One and Only Loser

Grassley looked back and noticed the large Great Fanged Spider had been sliced in half.

A woman with black hair swirling around her body scoffed before quickly sheathing the sword on her back.

With contempt, she looked at Grassley and then at the lightning encroachment heart that had fallen by his feet. With grace, she walked over to him and picked up the core, measuring the weight of it in her hand before tossing it into the air.

"Catch it. It's worth at least 200 premium." The lady's beautiful mellifluous voice entered into Grassley's ear. "Now, why don't you tell me what you're doing out here?"

Grassley gulped and caught the encroachment heart in the air before fumbling it into his back pocket. He looked up into the beautiful ladies eyes, and gulped again before lowering his head.

"Madam, I-I wanted to make a little girl happy, so I came out here to get her flowers."

"Ha! You expect me to believe that! You're what five years old?"

"I'm six," Grassley scowled at her and crossed his arms. "I'm big enough to make you fall in love with me too!"

"Oh! You want to fall in love with me?" Cynthia smiled and leaned in while puckering up her lips. "Well then, why don't you steal a kiss from me?"

"You smell good in a bad way," Grassley stepped back and shook his head. "I don't want to get poisoned."

"Oh, you know can that I'm an expert in poison?" Cynthia rubbed his head again before pointing towards Sacred Fire Academy. "Look kid, I'm out here doing something really bad, but I don't like hurting children. Why don't you run away before my men get here and make me kill you."

"Why?" Grassley said innocently while looking into Cynthia's eyes. "You're a nice lady. Why would you kill me?"

"I'm a rebel." Cynthia brushed back her black hair, creating a dazzling and beautiful sight to behold. "I kill much older men from Sacred Fire Academy. However, little boys like you I usually let go. However, you better run away now."

"Not until I give you something to say thank you." Grassley heard the bushes shaking but ignored it while reaching deep into his pocket.

He really had grabbed some flowers for Dalilia in order to cheer her up, and handed a white one called a Hearted Stem Flower to Cynthia.

Seeing the flower, the mature lady blushed before rubbing Grassley on the head and gently kissing him on the cheek.

"Go, now! Idiot! Stop being cute and run!"

"Yes mam!" Grassley gulped and turned around before running as fast as he could back towards the school. He didn't turn around until passing the black gate. However, at the same time, he couldn't help but rub his cheek.

"She's beautiful. Father, you'd make her your tenth wife if you were here!"

Grassley held his cheek and smiled the entire time it took him to get back to the school. He sneaked back into the dormitory and smiled only to find Dalilia sitting on his bed with her arms crossed.

"You-you worried me idiot! Come here and let me slap you!"

******

Rays of sunshine twisted into the halls of Sacred Fire Academy in Class 10 while students came up to the front of the classroom and handed in their encroachment hearts.

Three students had no encroachment hearts, and got placed in the front of the classroom to the delight of the other students.

One of those students, Leo, hadn't run into a single encroachment beast because he spent an hour preparing to hunt encroachment beasts. The other two students had gotten taken to the infirmary yesterday after getting attacked by a Silver Sky Owl.

Master Jasick sighed and stared at Grassley and Dalilia while they walked towards his desk.

"I heard what happened to you two yesterday. Unless a miracle happens, it looks like you'll be expelled."

"What do you mean?" Grassley smiled and took out six encroachment hearts. "We already hunted six encroachment beasts before that happened?" Grassley looked over at Dalilia who nodded her head and happily handed in the small encroachment hearts.

Master Jasick couldn't believe his eyes and rubbed them a few times before looking deeper into the small round objects in his hand. Encroachment hearts, to experts, had something similar to human fingerprints, and with enough time and expertise you could sense what beast the hearts had come from.

"Fanged Spiders? Six Fanged Spider Cores? You're the second set of students to give me Fanged Spider Encroachment Hearts."

"Leo forgot his three!" Grassley smiled and handed three more to Master Jasick. "I went hunting with him yesterday, and we ran into hundreds of hatching spiders!"

"Leo, go back to your seat," Master Jasick crossed his arms and only opened one of his eyes. "You wouldn't happen to have six more spider cores would you?"

"Yup, the other two students also went with us," Grassley smiled and handed Master Jasick six more encroachment hearts. "I guess that means our entire class passed!"

"Can I come in?" Samuel knocked on the door and sighed before walking towards Master Jasick. "It's about Grassley. I'd like to thank him personally for drawing the Blackfire Bear out of hiding!"

Samuel walked into the room and passed all the gawking students before placing the encroachment heart down on the wooden desk in the front of the classroom. To Samuel's right, he saw the old wooden desk that he had carved his name on, and the thatched statues in the back him and his friends had made.

Three of those friends had been killed in resource competitions, and two more recycled. He put his hands in his pocket and nervously walked to exit the room while all the other students remained completely silent.

"It's Samuel Lank! The top ranked person in the entire school!"

"Why does he know Grassley? Loser, why does he know you?" Two students bickered while Grassley smiled and put his hand behind his back. "Heh, he saved me yesterday."

"He saved us. I introduced them," Dalilia said while rubbing her nose. "That means you LOSERS better be nice to Grassley."

"Enough of the bickering!" Master Jasick pointed Grassley to the front of the classroom. "Grassley, you are the sole loser of today! Talk to me outside, right now!"