{Friday}

The day of Rin's second mission was just ten days away.

And, currently, she was in the process of making sure she was ready.

After the day's classes, she and Eve's little group stayed at Maria's classroom after the class had ended, to practice a little with each other, in hopes of improving. Lisa, Eve, Dylan, Elisa, and Rin, all clashed their wooden weapons against each other as Maria watched. Well, everyone except Rin, of course, whose arms were sure to leave the room bruised.

In front of her, Eve was training with Elisa, as Maria stood beside them.

"If she swings horizontally," Maria advised as Eve tried her best to block some of Elisa's attacks, "stop flying and let yourself fall. It might save you some energy if you do that instead of micro-managing yourself so much."

"Uh, okay!" Eve said, putting on a very determined face as she and Elisa continued to trade blows, though Rin could clearly tell Elisa was holding back.

As far as Maria was concerned, however, all traces of that earlier nervous, anxious individual that she'd walked to the cemetery with before had disappeared, and the calm, always-smiling Rank S adventurer that Rin knew well had returned.

"You're doing great, though, Eve," Maria said with a smile. "Keep it up."

Almost as soon as she said that, however, Eve got caught with a hit at her right shoulder. She was pushed a little to the side, and Elisa stopped.

"Agh," Eve let out a soft yelp as she descended all the way to the ground.

"Sorry, sorry," Elisa said, crouching over by her side. Rin took a step forward, as did Lisa, but Eve raised a hand.

"No, I'm fine. I'm okay, don't worry."

The fairy stood up straight, letting out a deep breath as Elisa nodded and backed away. However, Lisa walked forward then. The blonde, big-breasted healer knelt down in front of Eve. Placing a hand on Eve's shoulder, she rubbed it gently in a soothing manner and said:

"Don't overwork yourself, Eve," Lisa said, smiling at her. "We have plenty of time, after all."

Rin raised a brow then as Eve blushed.

"... Yeah," Eve nodded. "Thanks."

["Thanks" for what? She didn't do anything,] Rin thought as Lisa chuckled.

"Okay," Maria clapped her hands together. "Well?" She smiled at Rin, Lisa and Dylan. "Are you three just going to sit around?"

"Nah, nah," Rin said, awkwardly as she stood up. "I was just taking a break."

"In that case, how about you and Dylan do a set? First to three landed hits wins."

"Uh..." Rin glanced over at the boy. "Sounds good."

"And you, Dylan?"

"Certainly," the crimson-eyed man replied, and he stood in front of Rin then, with a polite smile on his face as he got in a fighting stance with his practice staff. "Are you ready?"

"... Yeah."

After Rin had heard that the boy was, apparently, not a human, she'd gone out of her way to try to gauge the validity of that statement. She didn't doubt Xhez's ability to sense this sort of stuff, but she simply hadn't seen much evidence that suggested it in terms of his regular behavior. Xhez had indicated that his spirit was closer to that of a skeleton than a human, so, of course, Rin reasoned that he had to be one of those other undead monsters.

[So, let's see,] she thought, as she absent-mindedly began sparring with him. She dodged his attacks without much effort, as he wasn't really trying too hard either. [Is he a vampire? He's smiled a few times and I haven't seen any fangs or whatever... A zombie? Aren't those supposed to be rotten or something? Maybe he's-]

And then, the man's staff hit her upside the head, and the world flashed white as Rin went down.

"Rin!" Eve flew over to her quickly, putting a hand on her forehead. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah! Yeah, yeah, that was my bad. Sorry!" She said as she stood up.

"You got cut!" Eve said, as she then quickly made the spellsign for [Heal].

Then, Dylan also went up to her. He crouched by her side and Rin looked up, finding a pair of eyes that most other people would call "kind" looking back at her.

However, at this distance, they simply seemed emotionless.

"Are you alright?" He asked, with a quiet voice.

"Yeah, it's okay," Rin said, their eyes connecting for a moment. "I got distracted."

"I see," Dylan smiled and nodded. "Would you like to keep practicing?"

"Sure," Rin said, and then, Dylan helped her up.

And, just like that, the two resumed their training. Rin, of course, lost, getting hit two more times before she could even land one on him, and the two stopped at that point. The brunette sat down at a nearby wooden bench, and Elisa stepped up to Dylan.

"Oh?" Dylan raised a brow. "Would you like to practice?" He asked as Eve flew over to Rin's side.

"Hell yeah. Show me what you've got," Elisa said with a little grin, and for a moment, Rin felt like the same stunned girl who had run into her a month ago, when she'd arrived here. The two started fighting shortly after that, and Eve said something to Rin.

"You know," Eve started, as she took a sip from a bottle of water, "I hadn't expected someone from the Red Trident to be so nice."

Rin turned toward her as Dylan and Elisa's wooden weapons clanked in the background.

