The class was over, Place and Zandre had given the reason for their absence, and the professor had let them off with a warning.
Now the two of them were engaging with their other two roommates, who were currently marveling at Zandre's stamina.
"Did I hear that right? You ran for three hours?" Raise questioned Zandre as Place told the tale.
"He wasn't even winded." Place snorted, and Raise shook his head in wonder.
"I can't imagine running for more than a few minutes."
Zandre rubbed his neck shyly as Otis wrapped a hand around his neck.
"You've got a hell of a body, huh? Tell me about your training!"
Place had to acknowledge that fact, Zandre didn't seem like he had a body to be proud of.
"I don't have anything like that."
The three of Otis, Raise, and Place stared at Zandre with stupefaction for a moment.
"What?" Place broke the silence.
"I... haven't trained," Zandre spoke cautiously, unsure as to why they had suddenly fallen silent.
"My body has always been this strong."
...
"How interesting." Place pushed down his anger and focused on the 'how'.
"Your parents must have been something special."
"Maybe." Zandre shrugged casually.
"Anyway." Otis changed the topic. "Who's that girl?"
He gestured back to where Emilia was still seated, watching them with interest.
"The two of you know each other?"
"That's Emilia Emils, we've met plenty of times."
"Emils?" Raise raised an eyebrow. "I've heard that name before."
"I'm not surprised, their family business is quite well-known."
"And that would be?"
"The Emils built and own almost all of the arenas."
"Oh?" Otis was interested in that. "What kind of arenas?"
"We know what kind, idiot." Raise spoke up before Place could explain. "We have one near home."
"That one? Interesting..." Otis stared at Emilia with interest in his eyes.
"Could you explain it to me?" Zandre raised his hand and questioned.
"No problem."
"The Emils family arenas are officially recognized, and the competitors have to sign some contracts depending on the type of fight they are choosing."
"They are, 'Friendly', 'True', and 'Fatal'."
"Fatal?"
"Friendly fights are usually to first blood or something similar, while True and Fatal fights are not so, well... friendly."
"I think that's obvious."
"True fights are the most common, they are until the opponent or opponents give up or can no longer fight, with a few rules, of course."
"No intentionally crippling your opponent, no trying to kill your opponents, and no taking any elixirs to boost your power."
"And the 'Fatal' ones?" Zandre asked cautiously.
"The Fatal combats have no rules, and are usually till the death." Raise stated simply.
"And the officials allow them?" It was a bit contrary to what he knew about the kingdom's way of doing things.
"If both parties are fine with it, they have no reason or right to stop them."
"I see..."
The conversation trailed off.
"She's coming over." Place alerted them to Emilia moving out of her seat and descending the stairs of the hall towards them.
"Time for you to meet each other."
He took a step towards her, then noticed another person coming towards them as well.
"Time for reunion as well, it seems."
***
At the same time, Obithal Cublue received a package.
As he mused over something in his study, a box on his table drew his attention.
"Hmm?" He looked at the gem-studded box, one of the larger gems had lit up with a blue light.
"So soon?" He chuckled as he pulled the box closer to him and opened it.
A sealed envelope lay inside.
'A letter? What about?'
He opened the envelope and pulled out the sheet of paper inside.
"Dear Father, I have safely reached the academy and settled into my room. But as of this morning, there has been a bit of a situation."
As Obithal read the letter, his expression grew more and more complex. By the time he finished it, his feelings were a cocktail of puzzled, worried, and happy at the same time.
He put down the paper and sat there for a moment, thinking about what he had just learned.
'Is this why you suddenly changed your mind about going to the academy?'
He exhaled. No matter how good it seemed to be, he had responsibilities as a father.
He sent out a pulse of magic and waited for the people he summoned to arrive.
Within a few moments, two figures teleported into the room.
"What's wrong, Obie?" Uncle stepped forward.
Obithal handed over the letter to him.
"This arrived a few minutes ago." He turned to the other person. "I might need your expertise."
The other figure, cloaked from top to bottom, simply gave a single nod.
"This is... A bit worrying." Uncle stated as he handed the sheet of paper to the cloaked figure.
"What are you going to do?"
"I believe that this is what he wants, but I will ask him that myself."
Obithal rubbed his fingers against his temple.
"If he's fine with it, we'll put some spells on him and just observe, otherwise we'll pull him out, and we'll see from there."
He pulled out a palm-sized metal disc from a drawer and slid it across the table.
"Please make your way to the academy."
The hooded figure walked forward and picked up the disc, nodding.
"Now, I have a letter to respond to."
***
Place could feel the three people behind him stiffen up as the person behind Emilia drew closer.
His skin was a pale blue, and his extremely short hair was just a shade darker.
But that was not the reason behind their stiffening.
It was his eyes.
They were too round, and the irises in them, were far too large.
He walked until he was two arm's length away, and from that close, they could see that his eyes were halfway out of their sockets.
A drawn-out popping sound emerged from his mouth, followed by a low whining sound as he raised his arm for a handshake.
"Puwheee..."