My body language had been perfect, and I hadn't hesitated or stuttered even once. And I'd made sure not to sound robotic or like I had rehearsed it or something, while also taking care not to contradict myself or leave any holes in the explanation.
It had been a while since I had constructed and executed a lie so seamlessly. Of course, all that would be pointless if he didn't believe me.
"Hmm...I see...."
Come on, please work...
"Yes, that does make sense..."
Yeah, that's right! It totally makes sense!
"Well, I suppose we have no way to prove that you're lying. However, going by my gut instinct...you certainly didn't seem to be lying," He concluded with a satisfied nod.
Hook, line and fuckin' sinker!
Yes!
In my old world, I had to train for nearly six months to master the art of perfectly disguising a lie, it's a lot harder than you might think.
There was a lot that went into it, thinking up a convincing lie, delivering it without raising suspicious, visualizing the lie to the extent that you nearly convince yourself that it's true, as well as to leave no room for contradictions, along with a slew of other minor factors. I definitely used it a lot in my old life.
This was the first time I used it to this extent in this world though.
"Well then, I apologize for taking up your time, especially on a Sunday. You are dismissed...you will be informed of whether or not you have been selected for the mission to Goldway within the next couple of days. But just between us, I can almost guarantee that both of you will make the cut," He grinned, stroking his beard.
We excused ourselves and left.
"Well, that sure perked me up. I think I'll take back my decision to kill you, that worked out so much better than I expected," I remarked enthusiastically.
"..."
"What's up your ass? Come to think of it, you were pretty quiet in there too," I recalled.
Yeah, he had barely said a word the whole time. That seemed unusual.
"You've got something wrong about me, I don't mind taking independent risks for my own fun, like when I provoked you and your group, but the risk that comes with being assigned to an important task by someone else...just stresses me out. If my personal risk goes wrong, whatever, I'll just live with the consequences. But the risk of failing an important mission like this is just irritatingly stressfu-!"
...had I seriously let this idiot provoke me a few months ago?
"Ohh, I get it now. That's why I was able to make you my bitch so easily during the Quest yesterday, you were terrified of failing. So to sum it up...you can't handle being given responsibility, can you? You sure took a roundabout way to say that," I snorted with laughter and amusement.
Oh, this was too good!
"You didn't make me your-! Tch, I would prefer if you didn't make it sound so pathetic," He growled.
"Yeah, not happening...something pathetic is bound to sound pathetic. This sure is a pleasantly surprising discovery! If you're that afraid of a little responsibility, why don't you head back in there and tell the old man that you're not up for it?"
"Yeah, like that's a real option. Especially given my family's status as close, influential advisors to the royal family, refusing to go on this Quest would result in a whole lot of grief for me. I would have refused to take on yesterday's Quest if I could have! Well, I suppose you'll soon be spreading the news of my weakness, so either way, I'll be putting up with some grief-."
"Actually, I don't really do gossip. I'll keep it to myself, for now anyway, and besides...it's a lot more fun this way."
"Tch...just you wait, I'll be sure to find your weakness-."
Actually, you very nearly did yesterday.
"You're more than welcome to try. Well, I'd rather not waste any more of time on you if I don't have to, so...I'm off."
"Hold on, I am curious about one thing. What's the actual truth behind your knowledge of that plant?"
Hmm, I probably shouldn't dodge the question, I didn't want this to come back and bite me later on.
"I've been sneaking out of the walls for a long time, you know. It's true that I was mainly sneaking off to the cave area, but I did explore the forest area a few times too. Happy now? Either way, I'm out of here."
I left without waiting for a reply.
Now that the excitement has sunk in, I wanted to go back to my room and pick up where I had left off with my nap.
The next day, I told the rest of Group D about what had happened. It's not like the Headmaster told me to keep quiet about it, after all. And a couple of days later, they called us up.
The group that would be embarking on the Quest would be made up of a total of ten students and two instructors, to guard three representatives.
I should probably mention that all the instructors at the Adventurer Academy are also full-fledged Adventurers, though thanks to their jobs at the Academy, they aren't very active with Quests.
Now then, the ten chosen students.
