2.26. Dungeon Secrets

Three months have passed since the arrival of the hero. For three months the students have been running alternating cycles between class and dungeon exploration. The students had mostly gotten the knack of it, capable of handling the monsters while making their way to the target site.

The examinations for the enforcer classes will begin tomorrow, with students excited and nervous at the same time. The map has yet to be revealed, and arrangements of the team members will be set to random within the students of one's own class.

For three months, Sequencee had been training under Iona and the instructor's tutelage; for three months he had been perfecting his magic for this moment.

"How do you feel about tomorrow's exam?" Ro asked.

"Tomorrow huh?" Lilian mulled.

"Should be fine right? It's what we've done all this time," Risa said, eye affixed on slicing the steak before her.

"Doubtfully. Exams are called exams for a reason. There would likely be some conditions to make it harder," Evelyn said.

"Our seniors said that it's the same, just a little longer though?" Leticia said, borrowing Nynim's knowledge.

"Maa.. it should be fine. It's not like we're going to die.. right?" Risa forked the cube of meat into her mouth and looked at her brother, Shiro.

"Yeah. We'll do just as we normally do," Shiro said with a hint of innuendo in his voice.

"Is anything the matter?" Sequencee asked, noticing the change.

"Personal matters. Sorry for making you concerned," Shiro said.

A small beastkin which sat beside him looked up at the hero, her ears wiggled. He smiled bitterly and caressed her head with tender care. The girl nudged upwards as if to tell Shiro to play with her fluffy ears.

Risa pouted, despite that she said nothing.

Everyone was gathered at Schwii's dormitory for a meal together. There was a long history to how such a nightly ritual began, and it certainly wasn't their first time having a meal together.

It all started with Evelyn's simple wish to spend more time with Sequencee. Schwii was winning the race of love by a wide margin, she abhorred that. Evelyn, by the permission of the two heroes, had requested that Schwii and Sequencee move to the pagoda as there were plenty of extra rooms available.

Though it was a nice offer, doing so would mean that both Lilian and Ro would have to move there also. And concurrently, it would be unfair for Leticia not to be included. More so, Leticia had voiced her unwillingness to part with her current roommates like Nynim, which made the situation complicated. As such, it was decided that everyone would just stay where they were.

Evelyn's plans didn't work out as well as she thought, so she used the excuse of 'meetings' to barge into their dorm, dragging the two heroes into the matter. It was a brute force method which didn't really work out well, leading to a lot of reluctance until the perfect excuse fell out of nowhere– Risa's love for Iona's cooking.

Disregarding the fact that she was aware of Iona's title as a demon general, she often stopped by shamelessly just to eat dinner with everyone. One thing led to another– causing the dorm to become a nightly stop for everyone after class. The pristine living room had become filled with personal items of the many people who hung around the place as if it were their secret club.

As a demon general, Iona wondered if cooking for the hero was an act of deserting the demon race. She was the magnet which attracted Risa in more ways than one. In any case, as there wasn't any command from Schwii that deemed the act a sin, she simply did what she thought was best.

"Iona-sama, I want seconds!" Risa waved her plate.

"Yes.." with her usual conflicted smile, Iona prepared another serving for Risa.

"When are you going to behave yourself in front of the demons.." Shiro sighed.

"Am I not? I helped cook your food, you know!"

"Yeah, yeah.." Shiro found her sister's actions laudable. She dared to walk into a demon lord's nest and make this her second home.

"Linzy, do you want another plate too?" Risa asked the beastkin.

She merely shook her head.

Sequencee shifted his attention from their banter to Evelyn. "Speaking of which, what is the difference between the examination for first and second class? For us, we need to cross the red zones and bring back proofs depending on the teams.. or so was what I heard."

"I believe it's similar except that we need to hunt for more proofs. The beginning point and end points should be the same," Evelyn said.

"There are many entrances though? Some are further away from the connecting bridge to the Black Ravine, some are closer."

"I suppose we'll have to look at the map then."

Sequencee nodded. He was concerned that teams would bump into each other's hunting zone due to the sheer number of people taking the examinations. Combining the first and second class enforcer course for their year amounted to almost a thousand students.

"Hopefully I end up with Sequencee this time around.." Schwii muttered, finding this daily crowd of people plain annoying.

"The chances are one in nine. Quite slim don't you think?" Evelyn said with a smile.

"Better than zero," Schwii retorted back.

Sequencee look at Leticia who, unlike Evelyn, rarely said anything provocative. Leticia flashed a bitter smile.

===

The students came in early with their uniforms and other eligible items inside their bags. As the expected duration from start to end would last around 2 weeks, the students were allowed to bring items any they wish provided that it didn't go over the limit set by the examination unit.

For class A2E, they were gathered at dungeon entrance Gate E. The students pooled around the notice board where the names of the teams were attached.

"Hey, we're in the same team!" Taylor cheered.

"Dimwit.." Adrinne cursed.

"Pst, which team is the goddess in?"

"She's in Team Ten!"

"What?"

"My team!"

"They're here, they're here. Make way!"

Sequencee and Schwii arrived, the students for some reason made way for them. It was a mysterious phenomena which Sequencee had no explanation too. Sequencee and Schwii checked the list but didn't Sequencee's name on any of them.

"That's.. odd?" Sequencee didn't think they would've forgotten his name, would they?

"It's on purpose. We should seek the instructors," Schwii said after a short deduction.

They had to dally a little while before the instructors of the other class showed up. Judy and Grian weren't so early but Schwii hadn't the time to wait for them so she approached whoever was present.

"Schwii and Sequencee, correct? I hear that you're the special member for the hero's party?"

"Special party? I heard nothing about that?"

"It was announced just this morning. The two heroes would be assigned a greater challenge. They've selected.. I think one of you to fill up the empty slots."

"What?!" Schwii exclaimed.

"Your instructor will notify you of it, hold on for a moment."

Schwii grinded her teeth, thinking how that darned princess was trying to take Sequencee away from her every chance she had– Sequencee placed his hand on tops of Schwii's head.

"Hey.." Schwii looked at him with a pout.

"I'm just mimicking Shiro. Don't want it?"

"What.. ever," Schwii looked away, allowing Sequeencee to run his fingers through her smooth hair. It's a shame the wonderful fragrance would be lost by the end of the exam.

'Seriously.. what are they thinking?'

Sequencee didn't think the hero had any reason to pick only him. Though he was glad to be a hero's companion, now that he had gotten close to them, it felt more of a burden if anything.

"Sequenceeee!!"

BOom!!

A dust cloud blew into the sky, Sequencee shielded the student around this crazy magician by circumventing the dust upwards. Judy came out of the smoke coughing.

"You're pick," she pointed at him as if to say he was 'the guy for the job'.

"Explain please," Sequencee requested.

"The hero's party is made up of four members at the moment. Hero Risa, Hero Shiro, Her Highness Evelyn and Miss Linzy. They need one more member for the spot and they chose you. Ain't that great?"

"Yeah.."

'I think I kinda get why Schwii didn't want me to meet the hero now. Well, too late to think about that; I dug my own grave.'

"Can we reject it?" Schwii requested.

If Sequencee returned to the original groupings, he would be paired up with Schwii's group. Of the ten teams, her's only has four members.

"No," Judy shook her head.