Zaroth's head felt like it was going to explode, but considering the situation he found himself in, he was too angry to care.
"RORAN!" he approached Roran, who was peacefully sleeping in his underwear with a bottle of liquor in his hand. "Wake the fuck up!"
"Hmmmm, Lily, one more minute, please," Roran muttered under his breath, trying to roll away from Zaroth.
"I am not your fucking Lily! Get the fuck up!"
"Ah… Zaroth… why are you in your underwear?" Roran said as he slowly sat up, glancing down. His eyes narrowed slightly. "Why the fuck am I in my underwear?"
"I don't know! It was your idea to get hamred! Now we're on the roof of the academy, and the lecture starts in an hour!"
Zack, who had also woken up from Zaroth's shouting, began laughing hysterically, holding his stomach with one hand. "Oh gods, I can't! This is too funny!"
"What did we even do last night?" Zaroth muttered under his breath.
Zack was too busy dying of laughter, so after groaning and standing up, Roran responded.
"We went to a bar, got drunk, then they kicked us out. We decided we hadn't had enough, so we went to a store to buy more liquor. After that, we thought it would be funny to sneak into the academy and go to the roof… so we did."
"Why are we in underwear then? Where are those ridiculously expensive suits Zack got us?" Zaroth asked, clearly frustrated.
"I think we burned them," Zack answered after finally calming his laughter.
"We burned them? Why?" Roran asked, frowning at Zack.
"I probably thought it would be funny to burn sothing that expensive."
"All right, I get it… but right now, the three of us are practically naked on the roof of the academy, and classes start in an hour. What the fuck are we supposed to do?" Zaroth asked with a sigh.
After brainstorming so ideas, they ca up with this: Roran would write a ssage to Lily, asking her to bring three male suits to the roof of the academy.
While they waited, Zaroth's face suddenly lost color as he quickly opened his chat ssages.
'Please! Tell I didn't write sothing stupid to Elysia while I was drunk.'
Upon opening the chat with Elysia, Zaroth shuddered as his worst fears ca true.
-----
Zaroth: Elysia, I want to say you terrify …
Elysia: Zaroth, are you alright?
Zaroth: But I find this incredibly hot… Tell … are you single?
Elysia: Great… so you got drunk on your first day at the academy.
Zaroth: Forget about that! Answer my question!
Elysia: After you sober up, I want you in my office.
-----
After that, Elysia stopped responding.
Zaroth was resting his head on his hand, which was currently pulsating with pain.
"Ah… I really fucked this up, didn't I?" he muttered under his breath.
"What, you sent an idiotic ssage to a woman?" Zack asked, smirking at Zaroth.
"Sothing like that, I guess…"
"Oh fuck, I still rember how we made fools of ourselves in front of the whole stadium of students!" Roran cried, smacking his forehead. "And now Lily is going to nag about this for the next week!"
Just as he said that, the door to the roof opened, and a woman appeared carrying three student uniforms.
Zaroth had seen her before when they were waiting for the exam, but considering how little ti they had spent together, he hadn't registered her well.
Now that he had ti to look, he understood why Roran spoke so highly of Lily. Her golden hair and eyes gave her an appearance so striking it could easily rival the princess.
"Lily! Thank you!" Roran said as he got up and approached her.
"Roran, you stink of booze!" she said, looking at him, clearly frustrated. "I should have known from the first day when you made a fool of yourself in front of every student here!"
She shifted her gaze toward Zaroth and pointed a finger at him. "Didn't I tell you people like him—those dragon descendants—bring trouble?" Then she turned to Zack. "And this one is so rich noble, isn't he?! Why did you get involved with them when we were supposed to stay low?"
"Now, now, you don't need to talk about my friends like that," Roran responded, approaching Lily.
"Friends?! You've known these people for only about a day! What makes them your friends?!"
"Well…" Roran smiled as his eyes shone with dangerous intensity. "I found them, Lily—people with the potential to get as strong as …"
*****
After thirty minutes of nagging from Lily, she finally handed them their clothes.
Zaroth was supposed to start his classes, but it turned out that every student had been summoned to the auditorium for an announcent. Zaroth and Zack quickly reached the auditorium and sat side by side, while Roran and Lily, who were from B-class, were seated in a different section.
Of course, they received a lot of stares, probably due to the fiasco at the announcent of the tournant, but they tried to pay it no mind.
"Hello, students," Elysia said, capturing the attention of everyone in the auditorium. "I'm sure you are all aware of the tournant that has been announced by the Emperor."
She glanced at the students until her gaze landed on Zaroth. For a brief mont, their eyes t, and he felt a murderous intent directed his way. Even in that fleeting mont, he understood what she wanted to convey,
'After this, et in my office.'
Returning to her speech as if nothing had happened, she continued,
"However, there are tens of thousands of students across the Empire. We can't allow everyone to participate in the tournant. Therefore, in a week, we will begin a hunting competition where you will need to hunt beasts and monsters.
Those who bring back the strongest foes will be granted the privilege of entering the tournant."
'I see… so I really need to get stronger, faster,' Zaroth thought, shifting his gaze around the auditorium. There were probably a few thousand students here alone.
He would need to surpass them all, even the older ones with more experience, like the third- and fourth-years.
"You may participate solo or in a team when you hunt—it's entirely up to you."
With that, Elysia's speech ended. Now that Zaroth had ti, he had no choice but to head to the chairwoman's office.
Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.
"Enter," ca a nacing voice from the other side. Steeling his resolve, Zaroth opened the door and stepped inside.
The murderous aura directed at him almost made him pass out the mont he stepped into the room.
Elysia sat calmly in her chair, her head resting on her delicate hands. Just one look into her black eyes made it abundantly clear—she was beyond angry.
"Sit," she commanded. "We have a lot to discuss."
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