Chapter 3

Timeskip after class

Right now, the urge to destroy something felt REALLY intense within him right now.

As of currently, Vali was annoyed, so annoyed that he wanted to explode. Thing was, it didn't have anything to do with the two Elf girls that were walking side by side with him, in fact if they were who he thought they were, then they'd likely be some of the few people whom he could potentially tolerate. But yea, they weren't what was pissing him off, although he DID have a few questions for them.

Nope, THAT honor went to the students that were clearly speaking out of his back.

"Ah man, looks like the loner has two girls….wait those ears elves! Dammit, why the hell is his luck so damn high?!"

"Dammit, first he rejects multiple proposals, but now two girls are walking with him!"

"Is he interested in Elfs, maybe?"

"I don't know man... Now that I think about it, Elves have lots of magic, so they must've noticed his large reserves!"

"Great, he's gonna get a harem, lucky bastard. At least let me have one!"

As he heard these various comments whilst also not even ATTEMPTING to hide their longing gazes at the two girls, Vali almost considered letting out his Mana to ward them off, but he refrained. As much as he SO wanted to smash his fist into their fates or slam his Mana into them to the point where they'd collapse onto the ground under pressure, it would only end up making him face lots of problems than before. Hence, he had no choice but to bear with it for the time being until he could get the three of them alone.

Meanwhile...

"Those bitches, thinking they can walk around with the prince."

"Darnit, those two work fast."

"Clearly they think that just because they're Elves, means they can hog the prince over themselves."

"I need to think of something to make him separate those bitches, so I can have him all to myself."

"Excuse me, bitch? He's mine!"

"Uhhhh, no, he's not. I have to get him or else I will be stuck with an old man!"

"Who cares about that, bitch!"

.....Now THAT was almost his breaking point. With his brain slowly leaning towards going to the arena and defeat all challengers to relieve this exatering stress, Vali gritted his teeth beneath his closed mouth, his fists tightening to the point where veins could be seen if they weren't pocketed in his trousers. But against his screaming instincts to make them pay, Vali had to hold himself back. Not only was it not the time, it being lunchtime right now hence him and the girls had been searching for a place to get some peace, but also the only time when there was a chance to have the Arena was when class ended, or when one signed up for an arena class.

Still, it turned out that Vali wasn't the ONLY one who didn't like their banter. "Hey Vali, where can we find a quiet place to have lunch? They are being so annoying." Alpha questioned, leaning forwards while turning her head so her hair hung downwards. Her ears twitched whilst her eyes showed both curiosity and a mild annoyance to the comments directed at them by the rest of the student body.

"......there is one place." For a while, Vali remained silent as he pondered on where they could go. After all, even though he had been here for a few months, Vali believed that there were still SOME areas which he hadn't discovered or explored yet. This Academy, in order to house both an elementary and highschool division, was just that big. However, he then remembered something, and proceeded to use it for his answer to Alpha's question.

Instead of pressing further though, Alpha let Emilia ask him what that was since she had been wanting to join the conversation. In contrast to these two however, she didn't seem to be under any distress at all, instead she looked as cheerful as she ever did, like she wasn't even HEARING the whole stuff being said about her. "Oh? Where is it, Vali?

His answer, reflecting his desire to get away from these annoying people, became a brief one. "The Main Avenue."

The Main Avenue…

For those who didn't know or had forgotten, it was a long, wide avenue leading up to what appears to be the main academy buildings and their large, impressive main doorway, which opens up to a large amphitheater surrounded by a double ring of colonnades bisected by the main avenue with the outer ring rising high over the main entrance to the academy itself. The avenue is marked with trees and flag-draped light-poles, as well as a number of impressive aqueduct-like features and archways.

The main fact of the matter was though: that it was also Vali's main place to eat his lunch peacefully, since all of the noble brats prefer eating inside in order to not get any germs or even spend time outside. In their eyes, it was a waste of their time to go outside, unless one wanted to farm credits from the monsters that one killed.

Apparently though it seemed that his two new companions also seemed to like it, as they now currently sat in a triangular formation on a patch of grass, eating their lunches. Vali sat in front of the two girls, whilst they sat opposite each other on their knees. Emilia had been the one to ask the following question though, her eyes shining with curiosity whilst Alpha took on the silent act, though she didn't look any less curious about it. "Wow, this place looks great Vali, where did you find it?"

