Sévir Is A Pariah!

One by one, they dropped off the supply carriage and walked up the clear, plain and tall hill where light illuminated, revealing the white tents and guards it housed.

The guards gave them sharp and perhaps meticulous glances through their masks, allowing them to pass without issues.

Sévir passed by multiple unfamiliar faces that wore the same Stepan uniform, though their overall appearances gave off sixth to eighth year vibes.

He already knew his duty as referenced from the meeting hours ago—he was to be on observation duty for two hours, then Percival would replace him. It wasn't anything too hard, he just had to look in front and take a few glances to both his sides.

He found himself a seat that exposed the entire front view—the Medulla Pontus included, albeit beside a black-haired girl who seemed to not mind him around.

In-between all the greenery was quite the wide cobblestone road that appeared narrow from the distance and led up to the hill, it was the very road that connected to Medulla Pontus, a bridge just as wide.

Based on his observations upon entry, they numbered around forty. That could be enough if they were going to fight gangsters (now generally coined as bandits), who usually lacked skills, but the possible number was concerning if their plan was graded a mass offensive.

There wasn't a need for calculation, he could already tell the dark, void-like river will share its space with skin and blood.

After the deaths the fourth years mustered, which were the only academy deaths, he could understand why they weren't bringing any levels below fifth years to this upcoming battle—it wasn't worth it.

"What's on your mind, Junior?" asked the senior beside him. He instinctively turned to her, meeting her snake eyes as green as taiga leaves. From the bottom of his vision, he noticed her golden necklace that resembled a snake.

"You.." But that wasn't what bothered him. "Why are you talking to me?"

"Is it forbidden?"

"Not at all but—"

She pressed a finger against his mouth, much to his surprise. "Yeah yeah, I know." her eyes narrowed. "I can see it in your eyes.. Or rather, I just know a little about you"

As their locked gazes prolonged with the silence, his mind slowly and silently spun unexpectedly. He couldn't understand why, but he knew he had to break it off to get rid of the awkwardness.

And yet, he found it difficult to break it off. He could see the glow in her eyes, one so weirdly hypnotising, it threatened to swallow him whole.

His vision spun and blurred like he was under some effect. The only thing he could hear were her echoing words as the lightheadedness grew.

"You have quite the intense stare, Junior. Well I'm quite the attractive woman after all."

He forced his eyes shut for a moment and blinked a bit more, the lightheadedness and messed vision disappearing as if it never happened.

"Sorry." he looked away.

"Don't sweat it, it makes me more proud of myself than I already am."

He couldn't tell whether she was just self-confident or conceited.

"I'm Venice. Remember my name," she chuckled, "you'll only have me saying it once."

Unable to share enthusiasm, he just nodded.

"You aren't much of a talker, huh? Figures. Say, do you have any friends?.. Err, probably not."

Okay, she didn't have to rub it that way, he thought.

"Well then, let's be friends." she extended her hand with a sincere smile.

He darted between her hand and her smile, unsure of her intentions. She was quite awfully like Minerva in this case, but she seemed the type to refuse surrender due to her pride.

He slowly extended his, still debating whether this was right or not.

Without hesitation, she reached out to him with both of hers as he went halfway. "Great!"

There had to be something behind it. No way there's none, but what could it be?

"Err.. You can let go now."

She did just that.

"So—"

The air sliced closer as the sound of a bang caught up. Sévir tensed to the sight of a bullet coming in from the corner of his eye.

Just as he was about to duck, the bullet that seemed so close to ending one's life burned and dropped immediately.

Even so, his hand found itself pulling her down by the arm.

A few more bullets came in, only then did he realise pulling her down, which he involuntarily did was the right decision.

He cautiously got up as did Venice. "They're attacking already?? But their plan was to attack at midnight."

She stood up decisively, much to his surprise. "It doesn't matter now, does it? What we need to do now is fight back." she extended her right arm, her hand glowing grey green—an uncommon casting colour. "That said, it's quite surprising they're actually nearly landing their shots."

Her confidence seemed to be the sole reason why she's standing up and exposing herself to the incoming hail of bullets a distance away, yet none of them hit as they all fell to the ground liquidised and burning.

"Pretty cool, right Junior?" she turned to him.

"..What's your magic?" he couldn't deny his curiosity, he'd never seen something like that before. From how it looked, did it have something to do with acid?

That was very likely.

"You'll see when they get close."

Behind them, the yells of knights to gather and prepare for battle.

His plan was countered. He hoped for the syndicate to send some guys and ambush the bandits en route, but here they were, much earlier than he expected.

He slightly poke his head out to take some quick observations, and while the darkness cloaked their appearances, the explosions from the gunshots hinted at around thirty.

But that didn't mean he could rest easy, there had to be way more behind, he was sure of it.

If that were the case, then this battle will take a while.