Chapter 515: I Don’t Know If They Are Spies, But My Seniors Are Definitely Assholes...

"Dude. We had five minutes," Aarav groaned. But despite the complaint, he dragged himself up and started getting ready.

I got up too. But I hadn’t unpacked a single thing, so my preparation was non-existent. I just needed to shove my phone into my backpack and stretch the kinks out of my arms.

So I reached into my pocket for my phone. However, it must’ve been the wrong pocket, because instead of what I was fishing for, my fingers brushed against what I could only make out to be... paper.

A folded, slightly crinkled piece of paper.

Huh?

I pulled it out, frowning. I didn’t remember putting anything else in my trouser pockets.

Unfolding it, my brow unfurled as my eyes scanned the paper. Something was written on it. The handwriting was neat and feminine.

But what drew my attention first and foremost was a ring.

There was this small band of silver tucked inside the final fold, with a tiny red diamond gleaming right in its center.

It was a beautiful ring, so much so that my breath nearly left me in a hitch when I gazed upon it. I guess it looked a little girlish, but that only served to confuse me more.

My eyes automatically went to the note written inside the paper. And the more words I read there, the more a little smile blossomed on my face.

"Consider this your early birthday gift.

I figured my trophies would be too much for you. Don’t want you running away again.

This is an enchanted spatial storage ring. Not as large as those high-grade Cards, but it has enough room for basic supplies, potions, and whatever silly souvenirs you pick up on the battlefield.

There’s also a tracking enchantment on the band. Don’t lose it. And don’t make me come look for your corpse.

— Juli"

By the end of it, I was fighting to keep a grin off my face.

Should I have been creeped out that she mentioned her trophies? Sure.

Should I have been worried that she could track me through this ring? Yes.

Should I have been concerned about how the hell she managed to sneak this into my pocket without me noticing? Fuck yes!

And yet, I couldn’t stop a giggle from escaping my chest.

The girl was a total red flag, but I was starting to think that red was probably my favorite color. Golden seemed overrated.

"Oh, is that a blood diamond?" Aarav appeared on my left, tone curious.

I almost jumped and quickly pocketed the paper. "A w-what?"

"A blood diamond," he repeated. "The Valkryn family has this tradition where they would crystallize their blood and make a jewel out of it. These are usually given to someone very intimately special when they’re about to set out on a long journey, like a spouse or a mistress. Who gave you that? I didn’t know you were taken."

Wait. Wait, wait, wait!

I had heard about this.

She gave me a blood diamond?

I stared at the sparkling red gem in my hand. All of a sudden, the ring felt a whole lot heavier than it had been until a moment ago.

Again, should I have been concerned? Sure.

Was I terrified of what this implied about her long-term plans for me? Yes.

Did that stop me from immediately slipping the ring onto my ring finger? Of course not.

Look, look! If a psycho-beauty wanted to give me jewelry before I was deployed into an active war zone, who was I to refuse?

Besides, it kinda matched the red rubies on Lily’s raven-wing brooch. My outfit was coming together remarkably well.

"It’s from my Shadow," I said, clearing my throat and flexing my hand to admire how the ring sat against my knuckles. "But it’s not like that."

Aarav gave me a knowing smirk. "Right. It’s not like that." Then his eyes narrowed slightly. "Your Shadow... um, that Blade girl. Juliana Vox Blade, right? One fine woman she is. I was watching the Mock War episodes before coming here, and that part where she fought off the Central Prince and his sister and their entourage all alone was simply mind-blowing. Her sword art is so refined. Didn’t know she was of Valkryn heritage. Makes sense now."

I gave a loose nod. "Her mother was a Valkryn."

"Really? Who was she?"

"No idea. All I know is that she was from a branch family."

Juliana never talked about her mother much. Her past, especially her family, was a sensitive topic.

I had once asked her about her siblings. She looked so heartbreakingly sad in response that I never wished to see that look on her face again.

So I never brought up her family again. Okay, not directly. I had the decency to satisfy my curiosity by tiptoeing around the topic.

"Fair enough. If she was from a branch family, then she must not have been anyone notable—"

"Yumiere Valkryn," Vereshia cut in. She was looking away from us, busy putting on her tactical gloves. But her voice was tight. "The woman you’re talking about was Yumiere Valkryn. Later, Countess Yumiere Blade. One of the deadliest to ever pick up a sword. She was notable."

"...How do you know her?" I heard myself asking.

