May 22 of the Septian Year 1204
With the passage of time the Lino flowers that had painted Trista in welcome of spring had faded away, replaced with greener fields and refreshing breezes, in that time Class VII combat training and academic studies were becoming more and more demanding and the difficulty continued to increase thanks to the added training in the old schoolhouse and the addition from specialist classes that were befitting of a military academy. That's how Class VII found themselves with Instructor Neithardt teaching them Military Science, on how the discovery of Orbal energy and technology changed and influenced the everyday lives of the people and the way wars were fought.
"The Orbal Revolution brought about numerous changes but there are four that I believe should be categorised as the most important ones. The first would be the new weaponry, the second is the associated mechanisation of the military with new thanks and armoured cars which led to new divisions that now dominate the battlefields. The third would be the invention of airships that added a whole new dimension in wars that until that point were solely fought on land, the sky which in turn opened countless new possibilities in terms of strategy and finally the fourth one, the creation of a new practical science that may have been the biggest and most important change. Nowadays we cannot imagine life without it and would essentially be crippled if we didn't have it…" Stopping there Neithardt looked at his attentive students before settling his sights on a certain someone, "Rean Schwarzer, can you tell the class what that new science was?"
Taking a moment to try to think of the answer, he closed his eyes, "(Something only possible thanks to the Orbal Revolution which revolutionised warfare…. That could have only be...) The creation of Orbal Communications, Sir." Nodding at his student Neithardt added another question, "Correct and can you imagine why that particular change is regarded as the most important one?"
"Thanks to it information could be passed on faster and with more accuracy and that led to better and more precise deployment of the troops on the battlefield." Satisfied with that answer, the instructor supplement Reans answer with more details and the countermeasure that were crated against it. Heaving a relieved sigh, (Seems like I was able to answer correctly.) Sensing someone looking at him, Rean glanced to his left and found Alisa glancing at him too with a small smile, she whispered, "Well done. This is high-level stuff, I thought that I knew the basics, but I didn't study it in such detail." Inclining his head slightly in support, he whispered back while his eyes didn't leave the talking instructor, "Yeah, we have to work hard so that we can keep up with the workload, but something tells me that this is just the beginning and the more we learn the more work we get." Sharing a last look with each other where they could see a bit of trepidation in each other's eyes toward that possibility, the two concentrated once again on their class.
The next class was divided by gender and to make the most of that period both Class VII and Class I were combined, the girls had Nutritional Science (cooking in simpler words) and the boys had a brand-new class called Orbal Computer where they learned how to work with the newest model. Rean was working on one with Gaius and Elliot standing next to him, finished typing the last steps of their assigned work, "It feels like I am finally getting the hang of using the orbal computer." That sentiment was shared by Gaius, "Likewise. At the beginning I was completely lost but now it is slowly beginning to make sense to me, nonetheless I still have a lot to learn until I am confident in using one."
Elliot gave them both a nod, "Well, it is cutting edge technology here in Erebonia, so I think that most people are going to be confused about it until they get used to one. Though there are always exception, like Machias and Jusis they both picked it up rather quick." Glancing at the green haired boy two seats in front of him, Rean added his own remark, "Yeah, but academics are their thing and I have no doubt that it will be the same for Alisa and Emma too and I am pretty sure that Machias had already been interested in computers for a while." Glancing at the remaining member of Class VII, who was sitting at the other end of the room, Elliot gave his own opinion to the matter, "Jusis seems to pick up things pretty quickly too, even if he isn't interested in them at all, which probably adds insult to injury for Machias who seems to study pretty hard so that he can stay ahead of the curriculum."
"I bet, the first week after the field study they seemed to have calmed down somewhat but unfortunately that peace didn't last long." Looking up from the computer, Rean looked at Gaius who seemed to share the same opinion, "You already knew what happened during that time but I am not sure that I and the girls would have been able to keep these two apart if Instructor Sara hadn't appeared." Releasing a sigh, Elliot couldn't help but mutter, "We really need to do something about these two, but I have no idea what." Rean started to shut down his computer, "I don't either, but we have to do something, this situation has gone on long enough, though I am probably the last person who can comment on this given my own situation with Machias."
"He still hasn't forgiven you?! I thought Alisa could hold a grudge, but Machias isn't that far behind her level."
"He isn't wrong, Elliot. I did lie to him."
"You didn't exactly lie to him, Rean but Elliot is right with him taking this to another level, at least the situation between you two isn't like the one with Jusis, thank the winds for that small blessing." The image that Gaius managed to evoke caused Elliot to chuckle as he imagined the scene where Rean replaced Jusis in one of their arguments, "Sorry, but I have a hard time imagining Rean here quarrelling with someone like they do." That caused Gaius to chuckle as he gave his silent agreement to that before Rean could say anything else they were interrupted by an arrogant sounding voice, "Rean Schwarzer."
Looking towards the source of the voice the trio saw a blond boy from Class I approaching them, "I don't believe someone like me has to introduce themselves, but proper etiquette dictates that a noble such as I, help the less educated. My full name is Patrick T. Hyarms, I am sure that I don't need to say more than this." One could practically see the arrogance oozing out of him by the way he looked down at the three students of Class VII. Without the noble noticing him, Gaius nudge Elliot with his elbow, "Is this Hyarms family prestigious?" A flustered Elliot could only whisper back, "As prestigious as they come. The Hyarms family is one of the Four Great Houses, though they are slightly lower ranked than the Albareas."
Try as Elliot may to speak as low as possible with Patrick not even two arge away from him, he was still heard, the beginning caused Patrick to inflate even more with pride but with the end he was glaring at poor Elliot. Deciding that it was beneath him to acknowledge that remark, he ignored the musician and looked straight at Rean, "Hmph, I didn't come here to talk with commoners or foreigners. Rejoice Rean Schwarzer because I am about to bless you with gladsome tidings, I am generously extending an invitation to the accommodations of the third floor in the Student Union Building. I am sure you are aware what an enormous opportunity this is, your father may just be a simple baron and your position as a noble at the moment may be somewhat shaky, nonetheless you are still a noble on paper and as such should conduct as one and not spend time with the riffraff."
The way he was presenting himself, one would believe he was Aidios herself giving her blessings to the helpless mortals which caused Rean to sweat drop at this display, "Well… (How am I going to turn down this politely?)" Luckily, he was spared from answering by an unexpected source, "Sigh, this hardly strikes me as the best place to recruit new members to the noble's salon." Surprised at that voice Patrick, turned around to come face to face with Jusis Albareas approaching him, "I wasn't aware that the third son of the Hyarms counted playing factions as one of his hobbies and should you have wished for company in the salon shouldn't you have come to me first?"
Now it was Patrick turn to be flustered, "You? You have been invited countless times and you chose simply not to come! Despite there being no shortage of second years who would love to have your company." There was a bit of jealousy at the end of that sentence, but either Jusis didn't notice or simply didn't care, "I don't have any interest in mingling with people who wish to simply curry favour with their betters." Realising that the conversations wasn't going anywhere now that the Albareas scion was present, Patrick decided to leave but not without taking another shot at Rean, "Suit yourself then. Schwarzer as someone in your position I would think long and hard about the connections you should make and what side to take."
