"They said they caught the killer in the act," a tall purple-haired girl said, she was surrounded by several people listening intently to her words.
It had been two days since the dawn when several bodies of unknown people were found, the people who inhabited the academy were startled at first and began to spread information quickly, but it didn't take long for the story to change to another side. The story now had so many crazy parts, that it was more like a soap opera than real life, even though the story was weird in itself, people managed to make it worse by adding countless things that hadn't happened.
One of them, and also the worst addition, was that at some point that no one knows exactly when, some idiot thought it would be interesting to accuse Quagmire of the crime, saying they had caught him at the crime scene with his hands completely full of blood, and now the boy was being watched all the time so that he wouldn't commit other murders, because he had some kind of mental problem that made him dangerous for society.
Quagmire was unaware of these rumors (or just played the fool, ignoring them) as he walked the halls normally, while being avoided by everyone he passed, who threw themselves into corners staring at the boy in fear and disgust mixed in their expression. Since the fight with the assassins the boy had been following the assassins leader's movements, he was also not an idiot and made a 'small investigation' with the help of an old friend of his from the outskirts of the lower city.
Quagmire managed to find out that the woman's name was 'Lillian Ferrar', she was the main leader of the 'Dark Order', which according to Quagmire's insider was an extremely recognized murderous organization in the underworld, despite its low membership . The boy was minutely studying a folder of files that were related to the woman, there was everything about the woman in detail in those files, plus Quagmire had a secondary measure as he had placed a tracker on Lillian during the fight.
According to data from the map showing the woman's location, she had ended up in the third district of the lower city, a region completely dominated and controlled by one of the four monarchs on the outskirts, also a former enemy of Quagmire when he was still living on the outskirts.
Quagmire hadn't yet obtained any information that would lead him to discover who was the client who had post him under surveillance, the boy was still alert because both investigators and perhaps more murderers were watching him furtively. Every now and then, he glanced slightly at where he believed his 'observers' were, always checking to see if they were far enough so that they couldn't identify the document in his hands.
"Quagmire!" Alice yelled as she ran towards the boy.
"Say it." Quagmire replied as he slowly closed the folder in his hands.
"I heard you were involved in the murder cases! Are you okay?" She said, in a worried tone.
''Do you now believe in mere rumors?''
''But... But they said there was evidence and all, plus everyone saw you leaving the interrogation room...''
''Enough. None of this is true and, one way or another, I don't care.'' Quagmire shrugged as he looked at the girl who barely reached his shoulders.
"Changing the subject," Alice corrected the intonation of her voice. ''Did you happen to see the others? Including Mary, I can't find her anywhere.''
"No." said Quagmire decisively, as he walked straight away from Alice.
Alice stood there watching Quagmire go farther and farther away as she fumbled for her cell phone in her pocket. The girl took the device that had a medium flat screen, with some ornaments here and a pink cat ear cape, and dialed Mary's number, but Mary wasn't answering her cell phone for nothing, making Alice more and more worried. .
"Where are you, Mary?" Alice said, looking at her cell thoughtfully.
''That's it! Keep it up and maybe you'll be able to win." A tall man dressed in a faded white outfit said.
"Yes, sir!" A girl with blond hair that bordered on a white color answered him without delay.
Mary had been in the training room with Professor Rupert for some time now, she had been training alone for the last few days for the competition, but decided to ask for help from someone experienced like Professor Rupert, who was decorated as a war hero around the Republic.
However, this was not the only reason she was training more effectively, Mary had witnessed an event that had not left her mind since then, not even now. She saw several people completely covered in black clothes fall to a single boy that they faced, and worst of all this, was that the next day the news of the death of 4 unknown people was reported around the academy and the city, leaving all people completely alert.
The person who had faced so many opponents at once was someone she believed to be just 'ordinary', but who turned out to be someone with enough training to outdo people experienced in battle, this someone was a friend she had met recently... It was Quagmire, the only Landra present at the academy.
Mary's interest in Quagmire became even greater, as in addition to the genius for technological projects that he had shown, the boy also demonstrated a great skill in martial arts. However, she had developed a certain fear of Quagmire as she trained with the thought of someday having to face him.
"I have to get over him," thought the girl, as she attacked Professor Rupert with a side kick that sent him reeling.
"I'll win!" Mary screamed, demonstrating an emotion she has never had in her life.
"I will get stronger at any cost!" She thought with a strange smile plastered on her face.
That day, Mary spent the rest of her free time training in a private room with the help of Rupert, who praised her immensely that her skills were improving at an alarming rate.