Point-of-View: Persia Gerit

  During: Infiltration Arc

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  It had been about three weeks since Kuro departed on his mission, and I was currently in class with the others. We had just been assigned a new Quest, another one where we would have to team up with first-years like we'd done before. We were dragging Az with us this time since Kuro wasn't here.

  "I don't wanna be here," Sighed Az, with a slight look of dismay and regret.

  "Hey, come on, man……cheer up! Take this as a compliment, we'd potentially be screwed without you!" Replied Rai with a grin.

  Ever the optimist, this one. How does he do it, sometimes I feel all worn out just by watching him, where does he get the energy?

  "Compliments are stupid and meaningless," Grumbled Az, stifling a yawn.

  "We need someone super strong as a safety net, and since Kuro's not here, you're the next best option……actually, you might even be the more effective option since you can take out a whole heap of enemies in one go," I reasoned with a shrug.

  "Huh? You're not that much weaker than Kuro, you know," He retorted.

  "Well, you're not wrong, but having you along would be a huge factor in things going smoothly," Chimed in Key.

  "Yeah, and I'm only as strong as Kuro is with Karma, I'm nowhere near how strong he is in that Vampire form of his," I argued.

  "There's a famous saying in my old world……with great power comes great responsibility. Az, since you have great power-," Said Rai with a smug look.

  "You're so annoying, Rai, don't patronize me," Interrupted Az with a groan.

  "Woah, that's new. You really are in a bad mood, aren't you?" I remarked with a stifled laugh.

  "Shut up……," He sighed in reply.

  "Well, we should go meet the first years we're in charge of, it's about time we get going. Our Quest is in the forest area right? Hey, it's actually a good thing that Kuro isn't here, since we'll be passing by the swamp and all," Pointed out Rai with a grin.

  "That's……a really good point, actually. Forget normal frogs, I don't think he'd be able to handle those Giant Poison Frog monsters that show up eventually," I added with a sigh.

  "I hate this," Grumbled Az, as we all stood up and began heading out.

  "Stop complaining, you lazy ass. Come on, let's go," Urged Key, placing a hand on his shoulder.

  "If you're all going to force me to tag along, then the least you could let me do is complain," He countered, shaking her hand off.

  He really takes his laziness seriously, doesn't he……

  A few minutes later, we met up with the four first years we were to be in charge of during this Quest. There were two girls and two boys.

  "Hi, first years, how's it going? We'll be leading you guys today, so let's all have fun with it! I know you must be nervous, but that's okay! Now, when I was your age-," Began Rai confidently.

  "Hey, you're doing an awful job. Key, you better take over," I interrupted, as Rai just seemed to be saying whatever popped into his head.

  "Good call. Ahem……as you four should know, we will be embarking on a Quest in the forest area to the east of the Rustlands, we shall head into the area for eight hours hours, spend the night, and then head back, for a total of sixteen hours excluding breaks. To start with, let's all introduce ourselves so that we have a sense of familiarity and are aware of what each other is capable of," Key suggested, after thinking over what to say for a bit.

  Hm, she sounded a bit more formal than usual and maybe excessively informative, but it was better than Rai's improvised attempt at it……and this is definitely not my strong point, same goes for Az. The four of us introduced ourselves first, and then let the four first years introduce themselves.

  "I'm Ilian Tinior, nice to meet you all! I'm a Lightning Magic user and my main weapon is my archery, though I also use daggers. Oh, and since we will be going into the forest area, I can use my feet to grab onto and move across the branches on the trees while firing arrows with my hands," Introduced one of the boys, taking off his shoes and showing us his hand-like feet.

  He seemed to have a decent amount of self-confidence. He had spiky blue hair, red eyes, was on the short side and had feet like Key's when she uses the full extent of her Anima, minus the fur. He wore black full body tights under a dark blue sleeveless leather armored top and matching knee-length shorts, along with fingerless gloves on his hands. Actually, his shoes weren't regular shoes at all……they looked more like slightly thicker-than-usual gloves. He also had a bow slung around his shoulder and a bunch of arrows strapped to his back.

  I couldn't help but wonder……arrows are weapons that get used up pretty quickly, it must be expensive to replace them regularly.

  "Um, hi……I'm Lesca Harkens. I use Water Magic at mid and long range with, um, a high level of accuracy and……I'm not very good at close range fighting," Introduced one of the girls, looking a bit uncomfortable.

