Paige blinked in mock surprise as she saw Markus waiting at the front door. She shouldn’t have been surprised to see him, but what did surprise her was the faint scent of blood on him.

“You made it back alright. Anything exciting happened?” Markus asked after a moment.

“Nope. Only had to kill two by my own hand. The rest… well… let's just say I had some help for the rest of them." That was all technically true, and Paige could use him as practice for when she had to fool Zenith. Already, she knew she had to heavily play down the ceremony or Zenith would attempt to kill her. Again.

But that was a later concern for a different day. Paige pointed to his side and frowned as she saw the faint hint of red on his clothes. "You got injured? How tough was it on your end?"

Besides the brief fight in the mausoleum, she had only known Shavie for the better part of a few weeks. But still, Paige was interested to see what kind of opponent Shavie thought would be a good challenge for the kids. It shouldn't have been too difficult with her there to support them, but she wasn't quite sure how sane Shavie was either. Thus far, Shavie was very different from what she imagined an Assassin would be like.

Markus hummed a response. “ Hmph, I should have dodged better. Got grabbed, but no bad wounds. Tyler got injured.”

“Hm.” Paige nodded. That was to be expected. She wasn’t training Markus to fight against people to the death, and that went double for the rest of his party. But it was odd that he wasn’t wounded more than just a slight flesh wound. With his fighting style, she expected him to have traded more blows than just one or two. Paige narrowed her eyes in thought. How come the opponent focused on the others?

“How bad is bad? Forget it , I can guess how bad it went” Paige said. If Markus said bad, then it was at least life-threatening in more than a few ways. “Who was the opponent?”

“Hunter-thief variant. Serrated blades, wind affinity, ranged specialist. Didn’t change fighting styles when I closed in, but he wasn’t focused on me, Aunt. Or Isabella.”

Paige nodded slowly. Markus wasn't a complete idiot. And as a rare genius in combat, it hadn't taken much for Markus to settle on the most likely reason for that.

"I’ll deal with it," Paige said.

Markus grunted quietly. He stood in the doorway still. "I don't mind the fight. It was good practice for us. But Tyler’s injury is too much. Hell, I don't mind that her family is weird, Aunt. I just want us to get compensation for being put through that."

Paige nodded. Sensible enough. "Anything specific?"

"Dunno. Whatever you think we need?"

"Done. We'll rob them of some good stuff."

Markus raised a brow doubtfully. It almost hurt her to see him have so little faith. "Can you do it low key? The rest of the party doesn't need to know."

“Done and done. Don't worry, your Aunt Paige is on the job now."

Paige chuckled under her breath as she patted Markus on the head as she passed by. He was getting a bit too tall for that now, but habits were hard to break.

Stopping at the threshold, she paused as she recognized the trap already laid into the door.

Markus spoke up. "The phrase to disable it is 'Eit mon sun', or-"

"May the sun never set. Hm, awfully nice of Stella to do that. And she upgraded her trap to deactivate to a verbal command. That’s handy," Paige remarked.

Markus coughed slightly, "Aunt Zenith upgraded it, and may have suggested it to Miss Stella; if only to break the ice a bit before you came back."

That was unusually grown-up for Markus. Usually, he would feign disinterest and watch from the side. Paige knew that Markus was using this as a way to atone for his actions, or lack thereof, too. Whether intentional or not, she knew that Markus would rather have taken the injury instead of his friend.

Opening the door swiftly, the heavy scent of blood permeated the centralized hallway. She upgraded her concern a few notches as she continued moving and stopped before the main wooden doors. She could hear the screams from inside, as well as a flurry of activity.

"AHH!"

Opening the door, Paige shifted her body as Nick stabbed at her. She sidestepped and snapped her own hand forward to stop Nick.

"Paige, where the hell were you?"

"Dealing with a problem. Good, Odessa and Zenith are on it."

She released a pent up breath as a faint light enveloped a table. Odessa and Isabella held their wands aloft while Zenith held a scalpel. Tyler screamed in pain as Zenith cut into him while stitching up his intestines. Extremely messy operation, especially when the kids were doing their best to hold him down.

That begged the question, what the hell was Isabella's parents doing? They should have far more experience with tending to battlefield wounds than Zenith.

