Neodelle was unfazed but silence dominated the two. It was true that there was no trust going on between the two of them, or to add, along with some of their classmates.
The allotted time for their shift has ended along with the silence that they broke with the rustling sound as they get up.
The two silently went back to their floor without exchanging a word.
"We both know that none of us trust each other."
Neodelle slumped down on his chair inside his room, lighted up by the moonlight that passes through his windowpane.
Droplets of water drop from his hair, traveling down through his skin. He hung his towel around his neck that covered his bare chest.
Violet's sentence repeatedly played in his head like a broken record. As if it was a cursed lullaby prepared for him to sleep with.
'So she knows that I don't trust her... but why does it feel so wrong to know that she doesn't trust me?' He sighed, confused. 'Why am I thinking about her anyway."
The next day, Lily and Virgo blinked at the sight of two deeply sleeping men in the morning named Brian and Vezkud.
"They just arrived minutes ago," Delora popped up behind the two who were watching the men sleep on the sofas. "It seems like Scarlet didn't show up in that place." Delora looked around and found all girls complete in the area.
She tried to figure out if they were disappointed but most of them just pouted.
The guys emerged from their hallway as Theodore led the pack. "Did we get the place wrong?" He asked the rest in the reception area.
"I think not," Violet replied. She was standing far away, leaning on the huge glass wall as he faces the beautiful scenery outside, trying to brighten her day with the view of a peaceful morning. "The place is perfect for a meeting if you'll expect a practice combat. And judging on the distance from the classroom and other buildings, people will rarely go there." She said.
"Then why didn't she show herself up?"
"Maybe because it wasn't the time to meet us yet," She said the most valid reason for the question as to why no sign of Scarlet was found. "She never left a specific time anyway, how would we know?"
"Then what should we do now? Continue sending pairs looking out on that place?" Vantel sarcastically asked, ruining the morning. Not enjoying the idea of doing that again.
"If possible, I don't want to do it again." Violet said.
'I could say the same.' Neodelle said in his mind before looking away from staring at her.
"I don't feel like doing it again either after watching these two." Lily agreed, pointing at the two who were peacefully snoring through the morning. "But to get it straight, they just looked out, right? Why do they look too exhausted?' She grimaced.
'They probably played card games and fought over it.' Most of them thought.
Delora looked at everyone and asked. "But what should we do now-"
The whole class stopped, brought up their guards, and got alerted by the tiny magical energy that came out of nowhere.
They searched for the place where it came from, bringing their eyes to one place.
In the middle of the ceiling near one of the hanging chandeliers, a red paper materialized. The paper materialized like burned ashed reversing into its original form with flicks of flame.
Reversed from ashes, the red paper flew down directly to Theodore's hand.
The class stayed still, processing the sudden letter from the ceiling.
Looking at the paper that was the same as what they recently received, they concluded who was the sender of the red paper.
The class gathered around Theodore. "W-what did it say?" Delora asked, a little flustered after rushing first.
Even Violet who was far from the crown joined them to hear the content of the paper.
"It says-." Theodore blinked in surprise after reading the very first word in the letter. He leaned his face closer to the letter, confirming if he read it right and he wasn't just hallucinating in the morning. "Fools" He read out loud, dumfounding the whole class.
Stunned, the class couldn't bring up any reaction to a word they didn't expect to hear first thing in the morning from Scarlet.
It was a mere line connected that made a letter to words but the impact had them punched near the afterlife.
"I haven't told you to go yet." He continued and watched his classmates nailed in their place. "That's... what she said." He pursed his lips and folded the letter close.
"..."
"She just called us fools." Vantel said, reminding everyone who was also called as one.
Virgo awkwardly laughed it off.." It looks like we were too excited to see her."
"Oh, wait. There's more in the letter." Theodore announced, having all ears to him once again. "Saturday, Midnight. Scarlet."
Theodore raised his head from the letter. Waiting for their response because he didn't feel like giving one.
He was hit hard with the first word he read.
"Well, at least now we know when to meet her." Lily said while smiling, focusing on the better message in the letter.
