As he heard that name come out of her mouth, Rein was thunderstruck. His eyes widened and his mouth gaped open out of surprise. Rein only kept this reaction for split second, not enough time for any other participant to notice, but enough for Julianne and Wallace to confirm their suspicions.

“No, I don’t know anybody by that name. Are they a friend of yours?” He said, putting up a fake ear-to-ear smile.

“If you don’t know her, then never mind.” Julianne smiled at Rein, hinting that she knew something that Rein didn’t.

“I Thank everybody for introducing themselves. Five of you will be proceeding into the academy, however, only 1 of you will be getting a luxury room and an expense-free academy life. We will now commence the tournament. Please head to the waiting room and wait for your name to be called into the arena. Audience reception will soon commence, and two names will be called once it’s done. Those two will fight, and the winner will continue to the next round. Dismissed!” Wallace explained the tournament to them, and they all left to the large waiting room that they were in during the preliminary round after they qualified.

“H-hey Rein, what was that about? Is Leona someone you know?” Asked Chloe, making Rein turn his gaze towards her and look her directly in the eyes.

“Oh? And why are you talking like you know who this ‘Leona’ person is?” Chloe didn’t respond, and there was silence for a good 5 seconds until she finally spoke.

“She was a Ranger who always used to take my dad’s commissions to protect me whenever he was on business. She trained me with a sword, and we even got matching custom swords. She suddenly stopped coming after the war started. She was caring, beautiful, and she had the same color hair as you.” Revealed Chloe, but Rein was not phased by it. It seemed as though he somehow already knew, and was simply waiting for Chloe to confess.

“And why are you so important that you need your own bodyguard?” Asked Rein, pressing Chloe on her identity. Rein’s question startled her, causing her to start fidgeting, searching for an answer, which made Rein laugh softly.

“You don’t need to answer that. I’ll make you a deal. If you’re in that luxury room by the end of the tournament, I’ll tell you everything. Sound good?” He proposed a deal, Chloe being confused as to what he meant by ‘everything’, but was inclined to agree regardless.

“So what’s in it for you?” She asked.

“If I win… You have to promise me something.” He answered, repeating the words he heard 6 years ago. “Don’t worry, it won’t be anything too unreasonable. And you have the right to decline.”

“Okay, you have yourself a deal.” They sealed it by shaking hands, then began waiting patiently for the audience to gradually fill in.

“Sir Rein, who do you hope to face in the first round?” Asked Clyde.

“‘Sir’? What’s with that?” Rein retorted.

“You have newfound respect within me, Sir Rein. You truly surprised me after the preliminary match ended. As for me, I truly hope not to face you, Sir Rein, in the first round.” Affirmed Clyde.

“Hm, well I guess it’s the same for me. I guess I’ll call you ‘Sir Clyde’ then,” Rein laughed. As they continued to talk, the stadium slowly filled up, and when it was time, the announcer’s voice boomed.

“Welcome one, welcome all to the Ranger academy entrance tournament! Whom amongst these seven students will win the infamous top luxury dorm room that even the high-grade nobles can’t buy?! They will be the envy of the entire school! Anyways, let’s get on with the first round! For our first match of round one, our first contender will be… qualifier number six! Please make your way into the arena!” The crowd grew silent, waiting for the entrance of this person. They waited for about a minute when the announcer was informed that number 6 had dropped out.

“Hm, it would seem they have dropped out of the contention! Meaning that whoever is drawn next will have a free by to the next round! My, that’ll guarantee them an instant top five placement and an instant acceptance into the school! Now let’s see who the lucky contender is!” The screen began to roll through numbers 1-8, skipping 6 of course. Tension began to build in both the audience and the contestants. After a grueling wait, the screen stopped rolling.

“It seems our lucky contender is… contestant number 1!” Everybody in the waiting room turned to look at the face-covered man. He laughed softly.

“Heh, you remember what the principal said, luck is a part of skill too.” Nobody reacted to his comment, Quint being too nervous to say anything.

“I suppose that’s the first match done! Onto the second one!” The screen begins to roll through numbers again, this time landing on the number 3.

“Oh, looks like you’re up Chloe.” Said Rein as he looked over at her, shivering out of fright. He put his hand on her shoulder.

“You’ll be fine.” He smiled, igniting her confidence.

“Let’s see who they’re going up against…” The screen began rolling through numbers again until it slowly came to a halt.

“Contestant number two! It seems we’ll be having the next top two contenders face off in the very first round! This ought to be interesting! Please, would the aforementioned contenders make their way to the arena!”

Quint, who qualified second, began walking towards the arena with his shoulders puffed out. He was trying to put up a confident facade, but his cold sweat and his lip-biting were giving away his anxiety. Chloe, the third qualifier, was walking next to him on the parallel path. She had her hoodie strings pulled to the maximum, which effectively covered her face and tightened the hood around her head, but slightly impaired her vision.

As they reached the arena, they both wore their weapon rings, which revealed what weapon they used. Weapon rings are items that store one’s weapon and allow the user to summon said weapon at will. These items were manufactured by the Echo company, which was based in the city of Naji in Orthlys. Quint summoned his weapon, which was a large double-headed battle axe. The zir wood handle, made from vintage Zacrozir wood, was about 1 meter long and had a decorative silver grip. It was slightly heavy but perfectly balanced, and comfortable to hold with two hands.

Chloe summoned her weapon, a one-handed sword that looked nearly identical to Leona’s. The blade looked strong and clean, with a sharp edge and complex engravings inlaid in silver. It had a fancy guard, a silk-bound grip, and a pommel decorated with golden bands.

“Why are you trembling that much? I’m nervous too, but sheesh! Calm down, I’m not gonna kill you.” Laughed Chloe, noticing Quint’s uncontrollable trembling.

“You’re the one who’s always hangin’ around that white-haired kid right? Look, sorry about what Weiss tried last night, but seriously, what’d you do to ’em?” He asked her, inducing a confused reaction from her.

“Weiss? Isn’t that the guy who dropped out? What do I have to do with him?” She responded, raising an eyebrow, which nobody saw as it was covered by her hood.

“Huh? He entered your room last night and left it looking soulless… Room seven right? For real though, I tried to talk him out of it, and I get that he deserved to be punished, but what’d you do to ’em?” Explained Quint with a concerned tone in his voice. Chloe began inaudibly mumbling to herself, trying to process the information that was just told to her.

“He’s sorry? His friend tried to enter my room last night, and now he’s gone… Wait, but he said room 7… Wasn’t that was the room Rein was in..?”