Chapter 17: Chapter 17 – Gathering

It was late afternoon when Lia walked out of the school’s building, stretching and yawning. The first lesson was about the properties of water spells and how people’s mana feels flowing inside them. She already learned it from her mother when comparing different elements to each other. Yet hearing the question of those kids, who had water as theirs, asking about themselves and listening to Dayen’s answers was a great insight for Lia. She was heading towards the cafeteria, thinking about buying some snacks from the vending machines, already falling in love with their idea and how they worked. Buying from there was much more convenient than standing in line. She just took a few steps; when her bracelet pinged, and after raising it, she noticed a message pop up from the school’s system.

“Payment? Oh? It should be from Lorin and Sion!” She opened it just so she could scream so loud that dozens of people stopped doing what they were, all looking at her, startled. “S-sorry!” She bowed and quickly bought a sandwich and drink, rushing away. She had just turned the corner when she bumped into someone, making both of them scream again as they landed on their backs. “Owie! Not again…” Lia murmured, looking up, but it was Keily on the other end this time, not Yanura. The poor boy was still holding the back of his head, which was knocked against the hard floor.

“S-sorry…” He moaned, sitting up, squinting, and seeing stars briefly.

“Me too…” Lia nodded, also shaking her head, “Are you okay?” Stood up, helping Keily stand, fixing his uniform.

“I… I think…” He nodded after recollecting himself. “They say my head is empty, so nothing should be injured!” He joked, recognizing Lia from the morning.

“Then they are rude!” She answered, raising an eyebrow, looking around, recollecting her dinner, and helping pick up Keily’s stack of books he was carrying prior to their collision. “Lucky that my food is packed tightly and did not spill onto yours!” She laughed while checking the titles of his books. It seemed all of them were related to fire magic.

“Uuu, yeah! They are library books; if they are damaged, I will have to pay extra CP!” He nodded, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Don’t worry, I would have paid for it!” Lia said, grinning, starting to walk with him. “You just starting to form your first spells? If you need a training partner, call me!”

“Yes! I can’t cast anything yet!” Keily nodded, subconsciously accepting Lia’s invitation. “I browsed the library after class, finding the books Teacher Dayen spoke about! I’m planning to go back to the dorms and study them!”

“Do you know that there are great bookstores in the city? There are some great manuals there; I bet you could even find some hidden, rare gems that the library doesn’t have!”

“Maybe.” Keily answered, looking at her, “But I’m good. I’m just starting out; my Dad always told me one has to take everything step by step! If you try to eat life in a whole, you will choke on it! Nibbling on it is our way!”

“Huh. Well… you look cute like a bunny, so I can see his point!” Lia answered, tilting her head while Keily flinched, turning a shade redder.

“I’m not a bunny! Nor a rabbit!” He replied, sounding a bit frustrated by her words.

“But you have bunny ears! Also, that does not mean you are a coward! Hmph!” Lia answered, patting his back with a few strong slaps, “But your ears are still cute! I like them!”

“Ah… um…” Keily tried to form some of his thoughts into words, but he was honestly stunned as nobody had said something like this to him besides his father. “Thanks…” He answered in the end, going silent.

“Do you have plans for tomorrow?” Lia asked suddenly.

“Huh? No… Why?”

“Good! Then be ready by 9 in the morning! I’ll call you and tell you where to go!” Lia laughed, already rushing away.

“But… Why?!” He shouted after him, but Lia did not answer, just waved at her, shouting back to be ready by then. “Hauh… humans are scary…” He murmured, sighing with a defeated voice, finding it hard to deal with them. Even his roommates were way too forceful, and they almost fought about who would have the bed next to the window. It was hard for him to adapt, but he was trying to cope with it as much as he could. It was still better than being secretly feared and hated, left alone all the time.

…
….
……

It was half past eight when a group of people was standing before the central fountain of the school’s front garden. The sun was already up, and the morning sun was pleasantly warm, even if it was the beginning of fall.

