The Border (Final)

"This is our last day here so you have another free day! We will be returning this evening at 0-7-0-0! If you are left behind, you have to find a way back on your own!" The headmaster shouts.

Everybody was visibly excited as some groups already took off, as for my group, we just decided to group up for now. After discussing what to do for a while, all of us just decided to walk around town since they didn't have much money.

They had fun eye shopping last time, so what's stopping them from doing it again?

…

"I heard you had beef with Mia but now you're acting so familiar with her. How did that even happen?" Aria asks as I shuffle through the onesie section in front of me.

"Uhhh… I don't know. Maybe because I was still agitated after killing James. Also, that was before I found out she wasn't intending to be on good terms with James… Her arrogance did annoy me and still annoys me but I guess I feel calmer now.

Plus I was able to realize how useful she is… which is why I proposed the idea of an organization- I feel like Mia already explained this,"

"Nah, she only explained the last part. How was I supposed to figure out the first part anyway?" Aria asks while shuffling through some pajamas.

"I don't know,"

"Another question… if you didn't want us to turn on you, you would have made somebody like Mia the leader. It would've redirected all the others attention from yourself,"

"Are all you young mistresses this smart?"

"Why of course, we have received the best education since we've been able to walk. Going to school is just an extra for us to socialize and well… Ummm… bully the weaker kids for entertainment," Aria says.

"That's pretty funny. Bullying the weaker students for entertainment,"

I didn't laugh or smile.

"It's boring studying at home all the time okay? Who can blame us for doing something fun such as bullying them?"

"Y'all are so fucked up,"

"Whatever, just answer my question,"

"... Pretty simple… I don't want to follow orders from her. Our relationship might be better now but I'm still not going to take orders from her. If one of the girls recommended that Mia should be the leader, I would've immediately taken the leader position," I explain.

"Pretty childish,"

"Whatever," I say, exiting the aisle.

…

Since our newly formed org wasn't able to meet up tonight, we received an email from Mia saying that we'll meet at her house tomorrow.

She linked her address so finding her tomorrow would be easier than I thought.

I never gave out my email or phone number, so she had to send it through my school email which I check occasionally. It tells me if I'm missing an assignment or not… that's all I use it for.

My group was currently having lunch in a pretty backwater tavern with great food. Normally you would come to a tavern for booze, but we're all under age so we just came here for the extremely low-priced food.

『Status』

[Name: Lucy]

[Race: Ancient Snake (Half)]

[Level: 15/50] (70/100) XP Needed

[HP: 105/105 MP: 105/105 SP: 65/65] - Above Average

[Strength: 125] - Above Average

[Defense: 125] - Above Average

[Magic: 125] - Above Average

[Speed: 125] - Above Average

[Skills: [Ice Fossilized Snake Necromancy] [Royal Ice Crown] [Ancient Sacrifice] [Bloodthirsty Rage]

[Variant Skills: [Lesser Quetzalcoatl's Ancient Fire (Acid)] [Drizzle (Acid)]

[Passive: [Photographic Memory] [Boiling Frozen Blood] [All Language Perception] [Acid Immunity]

…

[Shop]

[Inventory]

[Map]

[Stored Souls]

…

I guess I can use the summon servant and skill book now…

"I'm going to the bathroom," I say, before getting out of my chair.

It was a single-person bathroom so I didn't have to worry about anybody noticing me plus there are no security cameras. Even though I know this run-down establishment won't have security cameras, I checked just in case.

Opening my inventory, I first pull out a piece of paper with a large black and grey, rotating bird on it. It was beautiful but also had a demonic appearance because of its large black goat horns.

Below the rotating image was something similar to my status with a name, stats, and the skills the giant bird has.

[Name: Fear]

[HP: 100/100 MP: 80/80 SP: 50/50]

[Strength: 100]

[Defense: 100]

[Magic: 100]

[Speed: 100]

[Variant Skills: [Ancient Fire (Fear)] [Engulfing Sea (Fear)]

[Passive: [Fear Inducing Presence]

…

Interesting…

[Would you like to acquire this servant?]

Yes…

As soon as I agreed to the black and green panel in front of me… nothing happened. I was confused and opened my status to see if there were any changes.

『Status』

[Name: Lucy]

[Race: Ancient Snake (Half)]

[Level: 15/50] (70/100) XP Needed

[HP: 105/105 MP: 105/105 SP: 65/65] - Above Average

[Strength: 125] - Above Average

[Defense: 125] - Above Average

[Magic: 125] - Above Average

[Speed: 125] - Above Average

[Skills: [Ice Fossilized Snake Necromancy] [Royal Ice Crown] [Ancient Sacrifice] [Bloodthirsty Rage]

[Variant Skills: [Lesser Quetzalcoatl's Ancient Fire (Acid)] [Drizzle (Acid)]

[Summon Servants: [Fear]

[Passive: [Photographic Memory] [Boiling Frozen Blood] [All Language Perception] [Acid Immunity]

…

[Shop]

[Inventory]

[Map]

[Stored Souls]

…

So it's not a servant of fear but fear itself. That name of the reward was kind of confusing but this cleared it up.

I opened my inventory once again and pulled out a leather book. I then quickly accepted the notification in front of me and walked out the bathroom door.

As I walk back to my table I see Auntie sitting with my group, eating the decent lunch that was served. It seems they were already friendly and Auntie wasn't the usual "Ice cold maiden." I didn't know what Auntie wanted to do, so I sat down at the table and put on my headphones.

Time passed quickly and about an hour later, Aria tapped my shoulder, signaling for us to go. Auntie was long gone so I was confused as to why she came here besides… maybe she was mingling with every group that came on this field trip?

I don't know…

…

"When we call the name of one of your groupmates, you will step up to the large teleporter! We are sending only 3 groups at a time!" The headmaster shouts.

Everybody continued to mingle with each other and about 10 minutes later, the headmaster called my name so we all walked onto the large teleporter. We then had to wait for the 2 other groups which intentionally bumped into everybody in my group besides Aria.

I was unfazed by it but the rest of my group froze in fear before getting teleported.

We arrived back at our school's giant field and the nauseous kids all ran off the teleporter, puking on the grass or in a trash can. The teachers all got mad at the ones who puked on the grass and they were forced to clean it up, no matter their status as a weak student or a powerful student.

"Seems Aria still gets nauseous from this…" I say, walking far away from the teleporter and sitting on the grass.

We were not allowed to leave until everybody came through the portal so I continued to listen to music. Recently, listening to music has been the only thing I do in my free time besides stretching and practicing hand-to-hand combat by myself.

Practicing hand-to-hand combat by myself is easy with [Photographic Memory]. Just imagine it and it's as if I created my own world… though this did take a long time to do. I've been practicing image training since middle school. I've always wanted to fight back, but when the time came, I froze up and received the usual beating.

So I just gave up in the end and just avoided the bullies as much as possible while still image training for other things... such as running away from the bullies.

"Have I always had [Photographic Memory]? I've had it since I opened my status and memorizing things has been extremely easy since elementary," I mutter to myself, leaning back onto the grass.

Suddenly the sound of sparks appears and when I raise my head, I see black lightning gathering next to the school. The air started to vibrate slightly and a sinking feeling appeared in my stomach.

The teachers around me started to panic as a type of bubble surrounded the portal. It seemed to be on our side since I recognized the white bubble, a barrier, but why would they put up a barrier when that thing is-

Wait a second...

It was a sight I've seen recently when watching videos on Watcher…

"A portal is forming…"