31 Virtual Simulation [3]

Sparks of blue lightning, just at the tip of his finger, ready to strike at any moment.

While behind him, Amy had conjured a bubble of water.

Step– Step—

The two figures approached, entering the cave.

Taking in their sight, they appeared to be two men. 

One of them stood tall, but not as tall as Brandon. While the other was short, most likely a 5'4.

Brandon lifted his arm, his fingertips clad in blue sparks ready to discharge.

But as soon as the spark was about to strike, the taller man raised both of his arms.

His voice then reached Brandon.

"W-Wait… We come in peace."

As their figure finally became visible, the taller man had ginger hair. While the shorter one had onyx hair.

Brandon narrowed his eyes.

"How can we trust you?"

"We h-have c-coats for y-you two."

So they came prepared?

As the two approached, they confirmed their statement.

Both of them were wearing thick fur coats. While they each carried another fur coat to share.

Step–

The two made their way inside the cave, inching closer to Brandon and Amy.

Scanning their expressions, they really did come in peace.

The tall man's black eyes harbored no ill intentions. The same went for the shorter man's purple eyes.

From behind him, Amy stood down, dispersing the bubble of water. But Brandon kept his hand up.

"Wait, don't move."

He signaled with his hand for them to stop.

The two men followed his instructions, pausing just a few distance from the fire.

"Names?"

At that, the taller man introduced himself first.

"I'm Seth Hudson, and he's Red Quentin."

Unfamiliar names.

With the fire illuminating their figure, the two men adorned swords on their backs.

'Duelists?'

Most likely.

At that, Brandon lowered his hand but still keeping his guard up.

"Sit."

The two men immediately followed suit, pausing by the fire and sitting down.

Then, they offered the coats they were carrying.

Brandon accepted it, taking both coats and giving the other one to Amy.

Swoosh-

He immediately donned the fur coat, its black cloth making a 'woosh' sound.

Amy did the same with her blue fur coat.

"Thanks."

"Thank you."

They showed their appreciation, as the two men nodded with smiles on their faces.

After donning the coat, Brandon turned his attention towards the two.

"If you come in peace, does that mean you want to team up?"

At his question, Seth turned to look at Red then redirected back to Brandon.

"Yes. But what's your name?"

"Brandon Locke."

Brandon then looked at Amy who was still behind him.

"And she's–"

"Amy Ashfield, right?"

It was Red who finished for Brandon.

Amy leaned in, stepping in Brandon's side.

"Ah, you know who I am?"

"I think most of the students know who the top 5 in the first years are."

He had a point.

The only reason they didn't know Brandon was because he was ranked so low.

After being recognized, Amy sat down. She looked at Brandon with a smirk as if saying, 'See how popular I am?'.

Brandon rolled his eyes and sat down as well.

Seated face-to-face with the two, Seth spoke up,

"To be paired with Amy Ashfield... You must be someone amazing yourself, right?"

"Nope."

Brandon immediately shot him down.

"Eh…?"

Seth was puzzled, tilting his head.

Noticing it, Brandon blankly stated,

"I'm ranked 1890th."

"EHHH…?"

The two reacted in confusion as they turned to look at each other, then back to Brandon.

"Looks like we're in the same boat, I'm ranked 1,590th, and Red here is ranked 1,231st."

Same boat?

'They're ranked higher than me…'

But it didn't matter, as Brandon dismissed his thoughts.

The real question was…

"Where did you two get the coats?"

At Brandon's question, Red immediately responded.

Apparently, they came from the rural side of the world where the climate was cold.

The two had been friends for a long time, and coming to the city, they were used to wearing fur coats.

But…

'It doesn't answer why they had extra coats.'

Thus, Brandon decided to ask,

"And why did you have spares to share with us?"

Red responded once again.

"Loot. We stole it from a party we killed."

Loot?

"So if someone was killed, they'd drop whatever they were wearing?"

At his question, Seth immediately waved him off.

"...Yes, I think so?"

"I see. Does it go for your weapons as well?"

"I'm not sure, since the party we killed were mages."

Hmm…

There was one more question.

