"Ehem so I think we don't need to be randomly assigned into pairs since most of us already have our own partner or group. So, today's activity for our first club meeting this year, we will go around Midas City and visit any places that you think are interesting. Later post your pictures in your Star account by tagging our Adventure Club so we can repost your post later" the President of Adventure Club, Nikki Flonne said clearly.
Despite her petite figure, her voice was sure loud and I think she used mana to transmit her voice clearly to all of us.
When I first arrived, I thought this small pink-haired girl was also a freshman but it turned out she actually was a third-year student. She became the president because the fourth-year members were said to not be able to actively join any club activities since they would be busy preparing to graduate.
"So gather with your pair or group and later go to these interesting places listed here." She said before gesturing for me to give away the pamphlets I was holding.
Lazily, I just used psychokinesis and gave each club member the pamphlets. If I knew that I would become her unofficial assistant, I would not come too early.
When I came, she was the only one who have arrived and seeing her struggle holding a handbag and a stack of pamphlets while wearing a big beach hat, I decided to help her hold the pamphlets and that's how this kind of situation had become.
"Don't forget to take pictures and post them later. So now I'm going first." She said while jumping down the stool and shooing away the club members urging them to move into the teleportation portal gate.
The portal gate is a multi teleportation gate where it has multiple coordinates set on it. Currently, we chose the Midas City coordinate and went inside the gate in groups.
"Hey Prince and Ares, come let this sister bring you around," the President said to me and Prince Theo.
"Sure" Prince Theo answered seemingly amused seeing her treat him comfortably on their first meeting.
"Miss Nikki, where are we going?" I asked curiously.
"Just call me Nikki and we will be going to Hawthorne Steak House. You will love it for sure." She said excitedly while walking fast.
Later we arrived at a place that looked like a cafe but the signboard showed that we had arrived at the right place. So seeing Nikki enter the restaurant confidently, me and Prince Theo just followed suit.
"You guys don't mind eating in a commoner restaurant right?" Clara asked after we finished ordering.
"The price is good so I don't mind"
"He eats a lot so eating with him in a high-class restaurant will make me go bankrupt" Prince Theo replied nonchalantly while pointing at me.
"Ohh yeah this is a private room. Not many restaurants owned by commoners have private rooms like this so you guys can eat at ease...Err woahhhhhjh!!!!?" Nikki suddenly shouted when she saw my face.
Since I was feeling thirsty, I just took off my mask nonchalantly and drink the cold lemon water served on the table while we wait for our meal.
When she shouted, I just realized that this was the first time she saw my face. Before this, with Prince Theo, I just took off my mask whenever I wanted to since he never showed any reaction whatsoever.
"Ahh" my hand instinctively wanted to put on the face mask again.
"Shhhh. Are you seeing a ghost?" Prince Theo said seemingly a bit annoyed.
"Nooooo. You're so good looking. Thank god I can see this kind of face when I'm alive. Don't worry I won't tell other people about your face. So make yourself comfortable" Nikki said excitedly.
"Sure"
"You know what, a lot of people speculated that you are good looking and they were true but I think its better for other guys if you continue wearing a mask"
"Because he's too good looking?" Prince Theo guessed.
"Yesss. The other guys might look like a potato if they stand beside him except you Prince since your face is also one of a kind. The exotic kind." Nikki said honestly while continuing eating. Despite having a small body, she eats more than Prince Theo.
"Of course, that's why I'm friends with him. Who else can become his friend other than me." Prince Theo said narcissistically.
"..." That's not how or why you make friends right?
"Hahaha, both of you're funny. Do you know, I'm only 16 this year but I'm already a third year. So I don't have any friends except for a few people that I talked to on regular basis such as Kara Zanuki and Alana Manic"
*(Ares is 15 years old and a first-year which means Nikki skipped a grade)
"Ohh you're Kara's friend" I commented.
"Hahaha it's more like I'm pestering her but without me, she will not have any friends either," she said confidently.
"So you're one of the Genius Duo in the third year. I only knew one of them is Kara Zanuki" Prince Theo said.
"Yeah. I don't know who started that name but after the nickname Monster Trio blew up in the fourth year, they started making nicknames for each year. And the third year has us the Genius Duo since both of us are a year younger and excel the most in theoretical subjects. Genius Duo sounds lame to me when compared to the Monster Trio" Nikki complaint.
"So are there any other nicknames?" I asked curiously.
"Hmm, there's a nickname for the second year which is the Mad Dogs. There's five of them if I'm not mistaken and they are the top 5 rankers of the second year." Nikki replied after thinking for a moment.
"I've only known two of them which are Adrian Zanuki and Kris Tadraz," Prince Theo said seemingly interested in the conversation.
"Ding Ding same with me, Prince. I've met them both before at an event. Rumours said that they always crushed every opponent they have like mad dogs thus no one in the second year wants to face them even during the assessment. They don't even listen much to the instructors' orders."
"..."
"You can ask me about any rumours since I always like to keep up to date on them," he said to me when seeing me look like a lost puppy.
