Declan Cawane ground his teeth and balled his fists. Notwithstanding how arrogantly the trio had interacted with him and rebutted his authority, their actions undermined his authority and weakened his position.

He hated them right now. Even if they did not agree to follow him, common reason stated that they should at least leave him a stage to step down.

As a noble, he had status, honor, and prestige. Why did they go against him? He loathed them.

“You are not above me. Just because you know a few tricks with magic, do you believe they will save you? Nothing has changed; we will still take your proofs.

“Charge with me, brothers! Whoever gets injured will earn a bigger share.”

The noble youth hollered at his team and tried to raise morale. As a leader, he had to stand above them and establish his authority.

As soon as he finished speaking, a scalding hot mass of fire flashed by his raised finger and smashed a tree as thick as his wrist into pieces, scattering splinters of wood at the group of followers.

Palpable silence permeated the air. No one followed the order to charge, and someone swallowed loudly. If it were not for the new fireball appearing in the air, the whole situation would portray an exquisite painting of the woods.

Although neither side acted and only glared at each other, each passing moment was a hard slap to Declan’s face. His followers refused to comply with his orders and nervously wavered from side to side.

 

“What are you all looking at? Charge already; rough them up! I don’t care. Today, we will rob them and show them what consequences follow when someone offends the group under me, Declan Cawane!

“Do it already!”

With a red face and a high-pitched voice, the young noble shoved the members of his group who stood next to him, ordering them again and again. Nonetheless, he did not act personally and feared to take the lead. Hence, an odd stalemate developed. Nisha and Unico had a reluctant smirk on their faces; they did not fear these greenhorns who had never fought a real battle before anyway. Lisa was torn between amusement and nervousness; although her friends gave her significant assurance, this was her first time to face such a great number of opponents, and fellow students to boot. If it were not for her brave group, she would have tried to run away long ago.

On the other hand, her heart fluttered madly. So many boys confronted them and tried to extort them, yet they all feared a little group composed of two girls and a single young man. To her, a commoner studying at a prestigious academy, it was the stuff straight out of a heroic story. The heroes facing a group of evildoers came to her mind. The thought of being a hero from those stories made Lisa grasp her sword and shield tighter, determined to fight it out with these villains.

“I wonder, what are you talking about? We declined your offer, and now you talk about robbing us. I don’t think that’s the proper way to handle this hunting trip.

“How about this, you let us go, and we won’t mention this incident in front of the teachers. If they catch you while you force unwilling students into your group and take their proofs of subjugation, what kind of impression will they receive?”

Unico twirled the dagger in his hand and leisurely chatted with Declan’s mob. Compared to their tense faces and twitching hands, he was exceptionally relaxed. With the elf and his own fighting prowess, they had nothing to fear.

 

“What do you know? Do you think the teachers will even care? There are no rules against taking payment for helping others through the assignment. Do you think that this is the first time this has happened?”

Although he had not managed to entice his followers into an attack, Declan needed to keep a superior position in the face of a small group opposing him. Leaking a small amount of information did not matter.

“I heard from my cousin that the instructors won’t care as long as no one gets hurt… too much. As long as we are stronger, we can beat you into submission, and no one will care. Being stronger means that we are worth more than weaklings who have been robbed. Furthermore, this method has been passed down from previous students; it has been tested, and none of the teachers ever handed out punishment for recruiting others in this way. You think you are strong? We can easily take care of you. Two hands cannot block four; we will beat you in the end. And for every hit you inflict on my brothers, we will give back ten when you are on the ground.”

The longer he talked, the more courage flew into his body. He pointed at the three standing before him and raised his voice.

Declan had not lied to them either. Countless members of his family had used the same strategy to shirk responsibility when faced with the instructors. The teachers really had no alternative either. Even if they intervened or attempted to compensate the wronged party, it only gave the elites more benefits to press out of the losers. Over time, a careful balance developed. As long as the nobles did not cross the bottom line, no one cared about small clashes or stolen resources. After all, the real world did not forgive either; hence they treated it as an early life lesson.

 

Hence Declan talked himself into a frenzy and built an imposing momentum, which, in turn, gave his followers the courage to go through fire and water for him. The only thing they wanted was some small benefits from sticking to a highly ranked noble.

Nisha hardly cared about their thoughts. Ever since the dragon had been born in a forest among monsters and beasts, she had to fend for herself and her three siblings. In the Wilderness, it meant learning how to use every advantage and leverage influence - mainly whoever could bite the hardest in this case - to ensure their survival.

“Do you think you can throw your weight around currently? Maybe in the past it would have been possible but in the present...?

“There are tons of foreign noble children attending the academy, many of them with greater influence backing their families than yours. So what if you are a future Count?”

To tell the truth, Nisha had no idea whether the instructors had changed their stance on the hunting trip regulations at all, yet the greatest change compared to previous turns was the increased number of classes and students coming from abroad. Humans feared the unknown, and the elf used that to her advantage.

“I can tell you; this is not about points or arguments anymore. The crown will not allow anything to happen in their academy. I bet there is a teacher around, monitoring us, at this very moment.”

