“What trick did you pull on that silver otter?”

  The question came right after T.E.A.R.S, after the last student left the classroom. It was one of the rare occasions where we had a theoretical lesson instead, the board filled with 3D model drawings and calculations.

  I blinked, holding a book midair with my bag open.

  “…what?”

  Rather than a clarification, Belenus Kairon averted his eye as annoyance filled the space between his words. “Taliesin—the guy won’t shut up about you. What did you say to him?”

  I frowned. “…did you just call Professor Morr an otter?”

  “What, you never saw one? Oh, guess they are not really native to Arotis. Looks just like him.”

  I had seen otters in a book, once. Its picture suddenly coming back to me, after being deemed worthless for years in the corners of my memory—a strange animal with a long and slim body, sleek fur and webbed feet, and a round face.

  My mind kept trying to recall if they were natives of, yet before I could even refute Bel’s deadpan words, the two images crossed in my mind.

  Professor Taliesin Morr. An otter.

  It…it’s actually true.

  Shaking my head, I backtracked my thoughts, trying to focus again on the man’s previous statement. He was probably talking about how Professor Morr let me participate in his Strategical Flight Challenge, for the interclass event.

  A tired chuckle escaped my lips.

  “Don’t worry, you’re still the only professor I had the pleasure of threatening here. It just so happens that Professor Tal is a lot friendlier than you.”

  Belenus snorted, crossing his arms as he leaned against the chair in front of me. “Wagging your tail to any idiot who is nice to you is not being friendly, it's being stupid.”

  “So you are calling him a dog now?”

  The man shrugged. “Otters have tails too.”

  They do?

  No—focus, Vex.

  Sleep deprivation was truly becoming a problem, otherwise I wouldn’t even be talking about otters. Especially with Belenus Kairon.

  It had been almost a week since my visit to Ceres’ estate. After that day, the girl had been acting as if nothing had happened, and no one brought up the matter either. Even when anyone with functional eyes could tell Ceres' condition was not great. Still, I had been too occupied with my own agenda to waste time with these matters, especially after Professor Morr informed me my request to participate in the Challenge had been accepted by the director himself. And I wouldn’t even need to classify first—Heimdal allowed me to participate for real.

  Obviously, there were conditions. Yet as long as I got to score more points on the side, I was content. Especially considering these points could help me qualify for the Royale Rush race. However, since I still had to score as high as I could for the other Challenges’ preliminary tests…

  I hadn’t slept for more than four hours in the past two days.

  With a deep breath, I forced my brain to start working again—my mind dragging itself as things connected into comprehensible thoughts.

  “What do you really want to know? I need to rush if I want to get the next carriage home.” And sleep.

  For all gods and demons out there, I just need to rest for a few hours.

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  The professor cocked his head, narrowed his eye as his gaze pierced my own. There was something crawling in that blue eye. Something that I could not decipher—were it for my exhaustion or not, I couldn’t say—yet that sent shivers down my spine, regardless.

  “Why are you trying so hard?”

  His question caught me completely off guard. Enough to make my mind alert again, its fatigue gone for the moment.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The condition Heimdal gave you for Tal’s Challenge. No student here would be insane enough to agree to it…so why did you?” Belenus spoke, his voice carrying the depth and vastness of a deep ocean—it possessed its own allure and force, forcing me to pay attention to every word and pause.

  Director Heimdal’s “condition”.

  It wasn’t Taliesin Morr that told me the conditions, but the director himself. After speaking with Professor Tal, he informed me Heimdal von Tosell wished to speak with me regarding the conditions before I proceeded with my plans, since they could impact my decision.

  At the time, Taliesin’s gaze told me more than I needed. Still, von Tosell managed to surprise me.

  Our interaction did not last more than three minutes—which I was thankful for. From the second I stepped into the director’s office, I felt like I was suffocating, the man’s presence so overbearing and intense…

  It was like staring into the eyes of a monster, praying it would grant you a quick death.

