Chapter 121: Wins and Losses, Part Three

Rin's first impression of the adventurers she saw was that it felt like she was dreaming.

Some of them were wearing armor that was comically bulky, and some of them were wearing little to no armor at all. Some of them looked like they bought the best armor set they could find and what they were wearing cost more than Rin's entire family was worth. Some of them, however, looked like they'd pieced together their outfits using random bits of armor that they'd found on the street.

Rin didn't know what to think.

"Oh, they're here!" A girl perked up when she saw them, pointing at the group and speaking with an overly loud tone.

As some of them stood up, Rin counted them. There were around seven of them, with Vick and Troph making the count nine in total.

"Finally," one broody-looking man dressed in black armor said, swinging his raven hair over his shoulder in dramatic fashion. "Kept us waiting, huh?"

"Oh, shut it," the girl said to him before jogging up to them. "Holy moly, you guys are the students, right?" She asked with a smile so bright and infectious, Rin couldn't help but mirror it.

"Yes," Cara walked up, standing between her and the group of rookies. "I'm their teacher."

"Ohhhh awesome," the girl said. Then, her eyes scanned over the group. She made "ooh" and "ahh" expressions at pretty much everyone, and outright gave a loud "wow" when she laid her eyes on Seth. "By the Divine, you're a rookie!?" She asked, walking over to the man and poking his biceps. Seth just sneered.

"Anyway," Cara regained her attention, "is this everyone?" She asked.

"Yeah," Vick answered, walking up. "We're all accounted for, from the looks of it."

"Let me introduce you to everyone!" The same girl offered excitedly. "First off, yours truly," she bowed, "my name's Silvy. Nice to meet you!"

As she said that, Rin looked her up and down, really taking her appearance in. The girl had bright orange hair, with a black headband over it. She was as thin as Carla, and a little bit shorter than Rin was. Her skin was a dark tan, which Rin guessed came from extended amounts of time spent out on missions, walking under the sun. She could certainly see this girl as the prolific type. Finally, she was wearing some brown shorts, boots, and a shirt that cut off at her abdomen, showing off an impressive six-pack.

Rin had missed them at first, but she had a pair of very thin daggers at her waist.

With that bright smile still on her face, Silvy turned toward the others behind her.

"So, let me show you who's who," she said, before going through each of them. Honestly, Rin's eyes remained on Silvy, even as she began talking about some of them. She had this friendly aura to her that Rin loved in people. "... so, don't touch his weapons, or he'll cut your hands off," she mentioned casually and Rin recoiled.

[Uh... What was that?] Rin thought. Silvy had already pointed out three of them, so, Rin made sure to pay a little more attention.

"That edgy dude over there is Alerian," she pointed at the brooding man in the black armor.

Then, she pointed at a woman who was, for all intents and purposes, wearing a bikini, with a giant, thick sword at her back.

"She's Elina," Silvy said, and the woman waved at them in an elegant manner. Then, Silvy pointed at a beastborn man with rabbit ears, who was wearing almost-golden armor. "He's Harbin, and that's Olen," she finally finished, pointing at a middle-aged man who had a bow on his back and a scar over his right eye. That same man, Olen, walked up to the group and raised a hand.

"Greetings, young blood," he said to them. "I'm afraid you've come all this way for very little. This mission should be over rather quickly," he said confidently.

[Yeah? Looking forward to seeing that,] Rin replied in her thoughts.

She liked them, all in all. Though, from the looks of it, they were all much closer than Rin would assume a group of random adventurers to be. Some of them were chatting even as Silvy introduced them.

[Maybe the world of adventuring is a little smaller than I thought.]

"With you here, however," the older man said, "we can begin preparations."

"When are you planning on attacking?" Cara asked, with crossed arms. She maintained a professional tone, as always. Rin was surprised that they didn't have much of a reaction to her presence since she was Rank A, but maybe she wasn't as famous as Maria.

"Midnight," Olen stated. "Monsters are lazy creatures. By that time, they'll all be deep in their dreams and we'll have the element of surprise."

"Naturally," Silvy added, "we'll still need to make sure our plan's airtight, so, if you guys don't mind, once you guys are set up, we're just gonna get right to it."

"Sounds good," Cara said. "We'll make a camp for ourselves a little closer to the road. You guys said you'd provide the dinner?"

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"Mhm," Vick nodded. "Some of us will go out hunting at around 6, just before the sun goes down."

"Sounds good. Okay, everyone," Cara turned toward the students. "Come over here."

They all proceeded to walk over to where Cara had wanted them to go, but that confused Rin.

[Why aren't we just staying with them?] Rin wondered.

So, as everyone reached the road and huddled around a few broken-down cars, Rin walked up to her teacher.

"Uh, teach'," Rin called out to her, quietly. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Cara nodded and the two walked away from everyone. Rin continued to make an effort to walks steadily, so as to prevent Xhez from waking.

[Maybe, later, I can let Xhez out and we'll take a walk,] she thought.

"What do you need?" Cara asked.

"So, why are we separating from the adventurers?" She pointed at them. "Wouldn't it make more sense to just be over there."

"Ah. For sure," Cara nodded. "But, Rin, tell me something. What did Dylan do before he joined our Academy?"

That question came out of nowhere. Rin couldn't help but look behind her, her eyes falling on the boy, who was currently chatting with John and Carla with a smile on his face.

"Uh..."

Rin knew the answer, but whether she should tell Cara. However, she figured that if Cara was even asking this, it meant that somehow she knew already, so she said:

"He worked for the Red Trident..."

"Yes," Cara nodded. "And, tell me, what did you do before you joined the Academy?"

That just made Rin pull back.

[Where's all this coming from?]

"I... Well.."

"Okay," Cara said, and Rin stopped. "The point is, at the end of the day, an adventurer is someone who really doesn't mind going out and facing death for the sake of money. To even consider this kind of a job," she continued, "one needs to be desperate. And, you know who is usually desperate? Criminals," she finally said. "And, unfortunately, not all of them had were criminals in the innocent way that you were. I don't know these people," she pointed subtly at the group of adventurers in the distance. "So, I need to take into account the possibility that they might be criminals. Be it thieves or in any other way. Understand?"

As shocked as Rin had been by what Cara had asked her, the explanation did make some amount of sense. So, Rin nodded.

"I-I get it."

"... Sorry if I said anything uncalled for," Cara suddenly told her, "I don't mean to lump you in with these people either. I know your job was legal in Dren. I was making a point. I'm just saying, you can never be too safe."

"Yeah, yeah, I understand," Rin nodded, and at that, Cara gave a short, relieved smile.

"Come on, let's get back to everyone else."

--- 

Note: The answer to the question posed the last chapter was "27"! 

Eve tells Rin her age during their very first conversation together, when they bump into each other in the showers. 

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