"What happened inside?!" Hana asked, in lieu of Ayla who was being carried by Stacy.

"..."

Mathias and Lisanna were the only ones awake as they were all dismissed. Erik was being carried by Tanner and Ayla, Stacy; James and Eldrich, Hunter and Alfred; and Jennifer and Wendi, Fara and Synthy, and Jack and Jill were all carried by the others.

Mathias pointed to his raw throat opening his mouth, but no clear words came out.

They turned to Lisanna.

"I-I... don't want to talk... about it..." She said, nervously rebraiding her hair and patting the bulge in her purse.

There were still fights today, it seemed, but Hunter was the one who was waiting with a rather sparse sack of coin. No one was in the mood to bet much as the screams around them continued unabated.

"...?!"

"Damn it! She beat me to it!" Hana shouted at the unconscious Fara. "I'll do without passing out!"

"Hey, hey, isn't that rude to Synthy?!" Mina shouted.

Lina added, "I think she'd be sad to hear that..."

"Wha-?! Synthy, I'm sorry!" She said to an unmoving body on her shoulder. Then she ran up to Lisanna. "What happened to the scar on your face; you know, the big one on your cheek?"

"... I don't want to talk about it..."

Lisanna kept braiding her hair with a faraway look.

"Just leave it," Jasmine said with a smile. "She's had a rough day, you know? I think we should leave her alone for a while."

"...?" Kira quirked her head and nodded after thinking about it for a while. Then she looked at Mathias timidly before gasping and hiding behind Jasmine. "... S-scary..."

His face was actually not that bad; however, his blank expression paired with the numerous scars peeking out of his ragged uniform was a bit much.

Hana did not leave it. "Hey, Lisanna. I can respect you're stronger than me, but still! How'd you get down to this?!"

She was down to a single band of white cloth around her chest, half slipping down as it was held by a single shoulder strap. Her underwear was just barely hidden, but the exposed skin would have attracted more gazes - were it not for the numerous scars and bruises.

"... It just happened..."

She recalled the harpies, their cackling laughs, and their bodies broke by bird, blade, or inertia.

She lowered her head.

Stacy with Ayla still on her back pushed her forward slightly with her shoulder and stepped between her and Hana.

"Mmm...? I think it'll be better to plan for all possibilities tomorrow than harass her."

"I'm not harassing her! I respect her! I just wanna know!"

"Mhmm, ask someone later then," Stacy said with a shrug and turned from an irate Hana.

Mathias saw the exchange and tossed four hastily made ice sculptures towards Hana. He did not announce it, on account of not really be able to speak, but Hana reacted quickly.

The water rose around her as it snapped up the four sculptures.

"Eh? What the hell is this?!" She held up the largely formless mud golem.

Jasmine held her back, pointing to the three others that had a more defined shape, and the rest of the class not carrying a student looked at them curiously.

Mathias patted Lisanna's shoulder, letting a stream of water rest there, as he sought food and a very, very long nap in the bath.

Lisanna rose her head just as James coughed. He did not need to even open his eyes before he was interrogated, but since they were nearly all that the dorms anyways, it was fine.

Mathias and Lisanna sat far away from everyone else.

"..."

There was silence after they finished eating. There was no conversation at all. Rather, both just filled themselves up and began to leave. Mathias tapped her once burnt arm and lowered his head. "S-..." he coughed and his face contorted. "... -ry"

He coughed again and Lisanna looked up in confusion. He passed a small bag to her.

He felt guilty about her falling into the lava when they parted ways. He just impulsively ran then and did not know of a way to make it up.

Even so, he walked away before Lisanna could react. And Wendi, Ayla, and Jennifer regained consciousness and stared at her. She opened the bag to see that they were the cookies he was given last night, seemingly just as fresh as the day before.

Their greed and wonderment were plain to see.

---

While Mathias was pleasantly ignoring any and all human interaction under the aegis of sleep - even if it were in a public bath for the male students - Lisanna was being hounded in the girls' bath.

Ayla was the most relentless.

