The Extra is a Hero?

The sun was burning my face and I was walking in Arcadia City.

The cobblestone streets shone with a thin layer of golden dust, gravel, impregnable with mana, which made the city vibrate during the day.

The typical bustle of the capital engulfed me; street sellers shouted in the background of the mana-car stream, selling roasted wings of wyverns, as well as magical scrolls that would, they said, enhance your attractiveness by thirty percent.

Two guards in shining blue armor walked by, their halberds shimmering faintly with runic wards.

A team of first-year adventurers was crowded around a bulletin board, debating a new dungeon posting. It was raving, noisy, alive--a world much farther away than the stifling courtesy of the Academy.

I pulled my collar and proceeded towards the town square.

The Sunflower Café could not be overlooked, being two stories of yellow paint, with vines clinging to the sides, and windows that were warmly illuminated. There was the slight odor of caramel and roasted beans. The cafe was now a haven of both students and mercenaries--a neutral place where gossip, gold, and even secrets passed freely over cups of mana-brew.

When I pushed the door open the bell struck quietly and I saw him at once.

Victor was already sitting before the window, and he was vibrating. He was seated with a half-empty cup of coffee before him, a number of papers that looked like a battle-field map, and the sort of nervous vigor which might under normal conditions have operated a small mana generator.

The instant his eyes were on me he jumped to his feet and made frantic gestures.

"Boss! Over here!"

A few heads turned. A fine girl at the counter looked at him as the circus animals do.

I sighed. I walked over, saying to myself, Victor. "Subtlety is a virtue, you know. We are an organization, and not a circus troupe.

"Right, right—'secret,' got it." He bumped forward and spoke in a voice that was audible three tables distant. "So! The name! Have you decided?"

I sat down in the opposite booth and placed my satchel. You just could not wait, could you?

"Wait? Boss, this is economy Empire being born! Victor made a dramatic gesture; almost knocking down his coffee. "We need something strong. Powerful. Something that shouts, We possess half the continent! How about Phoenix Capital? Or maybe Apex Holdings! Sounds fancy, right?"

I drank a drop of water, and gazed at him vacantly. They are reminiscent of tax evasion schemes.

Victor blinked. "…What?"

"Too loud," I said simply. Such names are like screamers of new money and draw auditors. We need something quieter. Strong, but subtle. The type of name that causes the nobles to nod and reason, Oh, they must be old money.

Victor slumped a bit. "So, nothing that sounds cool."

"Exactly."

He resembled the fact that I had just informed him that dragons did not exist.

Then what, he asked himself, pouting a little.

I leaned back, considering. "Aegis Holdings."

He blinked. "Aegis? Like… the shield?"

"Exactly." I met his gaze evenly. we are not making a sword to cut the nobles--yet. We're building a shield. For us. For our allies. It is a stronghold of wealth and power that cannot be reached.

The look of Victor changed to bewilderment, and then to sick amazement, and finally to insane excitement. A shield... that is a shiner, Boss! Protective, proud, yet it is a vow of power! Aegis Holdings. I love it."

He took a napkin and started furiously scribbling. "Okay, so, Aegis Holdings—check. I have registration to do tomorrow morning. We will require legal coverage, treasury structure, perhaps a couple of shell companies to be on the safe side--

I have the money already, I interjected. Startup cost 3 billions of Ren. Recruit the top attorneys in Arcadia. I want everything ironclad. You will be the front office CEO and my name will remain concealed behind three layers of shell companies.

His pen froze mid‑stroke. "…CEO?"

"Yes," I said. "The face of Aegis Holdings."

Victor looked at me as though I had given him the keys of a war-ship. "Boss… My final company I managed became bankrupt within two months. I lost every investor we had."

And did you learn it, I said. "You have talent, Victor. You simply did not have a right supporter. Now you have one. Don't disappoint me."

He gazed, with his mouth ajar, and his face broadened into a great grin--awe and half terror. Swear, Boss, swear, on my name, on my debt, on my addictive coffee habit, I will not fail you.

"See that you don't," I said dryly.

At this moment the waitress, who was a young girl with auburn hair and mana freckles, passed by smiling. Would you gentlemen care to order?

Victor panicked. Two of whatever's hot coffee wait, I mean expensive! I mean—"

I will have a black roast, I said in a smooth manner. And a vanilla frappe he will have. With extra cream."

Victor looked betrayed. "Boss…"

Your personality, I said, and concealed a smirk behind the menu.

