4. First Trial: Magna Forest

After our first week at the academy—which was mainly focused on the introduction to what our future here at school would look like—we will be getting us prepped up and ready this week for our first test: Capture the flag in Magna forest.

The teams had been decided quickly because of each class’s eagerness. Ours will be the third one to set out to Magna forest on Wednesday the earliest. There won’t be more than one class in the forest at once, but a test can take longer than a day, hence why it’s still uncertain when exactly we’ll be taking part.

For today however, after the morning classes, we’re free to do whatever we like. With at least a Tuesday to spare, we’ve got a day and a half to polish our strength, magic, strategy or whatever we think we might need.

Team 6, under great influence of Odin, has decided to take this Monday off to rest and leave strategizing and whatnot for tomorrow. If I were solely at the helm, we would’ve started last week…

Well, either way, it did give me yet another opportunity to head to the library. I’ve only been there twice, both times on the third floor, so that sets up the perfect chance to explore another floor today.

After ascending the stairs, with the intention of going to the fourth floor, I got tired midway and settled on exploring the second floor today.

The instant I walked through the library’s doors, I noticed that the interior differed not one bit from the third floor’s one. Only the content of the shelves isn’t the same—I suppose the view from the windows is a tad bit different as well.

While browsing through the shelves, I felt an awkward sense of presence… that feeling one gets when someone is staring at them.

I turned around, scanned the room and caught some eyes behind glasses staring through a shelf.
I walked towards the other side to greet the person who those eyes belonged to.

“Oh, it’s you, Leith. What a rare occasion, meeting you on this floor.” Her eyes were locked to mine, just as they were the last two times.

“Yeah, I’m still exploring the campus. What about you, Aurora?”

She put the four books clasped in her arms on an empty spot on the shelves, then picked the one on top off and showed it off. “I was looking for this book, titled ‘Ferdiad: the Second’ It’s an historical novel that takes place in the regnal era of King Ferdiad II. The first second-born son to be crowned king in Twynne’s history.”

That Ferdiad II is the late father of our current king Ferdiad III.

“Oh…” That sounds like something I’d pick up out of curiosity. “Let me know if it’s any good, then I’ll add it to my list.”

She smiled, “Sure! It’s 247 pages long, so at my normal reading pace, given I read the minimum amount of pages I’ve set as a daily target per book, which is 53, then I’ll be done with it on Friday at around noon.”

“…No need to rush or anything, just read it whenever you like.”

“Oh, I won’t rush it or anything! If I could I would be reading all day,” she giggled.

I found myself smiling at those words… “Yeah, I guess I would be reading a whole lot more if it weren’t for the upcoming test.”

“Oh, a test?” She lifted two of the three books up, put them aside and showed me the one on the bottom. “I just found a book on study tips that you could borrow before I do. I have no test any time soon after all.”

“That’s kind of you, but that’s not the kind of test I meant, we’re getting dropped in a forest in a ‘capture the flag’ style contest.”

“Capture the flag…?” She tilted her head, her eyes eagerly awaiting an explanation—at least that’s what the glistening of them made me think.

“Let’s sit down, I’ll explain it.”

The two of us sat down in the couches positioned exactly the same on the other end of the ceiling. With her books placed in her lap and both her hands adjusting her glasses, she said, “All right, I’m all ears.”

“Okay…”

I told her about how our class got divided into six teams, the tacticians with the role of team captains and my team members.

“…And basically, we’ll be setting up camp in Magna forest. Each team will be assigned a colour that will match their flag. The goal is to find out where other teams are, steal their flag and take it to your camp without getting caught.”

“Woah! So what exactly does getting caught mean? Is it like tag?”

“Not exactly… we’re allowed to use magic and weapons to take each other out if they refuse to surrender.”

Her eyes widened. “So… So… So people could die during your test?”

“Well, no… you just have to surrender. We’ll also be protected by the goddess Nerva’s blessing, keeping us from getting harmed to a certain degree. It’s the same spell granted when two people battle it out in an arena, to ensure neither of them actually die.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Either way, you’d be a fool unworthy of a Royal Guard title if you would continue fighting after Nerva’s blessing broke.”

“I see,” she thoughtfully nodded. “One with overbearing pride has no place here is what you’re saying, right?”

I nodded. “Sacrificing your life is the noblest thing one could do, but that’s only when we’re talking about real life scenarios. I suppose this test is more focussed on strategizing, putting theoretical situations into practice and working as a team.”

“Mmhmm, I get it.” She placed her fist near the bottom of her chin and started muttering words I couldn’t hear.

“Um… Aurora?”

She placed the books next to her, stood up and then clenched the books in her arms again. “I have to go now, but it was a great pleasure to talk to you. Until we meet again.” Her eyes seemed more bubbly than they had ever done before.

