First Month's End

"You're more cunning than I thought." Gerard teased Mika.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

The students of the black and silver class were doing some stretches as the joint lesson was about to come to an end.

In the beginning, the mood between the two classes was tense, however after the fight between Mika and Gerard, the mood lightened up a little.

"Didn't you challenge me in front of everyone in order to prove the doubters wrong?" Gerard asked with a smirk.

"..."

"Come on... At least praise me for my acting skills!" he pretended to be sulking.

"Yeah, yeah, thanks a lot." Mika gave in and replied half-heartedly.

The students' gazes were directed at the front, where Ralph Arma stood.

"I shall now announce the end of this joint lesson. As you have seen in the last match between those two brave young men, you should never underestimate your enemy. I hope everyone learned a lesson or two."

He lifted his wooden staff up again.

"Now let me send you all off." he said with his typical harmless smile.

The staff touched the ground.

"Hm? What-"

But before Ophelia, who stood beside him, could say something, she suddenly disappeared.

"What the..."

Mika was confused by the sudden turn of events.

"?"

He looked around, but all the other students vanished as well.

"Mr. Arma...?"

Only he and Ralph were in the arena.

Ralph's peaceful and kind facial expression did not change, however, Mika felt uneasy.

There was still a great distance between the two.

"Should I go through the portal...?" Mika asked nervously as he was about to turn around.

And again, Mika heard the staff tapping the ground.

In an instant, the space shrank.

"No, not yet. I wanted to have a nice little chat with you, Mika Elbar."

"!"

Ralph, who should have been far away from him, was now standing in front of Mika.

"D-did I do something wrong?"

"No, not at all." Ralph shook his head with a smile.

"I just have a simple question." he added.

Mika gulped down his saliva.

"Why did you hold back against Gerard?"

"?!"

Mika widened his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry, but-"

"Thanks to my relic, I can create isolated spaces like this arena. Naturally, I can always see what's going on in there even from afar." Ralph cut Mika off.

He continued.

"I coincidentally found out about your little match against Ms. Ross. It was a really good fight!"

"However..."

Mika sensed how he was breaking into a cold sweat.

"Not only was your magic more potent back then, but you also used some kind of relic, too, didn't you?"

"I..."

He was searching for an excuse.

'Hey, system! Help me out!', he thought.

[...]

But the system kept quiet.

"I...I'm sorry! I have to go to the bathroom!" Mika shouted as he sprinted to the exit.

"..."

Ralph was baffled.

"Was I scaring him perhaps?" he muttered to himself.

Thus, Mika exited the space and arrived in the hallway.

[What a lousy excuse.]

"You have no right to-"

"Ah, there you are!"

Mika was about to complain, but someone called out to him.

"What happened inside?"

It was Gerard, who approached Mika.

"Nothing really. He just forgot to warp me, too." Mika said as an excuse.

"I see, that's typical for him, haha!" he laughed it off.

Mika looked around.

Most of the students already left the hallway.

"Shall we head to the dorms?" Gerard asked with a smile.

"Sure."

Thus, the two also left the hallway.

"By the way, I'm departing tomorrow for my quest." Gerard stated.

"Tomorrow? What about the lessons? We still have some days left in this week." Mika asked.

"We got permission from our teacher. After all, the trip alone takes two days."

"That sounds rough... But what is your quest about?"

"We have to exterminate some monsters at the border between Malnor and Rostanta. At the first glance, it sounds pretty hard, but this is just a B-rank quest so no need to worry!"

Rostanta.

It was Malnor's neighboring nation.

According to the rumors, it was a nation, where everything was solved with violence.

In other words, it seemed like a barbaric place.

"Luckily, it's just the border. Being in Rostanta sounds more dangerous than fighting off some monster." Mika remarked jokingly.

"Yeah, that's right. But be that as it may, you can expect us to return at the beginning of next week.

With Judi on our side, the quest shouldn't be so difficult!" Gerard declared with a cocky grin.