A cursory glance around the room explained why Nick was standing by the door and why Zenith was doing the cutting. The mana within the room was a sight to see; the shadows clung to the surfaces away from the Healers. The darkness was unsettling as Stella and Shavie stood far off to the side, the darkness almost a solid wall as they worked on something. From her vantage point, she could faintly see a sparkle of light from within the darkness.

Paige strained her eyes to pierce the dark veil, but with no avail. But as they moved, she thought she could see Stella pick up some herbs. Stella was making potions then, or something to that effect. That was … an unusual process, Paige knew. Not that she had much experience in watching an Alchemist work since she hardly believed in using potions. Supposedly, Alchemists were even more secretive than Blacksmiths with their recipes, something she had been chewed out on numerous times by her former crafting friends.

“How long have they been at it?”

“Since they arrived after dinner.”

“Mmm.”

A few hours then. Her eyes darted around the room before they landed on Claire. It was surprising to see everyone helping, but in her experience, fighting to the death usually improved Party relations if everyone survived. Paige was tempted to ask about Claire, but she knew it wasn’t the best time to ask. And lucky for her, she watched as Zenith cast [[Sleep]] on Tyler.

Everyone let out a breath of relief as Tyler quieted, the healing mana in the air quickly disappearing as Stella released their own hold on the dark mana in the room. Stella held a small beaker of liquid away from her. The liquid shone like a dying ember, not bright, but a deep glow of magic. As Paige watched from afar, she quickly separated it into three different bottles and diluted it with water before handing them off to the healers.

“Isabella, take this over the next ten minutes. You know the steps. Odessa, yours is over the span of five minutes. And Zenith,” Stella hesitated. “Take it as you will.”

Zenith grabbed her bottle and chugged it before noticing that Paige was there. She coughed before pointing viciously toward her. “You have some nerve not being here, Paige!”

Mana potion, if Paige was judging it accurately. “Hey Zenith. Glad you're having fun at school. And you don’t need me; I can see you have everything under control.”

“He’s been poisoned," Zenith said.

“So? You have three Healers here. And one is even a Grand Healer!” Paige countered.

Odessa shuffled awkwardly, as Zenith finished chugging the last of her potion.

“A Grand Healer who can’t neutralize poison!” Zenith hissed.

Paige paused and chuckled. “You’re pulling my leg. Even Apprentice Healers know [[Neutralization]]! And barring that, you have two… well, one Alchemist here. Surely they can whip up an antidote.” Surely an Assassin would know how to neutralize poisons.

But reality kicked Paige in the gut as Stella coughed from the side. “We are not well versed in Southern or Eastern poisons, for various reasons. Not to mention the regional fauna differences. Now other poisons… well, I've been supplying mana potions at least.”

Paige caught the hidden undertones. At least she knew why Zenith was so upset, it was falling on her to keep the boy alive.

‘... jeez, I have to do everything around here!’ Paige thought. Pulling out a small tome, she weighed her options before her, and tossed it over to Odessa with a sigh. This was ridiculous! What was the use of a Healer Hall that couldn’t heal atypical battle wounds? “Learn this spell. And then pass it on to the Healer Halls. Tell Glenn I expect something for this.”

Paige turned her head and stared intently at Tyler. He was sweating and visibly in pain, even though he was unconscious.

"I picked up some food on my way in, fresh from the bakery. Why don't you kids go and reat. Odessa, you mind watching over them? You can read the introduction to the spell while you wait," Paige said.

Her tone instantly set off Lily, but she held up a hand to forestall the girl. "I promised Markus that Tyler will be fine."

"But!"

Paige's eyes hardened. "Lily. When a High Class speaks, everyone listens. That goes doubly for Apprentices. I know you are worried about Tyler, but we have our own means of healing, and that requires absolute control over the ambient mana. Just… go and have a cookie, rest, and Tyler will be alright." Paige softened at the end. Even she wasn't that cold hearted to kick Lily out like that, and doubly when Isabella was there too.

Lily wavered until Paige noticed Zenith motioning her out. It looked like Odessa had wanted to stay too, but a pointed glare sent her scurrying for the door.

As the door slammed shut, Paige threw a card onto the door, the faint silver lines etched into it glowed as it struck the door. "Okay, what the hell, Shavie? You had one job to do!" She turned, though she paused to make sure Tyler really was knocked out. "And poisoning Tyler? Really?"

