“Finally, we made it to Kusten!”

Before the trio was a great city with an outer wall that stood hundreds of feet tall. The city itself is situated on the coast and provides most of the economic wealth for the kingdom. Here in this city, the king of kings resided. The man who oversaw all of Dengal.

After a fun time passing through the checkpoint at the front gate, they took in the sights. The city reminded Ryuji of the turn of the century cities. The buildings were all built out of brick and concrete. There were metal street signs and paved roads as well as sidewalks. Hell, some places even had electricity from what he could tell.

It was everybody’s first time visiting, so they were all visibly excited.

“Oh! Look! Look! Look! There’s a gun store over there! I haven’t seen one since North Kevic!” Jessy's eyes shined with childish excitement. As they passed by multiple shops on their way to the academy, Jessy had managed to find the only store she would ever be interested in. That is, of course, only if a cowboy shop didn’t exist.

“Are gun shops that rare?” He had never seen one, but that didn't exactly mean a whole lot.

“Ah yeah, dumbji of course they are. I mean, think about how many people you have seen with a gun.”

Now that she brought it up, he has seen remarkably few people with firearms. He had just assumed that was because magic was a much easier alternative. He hadn’t even considered it might be because these weapons were rare.

“So, Ryuji?” Jessy's tone shifted away from mockery and towards a more respectful approach.

“Oh, are we back to use my real name now? What is it, esteemed gunslinger?”

Jessy seemed to gain a smugness factor of twelve from Ryuji using her title. “Woah, have you gotten better at smooth-talking?”

Ryuji got a playful punch in the arm. ‘No, I don’t think anyone, but you would have considered that smooth-talking.’

“Is this academy going to be fun? Cause I don’t wanna stay at a boring old place for a whole year!”

From behind, Queen chimed in. “We’ll have no idea how entertaining it is until we get there. Right, Hero?”

They arrived at their destination as their discussion reached an end. A giant gated area with a sign that just said, “Adventure Academy”.

Ryuji was less than impressed. “Real creative there.”

Then of course Jessy thought it was great. “I think it’s a good name! Short and sweet and straight to the point.”

They flashed their adventure cards and entered the premises. As they walked further in they saw the buildings. There were a few tall brick apartments where Ryuji assumed everyone would live. To the left of those was a courtyard that connected everything. At the far end of the property stood a dome-shaped building that Ryuji could only assume was a stadium. To the far left was little classroom like buildings for lectures.

Standing in the courtyard were hundreds of people who just like them were here to train. As they walked towards the courtyard they were stopped by a guard.

“Names and cards, please.”

“Well we’re not on the list but I do have something.” Ryuji pulled out the pendant and handed it to the guard. “This is a pendant handed to me by the Sword Saint so that I could join this academy.”

“The Sword Saint.” He stroked his chin and handed the pendant back. With a voice full of admiration, he declared that they could enter the courtyard.

Ryuji couldn't believe that it actually worked. “Well, that was easy.”

Jessy seemed to have finally realized the implication of her being here. “Hey, so is this Saint lady cool with you bringing people with you?”

“You’d understand if you met her. She’s a real big softie, I mean, all you would have to do is stare at her with puppy dog eyes, and she would forgive you.”

Queen looked at him with disgust. “I see, so you are the kind of guy who preys on girls who have a kind heart.”

“Is there a reason you only interject when it’s to undermine me?”

They entered the crowd and stood awkwardly around, waiting for whatever was supposed to happen. Everyone in the crowd looked like serious adventurers, and Ryuji had high doubts that these people really needed this kind of training. Just as Ryuji was about to strike up a conversation with Jessy, he felt eyes on him.

“That’s so cool! Where do you get it?” A high-pitched voice came from behind him.

When he turned around, he saw a girl slightly shorter than him. Her eyes were silver and full of awe as she exclusively was only paying attention to the weapon on his hip. Her outfit was a red skirt with a red corset. The rest of her clothes were black, including the leggings she wore. She had the same hair as Ryuji, but hers was black with red frosted tips.

The only thing Ryuji could think of was a hit show he used to watch back in Japan. In fact, he so sure it was her that he was afraid of getting copyright struck. “I had it custom made.”

Instead of the conversation dying, she just seemed to be even more interested. “Where did you get the idea? I’ve never seen a blade like this ever!”

He was a little embarrassed about the real reason he chose a katana. He definitely wasn't telling a girl he just met that he was copying anime. “I thought it would be cool, I guess?”

“Well, you were right!”

While the energetic girl and Ryuji talked, the other two sat back and watched. “Would you look at that Marie, our little Ryuji has grown up and started flirting.”

“It's enough to bring a tear to my eye.” Her voice sounded as if she was currently watching paint dry.

“Ah, c’mon! You could sound more enthusiastic than that. So, you think this is gonna work out?”

“100 ISH says this blows up in his face somehow.”

As Ryuji's possible love life was being made fun of, he and the weird girl's exchange continued. “Can you come with me real fast?”

He really didn't want to wander off with a random girl. He felt that his heart might explode if he did that. “For what?”