  I can relate. She didn't seem very good at social interactions, I could definitely sympathize with that, though I've gotten better over the past year and a half or so. She had black hair tied in twin braids, black eyes, square glasses, reptilian scales on her forearms and was also a bit short, though taller than Ilian. She wore a dark blue leather armored dress that stopped around her knees with a belt around her waist, a white outline on the sleeves and hem, over tight black trousers. No weapons, none that I could see anyway.

  "Hey, what's up? I'm Arts Stuwen, nice to meet ya! I've got Wind Magic and I'm mostly a long range fighter, close range ain't my thing. I don't have any weapons, since I can't hold them with these arms!" The other boy enthusiastically introduced himself, morphing his arms into wings with the last exclamation.

  A Retractable Anima, huh. He was quite a sight, with spiky red hair and bright pink eyes. He wore a sleeveless dull-red sleeveless leather armored top, dark maroon trousers and dark brown boots. Also, the way he talked……I wonder if he's like Kuro and Rai, with his old memories intact.

  That left one more, the second girl of the group……

  "I-I'm Prato Cichudde, i-it's nice to meet you all. I'm, uh……I use, um, Fire Magic in longe range a-attacks and, um, I can also do c-close range fighting. I have an Anima mutation, but……it's useless. Um……th-that's about it, I think," She muttered awkwardly, unsure where to look, he gaze going all over the place.

  Wow, and I thought I was socially awkward. This girl reminds me of how I was when Kuro and I confessed to each other, a stuttering mess. Kuro once mentioned something, something about how seeing someone in a worse state that you can make you feel better about yourself. I can see exactly what he meant by that.

  She was short and slender, with light pink hair that grew down to her shoulders in the back and past her eyebrows in the front, with dark purple eyes and a slightly long neck that had a faint, strange pattern……a birthmark? She wore a greenish-blue leather armored long sleeved top and dark green trousers with dark blue boots.

  "Ooh, what's your Anima mutation? I don't see anything……," Remarked Rai curiously, looking at her up and down closely.

  Uh……

  I could see a twinge of irritation appear on Key's face as she struggled to contain herself while watching her boyfriend intensely checking out a younger girl.

  "U-um, okay……I-I'll show you," Stuttered Prato nervously, looking uncomfortable……well, she can hardly be blamed.

  Suddenly, the skin on her neck expanded and unfolded, spreading out and quivering menacingly.

  "Woah, that's from that one dinosa……! Oh, wait, no……I think it was called a frilled lizard?" Responded Rai with a look of interest.

  "Y-yes, that's right," Nodded Prato, her neck returning to normal as she let out a slow sigh of relief after he finally stopped staring at her.

  "Why don't we get going already?" Chimed in Key with stifled irritation, grabbing Rai's arm and pulling him away.

  "Huh, what's the hurry- owww, okay, okay, I'm coming, let go!" He replied as she dragged him away.

  "Well, uh……let's go, I guess," I shrugged, following after them along with Az and the first years……

  We left the Academy and made our way to the east gate by using the Teleportation Points after buying some canned food, water bottles and poison antidotes for snake bites and the Giant Poison Frogs, before heading out the gates and making our way towards the forest.

  "Okay, we'll initially only be running into Forest Imps and Walking Trees, how about the four of you form two pairs and each pair take turns fighting the monsters we encounter?" Suggested Key to the first years.

  "Sure, I'm cool with that," Replied Arts with a thumbs up.

  "Me too," Added Ilian with a confident grin.

  The two girls didn't voice any opposition to the suggestion either. Key was doing a pretty good job, she was definitely good at leading. Az was still pretty grumpy, and Rai looked like he was daydreaming. I was just quietly following along in the back.

  Az then looked like he had an idea, walked next to Rai, and began saying something. I perked up my ears to hear what he was saying……

  "-let's go get high, just for an hour or so. What do you say?"

  "Uh……I dunno, we have the Quest."

  "Who cares, the first years will be totally grateful to us for getting them high and as a result, they won't tell on us. We can just get back to the Quest afterwards."

  "Huh, when you put it that way……," Replied Rai, starting to give in to temptation.

  "What are you two talking about back there?" Inquired Key, turn around and staring at them suspiciously.

  "O-oh, uh……nothing at all!" Rai responded unconvincingly.

  "We were just saying that we should go get high……let's put it to a vote," Az chimed in bluntly.

  "Oh, no, not happening," Said Key immediately.

  "Put it to a vote. What's the harm?" Shrugged Az, giving Rai a glance to back him up.

  Huh, I might vote for that……

  Key quickly grabbed Rai's arm and pulled him towards her, before whispering something. His eyes then lit up and his face turned a bit red, as he gulped.

