The duo came out to see a group of ladies standing nearby. From the looks of it, they seemed to be quite angry. They could even see Ava in the group.

She seemed to have noticed them as she stomped straight towards the two. Her appearance was haggard and messy clearly having just come from her apprenticeship.

Ava didn't wait for them to ask what was the problem as she started rebuking them.

"So it was you two who were the last ones. What was taking you two so long? We couldn't even get to enter the bath."

Noah and Shaun looked at each other clearly confused by this information. The two of them were the last ones in the bath. How could that be true. They had seen no other person enter the bath.

"But the bath was empty. I mean, no one was coming the entire time we were in there." Noah replied a bit unsettled.

She huffed exasperated at the two and explained.

"That's because they are already done with theirs. You two were extremely late. Seriously, pull yourself together."

She stomped off saying this leaving the two perplexed. Other ladies showed similar responses as they passed by them.

"Were we really the last ones?" Noah wasn't really sure about that.

"It seems so. It was pretty late when Miss Florelle declared the session finished. I didn't see any apprentice in the kitchen. From what you told me, you likely were also late." Shaun pondered a bit and concluded it was very likely that it was true.

"So what, just because we were a bit late and they had to wait, they didn't have to treat us like that. How could we know about it if we aren't told." Noah felt that their attitude was a bit excessive. He failed to keep his voice down.

Some girls heard him and turned around to glare. Shaun noticed their current predicament and decisively pulled Noah by the shoulder and headed out.

Noah tried to resist but Shaun's words made him halt.

"Now, don't argue and move on."

Noah was puzzled until Shaun motioned him to look back which was when he noticed the glares.

He shrugged and allowed himself to be dragged.

They were heading towards the diner. Both of them were feeling famished and wanted to stuff some food in their empty stomachs.

Walking down the hallway, Noah thought to check out his status and as expected there was a notification.

(Buff: Restoration - Restores body stamina and health. Heals minor injuries and ailments.)

Everything here seems to have a miraculous effect. The salve in the morning and now the herbal baths. He was just waiting for some health potions to pop up.

They entered the diner and chose a random empty table.

Seating themselves up, they enjoyed their dinner while continuing to chat.

Gradually, the talk turned to serious topics.

"What do you think about the apprenticeship?" Shaun moved in closer and whispered.

Noah took a sip of 'Meryol' before replying. The drink seems to be quite famous here.

"Well, there isn't much to say. There doesn't seem to be any ulterior motives clearly apparent besides teaching. What concerns me more is the training camp."

"How so?"

"Well, I told you about the Monsters, right." Shaun nodded at that after which Noah continued.

"I am worried they are training us to eventually fight against them. Clearly, humans or races like Dwarves aren't the only ones with superpowers. I don't know how we will fare against such threats that the Knights find trouble to deal with themselves. Then, there's the added problem of Monsters also being present wherever we are sent to after this Initiation Phase.." Noah had many concerns about the training and was feeling apprehensive when Shaun interrupted him.

"Calm down. You are getting too anxious. Like you said before, we will handle it somehow. We got to."

Noah sighed and said.

"Yeah, it's just too many unknowns kept emerging."

A dinner plate slammed on the table startling the two. They were shocked by the sudden clatter.

"What are you two whispering about?" Ava said pulling out her own seat and settling in.

"You really got to scare us like that." Noah's heart felt like it almost burst out of his chest.

Ava stuck her tongue out and smiled.

They both sighed at her behavior. She wasn't showing any remorse at all.

"Tell me, what is all the secrecy for?"

Noah told her about their discussion to which Ava nodded.

"Yeah, my instructor told me that those who pass the Rite would have to hunt low-level Monsters for training. Before that, we will even practice with beasts in the forest."

Noah and Shaun were surprised by this new information. They hadn't expected to get confirmations about this so fast.

Noah was now curious about what else Ava had gotten out of her instructor.

"That's new. what more did she tell you?"

"She didn't exactly know our situation but she had in no uncertain terms told me to be ready for Monsters. Said they are going to be a tough nut to crack." She answered before taking a bite out of her salad using her fork.

"They really are not holding back at all. Only the Trainees will participate, am I right?" However cool the prospect of fighting with monsters may be, there is no denying the danger of duking it out with superpowered beasts.

