Chapter 026:

“Begin!” The headmaster’s words echoed far and wide as if boosted by the wind.

But perhaps due to how sudden the call to action was, most students remained rooted in place, seemingly unsure of how to ‘begin!’.

That being said, there were some who showed initiative.

“Let’s fucking go!” One brash student said.

“S-so suddenly?” Others stuttered.

“H-hey, stop pushing,” Some argued.

Soon, upon seeing a group of students enter with gusto into the maze, the students began moving in earnest.

The same, however, could not be said about two students who remained stationary while whispering words between them.

“They are late,”

“Patience, any time now…”

“What if something went wrong?”

“They would have told us over the communications crystal,”

“I know but still…”

“Enough. Look,”

On the main aerial ship where the two kings stood above the rest, a slight commotion ensued as a knight belonging to the Iron-Wall kingdom ran up to Nox and handed him an urgently glowing communications crystal.

Nox took it with an apathetic gaze, but his eyes widened as he heard what was being reported. After taking a moment to regain his cool, he whispered some words to the king who gave him a nod. But just as Nox was about to turn around, the king of Graveclaws spoke as well, and Nox’s expression twisted once more. The two kings spoke to each other for a while before seemingly coming to a consensus.

Soon the two left to return to the castle while the two Captain Commanders joined forces along with a couple of men from each side and disembarked from the ship before speeding off to another direction on horseback.

“It seems that things are proceeding nicely,” One of the two students from earlier spoke. His face was plain to the extent that it was forgettable.

“Yeah, okay so the plan stays the same,” The other replied. His face was equally as unremarkable save for his crooked-looking nose.

“Yes,”

“See you soon,” The two parted ways as one headed for the maze along with a group of students.

What was odd was the fact that the two students obviously did not come from the same kingdom.

………………………………………………..

“That’s weird…” Grim muttered out loud as he watched the two kings, along with their men, leave the campus.

Alexander on the other hand was focusing on the knight captain commanders of each kingdom as they ran off in the same direction. “I wonder what that’s all about,” He added before tossing a side-ways glance toward Ed.

Ed had been busy watching his father leave the campus with a complicated gaze, but after snapping out of it, he asked his friends, “Should we be standing around like this?”

The three looked at each other for a moment before shrugging, they sauntered into the maze, being some of the last to enter.

Upon entering, the surroundings immediately darkened. Were it not for the small holes cut into the ceiling at regular intervals, the maze would have been pitch black. Added onto that was the thick, rolling fog that permeated every corner and the multiple branching paths…the maze was surely disorientating.

“Smells like dirt,” Timothy remarked, unimpressed.

“No shit, genius,” Ed chided.

“The walls are remarkably sturdy,” Grim was too busy inspecting the environment to banter. “So how are we proceeding, I assume we’ll be sticking together?” he addressed the other two.

Ed shrugged, “I’m with ya,”

“Me too,” Alexander uttered before yawning. “So look, I have a suggestion, let’s go to another bar tonight how ‘bout it?”

“No,” Ed answered easily.

“Why not, come on, the usual place is getting pretty stale!”

“That’s only cause you’re too chicken shit to commit,”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Alexander shot back.

The two continued to carelessly chat away while at the front, Grim advanced cautiously. Along the way, he watched as several pockets of students broke away from the main group as they made way down a fork in the road.

So far, he had been following the larger mass of students they were currently integrated in just to scope things out.

‘Hmm, at least we are being properly monitored…” He thought as his eyes caught sight of an inconspicuous crystal stuck onto the ceiling, he spotted more like it every so often.

A few minutes in and everyone seemed to grow accustomed to the unfamiliar maze; most students started to speed up.

“We should hurry along too, don’t want to be placed in a lower ranking class…” Grim told his team.

“I’m just saying, statistically, relationships don’t last long, especially if one side works in the sex industry,”

Big Ed scowled, “You make it sound like she’s a stripper, she’s an exotic dancer!”

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Grim grew expressionless as he felt the beginnings of a migraine creep in ‘Should I just ditch them?’ He couldn’t help but think to himself but he shook his head shortly after, ‘They still have their uses,’

“Guys,” Grim said, trying to get their attention.

“Semantics! Can you really live with yourself knowing that others have seen your sweety’s bodacious bod swing around a pole?”

Ed squirmed, clearly uncomfortable. He clenched his hands and jaw so hard, that Grim could swear that the man was about to abandon his three-year run of not getting into fights right now.

“Guys,” Grim pleaded.

Timothy’s smile grew wider and more viscous.

Unfortunately, just as things reached a melting point, a scream off in the distance grabbed everyone’s attention.

“What was that?”

“Someone just screamed,”

“She sounds hot, we should do something about it,”

Grim ignored the talking around him and looked toward Ed and Tim.

Ed nodded gravely and picked up his pace while Timothy rolled his eyes but did the same afterward.

Almost everyone hurried along now, some anxious, others excited, and soon enough, a gathering of students had assembled before a crossroads.

“I did not do anything!” A clearly disgruntled voice yelled.

“How can you say that? I clearly felt your hand on my rear, you filthy crisp, my brother’s going to teach you a lesson!” Another voice, a woman by the sound of it, argued back.

“Crisp?” Timothy asked.

“A slang term used to ridicule the Graveclaws citizens’ darker skin complexion,” Grim replied easily, “The girl speaking is Pricilla Rosenthal of house Rosenthal; minor nobility, as the head is a knight captain of some renown. Actually, we aren’t completely unrelated to her,”

“How so?” Ed asked, intrigued.

