Outside the door, a lot of hot air balloons lay in an open area. A brunette stood in front of them clad in a suit identical to Seton. "Hello, my name is Cheng. I will be your second examiner. I will explain the specifics of the exam once we land in our destination, so please step into the balloons."
Paolo's eyes gleamed. "We get to ride those."
Cheng nodded. "This is a service exclusive to the adventurer's guild provided by the Ferrum Family."
Each team entered one air balloon, the balloon taking off from the ground, leaving Paolo giddy. "This is so cool, I've never been on one of these."
They all looked down as they flew over the buildings on the island, people waving down below.
"I've been on it a few time," Octavius said. "To make deliveries and when I lived in the West Sea."
"Alexandre took me on it once," Aline said.
"I have a broom; it doesn't bother me," Luna bragged.
They rolled their eyes at her arrogance while she just laughed.
"My family members always brag about how they've been on one and I always got jealous." Paolo grinned. "As I thought, being an adventurer is the best."
"We'll make you the greatest adventurer Paolo," Shinzo said with all his conviction, placing his hand on his captain's shoulder.
Aline nodded. "Even if we die trying, we will."
Octavius and Luna nodded and Paolo smiled softly at his crew. "I trust you guys."
.....
The hot balloon landed in front of a forest, everyone getting out of their respective balloons.
"This is Nito Forest; this is where the exam will take place," Cheng explained. "You guys will stay in this forest for the rest of today and will come here by eight in the morning. An adventurer should be able to survive harsh situations such as getting lost in a forest. If you can stay alive and arrive by eight in the morning, you pass. If you come back past eight, you fail." People murmured and Cheng smiled. "Oh, I forgot to mention, you can use any means to survive, even if it means killing another examinee, it is a competition after all."
People grinned and some set their eyes on the Cross Heart Adventurers, their hunger obvious to the poor crew.
Shinzo frowned. "Things just got complicated."
"I think we'll be fine though," Paolo said. "If it's us, everything will be okay.
"He does have a point," Shinzo said, flipping his hair. "I'm pretty awesome."
Aline rolled her eyes and the others chuckled.
"Okay then," Cheng said, clapping his hands. "Let us begin."
.....
"We need materials if we're going to survive out here," Aline said as they stood at a clear spot under a group of trees.
Paolo nodded. "Okay, let's have a competition. Whoever gets the best food ingredient wins."
Aline and Shinzo perked up at the mention of competition, their eyes glinting ambitiously.
"That sounds interesting," Aline said.
"What does the winner get?" Luna asked.
"They get anything they want," Paolo said.
Octavius grinned. "Anything."
"Yup."
Octavius clapped and pointed into the forest. "What are we waiting for, let's go."
.....
Paolo walked deeper into the forest, wondering what he could bring for dinner.
"Should I get deer," he mumbled. "Would I even find deer?"
Five people appeared in front of him, guns pointed at him. He cocked his head to the side, their appearance uncalled for.
"Do you need something?"
"We won't let you survive this test. If you do, it would be a stain on us since we've taken the exam thrice," the only girl there said.
"So you're worried about your pride."
She frowned. "Call it whatever you want."
Paolo hummed, gold glinting in his normally brown eyes. "Sorry, but I'm not nice enough to indulge you."
Not only Paolo, but the other four Cross Heart Adventurers had been surrounded. Shinzo dropped his large fish, staring at the woman who stood in front of him.
"Are you here to take a picture?"
She blushed. "O-of course not, I'm from the Dove Adventurers and I came to kill you."
He hummed. "I wouldn't advise you to fight me."
She didn't listen, charging towards him with her fists clenched.
He sighed,
Aline frowned at the beautiful girl in a kimono sitting on a rock, her eyes glued to her voluptuous chest with all ounce of spite imbedded in them.
She held a fan to her lips, eyeing Aline. "Hello."
Aline didn't try to hide her distaste for her, the reason behind it pettier than it should be. "If this is your idea of an ambush, I won't hold back."
The woman snickered, much to Aline's irritation. "Like you could defeat me."
Aline unsheathed her sword, her gray eyes glinting behind her glasses. "I don't mind fighting you, but you're going to have to leave your regrets in the grave because I'm not holding back."
Luna stared at the group of boys who had circled her, licking her bottom lip. "Are you boys going to take advantage of me? If you are, you'll unfortunately have one foot in the grave."
One of them glared at her. "You may be cute, but you won't get our pity."
She snickered, grasping her wand behind her back. "I wasn't counting on it."
Unlike the others, Octavius had been met by a bear three times his height. He licked his lollipop, the bear posing as no threat to him. "I was wondering what I should do for a life supply of cake." He pushed up his round glasses, the sun glinting on the frames. "Looks like I've found it."
...
The Cross Heart Adventurers all came back to their spot dragging their attackers and some food they caught, they all looked at each other, Luna breaking the silence.
"That's a pretty big bear Octavius."
"It attacked me, so I beat it up," he said, throwing his lollipop stick to the ground. "I'm more worried about the people you're dragging."
"They attacked so I beat them up," was their reply.
There was silence until they burst into laughter, holding their sides in hopes they wouldn't combust.
"I can't believe we all got attacked," Luna said.
