With all the noise having erupted from behind, a group of boys suddenly roaring out the Idol Prince Wang's name. Out of curiosity he turned to look behind and saw a bunch of B class and lower boy sweeping the Idol Prince off of his feet and raising him above them. Together they chanted his name while throwing him up into the air, at first he seemed to reject them but he later ended up with a smile on his face.
In front of them appeared another interesting character, his name was Luo Bence, he shot Joaquin a glare. Before Joaquin could open his mouth to say anything someone bumped into him and locked their arms around his body.
"Master, how could you abandon Ains on the bus?" The girl said in a childish voice as she rubbed her face against his black coat.
Joaquin closed his eyes with a frown for a second and removed Ains's arms slowly from him. He turned around to face her and raised his finger.
The warning bell wept and again Joaquin was silenced. When he looked up everyone was staring at them, he was used to attention, but there was usually resentment in that attention. This time it was more of curiosity, envy, and a pinch of anger but no hate.
He thought it was strange at first, but then.
[Shock Meter has been filled completely]
[Initiating cooldown: T minus 10 minutes]
'That ghost doesn't know when to give up doesn't it?'
[1 stat point has been awarded.]
[2exp has been awarded.]
Now that this was here, he wondered if this could've been connected to him being able to tell vaguely how people felt. This was mostly limited to anger and indecisiveness. He used that to get them to do stuff he doesn't want to do himself.
In any case, that siren was calling for an assembly which all famiglias leaving for the hunt and exploration were expected to attend to.
Three of the best famiglias were in this time slot, Hope accompanied by its heir Ruben Alder and his assistants Nadia Voidon and Colton Cruise.
Peerless accompanied by its founder Yang To-Wei along with his assistants Zhao Lei and Gao Lisa.
Rudolf accompanied by its heir the Idol Prince Wang and his assistants an unnamed female with glasses, Luo Bence, and the ever so maniacal Beipan Tou. Luo was an imperial guard which is why he spent most of his time around the Idol Prince. Without that information, one's mind would wander off to unchartered territories.
There is no merit to going exploring as a normal student which is why students normally scramble for spaces in these big famiglias as foot soldiers. Smaller ones were there too but it was much safer to ally oneself with stronger parties.
What happened yesterday was not forgotten at all but instead, it was treated as a joke. Joaquin would be going hunting with Ruben as they always did and the Idol Prince might end up cast aside for another month until Joaquin decides he wants to cause trouble
In front of the students stood Mr. Albion dressed in his signature tracksuits and a cap. Next to him was Miss Modred and they were talking to the students about growth and safety, strongly hinting at the possibility of more casualties than previously.
The students knew of this and didn't want to hear it over and over again. The hird years who spend most of their time away from school tell them about the increasing dangers per 3 months all the time.
Joaquin with Ains holding on tightly to him stood just behind Ruben and his assistants. Initially, he had wanted to be at the rear back but Ruben got him to stand there after promising not to have him sent to the DC for the rooftop explosion.
Even if he did, Joaquin could still get himself out of the trouble but he didn't want to get himself in a situation that required effort when there was a way he could avoid it effortlessly. That and he wanted to be imposing to Beipan and Luo standing beside him. But he ended up catching the attention of an unexpected busy body named Basil G. Maximus, this person was from the same kingdom as the Alders.
After the speech was given the students were awarded 5 minutes to make alliances amongst their famglias and get ready. Rudolf allied themselves with Hope and some other small famiglias.
Since their groups were now large they split up, things like communication and hunting necessities were taken care of by the student themselves. The school's reputation was on the line because of this policy but never had they shamed it.
To-Wei and Peerless refused all help from the other big famiglias and the smaller one. Most of the students thought that it was stupid to go to a small number into an area of unknown dangers. In more than one case, Peerless barely ever sustained casualties in missions.
When the discussions finally ended, the students were all loaded up in busses. In hunts and explorations, it was required for at least 3 teachers to accompany the students possibly more but never less.
But because Mr. Albion and Mr. Vlad were having a dispute the students didn't know that Vampire Ren would also be accompanying them. He was a fun teacher to be around but only for the first two seconds before he opened his mouth to speak.
The air on the bus was barely breathable, even after spending almost a year with Joaquin most of the students couldn't stand him. Some though were taking notes of his new look, the girls. They kept whispering about how Ains shouldn't even be breathing the same air as him.
The division in the opinions on him was caused by a lot of things, his race, his family, and the most outstanding being his binary nature. But one thing which never changed was the fact that he could still beat up half of the people on the bus without even using alchemy.