“Hey, why do you look so down? Is it because of that ‘thing’ your other friend said?” said Leon while he tried to comfort the disheartened Damon.

“If it is, don’t worry! I have plenty of strength to protect us in case of an assault,” boasted Leon in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Damon was in the cafeteria on lunch break with his brown-haired friend. The cafeteria had a rectangle like shape, with two floors. Many food vendors could be seen selling their dishes to the students hungrily waiting for them. There were two spiral staircases on either side of the room that led upstairs to where the eating area was. There were many long tables with chairs that students of the Academy were sitting on. The whole second floor was littered with them.

Damon was sitting on one such table, eating some type of sandwich while listening to Leon blabber some words. His eyes were unfocused, as if he couldn’t think properly. The sandwich tasted bland as he chewed, causing Damon to gag a little.

“Damon, get a hold of yourself. It’s just a school trip. What’s the worst that can happen?”

Damon glowered towards his right, directly into Leon’s eyes as if trying to convey a message through eye contact. The message was something like “my life being lost is the worst that can happen-duh~.” After he gave his fierce gaze, he went back to munching on his sandwich while Leon stammered, trying to get a good comeback in.

Suddenly, a lunch tray was placed on the opposite side of the table. Smooth, pale hands could be seen on either side of the tray, and a female uniform could be spotted when she sat down. Damon glanced upwards to see who it was that decided to sit with them. As his gaze moved up, he could see some features of the girl. Crimson hair, and a familiar set of bright blue eyes. Before Damon could say something to his childhood friend, Leon blurted out a greeting..

“H-hey Kalli! How nice of you to join us for l-lunch! If you don’t remember me, my name is L-leon!”

He could barely get out those sentences as Damon could visibly see his face turning a reddish hue. Kalli gave Leon a small smile before starting to eat her lunch. She didn’t say a word, and just focused on her food. Damon expected her to say something, anything that would provide him with some insight on the situation. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen like Damon had wanted. He was too obsessed with gathering information that he didn’t even spare the time to give Kalli a proper greeting. Therefore, Damon decided to introduce the topic first to get the information he needed.

“Hey Kalli-” Damon started to say, but was cut off by another voice. Kalli had started talking, but in a light tone unlike what he had been expecting.

“I know what you're going to say. Just forget I said anything ok?” said Kalli while opening a pack of crackers. “My class is attending the trip anyways, so you don’t have to worry. Who would dare attack two classes?”

“What class are you in anyways?” questioned Leon, seemingly back to normal.

“Ah, that. Well, I’m in Class-A,” sighed Kalli. “I wanted to make it into the same class as you guys, but sadly, I couldn’t. Still, the two highest ranked classes go on trips together, so it’s not like we’ll be separated all~ the time.”

“Oho, so you aren’t that unskilled? From the impression I got-”

Leon’s words didn’t make it out of his mouth, because a piece of bread was stuck in it. Kalli had made a very calculated throw in a fit of anger to shut Leon up. Before a small fight could break out in the cafeteria, Damon voiced his opinion out loud and the conclusion he came to.

Damon had thought about it for a while and finally made a decision. He’d just leave it as it is, he wasn’t going to do anything.

I’m overthinking it, just do what everyone else is doing, no need to take any extra unnecessary actions.

“Let’s have fun tomorrow at the cave guys. We will enjoy this rare occasion that we get to see a real dragon’s cave.”

It seemed like Damon had made the prefered choice because his friends had grins plastered on their faces the moment he spoke those words.

“Nice choice!”

“That’s the first time you said something that actually made sense, muttered Kalli while rolling her eyes with a smirk on her face.

“What did you say? Do you want to start a fight, huh?”

Damon could only inwardly laugh as he was filled with energy once again from the duo’s constant bickering.

They sure are some nice friends, aren’t they. It’d be nice if nothing bad happened to them because of my risky choice.

Damon could feel the urge to stop the bickering, but it was too difficult for Damon to handle.

Well, if you can’t beat them, join them.

With that thought in mind, he joined in on the conversation with jokes already prepared in his mind.

***

[Unknown Location]

“Are you all prepared for tomorrow?” asked a man shrouded in darkness. He received many nods from the people sitting around the table.

The room these 8 men were in was bland, with only a table and 8 chairs. The surroundings were rocky and holes littered the ground. Not a hint of sunlight could be seen, but these people could see each other very clearly. It was as if the darkness didn’t hinder them one bit.

“Make sure to do the job thoroughly, and make sure all witnesses are taken care of. We cannot be noticed. I repeat, we cannot be noticed. Doing so will result in the discovery of our whereabouts and bring about our demise,” ordered the man sitting at the head of the table.

He was the leader of this particular group of people, and was in charge of making sure the plan was carried out flawlessly. He received a direct order from ‘Him’ so he had to make sure the plan succeeded no matter what. Failing to do so would result in unimaginable consequences.

“Gather everything you need, we’re heading towards the location soon.”

The leader shouted at the other men to get ready. They carefully stood up and went separate directions to prepare. They were very obedient, just like professionally trained dogs.

“Be here within 1 hour with all of the necessary equipment so we can arrive before the break of dawn,” said the man with conviction. He was planning on succeeding and giving a good impression of himself to ‘Him’. He sat back down in his chair with a mischievous smile on his face. He couldn’t wait for tomorrow.