Not even bothering with a goodbye, the young Hyarms left, which prompted Elliot to release the breath that was holding in and Gaius to comment on their follow student, "He is certainly not shy with others?" Shaking his head, Rean concurred with him, "No, he is not. Thanks for stepping in Jusis, I didn't know how to turn him down without offending him."
"I wasn't trying to help you out, I just couldn't stand his behaviour besides I did cause you some trouble during the last field study, so…. No, that is all, I will continue my studies for now. "Elliot tilted his head in confusion until it clicked, "The field study? Is he referring to…." Looking at Rean who was sporting the same look as him, he saw him nod, "Yeah, I think he is referring to our little run-in with the provincial army and their attempt towards us. I think that he feels responsible for his family's actions."
"I see, he must have been looking for a way to apologise to the both of you and perhaps to Laura and Alisa too." While surprised at Gaius and Reans analyse of their noble classmate, Elliot was also glad, "Huh…. I guess he has a nice side after all." Sensing someone looking at him, Rean glanced at the direction of Machias just in time to see him turning his head away from them, (Seems like he was watching us just now, I hope I will be able to patch things up with him, maybe I should try talking with him after classes are done for today.)
Finally, the last class of the day arrived where Sara was looking at her students, "Good work today guys, it looks like you are all adapting well to your new classes. Tomorrow is a free day, so you can take it easy, you have earned it after all, just don't forget that next Wednesday is your next practical exam and compared to the last one and our current combat class this one will be much harder, so I hope that you all are ready for it." Some groans could be heard as they imagined what kind of exam their instructor was planning for them, Emma raised her hand in the air, "Will you be announcing the details of our next field study afterwards too?"
The question caused her to smirk as she answered, "Of course, you will be heading out next weekend and I am sure that you can't wait for it! Ah, I nearly forgot but your midterms are coming up next month so don't forget to plan for some study time, after you come back." Another round of groans could be heard at the mention of the word midterms but compared to before it was much smaller, just two person (Fie and Elliot) while the rest was divided between nonchalant and eagerness (Machias), "Now, now there isn't a need to react like that the academic side of the school is as important as the military side, so I want you all to study for this midterms because if you don't I am going to get an earful from Vice Principal Heinrich. Again, so please for the love of Aidios do not mess this up, I beg you!"
Putting her hands together as if she was praying, Sara looked at them with big puppy like eyes, already used to her behaviour the class didn't even blink an eye at that statement or that look, slowly Alisa raised her hand, "If there is something we don't understand can we come to you for help?" Reverting to her usual state so fast that one had to wonder if they had imagined what just had happened, "Not if you care about the answer being right, I am a Combat Instructor after all, books smarts are well beyond me. Anyway, that will be all for today, Machias if you would please?" The Vice president stood up and did his duty, "Certainly, Instructor. All rise… and bow."
Done with this the students started to leave the classroom, after saying goodbye to his friends Rean stared to get up when he noticed that Machias was still in the room, deciding that this was a good opportunity Rean approached him, "Hey Machias I heard that you joined the chess club, are you planning to go practice or are you planning to go study in the library?" For a moment no one spoke while Machias finished packing his books, done with it he stood up with his back facing Rean, "Since when is it any business of yours, how I spent my time?" The spite in his tone caused Rean to raise his eyebrow in surprise, "Oh, no I was just curious and….."
He didn't finish his sentence since as Machias chose that moment to turn around to look at him with eyes full scorn, slumping his shoulders Rean could just scratch the back of his head awkwardly "I take it that you are still upset with me because I didn't tell the truth from the start?" Again, there was silence between the two boys, until it was broken by Machias, "Not especially. It is my fault for being deceived so easily."
"I wasn't trying to deceive you, I just wasn't….."
"Save it!" Not even bothering to continue listening to Rean, Machias took his schoolbag and started to leave the room, "The bottom line is that you lied to me, and I can't bring myself to trust people who lie to me. That is all there is to it." Done speaking he opened the door and left, leaving Rean alone in the room, outside he could hear some noises that sounded like two people colliding with each other. (Sigh, I wasn't expecting that he would take it this bad but then again it isn't like he is wrong, in the end I did indeed deceive him.)
His thoughts were interrupted by Emma opening the door and entering the room, she seemed to have expected that he was still here, giving him a small smile, she made her way to her desk where she took a book, a glance at the title made Rean do a double take since it read 'Intermediate Math for Dummies'. Noticing his expression she explained why, "It is not for me, I promised Fie that I would help her with math. I stumbled upon this book at Keynes and thought that it would be of some use for her. Which reminds me that I promised her that we would meet soon at the cafeteria for a study session. I will see you later, Rean."
"Take care and good luck with Fie."
Bowing to him, Emma made her way to the door but stopped midway, "You know, I don't think that Machias hates you or anything, if you can make him understand how you feel, I am sure that the two of you can patch things up. It is just getting through him that might be tough." Surprised at the sudden advice, Rean couldn't speak for a heartbeat but thanked her after he got over his surprise, "Yeah, thank you Emma. Given the time you two spent together it makes sense that you are the one who knows him the best in our class."
That made Emma blush slightly and start stuttering, "We don't spend that much time together….. I mean we do but that is because… We aren't…. We only know each other for a month or so… it is too sudden for something like that…Why do you think that…." Stunned at the sudden sight, he tried to calm her down, "I meant you both are the class president and vice president, so it makes sense that you spent a lot of time together. What did you think I meant?" The first part managed to stop her stuttering while the next part managed to raise her blush to a more distinct red, (Rean in matters on romance that concern himself or how other view him in that regard is denser than even the hardest Zemurian Ore but when it comes to others, he is just bit (or a lot depending on the person) slower than most), a few awkward moments later he realised what Emma had misinterpreted.
"Oh, oh! Sorry Emma, I didn't mean it like that, and I wasn't trying to imply anything by it." Another embarrassing moment later the two parted way while Rean still apologising and Emma trying to assure him that she wasn't offended or anything. Outside of the classroom Rean watched Emma leave in the direction of the cafeteria, (There I go again putting my foot in my mouth, I really need to start watching how I speak. Then again maybe I am just reading too much into it, but she didn't really seem that opposed to the idea. Whoa there Schwarzer slow down, everybody that you know said that you wouldn't recognise romance even if it hit you in the face. Maybe I should wander around the campus for a bit to clear my head or I could go to the rooftop to enjoy the scenery for a bit before going back to the dormitory to study and train.)
Steeping into the rooftop, Rean saw the sky being bathed in the light of the setting sun and enjoyed the breeze that passed by, after closing the door he made his way towards the railing just to find that he apparently wasn't the only one who had the idea to relax under the sky while enjoying the view of Trista. Alisa was already there and from what he could see of her, she was so deep in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed his presence, so he approached her slowly without making any noise, from experience he already knew that sneaking up on her wasn't a good idea, but he just couldn't stop himself from doing it.
So after leaving enough distance between the two of them so that she couldn't hit him, the last time he had been that close, she nearly got him with a surprisingly sharp left, it was only thanks to his reflexes that he had avoided her fist, making sure of the distance he called out to her, "Hey Alisa, is everything alright?" Like he had thought she jumped up a bit and barely suppressed a cry before whirling around to face him, as soon she saw who had startled her she scowled at him while at the same time putting her hands on her hips, "Rean, we already talked about this, don't sneak up on me. Geez, you are nearly as bad as Sharon back home."
