"Look at him acting smug with Lady Ciel. Why him and not me?"
"He sure is lucky, dating a high class noble like Lady Ciel... I’m genuinely jealous."
"Look at them over there, acting all loving..."
The whispers rippled through the central academy dining hall like a low, irritating hum. Every eye was locked on our table. Across the marble courtyard, Gideon sat flanked by his usual inner circle, his grip tightening around his eating utensil until the metal groaned under the pressure. His knuckles turned white, his expression dark with suppressed fury.
His sister, May, sat right beside him. She caught Gideon’s rigid posture and offered a quiet, firm warning. "Don’t bother, Gideon. Not here in public."
Gideon ground his teeth, forcing himself to look away, though the tension radiating from his seat remained palpable.
I ignored the murmurs entirely, keeping my posture relaxed and my face impassive as I cut into my meal. This fake relationship setup is exhausting.
Beside me, Ciel leaned in slightly, a smug, satisfied smirk playing on her lips as she watched the surrounding students whisper among themselves. "Oh? Do you hear that, Ares?" she murmured, her tone dripping with amused satisfaction. "We look good together."
I maintained a practiced, harmless smile, the exact mask expected of a dutiful guardian in public and took another calm bite of food. "Eat your meal, Ciel."
At a neighboring table, one of Adela’s companions glanced toward us, leaning over to whisper, "Lady Adela, are you really not going to put your guard back in his place? Letting him act so casually with another noble’s daughter?"
Adela took a slow sip from her cup, her voice smooth and unbothered. "He is permitted to do as he pleases when off duty."
"As expected of you, Lady Adela," the girl praised softly, bowing her head.
Before Ciel could tease me any further, the sound of approaching footsteps broke the local chatter. Ansel walked up to our table, holding his hands up in a half apologetic gesture.
"Sorry to interrupt your little date," Ansel said with a dry grin, "but we’ve been called up. We have an official mission assignment, and we need to report to the office immediately." Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Ciel pouted slightly, though she didn’t argue. I stood up, adjusting my tunic. "Duty calls."
"Remember your promises," Ciel murmured, giving me a knowing look before turning back to her food.
"I’ll see you later," I replied flatly, turning on my heel and following Ansel out of the noisy dining hall.
We navigated the quiet stone corridors of the main administrative wing, stopping before a heavy mahogany door. Ansel knocked twice and pushed it open.
Inside, Aria and Sitri were already standing in front of the desk, both dressed in their standard tactical gear. Sitri had her arms crossed over her chest, her sharp black eyes tracking us quietly as we entered, while Aria stood straight and composed.
Behind the wide oak desk stood Instructor Jack, his cold, experienced gaze sweeping over the four of us.
"Now that you’re all here, let’s get straight to business," Instructor Jack said, his voice cutting through the quiet room. "As you know, Class S doesn’t exist just for indoor drills. You cannot grow by training alone; you need true combat testing to refine your core control and tactical limits."
He leaned forward, resting his arms on the wood. "Your squad has been assigned an active field operation, to infiltrate and eliminate a criminal syndicate’s territory located deep within the southeast region."
Ansel frowned slightly, stepping forward with a cautious look. "Instructor... isn’t it dangerous to give a syndicate eradication mission to first year cadets? What if the syndicate members are stronger than anticipated, or what if unexpected variables emerge in the field?"
Instructor Jack met the Prince’s gaze unblinkingly. "You were given this mission because the board deemed that your squad possesses the collective capability to complete it. Trust your training." He tapped a stack of documents on the desk. "Report to the south gate tomorrow at dawn to meet your assigned third year senior guide, review your tactical strategy together, and deploy. Dismissed."
...
The next morning we arrived at the south gate, we found a tall, broad shouldered third year senior waiting for us, leaning casually against a stone pillar with a rolled tactical map tucked under his arm.
"Greetings," the senior said, pushing off the pillar as we approached. "I’m your senior guide for this operation. Before we go over the operational layout, I want everyone to introduce themselves and clearly state your combat specialty so I know what tools we’re working with."
Aria stepped up first. "Aria. My specialty is support shielding, tactical analysis, and healing."
Ansel gave a confident nod. "Ansel. Light manipulation and close quarters vanguard combat."
Finally, all eyes turned toward me. Keeping my posture neutral, I offered a concise summary, omitting my deeper hidden capabilities and past limits. "Ares. Fire manipulation and frontline support."
The senior evaluated us with a sharp, experienced nod. He took out a piece of paper and began detailing things. "Good. Based on your skill sets, I’ve already mapped out our infiltration routes." He unrolled the map of the syndicate’s base across a stone block, pointing to several marked zones.
"The syndicate base is heavily fortified," the senior explained. "We cannot rush in blindly. Each of you will take a designated sector, and we will converge simultaneously at the center where the syndicate boss resides. Since Aria’s primary focus is healing and support rather than direct offensive combat, she will accompany me through the packed western sector."
Ansel immediately straightened up, his brow furrowing as he leaned over the map. "Wait... splitting up a first year cadets across hostile territory? That’s suicide. Shouldn’t we all stick together and fight as a single unit?"
The senior shook his head firmly. "If we bunch up, we’ll attract every enemy combatant in the base to a single location and get completely ganged upon. Attacking from separate angles creates strategic confusion and splits their defenses. If we tried to push through the main gate as one group, your survival rate would drop to fifty percent. In a combat zone where enemy levels are equal to or higher than yours, sheer numbers clustered together are pointless, positioning and mobility are everything."
Ansel narrowed his eyes. "What are the ranks of the criminals we’re facing?"
"Most of the foot soldiers are Tier 1 and Tier 2," the senior replied grimly. "But the syndicate boss is a confirmed Tier 3 combatant, a ruthless criminal who has been raiding trade routes and slaughtering innocents across the border. He won’t go down easily."
The senior pulled a small stack of rune etched parchment rolls from his mantle and handed one to each of us. "I’ll be following along to oversee your sectors, but if a situation turns critical..." He paused, tapping the scroll. "You each carry a teleportation scroll. Just know that the moment you break the seal to escape danger, your mission status instantly registers as a failure. You can use it to save your life if necessary, but I strongly advise against it."
He rolled up the base map and tucked it back under his arm, looking around the circle. "Is everyone ready to move out?"
Ansel, Sitri, and I gave firm, silent nods.
At a subtle gesture from the senior, a heavily hooded faculty instructor stepped out from the shadows near the gate archway. The instructor raised his hand, chanting a low incantation, and ripped open a swirling spatial portal that tore through the air.
Without a word of hesitation, the five of us stepped through the glowing threshold, plunging straight into the heart of the syndicate’s territory.