The trip to the Phrontistery of Scientific Reasoning was as dull as ever. What was once novel sights, like a palanquin making its way to the school or an endless stretch of red carpet, seemed trivially normal after enough exposure. Isabelle, who had once felt disgusted by this overt show of wealth, prestige and power, had long learnt to dismiss them as manifestations of insecurity.

As an explanation, it worked well, but it didn’t go well with those who were explicitly targeted by it. Isabelle’s sister, after hearing her explanation, decided to leave for school earlier than ever to avoid her gaze, while Countess Reinford spent her days in coming up with reasons that would be shot down a minute or so later.

But other than that, their days were peaceful. Making artefacts, reading books, eating ice-cream, cheating on exams with an intelligent artefact… it was the life that Gaius wanted to no end.

It didn’t take long before they arrived at the phrontistery. There were still huge areas of the school that Gaius hadn’t explored. He’d made a deal with Xanadu to go seek out some treasures hidden in the school’s depths, but the Phantom Blade was too busy doing remedial lessons to actually carry out her true purpose here so far.

Her intelligent artefact wasn’t as sneaky as Nexus, so…

Hiding a smile, Gaius sat down on his chair and closed his eyes. The other members of the class had gotten used to their presence, especially since Gaius hadn’t done anything noteworthy after that little duel with Reinford. None of them would fearfully look at Gaius anymore, which was a definite improvement.

Of course, that also meant that he wasn’t much of a deterrence either. Lots of love letters had made their way to Isabelle, who was a beauty in her own right, each of them probably encouraged by Gaius’ inaction. Isabelle would just ignore these things, but every week, she would see one or two coming in like clockwork.

No one, however, dared to spread rumours or disparage her.

Gaius had used his last request to make the countess discourage such actions, asking her to clamp down on any rumours or insults that might pop up around the three of them. He wanted a pleasant school life, not a remake of High School Drama: The Great Bullying. The boy wasn’t sure what Reinford did, but it was effective all the same.

Mrs. Clara came in a few minutes later. After the customary greetings, she got down to business immediately.

“I imagine that you lot are probably excited about the upcoming field trip, no?” She smiled. “We’ll be heading there, along with an aerial division from the North. As students of Class 1-S, you’ll be making artefacts that must be uniquely adjusted to the environment of the training grounds. The top performers will get to be babysat by the Fifth Airborne Battalion and enter the field itself, where you can harvest resources for your own personal use.”

Someone raised his hand. “Mrs. Clara, we’re going to the Central Circle, right? What’s there to fight against?”

“Monsters. Snowpyres and other enemies that normally appear in Heritage,” she replied.

Gaius levelled an eye at her. Clearly, she was banking that everyone here knew what Heritage was — and she probably was right. Everyone in the phrontistery was a person of importance and ability, and the boy was well aware of the age limitations the place had. It wasn’t a stretch to assume that everyone here had at least went to Heritage at least once.

A hiss ran around the room at her words.

“Never thought you’d have to face them again, right?” She laughed. “Better news — the age restrictions that apply in Heritage are non-existent in this new place that was unearthed. Therefore, there’s little need to worry about being overpowered. A Lord will be on standby, and a Paragon is leading the entire expedition.”

“Which Paragon is it?” Reinford asked.

“All the Paragons and Demigods are coming along, so no one knows who’s to be sent to watch over the exploration effort,” Mrs. Clara replied. “But all of them are nice people, and they’ll take their duties seriously. It’ll be a safe trip.”

Gaius raised his hand.

“Go ahead.”

“Is this trip compulsory?” he asked.

“Yes, and no. It’s not compulsory in that we won’t force you to go, but your performance there will affect the grades for this semester. A no-show means you get zero for that,” she replied. “Why? Are you not interested in going?”

“Just curious,” Gaius asked. “After all, there’s nothing much to see there now. The whole place has been levelled. It’s probably going to be somewhat boring.”

“Boring…” The teacher shook her head, a gentle smile on her face. “True. For someone like you, fighting those snowpyres is indeed quite boring.”

“True.”

“We have a monster with us here…”

Gaius felt his ears twitch, but he really couldn’t bring himself to retort.

“Exactly,” Mrs. Clara said. “Your companions are also like you. I don’t really think you’ll have that much fun fighting opponents meant for Squires and Soldiers. How about this? We’ve unearthed some particularly exquisite artefacts that were left behind in the North-Central war. If you go with us, you’ll be allowed to research those artefacts.”

Isabelle turned back to Gaius, the sunny smile on her face matching his own. Nakama didn’t move, but the boy could also feel interest radiating off her, and with that, he nodded.

“We’ll take you up on that offer.”

“Excellent. I knew you guys were fanatics of artefacts, but still…” Mrs. Clara smiled. “At least no one’s left behind. Anyway, back to the matters at hand. Only one group would go with the Fifth Airborne Battalion, and…”

Mrs. Clara started talking about how a group would be selected, but Gaius had lost interest in that. Nakama had just become a Soldier, and he wasn’t keen on letting her experience a fight just yet. The boy was intending on making her a skilful fighter first; regrets were things that could never be taken back.

“Gaius!”

Reinford came running over during recess. “I want to join your group!”

She was joined by her, uh, employees, a whole bunch of boys. Gaius stared at them, and then rubbed his eyes.

He sighed. “Let’s talk this through first.”