A long driveway stretched across an expansive garden. The green of flora a stark contrast to the city just outside its gates. Statues of sophisticated men and women lined the either sides of a cobblestone road.
A sophisticated blonde in white led a scruffy young man along the path while a halo of fresh plucked eyes circled him.
The mansion at the end was white with red bricks, a sturdy and old fashioned design, yet an item of wealth, privy to only the richest.
"Welcome, this is the Morgan Family Manner, let's be quick about this as I don't want my sister to see such a dashing young man." He joked and raised his hand.
A window flew open as two sharp objects twirled in the air, sharply descending.
"I won't keep you too long, so here's your payment, my good man." Subtly, Vatz directed the eyes into the window and held the twin blades forward.
One was dark, its form although short, was heavy. It was straight and sharp beyond measure. Despite this, the centre was an almost primal chiseled stone, along both faces were symbols, carved deep into the blade: Runes.
I flipped it in my hand and slashed forward, feeling it cut through the air and stopping it with a crisp snap. A bead of sweat rolled down my cheek as I let out a breath.
"It felt as though a small amount of my mana was sucked into it." I spoke calmly.
"Yes, it's attributed with the rot attribute, so I see how that can be. Make sure you don't use it after your mana has depleted." Vatz gave a pointer before showcasing the other blade.
The blade was less of a blade and more a sharpened bone. Its colour was a bone yellow, as if it had been stained and cleaned a thousand times. This one was light, its middle had been hollowed out and only the edges remained. Though even the edges could barely be called that.
I felt surprised when I looked at it through the stars, only to feel it humming, or perhaps it's more apt to call it growling.
I almost flinched at the overbearing pressure, it felt as though something far stronger than I was behind it… something that caused me to hold my breath and feel dread.
"Is it… not satisfactory? In truth, I've been trying to get rid of it for quite some time. It's a Lich blade, made from a corpse."
I snapped out of it and shook my head.
"No, I'll take it off your hands, do you have sheaths for the two?" Vatz secretly sighed before swiping down.
Two sheaths came out of a nearby window and slid themselves onto my two new weapons.
"...Thank you." I nodded.
"It's nothing, I'll see you when I next need help with something, Uso."
"Yes, please hire me as often as you need, Vatz."
I bowed and walked away.
Once I was out of hearing distance Vatz turned away with a smile.
"...I think I like the kid. He'll do good with my lord's weapon." His eyes turned slitted and golden, like that of a dragon.
…
My bones ache… they ache so much.
Those were the thoughts of Minori Nii, who was laying on his desk at Cube, watching the instructor with tired eyes while sipping on rubbing alcohol in a water bottle.
That's right, on the day of the Troll hunt, Minori over burned himself and now has a mild fever which he's making up for by drinking more poison.
Thankfully he had told the instructor before class began that it was medicine.
Rachel looked worried, and for many reasons at that. One of them being the contents of this lesson.
"Exams are next week, starting with the written exams. The combat exams will be on the following week. But remember what I've always said, written exams are just as important as combat exams."
The professor spoke in a purposely grave tone. Just like he said, the midterm exams would begin in just a week.
Minori wasn't worried, not in the slightest. He would even go out on a limb to say his rank would definitely increase to the top ten if he played his cards right.
In the duels cadets would combat against each other in a one on one battle. In monster wars, cadets fought illusionary monsters summoned by magicians rather than mana puppets.
Cadets did not show mercy in duels to maximize the points they gained, and summoned monsters in the monster wars were on a completely different league than mana puppets. In a way, they were no different than 'real' monsters.
In other words, Minori should absolutely dominate the midterms based on experience alone…
Unless he's still hung over and teetering on 1 vitality in a week's time.
Minori looked at the seat beside him and looked at the notebook Rachel had.
It's almost completely filled out…
He then looked at Hajins notebook and gained a bewildered expression.
He's actually writing something? Oh, nope he's messing with whoever looks at it.
Minori poked Rachel.
"Look. He's actually writing something." She jumped slightly and leaned in to get a better look.
She began copying down whatever he wrote.
[Yoo Kim Ok Jun Ja Hyuk]
Rachel did the same and wrote a bunch of question marks next to it.
Minori almost broke his poker face the moment she did so.
[19680529.19660912]
His lungs expanded against his ribs as Rachel looked utterly baffled by this behavior.
Minori took one last look and saw 'iputsmid'.
Rachel wrote it all down.
Even as class ended, she looked utterly baffled.
"...What does it mean… hey Minori-ssi… why are you looking at me like that?"
