The Order of the Black Sword

After Shye returned to his seat, Instructor Fienna immediately walked towards him.

"Hahaha! I thought I already had a good grasp of your strength after teaching you for so long but it seems you were still hiding things from me huh?"

"Oh? Instructor Fienna! Yes, I had to keep some cards close to me since everyone was kind of eyeing me…"

"Don't worry, I completely understand. Anyway, I'm just glad that you managed to win today."

Instructor Fienna then faced her whole class and made an announcement.

"Good work today! Since you all have won your matches for the day, you're all dismissed. Your winners' semi-final match will be scheduled tomorrow morning so make sure to arrive on time!"

"Thank you, Instructor Fienna!"

The whole class answered in unison and happily left their seats. Some of them excitedly went to watch the matches from other courses while others went directly home to rest.

As for Shye, he was beaten up pretty badly by Theoden so he was among those who immediately headed home.

Shirley was a bit disappointed since she wanted to watch more matches with Shye but she also understood that he had a tough fight today against Theoden so she didn't bother him.

Shye didn't go home straight away though, he happily bought some snacks for Maia first before continuing to walk home.

Maia really likes snacks so Shye buys her snacks every time he has the chance to.

While walking towards his dormitory, a group of fourth-year students approached Shye.

"Y-Yo! You're Shye Crowley, aren't you? Be honored! Our Pink Unicorn Society has set our eyes on you!"

A short fourth-year student said.

Before Shye could reject these sketchy-looking fourth-years, a tall but very thin fourth-year student with two large front teeth and thick lips walked forward and followed up on the short guy's speech.

"Our Pink Unicorn Society is ranked 47th in the overall Academy Society rankings! In addition to giving you a high position in our society, we will give you three body-strengthening pills! So how about it? Have you decided to join us?"

Shye inwardly sneered.

"Are these guys treating me like an idiot? These guys even openly admitted that their society was ranked 47th! Do they think that I don't know there are only sixty societies inside Colzen Academy? And who the fuck would join a society named Pink Unicorn?!"

He thought to himself.

"Hello, yeah, I'm indeed Shye Crowley. I am very grateful for your invitation but I have already decided which society to join so I cannot accept your offer."

Shye slightly bowed to the fourth-year students before continuing to walk towards his dormitory.

His reply was so good that the fourth-year students forgot that they had to recruit him at all costs!

Luckily for them, the short guy managed to gather his wits so he immediately gave chase to Shye and obstructed his way.

"Hmmph! A mere first-year student dares to defy us fourth years?! You're three years too early to do that!"

*CLANG*

Fortunately, Shye was alert and he managed to draw his iron greatsword fast enough to block the short fourth-year student's attack.

"K…Kuuhh…"

Shye was sent sliding back by the seemingly no-name fourth-year student.

"Tch! So it was still too early for me to fight fourth-year students huh…"

Shye thought to himself as he desperately used his brain to look for a way out of this situation.

"Bah! What am I scared of? The worst that these no-names can do to me is beat me up! They won't dare kill me!"

Just as Shye had decided to use his full power to fight against the fourth-year students, another fourth-year student appeared.

"Hoh? You worthless pieces of trash dare to recruit one of the top freshmen students? If you don't want me to teach you a lesson, then scram!"

The sketchy fourth-year students looked toward the direction of the voice and their eyes constricted in fear.

"Hiiiiih!! R-Ren Beckmann! S-Sorry! We'll leave now!!"

After recognizing who the owner of the voice was, the sketchy fourth-year students quickly left the area.

Shye looked at the fourth-year student named Ren Beckmann. He was a tall, slightly tanned guy with a well-proportioned upper and lower body.

In addition to this, his body seemed like it was specialized for speed, not the bulky type of body that most warriors have.

Not only that, he had slightly droopy eyes and a small dagger earring on his left ear, someone you would call a tall, slightly dark, and handsome guy.

"Hello, Senior Ren! Thank you for saving me earlier."

Shye gave a slight bow to Ren Beckmann who was surprised by his gestures.

Ren himself was a slightly arrogant man when he was a freshman so he thought that Shye would be the same since he was one of the strongest freshmen this year.

He was pleasantly surprised that Shye wasn't that type of guy at all and he seems like someone who is easy to talk to.

"No worries. Shye Crowley right? I saw your match earlier and I must say that I am impressed by your comeback victory!"

Ren Beckmann said as he flashed a wide smile at Shye.

Although he was arrogant when he was a freshman, his experiences during the past three years at the academy made him learn that everyone in the academy should be allies.

He lost quite a few classmates on the way and saw some of his upperclassmen die right in front of him and because of that, not only did he learn humility, he also learned to be kind to his fellow adventurers.

As a fourth-year student, he already saw a glimpse of the real world and it wasn't even close to how "warm" the academy life was.

Adventurers betraying each other for a lion's share of the loot, whole parties getting wiped out, losing one of your closest friends in a mission, adventurers starving to death because they tried to live in a high-cost city with inadequate skills to maintain their lifestyle, adventurers killing their own party members due to jealousy, and many more.

Because of those experiences, it was rare to find an "arrogant" fourth-year student in average academies like the Colzen Adventurer Academy.

Shye was also surprised by Ren's attitude. 

Since he was used to arrogant first-year students, this was his first time seeing a strong and respectable fourth-year student who wasn't arrogant.

"Thank you for the praise, Senior Ren."

Shye gave a slight bow again as he thanked Ren Beckmann.

"Well, enough of that. I've come here to invite you to our society, the order of the black sword."