  "Sorry, Az……you're on your own, dude," He said apologetically, averting his gaze.

  "Tch, that was a dirty move," Az scowled at Key.

  This was really amusing to watch, seeing our ever-lazy and passive teammate in a genuinely bad mood.

  "Hmph, that's what you get for being a lazy slacker," She replied with a huff.

  The first years were glancing back at us with curiosity and surprise.

  "Excuse me……you guys are pretty laid back for being on a Quest, are you sure you should be so relaxed?" Asked Ilian with a hint of nervousness.

  "Oh, we should be fine, no need to worry," Responded Key assuringly.

  It was true, for the first few hours we weren't going to run into any major threats, lately there had been a lot of Quests to eliminate bandits, so there weren't that many around anymore. And I was keeping my nose on alert, seeing if I could sense any Mana around us. So far, so good. I definitely want to avoid a repeat of the shuffle Quest incident, so I wasn't letting my guard down.

  It was understandable that the first years would be nervous though, they weren't yet allowed to freely go on Quests, so this was likely only the third or fourth time they had gone on a Quest, assuming they went on a Quest on their first day like we did in the Goblin cave, and there was the last time we were put in charge of first years, in the Quest in the snowy area. Before much longer, we ran into a group of monsters, four Forest Imps and two Walking Trees.

  The first pair to take them on were Ilian and Lesca……and they finished off the monsters in no time at all. They both used long ranged attacks, lightning-enhanced arrows and water blasts to be precise. Both of them had great accuracy and aim, but……there wasn't any teamwork to speak of, they both took out three monsters each by themselves. Though, at the very least, they had done well to avoid getting in each other's way.

  "Nicely done. Though perhaps you could try combination attacks, water and lightning work well together after all," Advised Key, after they finished off the monsters.

  Maybe I should add to her advice……

  "But you both were careful not to overlap your attacks, that was well done. If combinations are tough, don't worry, instead focus on avoiding getting in each other's way."

  I didn't sound as authoritative as Key did, but I think my advice was good……maybe? And I wasn't too awkward in delivering it……I really had gotten better at talking to people. That made me happy.

  "Yeah, good point, coordination is really important. If you lack it, you could end up accidentally hurting each other," Agreed Key with a nod.

  "This is stupid, there's no reason for me to be here," I heard Az mutter to himself……

  About half an hour later, we ran into more monsters, a bigger group this time. There were seven Forest Imps and five Walking Trees, twelve monsters in total. The other pair stepped up this time, Arts and Prato.

  "Azyl, get ready to step in if this many is too much for them," Key instructed quietly.

  "Yeah, whatever."

  I wonder how strong these two are, neither of them participated in the Brawl of Glory.

  "Alright, Prato……you ready, bro? Let's do this!" Exclaimed Arts, unleashing his Anima.

  His arms extended out into wings, covered in silky-looking blue feathers. He flapped them to fly up in front of a thick tree, as Prato formed a fireball in her hands. He then planted his feet on the tree truck to brace himself, angled his body down a bit and began rapidly flapping his wings at an incredible speed, creating a powerful gust of wind, aimed at an angle that would sweep across the monsters.

  At the same time, Prato fired the ball of flames she'd been charging up, which got amplified by the intense wind created by Arts' rapid wing flaps. It was like a sea of flames, and was wide enough to burn through all twelve monsters in one go. Not bad, but……

  The forest was on fire.

  "Azyl, you're up," Called out Key, nodding at the flames.

  He didn't say anything in response, forming a mass of water, raising it above the flames, before lowering his arm and dropping the water onto the burning trees and plants, extinguishing the flames.

  "Can we go home now?"

  She ignored him and walked over to the two first years.

  "That was a really good combination attack, but try not to use it in an area like this, it could easily burn down the entire forest," She advised them.

  "Yeah, our bad……that was cool though!" Responded Arts with a fist-pump.

  "I-I'm sorry, it won't h-happen again," Added Prato with an apologetic bow.

  "Loosen up, man, we just gotta learn from it and stuff!" Grinned Arts, slapping her on the back.

  'Man'? And earlier, he called her 'bro'? Was it some kind of bullying? He didn't seem to be saying it in a mean-spirited way though.

  "You shouldn't be so rough with girls, dude," Rai chimed in, getting involved for the first time since we departed.

  "Huh? What d'you mean?" Responded Arts with a look of confusion.

  Wait, don't tell me……

  "Um, I don't be mean to be rude but, uh……are you a boy or a girl?" I asked Prato, before I could stop myself.