Whilst he ate, the silver haired boy hummed as he looked to the clear blue skies above. "Hmmmmmmmmm ah, now I remember. It was about a month into the school term, when I couldn't eat my lunch peacefully thanks to girls constantly sitting next to me and giving me their lunches, something which I had refused to have every time. I knew their games thanks to my dad warning me, they wanted me to eat their lunch when they were also filled with love potions. I lost out on so many lunch days back then that I almost gave up, but when I heard from a couple complaining teachers that no one wanted to go outside in the main avenue, I saw what one might call a 'golden opportunity' for peace at last. Then, when I ate my lunch there, I saw that there was not a SINGLE person bothering or pestering me. You have NO idea of how happy I'd been back then, and so this became my main eating place."

"I see, those girls must be very persistent in becoming your fiance, Vali." Alpha mused, wincing as she drank from a carton of juice, a look of sympathy in her eyes. Just from walking in that corridor, she'd gotten a GREAT idea of what school life here had been like for Vali, and likely would end up being for her and Emilia as well. Yet, Vali had been dealing with this kind of thing WAY longer than them, since she grew up in an Elven village whilst Emilia had grown up under her aunt's care since her parents…well, they weren't able to look after her anymore.

"Believe me Alpha, I really wished I was born in a commoners family, so that I won't have that kind of problem."

"But how do you even get through all this? It must be very difficult for you to not get mad."

Now THIS made a small grin start breaking out onto Vali's features, a shark-like grin which sent chills up the girls' spines whilst his eyes glistened with a joyful, downright happy kind of look. "Oh I use the arena when the boys want to challenge me, they mostly do so since they think that they can get a better reputation in getting girls by beating me. I use this chance to relieve ALL of my stress by beating the crap out of those boys. That's how I managed to get through this mad house, so far."

Alpha could only sweat drop at the love for battle that her savior had, though considering how that love had likely been what had put him in the situation where he'd saved her and Emilia, she wouldn't condemn him for it. Plus, he still saved her life and gave her a new name, how could she NOT be grateful. "O-okay Vali, whatever you say so."

Things calmed down a bit after that with the trio entering a peaceful silence… aside from the sounds of food being eaten and drink being gulped down that is. Eventually however, Vali decided to bring his questions to the light, since he REALLY wanted to hear their answers. "Now that we're alone, I have some questions for you two." He stated, getting their attention as he lowered his hands to his lap. "How did you two get enrolled into Gameacademi in the first place? It's usually reserved for those who have noble backgrounds, with few exceptions." he queried.

Upon hearing his question, both Emilia and Alpha glanced at one another, seemingly having a silent conversation as if they were two macho men who'd forged an iron-clad bond through countless hardships. After a few seconds of silence, Emilia was the one who answered as she placed her palms together in front of her chest, like she was praying for something or other. "That would be my aunt Fortuna's doing, Vali. She had some connections that she could use to help us get enrolled, since my father was once a Member of a Noble family. I think it was a Viscounty, I'm not sure since I didn't check, but she helped us enrol although it took some time. Alpha was registered as my legal sister, so she would be able to enrol without much issue too." She explained.

"Yup, what she said."

"Huh, I see…"

So, their aunt had some connections, huh? Vali pondered on this for a while, remembering a few days ago that there had been some rumours flying through the school, ones about a strange woman with short silver hair wearing an equally weird outfit roaming about the school. Through process of elimination, Vali figured that had to be this 'Aunt Fortuna' these two were talking to him about, and as for the noble connections part, he wondered if the family Emilia had once been a part of had been one wiped out for some reason, there were many throughout Gamindustri's history who had suffered that fate after all. "Then she must have been made aware of this School's practices, right…?"

"Yup, and she told us everything so we knew what we were getting into." This time, Alpha took the reins in the conversation, her eyes ablaze with determination. "But since this isn't enough to stop us from seeing you again Vali, we didn't worry too much about it."