Hysterical laughter rang deep inside Minori's skull as he looked at Rachel blankly.
"No reason… No reason at all."
'Gasp-! Minori-ssi it isn't good to withhold information from your friends! You must be able to make heads or tails of this!'
Were the thoughts of Rachel as she pouted cutely.
Meanwhile on the other side of the class, people crowded around Chae Nayuns table.
She had only just returned from the hospital and had many things to support her walk.
Seeing how the class had become noisy, Minori decided to end the conversation prematurely and leave the room.
The midterms are coming up so I've got to work a little harder to climb the ranks. I think I already know who I'll choose for the duels.
The moment he left the classroom he was greeted by a strange sight.
Kim Hajin, who he hasn't talked to since the bench incident, staring at the back of Yoo Yeonha.
Minori contemplated how to react but before he could, Kim Hajin stared back.
"..."
"..."
"Do you-"
"It's not what it looks like."
"..."
"..."
The two boys ended up separating without a word.
…
Yoo Ah-Ra had called me to meet for lunch.
The place she picked was a closed off little cafe with nice pastries.
Thankfully there isn't any cannibalism.
We sat by the window, watching the streets of Seoul. It would've been a nice scene if the crazy woman hadn't opened her mouth.
"Haaa, the midterms are coming up for you youngsters huh? Ahhh how I yearn to have picked your golden batch to infiltrate, the meat would have been so tender." She whined loudly, not caring for anyone to hear.
"...Right." I shifted away slightly.
This place is probably owned by Djinns too… It's like an infestation.
"So, I'm sure you have something to tell me about the midterms. Out with it." Minori, who had been patiently tolerating his perverted boss, was too tired to act polite.
Her expressions tell me nothing as per usual, she seems to be a little on edge.
"Hahaha, always so quick to catch on!"
Despite her quip the woman was obviously holding back a bit.
"...Alright, I'll be quick. The internals of the Evil Society are a complete mess right now, we have two warring factions which hail from completely different devils. We have the Lilith faction which wants to play a more opportunistic role and the Lucifer faction which wants to play as a bunch of bumbling fanatics."
She slammed the desk with her fist, the wood darkened and rotted a moment later.
"Fuuu… just a couple days ago we got a commission from someone named Lancaster. They told us to give them information on the least guarded areas in Cube."
Lancaster… the name doesn't ring a bell. Why would he want to know Cube's least guarded areas?
"Long story short, the Lucifer faction did and now we gave away one of our monopolies to some filthy brit."
The woman grit her teeth as she seethed.
"What has this got to do with me?" I looked at her dully.
The woman smiled sinisterly.
"You are going to be our wildcard. Nobody except the Carrion Squad and I know of your alliance with us. Which means you're the perfect thing to screw over the Lucifer faction!"
"And how am I supposed to do that?"
Her grin split her face horizontally, her tongue slithering out of her mouth creepily.
My hand rested on Lich's handle. Omen having been left at home due to its eye catching appearance.
"Well, my little mole. We caught wind that they'd be going after little miss Rachel. All you have to do is stay by her side during Monster wars and kill anyone who comes after her."
I remained silent for a moment and took a sip of coffee.
"...That's a lot to put on someone who you don't fully trust. It's been over a month and I've yet to make any progress in climbing up the ranks. I haven't even directly contacted another Djinn, other than the Carrion fools."
"Hah, don't be ridiculous! You know we can't let you in if you aren't a Djinn-"
I tapped the table while glaring her in the eyes.
I think I'm tired of following her orders. I'll just kill her, cover up my traces now that I'm a hundred percent sure no one else knows about me.
I've gotten a lot stronger just by fighting Kim Suho over and over again. I learnt how to properly kill by visiting the field.
My face was calm but my eyes were not, as per her previous tip, my mana was covered up as well.
Feeling as though something was off, the Djinn turned her head as if to listen to something.
If I want to do this I'll have to take her by surprise, and I'll have to do it in one hit.
"-Fine. I can see the look in your eye. Aren't you eager today! After the mission, I'll bring you to the boss, but you have to pretend to be a Djinn."
She raised her hands in surrender, my instincts told me she was being pressured by something else.
Lilith? But why would they…? No, I'll keep an open mind and accept this as a boon.
"That's fine by me." I took my hand off Lich's handle and placed it on my cup.
"..."
"..."
Now that I think about it, maybe I should give her a break, she did give me that glove… am I a little impatient?
I also know I couldn't take her word for it when she said no one else knew…why did I think like that?