For starters, The Big Five were selected. That is, until Siert opted out, which wasn't all that surprising, given his personality. From the first years, it had initially been myself, Persia, Rai and Gela that were picked, but Rai was later taken out of the running when they remembered that he still had an exam to re-take, much to his dismay.
A second year student named Bom Nexped, a guy with long hair and insect-like antennae on his head, was also included, he was ranked in the top ten, and he had been the one who lost to Vi in the second round of the Brawl of Glory.
Well, the group was two people short thanks to Rai's ineligibility and Siert's opt-out. So, their replacements were announced the next day.
To my immense surprise, Rai was replaced by Azyl, who had shown some interest when I had mentioned the Quest to them earlier.
He said...
"Traveling is kind of a pain...but it would be worth it if I get to skip out on classes as result."
Later, I ran into the Headmaster, and inquired about Azyl's inclusion out of curiosity. Apparently, he'd requested to be Rai's replacement after the latter had been declared ineligible, and had convinced the Headmaster by showing him his abilities.
From my reaction, the Headmaster realized that Azyl must have been hiding the full extent of his abilities from us, and didn't say any more than that. I didn't press him any further, I was pretty curious...but I wasn't going to pry if he didn't want me to.
Ever since the Goblin maze, it was pretty clear to me that Azyl was holding back a lot. But if he had been able to convince the Headmaster so easily...I had to wonder exactly how powerful he really was.
Knowing him, he was probably just hiding it so that he could fly under the radar and sleep in peace, being the center of attention would be a nightmare for him. Well, I wasn't about to mess that up for him, especially after he how he helped me at the swamp.
Oh, and the final addition to the group was a third year student named Mijy Renceig, a girl with medium-length braided blonde hair, and snake-like eyes and a forked tongue. She was currently ranked among the top fifteen at the Academy, and had lost to Fuo in the second round of the Brawl of Glory.
The two instructors who would accompany us were yet to be selected.
We were to depart on Saturday morning, which was three days away. In preparation, I decided to sneak out to get in some last minute training before we leave. I figured I should get a full night's rest the night before departure, which gave me two nights of training to work with.
Despite regular training after the Brawl of Glory, my progress with Lightning Boost was a lot slower. I could now use it at a x2.5 boost, but it felt like I had hit a wall...I had been trying to go beyond that while maintaining full, stable control over it, but to no avail.
No matter how well I could use Lightning Boost, increasing the level of mastery over it never got easier.
I doubt I can make any significant progress with it in just two nights of training, so I decided to polish my lightning blast discharge speed and hand-to-hand combat abilities instead.
I snuck out alone for the first night.
After the Brawl of Glory, I had been trying to find ways to charge up and fire off lightning faster. I had discovered something pretty interesting during my fight against Misen, the fact that the potency of my discharged lightning greatly increases if my hand is out of the way.
In other words, my hands acted as a bottleneck that restricted how much I could blast out, but if I cut off my hands and fire from the stumps left around my wrist, both the speed and power of my fired lightning blast increases.
Don't forget, I can easily reattach and heal my severed hand after I'm done firing, so this fit my fighting style pretty well. I had been working on charging up lightning just below my wrist, and once it's ready, I slice off my hand and fire it instantly.
Of course, depending on which hand I'm slicing off, I would have to first sheathe either my dagger or sword, so later on, it might be tough to use against opponents who knew what to expect.
But for now, it was a pretty handy- pun intended -surprise attack to have up my sleeve. Literally.
Oh, and just so we're clear, I have also been working on improving my ability to fire lightning the normal way too. I often found myself feeling tempted to drill holes through the ground or through giant rocks and boulders using my lightning blasts, but I force myself to resist and fire them off into the sky instead.
I might be being a bit overly cautious, but I'd prefer not to leave any obvious signs that someone had been training here, especially since we'd be passing by this area on the way to Goldway. I practiced my lightning blasts till I was close to running out of Mana, and then headed back.
The next night, I was joined by Persia for combat training. At this point, it just felt weird to work on my fighting skills any other way, plus I really enjoyed sparring with her.
Though, she didn't seem fully up for it tonight.
"Woah-! Hey, what are you daydreaming for- well, technically it's night-time, so I don't know if that term applies...wait, no I'm getting off topic. Pay attention, Cat Girl!" I said, snapping my fingers in front of her.
She seemed almost half-asleep.