“Uh, yeah, sure.”

That was abrupt…

Right after she left, I decided to cut my library exploration short and head out as well. Upon opening the door she walked out of, I didn’t see her in the hallway. So even she breaks the rules and runs through the hallways when she’s excited huh…

Once in my room, I did little other than talking to Odin.

“—And that’s why I think he didn’t do anything wrong. It was all with the intention of doing everything right for his people.”

“…You’re wicked!” I retorted. “He killed the entire ant colony because they stole a single drop of honey!”

We were discussing the children’s book titled “Ladybug Knight and King Honeybee”. For some reason somewhere along the way, it got really heated.

“That honey was precious to him! It was the last bit of honey his father ever made! Don’t think lightly of it!”

“Fair, but it was no more than a single drop that wouldn’t even be visible to our human eyes! And the rest of the ants were innocent!”

Dohman, who was mostly silently observing, butted in, “Um, sh-shouldn’t we take this moment to discuss strategies for our test… m-maybe…”

“Shut it, Dohman, this is urgent business!” Odin yelled out.

I fully agreed with Dohman, but I couldn’t let Odin act on his right to have stupid opinions.
“King Honeybee is not some misunderstood good-guy, he’s purposefully written evil, so that children learn that when you mistreat others, you won’t have an happy ending!”

“Tsk,” he clicked his tongue, probably the seventh time in as many minutes. “Argh! Forget it already!” His anger faded away. “Let’s talk about how cool Ladybug knight is!” He said with a dumb grin on his face.

Now that the discussion is no longer as heated, I didn’t feel like talking about a children’s book anymore. “Nah, Dohman is right. We need to focus on tomorrow.”

Even when all three of us agreed to place our thoughts on the challenge ahead, no real progress was made… at all.

* * *

The next morning I was up early as always. Ever since I was little, I practiced magic as soon as I got out of bed. Never have I been able to actually use any spells… but I won’t lose hope just yet!
Like most people in the world, I lack the magic stamina necessary to perform any kind of spell. Although that fact alone would be reason enough for any idiot like me to give up on it, believing in miracles is what keeps my dream alive. You never know when the goddess of luck blows a breeze in your direction.

On the grounds near the entrance of the campus, I stood steadily with my eyes shut tight. I felt my concentration and confidence rising with each draw of breath.

Then I yelled, “Ignis!” as I stretched my hand out in front of me… with no success yet again.
Maybe fire magic isn’t my strongest suit?

“Aqua!” This spell lets you control water from the palm of your hands… I wouldn’t know how that feels since it doesn’t work.

I tried spell after spell with no success. I’ve lost count of how many mornings I’ve practiced, but putting it in a different perspective: the mornings I didn’t practice are countable on my two hands.
Switching back to fire spells, I continued my streak of failing over and over again.

The start of the first class was slowly nearing… wait, I don’t have any classes today…

Just as I realised I could’ve slept in a little and postponed my morning practice, I decided to stay optimistic and use this extra time created by my forgetfulness to get some extra practice in.

A while after resuming, the school gates opened. I saw the hooded girl who sits next to me in class walk through. I guess she did sleep in, since school would’ve started a while ago by now.

“Good morning, uh…” Instinctively, I wanted to add her name after the greeting, but since I don’t know hers, I drew a blank. Though I guess it doesn’t matter, since she never says anything back after all.

To my surprise however, she returned the greeting with a slight nod. She also halted her stride.

Should I keep this conversation going?

“So, um…”

I did it again!

“What should I call her?” I unintentionally blurted that out to her, instead of keeping those thoughts to myself.

She didn’t budge an inch, left the silence lingering for a while and then simply shrugged.

“The heck,” I chuckled, “So you don’t know either, huh?”

Her hood waved from side to side; she was shaking her head.

“…This’ll be difficult. Are you perhaps mute?”

She lifted her hands in front of her face, the sleeves of her robe falling down to her elbows as she crossed her index fingers over one another, forming an X.

“That’s a no, huh…” I assumed she hid her identity for a reason, hence why she disguises her face and leaves her name blank as “Name”. “Then, should I come up with something to call you?”
She gave me a thumbs up with both of her hands.

“Alright… how about buddy?”

She rested her finger on her lips as she gave it some thought before shaking her head.

“Pal?”

She shook her head again, and continued doing so as I went down the list of my expansive friend-vocabulary.

“Companion, mate, sidekick, chum, comrade—”

Only when I said, “—partner,” did she stop shaking her head and planted her fist on the top of her other hand’s palm.

“Partner, huh. As in partners in crime, yeah that does sound pretty cool!”