"The Red Trident? What's that?"

"Huh? You haven't- wait, no, right, you're from Dren," Eve said, out loud.

"Yeah," she replied, as Elisa got hit in front of her.

"Oh, I scored one," Dylan noted with a smile. Rin looked ahead and saw that Elisa had a slightly surprised expression on her face.

[Hm?] Rin raised a brow as Elisa regained her composure and continued fighting.

"Anyway," Eve continued, "the Red Trident is a mercenary group, Rin. They're sort of like adventurers themselves, but... They take more... Gritty, jobs."

As Rin was someone who had interacted with more than a couple of mercs, she knew what they were like and exactly what they did. She didn't need much more explanation than that.

"Wait," she lowered her voice. "Someone like that is here? Just studying at the Academy? Like it's nothing?"

"Yeah," Eve nodded. "I heard about it before I came here, actually. Sometimes, criminals become adventurers and work off their sentences going out and fighting monsters."

"Really?" Rin was shocked. "That sounds like a really easy system to abuse."

"I mean, Rin," Eve said, turning toward her, "when I say 'fighting monsters', I mean that they go out and fight things way stronger than anything we've fought with barely any preparation. So, in other words, a lot of them end up dead anyway."

"... Oh," Rin replied.

"Yeah. It's not exactly an 'out of jail free' card, but, it's an option for some people."

"I would like to clarify," Dylan said, in the middle of his practicing, without even turning toward them, "I am not a criminal. The Red Trident doesn't take jobs that are outright illegal."

Eve and Rin were slightly scared by that sudden response. He said that casually, in the middle of trading blows with Elisa.

"Uh, y-yeah, sorry for implying that," Eve replied.

"Your apology is accepted, friend," Dylan said with a smile, and then, he landed a second hit on Elisa's thighs. "Got you."

---

{Elisa}

"Sooo, same thing Monday?" Eve asked everyone as they all stood outside of Maria's classroom.

"Yeah, I'm down," Rin nodded with a smile. Lisa and Dylan both agreed as well, which just left Elisa.

She knew she was pushing her luck already, but something had surprised her about these training sessions. She was having fun.

"Yes," Elisa put her hands on her hips and nodded. "If you'll have me, I would like to keep doing this."

The fairy in front of her grinned, and for a moment, Elisa set aside the fact that she was absolutely going to get yelled at for this.

"Awesome!"

With that, the group disbanded and Elisa and Rin walked back to the room they shared, together. The walk started off a little quiet, but as the two of them got to the room, Rin spoke up.

"Uh, good stuff, back there!" Rin told her, as she walked up to that weird bag of hers and checked to make sure it was closed. Elisa thought it was strange, but she didn't think much of it.

"Thank you, I try my best."

"You do?" Rin asked.

"You don't believe me?"

"Uh, not really, no," Rin replied with a chuckle and Elisa giggled as well. She walked over to her own bed and sat down.

"Well, you're right. I don't want to make anyone else feel bad, after all," Elisa replied, and Rin nodded slowly.

"... Thank you, by the way," Rin said.

"Hm? For what?"

"For practicing with us," Rin told her, putting on the kind of smile that Elisa swore people had written about in some of Libera's most popular novels. "I know you don't have to, and... Eve seems really happy about it all. So, yeah, thanks."

"... Well," Elisa said, "I know I made a bad first impression. I'm trying to make up for it. Would you say I'm doing a good job?"

At that, Rin blushed.

"Y-Yeah... Absolutely."

Later, Rin took that bag of hers and went somewhere else, which left Elisa alone to prepare for her usual after-Academy activities. And, just the thought of that made her smile disappear.

She put on a white dress, and heels of the same color, like her fiance liked, and looked at herself in the mirror, scowling. Without a word, she exited the room and walked down the stairs, exiting the academy.

Her aunt was there, a glare fixed on her face as Elisa walked up to her.

"You're later. Again," she hissed.

"I'm sorry," Elisa apologized. "Training has been taking up some time lately."

"Yes, as if you need it," her aunt commented, turning her back on her and expecting Elisa to follow. Which, she did. "The Divine, after all, gave you a few gifts. Your family, your status, and those unsightly muscles you insist on growing. Only two of these are worth anything. I hope you realize that one of these days."

"... I understand, auntie," Elisa muttered as she followed her Carliah to a small car. The two of them got in, drawing the eyes of the citizens around them, and her aunt spoke to the chauffeur.

"To the Millen's house."

"Right away," the man replied and, with that, their car got moving.

As they moved slowly through the streets, a certain amber-eyed girl came up in Elisa's mind. Specifically, something she'd heard in Maria's classroom.

[... She's from Dren?] Elisa thought. [Hm... I swear I've met her before.]

However, nothing came to her mind as she arrived at her fiance's mansion.