Holding his hands up, he approached her with a barely suppressed grin, "Sorry, sorry. I just couldn't resist." Crossing her arms, Alisa turned away from him and just looked at the view of Trista, he reached the railing and glanced sideways just to see her pouting a bit, "Come on, Alisa I'm sorry. There is just something cute about the way you react towards this, that makes resisting surprising you a bit hard."
That at least managed to break her out of pouting though her cheeks were now red, "CUTE?! What is cute about scaring someone?!" After spending nearly, a month studying and training together, Alisa thought that she had gained some immunity against his thoughtless and honest remarks but the heat that she was feeling on her cheeks told her another story, she decided to switch topics before he could say something else, "So, are you prepared for tomorrow? This will be our first 'official' investigation of the old schoolhouse though I can't imagine what else we can find there, during our training sessions we combed the entire building without missing a spot and we found nothing new."
As soon Alisa mentioned the old schoolhouse, Rean got a serious look on his face, "Well, his Majesty did say that we must do an investigation on each free day, so perhaps he knows something that we don't? Anyway, you don't have to come with me tomorrow if you have something better to do. Don't you have lacrosse practice in the morning, wouldn't it be better if took a break for the rest of the day to rest?" Already having expected this from him, Alisa just pinned him down with a stern look before he could come up with other arguments on why she should take it easy tomorrow, "Yeah and you are going to run around town helping with requests as the gopher of the student council, maybe you should take the rest of the day off since I am sure that your work is going to be more tiring then whatever practice the second years can throw at me."
"First, as a helper of the council and second did you forget that it was specifically requested that I must be a part of every 'official' investigation we do?" Rolling her eyes at his answer and on the way, he expressed the word helper, she just snorted, "Again, it is the same thing and second how could I forget that part that no one can explain on why it has to be you and not let's say Elliot or Gaius who were there at the same time as you, when the changes were discovered? (And there is it again, that guarded look that he gets every time someone asks why it must be him.)"
It was just a small change and not noticeable to almost everyone but to Alisa who had years of experience on reading the faces of her ever-stern faced mother and ever smiling maid for clues on their feelings, the change was visible, "Besides Laura, Elliot and Gaius insisted that they come along, so just accept the fact that we are coming with you." Not really having expected to be able to change her mind, this discussion has already happened several times, Rean just shrugged his shoulders and concentrated on watching the setting sun, seeing that he had accepted his fate, she just gave a smirk and did the same. For a time, no one said a word, just basking in the view, until Rean remembered that the girl next to him had been in deep thoughts when he had arrived on the roof, "By the way, you haven't answered my question?" He specified as he saw the questioning look on her face, "I asked you, is everything alright?"
Realisation dawned on her, as she understood, "Everything is fine, I was just thinking about some things." Sensing that she didn't want to talk about it, he dropped the matter and the silence returned but was broken once again but by Alisa this time, "Any reason, why you are up here instead of wandering around the campus looking for people to help like usual?" Ignoring the last part of the question, he just shrugged his shoulders, "No real reason, just wanted to clear my head a bit by looking at the setting sun." A side glance he saw the unspoken question in her eyes, so he just sighed, "I tried to speak again to Machias, so that I can ask for his forgiveness, but I was shoot down pretty quickly, so here I am."
A frown appeared on Alisa's face, (I know that I am the last person who should complain about our vice-president holding a grudge, given that it took two weeks for me to clear the air with Rean but this is getting ridiculous, besides Rean has already tried several times to apologise and it is not like it was really that a big a deal, I mean that day was the first time they met and if he wasn't comfortable sharing something personal with Machias then, that is his right and he did try to amend the situation later on.) Thinking of ways to help Rean out, she soon came up with an idea, "How about someone tries to speak to Machias about you on your behalf?" Taking a moment or two to ponder over that suggestion, Rean shook his head at the end, "I think that it would be better if this was resolved without getting someone else involved besides this situation is my fault, so I don't why I should bother another person with this."
"Maybe because this situation isn't entirely your fault? Sure, you didn't tell him the truth about your social status but given that was the first time the two of you met, I don't see what the big deal is, it isn't like you are obligated to share everything with a person you just meet. Besides I am sure that you didn't want other people to judge you just because of who your family is…." The rest of sentence was lost as Alisa looked back at Trista with sadness in her eyes, sensing the changes in her and realising what she was implying, Rean racked his brain to come up with something that would take the sadness from her.
Coming up empty with ideas, he opened his mouth to at least distract her, "Honestly, at that time I just didn't want to attract any attention to myself when I applied to Thors, I was already expecting to put on the white uniform that would declare that I was a noble and the trouble that would follow with it but after hearing that Class VII was a completely new class with a mix of people with different social statues and to be honest I was a bit apprehensive after seeing on how Machias reacted to Jusis, I thought to myself that if wasn`t related to something serious, that I would keep it to myself."
A glance to his side, showed that Alisa was looking at him with curiosity instead of the sadness, internally smiling that he had managed to distract her from whatever she was thinking about, he continued "It wasn't my intention to lie about it but at the same time I didn't think that it was that important, besides I always believed that a person's character was more important her family name." For a moment no one said anything, until a giggle was heard from Alisa, "That was really subtle of you Schwarzer." Feigning nonchalant, Rean turned to face her while wearing a serious look though the corners of his mouth were itching slowly upwards, "Whatever do you mean, Miss R?"
That brought a grin on her face that was soon replaced with hesitation, "I know that already I asked you this once but aren't you curious at all?" Shrugging his shoulder at her, he answered with "My answer from back then hasn`t changed, Alisa." Remembering their time together in Roer where she had asked the same question brought back her smile, "It is just, you had the courage to come clean with me and the others while I still hid my last name." Giving her a smile in return, he tried to alleviate her worries, "There isn't any need for you to feel pressured to do the same thing I did. When you are ready to share it with me and the rest of the class, then it will because you want to and not because you feel that you need to, besides given who the members of Class VII are, I rather doubt it will cause much of a stir unless your full name is Alisa Reise Arnor." Rean had the pleasure of seeing Alisa's mouth fall open in shock for a minute before she closed it and hit him in his arm, "Very funny Rean but no I don´t have any blood connection with the royal family… thank you."
The last part was spoken so softly that if he hadn´t been standing so close to her, he wouldn't have heard it. Besides giving her a smile, he didn't react to it, "I think it is time that we get going, want to go back to the dorms together or do you want to stay here a bit longer?" Deciding that she had already spent enough time mopping around, she gave him a nod and together made their way down, on the way down they found Fie sleeping on one of the couches, remembering what Emma had told him, Rean woke her up and after stretching for a bit, she thanked them for reminding her of the appointment she had and made her way to the windows.
Alisa and Rean watched her confused on where she was going but before they could point out that the stairs were in the other direction, Fie opened the window and stepped onto the rail, with a simple "Later." she jumped down. Reacting on instinct Rean rushed forward while Alisa remained rooted in shock for a moment before following him, just for the two of them to see the silver haired girl making her way yawning to the Student Union building where Emma was probably waiting for her. Sharing a look with each other where Alisa decided to explain to Fie later why jumping out of windows wasn't a good idea while Rean was thinking that despite her appearance the youngest member of the class was highly trained if she can jump from the first floor without a scratch and walk away without a care.
