The cafeteria isn’t exactly packed with people, but the amount of students taking their leisure time having lunch is hardly scarce. This room is rather large, like a castle’s dining room you see in medieval movies, but it’s not too big to make you feel irrelevant, mostly likely the size of a dining room for castle servants. Most of the cafeteria are made of stones, and of course, they use wooden chairs and tables as furniture. If I haven’t been told about this cafeteria firsthand, I would have mistaken this place for an adventurer’s bar or something. As expected from a medieval castle in another world.

Deborah tells me to get something to eat while she goes to look for her friends. She also says I shouldn’t worry about the money problem due to the lunch money are included in the tuition fee. Nice, I hope my unconsensual student loan is worth their penny.

Despite our late arrival, it doesn’t take longer than two or three minutes until the waiting line at the food counter gets thinner, and my turn for a chow arrives.

"Good afternoon, cadet. What food caught your fancy?"

Waiting for me behind the food counter is, of course, your ordinary cafeteria lady you can find in cafeterias all over the world...if she happens to lose a bunch of fat, maybe some flesh and organs along with skins, and all that remains is a skeleton that is somehow able to walk and talk and do whatever cafeteria ladies do, but only spookier.

I guess this is just that kind of place…

"What’s available?"

I ask while trying to keep a facade of being cool and in control without screaming out loud. "There’s the Deep Sea killer fish from the southern ocean. And here’s Bloated Bear’s fried fat, and over there we got…"

The skeleton in front of me keeps pointing from food to food, which all look equally bad and frightening. Am I supposed to eat them for lunch? Because they look more like tools for torture than food. Let’s just hope this is a case of bad outside, good inside.

"How about you try our mystery dish today, cadet?"

"Mystery dish?"

I ask back.

"A special type of dish that is only available on certain days, and today is one of those days. Today’s theme is seafood, and the one-of-a-kind dish we have is black octopus salad. It’s pretty nutritious, and we have received many positive feedbacks about it."

Octopus, heh? It doesn’t sound that scary. Since in Japan people eat octopuses all the time, I guess it would be fine for a Japanese like me. Besides, it’s not like you get cuisine advice from a talking skeleton everyday, so why the hell not?

"Okay, I’ll eat that. Give me one serving, lady!"

"What a brave young man!” – Says the Skelly Lady – “Okay, ladies, put all your bones to work and get this young man his black octopus salad!"

The skeleton cafeteria lady shouts to her skeleton co-workers. After two minutes or so, the dish I ordered is presented in front of me. Yes, black octopus salad. Just like its name, the dish I got is a black octopus with salad all over it. The problem is I can still see the octopus’s dead tentacles moving around on the plate like it never died. I bet if I let my eyes off it for a second, it would tears dimensions apart then come to my country to molest school girls.

"Is it…still alive?"

"Nope, it’s dead for sure! This is how black octopuses are: Even when they die, their body is still capable of moving. Just think of them like zombie octopuses. Enjoy your meal, cadet!"

Great…This is the reason why we left the cooking to the living back in my world!

With no more words to speak to the skeleton lady, I quickly take my meal away and begin to search for Deborah and her friends, all while wondering how the hell should I eat this thing. The chosen table is located near the center of the cafeteria. Sitting near Deborah are two people, a boy and a girl, both are wearing the same black cloak uniform.

"So this is the guy, heh?"

The boy speaks out after I sit down near Deborah and put that hell-sent of a dish on the table. Gotta introduce myself first before eating, though.

"I believe we haven’t met yet. I am Akuma."

"Oh no, actually, we did meet before. Both this girl and I are your classmates."

The guy throws a glance at the girl sitting beside him, who’s still keeping her silence. The girl just nods instead of giving out any proper responses, seemingly too shy to make a contribution to the conversation.

The talkative guy is pretty tall, maybe taller than even Deborah. He has average build at first glance, though there is some hint of muscles hiding under his cloak. He’s fairly handsome, but his bright smile for some reason tones his attractiveness down a notch, probably because it looks rather idiotic. The guy has orange blonde hair, a pair of sky blue eyes and a blue crystal in the middle of his forehead. He has your typical sidekick appearance. From my first impression, I guess this guy is the joyous, cheerful, hyper*poke*active*poke* kind of *poke* guy.

"Why do you *poke* keep *poke* poking *poke* my face?"

Yes, he is poking my face as I am in the middle of *poke* speaking *poke* *poke* *poke* *poke*.

"Bad Caelan! Bad, bad Caelan! No poking strangers!"

