Seated atop a grand bed in an absurdly luxurious room was a divinely handsome boy, eyes closed, expression calm and utterly focused.

…Or at least, that's how it should have looked.

Because if I were truly focused, there is no way I would have the time or mental capacity for such useless and self-indulgent thoughts.

It had been two days since we arrived in the beautiful city of Anciana and ever since then, my life had been painfully simple.

Train, rest and train again.

All of it following that brief but impactful conversation with Viola and Seraphina.

The reason I was going so out of character to do such intense training was because I wanted to reach D-Rank as soon as humanly possible.

I mean, all my plans would fail otherwise.

I had even asked Seraphina to aim for that rank as well, to push herself without holding back and to her credit, she truly was giving it her all.

As for Umbra Sera… I hadn't seen her since then.

She was probably somewhere deep in thought, questioning her life choices after daring to say I wasn't her type.

Yeah, I hadn't forgotten that little comment even slightly.

But of course, I wasn't petty enough to start planning an elaborate prank targeting her normal form because of it…

…Definitely not.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

The sudden sound shattered my very deep meditation.

"So loud for something that's supposed to be a knock…" I grumbled under my breath.

"Rael, you there?" a deep, masculine voice called from the other side.

Yeah, that voice was unmistakable.

Arthur.

But it wasn't just him.

I could feel multiple presences gathered beyond the door.

The whole team, then.

Letting out a quiet sigh, I rose from the bed and walked toward the door before pulling it open.

And just as I had expected, everyone was there, each of them wearing a completely different expression.

"Hey, guys… so, how was the mission?"

They didn't bother answering.

Instead, they simply walked in, one after another, following Viola's lead, without so much as asking for permission.

Only Arthur and Sylvie hesitated for a brief moment but even they eventually followed the others inside.

…Rude.

"Yeah, come in. Why not?" I said sarcastically, though unsurprisingly none of them bothered to reply.

Only after they had seated themselves neatly around the table, like they owned the damn place, did they finally begin.

Viola spoke first. "I searched the eastern district with Noah but there was no trace of Eugene D. Salamont."

Right, the thief we were supposed to track down and retrieve the stolen artifacts from.

Not that I actually planned on completing the mission.

Still, I couldn't afford to let my teammates grow suspicious of my intentions, especially not when that annoying brat of a student council president was already breathing down my neck.

So I did the obvious thing.

I assigned everyone special missions, just convincing enough to make it look like we were genuinely trying and, of course, I made sure to group together people I knew wouldn't complain.

Viola and Noah were paired together.

Arthur and Sylvie formed another team.

As for the rest of us, Seraphina, Bearlo, Arza and me, we grouped up as well, pretending to search while actually training for what was to come.

Seraphina and Bearlo already knew the plan.

Arza, on the other hand, didn't care enough to even ask.

I nodded thoughtfully, my gaze settling on Viola. "Hmm… seems Eugene's better at hiding than we initially thought."

Then I turned toward Arthur and Sylvie. "What about you two? Notice anything unusual?"

"We searched the western district but couldn't find anything either," Arthur replied.

Sylvie spoke up from the side right after. "That said, while we didn't uncover anything about Eugene himself, we did hear about a local auction happening in three days."

She paused, eyes narrowing slightly.

"And if Eugene wants to make real money, I am pretty sure he will try to sell the artifacts there."

"That could be it," I said, acting like the revelation was a big deal while silently cursing in my head.

Tsk. Why did she have to be so sharp about it?

But before I could say anything else, a rude voice cut in.

"What about you?" he sneered. "Where did you search? From the looks of it, you didn't even bother leaving your room while we did all the hard work, huh, Assborn?"

"And why the hell do we have to report to you?"

…Yeah.

There was only one person who could spit out something like that.

Noah, the perpetually depressed piece of shit who seemed to live solely for the chance to drag me down with him.

"Arza and I searched the entire southern district," I said smoothly. "Unfortunately, we didn't find anything either. If you want a detailed report, you can ask Arza yourself."

I lied as naturally as breathing, fully aware that Noah wouldn't dare question Arza about anything.

Then I smiled.

"And it's Ashborn, not Assborn," I added calmly. "Though I can see why you would get confused, considering that ass-like face of yours, you bastard."

Before we could spiral into the hundredth round of our petty feud and probably destroy something in the process, Viola cut in sharply.

"Enough, you two," she said coldly. "We don't have time to play around."

Her gaze swept over us.

"If we fail to complete the mission within ten days, we will be penalized. So get it together."

Noah shot me a venomous glare, dragging a finger across his throat in a clear, wordless threat.

I simply smiled back.

Then, just to be creative, I flipped my fingers at him in return.

Before Noah could say anything else, I shifted my gaze to everyone in the room.

"There is one place," I said slowly, "where we might gather information… while also enjoying ourselves."

Truth be told, I had originally planned to go there alone and earn myself some sweet and effortless cash to help me buy some herbs and potions for ranking up.

But hey, I decided to be benevolent and let these poor bastards experience a little joy in life too.

Definitely not because I wanted them around as backup in case things went south.

Viola and the others looked at me with open curiosity.

I smiled.

"So," I asked lightly, "who wants to go to a banquet?"

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