She is a good student.

In the classroom, all the students looked at Professor Lindbergh.

"As you know the second dungeon fight is over, only the last one is missing which will be tomorrow and everything will be over, however, don't get excited about the vacations and your practices and ignore your study". Professor Lindbergh warned with a serious tone, and looking at the students, he added. "I have spoken to Professor Miller and you must all pass your combat specialization class and this skill theories class if you are to have a chance to participate in this practice."

Some students took a deep breath and Aurora nodded softly.

This was one of the classes that she was pretty good at, so she wasn't afraid of exams... of this particular class.

"In the 'real practice' you will have new classmates by your side, however, they are not like the teachers who will protect you. They will be real situations and their knowledge or ability can make a difference." Professor Lindbergh remembered and with a smile, he added quietly. "Of course, if they care about their images they will study because that is better than ending up as ignorant when faced with some creature."

He did not mention about giving importance to the appearance of the Academy, only pointed out that they were what would suffer if they were ignorant about professions or creatures of basic knowledge.

With those words Professor Lindbergh left.

"Sold out?" Aurora asked Alice, who was eating potato chips slowly.

Yesterday the second fight had taken place and the cleaning was done in a temporary dungeon in the United Kingdom and Director Vincent himself had attended.

The fight was easy, Clémentine was an excellent and versatile leader and with the help of Nicole and Joslyn among other leaders she was able to do a good job even though they had twenty students.

Alice shook her head and mumbled. "That woman was too much trouble."

Aurora's lips trembled and she held her smile.

The woman Alice was referring to was the S-rank mage, Cécile Leroux, who had attended the cleanup and tried to strike up a conversation with Alice, looking for her to join her magic academy.

That was the reason for her present fatigue and not to face the enemies and clean the temporary dungeon with her group.

"Let's eat, maybe that will cheer you up a little," Aurora said with a smile, and when she saw Alice nodding seriously, her smile just got bigger.

Smiling and nodding to some of the students who greeted her politely, she left her classroom and headed to the dining room.

"This is how it should have been from the beginning." Alice murmured, nodding again and again to herself.

Alice watched as some students looked at both of them with respect and not just at her.

As for the students in Marc and Alexey's group, they greeted her very friendly.

All the members of the group had formally thanked Aurora, but Alexey not only kept that but posted a very formal 'thank you' on the Academy application, which made everyone aware of Aurora's feat.

Not only did she save ten students, but she fought two A-ranking creatures and defeated her.

"I don't really care," Aurora said with a soft smile.

Respect, fame, or money.

That didn't matter to her, which is why she rejected the 'payments' that some students wanted to make to her or the expensive gifts they wanted to give her as a form of gratitude.

One thing was to be grateful and another was to try to give her a luxury car... She certainly rejected the second one.

"Well, I like it this way. It was exhausting that the students thought you were just a scared little girl." Alice commented as she devoured her bag of chips.

For the students to look down on Aurora, it was quite upsetting for Alice.

Aurora shook her head and when they arrived at the dining room they ordered their meals and sat down in an empty seat.

"Should we go see the third group?" Alice suddenly asked.

The final clean-up bout would be led by André and Leslie with a group of twenty-five students and would take place in the United States.

Their participation was not necessary, since even if something happened Director Vincent would be present and he would surely move his contacts in case of emergency.

But the biggest problem was...

"I want to see if it's possible to end this tonight." Said Aurora seriously and looking at Alice, she explained. "And if things go wrong, we probably won't have the energy to attend tomorrow."

Actually, it was half a lie, since it was quite possible to attend tomorrow even if they had worked... That didn't mean it wasn't less tiring.

If they finished everything today, why should they go tomorrow?

"Oh, I thought you wanted to see the student fights," Alice commented and when she saw Aurora was being lazy, she added with a smile. "I guess you must have those you want to invite by now."

Aurora did not deny or confirm anything, but her little smile said it all.

Once the month of May was over, only the month of June would be left for the vacations to begin... Or more precisely, the internship would begin.

She already had some students in mind, but she still had to see her with Alice for a check-up and then they had to see if they would agree to join her group of mercenaries for the internship.

After all, it was difficult to say whether 'good students' would join an unknown mercenary group that was on a continent that everyone saw as 'abandoned'.

Aurora was about to tell her the names when Alice looked away, and as she followed her, she realized that Erica was heading for her table.

As the duo looked at her, Erica trembled, but then swallowed very perceptibly and moved closer.

"I'm... I'm sorry about that day." Erica said in a raised voice while lowering her head in shame and shyness.

She had let herself be carried away by anger, nerves of the situation, and worry, so she couldn't help but scream at Aurora furiously for having abandoned her, accusing her unfairly.

Unable to notice that she had fought hard to save other students.