"Yeah, she said others will just die the second they enter the monster zone ." Ava shrugged and added.

"I don't get it. Why did she tell you all of this?" Shaun was a bit suspicious of all this new information.

"She couldn't care less about it. My instructor is a very laidback type of person. When I asked her about it, she told me the only reason she was doing this was just for the quest. Every instructor seems to get a quest for mentoring the Initiates." Ava didn't really like her instructor's attitude but she was her best option.

She could see the other instructor weren't really serious about teaching. After learning about the quest, she realized all they wanted was just to complete the quest somehow. While her instructor was the same, at least she was not half-assed about it and taught her thoroughly.

"So we are going to fight monsters, Perfect. The ultimate fantasy experience. We were missing just that." Noah wasn't liking where all this was leading at all.

"Hey, no one is telling you to go fight them now. Besides, it is better we learn to fight them. There's no telling when we need to." Ava tried to persuade them not to give up on the training camp.

"Hey, let's keep the worrying matters aside for now. Let's talk about how our day went, starting with you Ava." Shaun acted as the mediator as always and switched the topic.

Ava was happy to put this issue away. She thought about her day and gave her honest opinion.

"It was quite fun actually. You won't believe how I met my instructor-"

They went back to chatting. Noah and Shaun laughed when Ava told them that her instructor came an hour late to the selection because she was sleeping. Her instructor then had to choose in a hurry and since Ava was still undecided about her choice, she got unlucky to be chosen by her. She couldn't even refuse. Thankfully, her instructor turned out to be okay.

Finished with their dinner, the trio headed back to their room.

Along the way, they heard a quarrel going on near the reception. Checking it out, they saw a group of dozen people clamoring near the reception desk. The receptionist lady was clearly looking anxious from being surrounded.

Moving closer, they heard the people shouting. A middle-aged man appeared to be leading the group.

"We wish to talk with the senior staff. Instead of the accommodation, we request that you switch our rooms to the more spacious ones. We can't stay in those cramped rooms, more so in an unfamiliar environment. You can see that everyone is clearly uncomfortable." He said gesturing back at the group of dozen.

"Let me check up on miss." The receptionist lady took out some sort of device from the desk and activated it. The device glowed for a moment before dimming down.

But the man didn't seem to like what she did.

"No, just hand us the master keys for the rooms. Then, We will go our way."

"I can't. The master key is not given out without her permission." The receptionist lady tried to move away only to be stopped in her tracks by that man.

Seeing her situation, Noah rushed ahead and placed his hand on the leader's shoulder.

"What got you so worked up?"

"Don't interfere kid. This isn't something you should meddle in." He wasn't looking too keen about talking it out.

"Oh, you're saying that. She seems very comfortable with all of you ganging up on her, ain't that right." Noah's sarcasm wasn't lost to the group as the crowd became unruly and started making noise.

"Go back to your mum, fucker."

"You are only making it more worse for you."

"This guy doesn't seem to realize his situation."

The constant hurling of insults faltered Noah slightly but Shaun and Ava came by his side and supported him.

Just when the situation looked like it was going to erupt, a thunderous voice resounded through the hall silencing everyone.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?"

Everyone turned to face the direction of the voice. The crowd parted to reveal a seething Miss Florelle. She took swift steps and reached the desk.

"Miss" The receptionist lady looked relieved at seeing her.

"Angie, are you okay?" Miss Florelle asked worriedly.

"Yes, miss. These three helped me." Angie said pointing at the trio.

Miss Florelle turned to the three and bowed slightly to show appreciation for their actions.

"You have my gratitude for that. We can talk later. First, let me take care of the situation." She then addressed the crowd in a frigid tone.

"Your group wishes to change your rooms."

The leader stepped forward and answered as representative of the group.

"Yes, we have decided that we can't stay in those small rooms."

"Idiots." She said indifferently.

"What do you mean?" He questioned with an angry voice.

"I am not considering your demands. If you wish to get yourself a high-class suite, you can pack yourself up and get lost. You have been provided with enough money to sustain yourself for your entire stay if you live frugally." She clarified her decisions.

