Races: Online (VR Smartphone App)

The Mage-Secretary started her day with a beautiful warm cup of roasted coffee beans which was a perk in her position. Somehow, these were imported by a certain Farmer along the name of Joe—not that it mattered to her, as long as the stuff worked.

It was an invigorating scent and taste that lifted her spirits far better than any kind of stamina potion could do. And she had much need for extra energy and stimulants to pique herself up.

She came before the Council Men arrived and naturally had access to Messages sent directly in the office that had urgent directives and missives. Well, usually there wasn't anything like that and similar to that of a certain Guardsman—her life was pretty mundane.

Except for recent events.

Secretary Xaralyn Clarke stared at the documents, sighed about the situation in one of the districts, Copperhome, and was about to shut it down—but nearly dropped her drink over the parchments at the last line she had skimmed over.

'Student previously abducted by the three fugitives.'

"What?" Those words weren't simple or innocuous as they initially appeared to be. Well, someone else might have paid a small note to it. It wasn't a secret that the body between the Kraelonia Academy and the City Council of Gloria weren't on the best terms.

And yet it was the code for something else. It was those three intruders that snuck in the city and slew countless people, caused havoc—Xaralyn clutched her jittery arm and shook her head.

She placed the cup of joe down.

Somehow that phrase oddly fit as she sat back down and ran her fingers through her hair. "How am I going to report this to them?" She was more Secretary than Mage at this point, her skillset as a Mage mostly focused on sending Messages and receiving them. Other than that, there was nothing else she did much.

Perhaps cast a few sparks of light—nothing too fancy.

And yet she was getting way too distracted.contemporary romance

"Ah, Miss Clarke—tip top early as always. You beat me to it." a cheerful man's voice greeted her. The man stepped inside of the office, walking around the table and grinned. "Can you get me that cup of coffee as well? Although it seems like it'll be quiet today, I don't see much paperworks. How about any visitors?"

This time it wasn't Councilman Barth, which was good in a way because it meant the man wasn't going to pass out—but she didn't know how Councilman Zave was going to take in the news.

Did they need to interrogate the Student?

Xaralyn hesitated for a second. "Uh, Councilman… I'm not so sure if it'll be quiet today."

And she didn't want to get him a cup of coffee either.

—-

Han Jing woke up—no, Han did. Well, distinguishing between the two wasn't any good or had any use at all… except it did for him. It was easier to keep calling himself 'Han' here and 'Jing' back on earth to keep things simple.

He wasn't exactly sure how he got home.

Back to his dormitory room. He remembered getting brought to a clinic, but the memory of being delivered back to the Kraelonia Academy was a bit flimsy at most. Was it because he got drunk?

He checked his body for a bandage and noticed that his injuries were actually healed and nonexistent underneath them. Still, Han kept them on just in case—it was a bit lazy, but who else could anticipate and imagine that it could get him out of some training under Professor Uriel's class or make Professor Carnus a little bit more considerate?

Yeah, this was Han Jing—er, Han. 

He got out of bed and quickly prepared for the start of the day. It was almost rhythmic that he didn't even need to think about it too much. He went through the motions and marched out of the room in less than five minutes.

"Huh, I'm getting fast," he muttered to himself and looked around the Dewrowan Tower.

There were very few people around and all of them were moving languidly. It was strange since he used to rush out with Timothy to get to class on time. A quick check on his status screen confirmed that he came out early.

Way earlier than he expected.

Strange.

But then he saw a familiar figure walk about the courtyard. It was Angelika, Elliot and Penelope Primrose—

"Good morning!" he called out and waved.

"Ah,  Han. You're early again as usual. Did you want to spar with me?" Lady Angelika asked. Her armor shone in particular at that instance, and she even patted her sword. "I'd love to join you today, but I'll be studying with Penny and Ellie right now."

"Oh… studying?" Han blinked. But then recalled that he actually did spar with her some time ago.

"For the upcoming finals. But surely you've already studied, haven't you, Han?" Penelope eyed him with a grouchy look. Well, it was less mean than before, but still held a touch of annoyance.