Despite the scare both got they continued with their walk back to the dormitory, outside the school gate Rean heard a voice calling them, turning around he found that it was that grey haired second year he had met last month, "I'm not going to play along with your scams this time, so you may well be on your way." Chuckling at the mistrusting look he was getting the older student, just shrugged it off "I wasn't trying to hustle you before, honestly. I just forgot to give it back and if you want your fifty mira I will give it back but before that did you figure out my trick from last time? Besides don't you want to look cool before your date here and what better way than to figure out a magic trick and getting money to spend on her."
The way he was grinning at them both made Alisa blush but before she could protest, Rean beat her to it, "She is my classmate, and we are just going back to our dorm nothing more than that." Seeing an opportunity to tease his underclassmen made his grin grow wider, "That isn't what it looked like, a young man and girl talking so intimately together while walking into the setting sun made quite a nice picture, I would even wager that if the Photography Club was here that they would have taken dozens of pictures and given the best one the title of 'Date of the setting sun'."
Getting the feeling that the more he denied it, the worse it would get and noticing the way Alisa was narrowing her eyes, Rean thought it was better to change the subject quickly, luckily after his last meeting with the upperclassman he thought on how that trick of his had worked, "You used the bag at your feet. You flipped the coin high and then made a show of catching it with your hands while letting the coin fall into the bag, am I right?" The senior was clearly surprised that his trick had been seen through, though he regained his calm almost instantly, "Not bad, I wasn't expecting you to figure it out so quickly and like I said here is your fifty mira back…" Rummaging through his pockets the second year showed an ashamed expression when he realised that he didn't have enough money with him, "Sorry, I just have ten mira with me." Rolling his eyes at the display, Rean waved it off, "It's fine. Just forget it, it was just fifty mira, you can give to me later."
"Really? Now, that is mighty generous of yo.." before he could finish his sentence he was interrupted by husky sounding voice, "Hey! Stop trying to leech off innocent first years, you louse!" As soon he heard that voice the banana wearing second year grumbled, "Oh, crap! It's the she-devil." Looking at the source of the voice, Rean saw a leather clad girl approaching them while pushing what looked like a heavy bike though the closer, she came the more Rean realise that it seemed like it was powered by orbal energy and that he had seen this girl near the Engineer Building before.
The girl took in the group of boys in front of her before she noticed the girl standing there, making a show of looking up and down at her in a way that made Reans hands twitch for his tachi and to shield Alisa from her gaze, the magenta haired girl purred "Why if it isn't my lovely Alisa, how has your day been, ma chérie?" Already used to the behaviour from the girl before Alisa didn't even bat an eye before answering, "Hello Angelica, my day has been alright and how has yours been? Before you ask the answer is no, I am not going with you somewhere, I already have plans for the rest of the day and tomorrow."
Already having expected the answer, the older girl gave the archer just a coy smile before turning her head to the other first year, "You must be Rean, I heard a lot of amazing things about you from Towa and George, especially what you did during your field study last month." Surprised at the sudden turn the conversation had made, Rean took a moment before answering, "I wasn't expecting that you know my name, I don't think I did anything worthy of such attention. Guess I should still official introduce myself, though. I am Rean Schwarzer of Class VII. It is nice to meet you."
"Same. My name is Angelica Rogner, glad I could finally make your acquaintance." Finished with her introduction, Angelica gave Rean a wink before turning her attention back to Alisa, "Ma chérie, surely you can take time of your busy schedule for little old me, besides it has been far too long since we could spend time together, like we did in the old days." This led to a discussion that so well-oiled that it was clear as day that it wasn't the first time the two girls did this which left Rean enough time to realise who the other girl was (Rogner? As in Marquis Rogner, head of one of the four great houses?! No way, this girl is from that house and given the familiarity between Alisa and her that must mean that they either are great friends or…) At that moment an idea sprang to Reans mind, (Alisa R, Alisa Rogner? Could it be?)
After finishing the conversation with Alisa, Angelica turned her attention back to the swordsman, just to find the usual dumbfounded expression she always got when she introduced herself, "Same reaction every time. Yeah, my father is Marquis Rogner, and I am his unworthy daughter, but I since like dressing like this he doesn't want anything do with me." Looking again at her, he could say that her while her choice of clothes wasn't normal attire for a noble daughter, he didn't think that it was that bad to the point where a father would ignore his daughter, (Me and dad would have a heart attack though if Elise showed up wearing something like this!)
Pushing that image away he looked at his senior again just in time to hear what the other senior present was saying, "I think it is more like how you behave than what you wear, that is giving the Marquis grey hairs but putting your questionable actions to the side for a moment. Where are you going with that bike at this hour?" Narrowing her eyes at him for a moment, Angelica shrugged his comment off, "Well, George finally finished his modification of the engine, so I am taking it out for a test drive to the capital and back."
While these two were speaking Alisa had approached the bike and was now looking at it curiously, noticing this Angelica made her offer once again, "What is the matter, ma chérie? Has my bike got you curious? Then how about you join me in ride to the capital where we can go for a nice date and since tomorrow is a free day we don't have to return tonight and can spend the night together in a nice suite at a hotel." This made Rean sweat drop of what she was implying and the itch to draw his tachi was back again though the other two didn't have much a reaction as if they were already used to her behaviour, "No thank you. I heard about this bike from George, and I have to say that he didn't do it justice, if you guys can work out the kinks, then I am certain that this will be introduced as a means of transportation rather sooner than later."
Not caring a bit for the rejection, Angelica swung her leg over the machine and started getting ready to drive of, having already heard what to expect Alisa started backing away from it to Rean's side, curiosity getting the better of him, Rean lowered his head and whispered in her ear, "Not to be rude or anything but are you related to her in any way like cousins or so?" Swirling her head so fast that she nearly collided with his face, she was ready to answer his ridiculous question with a sharp retort if she hadn't realised how close their faces were from her action, blushing up to her ears she took two steps back, "I am not related in any way with Angelica what even gave you that idea?" After suppressing the blush, she gave the black-haired boy a sharp glare for that question, putting his hands up like he was going to surrender he tried to explain his reasonings, "Sorry, it was just an idea that I got from hearing you two talk and remembering how the captain back in Roer reacted after seeing you."
"That still doesn`t explain how you got the expression that we could be related?" The two seniors were watching the conversation play out between the two with great interest though seeing Rean getting glared made Angelica throw him an out, "Well Alisa, he probably thought that since we were acting so familiar with each other and since you are using that R. for your last name, that your full name would be Alisa Rogner." This caused the archer to look at her in surprise while Angelica had a look on her face that suggest that she had savoured something delicious, "I have to admit, Alisa Rogner does have a nice ring to it, what do you say, ma chérie should we make that an reality or I don't mind the other way around Angelica Re…..?"
