Given that the mood had been completely ruined, we didn’t return to the bar. Of course, there was also the quest completion to consider, and the fact that we had done what we set out to do. But those are little people worries—I was more concerned with the fine time we briefly had in the bar, and the continuation of those events.

Nobody else seemed to share in my mentality though, so we simply went to the Rogue army’s camp in order to turn over the enemy badges. This was smoothly done—each of us only had to hand over a single badge to officially join the Rogue army. We also handed over the extra badges we had picked up, and got monetary compensation for it. After that was done, we were given our new army badges, with all of us at the current lowest possible rank, soldier.

We can climb those ranks by doing various quests for the army, though. Most of those quests were the same as what we had just done, except that the enemy’s badges now increased in value the higher ranked it is. For instance, a General’s badge is worth many, many times more than a simple soldier’s badge.

Other than these types of quests, we can do various other things, like seek out ancient and forgotten gods for support, search for rare materials, conquer dungeons for their dungeon cores, and even just explore unknown places—of which there are still quite a few in Ashenload. The world itself is utterly massive, and we are simply tucked into the smallest corner of it. There are some who play the game by going as far as they can, seeing the world with their own eyes.

Lucky, the quests involving the badges are not the type that you have to reserve. Just hand over a badge of any type, and you’ll be paid for it.

The other quests, however, do have to be reserved. It’s a matter of not having any conflict over a single quest target, and only allowing one party at a time to try it. We looked over those that were available to the soldier-class parties, and sighed in resignation. Unfortunately, the only quests open to us were the easiest and most rote type involving fetch objectives and the collection of certain materials. They were the same as bottom tier adventurer quests that you see in so many other games. And, we would only be able to get better quests by ranking up.

There are such things as small mercies, though. Collecting badges from higher ranked enemies would also allow you to rank up. This seems so much more interesting, so we decided to go this route.

Indeed, the whole thing with the badges was designed to allow extremely strong parties to simply skip the basic quests, and quickly rise to a rank suiting their abilities. It certainly benefits us, as we now won’t have to go through the painful process of collecting iron ore, and finding medicinal plants.

Though, it should also be noted that extremely large amounts of badges the same rank as the party, or even lower, are still enough to warrant a rank promotion.

But collecting badges of other soldiers would be almost as boring as picking grass from the ground.

As some say, go big, or die.

I think.

Of course, our first problem was that we needed to know where the enemies might be, and preferably find high-ranking ones to propel us to high ranks quickly. Ideally, we would be able to find six general ranked individuals, to bring the entire party up to the same rank. That would give us access to the best and most challenging quests immediately. However, no one held out hopes of being that lucky, so we settled for the next best thing; going for knight-ranked players. They would be able to firmly bring us up to the middle rankings, where the quests are at least a little less tedious.

Though, first we would have to find knight-ranked individuals or parties. Luckily, Eine is totally an assassin. It isn’t just that he has the skills and mentality of one, but he also has access to the vast underground information networks in Ashenload. Using that, we were able to locate a few good targets to pursue.

And so it was that we all got promoted to the knight rank on the same day we joined the Rogue army. The knights whose badges we took were pushovers, especially due to the fact that we cornered single knights, rather than a party or parties of them. To make up for it, we fought the knights on an individual basis, one on one. That, of course, still didn’t help the survival chances of the knights.

Spark took his down with a single swing of his mace, while Xavier hacked away at the knees of his opponent, bringing him to his level before depriving him of a head. Diana’s knight died from a variation of the ‘death of a thousand cuts’, bleeding out in the end. She likes playing around, I guess? Rina’s knight vanished in a flash of heat and volatile energies—by which I mean that she threw a fireball at him.

Eine’s fight was over with a single flash of his blade, while mine ended with an arrow though the knight’s head. Sure, that’s not very impressive, until you realize that I was over four kilometers away from my target.

Anyway, by the time we had gathered all the knight badges needed and handed them over, it was already dinnertime. We had played for around eight hours, and gotten quite a bit done in that time.

We agreed to meet again tomorrow, and go about completing some of those knight-ranked quests.