Deborah shouts like a pet owner trying to make her dog behave. The guy named Caelan still doesn't stop, though. He looks like the type of guy who would automatically pet somebody’s pet dog should he happen to see one, regardless of permission or not.

"But his face…it’s so soft and pokable!"

"Caelan…Stop.Poking.Him."

"But…!"

Deborah keeps staring at the poor guy until he stopped. Now he looks just like a pet dog who’s sad from seeing his master getting a new pet dog.

"Sorry, Akuma. This guy - Caelan Eberstark – is a little…mentally challenged."

Says Deborah as she tries her best to describe her friend in the least insulting way possible.

"I can see that already."

Honestly, the guy doesn’t even react when someone subtly implied he’s an idiot.

That being said…I don’t hate people like him. I enjoy their company, to be honest. People these days try too much to be a smartass. Having innocent idiots like him around is actually a good thing for me. I don’t need to think much when being near this kind of guy.

"Yep. The name is Caelan. Starting from today, I’ll be your classmate together with good old Iola here. Nice to meet ya! Deborah’s familiar!"

"I’m not old…"

The girl sitting beside Caelan lets out a little voice. She seems to be your typical shy girl. Compared to Caelan and Deborah, the girl looks rather small, but she still has above average height for a girl. She has light grey hair, which is braided into two small braids hanging behind her head. Her grey eyes match her hair perfectly. She’s rather cute, and that shyness of her really add more points to her cuteness. Though underneath her cloak, she has a little big…bosom for an average girl, which certainly would put her in the good eyes of many guys. That being said, I don’t dig the cute, shy type of girl.

"It wouldn't hurt to introduce yourself to strangers, Iola."

Deborah replies, in a bored tone, accompanied with an equally bored look, which all aim at me. I may be a stranger in their eyes, but at least I know Deborah for a day already.

"Yes, Deborah."

The girl answers in a straight voice without any hints of shyness. Then, she looks back to me and lets her words out.

"I am…Iola Moreau. Nice to…meet you."

"Nice to meet you too."

I nod. She also nods back in return. A prim and proper lady indeed.

"Didn’t know you have friends, though, Deborah. It’s a real surprise."

"What? Did you think I’m the loner, anti-social type?"

"Well, you do have that [I[Stay away from me or I'll bite[/i] aura."

Caelan suddenly lets out a small laugh. Seems like the guy agrees with me on this. Deborah seems annoyed, though.

“I’m certainly not a people person, but at least I have friends.”

“Yeah, social misfits need each other to survive. I get it.”

The more annoyed Deborah gets, the more Caelan laughs out loud.

"You summoned such a cool familiar, Deborah! Hey hey, since you’re the famed Flame Dragon’s familiar, does that makes you pretty strong yourself too, Akuma?"

"Err…kinda."

It’s not like I can tell them how I have the Mana Pool of a breakable ceramic pot, couldn’t I?

"Stop being so modest! I bet you could wipe the floor with half of the students in this room! Maybe all of them if you care enough!"

Somehow, I can feel several malicious stares behind my back. It is best that I don't turn back to pursue the origin of those stares. Gotta act cool, gotta act cool!

"That just crossed the modesty border and went straight to plain arrogance."

I answer. Though, Flame Dragon, heh?

"Can I ask a question? What is exactly Flame Dragon? You mean Deborah here is a dragon?"

She doesn’t look very dragon-like to me, in both appearance and personality. Her appearance is the exact same of a normal human like me, if you don't count the red hair and red eyes and unnatural height parts.

"It’s just a stupid moniker came up by students with too much time on their hands. You shouldn’t bother with it."

Says Deborah. She doesn’t look very happy with this kind of talk. That’s more reason for me to pursue it!

"But I’m curious! Please, tell me, Caelan."

"And tell you, I shall! I heard this story from some guys in the Magic Arts Department. What they said was…at the beginning of the first year, there was an Elemental Affinity test in the castle’s Main Hall."

"Elemental Affinity test ?"

"It’s a test to…find out what’s your basic Elemental Affinity. Kinda like…what type of elemental magic would suit you best."

Iola joins in the conversation and sheds light on terms I don't understand, though she quickly reverts back to her default silence state after speaking her part.

"Yeah yeah. Things went out just like she said. People got tested to see what is their basic Elemental thingy. Good old Iola here got the Wood element. Fitting, huh?"

Pretty fitting. She’s as quiet as trees in the wood. Until the wind comes by and the leaves start to sing the song of its people.

