By the time Kaiel left the tavern, the sky had turned pitch black. Fortunately, the light from the magic lamps illuminated the streets of the Lachtis District. They were made from crystals that glowed in the dark naturally. These crystals were a common substance that could be found primarily in mines and ruins.

With reporting back to Zephyr being all he could think about after his classes ended today; it finally dawned upon him that he had yet to eat.

Given that he still had some time before he would have to return, he figured he would go and visit his favourite location in the entirety of the district.

It was a bakery that he had consistently visited growing up. Kaiel entered the bakery, and a bell rang, signifying his entry.

Seeing who it was, the owner, a middle-aged man with a friendly face, perked up in interest, "Oh. Kaiel, I haven't seen your face in a long time."

Kaiel nodded in greeting, "I happened to be in the area. Can I have some bread?"

The owner was not discouraged by the boy's short reply, "Of course, my boy, wait a few minutes."

He busied himself, grabbing the foods that Kaiel regularly bought and liked the most.

The owner had long grown familiar with him and had formed an amicable relationship with Kaiel, despite the boy's lack of expressiveness.

They were part of the small group of people Kaiel thought positively of.

Occasionally, they would even sneak in a few extra products knowing that Kaiel would probably refuse should he see it himself.

Several minutes later, Kaiel thanked the man after coming to a compromise about the money he gave him. In the end, he walked out with a bag full of delicious confectionaries and bread for a low price. He entered a nearby park and sat on a bench, staring aimlessly as he ate.

Zephyr's words were still on his mind. Focusing on his combat ranking was easier said than done. It wasn't as if he was weak. On the contrary, depending on how you viewed it, he was actually relatively strong and considering he had only recently begun training in earnest, his improvement rate was astounding. But compared to the elites who had been nurtured meticulously from a young age with the best resources and instruction. The time they had spent in training, and the quality of training meant a tremendous gap that could not be surmounted with ordinary effort existed.

Moreover, his arts ability had still yet to awaken. He was even starting to doubt whether he had one at all. Thus far, fundamental body augmentation was the only skill in his repertoire.

The time at which mana arts users tended to awaken their arts ability varied significantly and was very circumstantial. Many of the nobles in the Empire would often inherit their family's signature arts ability. These abilities could be the most potent forms of element manipulation or something else entirely. This was one of the reasons why the nobles thought themselves to be superior to the commoners. It would be rare for the latter to awaken an ability on a similar level.

For anyone with high efficiency and powerful arts, it was expected to be used in conjunction with weapon techniques they excelled at, and it formed a mighty combo. For example, an individual was famous for their sword techniques and powerful flame mana arts ability.

It didn't take long for him to go through the sumptuous food. Before he realised, the bag previously filled to the brim had been ruthlessly devoured without a crumb left.

He slouched into the bench. The leaves falling from the surrounding trees made for a peaceful sound that tempted him to relax longer. But unfortunately, he couldn't afford to waste any more time. It was time to return to the Academy.

He threw the paper bag into the public bin nearby and walked in the direction of the Lachtis station. As he watched people walk by, he noticed one glaringly out-of-place individual.

It was a young woman who had long black hair and attractive features. She had a unique black and white outfit that seemed to be a mix of fashion styles but predominately had eastern design features. By her hip, she had a single weapon hanging. It was completely white and looked very expensive, adorned with beautiful ornaments and a tassel at the pommel. It was an eastern blade, which was rare in the Empire, meaning you'd be hard-pressed to find one in the markets.

Judging by her unique attire, she was definitely not from the Empire and was likely a visitor.

She looked troubled and was currently stopping any passerby and asking something. It was in human nature to push away things that unnerved you. And perhaps not wanting to involve themselves with such a suspicious-looking individual, everyone she talked to shook their head apprehensively.

But she did not relent.

If he continued to walk straight, it wouldn't be very long before it was his turn to be stopped by her. But Kaiel didn't want to risk that, so he tried to avoid her. But he had to walk down this road, so going near her was inevitable. Thus, he did the only thing he could. He subtly adjusted his route so he would be far enough not to be called out. But it also wouldn't seem like he was blatantly avoiding her.