I logged off, and pattered into the kitchen to make a good meal of lasagna for myself. However, working off of a feeling, I decided to make two portions for dinner, instead of just one for myself. It wasn’t much more work, and I enjoyed the normalcy of the motions I put my body through. Really, cooking is rather soothing to someone like me, especially since I can taste of the fruits of my effort afterwards.

I had just put the lasagna into the oven to cook, when someone knocked on my door.

Not too surprised, I went to the door and pulled it open. I felt somewhat grateful that I was adequately dressed to receive guests, and that I had made a second portion of dinner.

Outside, stood someone I recognized well. She’s my doctor, Ms. Feilding. And, from the look on her face, she comes bearing good news. Instantly, I felt annoyed and panicked.

“Hello Revian—can I come in?” She asked with a smile on her face. I sighed a little internally, and stepped aside. She came into my apartment, and began taking her shoes off. I lead her to the table, and got her a cup of water while she sat down.

I sat across from her, wondering why she had come, and dreading whatever she was going to say.

“You’re still having trouble with speaking?” She asked. I nodded my head, while also answering her question with my silence.

“You have been doing the exercises, right? The ones I gave you to help rehabilitate your speech patterns?”

“Yes…up to five words.”

“That’s great then! Given enough time, I’m sure you’ll be speaking normally again!”

There was an awkward lull in the conversation after that, which lasted until the timer for the lasagna started beeping. I got up, and pulled it out of the oven, setting it out to cool off for a few minutes.

When I returned to the table with two steaming plates of lasagna, Dr. Feilding thanked me and tucked into the meal.

We quickly finished the food, and I waited for the doctor to start explaining why she had come so late in the night, and what was so important that required her to see me in person.

“You aren’t stressing yourself unnecessarily, right? The readings we took last year indicated that your mind is still too fragile to stand up too…”

“I’m…fine.” I said, cutting Dr. Feilding off. “Tell me news.”

“Right…Basically, after reviewing the results of your last visit, we’ve determined that the schedule for your Awakening can be moved up to sooner than we had anticipated.”

Huh? Wait—just wait a moment? What do you mean by that? Moved up? That shouldn’t be possible, not at all! I made sure to…

“We’d like to extend our congratulations to you, Ms. Snow. Your Awakening was set for a month from now.”

Agh! No good, no good! Maybe I can fake a relapse or something? But no, that would be far too suspicious. I’ve already pushed the Awakening date as far back as I can—any more, and they might take note. In fact, they probably already have, and are the reason the date was moved up in the first place. Ugh—this bears closer scrutiny.

In any case, I was careful to keep the shock and panic from my face so that Dr. Fielding wouldn’t notice anything amiss. Soon after she passed the news onto me, the doctor left, assuring me that everything would be alright as she did so.

I spent the rest of the night investigating, careful to cover my tracks as I did so. This continued even as the sun rose, then set again. And still, I didn’t have any answers about what had happened to move my Awakening to next month. There was only the ever present feeling that I was being watched, and scrutinized all too closely.

I woke up in front of my old-school desktop monitor.

I guess I must have given into the exhaustion, and finally fell asleep even while doing ‘research’. Though, it looks like I had properly shut everything down before sleeping, so I should continue to go on undiscovered.

Looking in the mirror, there are no bags under my eyes, or anything like that. Also, the timer meant to wake me up never went off, so it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to make it to school as early as I’d like. In fact, I might be running a little late.

I hurriedly took a shower, and threw on my school uniform afterwards.

By the time I left my apartment, I just barely could make it to the platform for the last train that would bring me to school on time. It was nearly unbearably crowded, due to the fact that this was the train most frequently used by the students getting to their respective schools. I was almost pushed out on several stops.

Anyway, I eventually got to school, and followed the throng of people making their way to the front gates. From there it was smooth sailing to my classroom, though the bell rang as soon as I stepped past the doorway, just barely sparing me a tardy notice.

For some reason, my five friends are looking at me strangely…Oh wait. I forgot to meet up with them on Sunday. Oops. I was a little busy, as it turns out. In fact, I still am. I wasn’t able to find out if there was a deeper motivation to the doctors moving up my awakening date, and if it was initiated by outside forces.