She awoke after her sleep feeling completely rejuvenated. Wendi, too, was energetic when the thought of getting art supplies was brought into her mind. As for Jennifer, while crying before, was complimented on her staff handling and her sudden improvement (which even passed Mr. Shields' inspection) was enough to carry her onwards.

"... So, so! You were totally sleeping on him, weren't you?! I mean, like, I would too, but that's because the water... ah, it felt so good! I wanna - I really, really wanna - see what it is like! Even Erik and Jedd boast about it - and one doesn't boast about anything that doesn't bring himself up and the other doesn't talk to anyone but his brother and sometimes Mathias and a few others when he has to! So, so...!"

"... It's nothing. I just woke up like that."

"But you woke up, right? Then did you move?"

"I-I was exhausted..."

"You didn't! I knew it!"

Wendi raised her hands pacifyingly. "I mean I'm interested too, but... doesn't she make a good model? Aren't you excited?"

Wendi's trained gaze was molesting Lisanna's body. "...Just the figure alone is good, but he even made sure that the face and arms are fine... I wonder if he is getting excited, too? Preparing the canvas, so to speak."

"What are you talking about? It doesn't have anything to do with that." Lisanna rejected their conclusions; their observations were difficult to immediately reject, though. "It's just... it's nothing."

As they were in the bath, there was nothing left to the imagination; Lisanna's tan skin contrasted with her platinum blond hair; yet, both seemed healthy and fit her appearance.

Jennifer looked down at her own sizeable bust. "Even her bra was a little too big. I guess... I guess boys do like them like that, huh?"

"W-what are y-you talking about?!"

Ayla nodded. "Of course. Isn't that obvious? You two might be better than me for now, but I'll catch up!"

Wendi added, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It makes sense one would appreciate different figures, but from a modelling perspective, just the added shape gives so much more room for light, shadow, and defining the constraints... ah, I'm jealous..."

"Don't be jealous!" Ayla said with a grin. "If you are, then who'll protect him from your brother?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"... Ah, th-that's right... He can get a bit overbearing... I should tell him about the competition though. He'll bring lots of his friends-"

"By force? For his cute little sister?" Ayla snickered.

"Th-that... No! I don't think so! Uhm... m-maybe...? But he can help spread the word tomorrow, right?"

"That's fine! I expected it anyways! Plus, the third-years have a lot more money than us, so it'll work well!"

"I mean... he was late to start this year, but he was excused since he was working with a mercenary group. He'll definitely come back with a lot of money! I hope he... I hope he doesn't bring them though..."

"The mercenaries? Are they that bad...?" Jennifer asked worriedly.

As there was no war going on in the country, the mercenaries tended to be given a bad reputation for being too rowdy with no real benefit. They regularly went on monster subjugation trips, collected rare materials, or escorted various important travellers. However, when not doing that, their regular day involved drinking and fighting more often than productive work, public sentiment determined.

"Hmm, it's just... it's just that they're a little sword-crazy. There is a really cute girl there that has everyone wrapped around her finger, though!"

"Oh! Cool! Introduce us if they come... but! More importantly! Lisanna, we're not finished!"

Lisanna groaned. She did not expect there to be an escape since she already as co-opted into going with the three to pick up the stasis stones; however, she vainly hoped it would be left at that.

It wasn't.

On the plus side, there were several other girls who volunteered to join them, tired as they were. At least the conversation would be somewhat more manageable with a few too many people being involved to be interested in her own issues when they had their own to contend with.

---

In the male-bath,

"Okay! We'll be executing Operation: Run into them 'accidentally'! Mathias!"

There was no response.

"No matter!" Erik said. "I got a tip from my inside source that the girls are probably planning on joining the four getting supplies! I suspect it'll end up in the cafe as before, so I hereby call an executive order: all Scylla guys in attendance are to join!"

The boys murmured amongst themselves and even Thomas, Kahn, Justin and their lieutenants were in attendance. They were watching carefully the tactics and plans Erik was formulating so that they could analyze it and potentially recreate it on their own. While there was murmuring about the new gauntlet being built, they also did not hear anything conclusive from the source: they were waiting for their chance to extract information as well.