Once he passed her, he felt relieved inside that it had worked.

Unfortunately, not even ten steps were taken before a voice called out to him, "Excuse me."

He cursed inside as he ignored the voice and continued to walk away. He pretended to have not heard the words addressed to him.

However, his face contorted into surprise when the collar of his uniform was tugged. There was no use in resisting as whatever was pulling him was strong beyond belief, and he was effortlessly caused to halt in his tracks. Kaiel gave up and faced the perpetrator.

Of course, it was the same woman he had wanted to avoid. He noticed it from afar, but now that she was directly in his vicinity, objectively speaking, she was gorgeous.

Her silk-like voice was laced with annoyance, "You're quite the rude brat, aren't you? I called you several times."

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

She also shot him a disapproving look.

Kaiel averted his gaze, "Sorry. I was thinking about something and didn't hear you."

He lied through his teeth.

The woman fell silent before sighing dramatically, "Listen, brat, if you're going to lie and pretend that you didn't hear me, at least make it believable."

Kaiel continued to feign ignorance. "What do you mean?"

"Still not being truthful, huh? Next time, maybe you shouldn't hasten your steps. It was slight, but luckily for you, I'm good at catching things like that."

A tut of annoyance from the boy caused her to raise her eyebrow. She found it amusing how the boy cringed at her explanation. Kaiel was annoyed that such a small minute detail had given him away. Yet, at the same time, he was utterly baffled. Under normal circumstances, no one in their right mind would go out of their way to forcibly talk to someone they knew had purposefully ignored them. Did she not feel a shred of awkwardness?

The woman was oblivious to his thoughts and shot an interrogative look at him,

"So why did you ignore me?"

"You're a stranger."

The woman tilted her head in confusion.

Kaiel thought it was self-explanatory but continued anyway, "Stranger danger."

The woman laughed, "Are you an infant?"

Ignoring the incredulous look he now had on his face, she asked him again.

"So what's the real reason?"

"You scream fishy."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Are you being serious?"

"Yes."

Words were exchanged at lightning speed. The woman couldn't believe what she was hearing. This boy was too blunt.

Kaiel elaborated for her while fixing his creased collar, "You're carrying multiple weapons in public, and while that itself is nothing uncommon since there are a lot of travellers passing through the capital, normally, they conceal their weapons in some way. Also, your outfit is way too conspicuous. And most of all..."

It's way too troublesome. The last part was left unsaid. As it was, Kaiel did not need any more trouble in his life.

"Most of all...?"

"No. Nevermind. Only those reasons."

The woman grabbed the hem of her long skirt and looked at her clothes. She was doubtful of Kaiel’s words and mumbled, "Are my clothes really that weird?"

"And..."

He was about to continue speaking but stopped abruptly. He felt something strange. He turned to look at a tree in the distance. Besides an average tree swaying due to the light breeze, nothing was out of the ordinary. In order to be certain, he imbued mana into his eyes, the blue jewels glowed with an attractive new hue. However, still, he found nothing of note and attributed it to his imagination.

"Hey!"

He snapped out of his stupor at the peeved voice. The woman did not comment on his strange behaviour and pouted cutely, "It sounds like you're nitpicking my appearance."

Kaiel remained stone-faced. "So, what did you want?"

"Right. Do you know where the Guild is located? If I'm not mistaken, it was supposed to be in the Lachtis District."

"If you're looking for it, it used to be here, but it was relocated a few years ago to the Juran District northeast of here."

She clapped her hands in realisation. No wonder. She thought to herself.

Since he had already given her directions, he might as well go all the way in helping her out, "If you want to get there quickly, then you should probably take the rail system."

"No, it's fine. I'll go by foot; it's better for me."

Kaiel did not know what she meant but did not bother to ask, "Right..."

The woman smiled brightly, "See, that wasn't so hard, was it? Anyway, thanks for the information."

As he told her what she wanted to know, Kaiel started to leave. If he wasted any more time here, he might miss curfew. And he did not want to anger the dorm mother. But he was stopped once again. She bowed her head apologetically and claimed that she had forgotten something important.