  “I’m certain you have many things to attend to, as do I, so I shall be brief.”

  There was no malice.

  No scorn. No conceit.

  Instead, brimming in the man’s gaze was the unbridled sense of judgment. Of every movement, every action, every choice I would ever make being weighted and evaluated. Appraised. And as Director von Tosell’s eyes pierced my own, with such a calculating and frigid force, all I could do was remind myself how to breathe.

  Until he went over the condition.

  Yes, I could participate in the Strategical Flight Challenge, and the points I earned would count throughout the entire event. Yet if I didn’t place first—

  I would be expelled from Ergos Academy.

  “Given your confidence in the matter, I believe this is nothing for you to worry about, yes?”

  In that brief moment, as the faintest smile touched Heimdal’s lips, I saw. I felt it.

  How that man not only embraced Ergos’ ideals, but embodied them himself. How he not only reached for greatness, but expected to surpass it.

  Expected Ergos’ students to do so.

  Kairon was right. No student in their sane mind would agree with that—it was just an interclass event. Not only that, but I was merely a first year. Why should I risk so much, so soon? Especially after everything I went through just to enroll.

  “…because I do not have the luxury to slow down.” My voice was a whisper. One that tasted bitter even in its subtleness. “Because the place I must earn at the top can only be reached through greatness. And one cannot achieve greatness by playing safe.”

  Once, as Jackal, I looked at the word from above. Yet as Vex, not a day had gone by without me raising my head, trying to catch a glimpse of the ones who were so far ahead, I could barely see their silhouettes.

  If I couldn’t shorten the distance now, when would I do it? When they disappeared from my sight? When my presence became so insignificant to them, they wouldn’t even remember my name?

  No. I had played it safe once as Jackal. I would not make the same mistake as Vex.

  Belenus’ eye narrowed more, his gaze locked on mine as the silence between us grew heavier.

  Then the man’s lips curled, a daring smile carrying the same gravitas in his words—a quiet yet pungent warning echoing in his voice.

  “Do you know what the worst thing a rider can do is? To confuse dauntlessness with reckless bravado.”

  I clenched my fists. “If I know I can do it, it’s not bravado anymore, is it?”

  Professor Bel’s laughter boasted with amusement and incredulity, both sparkling in the man’s eye and setting it ablaze.

  “Hah, the resemblance is so uncanny, it really makes me sick—what is this shit?”

  Before I could ask what he meant, Kairon’s black crystal blinked, pulling both our attention. As he read through the message contents, I started to wonder. Just what kind of message was being displayed in that black crystal.

  What kind of words had stolen the spark in his gaze, made his smile diminish and crumble, leaving but a cold and sorrowful echo of their shadows.

  When our eyes met again, the air between us had shifted. It was heavier, colder.

  Distant.

  The professor shifted his body, taking a step back. “That silver otter may be friendly, yet he doesn’t hold back—not when it comes to evaluations. So you better make damn sure it’s not just some reckless bravado.”

  As he turned away and began to leave, I called out to him. And while I was not expecting him to face me again, something wrapped itself around my heart. Something tight, anxious.

  “Do you think I can do it? Place first.”

  Because, despite my better judgment, I found myself expectant of that man’s reply.

  Belenus Kairon stopped just as he crossed the threshold, his hand grabbing the door frame as his face shifted my way ever so slightly. Showing a glimpse of his smile.

  “Does it matter? You have to do it either way.”

  Professor Bel’s boots echoed through the halls as he walked away, leaving me alone in the classroom.

  Somehow, I was not disappointed by his reply—it was the truth. It didn’t matter whether Belenus, Taliesin, or even Heimdal believed I could do it. It didn’t matter whether I believed.

  For me to keep winning, I had to.

  And that was exactly what I would do.

  do need to finish the last Arcana's chapter as well. It's been far too long ( ╥ω╥ )