"So Deborah here got the Fire element, right ?"

I have a hunch, because this girl is fiery like fire everytime she engages in conversations, like the one we had back when I got imprisoned. But other than our interactions, I catch glimpses of her as a quiet, timid girl befitting the element of water rather than fire.

"Yep yep. That she did. Though that wasn’t the only thing she did."

"What do you mean by that?"

Deborah begins to cover her face with a hand, thus creating a facepalm to hide herself from whatever upcoming shame Caelan is about to speak out. This only interest me more!

"The moment she put her hand on the magic crystal ball thingy for testing, the whole place around her went on fire, literally! She almost burned the whole main hall that day! It was a sight to behold…if I was actually there to see it! It’s a pity I wasn’t around the main hall that time, though."

"Ha ha."

I let out a small laugh while I watch Deborah covering her face in an attempt to keep her dignity in tact. Even that girl have awkward moments like that? Well, I guess the teachers gave her a good scolding about what she did that day.

"So why was her nickname became Flame Dragon, though?"

"They said her fire that day was comparable to that of the mythical dragons of old. You should be more proud of yourself, Deborah! People rarely compare someone to those dragons."

"Please, stop talking to me.ever.again."

Yep, this surely isn’t something Deborah would like to hear about. But, it’s not like people will get happy when someone tell people about the time where they accidentally burn some place down to ashes. I understand that, at least.

Though, dragons, heh? So this world does have those awesome fire-breathing bastards. But from the way Caelan said, it seems they had existed a long time ago and there’s a chance there isn’t any of them left…

"Yeah yeah, got that got that."

Caelan puts a big smile on his face, while Iola keeps being the shrinking violet she is. Is there any way I can get her into a conversation?

"Ah. I have always wondered…are you guys both demons?"

That could be a good way to open a conversation since I have no knowledge of the races of this world yet.

"I’ll give this role to Iola, then. I’m not exactly good with this type of thing, ya know."

"Wow, he actually knows about it. Good for you, Caelan."

Deborah gives Caelan her remark.

"Don’t underestimate Sir Caelan’s intelligence. I aced all of my kindergarten classes, for your information!"

To meet such a genius at this place and this moment, life is worth living indeed.

"Iola, please? Can you shed some light to this foolish familiar of mine? I’m not in the mood to lecture him."

"If that is what you ask."

Iola nods. She seems to like Deborah, enough to banish away her shyness whenever Deborah talks to her.

"Well technically, both of us are indeed demons. But Demon is just a common term for residents of the Demon Realm. Our race is actually different. He’s actually a Devil, and I’m a Witch."

A Devil and a Witch? Though, let’s forget about that for a bit, does that girl just suddenly speak louder and more coherent like a different person?

"Devil? Witch?"

"Devil, or should I say, Devilmen, is the most numerous of all races here in the Eostre continent. They are the primary descendants of the Ancient Devils. As you can see from Caelan, he is of the Devil race. Even though their appearances may not be different from that of human’s, what separate them is the crystal on their forehead, which holds dark energies from their ancestor – the Ancient Devils."

"Let me talk about Witches and Warlocks too. Even though the two were named different, they are of the same race. Us witches and warlocks are of human origin, and thus, we gathered a lot of spite and hatred from many races in the Demon Realm due to our origin. We are, however, not completely human. We are beings who were born with higher soul energy potential than that the normal humans, and can use special spells which normal human mages are incapable of using. One who learns the path of magic may become a magic user, and if he or she choose to go deeper in the art of magic, they can become a mage. But no matter how hard the magic users and mages work, they can never become witches and warlocks. In order to make us look different from normal humans, it’s part of our culture that we need to wear a traditional wizard hat all the time."

"O...kay…"

Ho boy, did I just step on a landmine? Who would have thought a shy girl like her can become such an impressive chatterbox like this? Though, speaking about the hat, despite its importance, I don't see Iola wearing her wizard hat she spoke about. Even Nilrem occasionally wear hers.

"The equivalent of witches and warlocks in the realm of the humans are the Wizards. All three of them are technically the same, though. They were named that way to differentiate their allegiance. The witches and warlocks to the Demon Realm, and the wizards to the Heaven Realm. There were such differences because originally our ancestors were of Heaven Realm ancestry, but they emigrated to Demon Realm because of their desire to study this land’s unique Dark magic, while the Wizards stayed and reserved the Heaven Realm’s magic knowledge. Though to the present day, witches and warlocks still use elemental spells as the primary weapon, and only a few would learn Dark magic since it’s rather hard to use and study. The ones that do use them are called Necromancers instead. Also…"

"Okay okay. How about you take a little rest while I stomach all of these?"

