What A Mess...

Elφis Organization.

When society collapsed due to the emergence of dungeon towers, other species, mana, and aura-like stuff integrating into the atmosphere, and wars, some people acted to protect it all.

These people fought against the beasts with magical powers, fought against the demons, fought to protect the people and that's how they gained the title of Heroes.

What else could you call them but heroes? Of course, soldiers that's what. But things were dramatic back then, shit that looked almost like a fantasy that was all coming to life made the term Hero more suitable to be used.

As you could expect since heroes existed, villains too shall exist, villains who are nothing more than criminals who were committing atrocities because of the collapsed order of society.

Criminals in a world of fantasy with supernatural powers, it's easy to predict how chaotic things must have been, downright psychopathic maniacs who simply enjoyed the chaos and in that sense, these people made things quite difficult since they weren't demons or some rampaging beasts but humans.

Oh well, you already know how things ended. In the end, law and order were established. Proper guidelines on how the villains should be dealt with according to the new laws were created.

As such Elφis Organization managed to gain fame, power, and authority.

The organization was quite literally ruling the human continent and everyone trusted them but ...they didn't want to take on such a responsibility.

This organization was made by seven people, and none of these seven people had any desire for power. All they wanted was to protect the people, to re-establish the law and order.

That was what they fought for, not some authority over people.

That's why, they decided to give all the power to the central government instead.

Elφis Organization solely existed to protect the people, to help them, for the peace.

...or maybe the better phrase would be, the original founding members did.

But they aren't immortal, they aged up, time caught up and they died and what now remains is what was left by them, Elφis Organization.

It went without saying that even after the original leaders died, the reputation that the organization held remained almost the same.

But the people in the organization changed and they didn't simply want to protect people, they wanted authority, fame, and power.

And that's what they have been trying to do.

The original leaders gave the power to the central government, but the new leaders wanted it back.

They wanted the central government under them, not the other way around.

And after all this time, now in this generation, they both hold the same amount of authority in this world.

Gladly, this continent was maintaining democracy and shit, and it's helping.

Of course, as a novel reader, I knew about the brewing tensions and all the shit about the political plotline of Elφis Organization and Central Government.

Why am I talking about Elφis Organization?

Well, Regis Randolph, the headmaster of this academy, was once a member of Elφis Organization.

He had joined the organization because he looked up to it, the stories his parents told him about the original founding members/leaders made his eyes lit up.

But all his expectations shattered when he finally entered the organization. It wasn't sun-shine and rainbowy like he had imagined.

You know the story—kids dream of growing up, getting a job, earning money, and living freely. But when you finally become an adult, reality hits hard. The jobs are crappy, the pay's even worse, and instead of spending freely, you're stuck managing every penny. Independence? Sometimes, it makes you wish you were still a kid with your parents handling everything.

Anyways, after Regis learned that his expectations didn't meet the reality, that the organization was now corrupt and all, he quit.

And then after some of this happened and that happened, he ended up founding this academy.

This academy that he put his everything in.

The academy that neither the Elφis Organization nor The Central Government has any sway over.

An academy to nurture the heroes of the next generation, heroes like the ones he had heard so much about when he was a kid.

I turned away, breaking the eye contact with Regis that I made.

I had glanced at Regis, trying to size him up, but the bastard also glanced at me which led to us staring at each other. At first, I thought it was just a fluke, but nah, he was looking at me, scrutinizing me.

And I had no idea why, what reason could there be?

Shaking my head I began to move, ready to exit the colosseum.

The colosseum was no longer as filled as it was, most of the students had made the run for their class after Regis announced the 50-minute time limit to reach their respective classes.

Some of the students remained seated, most likely waiting to make their moves once the chaos settled, I could see some faces of the main cast of the novel, sitting idly, and the rest had already left.

Throughout the entrance ceremony, I was busy locating the members of the main cast and I succeeded as I confirmed their identities.

I slowly walked out of the Colosseum without making any hurried steps.

I didn't care about the 50-minute time limit. I didn't care if I failed and ended up with 3 demerit points or getting some less credits.

As the novel reader, I knew the world is gonna turn to shit, and what good would grades do in a shit world filled with war?

Nothing, that's what.

So, I decided to take in the view and walk to the class in silence and peace as I tried thinking about why Regis was looking at me and how the future was going to play out.

"Hey! Hey! Stop!"

"Hey! You stoic bastard!"

The moment I heard those voices I realized that my peaceful walk wasn't gonna be a peaceful walk like I had wanted.

I turned around and looked at Aqua, Julianna, and Lisa along with two more main cast members, Aleister Jones and Emma Woods.

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In the original novel, Aqua becomes acquainted with Emma and Aleister during his 24-hour community service, a punishment he received thanks to being late for the entrance ceremony.

But now that the future has changed. Due to certain reasons, Aqua arrived at the entrance ceremony on time, not only he became acquainted with another main cast member as well as an extra of the novel early on, Lisa Roland and Julianna, respectively.

