Dareon, The Mercenary

Hubert gripped the man's collar and pressed him hard against the wall. His other hand clenched hard, ready to strike.

"I'm… Dareon, I'm not a stalker, I'm just curious of your routine," Dareon answered. His red hair gleamed, akin to the color of blood.

"Yeah? Then why didn't you just come to us? You think we haven't noticed you peeking since the first day?" Hubert asked, his tone seemed calm yet pressing, his brows furrowed, wary and cautious.

Especially in a new environment, with a mission in hand.

"Stay true to your mission. Beware of enemies. Failure is not acceptable, or else…" Anna's voice rang in his head, reminding him, spoken in the middle of the night in the house near the lake.

"N-no, I'm truly just curious!" Dareon said, continuing his alibi.

"And why are you curious? Are you perhaps a spy that was sent here?" Hubert asked interrogatively.

"It's not that! I'm curious because…" he hesitated.

"Spill it," Hubert pressed.

"I want to join you in your routine," Dareon answered, his eyes glancing at the ground, his face facing away in embarrassment as a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead.

Hubert's eyes widened, his grip over Dareon's collar weakened.

"Are you telling the truth?" Hubert asked.

"Ye-yes… I've thought about it and you seemed to be the perfect training partner, an-and you've just reached enlightenment to mana! I thought it wasn't a bad idea," Dareon answered.

Hubert's fingers relaxed as he dropped them freely.

"Haaa…" he sighed. Then looked at Ron.

Ron looked back with the usual bored and stoic eyes.

Hubert sighed once again. Then turned his face to Dareon.

"I'm not the one to make the decision, so you must ask my… friend," Hubert answered.

"Su-sure! Thank you," Dareon replied gratefully. After that, he turned his face to Ron.

"S-sir! May I ask you to train me?" Dareon asked politely and subordinately. He had watched Hubert's routine and had come to believe that Ron was his trainer and mentor.

Ron stared at him silently, his face like a stone statue.

Nod.

He nodded, allowing Dareon to join.

"Wh-what?! Really? Thank you, sir!" Dareon said, joyfulness in his voice.

Dareon then turned to Hubert.

"Thank you…" Dareon hesitated.

"Hubert, sheesh, I can't believe you forgot my name but remember that I was enlightened by mana," Hubert said jokingly with a smile.

"He-he," Dareon awkwardly laughed while scratching the back of his head, a smile etched onto his face.

"And this, my friend… Well I guess we should call him our trainer, is called Ron," Hubert introduced.

Ron nodded, his face unchanged.

"Gre-greetings, sir Ron!" Dareon said, bowing down.

Ron chuckled a bit.

"Whoa, you made him chuckle on your first day!" Hubert said, amazed of Dareon's accomplishment.

The sight of wild Ron chuckling was a legendary moment for him, after all.

Ron replied to Hubert's words with a stare.

"Sleep…" then Ron muttered, before walking away in dormitory building C.

"Good night, Ron," Hubert bidded as Ron darted away and vanished after turning into a corner.

"S-so, Hub-hubert? What are we going to do now?" Dareon asked nervously, being left behind with Hubert.

"Well, I'm too tired to do any more exercise today," he answered. The bright and cold moon, akin to a wanderer, above their head.

"But… we could converse, first, let us sit down on that log over there," Hubert pointed, behind the dormitory building C, near the tree lines, sitting still, a log.

—

"I was a mercenary… I fought greatly in a battle against the pirates near the city of Goldport. So the leader of my mercenary group, along with all the other members, pooled their money together and sent me here because I was the youngest, they said," Dareon said, giving his backstory, his voice soft, reminiscing of the past.

"Wow… then you must be strong, then," Hubert praised, his gloved hand placed on his thigh.

The moonlight blessed them, the crickets chirped and the cold wind a puny opponent in the middle of their conversation.

"...Of course! You see this scar on my face?" Dareon asked, pointing to his scar. Hubert nodded as he looked at it, almost interested in it.

"This I got from the pirates when defending a fishing village! But…" Dareon's exciting and prideful voice turned into an unclear tone, mixed with hesitation and embarrassment.

"I have just realized that I was a frog in a well. The first day was my attempt to impress the class and the teachers, I thought instructor Vinc was a weakling from his look," Dareon said, his eyes facing the swaying grass.