She nodded in agreement. The kinda gloomy feeling I got from her mysterious character vanished completely. The mysterious aspect doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon, but at least it doesn’t feel as intimidating as before.

“Now that you’re here Partner, care to help me a little? I’m practicing magic, you see… But I can’t really cast fire spells, so could you show me how you do it?” I assumed nearly everyone enrolled at our school could do a basic fire spell or two, I hoped she wouldn’t be an exception like I am.

She whispered the spell so softly that I could hardly tell if she said it or that I was simply imagining it, but levitating on the top of her palm was a beautifully refined looking flame dancing in the air.

“Woah! It’s beautiful!” I placed my hands over it to feel the heat.

She retreated her hand and blew the flame out. I thought that was the end of that, until she spun around, stretched her arm out, “Hmph!” and a large, yet equally refined looking, flame burst out of her hand.

“That was amazing! I didn’t know you possessed such refined magic!”

She looked away, twirled with her fingers and circled her boot around on the ground.
“Alright, I’ll give it a try now…”

I did the same spin, stretched my arm out and yelled, “Ignis!” with full belief I could make a refined flame burst out of my hand, of course no such thing happened—

—but a tiny flame appeared atop my middle finger.

“Hot-hot-hot!” I vigorously shook my hand, blew on my middle finger, then continued shaking it again.

“Did you see that just now! That was the first time I did a fire spell! Thank you so much, Partner!” I held both my hands out for a double high-five… she didn’t seem to get it, so I awkwardly retreated one hand, scratching the back of my neck with it, right as she gave me a double high-five on my single hand lingering in the air.

“We make a good team, don’t we!” I smiled.

* * *

Our team of five sat around a round table outside on the school grounds.

“I think we should get to know our opposition, whaddya say?” Mianne proposed.

“Sounds good to me, but uh… how?” Odin questioningly looked at me, instead of Mianne who proposed the idea in the first place.

“I could use my invisible-cloak to eavesdrop on the others.”

“Oh! I could use my Gungnir to threaten other teams into sharing their strats!”

“I believe both of those are crimes…”

“Then what do you propose, Leith-dono?”

“Well, how about…” I let my words linger a bit, since I didn’t have a clue either. Right as my silence was lingering a tad bit too long, I saw Aurora in the distance running out the door of the main building in our direction. “…Asking for help.”

“Hm?”

She hurried over to our table, puffed for breath, tried to say “Leith,” but she had to draw a deep breath once more before she could speak.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her.

She placed the sheets of paper she was holding down on our table and said, “Yesterday, I gathered information about the students in your class. I have also found the results of class one’s test.”
She spread all the paperwork she was holding neatly on the table in separate stacks. Six stacks with our class’s information. One stack was presumably the test of class one she had just mentioned. The other sheets of paper however, not a clue.

“Woah! All these letters are making me dizzy!” Mianne said, her head twirled in tiny circles. “Leith-dono, introduce her already.”

“Right, everyone, this is Aurora. She’s in the administrative department.”

I introduced the members of our team to her in turn. She politely bowed and greeted them after each name I mentioned.

As the others jumped up and started reading through the information, I tried talking to Aurora.
“Why would you go out of your way to do all of this? You’re far too kind…” I felt a little guilty for the amount of effort she must’ve put into this.

“Oh, do not worry about me. I had nothing else to do, really. I am glad to be of use, especially since this test is for marks, right? This is of utmost importance to you and your friends.”

That hardly explains why she’d go through all of this…

I recalled how she abruptly left the library yesterday, this must’ve been what was on her mind. Not letting her efforts go to waste, I also picked up a sheet and read through it.

“Oh, that is the result from yesterday. As you can see…” she slid her finger from the top of the page down to somewhere in the middle, “…right here; your tactician, Iontas Rune, placed fourth. Outplacing her rank by two happens to be quite the feat. I went ahead and checked the rest of the records from previous years and usually, team six is the first team eliminated. I hope these statistics can aid you and your team with a little bit of faith in the abilities of your tactician.”

Fourth, huh…

“It does help, thank you. For all of this.” I read through the rest of the document and noticed the first placing team. “So Cian won, huh…”

“Yup. Three of the most promising students were on his team, but even without them, it is still Cian we are talking about. The first place is a near guarantee.” She paused for a little bit. “Oh, but I am sure that you guys will be able to make miracles happen.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, we need more than a miracle…”

* * *

Early, just before six o’clock in the morning, Odin and I were waiting on the others in the hallway before we’d head down to the school grounds. There, our entire class would gather. I’ve heard we’d be given further instructions about today and we’d also get some time to talk to our tactician.
With my eyes closed, I took some deep breaths and then turned my head towards Odin. He kept shooting glances from one side of the hallway to the other. Every now and then he’d scratch the side of his face. “Say, Leith, are you sure we had to be up this early?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Calm down, the rest will be here soon,” I composedly said as if I wasn’t losing my mind in equal measure.