Elliot shrugged. "He currently seems to be a bit out of it, best not disturb him, big sister."

A perceptive comment, if anyone else could give one. But Han scratched his head. "Yeah, and I guess you guys haven't heard of what happened last night have you?"

"The barbecue party?" Penelope wrinkled her nose at him. "That Teresa came in late last night. It was rather noisy as she got reprimanded by the dorm keeper. I had difficulty sleeping because of it—did you have anything to do with this, then? Although that seems to be a common thing now that I think of it."

"Penny…" Angelika nudged her sister.

She wasn't wrong. Not that Han planned to lie and say otherwise as he grimaced. "Yeah, we just got attacked by uh bandits—criminal lowlife or whatever you call them." 

"Huh?" Lady Angelika blinked. "We haven't exactly gotten the details yet, but that's what happened… did you and the others manage to find the proper authorities at that time? It's a little troubling to return here late for that reason."

"We just kinda walked in the seedier parts of the city, but yeah—we had Guardsmen with us." Han explained. "One of them was strong and actually did a lot of fighting, and so did the others. Everybody fought."

"I knew that something dangerous might happen." Penelope grumbled underneath her breath.

"But we're glad that you're all safe and unharmed." Lady Angelika said. "Pardon our words, we haven't learned of it yet. But does that mean you won't be training right now? A fight with criminals is..."

"I'm hungry now. Shall we have breakfast please?" Elliot tugged Lady Penelope's sleeve.

Penelope glanced at Han and Angelika. "If you two insist on talking with one another, then let it be in the dining hall." Without waiting for another moment, she and Elliot walked away and expected Angelika to follow.

The older woman was a bit torn, until Han waved at her. "I'll probably study later—thanks. Have a good breakfast with your siblings."

She nodded and caught up with her two siblings and soon left Han all by himself. Well, not quite. Han glanced behind his shoulder and caught the sight of a cloaked figure hiding behind one of the posts, the one that he actually didn't mind being around him. "Ellynn, you should have said something."

"Hello." She inclined her head at him. "I'm glad that you're alright."

The two of them had talked already, but the weeks where he had practically left her alone made things awkward. Han scratched the back of his head. "If you were there, I'm sure that you could have dealt with all of them by yourself."

His compliment only made her chuckle. She shook her head and said, "You overestimate me."

"Well you are strong and have a lot of experience—"

Her green eyes bore at him, her lips pressed together thinly. "Is that how you are trying to call me old?"

"Uh no—of course not, I'm just saying…well, I suppose that you're probably older than the Guardsman who helped us last night. But I don't think you're old or anything." Han needed to watch his words better, but the Half Elf didn't blow him off or anything like it.

Instead, she approached him and asked. "This time, would you like to study with me? Or have you made arrangements with the others?"

"A study group?" Han scratched his head. "I mean, I'm expecting some help from Kai when we talked with him yesterday—"

"Yes, but if you're studying with others. I'll… tag along."

"Oh, that also sounds good," he said. Han couldn't say he was surprised or expected that she'd someday decide to be more decisive with hanging out with others. He did confront her about it before, or rather told her that he'd help her get some friends.

And yet where were the two of them now?

The Half Elf nodded. "Mhmm. Are you going to the dining hall for breakfast now? Or will you skip it?" There was a sense of surety in the way she said it, almost like she had noticed and taken down notes of how Han operated for the times that he… Han Jing wasn't fully around.

Han grinned. "Me? Skip breakfast—maybe sometimes, but we need to eat to get energy. Let's eat. It's more neat to eat with just you anyway, that Elliot kid gives me the creeps."

"Creeps?" Ellynn tilted her head at him.

"Eh, he's just the kid like my—my imagination of how super clingy but brat-like siblings act as. He's probably the type to send an Elemental Orb at a guy because he looked at his sister the wrong way."

—-—-

Author's Note: There's a certain erratic and tense feeling as I wrote this. Jarring, even? Not sure if it's because of the sudden surprises that Han is getting and the situation so far. But thank you for reading!

done.co