So then, how did he acquaint himself with Emma and Aleister already?

"You wanna hop on this reptile?" It was Julianna who posed that question to me as she pointed at the giant flying bird sitting on Emma's shoulder about 80 centimeters.

"How are we supposed to hop onto this giant creature exactly?" I couldn't help but ask since my math didn't math nor did my logic.

"Hahaha, don't worry, it's not him that we will be riding. I am beast tamer, you see?" Emma replied with a hearty smile with the gust of wind suddenly surrounding her and a giant bird or like Julianna said reptile was standing behind her.

Beast Tamer, like the word suggested, these people are capable of taming the beasts and controlling them. Sounds sick, right? Well, here's the thing. Beast tamers are only capable of controlling and taming a definite number, as they grow stronger they can tame more beasts but it still has a limit not only that, it's quite practically impossible to be with all your tamed beasts.

I mean, you won't usually walk with ten or twenty beasts surrounding you on the road, will you?

But you see, Emma is the part of main cast, so her abilities expanded quite far more than your normal beast tamer. Thanks to Emma being from one of the richest families, she had acquired a skill scroll which no normal person would be able to buy and learned the skill Beast Summon, which allowed her to summon her beasts whenever she wanted from wherever the place they were at and vice-versa.

What's a skill scroll? Nothing but just one of the ways to learn and acquire skills. Skills are something you are born with, some skills you learn when you grow up, some, that you end up acquiring randomly, some, you acquire in the dungeon in a life-threatening situation, and some are through skill scroll which one could get their hands in the dungeon towers.

Even a seemingly useless skill scroll would sell for hundreds of thousands and the one Woods family had acquired for their daughter was worth billions, since it was quite a coveted skill scroll by the beast tamers.

But you see, this skill that the skill scroll contained wasn't your normal run-of-the-mill skill but rather something surpassing what anyone could think of, of course, no one really knows how broken the skill Emma had gained.

The usual Beast Summon allows the beast tamers to call forth only a limited number of their beasts but the one that Emma had acquired allows her to summon all her beasts, there was no limit on that skill which she will realize in the future.

But having this skill isn't the only thing that made Emma fearsome. It was her ability to command an army of hundreds of thousands of beasts in the future. To understand how broken she is, let me in on the detail that no beast tamer in the history of this world has ever gone past two digits of a number when it came to the number of beasts they can tame and control.

So yeah, right now she might look like any other typical beast tamer who is strong but in the future, she will be just a straight-up monster.

"Is there something wrong?" Emma asked tilting her head, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"No. It's cool and all. But when did you all become buddy-buddy with each other? And why am I being offered the ride? What kinda elaborate hoax y'all tryna pull me in?" I couldn't help but ask.

Why would these fuckers invite me? Like we don't know each other, I mean, I do know about them since I read the novel but they don't know shit about me.

So again, the hell is this situation?

"Dude, this isn't some elaborate hoax. It's just a ride offer. Why did you even think it's a scheme?" Aleister spoke up looking quite shocked.

Aleister, the childhood friend of Emma, another main cast member of the novel, also from one of the richest families.

And when I say richest, I mean rich rich type of rich, you know? They had made the money I gave to Elinalise in that back alley look like a penny change.

"Don't come if you don't want to" Julianna with her sharp tongue spoke casting a glare at me which I just ignored even though she did make the sense.

"Lisa here knows Emma since their dormitory rooms are right next to each other and she suggested to me and Julianna about taking a ride instead of running to our classes. The headmaster had specifically asked not to use any kind of vehicle but the beasts as a way to commute was a different thing, we thought it was a good idea. Emma didn't mind giving us a ride and we were just about to depart when I saw you and thought about offering the ride, Emma seemed cool with the idea." Aqua explained with a smile on his face.

Emma knows Aleister and she also knows Lisa. Lisa became acquainted with Aqua and Julianna considering they sat together in the Colosseum during the entrance ceremony. Aqua saw me walking and decided to extend the offer of a ride to me after asking Emma since Aqua is the protagonist of the novel, he is naturally a good kid, a quality of the protagonists. 

Alright, I got the picture.

"And why are you cool with giving me a ride?" I asked looking at Emma.

"Woah, you are one hell of a cynical dude" Aleister spoke up in disbelief seeing how I still thought of their offer as a scheme.

No, I am not cynical. I just know you people since I had read the novel.

Lisa had her nonchalant expression as she simply ate her potato chips while enjoying the drama. She was the same on the bus when Julianna and I were arguing. Reading about this trait of hers in the novel was fun but damn was it annoying seeing it, not like I would have done anything differently if I were the one watching a drama unfolding in front of me.

I can't see Julianna's expression due to her hoodie and the mask but her body language totally seemed to scream that she was done with my bullshit.

Aqua just had an awkward smile.

"Hm? Well, if you need a reason then it's because you are handsome, incredibly handsome and I don't mind owing favors to handsome people" Emma spoke up leaning a bit in front of me with a cheeky smile on her face.