I have to admit I did rarely pay attention to any rumours since I had the knowledge from the novel but it was limited the more I lived in this world since the novel was mainly from Cedric's point of view of the time.
There would be a lot more plot holes and unexplainable events on my side since I'm not the protagonist.
Cedric never really paid attention to this kind of thing and I don't think he had a nickname during his time in HGA either.
"Yes, it's good to know some rumours sometimes since there might contain some facts in the rumours even only 1%," Nikki said in agreement.
Then Nikki and Prince Theo continue chatting while I just ate silently while listening to them.
"So where are we going next?" He asked changing the conversation topic.
"Hmm, why not we go to the museum later" I suggested when we almost finished eating since if I remembered correctly, there will be an incident at the museum that the protagonist had to face.
It's not like I wanted to help him or took the protagonist's role; it was because there would be someone worth seeing there.
"Sure let's go" Nikki happily agreed while Prince Theo just nodded his head slightly.
*************************************
[POV: Cedric Hel]
"Fuh I thought we've already lost" Shino muttered after we've changed buses three times.
"You said that you've been here before?" I grumbled since Shino was so confident back then that made me follow him around without any doubt.
"Yeah, I've been here maybe....10 years ago? Haha," he laughed awkwardly while avoiding my eyes.
I ignored him and just walked in. Perhaps, because it was a weekend, the museum was bustling with parents and children looking around watching the artifacts and texts describing them.
However, those artifacts were just imitations while the real ones were put underground, just below each display. The authority did this to fool any criminals trying to steal any of those artifacts.
How do I know about this information?
My system told me after it finished scanning the museum floor.
However, no matter the size of the crowd, there were bound to be people who stood out. Ares Zanuki and Prince Theodore were such examples, but currently, I only saw Prince Theodore standing in front of a display alone while Ares walked away going in an opposite direction from me.
Thus I decided to follow him since my instinct just felt like I have to follow him now. Approaching him furtively, I scanned the weapon Ares was looking at. Thankfully, it was a weapon I knew.
"Is this the famous Amaterasu Sword that legend said can't be melted with any fire?" I blurted out without thinking.
Ares's sight turned to me from the sword, seemingly at loss for word and I could guess why. He might felt confused about why I suddenly greeted him.
"Unexpected to see you here, Ares?" I greeted him like I wasn't intentionally coming at him.
"Yes, I didn't expect to meet you here, Cedric."
"Yeah me too. I didn't expect you to know my name haha." I replied without thinking much since I didn't expect he would talk to me.
"We've been classmates for 4 months," he said as if it was something trivial.
"Yeah that's true" I smiled awkwardly at him.
-Boom!
A thunderous sound suddenly reverberated through the museum. In an instant, everyone became silent.
Koong. Koong. Koong. Repeated thuds pulsed through the deathly silence.
The sound resembling the footsteps of a giant creature soon led to the sound of something breaking. The atmosphere in the museum took a quick turn.
"Kyaaaak!"
"What is that!?"
The unknown led to anxiety, and anxiety quickly led to panic. Ordinary visitors screamed and began to run. However, only death was waiting outside. The safest place was the museum inside.
"Stay here! Don't go out!"
Knowing that it would be dangerous outside, I shouted. I could see my system glowing red warning me that monsters were surrounding the museum.
Currently, the outside of the museum was being attacked by an intermediate rank monster and its subordinates. There must be a dungeon gate broken near the museum area, either intentionally or not.
Just a single intermediate rank monster posed little threat. Since this is in the middle of the capital city, the Royal Corps would arrive in less than a minute, and 20 minutes was enough to take care of the entire situation.
However, my system told me that another group of monsters were attacking somewhere else in the city.
But that wasn't the only problem.
Djinn.
I could sense that there was a Djinn here. Simply put, it was a double-pronged attack.
After coming to a scene, Royal Corps went to the most dangerous area. Since the museum had security guards, it was less dangerous comparatively, putting it on a lower priority. Taking advantage of this fact, with the Djinn being here, many of these people here would die.
Clang—
A sharp sound resounded. It was the sound of glasses shattering. The source of the sound wasn't far away. Turning towards the direction of the sound, I saw Ares have broken the glass display and taken out the Amaterasu Sword.
"Hey what're you doing?" I asked bewildered.
"Fight. You don't want to die here, do you?" he said in a calm voice.
Though it was only a replica, it was still an item on display. The museum's siren rang and its defence mechanism activated.
In just three seconds, all exits closed down. People panicked even more, but thankfully, even an intermediate rank monster couldn't break through the barriers blocking the exits.
"This is better than stopping people one by one and warning them," I muttered silently.
"Hey, I think you should grab a weapon too." He said to me while looking around.
"Why? We save here. No monster can enter this place for now"
"Look there," Ares said
He pointed with his eyes. A man wearing a black coat was standing there. Before I could say anything, someone have already fired an arrow coated with flame toward that man.
