Mahon was sitting on the table that he had previously used to hide from the fireworks explosion. Zac, Allen, Wyrran and Kali were laying beside him and struggled to keep their eyes open. The night had been long as it had started with the little group getting wasted in Zac’s father’s tavern and transformed into a life and death fight with opponents that outnumbered them.

Once the city guards came and took control of the situation, they had been asked to stay there for further interrogation. Since then, they had reassured and comforted the injured and their family. But even that had ended hours ago and the adrenaline of the fight had switched to numb fatigue as the night had turned to dawn.

The guards had moved the bodies of the dead in one place, and most of the unconscious had woken up long ago. They had restricted the few captured cultists and moved them to another place.

Early in the morning, the captain of the guards came back with his men and three cultists in shackles. It seemed the chase had come to an end. Mahon observed as the captain went first to discuss with the citizens and as he talked with the woman Mahon had ordered to light the fireworks, the discussion dragged on. Many times during their exchanges did the woman point to Mahon and his roommates and the captain nodded along. Once their discussion ended, the capitain went to see them.

“Hello sirs, I’m captain Tulluin. From my understanding, you helped these citizens in these strange circumstances, but if you wouldn’t mind, I have a few questions for you.”

Mahon was the only one awake as he had not truly fought for his life the night before and his roommates, who had been awakened by the captain’s words, gestured for him to do the talking.

“Let me sleep in my bed… table… whatever… just let me sleep...” Allen grumbled, drowsy.

The captain smiled at the sight and he and Mahon moved further away so as to not disturb the heroes.

“So who are you exactly?”

“We are students from the Pine Hill Officer Institute. Freshmen.”

The captain looked at Mahon with a skeptical raised eyebrow, but he said nothing about it and continued his interrogation.

“Can you describe your version of the event, please?”

“Night started when we were partying at the Alligator tavern.” Mahon gestured vaguely to the location of the tavern.

“The Hungry Alligator Inn?”

“That’s the one. We were on our way back to the school when we heard screams and so we decided to investigate.”

“Were you drunk?”

“I would say tipsy. But upon arriving here, we sobered up at the sight. The place was a mess with people running away everywhere and a massive battle in the center.”

Again, the captain seemed doubtful and Mahon could easily understand why. When the guards had arrived, they already had organized the citizens and cleaned most of the mess. They had been fighting the cultists after the explosion for a minute at most, so the fight did not get as out of hand as the first time.

“We managed to help the citizens and fought back the cultists. Upon learning that the man they sent to warn the guards had possibly been caught, we exploded the fireworks to draw your attention.”

“And you asked a citizen to do so? Why not do it yourself?”

“We had other things on our hands, so it was not possible at the time. After the explosion there was a kind of staring contest where everyone was coming back to his senses and then the fight started again just before you arrived and the cultists fled.”

The captain nodded, deep in thoughts. In the end, he put his right hand on his sword before speaking with calm.

“I’m sorry, but I’ll ask you and your comrades to follow us to the barracks for further questioning. There are things we like you to emphasize and it will be easier there.”

Mahon was already sighing when a familiar figure interrupted.

“Captain, a word, please?”

The man turned and bowed with haste upon seeing the woman. She threw a stern look at Mahon before moving away to discuss privately with the captain of the guards. After a few minutes of discussion, she went back to the group of First Red. She coughed to draw the attention of the sleepers before gesturing for Mahon to wake them up as they had not reacted at all after multiple throat clearing.

When they realized who was standing in front of them, the roommates jolted to awareness.

“Professor Rym!”

“Tell me what happened there.”

The roommates turned at once to Mahon as if it was his duty to do that while they slept. But Rym grimaced and refused to face Mahon.

“Not him. I want to hear it from someone else.” She then pointed to Zac. “Zac Cranelis, isn’t it? Tell me what happened.”

Zac shook his head to get rid of the last remains of lethargy and explained what they had been through.

They were freed half an hour later and ordered to rest for the afternoon, which they did with delighted sighs. They woke up one by one before the evening and started to prepare for the banquet. After the rest in real beds, tired looks turned to eagerness and worries changed to excitement.

They had survived an improbable event with success, and they could be proud of them. And tonight was also the night announcing the start of the duel and they would be able to rank up soon. More than the drinks and the songs, the battle had bonded them closer. Even though Mahon’s participation was not physical, he had proved he had a clear mind and was more than capable of dealing with the situation.

Without him, the roommates would have joined the fray and been injured alongside the citizens, waiting endlessly for the city guards. As soon as he had switched to his authoritative attitude, the roommates had followed him without any doubt. That seemed insignificant, but to Mahon it was not. He had felt impactful for the first time in Ratho and even though hardships awaited him tomorrow when he would be left alone with new roommates, he had found a new energy. He would persevere.

“So, do you think Rym will say something about our heroic feat?” Allen eagerly asked.