Now THIS caught Vai by surprise, as evident by the expression on his features. Once more he had found himself befuddled by these two and their apparent desire to see him again, all because he had helped remove some curse from one of them. Was it just him, or did Elves have this thing about loyalty and repaying debts? Either way, he just couldn't see them as anything like the other women in Gameacademy now, not after what he had just heard… though, to his surprise, he didn't feel like this would be too bothersome for him. Nope, instead he found himself… relieved? Yeah, that sounded about right. He felt relieved that he had two new companions whom he DIDN'T want to drive his fist into the faces of, something which he quickly burned into his memory. "Well then, I'll advise you to stick close to me, so that I can help bail you two out of any jams if necessary. These students, they're like vipers and you two are like fresh meat to them. They'll make moves on you without mercy if you give them the opportunity." he stated, remembering from his own experiences and not wanting them to go through the same treatment. He didn't know why, but Alpha and Emilia reminded him of his mother for some reason, and perhaps that played a part in his desire to protect them from the majority of this Academy's dangers.

"MM! We will, Vali!"

"Like we planned for anything else."

"Very well…"

Once again, a peaceful silence took them over as the trio continued to eat. This didn't last long however as Emilia, after swallowing some of her lunch, then brought something up which cut through the previous atmosphere.

"StilI want to ask, how is it that your magic managed to dispel Alpha's curse?"

"I...….don't have an answer for that. It's just I've been born with this type of magic that I even don't know if it's Mana or Share Energy from the CPUs. Part of me wonders if it's the former since it's been said that only CPUs can wield Share Energy since it's meant to be power born from faith. My Mana is so powerful that it's unpredictable, yet I can control it at the same time.. Though originally I had a LOT of difficulty doing so. That Tome I got from those Bandits helped me out quite a bit in that regard. Makes me wonder about myself…"

Trailing off, Vali looked down towards his food, or rather the hands that were holding them with his eyes trembling slightly. "Thinking about it, I must have been a very abnormal child from birth. My father told me that he had found me in his farm one day after I had questioned him on why I look nothing like him or my mother. Pretty much confirmed for me that I was adopted and that was why a… certain someone of the family didn't like me that much, if at all. I still love him and my mother, but...….I can't help to wonder who my real parents are and why they left me, is it that one of the CPUs is my mother, or is it a very powerful person that left me with them? I intend to find out why they left me, even if it means by killing anyone that stands in my way. That… and also to fight strong opponents to satisfy my bloodlust."

"......I see, in this case I'll help you find your real parents. You're not alone Vali, you saved me from my curse and I intend to repay that debt you gave me."

"Me too! I also want to help you since you saved us from those mean Bandits! Besides, I want to go everywhere with you! I want to see new places to discover!"

Vali went silent as he heard the convictions of the Elfs that swore to help and explore with him. If one were to say that this would mark as the first time anyone outside his family had done something nice for him… they wouldn't be wrong. He never trusted anyone growing up, ESPECIALLY women like Zora's side of the family, even towards his so-called 'older sisters'. One of the few women he DID trust was his mother, but he did trust his father's side of the family, including her. Luce had always been there for him whenever he had sought her attention when he showed his magic or studying to help his mother. He had also known of the fact that Zora had tried countless times to get Luce out of the family, since she was a commoner, so he had to help around a lot with his father and mother in the house on the farm. He always made sure to get Zora's attention focused on him only when she came over from the main continent, so that way he could help his mother. That's why he made a mess around the land, even though it did bug his father to no end. It KINDA could be considered a rebellion to Luce also, but it was worth it, since it had been the only way to protect his mother.

Maybe.....it could be time for him to create a group where they could get stronger together, achieve their respective goals, or help each other out in case if anyone happened to be in danger. Perhaps this could also serve to remind him that there WERE worthwhile people worth being around in the world, that the world wasn't filled with only assholes but people he could tolerate, respect and care for as his own. They could be like little 'seeds' which had been neglected by the masses, yet would still grow into large trees in the end, taller than any other plant out there.

He'll call his group, once it fully formed...…. Vali wasn't sure just yet, but he'd figure out a name later.

Timeskip five years later

It's been five years, five LONG years, since Vali had created a group consisting of Alpha and Emilia. They weren't the only ones anymore, as there had been others as well, but they had preferred to go on their separate ways to try and help Vali finding his parents... But that's a story for another time.

Right now let's get back to the silver haired boy.

Whilst the years passed them by, there had been a LOT of things happening in the Academy. For one, now that Vali and the girls had graduated from the elementary division and had finally entered the Highschool Division instead, they'd gotten the first REAL taste of how persistent students could get. Girls got more devious in their attempts to get Vali alone and 'convince' him to become theirs, such as cornering him in one tight corner with their bulky servants as support. Not to mention constant flirting, increased demands for him to 'cater' to them like it was his 'privilege' to be their servant. If he had thought the elementary school girls had been bad, the Highschool ones had become downright ROTTEN in their actions, almost as if they had the blackest of hearts. Of course, Vali would beat the living hell out of those servants whenever he'd got himself cornered, even if he got scolded by the teachers for it since those women came from important families, and beating their servants up caused them financial troubles due to the repair costs.

