“Let’s wait for night to arrive before we make our move. There is only one exit and I don’t want to attract any bystanders, especially the kind that like to play hero.”

The scared boy behind him didn’t say anything and waited for them to start. The other boy had a smile on his face and seemed excited about the situation. The money they could get from the middle-grade spirit stage refining technique was not a small amount and it was a skill only available to the nobles, to begin with. Noble families didn’t like the sell middle-grade skills to outsiders as it was an unwritten rule which was made to weaken the common people, of course, if the prize was right everything could be bought. While keeping watch the excited boy got a thought and his face turned from excited to worry.

“What if he uses the skill while we wait here?”

The boy who had made the plan hadn’t thought about that and had a confused look on his face. After thinking for a while his eyes opened up with shock and he started to walk towards the door of the room.

“Alf, go knock on the door and wait for him to open. I don’t want to kick the door in and break school property. The last thing we want is that damn principal coming after us for credits. When he opens the door I will jump him and knock him out, Max you look for the scroll while Alf keeps watch. Don’t screw up, I already have a warning from the school comity and can't afford a second one.”

In the meantime, George was reading a book he got from the library and didn’t feel like doing any more training today. I had been a long day and everything had changed. George couldn't really concentrate on the book and was constantly thinking about his options and what he was going to do next. George didn’t like to be unprepared and was trying to find a way how he could handle the situation with the principal. He got a little interested in martial arts by the skills he saw today, but it didn’t mean he wanted to dedicate his life to it. He couldn’t understand how people would put everything aside for martial arts and see it as a dream, while to him it was only a means to an end. While he was thinking someone knocked on the door, George didn’t react and waited for the boy in blue to open like he always did. Liz had visited him a couple of times in the last month and every time the boy in blue would open the door, and after a while, it became the custom for the boy in blue to answer the door.

The boy in blue stood up and walked toward the door clearly a little bit annoyed. He didn’t have any friends or family in Wine village so he didn’t have a lot of visitors. He had tried to not react and wait for George to answer it, but George would always wait for him to open the door, and he didn’t have the patients to let that annoying girl knock on the door for ten minutes like the first time she visited George. So he stood up to answer the door as fast as he could so he can get back to his reading as soon as possible. Wat he didn’t expect was to find a boy wearing a red mask in front of him punching him on the nose. The boy in blue not ready for the attack was sent back flying and hit the wall at the end of the room. Even though the room was small it was still a hard to send someone to the other side of the room. The boy in front of them had clearly trained in martial arts. George hearing the hard hitting sound got shocked and was staring at the boy in blue seemingly unconscious at the end of the room. his body reacted on instinct and he tried to hide in the corner of the room. He didn’t know what the boy in blue had done to anger these people but he didn’t want to get involved. He had mastered hiding and not getting noticed over the years with Vincent and felt confident he wouldn’t get caught in the middle of their fight. He had enough problem of his own and didn’t want to get into more trouble with the principal than he already was. Besides, the boy in blue was the son of a general so he could handle himself if it came to that.

Alf got surprised when he saw the boy in blue and started to panic. He didn’t know this boy but could tell that he was a noble by the clothes he was wearing. The leader not knowing this was the wrong guy quickly moved inside the room and started to look for the scroll on the two desks. What he didn’t know was that George always but his books on the counter drawer next to his bed so that he could reach them easily if he wanted to read at nights. He couldn’t sleep well and over the months had noticed that the boy in blue was a light sleeper and didn’t want to get out of hid bed at night and disturb him.

“Max, go search him, he can be wearing It on him.”

The leader searching the desks turned his head and saw Max standing there not moving. Even thought he was the leader he couldn’t order Max around, and he didn’t have to until now because of how reliable Max was. But this was the first time he saw Max standing there with his eyes open like he had seen a ghost.

“Max! wake up, search him.”

Max hearing the boy's voice got shocked and turned his head back to look at Alf.

