"Was... Was it my fault...?"
[I cannot give the right answer to that.]
"Mika, are you alright?" Ralph asked concerned.
[So could say that it was indeed your fault, however, one could also say that it may have happened regardless of what you have done.]
"Mr. Arma... Is it possible to stop this conflict?" Mika asked softly.
"We, the teachers, already told them off and tried to help as much as we could, however, every ti new fights broke out. Both sides always told us that it was the other party that started the fight."
"If we could only find the cause of all of this, then we could put an end to this conflict." Ralph added firmly.
"So we just need to find the root, huh...?" Mika muttered.
He stood up.
"I swear that I will solve this problem!" Mika declared determined.
Aside from the fact that his friends and classmates were targeted, he felt responsible for the current situation.
Ralph smiled.
"Seeing your determination fills with joy."
His mouth turned straight again.
"The teachers know roughly what happened at the Desolated Fortress. So in order to let you recover, we exempted you and the other involved students from the obligation to do a quest this month. However, this doesn’t an that you can overexert yourself again."
"Yes, I will be careful." Mika replied sternly.
Ralph may have warned him that he should be careful because he thought that Mika had not rested enough yet. But unbeknownst to Ralph, Mika could not feel any better. He was completely rested.
This ti, Ralph stood up.
"That was everything for now. I will see you and the rest of the class on the training grounds after the break." Ralph said with a smile as he moved outside the seating row.
Following that, Mika also moved and walked in the direction of the room’s portal.
"Oh, one last thing..."
"?"
Mika turned his neck towards Ralph.
"Be especially careful around the disciplinary committee."
"Disciplinary committee? What’s that?"
"Just like the student council, it’s a group of students. But they voluntarily patrol the academy grounds and act as guards, ensuring the order and safety of the other students. Normally, they stayed low, however, due to the recent events, they resurfaced and are more active than ever.
"I understand... Wait. We have a student council?"
The thought of the student council broke Mika’s stern deanor.
"Yes. But as it consists of mainly third-years, who are currently still away, their activities were put on hold for now."
"I see. And about that disciplinary group... Why should I be careful around them?"
Ralph heaved a faint sigh.
"They’re a troubleso bunch... They do their job, but the thods they use are too extre for my liking." Ralph elaborated with a slight frown.
"Since they appeared again, countless students of this class either dropped out or got imprisoned in the academy’s own jail."
"..."
Mika gritted his teeth.
[So you even have a jail here?]
"Thank you for telling all this, Mr. Arma. I will rember your words." Mika said indifferently before he exited the room.
A few monts later.
"And? Does that ring a bell?" Mika asked.
"Disciplinary committee..." Belian muttered in thought.
After Mika exited the room, he found Belian and the others waiting for him. Saying that their early break was about to end as the silver-red class was about to co out, they walked to the training grounds.
Most of the black-class students assembled there already and did so stretches.
And a few minutes later, Ralph appeared, giving them instructions. For today’s lesson, the students should partner up with soone and train their weapon handling with a weapon of their choice.
Therefore, Belian asked Mika to partner up with him.
The two of them wielded wooden swords and as they crossed them, Mika talked about his conversation with Ralph.
"I’ve heard of them. Apparently, it’s a group full of violent and ruthless students." Belian said calmly.
"Have you t them?" Mika asked as he ducked Belian’s sword.
"No. However, there’s sothing else, which is noteworthy."
"And what is that?" Mika asked tensely.
Their swords clashed against each other.
"From what I have heard, the leader of that group is Xander Maystra."
"?!"
Surprised by that information, Mika accidentally loosened up, leading to Belian landing a strike on him.
"You okay?"
Belian stretched his hand to Mika, who just fell on his butt.
"Yeah..." Mika said, still sounding a little bit surprised.
He took his hand and got up.
"Is it my turn now?"
Harik approached the two with an anticipated smile.
"I will sit out this ti." Mika said as he went to the sideline.
"Then, I suppose that I will be your opponent, Harik." Belian said as he pointed the sword towards him.
Mika joined Rachel, who was sleeping with her back leaning against the wall.
"..."
He took a look at the other students.
The atmosphere was a lot tenser and sterner than before.
There were no small talks nor were there any laughter. Only straight up fighting.
[I assu that they use the pressure they feel from the other classes as fuel for their training.]
Mika nodded.
"Everyone is training hard to prove them wrong." he murmured slightly irritated and frustrated.
"Their skills may be still below average, however, I’m confident that if they keep this up they will reach greater heights."
Mika clenched his fists.
"Therefore, I will make sure that none of them will drop out or suffer from the other classes’ unfair treatnt!"
"..."
Rachel peeked with one eye at Mika, who stood beside her.
Ti passed and it was now the end of today’s last lesson.
One black-class student after another hurriedly left.
"Do you have any plans for today?" Belian asked.
"I wanted to et up with a few friends before I go to your dorm to fetch my things." Mika replied.
"Then, how about we et up in front of your dorm later? We can carry your luggage over, after all, we planned to patrol that area again." Belian suggested.
"Huh, really? I an, I can carry my own things and I don’t want to burden-"
"Jeez, don’t be so stiff, haha! Do you think that your things would be too heavy for us?" Harik retorted while laughing and slapping Mika’s back.
"I’m actually a frail girl, you know?" Rachel said but was left unheard due to Harik’s loud laughter.
"W-well, I guess I will accept your kind offer..." Mika responded strained as Harik still did not stop slapping his back.
Thus, Mika parted ways with the others for now and headed to the silver class.
He knew that it was dangerous nowadays for him, a black-class student, to be in the public but he did not care.
"..."
With crossed arms, he tapped his index finger against his upper arm as he waited.
"Why isn’t anyone coming out? The bell already rang..."
He stood right beside the portal, leading to the silver class. Across from that portal was the portal for the black class.
"Did they perhaps leave already?"
He decided not to wait any longer and left.
But outside, there was also no one.
"Where did they all go?" Mika wondered with squinted eyes.
Mika headed to the dorms, while he kept an eye out for other students.
"H-hey! W-what are you doing?! Don’t you recognize ?!"
"Hm?"
Mika twisted his neck in the direction of the scream.
He saw two students.
"A black and a red uniform...!"
Realizing that he rushed to the scene.
"L-leave alone, you hear ?!"
"Shut up, my ears are about to fall off."
There was a boy with a bob hairstyle. His hair was black and his round eyes were beige, aning that he was an earth mage.
But due to the black uniform, he was most likely a low-ranking earth mage.
With his frail body stature, he sat on the ground crawling away from the other person.
"I was told to catch every troublemaker I walked across so be quiet and follow ."
It was a guy in a red uniform.
He was tall and lean. His pink hair almost covered the entire left half of his face. The red eyes were sharp and appeared intimidating as he looked down on the other boy.
However, there was sothing different from any other students, Mika saw before.
A black armband with the letter ’D’ in white on it.
"H-help...!" the frail boy cried as the red-class student tried to grab him.
"?"
"Cut it out!" Mika said vigorously after he grabbed the red student’s arm.
The guy smirked eerily.
"?"
In a split second, the guy launched a punch at Mika’s face and sent him to the ground.
"Tch...! What are you doing?" Mika clicked his tongue as he wiped his mouth.
"It’s my right to use my power, whenever soone stands in my way." the guy replied nonchalantly.
His smirk widened.
"Don’t you know who I am? I’m from the disciplinary committee."
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