Races: Online (VR Smartphone App)

Boaz and Ryden were looking forward to their lunch break. 

Actually, it was just Ryden who was excited about it. Boaz was actually looking around and whistling to himself. He was waiting for Deliah to come up and maybe exchange a few words with her as they changed shifts—but it was just to test out his new Diplomat Skill, that's all!

"You're so obvious, you know that?" Ryden swung an arm against his shoulder.

Boaz glowered and swatted his colleague off of him. "Get that arm away from me. What are you even talking about?"

"Instead of thinking if [ All Eyes On Me ] will work out well—why not help me decide where to eat for lunch?" Ryden shrugged. "Ever since that supposed Beast Tamer of yours ruined my favorite tavern, I don't have any cheap places to eat anymore."

Boaz stared at the guy in front of him and wished that he actually stayed in the clinic for at least half a year. "Are you serious? There are several food stalls and inns here—you know what, just quit talking to me and shut up, that's not my Skill's name." 

Ryden raised a brow, somewhat offended and amused at the same time. "What? Isn't it supposed to keep people's attention on you? Hah, I don't think it's going to work well—"

"Boaz!" Deliah shouted and waved at them a street away. It was actually still about two hours before their lunch break and shift in posts so her arrival was a surprise. 

Ryden blinked and stared back at Boaz. "What level and Class did you get again? Is this a Summoner class? Are you going to change jobs now? Could you use it to capture enemies' attention while I attack from behind?"

"Shut up—ah, Deliah, good morning." Boaz shifted away from his colleague once Deliah arrived. He was quick to greet her, but instead of smiling back at him, there was a serious expression on her face. He blinked. "What's the matter?"

Deliah scratched at her cheek. "One of your reports to the Guard Captain last night has made the city's Councilmen summon you. I'm not sure if it's good news… but you are expected to meet with Councilman Zave. I was asked to take over for you."

"Hmm, I guess it was the incident at Copperhome last night." Ryden rubbed his chin. 

"Copperhome?" Delilah raised a brow.

Ryden grinned. "Well, I guess Captain Ainsley still hasn't talked about our accomplishments. I mean, I did most of the work but Bo—"

Boaz cleared his throat and effectively cut off his friend. "We'll be there right away,"

"You were the only one summoned," Deliah said.

"Oh, right."

"Don't be too sad, Bo. It can't be helped." Ryden chuckled.

Boaz stared at him gravely this one time. Ryden did not need to let Deliah know how things turned out with the gangs… but he eventually just cursed his luck and headed to the council's building. Ryden was still going to blab about it whether he tried to stop him or not.

After he left the city's first street, Boaz hurried up. While he did his best to act relaxed and everything earlier—it probably never crossed Ryden's mind—this summon was about the Student he reported from Kraelonia Academy wasn't it?

A part of him kind of regretted putting it on the postscript.

—-

Han wasn't actually sure if he was supposed to meet the Blacksmith during lunch—it was that or right after all of their classes for the day. He was actually okay with it being lunch because using his wand to attack a staff user wasn't working well.

And it wasn't him being stupid and using it to block a much bigger wooden stick—okay, he only did it once and then realized that the quality of the wood was great. That might have been a little stupid, but the Wood Elf promised him the highest quality of enchanted wood so a little experimentation never hurt.

But yes, he could cast Spells during their spar.

But even trying the [ Earth Shaker ] just resulted with Lu Rei using her staff to launch herself into the air. She hit him squarely in the jaw and knocked him out for about half an hour. 

Once Han woke up, he also got reprimanded for changing the terrain too much by Professor Uriel. It hadn't been his intention to cause too much of an earthquake since it drained his mana levels too much—but his mastery somehow exceeded his own memory of the Spell.

Even just a small amount of his mana caused too much havoc that it even shook him. 

Whatever the case, it wasn't like anybody actually got hurt. But the Professor treated it like it was a huge fault of Han that he could move dirt and stuff and threw everyone off for a bit.

Okay, maybe that was bad.