“You fool! Why didn’t you tell me he was a Hooper.”

Alf didn’t react and was looking at max with fear in his eyes. He was panicking and hyperventilating at this point and he couldn’t think straight anymore. The leader turned around and was clearly getting angry at Max. He had searched the desk but couldn’t find anything and he didn’t know if anyone had seen them and reported them to the masters or worse the principal.

“You could have guessed that he was a noble anyway. We have already come too far to turn back, besides he is out cold anyways, noble of not. Now hurry up and look for the scroll!”

Seeing Alf not react made Max even angrier and he turned around to look at the leader. He didn’t know what to do anymore. The chance to get a middle-grade spirit stage refining technique had clouded his judgment and he felt like this situation could make him or break him. Not knowing what to do and being too young to react calm he turned around and started to shout at Alf.

“You good for nothing fool! He is not just a noble, he is the son of Eric Hooper, Martin Hooper! He has the power to burn everyone in this damn village to ash, you think something like a mask can keep us safe from a general? I know I should have stayed out if this, you are the most incompetent fool I have ever met. This is my reward for taking pity on you and helping you because you're family.”

Max started to look left and right not knowing what to do, and tried to calm down. He looked at Martin and after a while shouted loudly and started to move toward Martin to search him. He had already come too far and didn’t think it would make any difference taking the scroll or not. The only chance he had was the boy not telling his father because he felt ashamed getting bested by just a simple punch. He approached Martin and set him up straight to look for the scroll. Just as he was about to check, Martin opened his eyes and grabbed Max by the hand and pulled him in. He headbutted him with all his strength and kicked him away with his legs. Max was not paying any attention and before he knew that had happened, passed out of the floor at the entrance of the room. The leader and Alf turned around and looked at Max laying on the ground not moving. The leader turned around to Alf and started to shout some command Alf didn’t even hear.

“Quickly, guard the door! Only use your practice weapon, we don’t want to accidently kill the boy. I will deal with him.”

George had moved underneath the bed and was listening to the situation. By now he knew that the boys were looking for him, and he didn’t know what to do. He wanted to go and help Martin but he couldn’t move his body. He was shaking and didn’t have the courage fight back, just like when Vincent would beat him.

At the same time that George was trying to think of a way to help Martin the leader of the group moved his hands and a wooden sword appeared. He started to approach Martin with a confident look on his face.

“Just be a good boy and hand over the scroll, and I won’t hurt you.”

Martin, now knowing what was going on didn’t answer, and also got his practice sword. He didn’t care what the reason was that they broke into his room anymore, and the only thing he wanted right now was the bash the head in of the bastard who sucker punched him. He tried to use a quick attack and finish him before the other boy would jump in and it would be two against on. He quickly jumped up and tried to hit him on the head. But the boy just took a step back and blocked the hit with just one hand. He had a mocking smile on his face and with ease send Martin back flying towards the wall.

“Your sword skill is pretty good, but you are just an imposter. I heard stories about you but didn’t think a fool like that existed, and that it was just fake rumors going around on campus. It seems you put a lot of time mastering the basic sword skill but didn’t have the balls to put characteristic points on strength. Let me burst you bubble my lord, You will never be a warrior, and these skills you practice so hard every day will be useless to you after to reach the spirit stage, so stop wasting your time and become the useless healer your father wants you to be.”

Martin was getting angrier by the second, nobody had ever talked to him like that and he started to attack, releasing all the anger and resentment he had built up in the last couple of session months. Martin kept trying to break the boy's gourd but was send back flying every time he came close to him. Martin’s sword skill was actually on par with the boy but he didn’t have any characteristic points on strength and in the beginning when you can’t use your element power that is a pretty big disadvantage. The boy, wanting to finish the fight made a quick duck and with full power hit the practice sword out of martin’s hands.

“It’s useless boy, give me the scroll and I won’t hurt you.”