The old friends!(2)

"So, you ready to talk?" he looked at the old man and took a sip from his coffee.

[Careful now, he is contemplating whether to kill you or not.]

'Nah, he can't do that now. I must've piqued his interest.'

"Haaa." The old man deeply sighed.

"There is no point in hiding anything, is there? But, I want you to promise me that you'll be truthful. Can you do that, Desmond?" The old man wore the same calm demeanor.

"Sure, I'll be truthful but…" He raised one finger. "I won't delve into things I'm not comfortable with. After all, every man has his little secrets."

"Fair enough. You can expect the same though." Said the headmaster.

"Alright. Ask away?" Desmond gestured to the headmaster.

The headmaster nodded and said. "How do you know all of this?"

[Mhmm, straight to the point.]

"Some of them I saw, some of them from my father."

"Your father? Graham? How does he know about it?" The old man wore a confused look.

"Don't really know. Can't ask him now, can we?" He chuckled a bit.

"Ok. This meeting was not accidental. You seek me for a reason, I take it?"

"Yes. About two weeks ago I went for a hike on the 'Goodburry Mountains,' and I happened to have discovered something I shouldn't have."

"Which is?" The old man took a sip from his coffee.

Desmond recited all the events that happened on that crazy day. He, of course, deliberately omitted some things like the 'friendly' dwarf Alexy and the gift from the elven girl.

When Desmond ended his tale from that crazy day, the headmaster released a huge sigh.

"Kelvin, Where are the cookies?" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

When he asked about the secret identity of Kelvin, the dwarf, Desmond just shrugged and said it was just a hunch he created from the recent events and the short height of the barista.

Of course, it was a lie and both of them knew about it too but the headmaster just shrugged it off, since he could talk about it later.

The dwarven secret outpost comes first.

"Don't worry about anything and you've done good, Desmond. You're smart and knew where to come with it and I hope this will be our little secret?"

"Of course headmaster, this can't be good if our people knew."

"Here are your cookies. Please enjoy, gentlemen." Kelvin arrived with a plate full of cookies in it.

Desmond thanked the old man and munched on the cookies. His happiness peaked as he remembered the nostalgic taste and aroma of the cookies.

All this time, the barista didn't come back with the promised cookies. Desmond knows about this. The 'Cookies' was like a secret code for a private meeting and old Kelvin was nice enough to allow it.

"Kelvin, my dear, this is Desmond, our new friend, and Desmond, this is Kelvin, my old and good friend, yours truly barista." Headmaster officially introduced the two.

"Your cookies are also exceptionally tasty, old man. Thank you for this." Said Desmond while munching on a cookie.

"No, no, thank you for coming here. I've been only seeing this old twig for so long that I forgot about what it was like to serve a regular customer. So, truly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you." He wiped his fake tears using his apron.

"That's enough, Kelvin. I'm sure Desmond has classes to attend. Now, off you go." Said the old man.

Desmond quickly finished his cookies and coffee.

"How much?" He asked.

"Nop. On the house. You're a change of scenery and that much is enough price for the coffee."

"Thank you, old man. I'll come later."

"Yes, you better be, my regular customer." Kelvin haughtily laughed out loud.

Desmond nodded to both the old man and was about to leave the shop but was stopped by the headmaster.

"Here, show this to your head teacher, they'll let you in without any problems." The headmaster raised the paper in his hands.

*****

Desmond took the loneliest and most isolated seat among the seats, completely trying to avoid any sort of connection with the students, like some novel heroes.

Arthur and the gang protested to him to sit with them, but he ignored them like they don't even exist.

Since it was at the back of the class, the gang didn't try to sit with him, after all, they are still elites and elites should have the best seat among the others.

"Alright class," Thunder Falcon clapped her hands to get the students' attention, which, of course, succeeded as the students quickly disregarded the newcomer with attitude, like tossing a waste paper into the waste bin.

She proceeded to complete the attendance marking.

"Now that everyone is here, let us delve into the more important 'aspect' of this academy." She slowly walked on the stage.

"Ranking."

Everyone shifted in their seats in pure excitement. This was why they were here for. For showing off. Just like the new kid.

Thunder Falcon gestured to calm down.

"As you know ranking is one of the most important aspects of the academy. This will have a direct impact on your future. Now, as you all know there will be an exam conducted for determining this ranking. It will be fair to all the students and there is no elites or commoners in that. This will be conducted on the day after tomorrow."

Exclamation of surprises could be heard throughout the class. They didn't think it would be this fast, none the less, everyone was almost prepared.

"Exam would've two parts; the first part would be written exam and the second part would be practical. Written exams are to be conducted on the day after tomorrow and the practical examination would be conducted two days after that and there are no classes until then."

'She is still awkward.' Thought Desmond.

[What do you expect then?]

'Shut it, Gonorrhea.'

[Cock sucker!]

"I must warn you, do not take these exams lightly. Your future "WILL" depend on these exams. So do come prepared."