Compared to Declan, who swelled with pride and had to talk himself into having courage, the dragon naturally radiated charisma. Like a bright ray of sunshine, no one could cover it up, and her simple counter-arguments gnawed at the hearts of his followers. The mob eyed Unico; his purple skin intentionally displayed by the young man, reminding them of his origin. Declan gnashed his teeth, yet he had no avenue to confirm whether or not this foreigner had a background more formidable than his own.

Nonetheless, he did not wish to give up and shouted back.

“Who knows if what you claim is correct? I had never heard any rules when we left the carriages and started hunting. You are just making up a bunch of nonsense to talk your way out of following us and paying your fee. We can just beat you up first and apologize later if we were wrong. What is going to happen anyway? Will we lose face from beating a few losers? No. Let’s get them, brothers!”

 

The young noble rallied his group again, eager to get the whole affair done. In the beginning, he had been in high spirits and was happy enough to smile in his sleep after forming his own faction and setting out for a group hunt. However, the first soft target they picked on drove him to the point where he almost failed to get angry anymore. The sooner the whole situation concluded, the better for him.

Those behind him also had reached a conclusion in their mind during the debate. Although it was shameful to pick on a small trio of two girls and a weak looking boy, they had cast their lot in with the young lord Declan, and they stood on his side decisively. Just in case punishment followed, they had the chance to share it with each other, quite likely reducing it to a paltry amount. It was their story against another; maybe the could get out of the affair without any repercussions at all.

Seeing the other side grip their weapons more tightly and shape up to get in an attacking formation, Nisha confirmed the signal she received from Little Lia through their bond earlier with her [Spirit Sight]. Smirking, she laughed out loud. The twinkling of silver bells filled the air, enchanting every male and female present, spellbound with the pure melody.

“So, we have a visitor. Can I invite your esteemed presence to adjudicate and solve the dispute fairly for us?”

At first, her words made no sense at all, lacking context and a receiver. The elf had turned to the side between both groups and earnestly made a small bow.

The fairly inexperienced tracker on Declan’s side suddenly swore a curse underneath his voice and hurriedly reported to the boss.

“This is bad. A presence approaches from over there. If I’m not wrong, it might be an instructor.”

Apparently whatever one tried the hardest to avoid came to pass. The whole group felt an emotional upheaval as their readied weapons once again dropped.

“Damn.”

Even Declan cursed, which was a rare occurrence for a noble.

Lisa and Unico, on the other hand, were really surprised. From their interactions with the elf so far, they had never seen her act deferentially like this in advance. When they practiced in the yard, she advanced bravely and struck decisively with whatever weapon she had on hand.

Greeting an unknown instructor like this did not fit with her character.

 

“So we were protected by a powerful warrior. Teacher, please come and take a look. It seems like there was a misunderstanding here. Record everything clearly so there won’t be any accusations later on.”

Like the flip of a coin, the young noble changed his tune and pretended to welcome the teacher earnestly as well. As a future heir, he knew how much a first impression counted, especially when it came to human relationships. If he had to let go of the trio, maybe he could forge a relationship with a teacher in return, granting him a small profit at least.

Declan straightened his back and stood forward to welcome the visitor. He had to seize the initiative from the elven girl once and for all.

Lisa looked alarmed and wanted to speak up. Now there was an instructor to observe, and she had nothing to fear from retaliation. Before she had a chance, Nisha grabbed her wrist and did the same to Unico. One of the remaining fireballs under the dragon’s control smashed into a tree next to them, producing a loud bang.

The opposite gang flinched collectively at the sudden action, and a few of them gave the trio angry glares while the rest still had no clue about the sound’s origin and stared at the rustling bushes.

“Let’s go; we have to run.”

Nisha whispered to her friends and dragged them towards more dense undergrowth, ready to break into a sprint at any time.

Declan had a premonition that something was about to happen and swept a fierce glare over the trio, who had distanced themselves. Before he had the chance to instruct his group, a giant body covered in brown and red with a hint of gold in its coat broke through the trees and fiercely eyed the dumbfounded students.

Instead of a teacher, Nisha learned from Accalia that another monster roamed the area and had the wolf make some noise to attract it in the general direction of her master. With the fireball, the dragon enraged the [Bronze Fleece Sheep] and plotted for Declan’s group to take the fall while they made their getaway.

 

She had estimated the emerging monster to be around the second rank, and Nisha was not disappointed. What no one had foreseen was the fact that this exemplar had almost transcended its current stage and approached an evolution as its strength had already reached the late second aura rank, explaining the golden specks covering the sheep.

Little Lia learned at quite a rapid pace, even for a beast. Yet, they simply had not been partners long enough for the wolf to know many expressions in the monster language. Therefore, the elf only expected a [Bronze Fleece Sheep] after hearing ‘second rank monster’ from Little Lia.

At least she learned much faster than Nisha’s other beast, the floating armor occupying a spot in her treasure grove inside the [Inner Space], which had yet to utter a single word. The elf knew it learned from her every time she looked through the grove to add or remove items or gold.

They had no more time to waste as the monster locked onto the group of youth and bellowed loudly, charging head-on to trample them.