Monsters in the Woods, Men in the Halls

"Ugh… If every single mission is this hard, sooner or later, we're going to kick the bucket," Seraphine groaned.

She had been whining nonstop since they left the forest's perimeter, and neither Ashen nor Braun bothered to stop her… mostly because they also wanted to complain.

Glancing sideways, Seraphine sauntered up to Ashen, a mischievous glint in her eyes. With two fingers, she tapped the top of his head.

"Hey, Captain~, you've got some ideas in that mystery box of yours, don't you?"

Ashen swatted her hand away, his tone annoyed, though the amusement dancing in his eyes betrayed him.

"Don't call me that. How many times do I have to say it? I just gave a couple of suggestions. Where'd this 'Captain' nonsense even come from?"

Ever since he took charge in the forest, Seraphine had latched onto the nickname just to mess with him. Worse, Braun sometimes joined in, which only added to Ashen's frustration.

Braun, unsurprisingly, chimed in. "Well, you did act like a good leader back there… keeping your cool, seeing the bigger picture, and all that. Not everyone can do it. I, for one, didn't have the luxury of thinking beyond 'Oh god, these beasts are trying to chew my face off.'"

"...It wasn't that exaggerated." Ashen weakly defended himself. Not even he believed it.

He shot a glance at Seraphine, who was grinning like she had just won an argument without saying a word. Her face practically screamed, See? Even Braun agrees!

Ashen sighed, deciding to skip the topic altogether.

"As for Sera's question," he said, shifting gears, "I think we just underestimated the mission when we picked it up." 

"The 'gathering herbs' title fooled us, and we failed to account for the increasing danger as we went deeper into the forest."

"That makes sense." Seraphine nodded while Braun simply grunted in agreement. Seemed they had already reached the same conclusion, but just hadn't voiced it.

"We should also take precautions against the scent of blood next time," Ashen added. "I saw some scent pouches for cheap in the city. Maybe we can use those to overpower the smell."

"Yep. And definitely stay near the outskirts. I'm not going back into the deep forest again anytime soon."

Seraphine gave a firm nod, while Braun quickly added, "Definitely."

'They're still rattled from today's events,' Ashen noted as he studied his companions.

Shrugging, he relented. "Alright, fine. We'll only take these kinds of missions again when we're actually ready. That sound good?"

Braun and Seraphine gave him an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Satisfied, Ashen nodded. The rest of the walk passed in comfortable silence until they reached the academy, where they quickly parted ways, too exhausted for anything else.

*

The next day, Ashen woke up feeling like he'd been hit by a truck. A really big, vengeful truck.

Every muscle in his body ached with every step. The scratches on his skin itched like hell, nearly driving him insane, and no matter how much sleep he'd gotten, exhaustion still clung to him like a stubborn parasite.

Unfortunately, skipping out wasn't an option; another history lesson awaited.

Dragging himself out of bed, he forced himself through a quick shower, scarfed down breakfast, and begrudgingly threw on his uniform before heading to Seraphine's apartment.

After a few knocks and an excruciating five-minute wait, the door finally creaked open.

Seraphine stood there, looking like she had barely survived a natural disaster. 

She had her usual oversized jacket draped lazily over her uniform, her hair was a tangled mess, and her half-lidded eyes screamed 'not ready for life.'

The words slipped out before Ashen could stop himself.

"You look like shit."

"Shaddap," she shot back without missing a beat.

After their friendly morning exchange, they set off toward class, trudging side by side like two condemned prisoners marching to their doom.

*

As they finally reached their destination, Ashen pulled open the classroom door and stepped inside, Seraphine following close behind.

Immediately, eyes locked onto them—or rather, onto her. And, as usual, it was mostly men.

These unsettling stares had been a thing since their first day, and frankly, it was getting on Ashen's nerves.

'Can't they control their damn urges? Haah… They're starting to act more like animals every time I see them.'

On one hand, he was disgusted by their behavior, but on the other, he kind of understood why it was happening.

"' Sup."

"Morning."

Ashen greeted Braun, who had saved their usual seats in the back, before slumping into his chair. Resting his head on one hand, his mind wandered back to his previous thoughts.

The relentless schedule here was burning everyone out… even the so-called young masters who'd clearly been prepared for this by their families.

And stress like that always needed an outlet.

For men their age, and with the limited means of entertainment, that usually meant… well, sex.

It wasn't like Seraphine was the only girl around, but most women here hadn't come through the tutorial route. Meaning? They weren't Esperrians.

For some reason, most men were hesitant to push Seravellian girls too hard or even look at them the wrong way.

As for the few Esperrian girls? They were constantly bombarded with invitations to "hang out"... most of which they accepted. Well, even women needed a way to vent, so who was he to judge?

With all these factors, it was no surprise that Seraphine was constantly getting attention. Especially when she was easily the most gorgeous woman in the room, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.

Luckily, she stuck with their small group most of the time, meaning she was rarely alone. 

And maybe—just maybe—the way she showcased her vicious whip skills during the coach's occasional duels had something to do with no one trying anything drastic.

Still, she had to turn down dozens of invitations to "pay a visit" to some stranger's room.

Ashen could still remember the first time someone asked her out. Her face had been priceless.

She had no idea what the guy was suggesting until he explicitly explained it. Meanwhile, Ashen had been too busy holding back his laughter to save her from the painfully awkward exchange.

As his mind kept wandering, his head started nodding, his eyelids growing heavy. Just as he drifted off—

Flick!

A sharp pain stabbed into his temple. Instinctively, he jerked back and blurted out,

"Where!? Who!?"

A brief silence hung in the air… then came the snickering of his classmates.

Rubbing his temple, Ashen looked ahead and saw his history teacher, Madam Prescott, standing there with an outstretched hand, primed for another flick.

"It seems you've even forgotten where you are, Mister Hart. No wonder you dared to sleep in my class," she said smoothly, amusement in her expression but not in her tone.

Ashen felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment, suddenly feeling like a high schooler getting scolded by a teacher all over again.

"R-Right… my bad. It won't happen again, Professor."

She gave a sharp nod before turning back toward the podium. "There better not be a next time."

As she took a step back, her figure flashed and in the blink of an eye, she was back at the front of the room.

Ashen blinked.

'Well, that explains how she caught me off guard.'

A quick glance to his right revealed Seraphine smirking, throwing him knowing looks. 

Ashen knew that poking fun at him had become her favorite pastime lately.

He wanted to defend himself, maybe minimize the damage and escape with less teasing later, but it seemed the professor wasn't done with him yet.

Fixing her glasses on the bridge of her nose, Madam Prescott turned toward Ashen once more. "Well, Mr. Hart, since we've been revising what we've covered over the past month, why don't you help us out?"