We simultaneously let out a sigh, which summoned Dohman next door.

“G-good morning!”

“Good morning!” Odin yelled back. “You’re finally here! Let’s get going already!”

“Oh… Sh-shouldn’t we wait… on the others?” He twirled his index fingers around each other.

“Obviously,” I replied. “Odin here is just nervous.”

He casted his eyes to the floor, “Me, too.”

“See!” Odin yelled too loud again. “It’s completely normal to be nervous, you’re just way too calm!”

Huh… am I hiding it that well?

“Those girls sure know how to test our patience… At this point we might as well go track ‘em down!”

Just as he suggested that, both girls appeared at the opposite ends of the hallway. Mianne likely came from her own room whilst the hooded partner in crime walked up the stairs only to have to descend them again in a bit.

“Goooood morning~!”

That is the glee and greeting of a person who has not a single drop of nervousness running through her body.

“All so quiet, all so tired… Are you even excited about today?” She asked after our lack of response.
Odin shook his head. “Just a little anxious about what’s to come y’know… that’s completely normal!” he refuted as if someone had claimed the opposite.

During the fuss we were creating, Dohamn’s door opened again. This time our classmate Dexster walked out. Two prodigies in one room, I thought to myself. Aurora had told us about him yesterday, he’s in contention of being our class’s strongest student. The only one creating room for debate is Emyline. Both of those are in the same team, Team 2.

I greeted him with a plain, “Good morning.”

He slightly raised his head, making his eyes appear from underneath his bangs, only to lower his head again and keep walking on.

I don’t think my facial expression hid how rude I thought he was. Though Mianne rightfully commented, “Don’t put on such a face, Leith-dono. That’s exactly how I felt when all of you stared at me in silence!”

“Right, right. My bad. Let’s get going already.”

Before we walked out of the last doors leading to the main grounds, Odin stood still and spread his arms out wide. Before I could ask him if something’s wrong, he drew a breath so deep that it nearly left the rest of us without air to breathe. He threw his torso forward and simultaneously let out the breath as he clapped his hands together far in front of him.

“The heck?” Mianne aired out her thoughts.

His eyes lacked the unease from earlier, he stood up straight and even his voice displayed confidence as he calmy said, “Let’s go.” whilst he walked through us to push open the two doors at once.

We were left bewildered, throwing glances back and forth between each other before we followed his lead.

Our entire class was already present on the schoolgrounds. Mr. Magister, our teacher, took note of us immediately.

“I see, everyone is here.”

He rubbed in his hands and seemed to be rambling some words to himself. The sun hadn’t fully risen yet, but as soon as he focused his eyes onto his own hands, it felt as if the sky kept turning greyer and greyer. Upon softly clapping in his hands three times, he reverted his gaze back to us.
“Tacticians,” he snapped in his fingers and in an utmost dramatic fashion, smoke enveloped the school grounds. Once it started to evaporate, six shadows were visible. Each of them, obviously, a tactician.

The first tactician that jumped in my eyes wasn’t the brilliant icon Cian that most would be staring in awe at—it was Rune. The moment I laid my eyes on hers, she waved at me with both her hands. I audibly gulped and averted my gaze to the ground. The next thing I felt after the heat of my cheeks blushing was Odin’s hand teasingly ruffling through my hair.

“I will kill you if you don’t retreat your hand.”

His easy-going goofball-grin annoyed me even more than his teasing. How had he calmed down so much already, I wondered.

“Everyone, all eyes and ears on me. I will go over the instructions one last time.” He raised his arm high in the air, pointing his index finger to the sun touched sky. “Firstly, in fifteen minutes we will be making our way to the Magna forest. Each team will be setting up camp there. In your camp you will have basic survival kits, also filled with food and water, at your disposal. Furthermore, each camp will have a coloured flag planted into the ground. This colour will correspond with your uniform’s colour that will be given by your team’s tactician.”

He handed each tactician a big brown drawstring bag.

“Alright, next up,” he held up both index fingers to the sky, “the test itself. As you know, your ultimate goal is to be the final team standing, meaning that each team has lost its flag—or all their members—except yours. Now, if all teams were to idly sit at their camp, no one could ever lose nor win.”

One of those eerie grins appeared on his face again.

“That’s why we’ve made up… let’s call them sub missions. Your first sub mission will be gathering three insects: a snail, a worm and—” he locked his thumbs together and flapped his hands in the air, “—a butterfly~.”