"My father fought her once when he was young. It was during a border dispute," Vereshia explained. She pulled the velcro strap tight on her left wrist, finally looking up. Her crimson eyes were so frigid they might as well have been unreadable. "He told me she made him believe in hell. Because he couldn’t imagine a demoness like her coming from anywhere else. Hearing my arrogant father praise someone like that ignited an interest in me. I did a lot of digging and tracked down some old stories. As I read them, you could say she became my idol. Sort of."

Aarav and I exchanged a quick glance.

We were thinking the exact same thing.

He spoke first. "A Morrigan idolizing a Valkryn? I don’t know much about Southern politics, but aren’t your families supposed to be sworn enemies?"

He was right.

Both Valkryns and Morrigans were powerful Southern Ducal houses with a long history of bloodshed between them. Their children were taught to hate each other before they could even walk.

"Funny, is it not?" Vereshia let slip a chuckle. "History is written by old men who can’t let go of grudges, but children do not know any better. I was just a child when I started reading about her, and the older I got, the more I related to her struggles. Apparently, Yumiere was very talented. At one point, the entire South expected her to become our next Sword Saintess. Unluckily, her Soul Potential was capped at S-rank. So her family decided to pour their resources into better prospects from the main line. Better prospects like the Night Witch, Selene Valkryn, and the current Black Duke, Adel Zen Valkryn. Yumiere was instead reduced to a bargaining chip. She was married off to a Western Count, Elijah Blade, to bridge a political relationship between the two houses. Well... we all know how that ended, right?"

Right.

But I still had one question. "What kind of struggles did you relate to? If you don’t mind me asking."

An embarrassed smile broke through Vereshia’s usually stoic expression, cheeks pink as she waved her hand quickly. "It’s silly. I have S-rank potential too, and I’m also from my house’s branch family. There are other things as well... like my Elders expecting me to just obediently bow my head and step aside the second someone from the main line wants my spot, even if I’m clearly more deserving."

Ahh.

It was no secret that Vereshia had long since hit the peak of her Soul Potential. She was S-ranked, and she wasn’t going to advance any further.

I had seen some discussions on the Academy forums about it — about how a handful of third-years were technically stronger than her now, yet it was unfair to them that they weren’t allowed to challenge her for the Ace position anymore.

Why was that?

You see, once third-years gave their midterms, their rankings were locked.

This was done for two reasons.

Firstly, third-years spent their final terms preparing for real-world military deployments and guild contracts and other administrative roles. Constant rank-shuffling right up until graduation would create unnecessary instability in the chain of command.

Secondly, most of the Cadets by that point would have already reached or come very close to their peak Soul Potential.

And since this was Apex we’re talking about, that meant that many of the third-years were bound to be S-rankers, a few very rare SS-rankers, or — gods forbid — some even rarer SSS-rankers.

There was absolutely no way the Academy could safely handle the high-intensity duels between those teenage demigods.

Imagine two SS-rankers unleashing attacks powerful enough to level an entire city. No, thank you.

When you fight at that level, you don’t fight for fun. You don’t fight to subdue.

When you fight at that level, you fight for the highest honour a warrior could claim. You fight to vanquish your enemy. You fight to kill your enemy.

Before anyone else could chip in to break the silence, a single beep chimed overhead, drawing our attention.

The ambient lighting in the cabin dimmed, and the aircraft’s AI’s mechanical voice resounded from the speakers.

[Attention, Cadets. Destination reached. Shattered Isles airspace confirmed. Descent vector locked. Exterior temperature: Minus twelve degrees Celsius. Wind velocity: Severe. Altitude: Ten thousand feet. Prepare for drop.]

The floor beneath us shuddered hard as the jet halted in place, hovering mid-air and resisting the turbulent high-altitude winds.

Aarav stood up, cracking his neck left and right before slinging a black tactical rig over his chest. All traces of his earlier sleepiness were gone. What remained on his face now was the sharp focus of a seasoned soldier.

Vereshia slowly walked toward the rear of the cabin, where the heavy hydraulic ramp had begun to unseal.

It was only then that I suddenly noticed something. "Wait, where are our parachutes?"

Both my seniors gave me varying degrees of amused looks, as if I had cracked some joke only I couldn’t understand.

Vereshia raised her hand. Her palm was outstretched for my chest. I quickly felt an invisible force pulling my body forward like I was a fish caught on a line.

"W-Wait! No, no, no!" I flailed and shrieked. That only served to amuse the two fuckers even more.

"Remember when I said I’d throw you off this jet," she smiled an evil smile as I was slowly being dragged toward her despite my efforts. "I wasn’t lying."