Nevera was seated at a window with another girl and they were talking about something. Venti was helping out Arthur by baking buns and bread. One girl seemed to be missing.
"Hey it's cap'n Aether!"
(Speak of the devil)
She jumped on me in an attempt to hug me, but by judging the speed she came with I knew I would fall down alongside her, so... I dodged her and she fell face first on the ground.
"Pfft.", the other girls laughed as they watched the spectacle. Arthur let out a chortle too.
Venti smiled and Nevera just waved.
"Looks like the entire gang is here." I said as I stepped forward, taking Kathyln's coffee and drinking some out of it.
"Why mine?", she asked curtly with some amount of emotion seeping through her usually apathetic face.
"Because you are the only one who drinks black coffee, the same as me."
She nodded her head in understanding and gestured for me to gulp it all down. I did as asked and sat beside her on a stool.
6 Users were recently brought to this place by the FMA and they were from a girls facility in the Northern Dominion. Their Classroom was in the 'Gardens of Eden'. A major Classroom.
Kathyln Igriss- whose coffee I just drank was a girl with snow-white hair and purple eyes, she had god-like beauty and white skin. She was as tall as me and she wore an apathetic face. Out of all the girls who had come, she was the one I spoke most to.
And because of that I realized that she was a very kind and caring person. She was also very well endowed.
The one who jumped on me and fell face first was Sapphire Clearaqua. She had white hair and eyes which matched her name. She was just as tall as Venti- somewhere around my shoulder.
Her proportions were unreal and made my heart race a little. Just a little thankfully. Probably because of my training and understanding of the human brain.
Even then, I would be lying if I said I didn't think about her.
I was about 176 cm tall.
The one sitting with Nevera was Cecilia Holden, a silent girl, she was as tall as Sapphire and she had red hair. She had caramel-like yellow eyes and creamy fair complexion.
The girl sitting on my left was a short girl, Cynthia Howe, she had black hair and green eyes, she was of wheatish complexion. She was fast, very fast but also equally lazy.
The girl on Kathyln's right was Minerva Weaver, that last name was of a prominent family of dwarves in Verdana Tempus. She was as tall as me if not taller and she had dark blue hair and light blue eyes.
Lastly there was the girl sitting on Minerva's right, Lia Beneventi.
She was from the continent of Aisah, but had apparently fled the continent when she was young.
She was a girl with white complexion and she had black eyes. Her hair was short and Lilac in colour.
She was just as tall as me and she was the only one her other than me who had a weapon of descension- she had a War bow- 'Fading Twilight'.
It was a named bow, formerly used by a war general of the continent Zaytseva.
We had gotten used to the girls after spending lots of time with them.
('A man who cannot command himself shall always remain a slave of another.')
"Anyways, as you all already know, we will begin our mission next week. We will be doing phase 0 all by ourselves, entering the Central Dominion with the entry pass Nevera received back at the Classrooms from the Giver."
"Once we finish the verification process, we will steal a ship from Port Carrius- a major seaport of Verdana Tempus close to the Central dominion and leave for Kraken's Coast."
"To do that, we will first have to go to the Verdana Tempus User Affairs Office, get our domain permits without raising suspicion and escape swiftly. It will be hard if we get caught, but the chances of that happening are slim."
"I don't think that the Central administration will have noticed a few Classrooms disappearing amongst all the other things that they have on their plate, the only concerning matter is about the status of your Classroom that disappeared in the North."
"Other than that, we will have to kill a few coast guards while escaping with the ship."
I made sure to look everyone in the eye when I said that.
"Scaryy♪", Sapphire said grinningly.
"Yeah, we will have to kill people, ahh so scary ⁓", said Cynthia, looking not the least bit worried.
After all, killing people was just another day in their lives. Even though they were the same age as us, they came from a larger Classroom. They probably had real combat experience.
Kathlyn was wearing her usual apathetic poker face and Minerva and Lia already decided to train together.
"What do we do this week then?", Nevera asked me, getting up from his chair and walking towards me.
"We will train together and the others can go plant potatoes." I answered while turning my back to him and walking out the café.
"Wait up cap, we will train too." I turned back and saw the others, they had their game faces on.
"Go ahead but don't hold me back." I said as I left.
I crashed into a very unexpected person, it was Viviane.
"I'm sorry I didn't see you come out…", she tried to maintain her composure.
"It's okay, the fault is mine, I should have been more careful." I replied calmly.