“Her father is the Knight captain of the third division, among his ranks is a particularly notorious leader, Dirk the bandit,”

Alexander’s drooping ears perked up, “Dirt?”

“Yeah,”

“Interesting…”

“We should help her,” At Grim’s solemn statement, both of his friends turned their heads toward him with surprise in their eyes.

“Why?”

“Multiple factors,” Grim tidied up his hair before continuing, “Firstly, this is a good opportunity to dispel any lingering bad blood the third division may have with us over the Dirk incident. Secondly, she is a citizen of Iron-Wall, making it look bad if we side with the foreigner in this case. And finally, she is a woman,”

Alexander, who had been ready to doze off once Grim started his rant, suddenly did a double-take after hearing the last sentence.

“Dude,” he exclaimed with some disbelief.

“It is only natural for three dashing young men such as ourselves to rescue damsels in distress, maybe one of us may happen to catch her eye,” Grim, done with his hair, began smoothing out the wrinkles from his robes.

Alexander looked toward Ed with incredulous eyes.

Ed had a wry smile plastered across his face as he averted Timothy’s gaze.

In the middle of the crowd, the war of words waged without wait.

“Easy brothers, no need to get jumpy, I’m sure that this has all been a simple misunderstanding,” Another student, evidently a citizen of Graveclaws, attempted to diffuse the tense atmosphere.

Alexander tilted his head slightly upon seeing this, ‘There’s something off about that guy, he’s too plain,’ He then turned his head toward the other team where a young man stepped forward as well,

‘And he is even plainer, but that crooked nose is weird!’

“You’re kidding right bro? Lady Priscilla obviously has no reason to lie!”

Pricilla, whose expression grew noticeably haughtier after being called a lady, agreed wholeheartedly with her fellow student.

The person being accused of harassing her saw this and his eyes lit aflame with cold fury but he chose not to say anything for fear of escalating the situation further. ‘Who the fuck do you think you are?’ He thought angrily to himself, ‘You aren’t even my type!’

‘The situation is deteriorating at an alarming pace,’ Grim noted as he studied the students’ movements. It was clear to anyone paying attention that the youths had neatly divided themselves into two camps, or rather, two kingdoms.

Noticing that Ed and Timothy were no longer following him, Grim hesitated for a moment before pressing onward. ‘It is regrettable to have lost some strength in numbers but so be it, I’m sure this situation can be handled through negotiation anyway’

By the time Grim had managed to push enough people away, things seemed to have reached their boiling point.

"I don't care if you speak ill of me, but my people have done no wrong!" The student being accused of harassment hollered with a red, indignant face.

"You Crisps are as thick as thieves of course I'd be wary of you lot. Luckily, it was me who suffered under your lust and not someone of a more fragile nature", Priscilla replied, now with tears in her eyes.

Not only was it them who squabbled, but even the crowd surrounding them was embroidered in conflict.

"Iron-Wall brats are always so sensitive. Why would our brother even care for one of your wenches,"

"Living in that desert must have fried your brains, you all need to learn how to act civilly,"

"Hmph, what a conceited bitch, she doesn't even have a noteworthy ass!"

Finally, Grim arrived between the two teams. He clapped loudly, drawing everyone's attention.

"Fellow students, have you already forgotten the sincere wish of our two kingdoms?" He said as loud as he could.

The students' clamor quieted as they focused on this new voice.

"Let us not allow such a relatively small issue to be the reason for this wish to remain a dream,"

Seeing that everyone had stopped quarreling, Grim was emboldened and continued, "That being said, I was unfortunately not here at the time of the incident and thus I have no right to pass judgement on whether the fair lady Pricilla was truly wronged," he paused as he sent a wink toward Priscilla's way.

Seeing the well-put-together Grim giving her a wink, Pricilla blushed slightly.

"Thus I can only offer this solution: brother from Graveclaws," he ended by addressing the accused.

"What?"

"I suggest being the bigger man and apologizing. You may very well be innocent, but Lady Pricilla's feelings have been hurt nonetheless and perhaps some words of consolation from you may ease her unnerve,"

A wave of discussion spread as students considered the idea. Evidently, most from the kingdom of Graveclaws were in vehement opposition while those of Iron-Wall naturally took fancy to the thought.

The accused student was in deep thought even though his surrounding friends advised against it, but after a few moments, he finally turned toward Pricilla.

"I apologise for any discomfort I may have caused you…er…lady"

The apology set ablaze a new flurry of discussion.

Amid the flurry, an ordinary-looking youth with a crooked nose glanced toward another youth; an uneasy gaze spread between them.

Pricilla herself had a conflicted look on her face as she felt the sincerity in his words, "Well, you sound pretty sincere, thus I will decide to graciously let this matter go,"

With a clap, Grim brought the attention back to himself "And with that, the matter is settled," he turned to approach Pricilla.

"Lady Pricilla, would you like to advance through this maze together?"

The young lady's blush deepened as she meekly nodded her head.

Jealous glances were shot his way but Grim ignored them coolly.

'With this, I've solved the conflict while improving my peers' opinions of me. Some enmity with the people of Graveclaws might have been sowed, but for now, that is fine,'

With such thoughts in mind, Grim accompanied Pricilla toward one side of the crossroads.

'Both paths are nearly identical and the fog makes it hard to see further along the path...'

Deciding that there was no optimal option, Grim decided to go for the nearest path, unfortunately things would not go as planned.

"What do you think you're doing?!" An accusing voice sounded from behind.