He shook his hands and continued. “All sub missions will require a certain objective to be acquired and of course this has to be proven. The way you do so is by sending someone to the centre of the forest. If you paid attention in class, you remember that the camps are set up in a circle. The centre of that circle is also a circular terrain marked by torchlight, this zone is the safe-zone; you can’t attack people in the safe-zone.”

“When the heck did he mention that…” Odin cluelessly noted.

“The rest of the sub missions are to be discovered in the safe-zone. You’ll be told the next one once the current one is completed.”

He scratched the side of his cheek. “I think I’m forgetting some things… anyway, practical ramble: you capture flags by planting them next to yours, the moment your flag is captured, the team that did so will shoot out a flare notifying the other teams that you guys are out.”

He raised one finger, “You can’t capture flags when yours isn’t planted in your camp.” He raised another, “When yours is captured, your team isn’t out until its planted in an enemy camp.” He raised a third finger, “In a scenario where your flag is stolen, but you manage to take it back before it’s planted, you have to return the flag to base; you’re not allowed to simply run around with your flag.”

Well, that makes sense, otherwise it’d turn into hide and seek pretty quick.

“That was all about the flags, next up: your role. At the moment of arrival, each student will be blessed by Nerva. This is so that you won’t actually die in combat, because, yes, you guys will be fighting as if your life depends on it.”

I looked away from the teacher and saw Odin’s steadfast gaze accompanied by a confident smile. I should take a page out of his book for once and try to relax… my heart has been on overdrive since waking up.

“You’re defeated in battle once the blessing breaks, though you’re only officially eliminated once you verbally surrender. When you’re defeated, take off the cape that comes with your uniform and return to the safe-zone. The last thing you need to know is the role of the tacticians, but I’ll leave it up to them to tell you. That’s all.”

Rune was waving at me again as soon as our teacher’s speech finished. How embarrassing…
“Team 1, please step forward.”

The members of team 1 stood grouped together in the crowd the same way we were and walked out as a single unit. Once in front of the teacher, he introduced their tactician.

“This is Cian,” he gestured to him and then to the other side of the school grounds, telling them to get moving. He introduced each tactician until there was only a single one left.

“And at long last, team 6, please step forward.”

I looked to my left at Odin and Dohman, one carrying a steadfast gaze as he boldly took a step forward, the other one holding his head down with his eyes shut tight; we let out a sigh at the same time. To my right, Mianne’s smile oozed confidence, further exposing my inability to stay composed.

When I faced forward, my eyes met Rune’s again, destroying the little bit of composure I had left.
“This is Rune. She’s the youngest tactician of the bunch and therefore also the least experienced, but fret not, she wouldn’t be here today had she not earned her spot in this roster of tacticians. Best of luck.”

With a smile from ear to ear—one that’s the polar opposite from our teacher’s eerie one—she greeted us. “Hi everyone! As mister Magister has just told you, my name is Rune and I’ll be in your care as your team’s tactician.”

As our teacher stretched out his arm to an empty spot on the school grounds, we made our way there as we performed the greeting formalities.

“Nice to meet’cha, Tactician Rune! My name’s Mianne.”

“Odin Wilderheart here,” he said before whispering “The twelfth,” underneath his breath.

Rune smiled, “Nice to meet you!”

“I’m… uh… uh…”

“That’s Dohamn.” Odin helped him out.

“Nice to meet you, too, Dohman. And what’s your name?” Rune spun around to the girl in the hood trailing a step or three behind us. After a bit of silence, she turned her gaze to Odin, presumably hoping he’d help her out again, but he remained silent.

“Disclosed information,” I said in a tone colder than I had intended.

“Hmmm… and who might you be?” she asked all giddy.

“Shouldn’t you be telling us about your role as a tactician?”

She leaned her weight over my shoulder with one arm and used the other to ruffle through my hair. She slightly towers above me like Odin does; she’s as annoying as him as well.

“Er… You know each other?” Mianne asked.

“We sure do! He’s my little brother!”

…That’s barely true.

“Woah! Now that you mention it, I sorta see the resemblance,” she noted, though it was clear as day that she was lying through her teeth.

Rune’s golden-blonde hair looks nothing like my brown hair, nor do our eye colours match. Even our facial features look nothing alike. Truly the only thing we have in common is what’s inside our heads; we both have a similar aptitude for strategizing.

“Anyway, it’s about time I tell you all what my role as a tactician entails, don’t you think? I’m the one in charge of our gameplan—along with your input of course. However, I’m not allowed to actively take part in combat. I can’t attack students, nor can I use magic to defend myself against attacks.”

“Woah… So we gotta protect you.”

She nodded. “Essentially, yes.”

“I see. Anything else?” I asked.

“I’ll tell you about the process of setting up camp. First everyone heads to the safe-zone.” She put six fingers up. “The lowest scoring tactician has to choose their camp first, meaning that every other team knows exactly where we are. My previous team ended as the sixth team, meaning we have to go first.”