As the waitress went, he sighed melodramatically. You do like to bully me, do you?

Take it as leadership training, I thought, leaning back.

He chuckled despite himself. The tension eased. Beyond the window, the skyline of Arcadia dazzled with small streaks of mana sweeping over the horizon--merchant highways, noble currents of power, strings of influence and money that could not be seen.

Victor turned his eyes in the direction of my gaze, and smiled. "You think we'll really make it? This… company thing?"

"We won't make it," I said quietly. "We'll define it."

He looked at me, and a slow fierce grin spread over his face. "Damn, you're serious," he said.

I answered, I never take anything serious.

Victor laughed so hearty that some of the customers escaped towards us. I sighed. You will have us both thrown in jail one day.

It was, he said, and lifted his cup. To Aegis Holdings--the start of something mad.

To live, I answered, and banged my cup on his.

_________

The sun had gone down the horizon before I came back to the Academy.

Mana light were fluttering into existence along the ways. Their pallid blue light was bounced back along the marble aisles. Pupils ran up and down the courtyards, and there was laughing and whispering in the corridors. The Academy breathed rather than stifled as it had not been breathing before.

Towards the Disciplinary Committee room I went. The door was open ajar and a piece of light trickled in the darkness.

I pushed it open.

Maria sat inside. Her hair, which was silver in the lamplight, fell upon her face and her eyes were fixed upon the paper as her pen flew rapidly. She didn't look up.

"You're late," she said evenly.

I was having an appointment, I said, leaning by the door. She murmured, still writing.

"I know. The Committee maintains records of all the students who leave and come back. You were gone for three hours."

"Efficient as ever," I said.

Finally, she looked up. Her penetrating blue eyes met my eyes. Mellow and cool, yet with an air of slight interest.

There must have been some important meeting.

You might say so, I said, as I drew nearer. Only getting some investments in the future.

Her brow was a little raised, but she did not insist. Rather, she pressed a stack of papers, in a pile, in my direction.

These came during the period of your absence.

I peeped at the pile--grievances, dozens of them.

She said that students are not afraid to speak up since the corruption scandal. Bullies, extortion, fixed duels,-- the dam has burst.

I took up the first file and stopped.

Name: Alex Ford.

The cronies of Russell Belnic, Maria said to herself.

They surrounded him close to the training ground. Apparently, they did not like their Baron have his family reputation dragged into the mud.

My jaw tightened. "Is he hurt?" I asked.

"No," she said.

"Someone intervened." She gave me a witness report.

The third year--Jax Blackwood, of the Hunting Club. He and his friends stepped in."

I exhaled slowly. The Academy was already evolving. Citizens were behaving fearlessly. That was the true victory.

"Good," I said softly. ..

"Send a formal warning to Belnic group. Another accident and they will be suspended - family influence, hell."

Maria shook her head, and was already preparing the report. Her gestures were fine, elegant, nearly exquisite. Then she glanced up again.

You look weary, she said lowly.

"I've had a long day," I admitted.

I can tell, she thought, then stopped. Her lips smiled in an almost timid fashion.

"But you handled it well. You always do."

The room fell silent. The lamp was flickering and it gave a soft golden light on her face. Her eyes were different--they were not sharp but warm.

There was a moment of tension between us, thin and hot.

then she rose, and packed her belongings, the mask sliding over again.

Michael, do not keep too late. Professor Alastor has combat-training to-morrow morning.

I groaned. "Ah, yes. His hobby- turning the students into much. "

She chuckled softly. "Then try not to die. It would be dreadfully inconvenient of paperwork.

And so smiling a little, she walked away to the door. Her fragrance was very weak-- jasmine and frost.

Before she went, I called her name, Maria.

She paused, half‑turning.

"…Thank you."

Her lips curved faintly. "For what?"

To get things going when I am busy being a businessman.

Somebody must, said she with an injured kind of a laugh. Then, less vehemently: You need not do all by yourself, you see.

I didn't answer. When I had a good idea, she had vanished.

The room was quiet again. Scattered papers on the desk. There had been a slight warmth in the air.

I sat down and looked at the small light of the invisible ring on my finger.

"Shield, company, allies, foes--it was all like strands of a thread, weaving up something larger than myself. "

So far, however, I was permitted to have one moment of rest.

'I guess I am beginning to like this insanity', I said to myself.

The moon was low over Arcadia Academy. The game had just begun.