"Right." Theodore agreed. He shrugged the wound he got from the word earlier and looked at the paper again. Excitement was slowly taking over his emotions earlier.
To see the Official Executioner, equal to the headmaster by authority, which no student had ever seen before.
"I can't still get over the fact she called us 'fools' though." Vantel once again ruined the morning.
He received a couple of glares from his classmates but paid no attention to it.
"Why continue to rub it in? Stop it just be thankful we even get to see her/ She gave us now the time. All we have to do is wait." Delora said.
Vantel rolled his eyes and swayed his hand as if dismissing something. "Yeah, right, Princess Delora."
Delora gtglared at him. "I'm no princess here, Vantel. I'm just a student in the same class as you so call me that again and I'll have you isolated in one big crystal." She threatened.
Delora rested her hands on her waist. "For how long do you wish to sleep?"
"For eternity, if you may."
Violet turned her head to Delora in realization of Vantel's and Delora's words. 'She's a princess? From where?'
She began to space out.
"Come to think of it, if she's a princess from a specific kingdom... the other princes and princesses might be here in this class.'
"Tomorrow, we'll be gathering at exactly 10"30 in the evening and we'll leave for the meeting place altogether. Are we clear?" Theodore led the class.
"Isn't that a bit earl-?"
Delora shoved an inedible crystal right into Vantel's mouth. "Yes. He meant yes."
Fearing that the same might happen to them, the rest agreed and decided to follow Theodore's suggestion.
From a hallway completely different from Violet's class floor, Herlye emerged from one of the few doors with a pile of papers hugged by her arms.
She was tasked to deliver them to the falculty room by their class representative who was coincidentally Jirile who was asked to lay low before.
"What should I do? I haven't done the report for this month yet.' She sighed and walked to the side of the hallway.
Herlye wasn't an engaging personality to note, she's a bashful and demure one to remember. The exact opposite of Ginger who had a tomboyish and energetic personality. This demure girl's fighting and physical records as well as her wide mind that can come up with multiple strategies supported her to be a valuable piece in their small pack and she excell just the same back when living in their homeland.
She arrived in front of the faculty room's door despite a hard time recognizing it by the papers that hindrances her sight.
Although the pile reached the peak of her hairline, she balanced the papers on her other arm despite feeling it getting heavier by less support from her other hand.
She was about to hold the doorknob when it suddenly opened itself.
A man who seemed to be a teacher let go of the doorknob from the other side. A tall man with his pushed-back black hair with a few strands falling on his forehead, clothed in a suit that perfectly suited his body made him more presentable.
"Oh, my bad. I see you're having a hard time with that, let me help you." The man said and took all the paper she carried.
"No, sir. It just looked like it but I held it quite fine." She said. "I probably looked like I was having a hard time because I was thinking about something else." She chuckled a little.
The man was amused. "I see." He nodded with a playful smile on his face. "Are you perhaps... thinking about a guy?"
"No, no." She aved her hand in denial."It's more likely a report-I mean... I usually write in my journal daily and I missed two days of entries. It was making me uneasy." She reasoned out and almost slipped that she was writing a monthly report.
"I see... You might have written my name there as your handsome and cool teacher I think?" The man joked and wriggled his eyebrows at her.
Herlye laughed at the playful side of his teacher. "It's more likely 'the childish teacher', sir Ezekiel."
The guy named Ezekiel pouted which made Herlye prove her point. "Okay then but you need to get your eyes checked, Herlye. You can't seem to see this handsome creature in front of you." Ezekiel said and shrugged his shoulders with a smug look on his face.
"I wonder how your fiancée gets through your crazy side, sir."
"Hey, that's quite harsh." Ezekiel frowned. "She can barely last a day with me. Ha... Even though she fell in love with me at first sight."
Herlye giggled at the sudden boast of her teacher, "Your looks are a trap, sir."
Ezekiel grinned widely at Herlye and raised his hands for a high-five with Herlye that she responded to. "I think so too."
Saturday, 10 pm...
"Are we all here?" Theodore asked the rest.
