Self-proclaimed Leader of Mir

The sound of each step echoed in the empty hallways. Amalia glanced at the pocket watch she took out beneath her coat. Any minute now, it would be the opposite.

On cue, whispers filled the corridor as students poured out from their classrooms, signaling that classes concluded.

Amalia sighed as she slipped the watch back into her pocket.

'Why are you so rigid? Everything's in place!'

Unfazed by her spirit beast's shrill voice, she simply looked outside the window. "As it should be."

'It's not like everything will crumble down with one mishap.'

She saw three small figures in the arena, one with distinguishable black hair, and the other two she knew as her close peers. "We are unsure of that."

She noticed that the other person that should supposedly be there due to her punishment was not present. Of course, she expected. Hera would not easily admit her fault. As much as the girl wielded tremendous power, she would be a pain with her childish, almost brat-like, attitude. She wondered how Bridget and Hera have polar temperaments considering they grew up in the same environment.

'Ugh, why are you like this? Can't we at least have some fun? Come on, let me out! I want to explore and eat good stuff!' The voice whined inside her head. If Amalia were to see her spirit beast's form right now, the fox would have been dramatically lying on a sofa, singing 'woe is me'. What a little dramatic feline she picked up.

Amalia rolled her eyes. "You are aware of the rules. We do not use affinities within school grounds except in training facilities."

'The rules only stated to not use affinity, not summon your spirit beast. So, technically, you're not breaking any rules.' The fox shrugged with a sly smirk.

Amalia narrowed her eyes when she saw them goofing around.

'You're watching her again, aren't you?'

Amalia responded, never taking off her eyes on the trio. "Keeping her would not benefit us, at first, I thought."

'Will you report it to your father?' the voice spat the last word in disdain.

"I'm certain he already knows."

The edge of her lips turned down for a fraction before she furrowed her brows. The duke gave her a task to gather details of the headmaster's actions and motives. It is a duty she must do. Compared to her disappointment of an older brother, the so-called heir, she must live up to the duke's expectations.

It was such a shame she did not acquire the family's water affinity, rather she had the opposite element. Such a shame—she often heard those words passed from one's tongue to another's ear.

Her lips tightened.

'No, cherry, I meant the other night,' she stated as she materialized around her contractor's neck, her voice slightly higher as if it's a matter-of-fact.

"Ah, the other night…"

They indulged themselves in silence. Amalia drowned in her own thoughts while the fox waited for her response and let out an annoyed cry, knowing her contractor was in the state of reflection.

"…𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘞𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵." 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘩.

𝘈𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘩𝘰𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘧 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴—𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦-𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘬𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘨𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘱𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥, 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵.

𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘯.

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘙𝘪𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘥-𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘏𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥.

𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵.

She heard enough that every information she deemed valuable. Raised by an Adhelian and now trained to infiltrate Letheria—having a real black-haired person to do the job would minimize the risk of getting exposed. She doubted at first whether Adeleine truly was innocent and wasn't posing as a clueless person in disguise sent to infiltrate Heloire Academy. But apparently, that wasn't the case.

Keeping the plan secret—that, she understood but, keeping it even from The Circle?

The headmaster's distrust towards the others was apparent. Consequently, The Circle harbored grudge towards him, well, most of them. He was a thorn on their side.

She sighed. The drop of hesitation in her mind rippled.

The fact that he kept all of his movements reclusive made him suspicious. But for The Circle to make him appear to be an enemy, why?

It would have been easy to have access to answers if she was the chosen heiress, but all she could do at the moment was to observe.

As far as the man was indulging himself in his little games, being shady, and poking his nose in other's business—all in all, being detestably annoying—he hasn't done anything to betray the empire.

He must only have poked their ego. He played devil's advocate most of the time.

To be divided by something so trivial such as pride, Amalia scoffed. They had the audacity to call themselves The Circle, composed with the four main families of Adhelis, when in fact, they were mere descendants from the glory of what their ancestors worked for.

'Ugh, cherry, are you there or not?' The fox waived her tail in front of her contractor's face.

"What?" she flatly replied.

'Will you tell the duke or what?'

Her amber eyes narrowed once more as she kept her eyes on them. "I should, as always."

'You're blind. He's using you.'

Amalia made no reply as she strode, heading down to the arena.

~~

"What ranks do each of you have?" Adeleine asked out of curiosity as she poked a bitten apple from the ground with a long stick and dumped it in the sack she held in the other hand.

Meanwhile, Ria kicked the orange peel in the air and twirled, hitting it to aim at the direction of an unsuspecting Bridget. The shorter one yelped as it landed perfectly in her sack. "Shoot!" Ria pumped her fists in the air.

"So?" Adeleine looked at them expectedly, only to see them distracted.

"Oh, um, what?" Bridget brushed her bangs.

Adeleine pursed her lips while Bridget apologized profusely, noticing her annoyance. "I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to!"

"Rankings, yada-yada! It doesn't really matter." Ria placed her hands on her waist. "What matter is we all have fun together." She threw her hands in the air and locked both of them in her arms, flashing a cheeky grin as they both struggled free. "-right?"

"Let- go-" Adeleine pushed her away but, the senior had a tight lock. She didn't expect her to have this amount of strength, or maybe this was skill, she thought, dubious. Adeleine still has a lot to learn in the arts of combat.