"It sounds like Judi is going to do most of the work though..."

"Well, of course, the others and I will put in the work, but it still puts you at ease, when you know that someone stronger than you has your back, right?"

Mika sighed.

"There's still something I don't understand, Gerard. Why did you recruit Judi? You do know that you have to do quests based on the rank of your strongest member, right?"

"?"

Gerard looked confused at Mika with a tilting head.

"W-what?"

"Isn't it normal to seek challenges? If you want to get stronger you naturally have to face opponents stronger than you." Gerard explained.

"..."

Mika pondered.

"Am I actually the only one here, who wants to have a comfortable student life?" he whispered.

"Did you say something?"

"No, noth-"

[Turn back.]

Mika stopped in his tracks.

"Mika?"

[Head to the academy.]

He turned his neck.

"Did you forget something in the academy?"

"..."

[This is not a quest. However, I recommend you to follow my instructions.]

"Hello? Can you hear me? Mika? Hello?" Gerard waved his hand in front of Mika's face.

"Y-yeah, I think I forgot something there." Mika said hesitatingly with a wry smile.

"You can go on without me!" he added as he already began to head towards the academy.

His instincts told him to run.

Thus, it did not take long for him to arrive at the academy.

"I'm here... Now what?" Mika said as he gasped for air.

[The destination is behind the building.]

Not questioning anything, Mika obediently followed the system's words.

Mika accelerated even more. His breathing got more ragged. The uneasiness he felt since the beginning started to grow.

What was awaiting him?

He only had to turn the corner.

And as he did so, he swiftly turned his neck.

"!"

He slowed down immediately.

His heart was throbbing. His pulse went up. His throat was aching from the ragged breathing. Sweat strolled across his face.

Shaken, he looked at the person sitting on the ground with the back leaning against the wall.

Judi.

"Judi!" Mika shouted worried while rushing to her.

She was bleeding from various spots.

All her injuries came from slash-like attacks.

"Mika...?" she muttered with a weak voice.

"Don't strain yourself! I will take you to the infirmary!"

However, as he was about to try to help her up, she slapped his hand away.

"Please, don't worry about me..."

Even though she was struggling, she got up on her own with the wall acting as her support.

"Judi...?"

"Don't tell anyone what you saw..."

She was trying to leave the scene.

"H-hey! Where are you going? You're heavily injured!"

"I'm fine..." she replied despite blood still dropping on the ground.

She was leaving a trail of small blood drops as she continued walking.

In the meantime, Mika could only watch her leave.

She vehemently denied his help.

[Will you not ask what happened?]

"No... I think she doesn't want me to poke into this matter any further." Mika responded staring to the ground.

[I see.]

"Why did you lead me here?"

[I neither expected you to help her physically or mentally.]

"Then, why? Just so that I could see her like this?"

His tone slowly changed.

He began to raise his voice.

[It is preparation and training.]

"Preparation? Training? What the heck are you talking about?! Don't use the suffering of people for your purposes!"

Mika was agitated.

[...]

"Tch!" he clicked his tongue.

He slammed his fist against the wall.

Little did Mika know that this incident would soon ignite his will for the upcoming tournament.

The next morning.

"It's nice of you to see us off!"

"..."

Mika just smiled faintly at the energetic Gerard, who was loading the carriage.

He peeked over at Judi.

Her injuries from yesterday were hidden by her uniform making her look fine to everyone else.

However, she appeared very nervous compared to her team members.

"Well, seems like everything is done now." Gerard mentioned as he looked over to his teammates.

"Let's have a feast when we return!" he added giving Mika a thumbs-up and a teeth-showing smile.

"Sure." Mika agreed with a small nod.

Then, his team entered the carriage.

Mika stayed for a while as he watched the carriage leave until it was not visible anymore.

[...]

However, Gerard did not keep his word.

He and his team did not return.

Even when the first month at the academy ended, they did not return.