Chapter 101: Watching a Show - II

Melia trained until the sun disappeared under the horizon.

When darkness subsumed the land, the endless stamina she used to train vanished.

"Ugh..."

A deep sluggishness washed over every cell in her body. Her mind slowed, her breathing grew faint, and her heart was beating much slower than before.

It was a crash after all that adrenaline was pumped through her veins. A crash unlike any other, one that only those with a Blessing of Light could understand.

But Melia had grown used to this too.

"Hey,"

A familiar voice rang in her ear, accompanied by the shuffling of four sets of footsteps. Their leather training boots rustled the dusty, compacted soil as they walked.

Melia looked over, feeling a smile appear on her face despite the fatigue.

"Oh, it’s you guys."

The four who similarly bore the Blessing of Light within their souls—just like her.

Markus was the loudest, most prominent of all of them. Melia could still remember his roar the moment the sun gifted him with strength after a whole night of fighting for their lives.

It had resounded across the entire campus, allowing all the survivors to rally towards him. A pillar worthy of his greatsword.

Then, there was Lyre, who had arrived the swiftest, having sprinted across the rooftops like a nimble feline assassin. The sweet smile on her face was truly deceptive, as she was the most lethal of them all.

Finally, the twins, Jin and Jan, whose teamwork was always a dizzying, dazzling display.

Ever since that harrowing night, the five of them called themselves the Dawn Embers, becoming very close friends who fought and lived together.

In the end, the demon who attacked the Academy of Laquer hadn’t been slain. It had fled the moment morning came, clearly aware of its own weakened state in the absence of darkness.

However, that meant that a demon had been lurking throughout the capital.

Despite the demon’s eventual annihilation by the magic of an <Archmagus>, it had left several imps of various kinds in the dark spaces within the capital.

The <Archmagus> had delegated the task of cleaning up these imps to the academy.

It served as a way to help its students gain practical experience, and it was the main reason why the Dawn Embers often worked together.

Each of them led a squad of their own, competing with each other in terms of who could kill the most F-Rank imps during their regular hunting patrols throughout the different imp-infested locations in Laquer.

When they encountered E-Rank imps, however, they would often collaborate. Either in pairs or in trios, depending on whether the imps were mutated or not.

The only time all five of them would fight together would be when a D-Rank imp appeared.

...But nothing of the sort had happened yet.

"Dinner? The twins were craving something spicy. We should go to that new shop near the fountain plaza..."

Lyre grabbed Melia’s hands, already about to whisk her away.

"Wait—" Melia felt a sharp pain pierce through her nerves. "Ack! Ouch! I haven’t healed yet!"

"You..." Lyre frowned; concern flashed across her face. "Did you train until the light of day disappeared again?"

"Oh~"

Jin and Jan suddenly ran up to Melia, both grinning in a mischievous mood.

"This is your third strike, isn’t it?" The boy, Jan, poked Melia in the side.

"Master Vron is gonna kill youuu~!" The girl, Jin, went and poked Melia’s cheek.

"Ah! Jin, Jan— Stop!" Melia struggled to dodge, still incredibly sore. "I lost track of time, that’s all! I didn’t realize that it was so dark—"

—Thud.

A hand suddenly fell upon Melia’s shoulder, clamping her in place. "I’ll help you this one time since you’ll be in big trouble if Master finds out."

Markus then summoned his mana, creating vibrant light that dyed everyone’s hair blonde and healed Melia’s wounds.

Such were the benefits of light-attributed mana users fighting together. They were a direct source of each other’s strength.

When they all burst out with radiance, they could fight even in the darkest of nights.

Feeling the steadiness on her shoulder, Melia gladly accepted Markus’ healing, nodding at him in gratitude.

"Thanks, Markus."

A few minutes went by, and Melia was as good as new. Meanwhile, Markus’ reserves of light-attributed mana dwindled.

With the disappearance of his radiance, everyone’s features returned to normal.

Melia’s hair turned dark brown.

Markus’ hair went even further—becoming an abyssal black.

Lyre’s hair was already quite a light brown to begin with, so it didn’t change much.

Meanwhile, the twins... their hair returned to a vivid red that matched their mesmerizing eyes.

"Alright, let’s go!" Jin said, giggling in excitement. "Last one there will be forced to eat the spiciest set of noodles—!"

—BOOM!

Markus, despite having little light-attributed mana left, was still the strongest among them in physicality. His sprinting speed was greater than Lyre’s in a straight line.

He was also notably weak to spicy food.

Thus, he ran for his life.

"O-oi! Wait up, Jin!" Jan followed after his twin sister, exasperated that he’d been left behind.

Lyre and Melia just glanced at each other and walked.

"So, how’s your study of that Martial Art going? I know you received it from a mysterious certain someone, but is it really necessary to stick to it so faithfully?"

Lyre snickered, trying to extract some information from her friend.

"You do know you can train a different D-Rank Martial Art so you can advance, and then figure out a D-Rank version of your dance, right?"

Melia rolled her eyes. "As I said, there’s probably a strategic reason why the Martial Art is structured the way it is. I want to use it in my advancement for that purpose."

"You really trust him, huh?"

"Yeah—"

"Aha! So it is a him! Come on, Melia, tell me—was it from out of the professors?"

Melia facepalmed. Her friend had this massive misconception that the <Dance of a Thousand Cuts> was a gift from an admirer.

But Melia knew Aventine’s personality.

From the way he interacted with Archisse and the uncaring way he treated everything...

’Yeah... Brother Aventine is definitely not that kind of person.’

Melia still remembered the time she tried to probe if Aventine had any feelings for Archisse.

Aventine had... grimaced in repulsion. "Me? Liking that Archisse? I would rather not."

’Even though Sister Archisse is a very beautiful noble lady, Brother Aventine never looked at her. His eyes were always looking elsewhere, even when looking at those around him.’ Melia recalled the relevant memories.

It was an odd sensation she hadn’t noticed right away.

But after traveling with Aventine for a while, she’d noticed it. Even Archisse had, too.

Still, distant as they were, those eyes of his never appeared lost.

It never felt like he was staring into space, deep in thought.

Melia couldn’t put her finger on what it was exactly... But it always felt like Aventine was looking at stuff no one else could see.

’Like ghosts or something...’

Melia shivered.

—Smack!

Lyre had playfully slapped her shoulder.

"Oh? Did you remember someone? Quick! Tell me what they look like— Eep—!"

Melia glared at her friend and countered with a roundhouse kick to Lyre’s derriere.

"Watch yourself, girl."