"H-huh...? Wait, what just happened?"
What had happened was that we had begun sparring, and as I moved in to strike, she just sort of dropped her guard and seemed to be dozing off. Which forced me to do something that I really wasn't used to. Stopping short. I had to strain so hard to stop my fist before it hit her face that I ended up dislocating my shoulder.
"I-I'm so sorry, I guess I'm, uh, a little sleepy. Are you okay, Kuro?" She apologized.
"Yeah don't worry about it, I'm fine. Is everything alright with you, it's not like you to space out like that."
"Yeah, I just, uh, didn't really get much sleep last night."
"Well, we can't really train if you're feeling all drowsy. Let's take it easy for tonight," I suggested, sitting down on a wide, flat rock.
"Um, are you sure? We might not get to properly train again till we get back from-," She began, sitting down next to me.
"It's fine, slacking off every now and then won't hurt. So hey, I've been meaning to ask you..."
"Y-yeah, what is it?"
"Are you feeling nervous at all about returning to Goldway? I mean, you had a pretty rough time there, and that's putting it lightly," I asked, a bit awkwardly.
This was kinda tough...I was worried about her, but outwardly showing my concern was not something I was used to doing.
It was a little embarrassing.
"You don't have to worry about that. I can't deny that my past holds some trauma over me, but I love my current life, and thanks to it, I've been able to bury a lot of those old demons. After I escaped from the slave traders in Goldway, I wandered around for ages, I didn't have a destination, all I knew was that I didn't want to die. I eventually ended up somewhere outside the Rustlands, where I ran into a merchant cart guarded by Adventurers. I was so hungry that I didn't care that I was outnumbered or that they might be stronger than me, but before the Adventurers could attack me or I could attack them, the merchant couple aboard the cart stepped in and gave me some food. I was pretty distrusting, but they somehow managed to convince me to let them take me back with them into the Rustlands. And before I knew it, I was adopted and made a citizen of the Rustlands, and I slowly but surely learnt to live without having to watch over my back at all times. That was about five years ago. I feel like that was when my real life began, I'm just so thankful to my adoptive parents, they turned my life upside down in the best way possible. A-and I'm also glad that...I met you."
I wasn't expecting that last part, and I felt my face heat up.
"O-oh, uh...thanks...the f-feeling's mutual," I replied, as a gust of wind blew across us.
Wait, what was that smell? It was really faint, but as the wind changed direction towards me, I got a tiny whiff of a familiar smell.
Was that...?
I leant in close and sniffed her to confirm it.
"Wh-what are y-you doin-?" She stuttered, her face turning red.
"Hey, Cat Girl..."
"Y-yeah, what is it?"
"Did you get high today?"
"Huh-! How do you know!?"
Thought so...
"You didn't fully get rid of the scent."
"Oh...I had dulled my sense of smell so I didn't realize that..."
"Well, that was pretty unexpected."
Okay, so that explained why she had been unfocused during sparring.
"Uhh...before we left that clearing, I might have plucked off a few buds and snuck them home," She admitted sheepishly, letting out a stifled yawn.
Wow, she did the exact same thing that I did.
"Heh, you too, huh? Guess we have more in common than just our tastes in fashion."
At some point, my main reason for sneaking out had shifted from training to spending time with her.
Hey, wait a second...
This...might be a good opportunity to tell her.
I was still insanely nervous about it, and all my senses and thoughts were screaming that I'll probably get rejected, and things might get awkward between us, but...the longer I keep it in, the more it feels like my heart and brain are about to explode whenever I'm around her.
Seriously, a lot of the time these days I was using all the bluffing skills in my arsenal that I'd learnt as an assassin, all just to stay calm and hold a normal conversation with her without getting flustered.
Alright, then...here goes.
"H-hey, Persia...I, uh...honestly, I have no idea how to do this right, and my mind is all scrambled, so, um...screw it, I'm just going to go ahead and say it! I lo-!"
I stopped as her head suddenly knocked onto my shoulder gently, making my heart skip a beat.
W-wait, what was happening-!?
I slowly turned my head towards her, holding my breath without realizing it. And then let it all out in a sigh.
...she had just fallen asleep.
Right before I could finish saying what I needed to say.
Talk about a cliché.