"Are you going in for a coffee?" I added.
"Yeah, I need some to keep myself awake, the documents Erika left behind…"
A huge pile of files flashed into my mind as soon as she said that.
(Oh…how…unfortunate)
"I have to see those and approve them, even though it's not my job!!"
Her frustration took an audible form.
"Hey Arthur, brew her a cup of coffee and make it sweet."
"What coffee do you drink?", she asked me.
"Milky with a lot of sugar." I lied.
The others nearly opened their mouth to complain but I warned them off with a look.
"I'll have the same."
"Okay one milky coffee with a lot of sugar comin up!"
I told her to sit down and organise her thoughts but she pulled me back in to give her company.
(I guess I'm stuck now, what a waste of time.)
I need to go and start training immediately…
I thought she would rant about what she was going through but instead she just waited silently for the coffee.
"What happened?" I asked in an attempt to take her down the lane of conversation to get her to open up.
"Nothing, it's just that things aren't going so well for me these days"
"Everyone has tough times, we just have to wade through them."
"Yeah I know but...", her voice trailed off, her usual happy demeanour was gone.
About that matter huh?
"I don't want to marry him, but I can't do anything about it besides the marriage is only a week away. He will be here by the end of this week, although I get to go on the mission, what reason will I have to return home."
"Then we won't give you to him", Venti shouted out in protest and came towards her with her coffee. He placed the coffee on the table and held the tray in his hands.
"You don't have to go with him if you don't want to."
I looked at him in the eye, 'It isn't our place to interfere with the politics of this place', I said without making a sound.
'But someone has to do something! I can't see her crying like this' he responded.
'Why?' I asked coldly. I simply didn't understand the logic behind his thinking, sure she needed someone to talk to but it wasn't us. We weren't even her kind in the first place.
I opened my mouth to say something but stopped as Kathyln came up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked at her but she shook her head.
"If no one else then I will help you.", Venti continued.
"Really?"
Viviane asked as if she was surprised but then added, "No Venti, that won't be necessary. It is my duty to do what my father says. I will go according to his wishes."
"But you won't be happy…"
"It doesn't matter, my happiness is secondary, it is my duty to listen to the ruling leader of this place- Mystic Mountains. Maybe it is his wish for me after all."
This wasn't the first time I heard people refer to a certain 'he'. I was curious to know who they were talking about, I decided to dig in.
"Viviane who is this 'he' your people speak of?" I asked.
"I am sorry, even I do not know."
"What?"
"He as I know him, was the one who killed our founding ancestor, a descender of a pillar unknown"
Her expression darkened as she said that.
"All I know is that he was the strongest of all and will be the strongest for ages to come."
I was intrigued, but my thirst for answers couldn't be quenched now and not by her.
(Shouldn't there be a pillar situated here…?)
She took a sip of the coffee in front of her, then smiled a little and looked at me.
"Is this really what you drink Aether?", she asked me. Casting a dubious look at me, her mood had elevated now.
"Yes, it is, do you not believe me?" I asked trying to keep up the lie.
"I don't."
"But if you are telling the truth then drinking this shouldn't be an issue…"
She said and then added slowly with a smile, "right?"
"Of course, it wouldn't be a problem but unfortunately, I have other things to do so you will have to drink that coffee yourself." I added and quickly headed for the door.
Sapphire was blocking the door and looking at me with a grin.
"Not so fast cap'n, you gotta drink that coffee first!"
"Yeah, you like it don't you⁓", Arthur added from behind me. He was practically grinning.
At this point even Venti and Lia told me to drink the coffee.
Only Nevera and Kathyln were looking at me with pity but they didn't do anything to get me out of this predicament. Cecilia was face palming and Cynthia wasn't even here anymore, she slipped out without anyone noticing.
(No choice then, saying no won't work)
I continued walking towards the door and headed straight for Sapphire.
She flinched and said, "I won't let you through before you drink that coffee!"
"Can you stop me though?", I said and then slammed my hand against the door she was guarding and leaned in towards her, close enough for our breathes to exchange. She turned as red as a tomato and squealed. She darted out of my reach leaving the door free.
"It'll take you more than that to try and stop me." I said and then walked out the door.
In the time we spent together with the girls, I realized that, even though they had come from a large Classroom which had cadets of both the genders, my friends and I were the cream of the crop.
Using this information, I laid out a hypothesis.
(Our feelings towards each other might be mutual…)