"What nonsense did you say at the end? Professor Serena was looking at me, as if I was some sort of god"

Felix said as he walked out of Section X with Lim.

"Nothing."

Lim shrugged it off.

"Maybe he was wooed by your beauty."

Lim winked at him and Felix side stepped further away from him.

"I wish I was interrogated by Professor Serena. I got Vincent…. Haa…. He's too stoic and cold"

Lim never realised how scary calmness could be. After you never know what they are thinking about and how they are gonna act.

Felix didn't have much idea what that looked like. Cold and stoic expressions.... he wished he could see them.

"You must have written about him like that, so deal with it."

Lim frowned, because that was the fact. He had to deal with it. He then remembered something important he had to say.

"By the way, The Book gave me a reward."

"What is it?"

Felix asked.

Lim woke up and, like always, the first thing he did was check the book. There was something more written after the conversation it had with Felix.

"It revealed the location of an item. Somewhere around Neon in an antique shop."

Felix was a bit confused. Why would he reward something that he had to buy himself?

'That wouldn't be a reward anymore.'

"So you have to buy it on your own. Do you need some money?"

Lim, of course, needed money, but taking it from Felix, who was younger than him, felt wrong. It hurt his pride as an adult, mentally in his 20s.

"No, it's not something expensive. The item is treated as some sort of junk but is a hidden treasure. Once I get it, I will show it to you."

Felix still took out his purse from the back pocket and took out a note.

"Here."

"I don't need-What?"

Lim took it and looked at it properly. The note had the face of the First Emperor and some relics around it, but that didn't matter. The number did.

"1000 Lira."

One lira was equal to one dollar back on earth. Lim made it so it would be easier for him to describe the currency of the world without making it too complicated.

"Why is a teenager like you doing with a thousand in his back pocket?"

Nobles tend to spoil their kids and often give them allowance to spend. But most keep it in the bank. Why was he carrying this much around in the academy?

'Do people of my age carry more?'

Felix misunderstood and took out some more money.

"Here, 5000 Lira."

"WHAT?"

Lim's hand shook a bit. He scanned his surroundings to see if anyone was there.

"I have a meeting to attend. If I have to come with you to the shop, then come to my dorm, I'll tag along."

Felix waved goodbye and walked away., While Lim was still soaking in what happened. They say rich kids are dumb when it comes to money. It kind of seemed true.

******

"This is acceptable."

Felix looked at the sign above the door of a one storey building.

[Cygnus]

That was the name of the group of Stars for the first year. It was the name of a constellation, with ten stars, and since they were called Stars, it suited them.

The building was in Section III, right where every class of the first year was held.

'Aren't they licking our asses way too much?'

He touched the door, and for a second felt a shock.

The door, though not visible, had magic circuits in it. And just now, it scanned Felix's mana print. It checked if it matched with the data that the professors had put in.

Felix again touched the door and this time there was no shock. It opened and in front of Felix was a luxurious living room.

To the left were leather sofas, a wall filled with shelves full of books. There were some tables besides those shelves, with typewriters on it.

'It reeks of ink here.'

Ahead of him. There was a large round table with ten chairs on them. Eight of them were taken.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Rose was at the end, with Oscar to her left. Oscar nodded at him. Rose smiled while the others stared.

Felix said nothing and walked towards the empty chair at the end to this left. He glanced at everyone and then again at Rose. Her blank face was a stress relief for him.

"Now that everyone is here, let's start the meeting."

Rose said. Not everyone was here. The seat ahead of Felix was empty.

Tyson wasn't here. Everyone knew that he had been called back home for some family work that came up.

But Only Felix and Rose in the room knew it was a fat lie.

"All of us know what responsibilities we hold, so I am not going to brief you on that."

Everyone nodded. They too didn't want to go over all of those formal and boring stuff all over again.

"I am not going to waste any time with the introduction. I, too, as the president, don't know anything about you guys, as a person. But it is best if we know about each other by working together. And since we are a team, I hope we can set our differences aside and work together."

As Rose said that, everyone sneaked a glance at Felix and then to the girl, the third star, sat left to Rose.

'Saying that makes it even more awkward.'

Felix thought, as he ignored their judging gazes.

"Our task for the upcoming weeks is simple. The Club Orientation will start tomorrow. We will split into groups and inform the first years about it."

Rose then passed some papers to everyone.

"We will split up into teams and go to the classes on the given schedule."

Felix took the paper and looked at the paper. He frowned and stared at Rose.

'Does this seem like a joke to her?.'

"That is all. If you have any problem-"

As Rose was speaking, the girl beside her interrupted.

"I have a problem."

She stood up, frustrated, not bothered to hide the anger boiling in her.

"What is it Stella?"

Rose's voice was bitter. She hated being interrupted.

Stella calmed herself down and sat down. She moved her blue hair to her ears and looked at the paper with disgust.

"How did you decide to split the team president?"

She wasn't happy with the team split. Being in the same group as that boy was already annoying, and now this.

"It was random."

Rose pointed at the table to the far, with littered papers.

"It picked the numbers at random from a box that Oscar made. And your team has three people, because of Tyson."

