"Wakey, wakey, kids." The man said cheerfully. "Welcome to the city of Anciana."

I looked at him suspiciously.

His clothes were far too flashy and his smile was way too bright for someone acting as an escort to a black market city.

Behind him stretched a vast forest and standing there were the rest of my party.

Viola, Arza, Sylvie, Seraphina, Bearlo and Arthur.

I pushed myself out of the box and glanced at them calmly. From the looks of it, none of them had gone through a near-death battle with their box partners.

Which was expected as their boxes were bigger.

That fucking Santa wannabe had brought four boxes in total. Three large ones and one small one and as the leader, I had made the noble sacrifice of choosing the smallest box.

The plan was simple, I would take it alone, while Bearlo, Arthur and Noah got tossed into the larger ones.

Turns out, I had severely underestimated how much space a bear needs and also how much space a human only slightly smaller than a bear needs.

Lesson learned.

Never volunteer for sacrifices

"Thanks for the help." I said, shaking hands with the suspicious old man as his partner gathered up the boxes.

"Be careful, kids." The old man said as he climbed back toward the driver's seat. "The world beyond those city gates isn't the flowery mess you are used to."

"Thanks for the advice, sir." I said. "We will meet you back at the designated place after ten days."

The old man nodded and drove his carriage away.

As the carriage slowly rolled away, I caught fragments of his hushed muttering.

"What kind of academy sends children into a place like this?"

…So that's what he thought.

I guess, this was rough even by Demon Academy standards and maybe the old guy wasn't as shady as I had first assumed after all.

I didn't have to pay for anything. The academy covered all the expenses for high-ranking missions. The transport and a few other necessities were all provided.

I lifted my gaze toward the massive gate and the circular walls standing nearly a kilometer ahead of us.

That was Anciana and except for that city… there was absolutely nothing for thousands of kilometers.

The carriage itself had traveled through a teleportation array placed nearly a hundred kilometers away from the city.

And thankfully, when I say carriage, I mean a mana-enhanced one. That was the only reason we made it here within an hour otherwise, the journey would've taken days.

In any case, now wasn't the time for that.

I ducked instinctively as something sharp flew right over my head.

Of course, it was Noah who had swung his sword at me.

"What the fuck are you doing, bitc—"

"Pfftt—"

I jumped back slightly and turned around to face him but before I could say anything, I burst out laughing.

His face…

His face was completely swollen with blood dripping straight from his nose.

"What the hell happened to you?" I laughed. "Did you decide to become even uglier than before?"

Yeah, it looked like I had gloriously won the knee-to-face battle but before I could properly celebrate, laughter erupted all around us.

Viola, Arthur and Seraphina were openly laughing while Sylvie and Bearlo looked like they were barely holding it in.

And Arza, well, she had already taken out a chocolate from her storage ring and was calmly eating it, completely unbothered by the chaos.

They weren't just laughing at Noah.

They were pointing at me too.

"What the hell?"

I quickly pulled a mirror out from inside my cloak and checked my reflection.

…Yeah.

My face was no better than Noah's.

"You bastard." I pulled out my card, ready to show this guy the consequences.

Noah responded in kind, gripping his sword as bright red energy flared around it.

"You wanna go, Assborn?" He taunted.

This bastard had evolved from his old depressed piece-of-shit personality and had even learned how to taunt me creatively now.

If I weren't so pissed at him, I might have actually felt proud of how much I had helped his character develop over the past few weeks…

But yeah, now wasn't the time for that.

Now, it was time for war.

We were just about to settle things properly when a loud and authoritative voice cut through both of us.

"Stop. Both of you."

It was Viola.

"Don't forget why we're here." Her voice left no room for argument.

Noah looked furious but in the end, he gave up and sheathed his sword.

Honestly, sometimes I seriously wondered what Viola had said to him or what kind of magic she had used, to make this bastard so obedient. He wasn't supposed to be like this at this point in time but well, it was a good thing.

I put my cards away as well, then turned toward Viola with the most innocent expression I could manage.

"Yes… I remember," I said softly. "But Viola, look what he did to my face."

I leaned in a little.

"Let me just take one punch at his face. Pretty please."

I used the exact tone that had melted her sisterly heart countless times before.

It always worked.

But this time… as she looked at me… Something about her gaze felt wrong and cold as if she wasn't looking at me like a brother but as a monster.

What the hell happened to her?

And for the first time in a long while, I felt like I might have miscalculated.

Noah was already glaring at me from the side, his body tense, clearly preparing to fight. He looked almost certain Viola would say yes.

But contrary to both of our expectations, she spoke.

"No."

Her voice was cold.

Noah's face immediately brightened.

Mine didn't.

Did I… somehow piss her off?

—

Meanwhile, Arza, completely unaware of the mess she had unintentionally created, continued eating her chocolate as a soft snowflake landed on her head.

She didn't react or care and simply finished her chocolate.

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