The classes had begun for both me and Elora. Her class began the early morning, while my class didn't start until the afternoon.

After a short scheduling meeting with Eros, we decided when each of us would be watching over Elora. As we had to be her bodyguard on a twenty-four-hour schedule, it was easy to see that we each had twelve hours to work in. I would work from six in the morning to six in the afternoon, while Eros would have from six in the afternoon to six in the morning.

My time would mostly be spent around Elora in her classes, making sure that nobody would take the opportunity in a peaceful area, while Eros´ time would be spent guarding her room, being careful to not let anyone inside.

Elora and I were making our way towards a strange building. If you had me at gunpoint and told me to describe how it looked, I wouldn't say a word. While I was definitely sure that the building had a definite appearance, I wasn't sure which it was. Every time my focus on the aesthetics of the building was wavering, everything about it would change. One second it looked like a three-story Inn that I had visited a couple of weeks ago, and, in the next, it was a giant statue of some old woman. It almost seemed like whoever made this building simply made it be too confusing.

But, maybe, if I touch and look away, it will stay the same. Or would that simply limit the form it can be in, while still being able to change appearance? Welp, only one way to find out.

Before I even could get close to the walls of the building, I receive a slap on the backhead, making me twitch just the slightest bit.

There are only two people I know with the guts to do that, and one of them is miles away.

“What was that for”, I muttered just loud enough for Elora to hear. I thought she was in the middle of talking to her classmates some distance away. No, wait, that was a different person.

“Can't have my bodyguard slacking off at this job, you know. You do realize that you're supposed to protect me from dangers, right. Did dad not give you the briefing?”, Elora sternly muttered, trying not to smile at my reaction to being slapped

Erik had given me the briefing, actually. So many times, in fact, that I could, word for word, recite everything he said in the smallest detail possible. If I really try, I think I could even do the faces he made.

“Don't worry, Erik told me about the job he is paying way too much for us to do”, I said in a low, playful voice, briefly thinking about that huge bag of gold coins. Good thing we didn't take it with us or thieves would be on us every second.

“Fine. Just, remember to watch over me. There hasn't been an attack on anybody in months, but its best if we don't take any chances”

Don't worry, princess. No changes have been given to wannabe assassins yet. Wouldn't want my golden ticket to being killed, just because I was too busy flirting with that cute girl to your right.

In fact, I had actually been using my good ol´ Shoggoth eyes to track everybody nearby by looking at the shadows on the wall. The fake perfect chance, or, as I would like to call, the mousetrap.

Luckily, though, not a single person had seemed interested in taking the bait. Lucky for me, as I don't have to eliminate anybody. That is, yet.

Turning around and finally facing the group of thirty. To say the least, it was a strange sight. Most people I had seen were always human. In the first place I had stayed, people had been somewhat pro-human, or, as most would call them, bloody racists. While they didn't object to non-humans, they always had to pay a bit more, if they wanted to stay.

The group standing in front of me though were anything but just humans. Sure, a few of them were or looked to be humans, but the rest definitely wasn't. Some had a horn, some had a couple extra eyes, some, like Elora, had elongated ears, and one even looked to be made of… slime, maybe? Doesn't matter.

About ten of the people here were bodyguards, like me, leaving about twenty actual students. Glancing over those bodyguards, you would find many assortments of weapons. Everybody had at least three daggers visible, each a slightly different shade of silver. I didn't know why, but I felt awkward not having any silver daggers to speak of.

“Everyone, please gather around!”, An old man, with a walking stick, shouted from the entrance to the building. It seemed to have stopped shifting, so that was a plus.

All the students gather at the front, while the bodyguards are at the very back, keeping at least five meters from each other. We had a common goal, but that didn't mean we trusted each other.

“Can everyone hear me?"

Almost all the students nod in confirmation.

“Good! All students, please go inside, and go to the first room to the left. Bodyguards, please wait outside the room. I´ll come to talk to you shortly. Hurry along now!”, the old man shouted.

And, so, all the students hurried along quickly. Even saw one of the taller students gave another student an elbow in the face. I was quite proud of myself for only slightly laughing.

After the last student had disappeared from view, we, the bodyguards, began moving in unison, always keeping a distance from each other. This wasn't their first rodeo in these parts, it seemed.

We steadily moved through the building until we came to the desired location, where we all stopped to wait for the old man. Didn't have for long, luckily, as he, much to my surprise, came from our behind undetected.

Even poked one of us with those wrinkly fingers of his. Bloody Disgusting.

“If my eyes aren't playing tricks on me, you should all be here”, the old man said in a raspy voice, with a small smile on his lips. An awful joke there, old man. “As most of you here have been here before, you should know most of the rules. I do see some new faces here, though, so it seems that I will have to repeat them.

