June 6. Fourteen going on fifteen years old. Saishuu Riku.

The day of the third task began bright with puffy white clouds and very much too early. The other kids in the auditorium had dark circles around their eyes just like me. Whose circadian rhythms did these early start times serve anyway? This time, everyone besides the current contestants and judges were squished upstairs in the balcony. Even Ahio, who gave everyone he knew a huge grin and two thumbs-ups from above.

The scoreboards from Monday were now replaced with sheets that listed the top thirty-six fighters, eighteen medics and eighteen informants. Everyone I knew was through. Daisuke had come in at fifth and Maya was fifteenth out of the informants. Tsubasa had placed tenth while Cho was the fourteenth medic on the list.

‘Congratulations on making it this far.’ Swordsman Natsumi’s voice boomed across the stadium, mixed with static. Her hooded eyes regarded us with a mock glare. ‘But don't get too cocky. Only twenty-four of you will become second grades this year. At most.’

I gulped but squared my shoulders. I'll make it!

‘The third round will be a team test. Your squads will be assigned based on your previous quests, background and skill compatibilities-- as it would be in a real quest.’ She took out a scroll and unrolled it with flair. ‘Come up to the front as I call your names and stand close to your teammates.’

I hope I'm with people I know. Based on the glances we stole from each other, everyone must have felt the same. Well, except Daisuke, whose large eyes fixated on the podium as a frown of concentration crept on his lips.

She read out the names, and one by one, the contestants strode to the front to stand by the podium in fidgeting little groups. The fourth team began with Kei's name. He sauntered ahead, hands in pockets. I wondered if we'd be in the same squad. Truth be told, I didn't know if I'd be comfortable in his team. Sure, we'd got to know each other more in our sparring sessions. And sure, he was always so focused and got our quests done in no time. But boy, could he be bossy.

‘Tahro Akagi,’ said Swordsman Natsumi.

Well, I've got to make the best of it whether I liked my team or not.

Tsubasa and Daisuke joined us shortly thereafter. Seeing everyone together like this brought up memories of how they’d been in quests. I grinned. Whatever my initial misgivings were, all in all, this was a pretty competent squad.

Team number five was made up of Kaede, Maya, Cho and a girl in lime green clothes. Though I'd seen her fight on Friday, I couldn't recall her name. She'd had a javelin and used it as a staff till she'd worn down her opponent. Then she had landed a final strike with the weapon’s sharp tip on his thigh.

Once we'd all been sorted into eighteen teams, Swordsmen Natsumi rolled the scroll closed and put it back in its case. She fished out a key ring. Three keys hung from it, shining gold, silver and bronze in the sunlight. They were larger than the kind we used for doors here and had little decorative notches.

‘Your quest is to obtain all three of these keys.’ She jingled the ring and the keys clinked together. ‘Eighteen keys, six of each metal, are hidden all over Heikisato. You will be given maps with the location of three keys, one each of gold, silver and bronze. But your maps will overlap, so strategy is important.’ She smirked. ‘Another way to get keys is by fighting another squad for it. Remember, property damage will not be tolerated, neither will life-threatening injuries. The boundaries of the task are the hundred-metre stones. Any fights beyond that will disqualify all squads involved.’

This was the first time I'd heard a use for the hundred-metre stones besides sight-seeing in modern times. Centuries ago, they used to represent the boundaries of safe zones. Back then, the witches and elementalists always warred against each other, causing several non-mage casualties. Besides establishing the swordsmen, non-mages built circles of stones around their villages, a hundred metres away from their edges. Any fights within these circles were prohibited. When the villages expanded, the stones were moved with them.

The three first grade judges passed around maps and key rings. Daisuke took ours. He pocketed the ring and unfurled the map for everyone to see. It was made of dark parchment, with an inked compass on top and all the main buildings of Heikisato labelled in cursive. Large dots, two in the north-west and one in the south, were marked as the keys. But the map didn’t say what kind of metal each dot was.

I wasn’t sure what the best strategy would be. If there were eighteen keys, then there must be six sets of the three kinds of metal. And there are eighteen squads in the competition. Assuming the sets are distributed equally, then each point would be overlapped for three teams. So we would be competing against two other squads for the same keys.

Perhaps we should follow a squad going to a point we also had and ambush them? But no, that would only give one of the teams the advantage while we wasted time slowing the other one. Maybe the best way would be to go to the nearest location and hope the other teams duked it out. Then we’d have the advantage.

‘The informant must always be in possession of the keys, and they must be hung somewhere easy to see, for example on your belt.’ She gestured at her brown belt buckle. ‘You must come back here on the ninth of June, at twelve noon, with all three keys of each metal, to be promoted into second grade swordsmen. All the members of a squad must be present.’

Maybe it’s time to ask for Ahio’s services in case I oversleep.

For a few moments, Swordsman Natsumi stared at her watch. The silence was palpable. My palms grew clammy with the expectation of what was to come.

‘You may begin!’ she said.