"Visitors?", Ruth asked, momentarily forgetting the morning's incident.
Zephyrus nodded, "Captains Jade Aria and Alice Night are coming to the academy. Squad Captains are required to personally submit reports of important missions to the Cardinal they are under."
"They will also visit the Special Class A dorm to see Arthur and Gray. They would like to meet you two."
He looked at Ruth, "How long has it been since you've seen them?"
She smiled, "About a year. We hung out for a day in Crystalis city."
"You know them?", Seventeen asked.
Ruth nodded, "Yep. Jade and I knew each other since our days in the academy despite her being in Class S and I in Class A."
"Alice was our junior and the three of us became good friends after facing each other in the Battle Festival."
"You fought Alice Night and Jade Aria in the Battle Festival?", Seventeen was impressed.
She shrugged, "It was a close call. It was hard against those monsters due to my curse but I held out well."
"Alice is just a force to reckon with. Her control over the Light attribute is elegant and perfect, earning her the name the Luminous Knight. Jade also was no slack. Her mastery of the sword earned her the name the Sword Princess."
"And you got the name the ice queen.", Seventeen quipped. "Oh shut it.", they looked at each other and the morning's incident flashed across their minds.
They immediately looked away. Ruth's face turned red and Seventeen just looked bashful, he couldn't blush.
"Make sure you forget what you saw.", she said.
"Yeah. Don't worry. I'll forget it.", he replied.
"Good."
"So when are they coming?", Seventeen asked Zephyrus. "In an hour.", he replied.
"Then we must be ready to welcome them.", Ruth said, turning around. She looked at Seventeen, "You coming?"
He nodded, "I need to speak with the Headmaster about some stuff."
"Alright. Make sure you get to the dorm on time.", she nodded to Zephyrus and exited the office. the two men waited until her presence faded away.
Zephyrus looked at Seventeen. "You have a piece of ice sticking out of your head.", he pointed out. "Ah yes.", he pulled out the ice and liquid magia dripped from the end. He vaporized it with his flames.
"Must be nice to be so young.", the Cardinal said with a smirk. Seventeen sighed, "It was an accident. I am surprised she didn't chase me around with her daggers. And also, you are not that old to say those words."
Zephyrus looked hurt, "Oh come on. I'm in my forties."
"Exactly."
"Anyway. You should make it up to her. Half-elves are hard to please. Also, I agree with you. Usually, she would be trying to stab you with her daggers if you pulled up something like this."
Seventeen thought about it, "You think she's become soft?"
The two of them recalled their time spent with the ice queen. "That's quite unlikely.", the android said with a nervous chuckle. Zephyrus agreed with them and they laughed nervously.
"Anyway.", Seventeen switched to what he wanted to talk about. "Vanessa joined me to Mt Raviel and she said an interesting story."
He recounted what Vanessa said about the Arken gods, the Crowns, and the war fought between these beings.
When he finished, Zephyrus was silent and in deep thought. "Looks like my theory about the Forgotten Millennium was true.", he said in an excited voice.
"Are you sure she's saying the truth?", Seventeen asked.
He nodded, "Of course. We do have evidence of the existence of Raviel. Records from 4000 years ago mentioned a benevolent Arken god who betrayed her kind and helped the Founder. The only thing we didn't know was her name."
"And the Ten Crowns? I believe we know a few of them. The Vaharis King is probably the oldest among them. There are stories of him joining Arkenstein in the war against the gods. There are mentions of the Monkey King too."
Seventeen was thinking about something, "Vanessa said that the Monkey King is a survivor of the second war along with her and the Spirit Queen. He was also shown in the ancient records, unlike Vanessa. So how come we never knew about him?"
"There is a simple answer for that.", Zephyrus replied, "There is no one left to remember him. Along with the Orcs and Fairies, another race also became extinct 3000 years ago. They were the Monkey People."
"They were powerful martial artists but few compared to the Orcs and Fairies. The Monkey King was their supreme ruler and the strongest of their race. When the Monkey People disappeared, so did the existence of their king in the minds of everyone."
"So he's the last of his kind.", Seventeen concluded. The Cardinal nodded, "The information you gave me was really useful. Revealing this to the world now is not a good idea. For the time being, let's keep this between us and the ice queen."
"Are you sure?"
"She already knows about Vanessa. So you could say she is now a part of it. You can tell her at your convenience.", Zephyrus said.
Seventeen nodded, "Alright. I'll have to leave now. Have to welcome our guests.", he left the office and passed a group of female students who all looked back to see the dashing instructor.
He ran into Ruth at the academy entrance, "You're still here?", he asked.
She jumped at his voice.
"I was just going.", she stammered. Seventeen sighed, "Look. I'm sorry for barging into your room like that. I promise I'll make it up to you."
They looked at each other. Ruth played with her hair, "Well. As long as you admit to it, it's fine."