I got passed a few sheets of paper, and began arbitrarily writing on it, allowing that part of me to go onto auto-pilot while the greater part of my mind was engaged in reexamining the implications of my Awakening, and what I could do about it. Really, there were just too many things that could be happening at the moment, and I couldn’t sort through them all to determine what sort of impact they would have on my life. Obviously, I want to continue living as I have, quietly and peaceably. But I’m only left alone due to my powerlessness and frailty. As soon as that protection is gone, I would be stirring up a hornet’s nest, regardless of what I do afterwards. Besides, I like the lives of normal humans. It makes me feel like less of the monster I truly am.

Ah, someone came around and picked up the papers. How long has it been, exactly, since class started? There aren’t any clocks in the room, so I can’t tell. What did I even write? I don’t know. I was unfortunately preoccupied by the thoughts running rampant in my head, and didn’t pay attention at all. Ah well. It’s not important. Rather, I think I have to placate those friends of mine who are approaching now. They seem a little concerned.

“Where were you yesterday? Did something happen?” Asked Godard

I nodded, but didn’t elaborate.

Sabrina nudged me playfully, before dropping a bombshell.

“She was probably studying for the exam’s today, right?”

“Exams?” I asked, confused.

“Yeah—the test we just took…you know, the one that gives us the initial school ranks?”

Oh shit. That’s not good. I was too preoccupied, and forgot to…

“Did you not realize we were taking the exam?”

“Lot on my mind.” I said, truthfully.

“Must be quite a bit on your mind, if you didn’t even realize that you just took an exam.” Said Kormic, and rightly so. Really, I fucked up bad this time around. Now, there won’t be a single chance of pushing my Awakening date any further back. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets brought forward even more. Damn it. I don’t suppose they’ll let me retake the test, without first seeing the first results?

“Was it a boy?” Asked Haven curiously. What?

Unfortunately, she interpreted my silence as confirmation, rather than the mild confusion it really was.

And so it was that I became trapped during the break, trying as hard I can to dissuade my friends of the notion that I had suddenly fallen in love—a notion that, in case you haven’t yet realized, is completely false. Of course, the more I tried to convince them that this simply wasn’t true, they believed it more. This is why I hate speaking sometimes.

Ugh. Things just can’t get any worse, can they? Well, at least not for today.

Though, things did take a turn for the worse mid-way through the week, when the elderly teacher pulled me aside, and told me to meet him in his office after school—never a good sign.

I waited in tense anticipation for the class to end, then made my way to Mr. Ruben’s office, positive that this was about the test I had taken earlier that week. And sure enough, when I walked in, he had a few sheets of paper open in front of him. My name was on them.

“Please Revian, sit down. Now, normally I would ask the student if they know why I called them here, but you obviously have your own circumstances, and likely won’t answer. So, I’ll get to the crux of the matter. Did you cheat on the test?”

Now, I had known something like this was coming, and pondered the outcome as much as I can. I could just say that yes, I had cheated on the exam. But, that would likely get me expelled from a school as prestigious as this, and have various other ramifications. I actually considered doing this at first, since it would prevent attention from being drawn to me.

Then, I decided against that course of action. It would actually be less painful in the long run to say that I didn’t cheat. Sure, it would draw some attention to me, but that paltry amount of attention simply won’t be able to compare to what’ll happen during my Awakening. It might even soften the blow my Awakening will have later.

Besides, I’ve been throwing aside my pride for far too long. Soon, I’ll have to convince people that they shouldn’t mess with me, and I can’t do that by keeping quiet, and taking the blows as they come. I want to preserve my everyday life, and need to show everyone that I can’t be pushed around in order to do so.

That’s why I shook my head, answering Mr. Ruben’s question.

“But, if you didn’t cheat, then how did you, an average student at best, get the highest score in the school? You didn’t answer a single question wrong, and everything was done neatly, and professionally.”

“Studied?”

“No, that’s not something that simply studying can do. The other teachers are convinced that you somehow go ahold of the answer key, and used it to cheat on the exam. I, however, am of a different opinion. Now, do you want to explain what really happened?”