Since he had an audience of outsiders, he kept the topic basic. "Those of you who have errands, we'd request you to have them done shortly. Breaking off in small groups is likely preferable, as it is likely that'll spend quite some time in the cafe - Wendi is there, after all. It'll be more natural if we slowly come in."

There was a nod of agreement with the deduction. It was public knowledge Wendi liked cute things and it was clear to all of Scylla that she was particularly fond of Ali in the cafe.

As the location of the cafe was intentionally kept top-secret (a unanimous decision that would keep firm - for a while, at least) Thomas and co. had to find others that were open late. Due to the external appearance of the building, they passed it up for another for their own prospective 'cake-meetings'.

Erik suspected that the other girls were likely attending on the pretense of the errand ending in a trip to the cafe. Incidentally, it was a correct assumption.

Some were still in the cafeteria, or their rooms, or in other locations, but the bulk the groups were formed in the two baths. Some ran to inform their friends, but there were only ten assembled.

However, eight already dispersed as Mathias was finally roused. As the boy was rather easy to guide when half-asleep, Erik put his plan in motion. There was a necessity to ease the complaints of any girls who might otherwise try to herd together to help their friends. If those complaints did not appear, and everyone was enjoying themselves, then it would be much easier to go around and talk to them.

Mathias belatedly realized he was already redressing far earlier than he planned as he finally registered Erik talking to him.

"...?"

Mathias asked suspiciously with his eyes, not knowing the plan, but hearing that Erik wanted to buy him boots.

"It's fine, isn't it? I'm making up for yesterday!" Erik made an easy excuse.

"...?"

"Why are you so suspicious? You think anyone is going to take her from you now?"

"?"

"Don't play dumb - it's annoying to us who aren't as lucky!"

Mathias yawned, scratching the itchy wounds on his back before realizing he could just expedite the task. Erik took that as his acceptance.

Ice flowed around from his revamped brace. He was sure he was going to have a stiff back, but so long as it was still functional, it was fine. The boots were a bigger issue. Obsidian took off half of their tread. It was ridiculous how much his school supplies would cost him.

'... I need to get a job,' Mathias groaned as he did the math. It basically came out as "... h'ob..."

His allowance, in large part due to his subsidized pay-checks earlier, was a gold coin a month. Which essentially amounted to ten pairs of boots.

He burnt through two - or, collectively one, if he wanted to fight on compromised heels. Even walking was annoying so he added ice to the tread to level out the pitting.

If he considered the possibility of winnings, it would be fine. There was more than twenty five-gold in his room, of which twenty was from yesterday; normally, such amounts would be far more than reasonable, but if this was the beginning? He did not have any expensive hobbies or fine tastes. Rather, most of the things that interested him were free; which is to say, there was a library that the students could use freely within their designated hours.

"... cost... uniform?" He asked voice scratched to all hell, whilst being dressed in normal clothes, as he cringed at the pain in his voice.

"Hmm? Training uniforms are one gold each. You're allowed one free repair a month. But, did I hear you right? You want a job?"

He thought deeply about it. Both of his parents' jobs more than covered his necessary tuition, and they had no qualm spending it there.

"What about fighting?"

Erik was genuinely curious. Certainly, he and Lisanna both tied with Mathias, but as they were seen as being among the top, it did not seem like a big deal. At least with the betting pools.

He shrugged uncommitted.

"... As expected," Erik sighed. He took a mental note to add to guys' records but kept the implications for his own possible future use. "Well, whatever. If it just a matter of making enough to get by, it should be easy to sell your scar-removal services to people in the class. I'd pay for-"

"... no... guys."

"... Fine, I respect that, but... if there is one my face, I expect you to accept me as a customer, okay?!" Erik said, jumping forward and prodding Mathias' face directly with a tense expression.

Mathias reeled back and automatically nodded. Erik grinned happily while Mathias clicked his tongue at being beat by some tactic he didn't realize at the time. He did not commit to anything too troublesome, particularly with how mentally exhausting scar-removal was to practise.

