Commencement

People were lining up outside near the first event’s reception, preparing to be checked and marked on the attendance sheet.

Lord Kaiser and Atsuo spent most of the time eating breakfast to ensure they weren’t competing on an empty stomach, and asking around the available staff about possible whereabouts of their uniforms.

They were assured that all uniforms were ironed and distributed this morning, but it was hard to believe. This was an important duty that influenced the Minae students’ ability to represent their academies.

Atsuo and Lord Kaiser thought of possible reasons for this situation, but decided to keep to themselves without any tangible proof.

As such, they were going into the competition in their spare clothes they received the day before.

“Next” one of the organizers grumbled.

Atsuo and Lord Kaiser walked over to the woman, handing her their identification.

Due to them not having their id from Brimor, they had to use their new one from Drezore.

“Atsuo and Kaiser from Brimor?” she asked lethargically, comparing them to the documents.

“…Where are your uniforms?” she asked confused.

“We didn’t get them back,” Lord Kaiser answered, “we were assured we’d have it back by the start of the competition, but–”

“Did you check your wardrobes?” she asked.

“No, but… the room was locked…” Lord Kaiser said with a puzzled expression on his face.

The woman stared at him blankly.

“…Can’t let the uniforms get creased,” she said, “go check. I’ll register you for now…”

“Thank you…” they said perplexed and went back to their rooms.

On their way, they ran into Rivia, Crod, and Eskasa. They quickly explained the situation and agreed to meet up somewhere right before the first event so they could all stay together.

As they climbed the steps to the seventh floor, they heard some unfamiliar voice yelling and banging on the door.

“CROLLO, OPEN THE ******* DOOR” some girl yelled, “WE’LL BE LATE.”

Atsuo knew how Crollo felt, yet the girl seemed so aggressive that he was glad Lord Kaiser was the one waking him up earlier.

They moved past her pretending to not listen, as she eyed them all the way to their rooms with her enraged expression.

They quickly entered and checked their wardrobes.

To their surprise, the uniforms were indeed there, cleaned, neatly ironed, and ready to go.

Still unable to comprehend how they got there, Lord Kaiser and Atsuo put them on and went outside.

The girl from earlier managed to somehow make her way inside Crollo’s room and yelling could be heard from within.

Atsuo and Lord Kaiser decided to mind their own business and quickly made their way down, back to the lady that had their documents.

When they arrived at the reception, a long queue has already formed, and the woman was preoccupied with other students.

They stood in line again, but she noticed them in the back and stood up, motioning them to come to the front.

“Found them?” she asked, picking up their identifications as they were walking over.

“Yes… thank you” Lord Kaiser said, as the other students stared at them menacingly for cutting in line.

“Here,” she said, handing them back their cards, “good luck.”

“Thank you!” they said simultaneously, bowing and taking their leave.

They entered the first event’s grounds which was already packed with students. They made straight for the agreed upon spot, which saved them the trouble of looking for their friends.

It was an old tree a little farther from the entrance and closer to the woodlands.

Their friends were engaged in conversation, until Atsuo and Lord Kaiser came into view.

Relief could be seen on their faces.

“You got them after all…” Rivia exhaled, “that’s great.”

“Yeah… though I still don’t understand how they managed to put it in my wardrobe…” Lord Kaiser said perturbed, “I kept the door locked all night.”

The group gave a nervous laugh, thinking about how they didn’t even question their uniforms’ presence in their rooms.

“Now that I look at them, you guys have really nice uniforms,” Eskasa said, looking at Atsuo and Lord Kaiser, “but why are they different?”

Rivia nodded along, comparing Atsuo’s white blazer with black lapels to Lord Kaiser’s black one.

“We have three different factions in Brimor, and every single one gets their own uniforms” Atsuo said, “Kaiser’s from Externus and I’m from the Fortunatus faction.”

“Hmmm…” Rivia muttered observing them.

When Atsuo glanced around, he noticed that Brimor’s uniforms looked more pristine and a cut above others as he observed the students around them. They gave even Drezore’s dark blue uniforms a run for their money.

Despite being lucky to have been admitted to Brimor, and being in the lowest faction of the three, Atsuo looked like royalty to others, sticking out like a sore thumb in his bright white blazer. As for Kaiser, his presence was also felt around the whole campus as the sole wearer of a full black uniform.

Students stared at them, some with envy while others with astonishment and curiosity.

After a sudden gong sounded across the academy grounds, everyone’s attention was drawn to something else.

It was Lodre. The first event was about to commence, and he prepared an announcement for the participants.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Lodre, the supervisor for the first event. I hope you are all doing well. I’ll give you a small run down of what to expect on the Treasure Hunt and how it’s going to work.”

There was a slight pause as students gathered around and turned to Lodre.

“Okay. First off, you’ll be working in groups of five. For the Minae faction: if your academy has two representatives, of which there are a lot, they must be on the same team. For the others: your group must entirely consist of domestic students. Requests for larger or smaller team sizes are non-negotiable. You must have five people in your group, including yourself.”