"We're all present," Delora replied and sighed heavily. "My heart's been beating so fast. I'm nervous to see her but in the same time, excited." She held her chest and breathed out, trying to calm the unrestrained excitement inside her.
"I feel the same thing too, Delora." Brian said who's hand on his chest too. "This is the first time since I was born to feel this rapid heartbeat."
"Instead of chatting, how about we go off now? We're wasting our time here." Vantel said while wearing an annoyed expression.
"I see, even Vantel is excited to see Scarlet." Virgo said and nodded with a smile on her face as she convinces herself with her words which Vantel just ignored.
"How about you, Violet? Are you feeling nervous?" Lily asked the bandaged classmate who was on the sofa while facing the dark sky through the glass wall.
"Not really." She answered.
Lily blinked at the unexpected answer. "How brave..." Lily said with a worried expression since she was feeling nervous just with the idea of seeing Scarlet.
"Let's go now, shall we?" Theodore asked the class.
The seated ones stood up and all went towards the door to exit.
On their way to the south wall of Althea, Neodelle glanced at Violet who had been keeping herself quiet for the whole time.
'She's quiet again...' He said to himself. 'Is she feeling nervous? Why do they even feel like that? Am I the weird one here?' He sighed and focused on the way in front of him instead.
They arrived there at exactly eleven in the evening. They remained standing on the ground where numerous orcs have died.
The cold breeze made Vezkud and Lily feel cold even though they were already wearing thick clothes to keep them warm in the middle of the tranquil and shivery night.
"Maybe we went here too early..." Brian said.
"Let's just wait for her." Vantel said and went to the tree not so far from the wall.
"Let's g—Violet?"
The rest looked at Lily who mentioned Violet's name. They looked at the bandaged lady who was looking at the top of the wall. After a few seconds, she turned around and walked to the direction where some trees stood firmly.
The latter was confused yet they didn't say a word and eventually decided to walk in the same direction then they sat down below the old trees.
"She's going back to sleep?!" Lily unbelievably asked when Violet went to a different tree by herself and laid down, facing the body of the tree.
"Maybe she didn't get some sleep yesterday." Delora said as she was looking at the same figure laying down away from them.
"I wonder what her face looks like. She keeps it covered with those bandages." Brian entered the conversation, bringing up a topic to talk about.
"I bet she's ugly." Neodelle nonchalantly said.
Theodore and Vezkud looked at him, tired of his hate for the woman. "Bro... Why do you dislike her that much?" Vezkud asked awkwardly.
"Instinct?" Neodelle uninterestedly answered the question.
"You're still wary around her?" Lily asked.
"I haven't seen a reason to trust her completely," Neodelle said and looked away. "She's just a newcomer anyway. We don't even know her so much. It's natural to be careful."
"Are you saying that I'm weird?"
"You said it yourself."
"Neodelle!"
The s-class started to become noisy while Violet was still laying down on a different spot, away from the chaos while chilling while she was relaxing. 'They must be having fun...' She thought to herself.
The situation stayed the same. Under the dark sky which showed a million stars with one moon that shines upon the earth, the class patiently waited for the Official Executer's presence as they reminisce their journeys just to pass their time waiting.
"Hey. It's already past midnight." Theodore said out loud when he glanced at his wristwatch. "It's been fifteen minutes after midnight."
Violet slowly sat up when she heard what Theodore said. "It's already time?" She mumbled to herself, unheard by her classmates.
"Hey, Violet. Stand up!" Virgo said and Violet obediently followed her, standing up and approaching the group.
"Don't you think we were scammed? She's nowhere to be found." Vantel said as they walk towards the ground where they stood earlier.
"Is she playing with us?" Aaron asked.
"I think no—."
All of them froze when they felt a powerful magical energy beyond their expectations.
It was like a blazing fire that can burn almost a whole land and despite the scorching energy, they still shivered by the powerful energy the very person gives off.
They looked up and saw a figure standing on the top of the wall. Her white fitted clothes were revealed as her black thick coat flew in the direction of the air.
Her fierce red scarlet orbs looked down at the gathered students that are under her commands as her alive and blazing hair fluttered with the wind.