The magic arrow pierced the man's throat. Immediately, I froze, seemingly shocked by the sudden murder. I looked around and found that the perpetrator was Prince Theodore.
Any ordinary person would have died to his arrow. However, the man grabbed the arrow sticking out of his neck and pulled it out. Demonic magic power then rose from his hand, burning the arrow to ash.
Tap, tap.
The man then turned around, facing the direction the arrow came from. His eyes burned red, as fierce hostility shot out of him.
"…"
Without a doubt, he was a Djinn.
I thought the Djinn was outside and never thought of the possibility of it being this close to me. Now the museum's exits were closed, we were trapped with this Djinn inside.
Seeing that nothing else could be done, I quickly went into another sword display and broke the glass before taking it out.
"That's nice" I heard Ares mutter while Prince Theodore didn't seem fazed at all seeing the Djinn glare at him.
'What the hell with these two people?'
"Hey Ceddie!!" suddenly a hand grabbed my shoulder and when I turned around, it was Shino's.
"Shino where have you been?" I asked him.
"You're the one walking too fast" he grumbled.
-Boom!!!
Suddenly an explosive sound comparable to before sounded again and it came from the Djinn where Prince Theodore have attacked once more time. After watching him for a few moments, I realized that he was luring the Djinn towards us.
"What the fuck" I cursed before starting attacking it while Prince Theo supported me.
Shino also immediately help by trying to restrict Djinn's movement by attacking his joints. After the continuous attacks, the Djinn became furious.
"He's going berserk" I heard Prince Theo's voice.
The Djinn's skin colour started to change from white pale to red as if he was burned. His eyes also turn bloodshot. The mana around his body had gone haywire. His body also started to get bigger until he was around 4 meters tall. Sharp long claws started coming out from his ten fingers.
Due to the powerful force of the Djinn's haywire mana, one of the chandeliers fall and the target was a young boy, around 7 years old.
"No!!" I shouted since I wouldn't manage to help him even if I sprinted towards him.
Suddenly, a figure of a red hair guy wearing a black shirt grabbed that kid and rolled to the ground, barely managing to avoid the falling chandelier.
"Ares run!" Prince Theodore shouted after I still felt shocked.
The Djinn who have fully gone berserk started attacking Ares and that kid. The Djinn ignited his magic power. A jet-black evil qi hurled towards them like hellfire. Ares barely managed to cut through it with the Amaterasu Sword.
Seemingly enraged by his failed attack, the Djinn pounced on Ares and scratched his back with its big claws. After getting stabbed a few times, there's suddenly a blinding light coming from Ares which blinded everyone's view.
-Cling! Ching! Ching!
Sounds of metal chains reverberated throughout the area. When I opened my eyes, around a dozen of golden metal chains, tied up the Djinn, immobilizing him.
I looked carefully at those metal chains that seems to come from Ares's back. However, the Djinn's hands still managed to slip away and were not tied up thus the Djinn tried to take off the chains from his legs and body.
"Hey focus," said Prince Theodore before he grabbed a sword from who knows where and moved towards the Djinn while ignoring Ares who remained motionless while still hugging the kid.
Leaping up, he cut down the Djinn's hand diagonally with his sword.
This attack should have severed the Djinn's flesh, immobilizing him.
But despite having his flesh cut, the Djinn smiled. I instinctively felt that something was wrong. Immediately afterwards, fierce magic power shot out from the cut.
As though standing under torrential rain, Prince Theo was swept away by the magic power. He didn't even have the chance to scream. He flew across the museum and became stuck inside the museum's wall.
"…"
"…"
Both Shino and I became speechless.
Strange.
Something was amiss. This shouldn't have happened. The Djinn still seem too difficult to handle despite being restrained.
Suddenly the cut arm grew back similar to its previous form. The Djinn had regeneration power.
-Clack!
One of the metal chains broke and seeing that he succeeded in breaking it, the Djinn became more and more agitated while the rest of the metal chains seem like they would break at any moment. Ares remained motionless at his spot seemingly unable to move.
Prince Theo didn't faint but the attack just now must have affected him at some point. Although I didn't want to show anyone, in this kind of situation, I have no choice.
"Shino, go help Prince Theodore and I will help observe Ares while trying to attack that Djinn again until the authority come," I said to Shino and he quickly comply.
Gathering my power into the sword, my body started to be enveloped in bright light. I muttered runic chants while starting to wield my sword after the power have already been concentrated, I swung the sword in an arch shape like movement two times creating two lights blades with the shape of a crescent moon attacking the Djinn.
Roar!!!
The Djinn screamed and the attacks managed to severe both of his arms and it seems it can't use his regeneration power anymore due to the property of my power.
Seeing the rare opportunity, Prince Theo once again attacked the Djinn and this time he quickly decapitated the Djinn's head with Shino as his support.
After a few moments, I felt my body lose its strength since I pour every single drop of my power into those two attacks. Silence enveloped the area before the sound of gates being opened, sounded.
"This is the Royal Corps. Is everyone alright?" my view become blurry and before I knew it, I already lying on the floor panting for breath.