Furthermore, for the Elves Emilia and Alpha, they were constantly pursued by the boys by having them serve tea, play games with them, pretty much doing everything in their power to try and convince them to accept their marriage proposals. But unfortunately for them, that didn't happen as they decided to hang out with Vali instead of the boys who were seeking attention from them, causing Vali's reputation with the guys to plummet even further and gaining him their eternal animosity, not like the guy cared, though. Emilia being a figurative 'angel', tried to present the fact that she can't go with those boys because she already hung out with Vali, whereas in contrast Alpha remained like a bodyguard, helping Emilia get out of each proposal situation. Not to mention Alpha, when she found herself in those same scenarios, pretty much wasted ZERO seconds rejecting them for staying by Vali's side. In her eyes, only he passed the criteria she had formed in her mind for guy friends.

Which gave out all the more reason to get their attention from Vali, of course that didn't happen at all. Even Greg from the group of four 'Princes' who had been on similar popularity levels to Vali, had tried to get Emilia's attention. But, like all previous interactions from other guys, he'd proven unsuccessful and had a duel with Vali to get her attention. Plus, like the others he got his ass beaten within an inch of his life, though that didn't mean he'd give up, which caused him to demand repeatedly for rematches. It had reached the point that Vali lost count on how many times he'd beaten Greg, to the silver haired boy, Greg had classified himself as a hotheaded person who tried to beat Vali at every turn, only to fall flat on his face like the idiot Vali believed him to be.

Anyway let's get back to the story.

Currently, Vali stood by the entrance to the main Avenue, watching students pass by whilst keeping his presence hidden. He leaned against the wall with one foot planted on it and his hands pocketed inside his trousers. 'Another day of being trapped inside this damn Academy… well, at least those two will be here soon. I heard they had overslept due to being so excited to return to school that they stayed up late last night…' the boy thought, mentally rolling his eyes at the mental image that he had developed of the two elf Girls.

Though aside from that, there had also been changes done to his appearance. Thanks to being in the Highschool Division, Vali had become able to modify his uniform to his liking, hence why he had his blazer wrapped around his waist like some kind of waistcoat, his white undershirt's sleeves rolled up to his elbows whilst a couple of it's buttons were undone, exposing a bit more of his lean torso refined from countless hours of training over the years. It helped that his features had become a LOT more chiseled and manly, making him look WAY more attractive than the average guy, which to his detriment only increased the number of marriage proposals aimed his way by the girls. If anything, he looked less like a 'prince' as many girls saw him as, and more like an emperor of a vast empire, with a side dish of 'bad boy' charm to him.

Whilst he watched the students come in, Vali began to think over some more noteworthy events that had happened. According to rumours, there had been some new students that were coming into this academy(mostly to find a partner for marriage). First of all, there had been Marie Fou Lovan, she seemed like a sweet person to anyone in the academy, but that didn't fool Vali and his group. They had been in similar situations where they had to deal with people like her, sweet on the outside but really dark internally where they wouldn't waste any opportunity to take advantage of them, therefore him and the girls would likely end up being VERY weary around that girl.

Other than her, there was also one Angelica Rafa Redgrave, the apparent fiancee of one of the four school 'princes'. He had a run in with the fiancee of the prince one time, and had found that she was very hot headed like Greg. There had once been a rumor that the Prince didn't even like her and Angelica did take that rumor, so much that she almost killed the person, if one of the teachers(the one Vali met the first time in the academy) hadn't been there to stop her. Vali could believe that one, since that teacher had been able to calm HIM down of all people with his tea-making skills, so Vali had to give that man props for being so well-versed in tea. Though, he hadn't been able to learn from him back in the Elementary Division since he taught in the Highschool one, so he'd likely be seeing more of him now.