Since everyone that went to his mother's parlour were largely female housewives, merchants, teachers, or escorts, there are not really many with large scars. His mother would just click her tongue at them, tell them to be careful in the future since its troublesome, and tell him to do it if she likes them. As such, they were never billed specifically so as to not suggest that such things existed. Everyone that had the service was told not to tell. And if they did, it was common knowledge to all parlour mages that it was easy to just call them a little too 'passionate' - ie, crazy. Mathias simply realized his actions forced him into the public radar already.

"... How... much?"

"... Man, you're the one who was in the business, not me."

He lifted up his hand, lifting one finger, representing a gold coin, to his head, pulling it down, and repeating it for all his limbs, save for the back. And then he tilted his head.

Erik shouted, "Mathias! Now you're just pissing me off! I can understand giving them a discount and picking girls, but that's too much! If you're doing that price, you gotta let me in on it too!"

"... Face?"

"Deal!" Erik grinned.

Erik thought he would be able to later negotiate for his neck (and potentially neck-down, if he pressed for just the less uncomfortable areas that he'd respect as another man), so it was a small price to pay to have the peace-of-mind to not have to worry about a horrific scar on his face. It was a genuine fear on many people's minds when they walked into the training field.

And a curiosity many had when they saw the once highly visible scar on Lisanna's face disappear.

Even the trained healers were curious about his techniques since parlour magic, prioritizing comfort or the aesthetic, was fundamentally different. As such, even Alfred, the most accomplished healer in their class, was unable to replicate it. Even the certified healers could only understand the order, but couldn't grasp the methodology.

And few advertised such services since failures were terrible for business.

Erik chatted to Mathias for a while as the two made their way to the same old man they dealt with earlier. Mathias, before he walked in three steps, had the two boots thrown at his face as the old man screamed.

"Your mother said you started dangerous training! How dare you damage me precious boots! You best not sully my name and walk with them in such bad conditions!"

The old man turned his fury to Erik. "You too, boy! I see those! You best sit your ass down and wait while I fix a new pair up! If you move, I'll shove one of 'em up ass so far you couldn't even dream of walking in my precious boots again!"

They were in-and-out in ten minutes.

Both had extras made as well and given complimentary bags to carry them. All said, each (were forced) to carry three pairs of boots in a complimentary bag. They paid the old man who promptly kicked them out soon thereafter.

"... I don't think I'll ever get used to that," Erik muttered.

Mathias nodded since he hadn't either in the two years he was in the city.

"Okay, what do you say about getting something to help your throat?" Erik finally pulled out the trump card he was given by circumstance.

A perfect excuse to go to the cafe and have him distract Lisanna, Jennifer, Wendi, and potentially even Ayla who had a habit of summoning the girls together. Since he was just as guilty on the boys' end, he respected her ability, but he had to pay special heed to it all the same.

If having someone noticeably wounded, ie his lack of proper speech, it was possible that Mathias could segment the groups for the others.

"...?"

Mathias seemed to sigh.

Erik knew he was found out, but Mathias ended up shrugging anyways. He was already outside and he wouldn't be sleeping any time soon after two long naps like that, despite all the abuse his body was under.

'... They served tea there, too, didn't they?' Mathias thought of the cafe. '... If only Jennifer wasn't so bad at the time...'

Erik was already pushing Mathias forward as three figures walked behind them shortly after.

"Dad? Wasn't that Mathias?" A girl with short, straight blond hair and three swords asked. There was not a single trace of damage of her face, be it ache or scar; however, her arms were covered in countless scars that she knew she would be questioned about pointedly.

"What'd you say, Erin?" A man scratched the seven new scars on his face, holding five different blades on his belt, back, and chest. His light brown hair was ragged, but his face was surprisingly gentle aside from that.

"... Hmm, are you wondering how much trouble you're going to get in?" Erin asked with a laugh.

Claude, the man and her father, chuckled wearily. "What's done is done. I'll try better next time."

"Then stop inventing levels!"

"... I wanted to try that strange whip-sword I finally managed to make..."

Erin grumbled and she reached for her waist, feeling the new, strange blade her father showed her how to make. She had to admit, it was interesting.

However, she was curious to see her brother walking with another. "Church. Follow him."

She casually ordered a man who wore two blades just because she thought it might be interesting.

And he listened to her order without the slightest hesitation.