Mathias was exhausted. Ever since Mia’s birthday his and Narissa’s family were making his life a living hell and he couldn’t get a minute alone with Narissa in the academy so he could relax.
He was going to marry Narissa, that wasn’t just a possibility anymore so he had to find a ring, something that was harder than it should have been. He had to get a ring all by himself, without using allowance money. He didn’t get as much as people would think but even that would help. To make things worse, he still had to train after he left the academy and everyone was making it as brutal as they could.
Just after they left Mia’s birthday party, both families went to Narissa’s house and had a lengthy discussion on how everything reached that point. After a lot of talk everyone, Mathias and Narissa included, realized that the new couple got together by some of the most powerful forces in the world. Shared trauma, stress and hormones.
What happened earlier in the year with their special trip clearly affected them so they had that to bond over with. The fact they knew each other at least causally and weren’t ugly by any metric also helped. They were never closer before, a relationship between them wasn’t something either of the teenagers ever thought about until they actually started one. But the point that really brought them together was their roles as pretty much their leader roles in the special class. Yes, after they got back from the special test they weren’t overly hostile to one another as they were at the beginning of the year but when people with strong personalities got together someone had to take charge to make sure things didn’t explode. That role fell onto them and it was stressful in a very unique way that nobody not in that situation would understand.
Mathias’ father knew his son’s friends but during the talk Mathias had to explain how they were in private. In public or in somewhat serious situations Kaki would still be the funny guy that was a little annoying but in private he had no filter and no brakes. Luminus was also a sarcastic son a bitch in private as put by Mathias. Then there were the other two. Moon was just intense and violent, he was getting better but he was always eager to fight. Klaws just hated everyone deep down because of what they did to Mia so they always had to be on their toes when dealing with him. Mathias was the only one that could actually fight the boy one on one so he had to make sure nobody got into a fight with him.
As for Narissa, only the women somewhat understood her. She was put in charge of the girls in her class but that was only on the figurative paper. They were all civil enough, the only problem child was Cassandra but she was easy to deal with. No, the problem was the outsiders. The amount of people that tried to get the girls of the special class in some drama was staggering. Narissa had to constantly point out what was happening and prepare for what might happen and even then she had to put out fire from time to time. Especially in relation to Mia since the girl had close to 0 social awareness after she almost died.
Mix all that with hormones and you had a teenage couple that didn’t think through for the most part. Both of them were at least smart enough to use magic to not make Narissa pregnant. That would have been a scandal none of the families were ready to deal with.
It was night already and Mathias hoped his call for help was heard as he entered a peculiar establishment.
“And here is the man of hour, the future Count Hidaka or would that be Count Stonewall?” Kaki asked, clearly making fun of Mathias.
“I don’t have a surname, Kaki. My father’s title also can’t be used unless I become a knight before I get married, something that is not going to happen.” Mathias said almost automatically. He was truly exhausted.
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“Didn’t know that.” Moon added.
“So, did all of you come here to help or to make fun of me?” He asked all his male classmates.
“Both actually. We feed on your suffering as you know.” Luminus said sarcastically.
“Need money.” Klaws simply said.
“Alright, let’s register. One should be enough if I bet all my money on ourselves.” Mathias said.
“Never thought we would fight in the arena or that we got permission for it.” Kaki said.
“Earn your money with your own body! Do anything you think you can do! We won’t help you!” Mathias said, mimicking his father’s commanding voice.
“No luck in finding any temporary work or job?” Luminus asked.
“I earned 50 gold the last 7 days by dealing with trash but that’s about it. No place that opens at night will hire someone from still in the academy.” Mathias explained.
“Well, at least it's enough to register.” Kaki added. They quickly moved to the registration booth of the arena.
“Good night young men. Are you here to buy tickets or place a bet?” A cute petite woman on the other side asked.
“We are here to register for the rookie survival challenge as a group of 5.” Mathias said.
“You understand that you will have to fight 100 people, right?” The woman asked.
“Yes, how much it will be?”
“1 silver per person.”
“Here, put the rest on a bet on ourselves.” Mathias said as he gave the woman all his money, 50 silver.
“What bet?”
“That we will win.”
“...It’s your money.” The woman said, just accepting things. “Here is your identification plaque. Don’t lose it or you will have to pay for another. Infuse some mana into it and it will register your information for people to check. Last room on the corridor to your right, when it is your time to fight you will be called.
“Ok.” The boys all took their identification wooden plaques and infused them with mana as they walked. The item would display their name, age, weight and height. If they so wished it would also show their cultivation stage, emitter and controller ranks.
Once they reached their room they just began to prepare themselves for the fight to come, checking their weapons and stretching.
“So, what should we expect?” Moon asked. He had no idea what to expect of the place. The place was an underground area, not illegal by any means but the simple fact that it wasn’t something really advertised openly to the public only made him think that not the best people participated in these fights.
“Fighters at the first or second rank of Ki Condensation Stage and equivalent at most. It is the rookie challenge after all.” Mathias explained.
“Speak of that. When are you going to try to advance? You are stuck at rank 8 of the Ki Gathering Stage for a while now.” Luminus asked.
“My cultivation technique is a bitch at lower levels. Something about building a strong foundation. Can’t even force anything, at this point I am constantly cultivating. At least it will get easier later if my father is to be believed.”
“Are we allowed to kill?” Klaws asked.
“You can try. The arena has some enchantment that stops people from dying most of the time and teleports them away.”
“Hey Mathias.” Kaki called.
“Yes?”
“How is it to do with Narissa? Does she like to take the lead or does she become really shy all of a sudden?” Kaki asked with a grin on his face. Mathias answered first by punching him on the shoulder.
“Wouldn’t you like to know? Seriously, don’t ask that. She would kill us if she knew I opened my mouth about anything related to that.” Mathias said.
“So she is a little unconventional.” Luminus added.
“No. That I can guarantee. Just, guys, she is a noble, that would really hurt her image, so please, this once, don’t touch the subject.”
“Alright, alright. I promised to not do anything that might hurt her image in public. I just wish you were a little more public, would help us.” Kaki said.
“Us?” Luminus said as he gave Kaki a really skewed look.
“Ok, me. If it turned out that Mathias here was some sort of beast in bed, girls might think I am one too by association.” Kaki said, putting his hands on Mathias’ shoulders.
“You know, Kaki. I hope one day you get a girl just like you.” Mathias said.
“Hope so too.” Kaki added.
“You don’t know what you are asking for…” Luminus added. Kaki did indeed not know what he was asking for.