Moving quickly, Alisa blocked the rest of that name with her hand over her friend mouth, as if expecting such a reaction, Angelica quickly made her move by kissing her hand and licking it, as quickly as she put her hand there, she took it way when she felt the kiss. "Honestly Angelica, control yourself." Taking a handkerchief out her pocket she cleaned her hand, amused at her reaction turned to look at Rean, "She is telling the truth, we aren't related at and while I think that the name R is a bit too boring for her, I still would like to meet the guy who gave her that name because I own him debt of gratitude." That just confused the rest of the group, especially the banana wearing senior since he had no idea what she was talking about, "Ok slow down there Celica, since when do even feel something besides contempt for guys and why do you own him your gratitude?"
"Alisa told me here about some cute boy she met once while on a train from Heimdallr, who gave her that R idea for a last name and while I don't approve of some guy approaching her, no matter how cute she thinks he is," You could hear a barely suppressed groan from said blushing girl," He did give me an idea for a sure fire move that got me at least over twenty dates during the last three years."
"What over twenty?! Come on Celica, we are friends who went through thick and thin, you should share something that good with your old pal Crow here!" Snorting at his theatrics, Angelica went on, "Sure, as if a classless louse like you could pull it off but since you asked, the guy back then found out that little Alisa was reading a series of books but was missing some of them to complete the set, so that guy slipped her the missing books without her knowing and she later discovered them back home which she me later on that she found it sweet that he had done something like that for her." Ignoring his now two blushing juniors, the elder boy asked, "Putting aside the matter if it was sweet or not how does that help you getting dates?"
"Like I said a classless louse like you will never pull this move off, he just gave her the books without seeing her again, now me when I do that, I will run into the kitten later on while she is feeling shy but full of gratitude, I make an offer for a date and until now always got a yes every time." Feeling smug from her friend's expression full wonder and resentment, she was going to needle him further until she noticed the blushing juniors who were pointily not looking at each other, "What is the matter with you, Rean? Alisa, I can understand but why are you getting embarrassed from this story?"
No one answered until she shared a look with her schoolmate who too was confused at this situation, deciding that it was getting late and she still had to do the test drive for George, so she put this situation for later and started her bike, the sound of the engine got everyone attention, "Sorry guys it is time for me to leave but I think I will put a request or two for you in the future, when I do I would appreciate a swift response. Later" With that she drove of leaving a dumbfounded Rean, a still blushing Alisa and a grinning Crow behind, who upon seeing Rean's expression couldn't help but tease, "Lost for words, I take it? That is something George build over the course of last year, he calls it an 'orbal bike'. Pretty cool, huh?" Not caring for the teasing undertone, he gave him his honest opinion, "It is, it's kind like a steel horse and remembering Alisa words from before, I take you can't buy it in any shops?
"Nope, the Roer Institute of technology started the project but later on stopped because of funding issues, so George negotiated with them so that he could take it over and months of hard work later with help from me, Towa and Celica, he produced that prototype that you just saw and let me tell you that was a pretty challenging project."
"I see, so I take it that you are on good terms with Towa and George and since Angelica said she heard everything about me from them and can guess that you too heard about me from them?"
"Yes, we maybe from different classes but we have kind of stuck together since last year. Now that I think about it, I never introduced myself. Name's Crow Armbrust, Class V. I am sure that I will catch you around here again. Later." With his introduction done Crow made his way into town leaving the archer and the swordsman behind, who now that they were alone were once again embarrassed as they remembered what Angelica had say, for a moment not one said anything until the silence was broken by Alisa, "How about we treat this like the accident in the old schoolhouse?" Seeing the desperate hope in her eyes and his own embarrassment, made Rean agree to it "What accident are you talking about and forget what?" in return he got from her a relieved and bright smile and so these two made their way back to their dorms while putting what happened here sealed away in their minds not knowing that it would come back in the future and would cause them far more embarrassment than what they experienced here.
Later in the dormitory Rean upped his training and studies in preparation of the midterms and their inspection of the old building and the coming practical exam, as he was done with training someone knocked on his door, grabbing a towel to wipe his sweat away, Rean opened the door to find Gaius and Elliot standing there, taking a step back he invited them in "Hey guys, is there something that I can help you with?" He was a bit surprised that Elliot looked a tad nervous as he avoided his eyes, turning to his friend his just raised an eyebrow as a question, taking a moment to compose himself Gaius opened his mouth, "Actually, we would like to ask you that question, is there something that we can do for you? Or do you want to talk to us about something that is worrying you?"
Now that just drew him for a loop, not understanding where this sudden concern was coming from, the other two shared a look while he just starred at them in confusion, this time it was Elliot who spoke, "We don't want to be rude, but did something happen between you and Alisa again?" That just confused him even more, deciding that this conversation wasn't making any sense, he tried to solve where this was coming from, "Alright guys, I don´t think we are on the same page here, maybe if we started from the beginning, we could clear this up. So, what made you think that something happened between Alisa and me?"
Sharing another look with each other, "Well, it was just a feeling that we got from watching you two tonight, there was this kind of stiff feeling between the two of you that wasn't there this morning and got me and Elliot a bit concerned if everything was fine between you." Now he understood what they were talking about, feeling a bit touched over their concern for him he chuckled before laying their worries to rest, "There isn't any need for worry you two, on the way back to the dorms we ran into an upperclassman who is an old friend of hers and she mention some embarrassing things about Alisa that she didn't want anyone to know, nothing to deep but enough to get her embarrassed, afterwards we decided that we would treat it like nothing had happened and came to dorms. Maybe we didn't do a good job at it, but I can assure that nothing serious happened, tomorrow we should be back to normal." Releasing the tension that he had been feeling, Elliot patted his chest in relief, "That is good to know, sorry if we are being noisy, we just wanted to know if there was anything that we could help you with."
"Thanks for the sentiment, Elliot and Gaius but everything is fine. I don't think there will be a repeat of the first two weeks at the beginning of the year, so you don't have to worry about it." Leaning against the wall, Gaius chuckled, "While that is a relief to hear, we were more worried about you than anything else." Finished with wiping the sweat away, Rean took some bottle of juices out and offered them to his friends who took them, "Me? Why would you be worried about me, in case Alisa and I weren't speaking to each other?" After taking a sip of the juice, it was Elliot that answered, "Well, don´t take this the wrong way, but with Alisa by your side we don´t have to worry about you acting way too reckless."
Arching an eyebrow at the musician, he couldn't help but try to defend himself, "I don't think I have acted reckless since coming back from the field study." This caused his friends to stare at him with incredulity in their eyes, "What, I haven't. Can the two you even name one instance where I acted reckless?" The silence made him think that his two classmates couldn't come up with anything, until they stared listing what he had done since the field study, "How about that time where you tried to shield Elliot from the attack of that dissolution slug or that time you thought that it was a good idea that instead of getting out of the way you cut up that attack with your sword?"
"Or the time you took a hit for Gaius when that lone Dastardly Amalgam got the drop on him?"
"Or the time where you thought that it was a good idea to try out your new technique on…" And the list grew longer and longer until Rean was forced to put a stop to it, "Ok, ok. I may have acted a tiny bit reckless but come one guys, I'm still in one piece, so it wasn't that bad." That just got more incredulity thrown his way, not giving them a chance to disapprove his statement, he spoke quickly, "Besides what does that have to do with Alisa?" This time they were smirking at him, "Because we think that she is the only one capable of reining you in, me and Gaius may scold you for your actions but only when it is Alisa doing the scolding does it have a bit of an effect. I think that you are just that scared of her scolding which to be honest I can´t fault you for it, she glared at me just one time and I was ready to beg for my life."
