A dungeon field trip

Everyone was just as surprised as I had thought they would be. Even Seraphine herself, who must have overheard my suggestion and joined us, was shocked. This was a pairing nobody was expecting, not even the game developers.

Which makes it perfect to test the limits of fate.

Seraphine was the first to speak. "And why, exactly, would that be for the best?" She sounded more annoyed than curious.

"Lily is quite gifted but lacks combat experience. I believe she would benefit from teaming up with a skilled partner like yourself, who can teach her to make better use of her powers."

Alaric chimed in. "So? Any one of us is skilled enough to help her. I don't see why it has to be Seraphine."

"Your Highness, if I may be so blunt as to ask, but if you were to accompany her, would you not act as her knight in shining armor and protect her from any and all harm? And while that is certainly a noble goal, I don't believe it would help her grow."

Alaric was taken aback. I could tell my argument hit its mark. He couldn't deny that he'd do exactly as I said.

Kaelan nodded with approval. "I understand your reasoning. If I may offer my own assessment, it is not much different. However, I don't think the best partner for her would be the one who is the most skilled, but rather the one she can get along with the most. I am not certain if Miss Everlight and Lady Mireidyne would be a good fit to participate together in an exercise of teamwork.

"Precisely." I responded. I was never going to convince someone like Kaelan through my own arguments, I had to turn his own against him. "With the differences they have, they would not make a good team. But this is an exercise meant to help us grow, what better way for both of them to improve than by forcing them to work with someone they have difficulties getting along with?"

Kaelan hesitated, but he couldn't find a counterargument. He looked at Lily who, to my surprise, actually looked like she was starting to agree with me.

The hardest one to convince will be Seraphine. My next argument is what makes or breaks this plan.

"Very well." Seraphine said suddenly. She closed her eyes for a moment, then she sighed. "If Miss Everlight has no objections, then I will accompany her."

She... agreed? After all the time I spent coming up with arguments to convince her, she just agrees to it?

Lily suddenly seemed very unsure of this. She must have thought Seraphine would not agree to it, and now that she had the final call, she didn't know what she wanted.

It was Seraphine who ended up convincing her. "Just think about it this way, whoever you pick will be with you when you're all alone in a dark dungeon. No one else around to help you."

"Lady Mireidyne, please." Alaric injected, "you're making it sound like us noble men can't be trusted."

Lily looked at me again as if to confirm whether I really wanted her to do this, then she nodded and said: "Okay. I guess we're a team then, Lady Mireidyne."

"Call me Seraphine. We are partners after all." Seraphine said, sounding surprisingly friendly. It was obvious she wasn't really happy about this but was putting on an act for the other students. When not one else was listening, she whispered to me: "I don't know what it is you're planning, but I suppose it's my turn to play along with your schemes."

She left to talk to Lily before I had a chance to reply. I was genuinely amazed at her willingness to cooperate, until now whenever I had attempted to change the course of the game, Lily and Seraphine would always steer it back on track.

With my plan's surprising success, all that was left was to find a partner of my own. Alaric ended up teaming with Kaelan, and by now most other students had already formed pairs, so the only one left for me to pair with was...

"Oi! Draivelle! Looks like it's you and me!" said a loud voice. I looked for the source of the voice and saw a boy with wild red hair waving at me.

Axel Rozwald.

Yet another one of Lily's potential suitors. He's a hotblooded bad boy with a secret heart of gold. He tends to act on impulse and doesn't care for social rules, such as how he, as the son of a viscount, should refer to the son of a marquis.

I didn't mind pairing with him. After all the stiff formalities I had to go through with everyone else, someone like him might provide a nice change of pace.

While the students went to pair up, a professor had gone around and gave each pair a small map and a stone. Once we entered the dungeon, the stone would teleport each pair to different entry points. The entry points and map would determine what path they take through the dungeon, so that no two pairs would get in each other's way.

The stone also served as a failsafe, capable of returning the pair to safety in case of emergency. Of course, the goal was to reach the exit without having to use it.

I took the stone and Axel held the map, then we entered the dungeon together.

"Take this!" Axel roared as he charged forward, piercing a giant spider with his spear. The creature fell to the ground and vanished into a puff of smoke. The creatures within dungeons are magical constructs created by the dungeon core, they simply vanish when defeated and respawn after a while.

After the teleportation we had started out in a cave system. The cave walls were barely illuminated by glowing mushrooms, but with everybody having been trained in elemental magic, we were expected to create our own source of light.

Though I do suspect some of the weakest students might already have dropped out.

It was quickly apparent that the monsters in this part of the dungeon were no match to either of us. Axel wasn't very proficient in magic, and thus scored poorly in the assessment. But here, where he is allowed to use his weapon, it was his time to shine. The speed and strength with which he fought were far beyond that of the other students. And he was clearly enjoying every second of it.

He must be feeling frustrated. With how much Valastra Academy focuses on magic, he never gets a proper chance to use the skills he's passionate about.

I had let him take charge, leading us through the caves. He would probably be able to handle everything on his own, but I still helped out where I could. As we progressed through the dungeon, the environment changed. Eventually the glowing mushrooms grew sparse, and the damp caves gave way to an old ruin of stone and rotting wood, and the monsters we fought grew stronger as well.

These things are still no match for us, but I wonder how they expect the average student to handle them.

"So," Axel started as we cleared out a small room filled with undead creatures, "What's the deal with you and Miss Sunshine?"

I assumed he meant Lily. "Nothing. I have no interest in her whatsoever."

"For someone not interested, you two sure are together a lot. You think she's cute?"

"Not in the slightest." I tried to dismiss the topic, but Axel kept pressing.

"Ah, I get it. You don't want to be seen with a commoner, right?" he said, his voice suddenly became much more serious. "Man, you even intervened when she was about to go with Goldy-boy. Can't risk losing her to someone else, ain't it?" He was clearly aiming for a reaction, but I didn't rise to the bait. This was a tough topic though; I could hardly explain the real reason I didn't want her to end up with Alaric.

"No. That is not it at all. I just figured she and Seraphine have a lot to learn from each other. That is all."

I was about to go into the next room when I heard Axel draw his spear. I turned around and saw him pointing it at me.

"I don't believe you. I think you're hiding something. And I'm gonna find out what, the only way I know how."