“Unfair…” Mianne whined.

Rune nodded. “On the upside, we use a different part of the forest every time, so on that end, we all are pretty much equally clueless about the exact terrain.” She tried to ease our worries with a smile. “Anyways, let’s not worry about any of that for now.”

* * *

We had settled in our camp, patiently waiting for the others to do so as well. As soon as we’re given the signal, the test begins.

“Don’t let your nerves swallow you whole! We can do this, team!”

“Yeah!”

After the white beam was launched high through the sky, our first challenge had at last begun.
“You two,” she pointed to the hooded girl and me, “your goal is to find a worm and a butterfly.” She turned around, “You look for a snail,” she told Dohman. “Mianne, you stay here until the three bugs are gathered; you’ll be the one bringing it to the safe-zone.”

That only leaves Odin and herself.

“The two of us are going to map out the area. I gather information, and you protect me from any threats.”

Odin stomped his foot firmly on the ground and saluted.

She clapped her hands together and asked, “‘s All clear?”

“All’s clear!” We responded.

I turned to my partner with my fist bump at the ready. “We don’t have to go too far,” I said, right as everyone else—bar Mianne—got a move on.

She tilted her head, seemingly confused, but still bumped my fist.

I crouched down on the ground and gently tapped the dirt with all of my fingers. “Worms will think it’s raining, that’s when they come out of the dirt. When one of them does, all that’s left is to find a butterfly.”

“That’s pretty clever, Leith-dono.” Mianne was hanging upside down from a tree, nodding with her eyes closed and her arms crossed. All of a sudden, the tree branch snapped and she fell to the ground. It happened too quickly for both of us kneeled on the ground to react.

“Are you alright?”

She got up like it was nothing and dusted off her clothes. “Gawds… my zero gravity sure let me down.” After averting her eyes to the tree branch that fell next to her, she said, “Or rather this tree did.”

I looked at it from the top down; the tree’s bark seemed in fine condition and the crown carried flourishing foliage. So its health was in fine condition. It wasn’t an old tree either, it looked smaller and thinner than most other trees we’d walked by.

How strange, I thought.

“Say, Mianne, your Zero Gravity never fails, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

No more than a single glance at the clean cut of the branch’s end silenced out all my overthinking—

“We’re under attack.”

As the only team without a clue who’s set up camp next to us, it’s hard to grasp in how much danger we are. If this is Cian’s camp, we’re beyond screwed. Though I guess, us being team six, the odds aren’t in our favour regardless of who’s set their sight on us. But why would anyone go in for kills from the get go?

“Leith-dono, what do we do?” For some reason she was all pumped up and ready to go, rather than scared out of her mind like I was.

I gulped my anxiety down and tried to stay rational, “We must notify Odin and Rune…”

I highly doubt any team would go all out searching for six against six ‘anything goes’ type of brawls. At most one would send two of their group to catch others off guard by sniping down trees for example. This could be a trap, to make us commit to battle so our flag is less protected.

After shooting a glance at our purple piece of cloth gently dancing along with the breeze, I already knew how to handle this tactician’s teasing.

“Partner,” I valiantly stared out in the distance, “it’s showtime.”

Of course she didn’t say anything. Before I looked at her, she tugged the bottoms of my uniform whilst holding a long rainworm in her hands that slid from one side to the other.

“Woah, great! One less thing to worry about.”

She got up and stretched her worm-holding hand out towards Mianne. All fierce fire that had been burning in her eyes dimmed in the span of mere seconds.

“Not good with bugs?”

“You underestimate me, Leith-dono… I simply have to examine it first, you know? Making sure it is harmless and all,” she said as she took tiny step after step backwards, tilting her upper body backwards to the very edge of falling on her back.

“Now’s not the time to be scared, Mianne, we need to take action quick.” Speaking the words I needed to hear most, it was time to actually counter attack.

“Alright, partner, we need to scare them away with your fire, but without burning any trees. We don’t want our base to be exposed to that level after all.” I turned my eyes filled with intense heat to her. “Think you can do it?”

She nodded and slowly walked past the first couple of trees in sight.

Her hands, clasped firmly together, slowly separated as she raised them above her head in an arch two-thirds of half a circle. The spell she whispered was so softly spoken that I barely heard it above the sound of the rustling leaves. She held her arms out in the same position as a cloud of ash was taking shape above the trees.

She retreated her hands and shut her ears as she crouched down on one knee. Instinctively, Mianne and I did the same. Through the cheap blockade of sound that my hands provided, the ash cloud exploded into hundreds of smaller clouds that all exploded into smaller ones as well; each time it grew smaller in size, it made a far greater amount of noise.