Recalling that one time caused Elliot to shiver, Gaius put his hand on his shivering friend shoulder in an attempt to calm him down, though there was amusement swimming in his eyes before turning to his other friend, who at least had the decency to look sheepish at them, "Well, I admit that she can be scary sometimes but it just because she doesn't want me get hurt and it is hard to argue with her when she gets that look in her eyes, so don´t worry Elliot you are definitely not the only one who feels that, I think she could put the fear of Aidios even in the toughest of people that I know. Still, I know that I'm incredibly lucky that someone like me is friends with her or even you two, so I will try to be less reckless in the future, alright?"
"You know Rean, that would be more believable if you hadn´t made that attempt several times already." Ignoring their rolling eyes, he continued, "Come on guys, compared to some stuff that I did in the past this was nothing." Releasing a sigh, Elliot massaged his temple to sooth the sudden headache that statement gave him, "I shudder to even think of what you could have done back then, that makes you say that everything up till now wasn't a 'big deal'." After that the trio returned the conversation to more pleasing topics, like what their respective clubs were doing, their expectation of the next field study and so on, after talking for some time and bidding a good night, Elliot and Gaius left the room to turn in for the night while on the way they talked about something they had already suspected but was becoming more evident as they spent more time with Rean, "So it wasn´t our imagination then?"
"I can't be a one hundredth precent sure of it, but it looks like it though I can't imagine why that is the case."
"Neither can I, I mean he always looks so confident when he is fighting or when helping us but there are times like before where he shows a lack of confidence in himself." Crossing his arms before his chest, Gaius took a moment to think about everything he had learned about his friend during these last few weeks since meeting him, "While I can't imagine a reason for his lack of self-confidence, maybe it is for that reason that is acts so reckless from time to time. The only thing we can to for him, is to keep an eye on him to prevent him getting too rash with his actions." Giving a nod in return to that, Elliot put his hand on the doorknob to his room, "Do you think we should talk to Alisa about this?"
"I don't think we should talk about this with her for now at least. Besides, she is the one who spends the most time with him, so I am pretty sure that she has already notice it or has at least an inkling about it." Grinning at his tall friend, Elliot added his own two mira to it, "Yeah, since the field study these two have been practically joined at the hip besides when hanging out with us or helping the student council with their requests, these two are always together even when Rean is training outside of the town or in the old schoolhouse, Alisa is there with him. A part of me is relived that someone is beside him when he is training who know what he would do without someone around to keep him from being rash. Though I am curious to see if something more will come out of this."
"Only the winds and the goddess can answer that for sure, but I admit I am kind of sharing that curiosity my friend." Giving each other a grin at that possibility these two bid each other goodnight and went to bed.
The next day after waking up and doing his morning training, Rean made his way towards his mailbox where the requests from Towa were already waiting for him, like last time there were three requests in total, the only difference was that only one of them was required to be done and the other two were optional, (Let's see, I have the expected investigation for the old schoolhouse and one for substituting as a tutor for a second year who was helping out a young child with his studies and one for helping the bookstore deliver some books. Could it be that Towa choose these easy ones in consideration of the request of the principal? It doesn't matter, I will try to do these first and then go to the old building.)
Done with reading through these letters, he thought about which one he should start with, deciding that he should first go to the second year to ask when he should start tutoring, he proceeds to make his way to the commoner dorm, there the upperclassman informed him of the time and place where the kid was living. Seeing that he still had some time before he could start his teaching duties, Rean went to the bookstore to learn the details of his other request.
To his surprise, his class president was already there, "Hi, Emma. It is rare to see you already awake this early." Gasping in surprise of the unexpected voice coming from behind her, the bespectacled girl turned around to face him, "Good morning, Rean. I woke up a bit earlier today since I have a club meeting to attend later, I thought that I could take care of my errands this morning, so that I didn't have to worry about it for the rest of the day. By the way, I am truly sorry that I can't go with you and the others to the old schoolhouse today, I tried to talk to Dorothy about it but apparently, she is expecting some potential publishers, for her stories, to come today and she could really use my help with that meeting." Finished speaking Emma started bowing to Rean, who in turn waved her apology away, "Please Emma, there isn't any need to apology for that, I know that you and the others can't come because of your clubs and that is fine, the requests may have changed to include the whole class now but it isn't neither requested nor necessary that the entire Class VII take it on, besides we already went through the entire floor during your combat training and didn't find anything, so I am not expecting it to be different today."
He tried to make the guilt in Emma's eyes to go away, but something told him that the girl wasn't buying his explanation, so he tried to change the subject, "I see you and Machias here most of the time when you aren't studying in the library, so got your eyes on some new study book?" The way she looked at him, told him that she knew what he was doing but was too polite to point it out, so she let it go, "Well, the book that I found before seemed to help Fie out a lot yesterday and before I forget, thank you for finding her and reminding her of our study meeting, she told me that she overslept and forgot about it."
"It was just luck that Alisa and I came across her napping on the first floor, there isn't any need for thanks for that." When he tried to downplay his actions, he saw her rolling her eyes at him in a way that he was already familiar with since it was the way his mother (and Alisa) did when he tried to appear humble, "Nonetheless, thank you for that and since that book helped her, I am trying to see if I can't find another similar one for her." Looking behind her, Rean could see the shelves that were packed with books, deciding that he should help her out as thanks for cheering him up yesterday, he offered her to look for the books too and after some hesitations, she accepted.
Each one took a shelf and started searching while continuing speaking with each other about small things, like Rean was impressed that she took the time to help Fie out with her studies and so on, in return she tried to explain that since she was accepted as a scholarship student, that she should try to help others out, "That kind of thinking is why the rest of the class is happy that you are our class president and I am not trying to flatter you, it is just the honest truth, you can ask the other if you don't believe me." Feeling a bit bashful at that remark, Emma went back searching for books, finished with his shelf Rean turned around to help with hers, when he noticed a certain title right above the girl's head, "Oh, what about that book over there? That might help." Before she could see which book he meant, Rean had already stretched his hand out to grab it and gave it to her, "Hmm, this book looks like it belongs to a series of books that is designed to help people out with the basics of learning, I think I can ask Keynes to help me out to see if he has other of this or if he can order them for me."
The two made their way to the register, to ask the owner who in turn told them were they could find the rest of the books in his shop and that he would make an order for the missing ones, as soon as he could. After finding the books and paying for them, Emma thanked both Rean and the owner for their help and left the store while Rean stayed behind to talk to Keynes about his request, it turned out that he had ordered some books for the instructors in the academy but had lost the paper where the information who ordered what was written and since it would look bad if he didn't deliver the books on the time or to the wrong person he asked the student council for help with this task since a student should be able to find out who ordered what thanks to their daily contact with the teachers.
Accepting the books, Rean left the bookstore to do his job, the first one was to deliver a book called 'The Empires hottest spots', in the entire academy he could think of only one instructor who would order something like this and he remembered that said person had told him that she would be taking it easy today and would remain in her room to rest, so he went back to the dormitory and climbed the stairs up to the second floor where he knocked on the door and after hearing a slight slurred, "Come in."