“I want to get to know you better, so I thought we could head over there.” She pointed in the direction of the dome.

“Wh-what? I don’t even know your name, lady!”

“My name is Rosey Rapp! Nice to meet you!” With a genuine smile that could light up the darkest corridor, she announced herself. Then she walked over to Ryuji and put her arm through his, and started to drag him forward.

Ryuji was too busy enjoying the sensation on his arm that he didn't notice he was being kidnapped. “Hey, I never said-”

“Oh, c’mon! Stop being so uptight and just come with me for a sec.”

The duo who watched this whole exchange go down were both dumbstruck by what had just happened. As they saw Ryuji be taken away mostly against his will, they both felt defeated in a way.

“That damn Ryuji! A girl is nice to him for five seconds, and he’s already run off with her! By the way, you owe me 100 ISH.”

An irritated Queen took a bill from her wallet and shoved it in the short gunslinger’s face. “I swear if he gets another girl to join this party, I am going to be livid.”

Jessy put a hand over her mouth and gave a fake patronizing laugh. “Oh? Do I detect… jealousy?”

“Think before you speak, I just want a man in this party who isn’t completely crazy.”

“Hmmm, I think his craziness is admirable. Besides, every adventurer is a little crazy.”

“Hmph, that’s really convincing coming from the girl who kisses her guns when they go to sleep. You even name them, don’t you? Hey, let me see that rifle.”

“You leave Shelia out of this!”

Meanwhile, Ryuji had already been dragged all the way into the dome. He had guessed that this place was a stadium, and as he walked in, he realized he was right on the money. Thousands of spectator seats lined the walls and rose all the way to the ceiling. In the center was a space presumably for fighting. In the place where a jumbotron usually was, there were two giant crystals hung from the ceiling.

“Okay! You go over to that side, and I’ll go to the other side.” She said this all nonchalantly like it was an obvious situation, but Ryuji was ever the optimist and just wanted to make sure.

“Um, What are we doing here?”

Rosey turned around with a confused look and put a finger to her chin. “Fight?”

“WHY!?”

“Becauuuuse, I want to see what that blade can do!”

“Don’t jump up and down like a kid! This is life and death we’re talking about here! I’m not just going to cut you down for a stupid reason like that.”

She had a conceited look as she discerned what was wrong. “Oooooh. You’re stupid, aren’t you, mister?”

“Stupid!? Me!?”

“Yeah, don’t you know what those crystals up there do?”

“No, no, I don’t.”

“One of them will transport our minds to a plane made entirely of mana. There we can fight to our heart's content, and no one will actually be hurt. We can even kill each other in there with no consequence. The other crystal projects an image of it so others can watch and judge the fight.”

“So, it’s a simulation?”

“Yep! It takes our memories of what we can and can’t do.”

“I see, this is some high-grade tech, but I still don’t see a reason to fight you.” He didn't come here to cut down random crazy girls that might just be a little his type.

“Okaaaay. Well, I guess you will have to explain that to all the girls I invited to watch our match. Now they will never get to see how cool you can be. What a shame.”

“Girls?” As he looked into the stands, he could see about ten girls sitting in the front rows eagerly awaiting to see a match. “Fine! Bring it on little lady!”

“Ooooo getting feisty! Keep that same energy. Turn it on!”

A bright light emitted from both stones, and Ryuji felt like he was going to sleep. As his eyes closed, he immediately opened them again, but now they couldn’t see the stands anymore. In front of him was still Rosey, but everything else had fallen away. Now they stood facing each other in an endlessly expanding flat piece of concrete.

“This is weird. Just to make sure if I expand mana here, it doesn’t translate to the real world, right?”

“Of course not! We can go all out here and grab something for lunch immediately after.” Rosey reached behind her little red cape and pulled out a red box with visible gears on the outside. Her finger pushed a button, and the box unfolded to reveal a sizable scythe.

Many more buttons were laid out on the scythe, but Ryuji didn’t particularly want to find out what they did. He stood his ground and entered a stance with his blade sheathed. If mana didn’t matter, that meant he could use his most draining skills for a quick and easy victory before she had any clue what was going on.

“Emperor’s Eye!” A bubble that only Ryuji could feel expanded around his body. Inside this bubble Ryujis, six senses were heightened to an extreme. He had full awareness of all movements inside this circle, even that of mana flow. He awaited the girl's first move, but instead, she just stood there.

Her voice was a little annoyed. “Are you going to take out that sword or what?”

“Nope. This is how you fight with this sword. You’ll see if you get close enough.”

“Oh?” With a wicked smile and her scythes bar laid across her back, she activated her skill. “2nd Gear!” She shot forward at a speed that surpassed Ryuji's top speed, even when using critical.

Her speed was intense but with his skill activated he could see everything happening in front of him. ‘This isn’t like when Rhea moved. I don’t see her feet being planted on the ground at any point, meaning she isn’t running. She just shot off with a powerful leap. So, unless she has some way of sending another powerful shockwave, her momentum won’t change easily.’