"I had nothing to do with his little accident, nor his poisoning. And I take offense to your accusations." Shavie said with mock surprise.

Paige moved to stand between Shavie and Nick. "Mhmm, and every human Assassin knows how to mix poisons? And besides the fact that I've faced Demon Assassins before and recognize the symptoms, Markus also noted you killed the others in the party and left that one to face them. Hurry up and heal him."

Stella cupped her head in her hands and massaged her scalp. "Shavie… we're playing nice."

Shavie stilled as she considered her options. Giving her surroundings a glance, she let out a small groan and moved over to Tyler. Taking some small needle from her sleeves, she stabbed Tyler in a few places. Paige watched as the needles turned black, and Stella removed and replaced them until they no longer tarnished. Everyone watched her, and she must have felt uncomfortable, since she started filling in the silence. "To be fair, I did limit the danger. I even stopped him from killing them all outright. The poison… well, let's say I never met a human who used poison before. How was I supposed to know he would coat his dagger with his own blood! Or that my poisons would react with his?"

"I told you that this would happen, Paige," Nick said.

She turned and watched Nick lean back and fold his arms. He didn't have his weapons out, which was good. And he may have had a point too. Paige considered it for a moment. "... One injury, three light wounds, and a few mental scars. For a party of Apprentices against a High Class, I'd count that as a success by any standard. Poison was a little over the top though."

"See! Everyone was safe. I would have stepped in sooner, but the kids managed to kill him after his blade got stuck in Tyler's shield," Shavie exclaimed. "How was I supposed to know he got nicked in the stomach by it? Stupid thin ass shield. Can't even block a dagger."

Paige nodded along to keep the peace since she knew only Markus and Isabella would have left alive if it was up to Shavie's discretion.

Paige eyed Zenith and coughed. She hadn't forgotten she had to placate her, especially since her bad news was coming up soon as well. "Well, crisis averted. We'll get the kids a full set of upgraded armor. Short of them getting stripped of their armor, they won't have a scratch on them from now on. Stella will supply actual antidotes, and Shavie will teach how to identify poisons."

Shavie frowned. "Unacceptable."

Paige glanced over to Isabella's mother. "Stella?"

Stella sat there tired. "Material wise, that would be expensive." She rubbed her face, and dusty lines streaked across her face. Whatever material she had used was either really dirty, or had turned into ash.

"More expensive than getting on Isabella's bad side? And Markus's?"

"... Shavie will teach at night. I'll get a list of materials ready."

"Stella! You know my hou-"

Shavie glared hard, but Paige watched as Stella stood up. "You brought this on yourself. And this had me making mana potions throughout the night. For no reason other than to cover up your mistake. I'm tired." Turning her gaze over to Zenith, she bowed heavily and apologized for Shavie's part in it. She moved for the door and quietly pocketed the semi glowing card. "Shavie complained you had all the fun. How many people did you kill? And will it affect us?"

Zenith choked on her potion as she glared. Paige didn't meet her eyes. "I only had to kill two people, thank you very much."

Zenith wasn't fooled. "And how many others died?"

"Close to forty. But lucky for me, Peter had sufficient safeguards around the school to prevent Imperial intrusion."

A big fat lie, Paige knew. She was fairly certain her actions were going to come back to haunt her, and Zenith would definitely be dragged into the matter, but she wasn't about to tell Zenith that she had used a ceremony based off of an old folktale; one that had worked far better than she would have thought, and might have very long ramifications for the future.

It was much easier to put the blame on her brother at this point than to tell the whole truth.

Zenith squinted. "Really?"

"Yup. Peter had created a formation to target any active Imperial Wardstone shards, as well as anyone who was allied with said stone's holder. How he did it, I don't even want to fathom. But it vaporized everyone, so there was hardly any cleanup left besides checking for long range Scouts."

Paige’s mind went into overdrive and quickly spun a semi plausible event; taking great care to point out the Servant and a few of his allies from memory. She didn’t mention who he was under, but anyone who investigated would find a small pool of people it could be. And while a few good people died with him, she would make amends privately when things died down.

Mentally apologizing for dragging their names through the mud, Paige waited as Zenith parsed through her explanations and nodded, albeit begrudgingly. "I'll handle it with the school. Having no bodies is inconvenient, but it will have to do."

Paige blinked. “You’re not mad at me?”