He stepped inside his home teachers' room to find dozens of beer cans and bottle of wine on the shelves and desk, while Sara was sitting on the bed drinking beer, "Well, if it isn't my favourite wunderkind, how can I help you and since you are already here can you be a dear and bring me some snacks from the kitchen, pretty please?" Shaking his head at her, Rean tried to at least appeal to her common sense, "… I feel like I'm wasting my breath by pointing this out, but you do realise that it still morning, right?"
"My room, my beer, my free day and I don't see the problem here." Already having expected this answer, he wordlessly took out the book and handed it to her, a bit surprised that he had the book that she had ordered, she took it and started flipping through with glee, "This here is a real goldmine of spots where there is good alcohol." Suppressing the urge to facepalm at this display, he thought that now would be a good time, (Knowing her she may look plastered, but she should be able to leap into actions should anything serious happened, maybe I could use this chance to ask her about somethings that I normally can't.)
Deciding to take this chance, he went downstairs to get her some snacks and some juice for himself and sat on a chair opposite of her, the sly smile on her face as she observed his actions made it clear that she knew what he was trying to do, (Well, seems like even if she is drunk, I can't forget about getting answers to questions that she doesn't want to answer, like for example, who founded Class VII and why. But since I am already here I can at very least keep her company for some minutes before leaving.) The two talked about his work for the student council and other small things, she even gave him some advice regarding his situation with Machias, that he shouldn't try to force the issue and stop thinking about it, for now he should concentrate on helping the Student Council out and he would see that sometimes the solution would appear before him without searching for it. In the end that raised more questions than answers, but he couldn't deny that there may be some kernel of truth in that.
Thanking her for it and her time, he left the room and returned to his duty as a delivery boy, the rest of the owners were easy to figure out, the politics book was for the vice-principal, the military book for Instructor Neithardt, the history book for Instructor Thomas (Rean took a swift retreat before he could be roped in, to discuss said book), the science book for Instructor Makarov and the last book was about Art so that left Instructor Mary as the only possible recipient for it. On the way back, Rean saw Gaius in the art room where they talked a bit about Gaius art, the techniques he was learning from the head of the club and where he was from which to his chagrin Rean realised that this was in fact the first time, he ever asked his friend this question.
Gaius in turn laughed his apology away since he found that thanks to the curriculum there was never any time to talk about his homeland with his friends since their hangout mostly involved just recovering from their days, studying and learning more about each other as a person and not where they came from. Seeing that Rean was still feeling bad about it, he pointed out that while he knew that Rean was from Ymir, he didn't know any specific about his hometown since he never asked, did that make him a bad friend? Conceding this point to him, Rean stayed behind for some time to talk about the Nord Highlands with his friend and seeing the way his eyes light up at the mention of the wide fields of his home, made Rean decided that as soon he had the opportunity, he would try to ask more about it.
Looking at the time, he found out that the time for tutoring that kid was fast approaching so he said to goodbye to Gaius and returned to Keynes to report that he was finished with delivering the books and went to the address the second year had given him. Two hours later he was done with helping young Emile learn about the Orbal Revolution and since had already covered it in class, Rean thought that he didn´t do too badly with teaching which was further reinforced as the parent and child thanked him for his help and told him that he had a talent for it. (This takes care of the optional requests, so the only one that remains is the investigation and since I promised the others to call them before going in, I should that now.)
Before he could make the call, he heard his stomach grumble making him remember that it was already past twelve and he hadn't eaten anything besides some light breakfast this morning. (Since the others offered to help me with this, I should at least invite them for a meal before going into the old schoolhouse.) With that decision done, he called them to meet with him in thirty minutes at the cafeteria to eat before doing their investigation, everybody picked up besides Alisa. Deciding that perhaps she wasn't done with lacrosse practice he and that he still had some time before meeting the others, he made his was over to the field just in time to see that the Lacrosse Club was beginning to clean up the field, this time the others stayed behind to help and didn't leave it to just Alisa like last month, though he couldn't hear what they were talking about he could still see that the lavender haired girl was grumbling about something given the way her face was scrunched while Alisa had a face as if she was confused about something. Making the wise decision that approaching the team wasn't a good idea, he settled for sitting down at the small cliff overseeing the academy field with the lone tree there as his backrest where after waving at Alisa, he closed his eyes while he waited for her.
Twenty minutes later, he sensed that someone was approaching him, so he opened his eyes to find Alisa walking towards, "Sorry Rean, I just saw that you had tried calling me on my Arcus, I hope that you didn't wait too long for me. The practice went longer as planned thanks to Ferris challenging me to some kind of competitions in every exercise." Getting up he noticed that her hair was a bit wet, (Seems like she just came out of the shower.), that thought led him to shaking his head rapidly to get rid of the image that appeared, ignoring the questioning look sent his way by Alisa for his actions, "No problem, I called you to invite you and the others for a meal in the cafeteria and to see if you still want to go into the old schoolhouse."
"Of course, I want to. I already told you yesterday that I won´t miss this, besides I am curious if anything changed, given that we were just down there three days ago. Oh, before I forget don't even bother to ask me or the others that question again while we are eating, we are going with you and that is it." Chuckling for a bit at that, since I had really thought about trying to convince his friends that they should enjoy the rest of their free day instead of accompanying him into the old school building, these two made their way to the cafeteria where Elliot, Gaius and Laura were already waiting for them, for the next hour or so the group of friends talked about their day so far and remembering his decision some hours ago, he got Gaius to talk more about his homeland while the rest asked some questions about it themselves.
Done with eating the group made sure that they equipment was in order, that they had enough healing items and that a certain swordsman was warned what the consequences were in case he tried to pull something reckless, proceed to approach the old building, Rean unlocked the door so that they could go inside, but the moment he touched the knob to open it, that same inhuman feeling from before returned. Not hesitating this time around, Rean acted on instinct, to the complete surprise of the rest who had been discussing their fighting formation for this trip, he swung the door opened and sprinted inside while holding his sheathed tachi in one hand. Not having expected anything of the sort, the others didn't move for a moment before Alisa came to her senses and ran after Rean which prompted the rest to do the same, luckily for them he didn't go very far after kicking open the door leading to the underground floor and assuming a drawing stance, Rean remained rooted on the spot with his back turned to them.
Catching up to him, the archer wanted to question him what was going on, hadn't she peeked inside to find out why he had stopped, the room had changed completely again, this time around there was no staircase leading down or a door, the size of it seemed to have shrunken down, compared to before it seemed that the new room was just half of the size it had been. Though the biggest change came from the new pedestal like structure that was right in the middle of the room, turning around she found the same shocked expression that she was wearing on her classmates faces with the sole exception being Rean, who seemed to have recovered from his surprise and now was looking around the room as if searching for something.
Taking a deep breath to regain her composure, she took a step forward and stood before him while putting her hands to her hips, "OK, let's put the obvious aside for a moment and please explain to me why you sprinted inside like that, Rean?" After having recovered from the unexpected changes in the room, Rean looked around trying to find the source of that feeling which had disappeared as soon as he had kicked open the door, his search was interrupted by a miffed looking Alisa stepping in front of him and asking something, "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention what did you say?"