“Next, you will have the freedom of choosing where you want to start. Your group can start anywhere, and the search grounds are the surrounding Drezore woodlands. There is also a border to indicate the boundaries and help you remain within the search area.”

“What you will be looking for is the ‘Tyche Beetle’. The entirety of the woodlands are their habitat, but there are only a few of them. And when I say few, I mean there are probably under six in total. They are small, about a square inch in size, and have adapted to be pretty good hiders.”

“They’re almost always stationary, but keep in mind that they had to move to get where they are. So, keep your eyes peeled for any movements. It could be them.”

“Since there are a lot of you and so few of them, the grading will work as follows:

* 16 points per beetle, per academy, if your group works alone.

* 8 points per beetle, per academy, if you choose to work with another group.

* 1 point per beetle, per academy, if you choose to work with more than one group.”

“I forgot to say, that’s how it will work for the Minae faction. For the domestic students, since there are more of you, you will represent yourself instead of the Drezore academy. That is, the points you earn as a group will go to each of you individually, rather than Drezore as a whole.”

“Anyways, when you find one, take it in your palm and bring it back to me. Rest assured, it’s harmless and will not fly away.”

“Once, a beetle has been found others cannot target it. When you’re working with other groups, you have to report to me so that I can join you and you avoid getting cheated.”

“If you’ve chosen to work with other groups in the middle of the event, keep in mind that your previous findings will split the same way as your future findings. That is, you’ll be judged as if you were working with another group from the beginning.”

“One advice I have for all of you. Think well, before forming groups.”

With that, the competitors were given ten minutes to form groups of their choice.

Lodre’s last comment was delivered in a suspicious tone, which instantly made Atsuo and Lord Kaiser wonder about any other possible meaning behind those words.

But before they had much time to think, Lord Kaiser got swarmed by Drezore students to form groups. Female students, to be precise.

Atsuo was quick to act in an attempt to save Lord Kaiser.

“We already have a group,” Atsuo said, confidently pointing behind himself at Rivia, Crod, and Eskasa, who weren’t there.

They all stared at him confused, which made him turn around.

“Huh?” Atsuo uttered, at the sight of his missing friends.

“Who are you?!” one of the girls squealed, “No one was talking to you.”

“He’s someone you’d have to be in a group with” Lord Kaiser said, pushing them away as they saw the same embroidery on their uniforms.

“Sleeper, where did they go?” Lord Kaiser asked Atsuo about their friends, ignoring the girls.

“HEY, DON’T JUST IG–”

“I don’t know, I got distracted by you getting swarmed and didn’t see them leaving” Atsuo replied, interrupting the annoying crowd.

“Should we go find them?” Lord Kaiser asked.

“Yeah,” Atsuo replied, “the sooner the better…”

They left the crowd of Lord Kaiser fanatics behind and began searching.

Not long after, they saw the three of them near Lodre, asking some questions.

Just as they neared them, the group thanked Lodre and turned around.

“You didn’t form a group already, did you?” Atsuo asked suspiciously.

“No, we just had to confirm something” Rivia said.

“Willing to let us in on that?” Atsuo asked.

“Of course, but we have under five minutes, so I’ll be brief” she answered.

They moved to an area where they couldn’t be overheard, and Rivia started to explain.

According to her, there was more than six hundred people participating, which meant at least a hundred and twenty groups. With the fact that there are under six beetles inhabiting the woodlands in mind, the competition with other groups could prove troublesome, to say the least.

“Yeah, but we knew that already, no?” Atsuo asked.

“Yeah,” Rivia answered.

“So what did you ask Lodre?” Atsuo asked perplexed.

“I’m getting there…” Rivia sighed.

“We were asking whether it’s possible for all group members to start at different locations or if we need to stick together throughout the search” she said.

“And he said we can start wherever our heart desires” Eskasa added.

Lord Kaiser’s thought about the idea.

“That’s good news…” he said.

“How?” Atsuo asked, confused, “Aren’t we just splitting all our manpower? We’ll have like five times the competition if we all start in different areas…”

“We’re not finding anything with your luck anyways” Lord Kaiser said, “might as well send you to our enemies.”

Rivia nodded, remembering the preceding incidents.

Atsuo thought for some time, thinking about Lord Kaiser’s comment and the possibilities that could stem from the plan. He couldn’t deny that he attracted bad luck better than anyone else.

“Guess I’ll go remove our competition…” Atsuo said seriously.

The group chuckled and decided on where to best deploy Atsuo.

Seeing the most students concentrating directly behind the academy, at six o’clock, they decided to send him there.

As for the rest, Eskasa took two o’clock relative to the entrance, Rivia took four, Lord Kaiser eight, and Crod, ten.

“Before I forget, if any other group asks to work with us, reject them” Lord Kaiser said, “we are getting all 16 points.”

They nodded, wished each other good luck, and walked to their assigned positions.