"I thought you had run away like at the test... I thought you had abandoned us out of fear." Erica murmured with shame.

No matter how much Aurora had improved, when a serious and lethal situation arose, that little record of her abandoning the group on her test only to be found scared in a closet came back to Erica's mind and raised her negative emotions.

But after seeing that the reality was very different, she lamented her outburst.

"Your work in saving others... was incredible." Érica declared with seriousness and admiration.

In just a moment, Aurora had left a barrier for her group and then fled without a doubt.

She had also heard the story of Alexey who was the last to fall unconscious and... Aurora was the heroine who jumped into danger to save people without fear or dread.

With a soft smile that made her look as if she could handle all the danger, Aurora saved them... That was Alexey's description in her publication on the academy application.

It was only later that Erica realized it made sense... After all, when they arrived, Aurora was slightly injured, but there were no complaints, moans, or any unreasonable demands.

Even when accused by her, she remained calm and intervened when Alice spoke.

Still... Still... Erica could not resist seeing Alice and Aurora.

"I'm a hero too. Yes, it's true I'm weak and inexperienced, but I just hope... I hope next time you'll let me help you." Erica said with embarrassment, but seeing Aurora's soft smile, she took courage and declared. "After all, I'm a hero too, and I want to help others, even if..."

"It's okay." Interrupted Aurora before Erica said her last part.

The last part was on a topic that Aurora didn't like, but that all the heroes faced at some point.

The risk of dying to help someone else... Someone who in many cases was an unknown person.

That was the difference between a fake hero and a real one.

For some those people were just idiots, but in the end, those idiots saved lives.

"I'm not upset by your outburst and you don't need to apologize. Sometimes other people have to take the lead and all you can do is stay behind, but as long as you're alive you can become the next person to take the lead if you keep trying." declared Aurora in a soft and calm tone.

That's why she didn't seek the help of Erica's group.

She wouldn't risk the students' lives, just so they could lessen the pressure or the danger of her losing her life.

Aurora herself knew that she was reckless, but she was confident in sustaining that recklessness.

Just as she stepped forward to fight for herself, Erica, if she were to follow through with her ideals at one point, would have to do the same.

Érica was underneath her head when she heard those words.

Words that did not criticize her, only reminded her... that when she was strong, she would also have to move forward to protect others.

"I understand," Erica mumbled, looking quite upset, but still smiled and declared. "Thank you."

With that thanks, she walked away feeling more relieved and Aurora only shook her head at the sight of her.

"She is a good student." Aurora pointed with a smile.

"I guess apologizing for a mistake can be considered 'good'." Alice murmured in a slightly sarcastic tone.

Aurora noticed that Alice was still upset about the day, but she shrugged.

"That's not what I meant, but I meant that she not only apologized, she offered to help. Even knowing her weakness." Said Aurora with a soft smile.

It wasn't arrogance because her abilities were belittled by Alice, but it was her real desire to help by following her ideals about 'heroes'... That's what Aurora could see.

"Well, it's just words." Alice pointed out, eating her chips selflessly.

In the long history of mankind, how many people have offered to perform great deeds, but have fled when faced with adversity?

Their numbers were countless.

Words meant nothing when the decisive moment between life and death came.

However...

"By the words, one begins." Replied Aurora with a soft smile.

Words were only the beginning and that first step was important and even more so in this world where monsters and creatures can appear out of nowhere and destroy everything.

Alice shook her head at that response but continued to eat the lunch she had ordered.

As Aurora watched her fellow student eat, her holographic watch vibrated, and when she saw the call she only put on a hearing aid, preventing students with sharp ears from hearing.

So, she accepted the call and...

"I think I've found the person you're looking for. Said Serena, the leader of the city's information network.

"Good. Send me the report." Said Aurora with a serious expression.

The call was cut off and the report quickly reached her holographic clock.

She had decided to continue helping Director Vincent at least until the mole, who was probably at the academy, was stopped.

She didn't want to get into this kind of business, but once they endangered innocents as irrationally as they did in the dungeon with the overflow, Aurora's boundaries were exceeded.

It was better to stop everything now quickly and effectively.

"It looks like we're going to have some work tonight." Said Aurora to Alice and Alice only nodded.

"Mother won't know what to do when she finds out that you ended up having work on your so-called vacation," Alice muttered, shaking her head gently.

"Well, I guess she won't be so upset." Replied Aurora, and when Alice took one look at him, she smiled and declared. "I feel better than I did before."

Alice was surprised but gave a nice smile.

Not only had she managed to become an A-Rank fighter, but in the process, she was able to realize the reason she had forgotten for so long.

The reason why she had walked away from everything and left her sword behind, she got back up again.

Certainly, this vacation helped her to make more progress with her problems.