“...honestly, I’m more tired than mad. And since Peter had set it up, it will be easier for me to convince the school that it wasn’t our doing. Now, give me a few days and I might change my mind on this.” Zenith sighed warily. “If you weren’t the Party Leader Paige…. Whatever. I can deal with this inconvenience.”

It was mildly impressive how Zenith was taking this information in stride. She knew that anything related to Imperial Scions were bound to be problematic, especially when the Consorts were moving as well. But, if Zenith was willing… Paige would make her a nice dinner as a thank you. It was the very least she could do.

"Yeah. Well, now that Tyler is all healed, how about you all rest up while I settle the kids and Odessa."

Paige turned and left before anyone could speak up. She sighed with relief as she closed the doors. Luckily, Zenith had bought her explanation, even if it had a few holes, everything she mentioned was plausible.

Walking into the morning sunlight, Paige blinked as the kids ate their biscuits and fresh breakfast pies. They were fine, but Odessa was propped on the side of the wall, her head lolled in sleep.

That… was odd. She had expected it the other way around. She scoffed as she checked Odessa. Some Grand Healer she was turning out to be.

Markus looked up and shrugged. "She fainted."

"I can see that. How's the food?"

Paige waved Lily down and gave her a bright smile. "Tyler is fine and will make a full recovery. He should wake up in a few hours."

Lily sighed with relief and visibly attacked the food in front of her. "You all must be starving. I'm glad you like the food."

"Mhmm! The food is hot and gift is great. It was really nice of you to get this for us," Isabella said.

"Heh, I hope the food… gift? What gift?"

Isabella paused to take a glance at Markus. "The wind chime. It makes a pretty sound."

She watched with increasing tension as Isabella pulled out a tiny object from one of the bags.

Ding

Paige almost shuddered from hearing the sound as Isabella shook crumbs off the copper bell. A tiny paper sail was attached to the clapper of the bell, and as the wind caught it, Paige saw the writing on the sail change as it faced her, though it turned back to normal as Isabella read the words aloud.

'Stop getting into so much trouble!'

"May the hearth be warmed by sunny fields of gold. What does that mean?"

"... it's a traditional blessing for Farmers. Welp, so long as you like it, I don't mind if you keep it, Isabella. It's, uhm, best used by someone like you. Yeah. Mhmm, don't lose it. And, uh, Markus, send a message to the Healer Hall and let them know Odessa is exhausted from Healing. They can decide whether or not to bring her back to their facility. Nimi, let me know if you can ring it, too… I'm going to bed."

'Whatever. Not my problem. Not my problem.' Paige chanted her mantra as she picked up Odessa, turned, and walked back into the house. She had enough problems to deal with without adding that to her day.

Markus watched his aunt cautiously retreat back into the house before looking back at the bell. Well, not just him, even Claire and Nimi were staring at the nondescript bell in Isabella's hand.

Lily looked at the bell with suspicion. Then she looked over towards him.

"Think I should've told her that Miss Odessa passed out from fright?"

Markus scratched his head. His secret was far more pressing. He wasn't about to tell anyone that the bell had floated past him before neatly placing itself into the bag of treats.

"...nah. I have a feeling that Miss Odessa will be giving my aunt a hard time about… this... thing."

"Still feel like dying every time you hear the bell chime?" Isabella asked before shaking the bell.

Lily chuckled as Markus rolled his eyes. "Jeez, I say one thing to lighten up the mood…" He suppressed his discomfort and shook his head. The damn ringing was obnoxious, and it made his back crawl with a phantom pain.

Lily motioned for the bell and shook it, though the bell stayed silent. "Weird. Markus, think this is number twelve or fifteen on the list."

"Personally, I think this is number eight."

"List?" Claire asked as the bell was handed to her. She shook it, and nothing happened.

Markus shrugged. "My aunt has a list of adventuring rules. Eight is 'don't look a magical gift horse in the mouth.'"

Claire handed the bell off to Nimi. Nimi frowned, but shook it once. A clear chime echoed out, and Markus tensed as the sound hit him. Great, two people could make the stupid bell work.

Lily pouted as Nimi shook the bell. "Twelve is 'equipment that can be used by certain people must be rare and should never be tossed.' Fifteen can be summarized as 'Tools are meant to be used; first step is to find out why it was made.' In short, we might have a quest!"