"What should we do with them though?" Aline asked. "Should we fry them?"
"That's cannibalism, Aline."
"Let's tie them to a tree somewhere," Shinzo suggested. "The wild animals will have a blast with them."
After a few minutes, they successfully tied the victims to a tree, smiling proudly at their work.
"So who won?" Shinzo asked.
Paolo sighed, staring at a bag to his side. "Because of those idiots I could only get a bunch of squirrels."
Shinzo pointed at his fish. "This is what I got."
"I also got a fish," Aline said. "Copycat."
"Shut up, mine is obviously bigger."
The two started arguing, but Octavius pointed at his bear, shutting them down. "I win."
The two froze and looked at the Octavius who had a sweet smile on his face, hiding his clear smug satisfaction. "My bear is bigger."
The two slumped in defeat, not needing to argue over his win.
Luna grinned, pulling out a bottle a beer. "Now that everything has been cleared up, let's have a party."
.....
The Cross Heart Adventurers made their way to the meeting point, the early morning sun casting its rays on their sleepy faces.
Octavius stretched. "I wish we could have slept more."
"We have a deadline so…" Paolo said, trailing off.
"We're going to pass," Luna sang, her body swaying to her off tune singing.
"Don't jinx it," Shinzo said.
She rolled her eyes. "Nothing will get in our-"
They screamed, their bodies tunneling down a large hole. The hole dug really deep into the ground to the extent you could barely see what lay above.
Shinzo glared at her. "Stop testing fate."
"Sorry," she mumbled.
"This hole is pretty deep," Octavius said. "I'm impressed by the dedication to dig it."
"Now isn't the time to admire it," Aline snapped. "We have to get out."
Shinzo covered his face in shame, his ears tinted red. "How can I have fallen for such a stupid trap?"
Laughter came from above, the noise dulled out by how deep they were. "You guys won't pass this exam." A voice amplified by a loudspeaker shouted at them. "Just remember you were killed by the Milton Adventurers."
"How annoying," Shinzo mumbled.
"What time is it?" Aline asked.
Octavius looked at his pocket watch, the hands on dreaded numbers. "Seven forty five."
Luna used her fingers to whistle, her broom floating above them. "We'll fly out."
"There isn't space on the broom though," Paolo said.
Luna grinned. "I've got that covered, broom change."
The broom shook, transforming into a carpet. Luna clapped her hands, smiling at them. "Presenting my magic carpet." The four clapped, captivated by the sudden change and she bowed. "Thank you, thank you." They boarded the carpet, her hand tapping it. "Arise."
The carpet rose to the surface, floating above the horrendous hole they had fallen into.
"Now let's go to the check point."
.....
"Good job Milton," Lichto said to Milton. "Those guys won't be a problem now."
A boy with black ruffled hair to his back in a pony tailed, leaned down to whisper into the blue haired boy's ear. "What do you think?"
"There's no way such a stupid trap would keep someone like him down, if he lost to a hole his stupid claim earlier would be for naught."
The boy chuckled. "I guess you're right." He checked his watch. "They only have ten minutes left, I wonder if they really can make it."
"Move out of the way," a female voice screeched.
Everyone looked around, the voice startling them. Someone shouted to look up, all heads following its instruction. Five screams sounded in the air, Luna's carpet tumbling downwards really fast.
"I thought you could fly this thing," Aline snapped.
Luna laughed nervously. "My broom is a bit mischievous in carpet mode."
The five screamed even louder, the carpet crashing to the ground. Luckily, people had moved out of the way, leaving the crew scattered on the ground.
Paolo stood up, flashing a grin that shocked the silent crowd. "That was fun."
"We are not using that thing again," Shinzo stated matter of factly.
"I second that," Aline mumbled, brushing the dust on her skirt.
"Train your broom," Octavius snapped.
Luna scratched the back of her head, giggling. "It could have been worse."
"Shut up!" Aline, Octavius and Shinzo snapped while Paolo just laughed.
Cheng cleared his throat. "Time is up, only thirteen out of thirty five groups passed the exam."
"That's a huge drop," Aline said.
"At least we're part of the thirteen," Octavius said, handing them all celebratory sweets.
"There will be no more exams for a few hours. The guild will take you to a hotel to shower and prepare for the next exam by three." He smiled. "So once again congrats on passing."
.....
The Cross Heart Adventurers got stopped at the door by the boy with blue hair, his crew members curiously stared at him.
The boy stretched out his hand, a smile on his lips. "The name is Luca Diaz, the captain of the Blue Dawn Adventurers."
"Diaz as in one of the five nobles?" Octavius questioned.
Luca nodded. "I'm the last son." He looked back at Paolo. "You're from the God Clan, so I took interest in you. It's nice to formally meet you."
The four adventurers behind Paolo frowned, Luca's demeanor feeling very fake. Unfortunately, Paolo didn't grasp his hidden hostility and smiled back, shaking his hand. "It's nice to meet you Luca, I'm Paolo G. Rigards, the captain of the Cross Heart Adventurers."
"I'll leave you and your crew to rest, good luck."
"Same to you."
"I don't like him," Shinzo commented once Luca had walked away.
Paolo smiled, leading them into the hotel. "Don't worry about him, I don't think he'll be a problem."