Despite knowing that she wouldn’t hear me above this deafening spell, nor would she reply if she could, I still asked, “Where in the world did you learn a spell like this?”

I’ve read about this one in a book before, if my memory serves me right, it’s called ‘Black Ash’. There’s two variants of this spell, one where the initial cloud explodes into bigger clouds until the entirety of your vision is as black as ash and the other one is what she had just used.

Yesterday I had already witnessed how refined her simple fire magic looked, but that would’ve never made me think she had hard-to-master spells like these up her sleeve.

Through the trees, behind the bushes spread below them, I saw two people making a run eastward. Had my eyes been keener I could’ve identified the students and traced it back to which team they belong to, but from this distance I couldn’t even tell whether they were boys or girls.
“Guys, ‘s all well? No one hurt?” Rune hurried over to us.

Behind her followed a clueless looking Odin.

“Everything’s fine,” I reassured. “Our fire maven scared away some students with Black Ash!” The emphasis on the spell made me sound a little too enthusiastic.

I looked at her, despite my inability to see her face, she still seemed unfazed by what just happened, only pulling her hood down even more. Mianne on the other hand was nervously eyeballing every corner of the woods.

“Is something wrong?” I asked her.

She scratched the back of her head as she awkwardly smiled, “Heh-heh… the worm…” Her sentence trailed off into silence.

“The worm?”

“Gone.”

I sighed. “Gotcha.”

There was no point in blaming a bug fearing lady for losing grip and sight of our worm. It’s not like that one’s the only one calling the soil I stand on its home. Although none of that is really the problem; it’s the fact that the person appointed to carry our bugs to the safe-zone is the one who fears them the most. Maybe we should send Odin, I looked at him as I crouched down on the dirt. No, that’d diminish our base’s defence.

Turning me eyes back to Mianne, I asked, “Have you had any bad experiences with bugs?”
I wondered if perhaps some sort of childhood event caused this fear for even harmless bugs like regular worms.

“Hm? No, not any I can think of off the top of my head.” She crossed her arms. “Well actually, any type of bug encounter is a bad experience, so yes, yes, yes! Many, many bad experiences even!”
Oh, I stopped tapping the dirt as soon as I saw a worm’s head poking through. Before picking it up, a butterfly landed on the tree branch closest to her face.

As aloof as she usually is, she said, “Oh, a butterfly~” right before turning invisible, snatching it up and clasping it carefully in her hands.

“Huh?” My furrowed eyebrows showed how dumbfounded I was. “Didn’t you just say that you hate bugs?”

“Yeah?” She peeped through the gaps between her fingers to have a peek at what she had caught. “Butterflies don’t count, though… they’re super cute.”

I let out a sigh. “So you hate other bugs simply because they’re ugly?”

“Right on the button, Leith-dono!”

“Explains your Odin-adversity.”

Everyone but Odin snickered. It’s not that he looked offended either, just very confused. Right after my little dig at him, I dug up the worm and brought it over to the others.

“All that’s left is Dohman’s snail.”

“Has anyone seen him?” Rune asked.

None of us could say a word before Dohman’s voice popped up out of nowhere from behind me.
“I-I’m here… with the snail…”

Instead of holding it by its shell, he let its slimy body crawl over the palm of his hand. Bah. Though it makes him appear much more in touch with nature. It’s as if he and Mianne are on the opposite sides of the bug loving spectrum and then there’s me in the middle with a regular tolerance of bugs like a normal person would have.

“Good job everyone!” Rune’s smile turned into a worrisome expression as she faced Mianne. “Think you’ll be able to bring them to the safe-zone, or should we send someone else?”
Like a damsel in distress you’d read about in books, she non-verbally begged Odin to take care of things, but I intervened.

“I was thinking about sending Odin as well, but that’d leave our base too exposed. We need him around if any sort of fight were to break out.”

He leaped over to me and gave me a pat on the shoulder with an overly friendly force. As he leaned his body weight on me he said, “Aw man! Hear that everyone? I’m needed,” he smugly remarked.

“Get lost,” I said, rolling my shoulder backwards, making him lose his balance and eating dirt. “Anyway, as much as it pains me to admit it, I am the most negligible piece of this team. Therefore it’s best that I’ll be the one heading to the safe-zone.”

Rune curled the corners of her lips downward. “Don’t talk down on yourself like that. Everyone here’s of equal importance.”