“What is this?” Koadriana asked, yawning, wearing a short skirt and only the shirt of her uniform with its tie hanging from her neck.

“I want to ask the same.” Raufon chimed in, crossing his hands and watching the others. “Why do I have to skip my morning class?”

“Well?” Aurora wrote, also raising her eyebrows, wearing her uniform prim and proper. She was waiting for an answer from Lia, who stood before them with a wide grin.

“Um… h-hello!” Keily said with a weak voice, trying to introduce himself. He was surprised that everyone else here was seemingly invited by Lia. He thought he would be the only one dragged along for who knows what… yet now he was surrounded by his classmates, somewhat easing his mind.

“Hi…” Ceiline alone responded, just as nervous as him, being amongst new faces and people she did not know yet. She was always troubled when she had to interact with people whom she did not know, but she couldn’t just refuse an invitation from a member of another House.

“You’ll see!” Lia added, constantly giggling since waking up, clearly, excited beyond belief.

“What the?!” Arrived a new voice as Sion arrived, recoiling a little when he saw the small group waiting for him. “What is this?” He asked the same question.

“I’m forming a group!” Lia clapped, finally saying it when everyone was present.

“Huh?” The rest responded, tilting their heads at the same time.

“I read a lot about it!” Lia continued, “Doing things alone is hard! I want to form a group! After we all graduate, we can continue adventuring together too!” She explained, her mismatched eyes shining in bright light, looking at them one by one, “I thought it out already! We have two fire mages in Keily here and me! Then we have a strong warrior of the earth element!” She pointed at Raufon, who just blinked his eyes with surprise, looking around, “Then there is Koa with water magic that can support us in battle and Aurora with a great talent for assassination and recon!”

“...” Koa wanted to say something, but her mouth only opened and closed while Aurora simply nodded, agreeing with Lia’s statement.

“Ceiline can be a great support outside of battles too, and as she is not a student but like a teacher here! She can be the official overseer of our forming group! It is not required, but if we have support from someone who is not a student, that can bolster our claims to everything else! I already asked brother Lala, but he refused… he said that would be cheating….”

“Excuse me… um, did I agree to it?” Ceiline asked, panicked, raising her scaly hand like a student would.

“You came!” Lia laughed, clapping, making her flinch, looking around the rest, wanting to find some help but receiving none.

“I can’t even form spells yet….” Keily added, but Lia just laughed, waving it away.

“We are at school; you will learn that!”

“You are something else….” Raufon said, his voice calm, but he just shrugged, not refusing the idea.

“Khm.” Sion cut in, scratching his throat. “So-” But before he could say something, Lia laughed and continued.

“Yes, yes! We also have someone with the element of light! Sion here can be our healer!”

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“Hey!” He protested, stomping at place, “Just because I am proficient with light magic, it does not mean I can cast healing spells!”

“You can’t?” Lia asked, sounding troubled for the first time, looking up at him.

“I can, but… that is beside the point!” He answered, grumbling.

“Then it is fine! Great! Awesome!” Lia ignored the rest of his words, laughing.

“Damn it!” Sion moaned, rubbing his forehead, “I am part of the disciplinary force; I can’t just join groups!”

“It will be fine; it is not against the rules. It is just looked down upon!” Lia shrugged, sweeping it under the rug.

“Exactly! Guys…” He turned towards the rest, “Are you really going to let her drag you around like this?”

“Yes,” Aurora wrote while Koa just spread her arms.

“She wouldn’t shut up about it anyway.” She teased her cousin.

“Groups are strong….” Keily added, especially after seeing his idol leading his own and killing Undead abominations quickly with their teamwork.

“He is right.” Raufon nodded, looking down at Keily, “Plus, I fought against her, she may seem like careless dumb-dumb, but she is not.”

“Teehee!” Lia chuckled, sticking out her tongue, not taking it the wrong way at all.