"Ah, I almost forgot to ask, what's your name?"

"Why do you need my name?"

"It's nice that you are wary of strangers, kid, but do you know you're also really unlikeable?"

Kaiel's face remained utterly void of expression. Yet the woman could still tell what he was thinking in his head. Why do I care whether someone I don't know likes me or not?

He was reluctant but still gave it in the end, "Kaiel."

"Kaiel...?"

The woman's weird reaction caused him to be the one to tilt his head in confusion this time.

The woman snapped out of it and chuckled, "My name is Meiyin. Be sure to remember that!"

Kaiel gestured in the direction and asked for permission to leave in a tired voice, "Can I leave now?"

"By all means. Thanks, and I'll see you around!"

Meiyin gave a wink as she bid farewell.

He hoped that he would definitely not see her again.

He was terrible with people who had personalities like that. They tended to force themselves onto others and came and went like a storm.

Meiyin did not move as she watched the boy leave.

Shortly after Kaiel's figure had disappeared into the distance, a masked figure emerged from the shadows.

The woman was much taller than the average person. She wore a black jacket and shorts, exposing a lot of skin. The jacket was worn lazily, displaying her shoulders and exquisite black markings spanning the entirety of her right arm and travelling up her neck. They looked like ordinary tattoos, but there was something different about them. Unlike Meiyin, she had no visible weapons in sight.

The woman wondered why her comrade had stopped in place, seemingly lost in thought. She waved her hand in front of her face, "What's wrong, Meiyin?"

Meiyin lightly brushed aside the obstruction to her vision, "No. Nothing. His name surprised me is all. It was not what I was expecting."

The woman folded her arms and let out a hum, giving the impression that she was deep in thought, "Kaiel... Kaiel...Kaiel..."

But try as she might, she could not think of anything strange about it. "Is it really that unusual?"

"Not exactly. And definitely not in the way you're thinking about it."

I guess it would make sense if he was born here. She freed herself of the useless speculations and came to a different conclusion.

"Oh.."

Meiyin smiled wryly as she saw that her comrade had lost interest.

Instead, she was more excited about another thing, "I have to admit, though, that brat is really intriguing. It may have been a simple coincidence, but he's extremely sensitive to fluctuations of mana in the atmosphere. He actually almost spotted me."

"That is very surprising."

Meiyin noted that the boy's uniform probably belonged to the famous institute of the Empire. If she had the chance, she would pay it a visit.

"We wasted a lot of time searching this area for no reason."

"Well, you would've wasted a lot more had it not been for the kid."

Meiyin raised an eyebrow, "Me?"

She's about to slack off, isn't she? Meiyin knew where this was going.

"Ah. You don't really need me to accompany you, do you? If anything, you'll probably be tired of worrying about what trouble I'll be causing next."

Meiyin was amazed at the excuse her ally gave her. It was more reasonable to assume that they found the job boring and wanted to get out of work. While what she said wasn't wrong, there was one thing Meiyin was dissatisfied with. Meiyin would've preferred it if her ally put more effort into trying to improve on the faults they were clearly aware of rather than use them as an excuse to bail out on their job.

To keep track of her general whereabouts, she asked what her plan was, "So, what are you going to do in the meanwhile?"

The masked woman placed her arms behind her head and hummed. She described her makeshift plan, "We are going to be in the capital for a while, but I'll get bored too easily if I stay in one place. And when I'm bored, I get restless. So, I will probably hunt in the vicinity. It'll be a fun little experience since it's been a while since the last time I've visited the great whatsit forest here. That way, the leader won't be able to nag at me. It'll help me keep my senses from getting dull too."

The woman visibly shivered at the mere thought of being scolded again.

Meiyin sighed, "Remember, don't get too carried away, Rosa. If not, the leader won't be mad only at you. She will scold me as well, again."

"I know. I know."

Rosa responded nonchalantly as she walked away. As soon as she reached a shadow cast by the street lamp lights, she melted into it and disappeared.

Meiyin frowned, "She's definitely going to cause another headache."