  Crap, my curiosity got the better of me, I hope she, or maybe he, doesn't get offended or anything.

  "O-oh, um……I-I'm a boy," She, or rather, he responded, averting his gaze.

  "That's right, I totally forgot……we all made the same mistake when we first met him too," Remarked Ilian with a laugh.

  "Woah, a trap!" Blurted out Rai, his eyes wide.

  "Yes, you get it!" Exclaimed Arts in agreement.

  Okay, he's almost definitely reincarnated with his previous life's memories intact.

  "Oh, yeah, Arts blurted out 'trap!' just like that when we all first found out that Prato's a boy. We all thought it was just something he made up, but maybe it's a real thing after all," Said Ilian with a raised eyebrow.

  "Sh-shouldn't we k-keep moving now?" Stuttered Prato, looking uncomfortable at all the attention she-he was receiving.

  This was confusing, my eyes told me that he was a girl, and even knowing otherwise, it was hard to process.

  "Oh, uh……yes, let's keep going. Rai, wipe that dumb look off your face," Sighed Key irritably, pulling on his ear as he stared at Prato.

  He may be a boy, but since he looked so much like a girl, it was understandable that she felt uncomfortable with Rai staring at him so intensely. He said a 'trap'……I sort of understood what he meant by saying that, but……it seemed a little dumb. I wonder if Kuro knows that term in this context.

  Anyway, we continued on soon after that, running into monsters every so often, but having no real trouble. So far, the first years were proving more than capable of handling themselves and the four of us second years barely had to do much of anything.

  "Hey, I've been wondering something. You four are in the group of that Kuro guy who administered our entrance exam, right? Where is he?" Inquired Ilian curiously.

  "Oh, he's not here right now, he's been away on a Quest for a few weeks, and probably won't be back for a few more weeks," Replied Key, taking a sip of water.

  "I thought only full-fledged Adventurers can go on Quests like that. But he's still a student," Chimed in Lesca, her curiosity seeming to trump her social awkwardness.

  "Well, duh, we all watched the Brawl of Glory, that guy is crazy OP," Remarked Arts with a shrug.

  "Uh……'OP'?" Lesca tilted her head with a confused expression.

  "Overpowered, as in so excessively powerful that it's not fair……but just so you guys know, he's not the only OP powerhouse we've got in this group," Rai joined in on the conversation with a smirk.

  "Why do you look so smug, you're not talking about yourself, after all," I replied with a raised eyebrow.

  I glanced back at Az, to see that he was glaring daggers at the back of Rai's head, trying to subtly get his attention to no avail. Oh, that's right……he hates the idea of people knowing about his abilities. Back when we were heading back to the Rustlands after the whole Zombie mess, he even made Fuo promise that she wouldn't tell everyone about what he's capable of.

  "Well, yeah……but what's wrong with being proud of the fact that I'm on the same time with possibly the two strongest people in this world?" He replied with a grin.

  "Heh, now that sounds like an exaggeration," Laughed Ilian with disbelief in his voice.

  "Well, seeing is believing……hey, Az……u-uh, never mind, let's k-keep going!" Rai began exclaiming, before changing his tune when he turned around to address Az and finally saw the intense death glare that had been directed at him for the past couple of minutes.

  We soon passed by the swamp, Rai fired a bolt of lightning onto the muddy ground to kill any snakes or other dangerous creatures that were hiding in camouflage. I saw some crocodiles and snakes watching us from the murky green lake, but they made no move against us so we ignored them and continued on. It was pretty smooth sailing for the most part. It had been about three hours since we started trekking through the forest now, it shouldn't be too long before we start running into the Devilmonkeys and Giant Poison Frogs.

  "Stay on high alert, we'll likely encounter more powerful monsters from this point onwards," Instructed Key, the first years nodding affirmatively.

  However, the next group of enemies we ran into weren't monsters……

  "Everyone, stop! Az, dragging you along with us was definitely the right call……I can smell a whole bunch of seperate Mana sources closing in all around us, about forty to sixty meters away and closing in fast," I warned, getting ready to unleash my Anima.

  Bandits, not again……I thought most of the bandits in this area had been eliminated, why are there so many?

  "Got it. Alright, let's all huddle up in a circle facing outwards. Azyl, we're counting on you. How many, Persia?" Inquired Key, after swiftly and calmy organizing us into a defensive formation.

  "Um……hold on, it's hard to count, there's so many……I think there's about……sixty or seventy," I replied, after focusing on my nose.

  There were a lot, but it didn't matter……I wasn't going to let a repeat of last time happen……

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  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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