Honestly, I’m not that good of a student to begin with, and she just has to throw me a bunch of information at once.

"Oh…sorry. I went overboard this time…Please forgive me."

"Don’t apologize to him, Iola. He should be the one to show you gratitude instead. Not every girl would go out of her way to give you explanations on how things work, you know?"

Deborah turns to me and throw her gazes at me. I’m not sure if she’s being sarcastic or really means it.

"He got the point, though. Don’t keep this black fellow waiting any longer!"

Caelan then points his finger to the black octopus salad on my table, with the octopus slowly trying to escape from the dish. Oh right, forgot about it. Gotta eat, gotta eat. Can’t wage war on an empty stomach.

"Right. Time to dig in."

Like I said before, let’s hope this thing is just a case of “Look bad outside but delicious inside”.

I hold a knife with one hand and slowly cut one of the octopi’s tentacles. Then, I take that piece of meat to my mouth using a fork and eat it, letting my tongue savors the flavor.

"…"

Nope, this thing is as horrible as it looks. It tastes friggin horrible, though it’s just the taste that is horrible, at least it’s not the puke-inducing type of horrible. I can eat all of this if I’m brave enough, but don’t expect my culinary taste to be fully intact after I’m done.

"Full already? Care to let me finish it?"

Cheerfully says Caelan.

"Didn’t you just eat lunch earlier ?"

"Oh, that's just late breakfast!"

Caelan answers Deborah with a joyful smile on his face.

"It’s okay, Caelan. I can handle this."

"Stop putting on a brave face, if you can’t eat then just admit it."

"Didn’t I tell you already, Deborah? I don’t do things half-assed!"

After I reply with cool statement of mine, I begin to fill my stomach with the black octopus meat in front of me. Never before have I found plain salad to be this delicious. This meal is really a meal of wonders, it makes you know the value of the ordinary things around you that you take for granted. I am eternally grateful for this experience.

"Here’s some water."

While I keep eating the octopi, Deborah stands up and fetches us some water cups. I chug up mine the moment she hands a cup to me. Phew, that is a life saver.

"Really, you’re stupider than Caelan in a sense."

"Hey, I get offended by that!"

That isn't mine sentence alone, though. It's also Caelan’s. Great minds think alike?

"Right right."

Deborah just sighs and quietly drinks her own cup of water in peace.

A new conversation begins when Caelan asks about the upcoming finals, and after that, it’s just more school stuff. Since I’m not that familiar with this place yet, I mostly sit out and let people around me do the talking. By the time this conversation ends, nothing noteworthy has happened so far.

"Phew. Is it that long already? I wonder why. Maybe because she didn’t show up?"

"Caelan, you and your big mouth!"

Suddenly, there’s a large shout coming from the cafeteria’s entrance. The people standing there begin to make way for someone. Then, a girl in high heels kicks the entrance's door open and walks into the room, along with five students following behind acting as her entourage.

"DEBORAH!!!!"

"Great, the real hassle is here. And I thought today would be a rare peaceful day."

Deborah mutters to herself, while the girl in question and her entourage start approaching us.

"When will you accept my Duel challenge? Shall I remind you again that I, the great Amadia Devereaux, don’t have the time to remind you about this everyday?"

Before that loud girl gets close to us, Iola whispers to me.

"She did come everyday, though. That succubus girl is one of the top dogs among the first year."

Well now ain’t that interesting.

For a someone belongs to a race which supposedly sleeps with men for a literal living, the girl's fashion code is rather prim and proper, if somewhat cute and stylish. Amadia has long dark purple hair which reaches down to her back, accompanied by a pink ribbon behind her head. Her eyes are of the same color, though her pupils are not that of a human's, they are more demonic in appearance. She’s taller than Iola, but not too tall to detract from her attractiveness. The girl wears a purple shirt underneath her cloak while having a small black vest full of cute carol on top of it. Her cute, frilly short skirt is also filled with flowery patterns similar to a beautiful curtain. If she’s not moving and opening her mouth in every waking moment, Amadia would be a very cute doll, if only.

"So, what is your answer? You know I expect great things from the granddaughter of Lord Dargoth, right?"

"Just go away, please…"

"No can’t do! Do you know how much of an honor it is to be challenged for a Duel by me? Shall I remind you again of my flawless battle record?"