So, if I am getting this right...

"You mean, you think I had be a good model for whatever the product you both are thinking of promoting in the academy?"

"Eh," Emma's smile cracked as she let out a voice of disbelief and Aleister's eyes started wandering around.

At my words, Aqua and Julianna both turned their heads towards Emma while Lisa made a loud noise of a crunch letting out a hmm sound seemingly interested in the development.

"W-what are you talking about?" Emma tried to play it off but I ain't dumb man.

"Cut the bullshit"

At my words, it seemed both Emma and Aleister realized I wasn't gonna buy their crap.

"Fine. Yes, that was our plan. Aqua looked handsome so we thought hey, we can use it as a way to gain favor and then when he pointed at you, and well, you know..." Her voice trailed off but she didn't know to say the next words for any of us to understand.

"I thought you both were nice but that's a kinda bitch move" Julianna spoke, taking a step back as if she was trying to distance herself from them.

Emma and Aleister simply looked away in response.

"You were in their team just a moment ago, weren't you?" I couldn't help but pose the question.

"Well, I didn't know they were at us like we are some useable product to further their interest." Julianna's harsh words made Aleister's face scrunch a little and started to retort.

"Hey, we weren't, okay? We didn't think like that, we were planning on simply asking them to help us out a little, we wouldn't have forced them if they decided to decline our request you know?"

"Oh yeah, now you are tryna defend yourself. No matter what you say nothing would change your premise for helping us was out of pure self-interest."

Wow, a drama?

I stood beside Lisa and started eating her potato chips as I watched the drama unfold. Lisa didn't seem to mind me eating.

So, we were cool.

"Oh come on, you are just trying to blow this up, it's not that big of a deal. Besides, you are getting a free ride in this, so what's your problem? To begin with what's with that getup? It's clear you are trying to hide your face. Are you that ugly?"

Julianna visibly flinched at those words.

"Hah, hit the nail right on the head?"

Oof, that was a low blow right there Aleister.

"Shut up the fuck up when you don't know anything. You are just a little shit-head who only acts like a good guy when all you think about is how you are going to make use of people" Julianna seethed with rage letting out her mana as if ready to start the fight, Aleister in turn did the same.

Oh, hell yeah. A fight it is.

I took a step back and so I did Lisa, I didn't wanna get swept up in the fight but before things could get interesting Aqua let out his mana.

And at that moment, everyone in the spot froze while I ate the potato chips. It was only natural.

While Julianna seemed someone who was an above-average student among the first-years, and Aleister, Emma, and Lisa were without a question top students in the first year, Aqua was a different beast altogether.

Even the current him is perfectly capable of beating almost all of the main cast members from the first year all on his own.

Whether he loses and dies at the end of the novel or not, he is the protagonist of this novel.

And as the protagonist, he couldn't just sit still and let a fight unfold in front of him.

"Both of you, stop."

Aqua said and then slowly retracted his mana, and so did Julianna and Aleister. 

Except for the crunching noise of me and Lisa eating the potato chips, a silence descended where no one spoke.

And just then I spotted a familiar-looking mini cargo truck coming out of the backside of the Colosseum.

Hell yeah, my rides here.

"Emm- big sis,  mind giving me a ride back to my class?" I raised my hand stopping the ride and asked.

She looked at me and gave a nod.

"Sure, just hop onto the cargo like before" She replied and I did so, a few seconds passed and then she asked.

"They aren't coming?" She asked taking her head out of the window as she looked at me and then I looked at them.

"You guys wanna hop on?" I asked and they all looked at me like I am some dumbass.

"We can't use a vehicle" Emma hesitatingly said.

"Who said that?" No law states that one can't use the vehicle.

"The headmaster!"

"That's only if you want to pass the test though" I replied and they looked quite shocked, stupid honestly.

"No, you will end up getting 3 demerit points" This time it was Aqua who spoke up.

"And?"

"If you end up with 10 demerit points, you will lose a credit"

Yeah, I don't care bout that.

"Look, even if I do get these 3 demerit points nothing changes really. For failing each test in the future we will gain 5 demerit points, correct? So if we go by that logic, even if I do end up failing this test I will still be technically the same as the person who didn't fail the test, just a guy with 3 demerit points. The guy who passed and I, will still need to fail the next two tests in order to lose a credit point. Do you get it? Even if I have a bit of extra demerit points, I am technically no different than the guy who passed this test. So yeah, there you go"

Of course, this was only reasonable unless they decided to increase the demerit point you had to get for failing the test with each passing test.

"It's kind of weird with how your math isn't really working here but it still makes sort of sense" Emmie spoke with a frown on her face to which I just shrugged.

"So, you hopping on or what?" I asked and then Julianna simply started walking opened the left gate and sat beside Emmie.

Hmm, no one else?

Welp, let's go. Emmie picking on that no one else is gonna hop on started the engine and just before driving she spoke up.

"I don't know what happened but I think you kids need to cool off for a bit and then talk out with each other later"