But Han also ended up waking up when class was near its end and didn't have to wait that much for lunch. Right after the spar with Lu Rei, the attack that knocked him out and a quick reprimand from Professor Uriel, he encountered another surprise once he left the courtyard with the others.

Someone was waiting for him.

At least, Han thought that Ellynn was waiting for him more than everyone else. Although she hadn't really done this before—so it might be because Teresa invited her to have lunch with them.

Regardless, Han received some nagging from her. 

"You should have drunk the healing potion I gave you." Ellynn told him with a sour look on her face.

Han scratched the back of his head. "I kinda left it in my room." It wouldn't be any good to pull it out of thin air.

"Hey, we came here right away after classes—and you really don't look good, Han," Russel said. He reached out and poked Han in the face. 

Han made a face and lightly slapped the guy's hand away. "Easy on the bruises."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Russel grinned. "I liked touching mine—not that I get many bruises in the first place. But it's got that nice feeling between pain and odd relief? I dunno about you guys."

Han raised his brows. "A masochist?"

Ellynn standing beside the two of them only sighed. She pulled up a potion bottle from her cloak and poured a couple of drops on her fingers. The Half Elf quickly dabbed it on Han's jaw and patted his face. "You should watch out more from attacks." She scolded him.

It was just in time for the others to catch up to the hallway. The three of them moved aside as the rest of the Combat Students headed for the dining hall. 

"Relying too much on healing potions isn't that great," Donovan called out to them as he caught the scene. He shook his head. "You become too soft and squishy."

"That's the funny thing though—isn't it better to work when your body's completely healed?" Russel asked.

Donovan scowled. "Potion tolerance is a serious thing."

Han only blinked and processed Ellynn's touch after it was all over. He didn't expect she'd do something like it, so Donovan's words mostly fell to a deaf man's ears.contemporary romance

"Ellynn it's good to see you!" Teresa waved at her, Lu Rei and even Lady Angelika in tow. 

"What about me?" Russel asked.

Teresa just made a face. "You make me lose my appetite for lunch—but, if you're up for it, Ellynn I mean… All of us girls can stay at one table. These guys stink a lot after too much sparring."

Sir Leon de Haarrington cleared his throat. "I don't think that applies to all of us—but, er, that sounds like fun?" 

"Yeah—but you're not invited even when you smell like Vetiver grass." Teresa wagged a finger at the Noble.

Han stifled a cough and the rest of them held varying reactions. From the poker-faced Calum to Diov suddenly laughing. 

—-

It wasn't as if Kraelonia Academy encountered several visits one after another. Sure, the Crowel House visited their place and unknown to a vast majority that a Princess stayed in one of its rooms, but it was rare.

The Kraelonia Academy was usually devoid of such things unless they happened to be graduates of said institution—so if it so happened that a group of Guardsmen were to come along then it was an unwelcome experience. 

Especially if it was to bring up something about how some of their Students got endangered in the city proper. Things were already a little tense between the City of Gloria and Kraelonia Academy itself. The City of Gloria deemed Kraelonia Academy's entire property as something that should be owned by the city.

Similar to how it was used as a fortress in the past, most of the people in the council thought it was fair that the Academy located themselves elsewhere.

While Boaz didn't actually care about such things—somehow, now that he was a Diplomat—or held a Class related to interacting with different parties, little details like this were important to him.

So he was actually surprised when a cold drink was placed in front of him. 

A Professor smiled at him and motioned to the drink. "So you mentioned something about one of the Students meeting three fugitives, did you? It was during the Colossal Wyvern attacking a while back—did you think that the two events were linked?" 

Boaz wasn't here to get interrogated... it should have been the other way around!

"Don't worry, it's not poisoned. Maybe some truth serums, but that's a given, right?"

—-

Author's Note: Did I make a reference to Bo Burnham's Inside Netflix Special? Yes, yes I did. I recommend it if you haven't watched it yet. But yes, a little more mixed POVs again which makes it a little slow and confusing? Hope it was still a good read!

done.co