As cute as this girl is, everything about her just screams two words “Alpha Bitch”. I wonder who would win in a motormouth contest, her, or Iola?

The longer her rants become, the more quiet Deborah is. She just averts her eyes, having no desire to deal with this girl or anyone. Where is that sharp-tongued girl hiding? Why would she cower in front of a lousy girl like this one? Is that awesome moniker "Flame Dragon" just for show?

"Really, you disappointed me again, Deborah. Where is your pride as a demon? Don’t you want to live up to that title of yours, being the granddaughter of a great Demon King such as Lord Dargoth?"

Demon King? Like what, the cliché evil dude who wants to destroy the world?

"Just…stop."

"That, I won’t! Until you give me the answer I desire, I, the great daughter of Lady Asmodi, shall come and grace you with a visit everyday! O hohohoho!"

So if she comes again, I’ll have to endure another endless ranting which takes ten minutes a day? That won’t do! Even if it’s just ten minutes, time is still precious. Besides, I’m not fond of people like her and to listen to her rant on and on everyday.

"I await good answers tomorrow. And for now, farewell!"

The girl begins to walk away, she’s almost past me.

Shall I play the role of the devil’s advocate, then?

The moment she walks past me, I turn my right leg over hers, and thus, make her trips into a wooden table nearby and splatters food all over her face. I can feel the jaws of people around me dropping to the surface. I guess what I just did is less advocating and more devilsh. Or it’s just plain dickish if I'm honest. But it’s necessary evil, in my view.

The girl slowly stands up, she calmly cleans her face with her purple handkerchief and then, Amadia turns her look back to our table, or rather, to me. Yes, I can feel her anger's rising.

"Just…what do you think you’re doing?"

The girl slowly mutters, all while people around begin to walk back farther and farther. Only her entourage stay behind, and they all look pissed, for good reason. Suddenly, the atmosphere around looks slightly darker than usual. And then, from her right hand comes a small ball of purple…lightning.

I think what I just did…is a bad idea after all!

"Hide! The Thunderbolt got angry!"

Somebody yell out loud. Right at that moment, people in this room start to duck behind whatever cover they can find. That is not a good sign!

As soon as they finished ducking, Amadia puts her right hand to the front and shoot a lightning bolt at me!

"Crouch, now!"

Deborah shouts. She kicks our table up and instantly catches it in mid air. Holding the table with one hand, she uses it to absorb the lightning bolt Amadia shot while using her other hand to force me to crouch down. After that, she throws the table toward Amadia. The girl nimbly dodges the table, but when she’s wasting her time dodging, we have already finished hiding behind a nearby stone pillar from the chance she gives us.

"Did you think that was a good idea!!??"

Deborah shouts near my left ear.

"Well, I did think it was a bad idea"

Suddenly, Amadia begins to shoot two lightning bolts near the position we’re hiding, forcing us to change our location when the girl begins walking toward our hiding spot.

"Do you have a death wish or what?"

"Maybe I do?"

"Then just jump out of a window, it’s easier! It may annoy the janitors, but at least your death won’t annoy me!"

Just before we could reach our new stone pillar, our escapade ends when Amadia shoots a lightning bolt in front of us, forcing us to stop our track.

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

The people in this room begin to cheer out loud in front of the chaos. So, they actually want us to take this…conflict to a whole new level. And yet I expected they would run like hell the moment someone begins shooting out lightning bolts in the cafeteria like an American school shooter.

"Step aside Deborah. There’s no reason for you to protect this horrible man!"

"As much as I want to, I’m afraid I can’t do that."

"Why not?"

"Because this good-for-nothing guy here is my familiar…"

Amadia suddenly becomes silent. However, she hasn’t drop her lightning filled hand yet.

"I see. Then, if you want to protect him, fight me. Even if you’re standing in front of him, that alone isn’t enough to stop my lightning from reaching him."

"I would like to see you try."

Deborah talks back with no intention of cowering like before. Man, does this girl ever know there are lines you simply cannot cross? Though at this moment, I’m the one who should be lectured about that, not her.

Amadia begins to gather more bolts in her hand. This doesn’t look good.

Must I use That right now? But I can’t think of any other options.

"Stop right there!!!!"

A voice suddenly emerges. Behind the crowd, a shadowy figure appears and jumps over them. Heeding her instinct, Amadia turns around and shoots her culminated lightning bolts to the direction of that person. The shadowy figure seems to be holding something in its hand - A wooden table. Using the wood table, the suddenly appeared stranger blocks Amadia’s bolts before safely landing nearby to face Amadia. For some reason, Amadia stops attacking once she sees her opponent’s face.