"..." Hubert was in silence, listening wholeheartedly to his tale.

"But I was put down in the middle of the class. It was going well at first, until…" his tone turned from bad to worse. His words seemed to be clogged at his throat, unwilling to get out.

"Until what?" Hubert asked calmly.

"Until they…" Dareon hesitated.

"They who?" Hubert asked, slightly curious and agitated at Dareon's complicated situation and his unwillingness to share his story.

"Until Aadish started disturbing me," Dareon shared, exposing his secret.

"Aadish? Who is that?" Hubert asked, unknowing of the name.

"The first son of Baron of Soondi," Dareon answered.

"Baron of Soondi…" Hubert murmured, searching through his name for a familiar name, his search was futile.

"Ye-yes, since the first day, he has started calling me weakling and coward for losing against the instructor. During the meditation class, he started poking on me, breaking my focus. During dinner, he isolated me from anyone who dared to sit near me," Dareon said, his voice slightly shaky.

Yet he pushed through, telling Hubert his story.

"Coward…?" Hubert said, frowning. The forbidden word in his mind.

He pushed it into a corner of his mind.

"Yes… it was because of him, because of him! No one dared to be my friend, no one dared to even get close to me," Dareon continued, his fist clenched, his voice maddening.

Hubert looked at Dareon.

His scar, once scary and pressuring in class, became that of a mere decoration attached onto his face. His red hair, a color that usually symbolized bravery and pride, turned into a pile of soggy courage-lacking and full of shame color.

No matter how frightening he looked before, Hubert knew the man in front of him was just like him, another adult in the harsh world. 

Adults of no power, no riches and no connections. Adults that get trampled in the middle of the nobles' greed for power and their impatient and degrading attitude.

The two were barely even pawns on the board full of knights and kings.

"I get it, Dareon. But now, you found a friend, someone who you can lean to," Hubert said.

Dareon replied in silence, thinking of what Hubert said to him, his eyes watery and teary. Gratitude and joy filled him, but not enough to defeat the exhaustion and tiredness of his mind.

He groaned as he got up from the log.

"Get some sleep, Dareon. Tomorrow, after training, I'll teach you some meditation, that is, if you haven't enlightened yet," Hubert said, waving his gloved hand, his back toward Dareon as he walked away.

The next morning, the fifth day since they entered Kexer Special Academy.

The students sat under the branches of trees and its leaves, seeking sanctuary from the early morning sun under its shade. With closed eyes and a focused mind, they continued their meditation, the fourth day since the class started meditating.

Hubert stood face-to-face with instructor Vinc, his glasses reflecting all the sunlight into Hubert's eyes.

"Uhh…" he moaned a dull sound, trying to cover his eyes from the relentless attack of the sun ray.

"Ah… I'm sorry," Vinc lifted up his glasses, realizing his mistake.

His eyes bare, for the whole world to see, a beautiful color of green, seductive and snaky. His jaws sharp, his hair messy yet alluring. His face handsome like that of a brothel worker.

Though it soon continued being baggy and swollen from the lack of sleep.

"Anyway, Hubert! You are officially considered in grade 2 now, the first of your cohort. Congratulations on your accomplishment!" Vinc exclaimed excitingly, his finger lifted up.

"Thank you, instructor," Hubert responded.

"I like that newfound confidence! You were just like a scaredy cat the first time I saw you, but to be fair, anyone was nervous on the first day, right? Anyway, I never explained this yet, but grade 1 serves as a barrier, a test of some sort, that if you can't pass, then you are unqualified to be a student of this academy. Though there are some leniency cases, that requires showing your strong and unyielding willpower! Anyway, what I'm going to say is that, since you are in grade 2, you will be cultivated and trained until you can awaken your elements! Only then would you advance to grade 3, then you are allowed to choose from the four learning halls and this class C will cease to exist! Anyway, I'll teach you some magic circles to further your understanding of the uses and applications of mana, here, take all these scrolls! The first is fire magic, then water magic, then wind magic, then earth magic, then bla bla bla, you need to do this, understand this, understand that, understand there and here!"

Unlike his appearance of an exhausted and introverted man, he explained meticulously and energetically.