Earl turned to the human students, eyeing the professors who were busy treating their pupils.
"This has been a disappointing performance. We, the council, will have to sit down and evaluate whether you are fit enough to enter the dungeon for the first trial."
The human students paled at this remark. Earl turned his head, looking at Ethan; his grin said it all. Lara stood next to the dean, her chest puffed out in pride.
"Professor Lara's students pass and will proceed to the first dungeon trial," Earl said.
Ethan turned and started jogging towards the gate, and Wendy and Lucy were close on his heels. He steps out of the portal in the city. In the parking lot, a police vehicle with Astrid at the wheel. Wendy and Lucy ran to the cars, opened the doors, and slid inside.
He manoeuvred his big body in the passenger seat next to Astrid. He made the mistake of looking at her lap. Dam those short skirts of theirs, he thought. Astrid winked at him with a big grin, and the vehicle flew upwards, and he blacked out.
Ethan opened his eyes to the women using binoculars to see the nursery in the distance. He pulled his binoculars from his robe and pressed the wrong button as he lifted them to his eyes.
X-ray vision showed the three women naked before him. He fumbled with the binoculars, dropping them two times on the vehicle's floor. He decided to get out and have a closer look.
He set it on infrared while studying the nursery hidden between wheat fields. Inside, a figure carried bags from one end of the building to the other, presumably to a storeroom.
"We need to be stealthy about this. If he sees us coming, he will flee and disappear. Thompson and Bridget will be here soon with our swat team," Astrid said.
"Squee, the wheat will give us good cover. We need to stay low."
"Alas, I suspect he would have set alarms in the fields and around the nursery. That is what I would have done."
Ethan pulls open his robe and pulls out Ting-Ting. Astrid stared at Ethan, her jaw falling open and her eyes wide. Ethan throws the blade down, and it hovers inches above the ground. Stepping on it, he shoots up into the air at high speed. Wendy wanted to say something, but he was gone in a flash.
Below Ethan, he could see what looked like an area where the delivery vehicles would be parked. It had a roof but no walls. He flew down, landing near the wall of the building. Placing Ting-Ting back in his robe, he floated forward.
The door stood ajar, and he entered, not wanting to delay the inevitable confrontation. There was a straw man on a rope with a pully moving down the centre of the nursery. It was a trap he should have known.
A knife pierced his leg, embedding deep; he pulled at it gently. The blade did not move.
"You just do not want to die, do you? This time, I will take my time." Jeremy's voice echoed through the nursery.
"Alas, Ethan, he is using speakers to confuse you," Sophia warned.
Ethan limped to a tall bush and hid behind it. He could not see Jeremy and did not want to risk putting Lilly in danger.
"Alas, why kill her? The others, I understand, but why Lark."
A dagger missed him by inches.
"Alas, if any man touched my women, I would kill them. But she was not your woman."
Four knives came from different areas of the nursery. One penetrating Ethan in his right shoulder, he grunted as he kneeled lower.
"She spurned my love but took all those other men to her bed. They stole her from me. If they never existed, she would only see me."
Ethan floated above the ground deeper inside the nursery. Knifes targeted his previous position.
"Alas, why did you not just kill the men? You would have her all to yourself."
"I am a professional, and that would have made me suspect number one. These men you mention."
"Alas, behind you," Sophia screamed.
A dagger missed his throat by inches.
"They had taken her repeatedly. Her lust could not be sated."
A sound across from Ethan drew his attention.
"If I cannot have her for myself, no one would have her."
Suddenly, a step sounded behind Ethan. He twisted to his right as Jeremy thrust a dagger at his throat. The dagger lodged in his injured shoulder. Jeremy pulled, but the dagger was stuck.
Ethan grabbed his head and twisted.
Thompson rushed through the door, wand in hand glowing red.
"Why is Jeremy's head facing his ass while lying on his stomach? That is creepy."
"Alas, Thompson, I suspect this dagger had poison on the blade."
Thompson grabs Ethan's arm as he crumples to the floor, losing consciousness.
***********
One month had passed since Jeremy was dealt with. Winter had set in. Snow covered the land, and minus-zero temperatures kept people inside their homes. Only one place was full of laughter and the aroma of food and spiced wine.
Five women and a small catkin girl sat at their usual table drinking and eating, laughing at the silly high elf as she did stupid stuff. The women stopped laughing, staring at each other in silence. A figure opened the door, snow covering the floor from the icy wind, and he bent down to enter the inn.
"Alas, who wants to go first to choose a class?"