“Iai draw twin strikes!” He harnessed an obscene amount of mana without care and aimed at two calculated simultaneous strikes. They hit each side of her neck, freeing her head from her body. The next moment Ryuji the stadium was back, and he could see the girl's head fully intact on the other side.

“Good fight! I didn’t know a sword could be used like that!” Roseys words sounded less than sincere.

Ryuji was stuck wondering if maybe he had just made an enemy within the first two minutes of him being here. “You too! Your speed was incredible!”

As he waved and complimented her, Rosey waved her hand as she turned around. The second she did turn around, her smile fell, and a much angrier look came over. She bit her lip and exited the stadium leaving Ryuji alone.

“So much for making friends. All that those girls left the second the fight ended. Oh well, I’ll go reunite with my amigos then.”

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

On the opposite side, an angry Rosey punched the wall leaving a small indent in the stone. Behind her came a very regular looking man. He had a buzzcut and wore a short-sleeve shirt exposing his ripped arms.

His blue eyes were full of concern for the girl in front of him. “Hey, what did you run off to go do?”

Her silver eyes, full of fury, glared at him. “I wanted to test some guy claiming to know the Sword Saint. Seems like he’s the real deal. Tch, I shouldn’t have gone easy on him. Next time I’ll show him 3rd gear and rip him to shreds!” To accentuate this, she punched her own palm while gritting her teeth.

“You’re always like this. You get super-heated when you’re embarrassed. If someone saw you acting like this, they might think you’ve kidnapped the real Rosey.”

“Shut up, Jong! I know that. That’s why I only ever act like this in front of you and the commander. Now let’s go!” With a beckoning hand, she stomped in front of Jong and exited the dome to return to the courtyard. Jong stood there for a moment with red cheeks before quickly following her.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Ryuji made it back to the courtyard and found his friends among the crowd of many adventurers. Each of them had a guy trying to smooth talk them. ‘Well, they are pretty, I guess, but really you guys have no clue what you’re trying to get into.’

“Hey! Whoa!" Just as Ryuji moved to approach his friends, the man talking to Marie almost ran him over. "Yo, Queen, why was that guy running away while crying? What did you say to the poor man?”

“I only told him all the reasons I would have nothing to do with him.”

“Really? Why am I not surprised?”

Meanwhile, Jessy was practically holding on to a guy’s leg as he tried to move away. She looked super desperate and was pleading with all her heart for him to stay. “Please! Just consider using gun magic! You’re an archmage too. Right? I can teach you all the spells, and then we can be gun buddies! C’mon, reconsider!”

Ryuji felt nothing but sympathy for the poor soul being trapped by the crazy midget. He pulled Jessy off of him, and he promptly ran away. “Sorry! Forgive our overzealous mascot!”

“Put me down! Also, I am not our mascot!" Jessy saw that he had lost the plus one from earlier. "By the way, where’s your new ‘Friend’ you were speaking with?”

He put Jessy down, who was actually quite heavy thanks to the machinery she carried around. “Well… I don’t think I’m ever gonna speak to her again.”

Both girls leaned in, eager to hear more of the story. Ryuji felt embarrassed by the whole thing, but given the embarrassing things these two just accomplished, he didn’t feel too shy about it. “I beat her in a match, and afterward, she seemed angry, like super angry.”

“Should have let her win if you wanted some of that sweet, sweet nectar.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Hey, isn’t that the super mad at you girl who will never talk to you again approaching?” Ryuji turned on his heel at Queen's instruction and indeed saw the cutesy girl walking up to him.

What frightened him more was that she seemed just as happy as when they first met. He could’ve sworn she was mad about the match, but here she was happy as could be. He did notice that there was a very regular-looking man following behind her that wasn’t there before.

“Hi! So, are these two of your party members?”

“Oh yeah, this is Jessy and Queen. Also, I’m Ryuji since you never asked.”

“Hello, Ryuji! This is Jong! He’s kinda like my chaperone. Well, the first test is going to start soon, so we better be on our way. I just wanted to see how you were holding up! Bye!” Like a whirlwind, Rosey left just as soon as she came, waving and smiling all the while.

“Did she say test?”

“Ahem, Your attention please!” From the center of the courtyard came a voice amplified by some type of magical megaphone. The man speaking was old and wore a white suit with a white top hat. He had a super important old-man written all over him. He stood on a wooden podium that was recently moved there for this assembly and, once he had everyone’s attention, his announcement continued.

“Hello and welcome to The Academy! We hope you learn something in your one-year tenure here. Hopefully, it is something that will keep you alive longer! Anyway, moving on to introductions, I am the overseer of this establishment, Mr. Aloisa.”

Ryuji knew he had heard that before. ‘Isn’t that Rheas last name?’

“So, let us get the ball rolling. Your first test will be quite simple. You must find four people, including yourself, and create a team. This team will not change for the remainder of your time here. You have one hour! Anyone who does not have a group of four when time is up will not gain admittance! Start!”

The scramble to complete the first test and gain admittance began.