Lily smiled, clearly intent on exploring this to the fullest while Markus curbed his enthusiasm. This had all the markings of a troublesome, and probably annoying, situation. At least it was getting Lily's mind off of Tyler. He frowned as Nimi stretched out her arm to pass him the bell.

"Your turn," Nimi said.

He made eye contact with her and mentally grimaced. Deep in her eyes, he could tell that she was interested in what he had said before.

Talking a deep breath, he took off his glove and grabbed the bell. His arm twitched once as the bell landed in his hand, though he hid it by shaking the bell.

The bell chimed slightly, and a burning sensation raced across his back. He could feel something within his core shudder, and he felt like puking his guts out. Schooling his face into a bored expression, he was inwardly glad for his lessons with his uncle. "So, Isabella, Nimi and I can ring the bell. Thoughts, Lily?"

Lily grabbed the bell and tapped it on the ground but it remained silent. "Too small of a sample. We'll have to get your parents to try as well, and see what happens." Frowning, she handed the bell back to Isabella. "Since Miss Paige meant it for you, you should keep it for now, Bella."

They all sat back and relaxed slightly. Their weekend had gone from relaxing to gut wrenching within the span of a few hours. "So, have you all decided on what classes to take?"

Lily nodded dejectedly. "Most of the magic teachers have scheduled their classes around the same time as mentor's, so I'm taking mostly general classes. Advanced Trap Dismemberment, Monster Identification, Monster Processing, Introduction to Magic Theory…. And I might add Party Theory and Leadership as well, if I can fit it in. And if I don’t like those classes, I’ll drop them and stay with Mentor and learn from her."

Markus nodded to himself. Lily was still keeping true to her goal of becoming an Adventuring Party. That's ideal, Markus thought, since he was tired of killing people for the time being.

Monsters were fine, people…

Lily settled down next to Isabella. Her eyes soon started to close as they both drifted off.

Markus rubbed his shoulders. The pain on his back was slowly subsiding now, and instead was inching its way along his muscles. He pushed a finger into his tendon as he felt a knot forming. Counting to ten, he slowly eased up as he forced his muscle to stop holding the tension. Say what you will about his Aunt Paige, but learning how to relax his body was something he was immensely thankful for.

Still, since he wasn't as tired, he decided to converse with his new party members, lest Lily starts to complain about his behavior. "Nimi, Claire; are you two going to change your classes? My aunt did have a point to her rant."

Claire shook her head. "Even though I am a Knight in training, my specialty will eventually show in my style; I just have to keep at it. My tutor said it's not impossible to get both Hunter and Knight skills as a Knight Commander. The classes I chose complement both what I want and what the nation wants from me."

Nimi pursed her lips in thought. "Your tutor isn't wrong, but that's optimistic at best, misleading at worst. My tutor said it is best to follow one path, and then transition once you reach the end."

That caught Markus's attention. He sat straight up as Nimi continued her mini lecture.

"If you want to gain Hunter skills, you need to learn it in tandem with your other Skills. A Class advancement won't gain you Skills from nothing. That's why I am training as a Mage. Otherwise, I won't gain Magic Swordsman. The prerequisite is Mage to Fencer to Magic Swordsman, not the other way around."

Markus furrowed his brow in thought. His aunt had said something similar, back when he was considering his own options. Of course, she still clung to the belief that Mages and Warrior Classes could never mix, but perhaps seeing Claire and Nimi advance would make her change her mind.

And even better, he already had a foundation for becoming a Mage! It was this moment that made him realize how useful his first Class was. Apprentice. It was so generalized, that he himself needed help narrowing down the choices. Some he still couldn’t quite say what they were, but it was easy enough to separate them into a few categorical Classes. Mage, Knight, Ranger, Hunter, Warrior were all choices at the time, something that his aunt did not need to know. And while he may have told her one of the other special options, he had distinctly kept the other one a secret. That one… was something he was afraid of becoming.

“Ahem, anyways, Claire, the point is that maybe you should at least think about taking some courses in Archery. It wouldn’t hurt, you know. And besides, the chances that the school will have good advice for your own country is probably close to zero,” Markus said.

Claire and Nimi looked at Markus oddly. He parsed through his answer and didn’t find anything wrong with it. “What?”