I sighed, not saying anything. I know that they can’t claim that I cheated, given that there’s no evidence of such a thing happening. Really, they have to accept that I got the score I did, since there’s nothing else they can do.

“Not going to comment? Then, do you want to hear what I think happened? I think you stopped holding yourself back.”

I jerked a little; surprised Mr. Rubens arrived at that conclusion.

“You shouldn’t be so shocked. We teacher notice more than you would think—and I’ve long held the belief that you are far more capable than you let on.” Mr. Rubens smiled, his lips obscured by the bushy white mustache he keeps neat and trimmed. “I’ve told the other teachers about my suspicions, but they still are convinced that you cheated. Just know, that I will support you in proving them wrong, no?”

I left Mr. Ruben’s office a little misty eyed. Damn, but that touched my soul a little.

The next day, the school-wide ranking were published, and an outcry among the students could be heard. Obviously, I was the reason for the outcry. I hadn’t even needed to look at the ranking’s board to know that I occupied the top spot. Oddly enough, that was a spot normally reserved for Haven. In fact, all my friends typically had top spots on the ranking board, with Sabrina normally taking second, and Ussen lingering around third place. Godard was almost always in the top ten, while Kormic was in the top twenty. I would usually be found around the middle, below the one hundred and fifty mark.

Now, Haven was pushed to second place, and the much vaunted first rank had a mostly unfamiliar name next to it—Revian Snow. Well, unfamiliar to most of the student body. I would be greatly disappointed if my friends didn’t recognize my name.

After seeing the exam results, they immediately came barreling for me, and dragged me into an unused classroom for what they consider to be an interrogation.

“Spill it! What happened with your exam?!”

“Lucky perfect score?” Ah, I think that’s blood dribbling out of Haven’s mouth.

“The perfect score? You didn’t miss a single answer, and got the elusive perfect score?” Asked Sabrina. I nodded.

“The world is unfair.” Said Haven forlornly.

“How did you do it?” Asked Godard curiously. “I thought you forgot to study for the exam and everything.”

“Didn’t cheat. Accident.”

“You accidentally got the highest score in our grade?” Asked Ussen. Again, I nodded. He accepted my answer sagely, and with a little disbelief.

“You are seriously a weird person Revy, you know?” Said Kormic.

“I know. Have issues.”

I think it’s lucky that I have such accepting friends. They didn’t try to pry any further, after finding out that I’m not willing to talk about these things at length.

(POV Sabrina)

“Revy’s an enigma.” I tell the others.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t explain what….”

“Yes, it does. We’ve known for a while that she’s hiding stuff from us. Stuff that even I’m stonewalled from finding out.” I say, interrupting my half-sister, Haven.

“I thought you said that you weren’t going to try and look into her past?” Asked Kormic, looking at me in a slightly accusatory manner.

“I didn’t. However, dad likes to know who I hang out with, and had her background checked. He couldn’t find anything from before she arrived here in Jor—in an industrial freighter, no less.”

“Even the city lord couldn’t learn more about her?” Asked Ussen. I shook my head.

“No. However, I think we’ll find out soon enough.”

“Why do you say that?” Said Godard, who was a little cross at the fact that we were talking about Revy from behind her back.

“It’s a feeling I have. Something’s going to happen, and Revy will likely be in the center of it.”

Kormic laughed.

“True. That girl has some of the best combat senses I’ve ever seen—the type you just don’t get living a peaceful life.”

“The best?” I say. “Even with those who go through your families’ dojo?”

“Yeah, even with them. And given that she’s lived without any trouble while in Jor, we can assume that she learned to fight somewhere else, from before she got here.”

“But she was only seven when she arrived, right? How would a child get combat training?”

“Not in any fun way.” Concluded Kormic.

I thought for a while, before bringing up one of the other things I wanted to bring up.

“Her Awakening was apparently moved up.”

“What? Really? I thought it was set to be in a year?”

“It was. The hospital received orders to bump up Revy’s schedule. It’s now in a month. I think the people who sent the orders are related to wherever she came from.”

“Hm. I agree—though, we are going to go see her Awakening, right?”

“Of course. She was there for ours, and it’s only right that we repay the favor.”