Chapter 23 : Trails

Outside of the Jelfs Tower.

A figure emerged from the portal. She was none other than Ama. Breathing deeply, remembering how she failed on the second floor.

She walked out, sighing, scanning the area looking for faces of her friends. Seeing none, she gazed behind at the portal.

"See, I wasn't special," she muttered, sighing and heading towards the leaderboard.

The leaderboard was quite big, holding the top one hundred people.

She was somewhat expecting to be on the floors so high. But seeing even the lowest rankings had cleared floor level fifty, and the high-ranking ones scaling from one hundred to a staggering number of the top six people at floor two hundred ten, all of them simultaneously.

Ama's eyes traced the rankings on the towering leaderboard, hoping to find her sister's name. Chances were low, but weren't impossible, as she remembered her sister taking down a bandit camp all by herself.

But the reality wasn't that delightful. She couldn't find her name. She finally realized why her sister wasn't arrogant about it all, despite being praised by many.

"Am I better than her?" Ama asked herself. The answer was obvious for her.

As she was thinking, a white hand gracefully made contact with a chop.

"Oww!"

"Who hurt my beautiful head!" Ama spoke angrily and turned around.

Seeing the owner, she felt agitated. Her forehead had been slapped by this figure since childhood, after all.

Standing before Ama was none other than her older sister, Eira. A mischievous grin adorned Eira's face, her hand still poised from delivering the chop.

"Why, my head!" Ama cried with fake tears and started rubbing her head. She didn't know why, her forehead and head seemed to be the cream of the crop for evil doers.

Her sister stood tall with long pink hair cascading down her back. Her slender figure showcased a graceful presence, complemented by the distinct feature of long derpy ears poking out of her head.

She smiled, grabbing the chubby cheeks of her cute little sister.

"Because you are spacing out again, chubby little sister," she spoke while pulling her cheeks. Of course, gently.

"A-Ah, let me go!"

Ama protested, trying to wiggle free from Eira's grasp, but her sister only chuckled, seeing her sister's cheeks turning red. She let it go and as a finishing combo.

Head chop! This time gently. And looked at the leaderboard.

"You entered the tower, didn't you? Defeated on the first floor?" she asked.

Ama rubbed her cheeks, pouting but still answered. She couldn't afford not to, after all. If she didn't, she would have to face another head chop.

"Cleared the first floor."

"Wow, my sister has grown up already," Eira spoke and tried to head pat her. Ama, who was expecting it, retreated, saving her head in the process.

Eira chuckled at Ama's evasive maneuver, realizing her little sister was no longer the child she used to play pranks on.

"Come on, Ama, don't dodge your big sister's love," Eira teased, attempting another head pat. "Never!" she spoke out loud, running off towards the portal. And as if an angel descended from heaven, her eyes sparked.

And get behind her new friend, who was also a devil but compared to her sister, she's an angel. The angel was named Ria.

"Hey, stop grabbing me! I'm tired," Ria tried her best to remove the new parasite that had attached itself to her body.

"Save me from that devil," Ama spoke, pointing her hand towards the tall, slender, beautiful figure wearing tight black pants and a red, big scarf.

Ria frowned and looked at the figure, seeing the red dragon badge pinned to the figure's crisp white shirt.

"A cadet," Ria thought and prepared herself. She opened her mouth.

"What might you need from us?" she spoke respectfully while being on guard.

Meanwhile, Eira smiled seeing how this white-haired girl reacted, protecting her sister.

She felt happy, seeing her sister make a friend already. And the way she saw it, the girl was actively ready to pull out her sword.

"I'm her big sister, Eira," she spoke.

"Big sister?" Ria repeated and looked at Ama's face, looking down and trying to whistle.

Ria smiled, the best smile she could make, before...

"Bam!"

A light punch descended on her head.

"Ouch!"

Ama let her go, rubbing her head and muttering under her breath, "My poor, beautiful hair."

"Sorry for the offense. It's a pleasure to meet you," Ria spoke, bowing down respectfully. Yesterday during class, she had heard about Eira from Ama multiple times, about how cool and beautiful she was. And just from a glance, Ria could see how strong and beautiful she was.

"No need to worry. It's nice to meet you too. You're her friend?" Eira asked.

Ria nodded, completely ignoring the fact that Ama was still muttering about her poor, beautiful head.

"I'm Ria Lorensia. We met at the admission exam."

"I'm Eira Frostfil. You also entered the tower?" Eira flashed a friendly smile.

"Yes, senior. Couldn't kill that big troll though. Nothing much."

"Well, trolls can be tricky. You'll get the hang of it. Let's go, I will give you two some treats," Eira spoke.

But then, Ama, who had been staying quiet all of a sudden, blurted out, "Lukas is still there. We can't go."

Her sister looked at her. "Lukas?" she muttered, then realizing it was a boy's name. Her eyes lit up!

"Oh, your boyfriend?" she asked.

Hearing the word "boyfriend," she wanted to retort as she always did when Ama brought up a boy, by uttering how stinky that boy was or something.

But today, realizing there was nothing wrong with Lukas and thinking about his face, she blushed before exploding, "W-What do you mean! By boyfriend, he's just a friend."

Her big sister really wasn't expecting such a reaction and frowned, thinking, "Which ugly brat captivated my cute little sister? How dare he!"

Ria sighed, thinking, "They are really sisters of the same kind."

Right at that moment, right in front of the Portal zone where they were standing, a figure materialized.It was Lukas. He was quite exhausted. He managed to climb till the ninth floor and called it quits for today.

He looked ahead, spotting Ria on the right side. He waved his hand at her and then noticed Ama, who was looking at him with widened eyes and a red face.

As soon as she noticed him looking at her, she turned around abruptly.

[To be continued...]