The one who just appear is a teacher so her action is justified, and that teacher is none other than the brutish Bjarni Lodbrok, our homeroom teacher.

"What do you think you’re doing to my maggots, missy Cadet!?"

He seems angry, and there are blood veins all over his bald head as a proof of his anger.

"My apology, Teacher, but they insulted me first!"

Amadia stands down, but not before throwing me a hateful gaze.

"Is that true, you maggots?"

Deborah doesn’t say anything as Bjarni turns his attention to us, and she also leaves my side and leaves me standing in the opposite of Bjanri. Damn you!

"Err. Kinda."

I answer. And I shouldn’t have said that, because Mr.Bjanri suddenly lunges at me, holding me by my collar and pulls me off the ground.

"You maggot! Just what do you think you’re doing to this young lady!? And on the first day at this school, no less!! Come with me to the field now, your punishment awaits!"

"That’s enough, Mr.Lodbrok."

Before I get a beating from my homeroom teacher, a voice suddenly interjects in, making the muscular Devilman drop me down and turn toward the cafeteria's entrance.

"Indirectly helping your student escape from his responsibility is bad, Mr.Lodbrok. You should know this already as a teacher. I still remember all you did to those students you “punished” was just making them run several laps around the school. That won’t do justice to my student, won’t it?"

The person who just appear is a rather strange person. A woman who looks very true to the definition of a witch. That woman is a beauty, a devilish beauty that is, who’s wearing a rather battered gray witch clothes, but even that doesn’t seem to dimish her adult charm and beauty. The strange women have long black hair and a pair of red eyes, though hers have a darker shade than Deborah’s.

"Miss Walpurga Hausmannin. I believe what I did to my student as punishment is my own damn business, not yours."

"Normally, that would be the case. But since this also involves my student, I believe I have some say in this matter. Don’t you think so?"

Both the teachers exchange looks. They don’t seem to like each other much, and I guess the reason they don't settle their own problems right this instance is because the ruckus their students caused is more important to solve.

"What do you want to propose?"

"A little duel. I haven’t seen the Thunderbolt amongst the first year’s magic users duel in a while. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Her humiliation shall be paid with his. That is what I believe."

"And I believe you have more in mind than just a little duel."

"Sharp as always. You being the head of the barbaric War Arts Department is such a waste indeed."

The strange witch gives out an equally strange smile on her lips.

"A fight won't be fun if there aren't any stakes involved, wouldn't it? How about this: I propose that if he wins this fight, Amadia shall forgive him for the crimes he committed."

That sounds nice enough, except the part where my prank is labeled as a crime.

"But in the case he fails to do so, and suffer defeat, Cadet Deborah must fight Miss Amadia here as per request of her."

"What?"

Deborah lets out a big what. Well, that’s understandable, since my loss is now a direct concern to her affair.

"I believe that is the fairest terms and conditions I can give you. Even though Miss Amadia is my student, I’m still a teacher, and to have an objective viewpoint is a requirement. Do you accept, Mr.Lodbrok?"

"Deal!"

Wow, does the brutish teacher just accept their request on behalf of me and Deborah without our opinion?

"I shall decide the date. Three days from now, at the Arena. They will settle their matters, cadet to cadet!"

"Accepted. Now then, good day to you and your students. And good luck to you, too, mister irregular familiar."

The strange teacher gives our homeroom teacher a light bow before walking out of the cafeteria, followed by most of the people here.

"Just as she said. I shall await you at the Arena..."

Says Amadia, directed not to me but Deborah instead.

"…after I defeat that familiar of yours. Farewell for now!"

Well, I guess the last part is indeed directed at me.

Amadia leaves when she no longer have any business here, along with her entourage. Suddenly, the cafeteria becomes quieter than it should.

"Mr.Lodbrok! Three days are too short of a time limit. Why didn’t you make it a week or a month at the very least?"

Deborah comes to the homeroom teacher to voice her mind, while Iola and Caelan stand near me to watch their conversation unfold.

"They may take that time to study your familiar’s fighting style, so we should give them a short time frame, deprive them of any chances to do a recon on us. Speed is essential for victory!"

"But that’s still too short!"

"I believe that wouldn’t be a problem. Since he’s your familiar, he should be incredibly strong, right?"

"Err?"

And thus, the ruckus in the cafeteria ends that day, and I am left in total despair with a very bleak future awaits ahead of me.