She gasped for air as she took steps back when Ria let them both go. That was too close for comfort.

"Still I want to know," Adeleine frowned.

"Well, sure you do. Haha, silly me," Ria playfully rolled her eyes. "Mir! That's my rank! There, did that make you feel better?" She slung her arms over her shoulders to which Adeleine reacted by removing it before scooting farther.

"Can you please not-" She inhaled. "Not do that." Emphasizing the last word, she furrowed her brows.

"You mean what? Hugging? No can do, sistah. Everyone needs hugs." Ria attempted another one but Adeleine swiftly dodge to the side.

"Oh I'm…mir," Bridget softly spoke.

"We're the mir gang!"

Her eyes widened. Adeleine didn't expect Bridget to be that high. With the girl's disposition, it's hard to imagine Bridget winning in duels.

"What? How?" She leaned closer to Bridget.

"I- um. Uh, er- don't…" Bridget averted her gaze as she leaned back from Adeleine's curious but scrutinizing gaze. She felt like a rare specimen under inspection, and she doesn't like how it made her feel. Pink tinted her cheeks.

"What?" Adeleine raised her brow, annoyed. "You don't want to tell me? Well, that's fine." She turned up her nose and continued picking up trash.

Oh, no, no, no. Bridget panicked. She didn't mean to be rude! "I- uh… have water affinity. It's healing," she squeaked as she shut her eyes and grimaced, waiting for the other to tell her to shut up or go away. She disrespected her so, it's only natural.

"Healing affinity? Woah! Really?" Adeleine, instead, had sparkles in her eyes like a giddy child marveling at a new toy. Bridget blinked, taken aback by the unusual response.

"Hold on. Healing isn't offensive. Isn't the ranking a merit system where you win duels and you rank higher?" she added.

Ria giggled. "No, silly. We aren't knights, you know? That only exists in books. Our ranks are based off by the magnitude of our affinity."

"So ranks are set in stone, then why are there duels? Don't tell me it's just for fun? That would be a complete waste of time and effort since rankings aren't based on it." She criticized. "It's useless."

Closing one eye in thought, Ria hummed as she stroked her chin. "You're right! Although, I don't know what's the use of it too but," she shrugged, "it sure does look fun! Plus, the crowd goes wiiiiild!"

"Duels are not entirely meaningless." Someone interjected. Their attention shifted to the person behind them with her hands laced behind the arch of her spine, her amber eyes were like watchful hawks under the straight bangs, while her hair combed back to a neat ponytail, and lips fined to a thin line. "Victors are given points added to their monthly allowance that serves as the academy's currency. Given that you are new, it is understandable that you are unaware of it."

Amalia la Liga Soffi-Azura. Secondborn of the prestigious household that governs the water dukedom with the largest lakes and fjords. The Azura owns the largest fleet in the empire due to their territory mostly covered in bodies of water…or that's what the other two told her. Their family's status is right below the imperial family that rules the whole Adhelis continent.

The person standing before her is basically one of the royalties. But Adeleine doesn't give a crap about that.

A bullet of sweat swept the side of Adeleine's face feeling her gaze on her as she held back her discomfort. She didn't want to be seen affected by the other senior. It's a sign of weakness others would most likely exploit.

"For emerging victorious against a Mir, you are rewarded with one thousand points. That could already be twenty regular meals. Defeating a Sett would be five hundred points, Kael is two hundred points, Bav is one hundred points, a non-ranker is fifty," she continued.

"So, you get this rewards on every duel?" Adeleine asked as she raised her brow, feigning skepticism to hide the cunning smile that threatened her lips. With every win of every duel, there's a reward. She could negotiate with someone, fake every challenge again and again. They both could accumulate a large number of points without the need to injure themselves to a degree. She just needed someone willing.

A flaw in their system that she could take advantage of. How can she let this opportunity pass? She'll be able to buy limitless!

"If you think that you've found a loophole," she crossed her arms and sent a warning glare. "I will inform you that with every lose, you lose the same amount of points your opponent gains. Think of it as your points being transferred to their account. Let's take your duel as an example. If you lost, your fifty points will transfer to Hera. But when you won, one thousand points was transferred to you, Transferred points are based on the defeated's ranking." She pulled her lapel and raised her chin. "I've worded it the simplest way possible that I doubt you wouldn't comprehend."

Adeleine pursed her lips. That means...she wasn't the first one who thought of it, and whoever did it before must have been the reason why the rules changed. Well, that screw that person.

"If there's a storing system like that, then how are you guys keeping track of every student's record?"

"Quite large, indeed but, nothing our record keeper can't handle. They keep track the all the changes."

"How do they keep track of it? Do they have a book? Or like…" Adeleine gestured with her hands.

Amalia curtly replied, "That is kept as secret, in case anyone would want to sneak in and make some changes in their logbooks."

Adeleine's shoulders drooped, matched with another disappointed purse of her lips.

"I've already wasted my time," Amalia said, glancing at her pocket watch. "I'll be taking my leave with Bridget."

"H-huh, me?" The small lady pointed at herself while glancing nervously at the two. They weren't done with the cleaning so it'd be rude to leave now.

But Ria pushed her. "Alright, commander, she's all yours!"