You will not have access to the classrooms inside this building, while I, or any other teacher, is teaching inside. Even if your sirs or madams are inside, you haven't paid, or have the Talent, for this tuition, so you don't have any reason to be inside. Trust me on this; Just because I'm old, doesn't mean I can fend off attackers. If you try to force your way inside, you will be shown the door.

If needed by any of you, the bathrooms are to the right. And, if there is an emergency, and it isn't being taken care of, do knock on the door, and I will come help. Trust me; anything that can get this far inside, can't be stopped by you people.

That sums up everything. You can just go do whatever now. Don't walk inside further than needed, though. The security measures will show you some… interesting things”

And with that, the old man with way too many wrinkles walked inside the classrooms.

Just as the door slammed, almost all the bodyguards went action. A few pulled out mini-tables, one pulled out a big assortment of small chairs, and one took out a box of playing cards. In under twenty seconds, almost all the bodyguards were sitting around a couple of tables, waiting for the one shuffling cards to finish.

Me, and two others were just standing still looking dumbfounded at this sight. The completely serious bodyguard mentality had disappeared, and with it, a playful aura came from all.

This continued for a couple of seconds, before, finally, one of the other newcomers blurted out a few words that I couldn't have said better.

“Aren't we supposed to be bodyguards?”, the newcomer asked, with an uncertain voice.

One of the bodyguards sniggered. An unusually tall woman with broad muscles, and what almost looked like a green bush for hair.

“Didn't ya hear what the teacher´ said? Anything that can get this far inside could kill us in an instant. If we´re going to die no matter what, why don't we enjoy the time we have? For example, playing cards are a good way of let time fly by. Now, move ya asses come on over! We've got a few extra chairs for ya”

It took some time for any of us to ´move our asses´, but, after a couple of seconds, the pieces set in minds. We didn't really have anything to do these next couple of hours, and no one was gonna question what we did, as long as we didn't break any rules. Couldn't really train either, seeing as that would be seen as an attack.

We all sat down at the tables and simply began playing cards. Nothing complex, like Diplomat, but more something like President.

When the door to the classroom opened, and the students started going out, it felt as If only a minute tops had gone by since we had begun playing.

I learned a lot about the others while playing the games. Some told stories, while others simply gave you your name and continued playing, while some were surprised at even hearing me speak.

One of the ones telling stories was the tall, muscled woman, whose name I later found out was Olympe Maxime. She started out simple, talking about her heritage, and her parents. She was a Half-giant, with her mother being a Giant and her dad a Forest Elf. She wasn't really sure how they met and was only told it included a barfight and obscene amounts of alcohol. She did talk a bit more but stopped when the next person had begun introducing themselves.

The other notable person I met was a guy who called himself Jinx. His whole body was covered by a thick, red cloth with only two small openings that allowed his eyes to see through. He didn't really tell that much about himself, but after way too much prodding he finally revealed that he had ´some very special eyes´. I didn't really understand what he meant. When I really focused on his irises, though, I did notice that he wore color-changing contacts.

Almost all of the other bodyguards were actually in a group called ´The Oktober Guard´. They were not protecting the same person, though, as even they had to admit that it would have been overkill. The group itself was very popular, and was, in fact, a sponsor for the school. They even invite me to join the organization, but after I politely informed them that I didn't wanna work as a bodyguard permanently they backed off.

There were a few others, but they generally just kept quiet, too focused on the game.

When the opened, everything was hidden quickly, allowing no prying eyes to see what we had been doing, for it was a secret on par with the nuclear launch codes. Every move had likely been practiced a hundred time over, perfecting them until the moves were as fast as could be.

When the first student finally stepped outside, every piece of evidence was safely tucked inside people's Enchanted bags.

It took a while for Elora to pop out of the door, leaving me as the last bodyguard. I almost considered going inside to check if there was a second door before Elora finally walked through the door.

“What took you so long?”, I asked, curious.

Elora quickly looked around, checking if somebody heard me. Seeing nobody, she sighed, relief figuratively flowing through her body.

“The teacher hold me up for a few minutes. He had some questions about the invisibility spell that you helped me change. He wanted to know how I turned myself completely invisible while having very limited mana-reserves. I simply told him that I changed the spell up a bit, making me able to give it a bit more power than needed. He didn't question me further but asked me to test out the limits of the spell when I used all the Mana I had in five seconds. I did as he had asked, and he was actually surprised at the results. With the classroom being slightly dark, I was almost completely invisible to his eyes. He could still hear me, though, so it wasn't true invisibility. The spell doesn't even help with that, so it makes sense”

Makes sense. They were probably asked to show off their spells, and he didn't understand how hers was so effective.

“Okay. We should probably get moving though. Eros´ shift is coming up soon, and we wouldn't want to be late”

That single sentence makes her step up her game, instantly increasing her speed two-fold.

And, after Eros takes over, time for my class would start.