Sending one Star alone would feel like they were alienating him from the group.

Rose moved her hand and tapped on Stella's arm

"If you are uncomfortable, then we can-"

"No, it's fine."

She wasn't fine. She would have taken anybody in the same group, but not Felix. However, like Rose said before, she had to set her feelings aside and sort things out.

"Also, sorry for interrupting you."

Her emotions got the better of her.

"So, does anyone have questions?"

Rose said and again, everyone looked at Felix. They knew who was going to be most bothered by this after Stella.

And his eyes showed. They gulped, seeing how hollow they were. But he didn't utter a word.

Rose stood up and clapped her hands to get everyone's attention.

"Since there are no questions, all of you may leave, except for Felix."

The Stars stared at her. Why Felix?

Rose noticed their gaze and knocked out any thoughts they were having.

"He is good with typewriters and can help me make some sample forms and pamphlets for tomorrow."

All of them understood, but again, how did she know he was good with typewriters? Since they couldn't get any answers, they left.

Now only Felix and Rose were in the room. She walked towards him and stood by his side. He was still staring at the paper.

"Should I have decided it by myself?"

She wanted to make it random, so everyone could socialise with each other and wouldn't group with the people they knew.

"It's fine."

Felix wasn't angry, he was just anxious.

'Ha…all of them left finally. Being in the class, the investigation with Professor Serena and now this was making me anxious.'

Felix was happy to be left alone, without seeing eyes rolling off their socket.

He stood up and walked to the corner of the room. He sat on the chair and rubbed the table.

The sunlight passing through the window, reflecting onto the typewriter, made it aesthetic.

'I might get a nice white vase and a tulip.'

As he was thinking, Rose pulled a chair and sat next to him. Felix looked at her blank face and, for a minute, just kept looking at it.

"Aren't you staring too much?"

Rose said, as he took out some samples.

Felix didn't answer because he was. He hated to admit it, but…it was calming.

'Are her eyes redder than ruby, just like I have heard?"

He was curious, but it would be fine not to know. It was much better this way.

Felix looked at a sample of the previous works and got to work. As he was typing, Rose too started scribbling down. Then suddenly, she poked Felix's shoulder.

Felix flinched And Rose immediately knew

"Did you get a lot of injuries?"

Felix sighed. She always got the best of him.

"Not much. Only on this shoulder and the ribs."

There was no reason to lie. Otherwise, she would keep adding salt to his wounds.

"That is a lot."

Rose felt bad for making him work. Broken ribs and a bruised shoulder weren't just minor injuries. But she also didn't get chances like this to talk with him…. alone.

Since Rose knew, Felix wanted to ask her.

"The test was cancelled, so what about your score?"

The results would be published on Arcadia's bulletin board. Everybody would look past their scores, because of how bad they were and check on how the Stars did. And Rose's being number one, her results mattered the most, but she didn't give the test.

"The Professors made it up from how I performed at the entrance. They gave me a time of fifteen seconds."

Felix nodded. But the score given to her wasn't right.

'It should be much lower, maybe under five seconds.'

"Was she strong?"

Rose was curious. Felix just survived and, to her, he was someone capable of defeating her. And there weren't many people that could do so.

"Yes. I can't say how much. She never gave her all, and once she did, I was already out."

Felix lost the fight. Winning wasn't the plan, but still it was bitter to be played around with.

"But still you came out fine... well, except those injuries."

Rose was glad he came out alive. Otherwise, Arcadia wouldn't be worthy of her time.

"How did she even infiltrate in the first place?"

Rose asked. Felix knew that wasn't a question. She knew the answer and was checking if their thoughts matched.

"Someone inside Arcadia must have got her, though."

Felix came to that conclusion because there was no other way to get in. One needed to turn off every security alarm in the academy and once the person was in, turn it back again.

"Not only did they get her through, but planned everything out, even my powers."

Rose said.

"Your powers?"

Levi was confused. What did her powers have to do with the infiltration?

And then it clicked.

"The professors asked you to destroy the barrier?"

If so, then Felix was disappointed.

"No. I asked them. I almost destroyed it but near the end it started repairing on its own. And again, when I tried, there was not a single dent in it."

Rose was bothered by this. Never had this happened before. To counter her, the enemy must have prepared for a long time, which meant not only did the traitor help the woman with the infiltration, but also leak data on Rose's power.

And she wasn't happy with unknown people knowing about her strengths.

'Does Lim know about the traitor?'

Probably not because if he knew, he would have told Felix. Then the person was someone that didn't exist in the story. Just like Felix.

But that was for later. He had to focus on the task at hand. After ten minutes, Felix finished making the sample and stood up.

"Should I make copies of this?"

"No, I will ask someone else to do it. You have already done too much."

Rose took the paper and smiled at him.

"Good work."

Felix nodded and walked to the door. As he was about to open it, Rose asked.

"Why did you do it Felix?"

She could see his expression getting darker. He didn't answer and just left.

That incident still bothered her. Not because she didn't know anything about it, but because it was something that seemed out of Felix's character and his morals.

She leaned back in her chair and sighed.

"I hope there is something more to it, Felix... I really do."