“Haha, I don’t think so. We were in the right place at the right time, that's it. It’s up to the city guards to deal with it now.”

Allen pouted at Zac’s answer and stuck his tongue out.

“Can’t you at least let me dream or praise my person? Look at my awesome injury, proof of my courage!”

They all laughed at Allen’s theatrics and went to the girl’s residence to pick them up. On the way to the banquet, Allen related to them the tales of five fearless and courageous First Red. He squabbled with Zac over him ruining his moment of glory by adding realistic subtitles to the unreal scene of fighting he depicted.

The atmosphere was even more joyful than usual and their happiness and impatience transpired as they approached the banquet. They managed to sit at their table in relative calmness and waited for Rym’s announcement of the opening of the duels.

Once the tables were full and Jorik had joined there, a religious and excited silence fell on the banquet place. Rym appeared, and every head followed her while she climbed the stairs to the estrade and stood behind the lectern.

“Hello everyone, I hope your silence expresses eagerness and not tiredness. You all know tonight is an important date in your time with us. As tonight, the duels are officially open.”

She let the students cheer for a few seconds before she reclaimed the silence.

“Let me explain exactly what will happen tomorrow. The day is fully dedicated to the duels and you will show what you had learned during the past two months. Anyone who wishes to challenge someone will do so by talking with professor Yordar.”

She gestured for the old man that was seating with the other professors and Yordar waved at the students with a creepy smile.

“I will say again that if you already accepted a challenge in the last two weeks, you’re free to refuse, otherwise you’re forced to accept, although you can declare forfeit if you want to. However, I encourage you to duel to your heart's content tomorrow and give your best.”

“Yordar will organize the schedule for the strategy duels and fighting duels to take place in the most relevant order. Usually it means it will start with the lower ranked challenge up to the very top, but you will see all that tomorrow.”

“As tomorrow will see the most change in rankings, we will disclose the new ranks as soon as we have them so anyone can know what happened. Most of you will leave your actual roommates, duo or friends, but that should not deter you. All the students are your teammates and so we will harshly punish any misbehavior with your new residence and comrades.”

She let her words seek into the mind of her students and as everyone thought she was done for the night, she instead continued.

“I have another important announcement to make tonight. You’re not without knowing that some regretful events happened in our city during the past weeks and especially yesterday.”

Allen exchanged an excited look with Zac as he whispered a ‘Told you!’.

“Yesterday a group of Fada cultists attacked people on the streets and without the lucky intervention of some of our students it would have escalated to much more horrible news this morning.”

“Ordinarily, during your first year, we create a real-size test of your abilities as a unit. In this test, you’re tasked to resolve some crimes, to aid the city guards and often to battle against fake foes. Although you’re assisted by the professors in the training, this test is to be passed without our help.”

Mahon had a bad feeling about what would follow.

“In the light of the recent events, however, we decided not to build fake ennemies. This year, your test will be to arrest the Fada cult.”

This time, the looks they exchanged at the table were half excited, half afraid. What did it really mean to arrest the cult?

“You will act as an army, your rank in school defining your scope and from whom you take order. So let me introduce for now the commander of this army, Ravatoris Theodred.”

Jorik’s half-brother, the man who stood the nearest to the lectern, stood up and following Rym’s gestures he joined her on stage. He was tall, slim and good looking, standing there, impassive. His face was thin and delicate and he had this kind of wavy gold hair that gave him a gentle and childish look.

“Ravatoris, you’re now officially in charge of your fellow students and teammates to arrest the Fada cult. You have up to six months to do so, and failure will not be an option. You will receive further details soon about how to proceed.”

The man bowed his head and shook Rym’s hand to seal the deal before returning to his seat under the both impressed and jealous faces of the students.

“Thanks for your attention, the banquet is now open.”

Jorik ate quickly and left. As soon as he was gone, the table became more animated.

“You heard that??!” Allen exclaimed. “The heroes are back!”

“I don’t think it will be that easy though… We will have to find them first.” Mahon stated.

“And you will need to follow orders of the higher ranked... Hey it might even be me!” Wyrran teased.

“Arghhhh no… everything but that, please!”

“On a more serious note, why did they switch from the usual fake exercise to a real one? A few years ago there were bandits, but the school had not been tasked to arrest them.” Zac redirected the topic.

“Isn’t it because of him?” Kali answered, pointing discreetly to Ravatoris.

“A Last Green rank and now a first real achievement? Yeah, they might really want him to be a rising star…”

“And that’s also why Rym was here last night. She had not truly come for us. She was already negotiating with the city guards to deal with that threat.”

“You might actually be right, Kali…” Zac concluded, and the declaration dampened the atmosphere a bit as they were trying to proceed with what it implied.

Until Allen did his thing.

“He doesn’t have my impressive stature, he can’t be a real hero.”