Claire answered slowly. “There are tons of royalty here, and the Class they specifically teach Royal Management, History, Governance, Politics…”

Nimi nodded along and picked up the conversation smoothly. “City Maintenance and Management, Defensive Architecture, Populace Densification Management…”

Markus blinked. “Popul what?”

“How to move people from crowded to less crowded places. You mostly need it for capital cities and the like to prevent large scale slums. It’s all stuff the government has to deal with, to some degree or another. Now, there might be some biases depending on national alliances and whatnot, but the school is rather fair in that regard. Supposedly, that is. I see what Markus is getting at, Claire. None of those Classes will help you. If you were first in line, I could possibly see why it would be important, but from what I know, the Shiffron line has retired from the throne.”

Claire sat there sullenly. “...it wasn’t their choice. They didn’t have any children, and I’m their first daughter. I should at least try my hand at it.”

Markus frowned. “It’s your life, you know. Striving for someone else’s dream is not living.”

“Why can’t I make it my own dream? I’m still young, after all.” Claire countered

‘But will you have the resolve? And more importantly, time to change.’ he thought. Markus shrugged his shoulders. He offered advice; what Claire did with it was her own business.

Markus cast an errant glance at Nimi. “Are you taking the same courses as Claire?”

“Half. It was hard getting the teachers to agree, but I’m taking magic classes as well. I’m hoping to consolidate my Class by the end of the first year, so that I can start taking combat classes as well. If I could learn even half of what Sir Renvi knows…”

“Sir Renvi? That pompous ass? What’s so good about him?”

Nimi bristled. “Don’t talk about one of my idol like that!”

“I heard the rumors on how he treated my aunt at the school. He’s lucky he didn’t try that against Miss Paige," Lily said softly.

Nimi huffed, but relented slightly. “He’s strong. I’ve heard he was almost as strong as Peter himself. He’s had over sixteen Class Specializations! I’ve even heard that his current Class gave him some of his Skills back too, and that’s not even mentioning the fact that he knows magic too!”

Markus blinked and narrowed his eyes. Now that was interesting. According to both of his aunts, Class progression was linear, and that advancement could only happen twice. This assumption was why he hadn’t advanced yet, and most likely why Tyler and Lily still had their same Class as well. There were no benefits to gain by advancing sooner, not when you could master each Class first.

For Mages like Lily, her class progression would heavily depend on what element she had affinities toward. Besides densifying one’s mana core, learning and experimenting with other subsets of magic was an important part of being an Apprentice Mage.

And for Tyler, that meant experimenting with different defensive styles. There was a difference between a Vanguard with a tower shield, a buckler, vambraces, etc. Learning which path not only suited you, but also what styles worked for what you have on hand, was what Uncle Tyler had said would allow him to advance from being an Apprentice to a Vanguard.

That was drilled in so many times that he had held that as the truth. Hell, everyone in the school had advanced once already, which pressured him to no end. But if they didn’t believe that... and with the fact that his Class used subsets… Markus turned to Nimi. “What is his current Class?”

“Mage Combat Master,” she said reverently. “It’s said that outside of the capital, he is the only one who could pressure Peter.”

“What about in the capital?” Claire asked.

Nimi hesitated. “Peter didn’t spend a lot of time in the regions close to the capital; he always had to deal with one crisis after another. But he was also just one person. Most Scions have a party of Servants waiting. But I know that his teacher could consistently pressure him.”

Lily spoke up. "So in essence, only Grandmaster Flynn could stand toe to toe?"

Markus jerked his head as he turned to Lily. Her eyes were bright as she stared at Nimi. Had she been pretending?

"You know an awful lot about what happens on Imperial lands, Nimi. More than my mentor, actually."

Nimi stayed silent and averted her gaze from Lily's bright gaze. Too bright, actually.

"So my party members not only include a Cleric, but also a royal from Pruite, and someone from the Capital. Does that make you a Servant, Nimi?”

Lily was incensed. Markus scooted away a bit. He knew that Lily hated being called an Imperial Servant, and having one in the party was sure to cause problems. It was one thing for his family to cause problems since Lily was a firm believer in repaying the kindness she had received from Aunt Zenith, but for someone else? He said a little prayer for Nimi as the staring contest continued.

Nimi stared into Lily’s eyes. “I’m not. But my background is a bit special. I'm the… adopted granddaughter of Grandmaster Flynn. That’s how I know so much.”