"Were they wearing the coats before you killed them or did they remove them?"

The two pondered for a while. The stupid question must've caught them off guard.

But nonetheless, Seth responded in a seemingly mocking tone.

"What kind of question is that? Of course they were wearing them. We're in the tundra biome after all."

"I see."

Tszzzz–

Giving them no time to react, blue sparks of lightning protruded from Brandon's fingertips, directly piercing Seth.

"Kughh…! Why?!"

From beside Brandon, Amy stood up. Her expression seemed to tell that she was shocked as well.

"Brandon?!"

Brandon was immediately suspicious once they told him that the coat came from the mages they killed.

After all…

"The coat."

"...?"

"It's clean."

There was no blood.

He'd already confirmed that it was indeed possible to bleed inside the Virtual Simulation, as he accidentally wounded himself when he made the fire.

"The designs are also the same."

Only the colors were different.

"If there was another party that brought the same kind of fur coats, just like you guys. Then shouldn't their story be the same?"

That they must've come from the same cold region as Seth and Red.

Also…

"Not only that, but the moment the locations were exposed, you two were already inside the cave."

They shouldn't have been marked on the map.

That could only mean…

"So... Are they outside?"

Another party.

SHIIIING–!

Immediately, Red stood up, unsheathing his sword. While Seth was still on the ground, his hand covering his wound.

"It was a good plan, you've successfully made Amy let down her guard."

Amy, who was standing up, looked at Brandon who was still seated. She wore a look of defeat, but immediately contoured it to a determined gaze.

"Haa… I'll handle this then."

"Suit yourself."

Brandon nodded while closing his eyes.

In front of them, Red took a step back. His terrified gaze lingered on Seth on the ground.

"Damn it Seth! You just had to keep talking."

At that, seemingly recovered, Seth stood up.

"Huuu… That's my bad. But he's just a low ranker. Only Amy Ashfield would pose a threat to us."

He then looked behind him–where the entrance was situated, and continued,

"The jig is up, come out guys!"

At his instructions, silhouettes emerged at the entrance of the cave.

Brandon scanned them. There were six figures entering the cave.

"So you've teamed up with three other parties, huh?"

Brandon was confident he could take on two parties. But he didn't expect there to be more.

It seemed like it was planned way before the Battle Royale started.

Glancing at Amy who fixed in a battle stance, Brandon locked his gaze with her.

"Still think you can handle it?"

"...I can try."

"Don't be stubborn."

After speaking those words, Brandon gradually stood up. Seemingly ready to take on four parties at once.

Tssssszzz—

***

"He's good."

Evelyn muttered to herself as her eyes were peeled to the screen in front of her.

They way Brandon saw right through their plot

The attention to detail.

He definitely wasn't an idiot.

So how did a man as smart as him score so low in his tests?

Did he do it on purpose?

It was obvious that Brandon was hiding his potential as a Deviant.

But they couldn't be sure if he actually was one.

There were cases of mistaking regular mages as Deviants since the wind affinity was white as well.

But from what she's seen, it seemed like Brandon could use the lightning affinity.

'So why is he hiding his abilities?'

If he revealed himself, then he would undoubtedly be one of the top students in the Academy.

He wouldn't have to handicap himself to the lightning affinity.

Regardless, she had definitely piqued her interest.

"I want him."

Clink—!

"Eh…?!"

From beside her, Vanessa looked at Evelyn with a shocked expression as she dropped her fork.

"N-No I mean, I want to take him under me."

"EHHH….?!"

"Haa… I can't find the right words.

"...You mean take him under your wing?"

"Yes, that."

One of the offers provided to Astrea Academy Professors was that–they were allowed to choose any of the students to become their protégé.

In short, their very own pupil.

Brandon had checked most of the boxes of her desired pupil.

There was only one criteria left.

How good he was in a fight.

Just because someone was good at magic, didn't automatically mean they were good at fighting.

They can have all the fancy magic in the world, but if they had little to no combat intelligence, then there was no point.

As her eyes were peeled to the screen, it seemed like the fight was about to start.

"...!?"