Which following the way her eyes narrowed and hearing the words "Oh, oh." coming from Elliot behind him made him believed that perhaps that had been the wrong thing to say in this situation, "Ok, then let me repeat my question, what possessed you to charge in, alone I might add, like that while looking like you were expecting to find something to be here?"
Wincing at the extremely sweet tone she had used for asking, while her eyes seemed to be shooting fire at him, glancing around he could see the rest looking sternly at him waiting for him to answer, rubbing his neck he decided to describe what had happened, "Well, at that moment I sensed something inside the building and since the door was locked and I know for a fact that there are only three keys for this building which are in possession of myself, Instructor Sara and the Principal besides I know that neither of the other two are here. So, I acted on instinct and charged right inside expecting something or someone to be here." Raising his hands in surrender before Alisa or his friends could say anything, he went on, "Which in hindsight was an extremely reckless thing to do, that much I can admit but like I said I acted without thinking too much, sorry." Sighing in exasperation, Alisa shook her head at him, "We will talk about that later, for now can you please explain what you mean by you sensed something here?"
"I can't explain exactly what I sensed, just that there was something here." The rest looked around the room, to see if there was something hiding but since the room was without places to hid, the quickly concluded their search and turned to face the swordsman, this time it was Laura who asked a question, "Rean, you once told me that you can sense the difference between human, animal and monster. So, what do you think was what you sensed?"
"I don't know, it was gone too quick for me to get a read on it, by the time I opened the door it was already gone." Looking around once more Elliot chimed in, "Well whatever it was, it isn't here anymore and the only way out of this room is this door, so where did it go?" No one could answer that question, crossing his arms before his chest Gaius proposed, "How about we all take a look around this room, perhaps there is a hidden place here that we can't see."
"You mean like a hidden door?" Now it was Laura turn to look around the room, "Perhaps? Honestly, I don't know what to expect any more from this place given the recent changes here, so let's just look around here before approaching whatever is in the middle of the room." Finding that proposal a good idea, the rest searched every corner of the room, just to find nothing in return. Left with no other choice they approached the structure in the room with caution, making sure that there was no danger they stepped into the middle of it and Alisa approached what looked like a panel who had the number 0 to VI engraved on it while the 0 to II were illuminated and the rest was without light.
Taking a moment to study it, Alisa gave her own opinion of it, "If had to take a guess, this looks like an elevator you would find in a mine shaft or something similar to it at least." Taking a closer look to the panel, Laura stepped forward, "Does that mean we can use this to go underground then?" At that moment she touched the number I which resulted in some noise as the structure started to move down, the students grabbed the rails in response to the sudden movement, a short moment later the machine came to a stop. They were now in a room that looked exactly like the room above them, the only difference was the opening in the ceiling above their heads, blushing a bit Laura tried to apologise, "I am sorry everyone, I wasn't expecting that to happen." Giving the blushing girl a soft smile to comfort her, Gaius said, "Nothing bad happen Laura, so there isn´t a need for you to apologise, if anything you may have helped us out because now, we know how that thing works."
"He is right, Laura. This here should be the control panel for this ´elevator´, let's just see if we can go back up." Stretching her finger, she touched to number 0 like before the structure made some noise as it moved upward this time, they returned to the previous room to find that nothing had changed, curiosity getting the better of her, Alisa touched the II now. Once again, they moved down with the difference this time that they went further down which led to the same looking room as before, "I wonder how this works, this panel is completely made of stone, so how does a simple touch make it move? I get that number are the same as buttons to move but they don't feel like plastic at all but stone so how does that work. Hmm, the number that don't any light on, don't do anything at all, could it be that they are sealed and not only that how did whoever build this get inside the panel for maintenance or …."
For a while no one interrupted the archer as she began fondling the panel while murmuring something beneath her breath, until Laura coughed out loud to wake the girl from her research, "You are surprisingly well informed about technology, I heard that it was an area that girls normally don't get involved with, but it looks like there exceptions to it." Coming back to her senses Alisa tried to explain her actions, "It isn't that big of a deal, this was just some low-level stuff, a lot of people could have told you the same about this. Anyway, what should we do now go on with our investigation or go get the principal and the instructor?"
As one the group turned to Rean waiting for his decision, holding back a sigh at that since coming back from the field study he tried to let the others take the lead and while they all tried their hand at it, they found out that compared to him they lacked experience, so in most cases they followed his decisions, "We will continue on with the investigation since that was why we came here for, after we are done with it or in case we decided that it is too dangerous to go on then we can call the Principal and Instructor Sara here. For now, let's go back to the first floor and see what is beyond that door." Nodding to him, they used the elevator to go to the first floor and opened the door, just to find a familiar sight, the entrance to the underground they had been using just three days before with the glowing teleporter right next to the entrance, testing it out they were teleported to the room where Rean and the others had fought against that monster.
After some searching around the chamber and the entrance, they found that nothing had changed compared to before, so they returned to the second floor where a completely new floor was waiting for them with the same teleporter as above with the only difference being that this one wasn't glowing and didn't work at all no matter what they did. Closing his eyes, Rean spread his senses to see if he could find that presence from before but no such luck though he found something else, "Gaius, correct me please if I am wrong but the monsters on this floor are completely different compared to the ones from the first floor, no?" Coping his friend action, Gaius closed his eyes and opened them after a short while, "You are right, not only that it seems that the layout of this floor isn't anything like the first floor, but the monsters too have also changed."
The others digested this new information while looking around, clapping his hands to get their attention, Rean spoke up, "Alright guys, seems like we have a new floor to explore, so this is what we are going to do. Like last month we are going to search this entire floor for anything out of the ordinary while taking care of the monsters roaming about. This isn't any different than what we had been doing for combat training with the instructor until now, so there isn't need to be nervous, we will keep combat links up all the time and the already discussed formation. Laura and me at the front, Gaius in the middle and Alisa and Elliot at the back, the combat links will change after every fight so that we can gain experience for different partners, in case we run into monsters that are too difficult to beat, we will use these links as the base for it, Laura and Gaius, Alisa and me and when in need of support arts we will link up with Elliot, of course we can change them in case the need arises but this are the best links combination for the moment."
They had already discussed this at length before coming here but it was a way to calm their nerves a bit since this situation was unexpected. Chuckling a bit Elliot looked at his friend as he teased him, "Aww, I was expecting some kind of attempt to make us leave you here alone while the rest of us went back to the surface to be safe." That got some amused smiles of the other three but an eyeroll from Rean, "Something tells me if I made that attempt, I would be knocked out, tied up and brought back up while you four continue on." He didn't say any names but the way he was looking at Alisa suggest that he knew that she would just do that and had already threatened him with that exact same scenario, patting him on shoulder Alisa gave him a sweet smile, "If only you were that reasonable all the time Rean, I wouldn't have to worry so much about you."
The others just laughed at the scene before them, suppressing a smile of his own though the corners of his lips twitched upwards, Rean just gave another eyeroll but stayed quiet while taking out his tachi, the others followed suit as the got in formation. "Are you guys ready for this then?" Receiving nods in return he looked at the unknown floor before him while having the feeling that someone or something was watching them or rather him.
"Class VII, the goal is to investigate this floor and come back safe and sound. Let's move. (I don´t know what is going here or what that presence upstairs was but I will make sure that nothing happens to them. So, whatever you are bring it on.) With that the members stepped forward into the unknown.