He cocked an eyebrow, "Shouldn't I be getting an apology?"
"Why should I do that?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you chucked a massive chunk of ice magia at me?"
"Oh. Consider that penance for what you did.", she looked away with a huff. Then she said quietly, "My bad. I overreacted."
Seventeen barely heard it but he grinned, "Let's get to the dorm shall we? I'll cook something great for you."
Ruth blushed and nodded. They walked side by side towards the dorm in the woods.
(I wonder if she became soft. She doesn't look angry.)
'Wanna test it?'
(How?)
"Hey, ice queen. Will you be mad at me for what I am about to say?", Seventeen asked Ruth. She arched her eyebrows, "Depends on what you are about to say."
"Ok so. You looked very nice this morning."
"So you do have a death wish."
"I take that back.", Seventeen immediately said before Ruth introduced him to the pointy end of her dagger.
'See?'
(You are one crazy guy.)
As they walked, a familiar face was spotted at one of the many food stalls of Cardinal Town. "Ray? What are you doing here?", Ruth asked as they approached the young Callen.
"Ah, instructors.", he greeted them, holding a deep-fried meat bun.
"Are you sure about that breakfast?", Seventeen asked, pointing at the fried bun that was far from being called healthy. "Oh, it's fine sir. This is a rare treat for me since Minerva keeps forcing me to eat healthily.", Ray replied, biting into his delicious breakfast.
"Aren't you supposed to be training?", Ruth asked. He nodded, "Yeah. Jason and Kate organized a mock combat battle and divided us into pairs. Each pair has to spar in two bouts."
"I was paired with Oliver and we finished our first bout. So we came to town to take a break and grab a snack. The big guy left for the dorm a few minutes ago and I saw this delicious fried bun.", he replied after swallowing.
Seventeen and Ruth were impressed, "Hard to believe the two of them agreed on a single opinion.", the latter said.
"Maybe Kate also liked Jason's plan.", Seventeen replied.
"I believe right now, it's Arthur's bout.", Ray said after recollecting the order of bouts.
"Who's he paired up with?", Seventeen asked. Before the young Callen could answer a voice called out to them.
"Well well. If it isn't the pretty boy of the defectives."
Seventeen sighed as he recognized the voice. Approaching them was a tall and athletic-looking man with long flowing blonde hair, green eyes, and tanned skin approaching them. One can feel the attitude oozing from him and Ruth looked annoyed at the newcomer.
"Hello, Marvin. Fancy meeting you here.", Seventeen greeted the instructor of Class B with a calm smile.
"I heard that the Headmaster called for you in the morning. Just what kind of trouble did you cause?", he asked.
Seventeen shook his head, "That was not the case. He simply called to inform us of an important thing. That is all."
Marvin raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Then how come I felt powerful ice magia from your dorm? Surely it was the work of the half-elf.", he shook his head, "I don't know what the Headmaster was thinking when he appointed an Aeva, essentially a fallen and cursed nobility as an instructor."
"What did you say?", Ruth asked in an icy tone.
"You heard right. You Aevas are a disgrace. You invited the wrath of a Higher Dragon and what are you left with now? An old hag who cannot walk, a brat, and a half-elf from a commoner who thought she could control her curse but killed her own sister when it all went out of hand.", Marvin replied with a vicious smile.
"Take back what you said.", Ruth hissed venomously, her eyes full of rage. The temperature started to drop and her daggers were already in her hands. Marvin just chuckled, lightning crackling around him.
"Calm down ice queen.", Seventeen placed a hand on her shoulder, "He's not worth it.", he whispered in her ear.
"Yes, Seventeen. You should rein in your coworker. We don't want her magia to go haywire. After all. That is the only thing you can do.", Marvin taunted him.
Seventeen paid no heed to those words, "You must refrain from saying things like that, Marvin.", he warned. "All I said was the truth. There is no denying that.", the instructor replied.
The android calmly looked at him, "I believe your preparations for the Battle Festival are done?"
Marvin laughed, "Why do we need preparation to take out the trash?", he grinned arrogantly, "I will make sure to thoroughly crush Special Class A in front of everyone."
Seventeen cocked his head and smiled, "Well. I'll meet you in the arena.", he said quietly. "Come on. We have important things to do.", he told Ruth and Ray. They proceeded to leave.
"I am not done.", Marvin said, seeing them leave.
"Well I am.", Seventeen replied back and a wave of intense bloodlust exploded out of him, shutting up Marvin and making him step backward.
They continued on their way back to the dorm, not even looking back at the mystified instructor.
Ruth felt the bloodlust. It was her turn to calm her coworker. "Don't mind him Seventeen. Calm down."
Seventeen looked at her and she saw intense anger in his eyes. How he managed to maintain a calm facade with that much anger was anyone's guess but it amazed her.
"Don't worry ice queen. I am calm."