Well, we should probably head back now, I guess. That's what I thought, but as I stared at her sleeping face resting on my shoulder, I decided to stay out here for a bit longer.
No, it wasn't just because I wanted her head on my shoulder for a while longer! I, uh...just felt like sitting here!
...
...
About an hour later, my shoulder was feeling a bit numb, but I was too happy to care. This is nice. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end.
As much as I didn't want to, I had to wake her and head back now. We may have our Student Adventurer Cards now, but we still had to sneak out since students aren't allowed to leave on Quests after 7 PM. Everytime someone exited or re-entered the country walls, their names would be recorded by the guards.
And since we'd snuck out, there was no record of us exiting, so re-entering through the gates would basically be us admitting that we had been sneaking out. And if we spent the whole night out here, sneaking back in would be impossible to do without being spotted, leaving the gates as our only option.
And since our big Quest to Goldway was the day after tomorrow, we needed to get ready and get a lot of rest tomorrow. Well, it's past midnight, so technically today.
"Hey, wake up. We gotta go, Persia," I said, poking her cheeks.
She scrunched up her eyebrows and buried her face in my shoulder, while grabbing onto my arm tightly, instantly raising my heart rate.
No good, she was fast asleep.
I could try a bit harder to wake her up, but I didn't have the heart to do so, her sleeping face was just...too cute.
In that case...
I stood up and slowly carried her on my back, and after making sure that she wouldn't fall off, I began heading back. It was harder to walk, not because of the extra weight, but due to me being distracted by her body pressed up against my back.
Not to mention that her warm breath was brushing against the side of my neck, which tickled a bit. I forced myself to ignore those distractions to the best of my ability, as I made my way closer and closer to the walls.
None of my assassin training had prepared me for a situation like this.
I came to a halt as the walls came into view, as I realized that I couldn't continue like this. Scaling up the wall while carrying her would be too dangerous, I have to wake her up. As I began to let her down, she stirred a bit and let out a small sigh, before her eyes slowly opened.
Oh, she woke up.
"Hm, what's going on? Where am I?" She asked with a yawn, sounding a bit confused.
"Hey, you're finally awake, Cat Girl. Had a good nap?"
"Wh-why am I on your back? Wait, did you carry me all the way back here? I'm so sorry, I can't believe I fell asleep like that!"
"Don't worry about it. Besides, you're pretty light," I shrugged, lowering myself so that she could get down from my back.
"Why didn't you just try to wake me? Well, either way...I, um...appreciate you doing that. Thanks, Kuro."
"Anytime, Kitty Cat, don't mention it. Now come on, let's head back."
"'kay!" She replied, before we both made our way to the walls, scaled it, and then snuck back in.
We soon split up after we headed a bit into the country, I returned to my room at the inn and went to sleep after having a small joint.
The next day, I went out to refill my supply of throwing knives, poison and needles, as well as to get some spare battle outfits, after paying about a months' worth of rent in advance so that I wouldn't lose my room at the inn while I was away.
Traveling to Goldway takes around a week by carriage, so at minimum, this Quest would last for two weeks, so I should probably pack a backpack or something with spare clothes and extra weapons. However, my usual gear was all sold out, and the only remaining options were colors that weren't black.
Obviously, those weren't options.
I then decided that I didn't really need my battle outfits to be reinforced or armored since I can heal myself, so...I went into a regular clothing store and bought a bunch of black outfits that were easy to move around in.
I only had two sets of my usual battle gear, and if both of them get ruined during this Quest, I'll have to make do with these.
I then headed back home and spent a portion of the day getting stoned using the last of the weed I'd brought back, and then went to sleep early. I would have to wake up early the next day, we all had to meet at the royal palace by 7 AM.
I'd have to wake up a bit before then and use the teleportation booth closest to me to get to the area near the castle, where there was another teleportation booth.
As I lay down and began drifting off to sleep, I thought back on all the events that had occurred since I came to this world. It had been over six months now, and I think it's safe to say that I've made an impression.
Tomorrow, I'll be heading out as part of a mission that was bound to go down as historic, regardless of how it may turn out. To say that I was excited would be an understatement.
As I drifted off to sleep, little did I know what I was getting myself into....over the next few weeks, everything was going to change.
...and not for the better...
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Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism! Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.