“Hauh… I can’t refuse it… that would be rude.” Ceiline added. It was a request coming from someone who was the daughter of one of the strongest beings in the Realm. Refusing it and letting the news travel back home… she would hear no end of it. Plus… she was a girl who thought similarly; this was not that bad of an idea as she was mulling over it in her head.

“See? It is settled!” Lia hopped around in place, looking at Sion. “Now we just need a name! I already thought about it! The House of Awesome!”

“Rejected!” Said everyone in a chorus, not even giving her a chance to protest.

“Ugh… you are mean! That was such a cool name….” She finally stopped in place after being shot down so violently.

“We will think of a name later….” Sion groaned, holding his temples, “You need to officially register anyway, so we have time to review this. Damn it… At least drag that bastard Lorin in too!”

“I tried!” Lia answered with a sigh, “He said he couldn’t. As a fourth-year student, he needs to prepare for his final exam, and because he will leave after the year ends, he can’t take up such a responsibility.”

“Tsk… Slippery bastard. Always was one. He is good with words; no wonder he could run Alchemy Haven this efficiently.”

“Oh?” Raufon exclaimed as he looked at the place, but it was too expensive for his taste, so in the end, he just window-shopped from the outside. The little firebird had connections there already? Now he was not even angry for making him skip his class. This was getting interesting.

“But!” Lia continued, flashing a grin, “I had a good talk with him the previous night!”

“...?” Aurora furrowed her brows, and seeing it, Sion added with a smile.

“He is into boys. Keily here would be much more to his taste. Both in size and appearance.”

“Eeeep?! No!” Keily protested, not oblivious to what Sion meant. His species was considered an adult when their bodies could create little bunnies, and his father had already taught him everything he had to know.

“Ahaha~” Ceiline chuckled, slowly getting relaxed by the apparent quick closeness between the members of this nameless group.

“I’d pay to watch it. Or have a part in it.” Koadriana added with a grin, licking her lips, watching Keily shudder before she received Aurora’s elbow into her sides. “Ugh… what? Says the one who bathed with a group of men in the army… Ugh! Stop it! Don’t elbow me at the same spot twice!”

“Huh.” Sion looked at Aurora. “Experienced, eh?” He moved his eyes up and down on him.

“More than you.” Aurora wrote back.

“Doubt it.” Sion provoked her, flashing his white teeth.

“Aurora is still a virgin! All of us are!” Lia suddenly exclaimed, making the whole group stumble in place, not knowing what to say to that… except Raufon.

“I’m not.” The tallest of them replied, looking around, displaying a pretty proud face at the fact.

“Haahh… there are no boys or girls who would let me hug them….” Ceiline blurted out, looking at her claws.

“I would,” Raufon added again, now turning Ceiline’s face just as red as her scales.

“I think this group should have the name of House of Misfits if this keeps up…” Sion grumbled, slapping his face, recollecting himself. “You do know I booked our meeting with the old bastard for two people only! He will skin me alive when he sees us coming in a group!”

“Don’t worry!” Lia winked at him, “We will use Ceiline’s name!”

“Why mine?” She asked, turning white from red.

“Because you are from the House of Nerifit! That has to mean something!” Lia replied with a matter-of-fact tone. Now it was time for Raufon and Keily to look even more surprised, knowing their future overseer was from one of the famous Six Houses. Missing the fact that they also had three members from another…

“Still… You are playing with my reputation here, girl!” Sion mumbled, but he could do nothing about it by now.

“Relax!” Lia brought up her bracelet, displaying a page for everyone to see as she could hear a pin drop after they saw the amount of money displayed on it. “I told you, I spoke with Lorin! I sold more recipes, and he sponsored us in return! Now we have 10.000 CP to spend! I am going to outfit all of us with holding bags first! Then we can look for a base of operation to rent out! Fufufufu! We are going to be the best group in the school!”