Lily looked highly suspicious about that information but stopped pressuring Nimi.. “Mhmm… Well, whatever. Look, I'm not interested in your past. We're a party, so when you feel comfortable about opening up and telling the truth, you can.”

“But I am telling the truth!” Nimi said.

“Riiight, and I’m the grand-daughter of Peter himself. It would be more convincing if you were actually adept with a blade, Nimi. If this Grandmaster Flynn is really that good, surely his granddaughter would be even better. Think of a better lie next time.”

Lily turned and ignored Nimi’s glare. “Markus, what classes are you taking? You’ve been dodgy about this subject for the past week now.”

He looked up to the sky. “About that. I did some digging, and the rules said that I can drop into classes as an official student, there’s no need for me to worry about spots being filled. I’ll decide on a daily basis,” Markus said. “Besides, most of the classes are iffy at best, so if a lesson looks interesting, I’ll go and sit in instead of committing an entire year to it.”

Everyone looked at him oddly, though it was Lily who spoke up. “That’s… not exactly how classes work at school, Markus.”

“Meh, it’s how I want to spend my time here. I’m not particularly interested in listening to someone talk for hours on end. But I did hear that there is a large library, so I’ll probably spend a lot of time reading books.”

“You’d rather read books than listen to someone teach aloud?” Claire asked.

“I’m sort of a bookworm. Lily’s mother was the librarian at Cidala, so I got to borrow a lot of books growing up.”

Markus smiled happily. It was his ideal way to spend the day. Practice with his aunt in the morning, read some books, sleep in the meadow on top of Boary in the afternoon… well, that one got him into trouble more often than not, but it was fun helping Boary fight when his family wasn’t around.

Thus, he had a fairly normal childhood; one he wasn’t about to ruin it by having to listen to someone else talk for eight hours a day.

Lily must have understood something in his explanation since she deflated slightly as he smiled. “I’m sure my mentor would say something if she didn’t approve. Well, just make sure you make some friends while you are here.”

Markus chuckled at that thought. That was one of the last things to do on his list. He stopped when he saw Lily’s gaze. “Wait, you’re serious? I have you all, why do I need to make friends?”

“Making connections is always helpful,” Lily said. “You never know when someone you meet can help you. Whether it be in the form of supplies, business opportunities, or recommendations; most of the work we do as Adventurers is based on knowing the right people to get the job. And-”

“And how to fight monsters,” Markus added.

Lily shook her head. “Yes, that too, but we need to know where monsters were last sighted, characteristics, local surroundings, and the like. If we can’t get people to open up to us, then we might as well not even bother being Adventurers!”

“Why do you want to fight monsters, Lily? There are far safer options,” Claire said.

“Fighting monster’s is the best way to get our names out! And it always leads to new opportunities, unlike doing something like guarding caravans, or becoming a businessman. We get to explore new places, do new things-”

“Potentially die a gruesome death.” Claire said quietly.

Markus frowned. Well, that was always an option, not just one against monsters. Hell, being sacrificed on an altar was a terrible way to die, so it was hard to say dying to a monster was the worse option. He paused and remembered that she had said something to Lily about having a traumatic experience.

Lily remembered too, judging from the look on her face. “Well, that is why we train and pick our opponents carefully. And it’s not like we’ll be fighting against elder or elemental monsters right off the bat. We’ll work our way carefully up the food chain.”

Markus nodded. That was the best way to gain fame. “And it’s therapeutic to kill monsters that killed your friends and family. At least, that’s what I’ve seen in action. My archery rival seemed more at peace after watching the monster that killed her party die.”

Claire shuddered and looked like she was about to throw up. He wasn’t expecting Claire to have that reaction. Nor was he expecting Lily to punch him in the gut. He rubbed his stomach idly. “It’s true though. You can ask Sara when you go visit your family, Lily. She’ll vouch for me.”

“Besides the point, Markus! Claire… Well, my family does supply food for the entire Alcudian army. If you want, you can practice the skills you learn there while we fight.”

Claire frowned. “Wait, why does it matter what the rest of the party is doing? I’m going home during the breaks. We’re a party, not a family.”

Markus coughed and sent a look at Lily. She hadn’t explained why her party was different? Or why Renvi had given them a hard time back in the exam hall? He quickly stood up and went inside to sleep. Tyler was alright, and he was about to start a new chapter in his life.

And he wasn’t about to get drawn into that argument.