Sandwiched in between Adelle and Lily, seemingly protecting me from someone. Not sure why though, yet both of them look cute in doing so. What a wonderful blessing. That said, I feel uncomfortable with how out of place I am in this class. Considering my classmates don't have any presence, a huge contradiction to this class where everyone felt superior from their aura alone.
"Sister Stephanie said that she'll accompany you later... Alone... Tch." Lily's voice out her displeased, it was too obvious that even a stranger would notice it. However, I, on the other hand, spotted something peculiar. "Sister? Since when did you start calling her that?"
"Just... Yesterday... She said... She's our senior, so... We should call her that... I don't like the feeling or the sound of calling someone a sister." Lily furrows her eyebrows.
"Really? She really told you that? Interesting."
"Yeah... Looks like, it's my turn." Lily stands up from her seat, approaching the center of the training ground. She's against our protagonist Shin.
After earlier, Ciel left the class in anger. Shin also has his guard up against him in case something does happen. I should be also since I'm beside her, but an intangible sensation crawled throughout my body or familiarity towards the purple mana around him. Is Ciel's mana or spirit related to me? In this world, mana will change its color depending on the spirit that feeds within.
Upfront, the fight between Lily and Shin had begun transpiring. From my observation, Shin uses a claymore as his weapon, but at times, he would switch it over his fist which sounds ridiculous and stupid. Whenever he's in a pinch, he will let go of his weapon and continue it with his fist, instead of articulating his next optimal move.
However, I do admit his hand-to-hand combat was exceptional that I would surely lose if I would face him with only our fist. On the flip-side, there are too many flaws in his fighting mindset which are easily exploitable.
"The White Dragon Spirit... The long-lost forgotten spirit came back." Adelle beside me voiced out her curiosity.
"Yeah, looks like he was the chosen one."
Eyes are on me, especially coming from two females in this class. They're a beauty alongside Lily and Adelle's level. Their stares are like predatory ones, where I'm the lamb and they're the wolf preying upon me with their—eyes. Did I do something? Or, are they curious about my relationship? Class-F? Can't tell since I'm getting some different vibe from their eyes. If I would put it in a words, they're like the people who are eyeing Adelle all time or Clara. It's giving me goosebumps. They're making me look like a little hamster in their eyes. How belittling.
"You good, Claude?" Adelle asked.
"Ye-yeah... Good... Let's just watch them..." My eyes caught theirs, resulting in me looking the other way. A small glimpse of their face already enticed me.
The one woman was a beauty of her own, she had these unique almond eye colors where one is different from one another; blue and red. Hair that radiates the brightness of the untainted whiteness of this world, along with her soft brunette skin. Her smile was dazzling to look at.
Right beside her, there's also this woman with an adorable face and hair that resembles the blazing golden sun. Round eyes dyed in blood and pupils resembling her hair. She has a smaller stature than the woman next to her. Both of them are looking at me. I'm just sending quick glances, however, every time they caught me looking they would giggle to themselves.
'Are they laughing at me or are they giving me signals? Can't tell.'
The sparring match ended in a tie, where both individuals fought hard against each other. Across from me, Arya was waving both of her hands to me in excitement. That said, Adelle has been staring at me with narrowed eyes. Not in my eyes, but rather on my neck. "You hungwy?" I said to Adelle while chuckling.
Adelle bit her lower lips before standing up, as she's up next. She could only glance back at me and Lily passing her with a confusing look. Once Lily took her seat next to me, she uttered these words to me. "Did you cause trouble again, yesterday?"
"No. If you ask what happened yesterday at the cafeteria, I only did it because of Arya. Matter of fact, I stopped the impending disaster."
"I know... Haah... She's a troublesome person to deal with. A prideful, ignorant dragon that only listens to people that they only deem worthy."
"Hmm... Is that also the reason why she listened to me?"
"Perhaps... She told me that she took interest in you and blamed me for not telling her. Tch."
"Pfft, what an overprotective little elf."
"You don't ever want to mess with the dragons, Claude. They're like gods of this world. The true dragons. Getting caught into their matters will only make everything harder for your life, so if plausible. I want to avoid it. We can't manage to add more to our plates, considering how your reputation to other professors plummeting."
"Oh? You knew about it?"
"It was Professor Eirumas who told about your existence. It's easy to figure out the meaning behind his words. He instructed us to look over you. Though, I also suspect that some of the seniors are already aware of you."
"I bet they do. I even got a friendly reminder from my one and only instructor. Even sending a caliber of an educator to look over me. I must say, they're quite caring for my well-being."
"This is not a laughing matter. You're like a prisoner with how restrictive they are."
"Let them be. We don't hold authority here, so we should just comply with them."
"You always reply half-heartedly... It's making me think that you're giving up on everything." Lily's tone of disdain made me twitch my eyebrow, but I calmly replied to her. "As long it's not overboard, I'm okay with it. They're not violating nor making me feel like an actual prisoner. Plus, as long you guys are not affected, hence, I'm okay with it."
My reply was not well-received by Lily, and she brush it off by turning her head back to the fight of Adelle. It may sound like an excuse, but it was the right thing to do. I can't push my luck in this new environment where I'm helpless and only we can take care of each other.
We don't have someone on our back who would save us from our repulsive actions like Lily's father or Master Irene. We can't be reckless now.
Adelle's fight ended quickly. We all clapped our hands. So, the next one would be... "Me?!" I pointed my fingers at myself.
Professor Eirumas abruptly called me out, telling me I should go in because of a sincere request of the dragon princess. "She asked for it. It's only sparring there shouldn't be any problem, but feel free to reject if you don't want to."
"Ah, then I'll decline. I respectfully decline."
"That easy? Hmm..." Professor Eirumas scans his gaze to me. "Are you sure, you will decline it?"
"Yes? I just said it..."
"You sure? Even if it's a princess? She's a strong being. Are you sure? She's been bugging about it since earlier..."
"H-Huh? I'm sure."
"O-Okay then... I'll let her know... Did I read it wrong?" Professor Eirumas said the last part, whisperingly, yet I still heard it.
Suddenly, I felt a strong forceful thug on my left arm. It was so forceful, it made my breath stop because I thought it would rip apart from my body. "Aaah! What the—!"
"Unfair! Fight me! I'm going to shape it into something that I like! Whether you like it or not, we will have our sparring match! Don't run like a coward! Face me on!" Arya shouted.
"No!" I firmly rejected it.
Arya puffs her cheeks, but then her face radiates. "Humans are fond of wealth right? I'll pay you 50 points for a sparring match. How about that?"
Of course, it piqued my interest. "I'm not doubting my ears, right? Are you sure about that? 50? Won't that decrease your food spending?"
"Who cares, I have 500 on mine. So, I won't."
'You guys are the unfair one! I'm here struggling my ass off, thinking of ways to get some points! It's not even certain if an F-class student like me could enter a dungeon! She easily got 500 in a day?!' "I see... How about 80?"
"Sure!"
Our hands touched and shook each other's hands firmly. Arya was looking forward to the fight itself as her eyes are radiating with excitement. A massive contrast to mine, my mind is completely directed to the amount of gold on the plate.
And at the same time, I'm weighing the pros and cons or what will be the consequence of my decision. Pondering my thoughts, it's easy to discern the upside of this. Even if lose, I still have the money in my pocket. If I win though, I'm not sure how that will affect my reputation. Would they be impressed with my performance? Or will it only tighten the surveillance on me? Obviously, my answer would be. I'll do my best to fight her and give her spectacular entertainment. Pros or cons, I do not care anymore. As long I don't cause trouble, it's all good. Moreover, this is just a friendly sparring match. What could go wrong?