I dislike this heavily; lies that is. Bar Dohman, I’m the least athletic, but unlike me, he has his healing prowess that more than likely will turn him into a vital player on this team. Mianne isn’t the best with spells, but she can turn invisible and can reach any heights effortlessly with her Zero Gravity. Odin, as much as I pretend to loathe him, is the strongest and most important member. It’s no surprise, really, that Rune wanted him by her side when exploring the nearby area.
At the sound of these thoughts, I felt the entirety of my being disassociating from this situation. This sudden wave of sadness is no more than reality kicking in. I’ve been pretending to be some big shot tactician, but without me, not much would change, right?

Before my head could fully drop to the ground, my eyes stood perplexed when I caught a bright glimpse of light in the top left corner of my vision.

A small flickering fire ball soared its way to my forehead, with enough speed and a dash of surprise, it managed to make me fall over.

I looked at the hooded girl, the one who fired it. She pointed at me and then snapped her fingers.
“Me… snap… Are you telling me to snap out of it?”

Her hood repeatedly went up and down, she was nodding.

Man, what the heck am I even doing. First I was too nervous to get a single word out, now I’m pitying myself. All for no reason, too. Even if I’m not as useful as I hoped I could be, a Leith feeling sorry for himself is far more worthless than one that believes in himself.

I shook my head in an attempt to shake off these negative thoughts, I gave my cheeks two firm slaps and, with the palm of my hand stretched out and the depth of my eyes rekindled with confidence, I said, “Alright, give me those bugs!”

* * *

The road to the safe-zone was less of a hassle than I had predicted. We had already traversed this winding path, though I thought other teams would be on the lookout for enemies to take down. Fortunately, I was wrong. The biggest threat were the tree roots sticking out of the dirt, passively attempting to make me trip.

Once in the safe-zone, I talked to our teacher. “I’ve got all the bugs.” I slightly opened the palms of my hands to create a small gap that he could see through, yet narrow enough so that the butterfly doesn’t go astray.

“Hmm, a snail, a worm and,” he did his hand-flapping again, “a butterfly. Well done. Now, for the next sub-mission; secret code.”

I wanted to appear baffled, but I had no hopes for understanding whatever he was about to say anyways, so I simply waited for him to go on and explain.

“I will tell you the first word of a sentence, you will tell another team member that word, if they can successfully tell me the secret word, I will tell them the next one. That, until all of you have been here and you’ve gathered the full secret sentence. You, as the first one here, are the one who will tell me the completed sentence.”

“I think I got it. What’s the first word?”

“The.”

I thought he’d say an actual sentence, like, “The first word is…” so I stood there staring at him for a second.

“That is the word,” he confirmed—due to my silence.

“Alright. Are there any other rules we have to take into account, or can all of us pass by in whatever order?”

He tilted his head backwards, about as far as it can go and then rocked it forward again. “Yes. Any order, as long as all of you pass by, that includes your tactician. Also, there’s a time limit. If you see your team’s colour blasted through the sky, then you’ll know you’re out of time—and therefore eliminated.”

Suddenly I wasn’t so calm anymore. “What’s the time limit?”

“The time starts… now.”

That’s all he said, and knowing him, that’s all he was going to say. I wanted to turn around and run back to our camp, but I halted my step as soon as I heard another student arriving.

“Teach! Got all the bugs.”

I hardly knew most of my classmates by name, but Emyline was an exception. Aurora told me about her yesterday as well. She’s seen as either our class’s strongest or second strongest student. Her strongest suit is her earth-based magic. Usually earth mages have a defensive advantage, but she uses her spells so offensively that she’s a menace on both fronts.

The direction she approached from is in a diagonal line with ours, meaning that there’s two teams and a safe-zone separating us, good.

With this little extra info to boot, I ran as fast as my legs allowed me to go.

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

Emyline showed off her bugs to Mr. Magister.

“Oh, a snail, a worm and,” like with Leith before, he flapped his hands again, “a butterfly.”

As he was giving her the same explanation he gave to Leith, she was distracted by another student making a run out of the safe-zone.

“Hang on, teach. Who’s that?”

Despite his hatred for being interrupted, he turned over his shoulder, looking at the student that had just left a couple of seconds ago.

“I fear I have the inability of sharing that information. Had you just been a tad bit earlier, you could’ve seen for yourself. Anyway as I was saying—”

He got interrupted again, “Huh, that’s Leith isn’t it? I’ll be back in a minute.”

Extremely offended, he still found a way to calmly say, “Why bother with Leith when I’m about to hand you a sub-mission with a time limit.”

“He’s the weakest kid in class, I’m racking up kills! See you in a second.”

She followed his path, catching sight of him pretty quickly—which is hardly surprising when comparing their running speeds.

With a little hop, she firmly planted her right foot on the ground.

“Terra—” A boulder appeared out of the ground, right in front of her. “—Kick!”

With a force extending far beyond a regular kick could ever achieve, the boulder was sent in a straight line to Leith’s head.

“Nothing personal, Leith.”