"No, I think you could provide us with that." Mister Leader obviously wasn't satisfied with her decision.

"No chance of that, I'm afraid. Since you threatened my employee, you all will have to go. I am not going to tolerate any guests who misuse our trust and hospitability." She had given her verdict. They could either go her way or the highway, it meant the same thing anyway.

"You can't do that." Someone seems to be whining.

"I just did that." Miss Florelle turned around to face them. Her tone didn't change in the slightest from beginning to end.

He extended his hands to try to stop her but Miss Florelle acted faster. In a single motion, she had the man in an arm lock. He couldn't get out of her grasp despite thrashing like a fish out of water. The man bellowed out in pain at which Miss Florelle just tightened her grip even more.

When his cries had turned into begging to stop was when she removed the arm lock and pushed him towards the crowd.

He stumbled and crashed onto the ground holding onto his arm. She then continued in her icy tone.

"I want each and every one of you to leave this Inn today. You should know that I don't like to repeat myself."

"What a badass." Noah was amazed to see the ease with which she dispatched the crowd.

He could recognize the type these people were. Snowflakes, they plagued the modern world. Don't look at the three of them. They were quite an odd bunch. Many people among society generally acted similar to the group.

Modern society had a very serious societal problem. Despite all the advancement, stupidity and irrational behavior just seemed to thrive more and more. People were more prone than ever to lash out anywhere. On social media, you couldn't even hold a decent talk without someone cursing at you. It had eventually trickled down into society with people not able to tolerate the slightest something that doesn't conform to their wishes. These people considered themselves to be special or something.

He had thought seeing those knights and being in a completely different world where there was no government to protect them would have made them cautious. Nope, It turned out to be wishful thinking.

It was most likely a rude wake-up call to many in the group.

Realizing no one was there to help them out, they shrank back from Miss Florelle in fear.

The leader scurried away the second he gathered his wits. Seeing him fleeing away, many joined him in retreat.

Slowly, the crowd left the hall leaving just the trio, Angie and the owner of the Inn itself, Miss Florelle.

"Quite a rowdy bunch that was." She said to them looking at the last members of the crowd heading back to pack up.

"It didn't look that way to me. You dispersed them in a few minutes." Noah wasn't one to shy away from stating his opinions.

Miss Florelle turned to face him and said amusedly.

"We are meeting quite often today Noah." She paused for a moment before continuing.

"They still don't amount to much. I have handled much worse." She had a slight shimmer in her eyes as she said that and added.

"Now, you seem to be fine Angie. If it happens again, call me up at that instant."

"Yes, Miss." Angie bowed to her respectfully.

"Good night, everyone." She said and moved out of the hall.

After Miss Florelle left their field of vision, Angie turned to face the trio.

"I want to thank you three for helping out, especially you Noah."

"No need, I was just repaying your kindness. You were very helpful to me before." Noah brushed it off as something insignificant.

Angie was surprised by his words and smiled.

"If you say so. Just know that if you have any problems in the future, you can come to me. I will try my best to help."

They nodded and bid their goodbyes to her. The trio then continued the walk back to their room.

"She seems quite nice." Shaun commented to the other two.

"Yeah, she helped me a lot giving me a spare key. I couldn't get my clothes from the room." Noah said.

"I had to do the same." Ava added with a bitter voice.

They both turned to glare at Shaun in concert who was jolted by the sudden attention and asked.

"What?"

"We need to decide who keeps the room key. Else, just your sorry ass is going to enjoy all the comfort and convenience." Noah said with a solemn look. Ava sported a similar expression.

Shaun faced the two with a sheepish grin on his face.

By that time, the trio was standing in front of their room.

They entered the room and moved to their beds.

After a lengthy discussion, they eventually decided it was better to hand the key to Angie for safekeeping. It was a much better option than one of them having it and not being present when others need the key. The conversation then shifted to various other topics as they chatted about the magical stuff they encountered, people they met and other things. It was late night when they went to bed.

The night passed by serenely without any other mishap.

Sunlight came in through the window as dawn declared its arrival. Light snores sounded out as everyone was still in slumber. The atmosphere in the room felt calm and peaceful.

However, the tranquility of the room was soon disturbed by a series of knocks.