And finally there was a… bit of an oddball in this Academy: Olivia, a so-called honors student. Unlike other students at the academy, Olivia turned out to be a commoner. She is enrolled in the academy on a special scholarship, though Vali could bet that she would be getting SO bullied by her peers due to her commoner status. According to the rumours Vali had heard, she seemed to be a modest girl who showed herself as very kind and gentle with people. He'd rather not believe in those rumours though until he'd met her in person. The sole other person he knew as a Commoner would be his mother, so perhaps he could make the effort to meet her in person.

Before long, Vali finally caught sight of the two Elf girls, the two of them finally arriving at his spot at the Wall. Now, like Vali they too had altered their uniforms, with Alpha having chosen to do the same as the silver haired boy by wrapping her blazer around her waist, all while switching out the black stockings she wore before for a pair of nylon ones connected to a pair of garters, Emilia doing the same but hers being white. Emilia kept her blazer on though.

"Wow, it's nice of you to wait for us Vali." Emilia proclaimed happily as they walked up to the silver haired teen who smirked whilst nodding back to them. Obviously, some of the passing by male students glared at Vali in envy, but he just ignored them since he'd been far too used to their behaviour by now.

Alpha then gave a relieved sigh, a matching smile on her face as she put both hands on her hips. "Thank god we found you soon, it's nice to be with you other than those boys, especially Greg." she explained, making an annoyed grunt at the thought of that particular 'prince'. He had been one of her more persistent admirers, one whom she really DISLIKED to a point where she'd taken swordsmanship classes so that she could fight the guy in duels. Beating him in sword fighting felt OH so satisfying to her, although by comparison Emilia didn't have that much skill in swordsmanship, but she would get there in time. Though, she DID discover that she had a strong affinity for ice magic when one time she accidentally put a little too much Mana into a Magic Spell which froze the entire Arena that the class had been practicing in..

Now that the three of them had finally met up for the morning clases, the trio proceeded to walk out towards the school. During the walk, the trio proceeded to talk to one another about their future classes, discussing Emilia's potential future as an Ice mage alongside Alpha's potential to become a swordmistress in the future, if she continued to practice swordsmanship. Although their futures looked to be quite specialized, Vali's future wasn't so much since he had quite decent skills in multiple different fields. Though, he had more concerns in perfecting his Mana Control since, as he grew up into his current teen self, his Mana Capacity had shot through the ROOF in terms of quantity, making control of it all the more important.

Soon as they walked up to Gamicademy's main entrance, they came across a woman who had been waiting for them, doing so by sitting down at a bench with one leg crossed over the other whilst she read a book. Of course, various students tried to get her attention, but after giving one look at them with her eyes, they all became really scared of her. In their eyes, she almost had a set of evil, demonic eyes that leered into their very souls. So the frightened students in the end wound up leaving her alone as she continued to read. This wasn't anything new for Vali, Emilia and Alpha though, since they recognized the woman as Fortuna, the Aunt of the two girls who had helped the two enrol into the Academy… as well as one whom Vali owed a great deal to for giving him the chance to meet with two girls whom he could tolerate… not like he'd told her this though, it'd be way too humiliating for him.

Whilst the trio got close to her, Fortuna looked up from her book at them, before proceeding to put her book back into her inventory as she stood from the bench and smiled at them. "Well took you long enough, you three." she declared, causing Emilia to blush incredulously. Meanwhile, Vali rolled his eyes and glanced to the side.

"Well, I was up on time. Can't say the same for these two, though. Had to wait outside the school grounds till they got here."

"S-Sorry aunt Fortuna, the students are really persistent on having me as their friend."

Alpha however, shook her head at the naive outlook her fellow Elf had towards the opposite gender. Though she also shook it in slight amusement at the way Vali hid his care for their well-being behind his usual tough guy demeanor. "More like marriage proposal to me Emilia, seriously you need to stand up and be confident."

"E-Eh?!" Emilia gasped as she glanced over to the blonde girl, her eyes wide with surprise. "W-Well… I get it Alpha, it's just I'm not used to it." she ended up saying, looking down to the ground unsurely.

Seeing her like this caused a bemused sound to escape from Alpha's lips. Really, with all her ability to wield Ice Magic to the extent that she did, one would figure she could also use it to keep a cool head about things. Not exactly the case regarding certain issues, it would seem. "Well you better be Emilia, because we might not be there to protect you all the time. I think it's time for you to go on an adventure."

"An adventure?! I'm not ready for it Alpha, what would happen if I freeze you or Vali to death?!"

"Uhhhh Emilia…...did you forget about Vali's magic?"

"Ohhhhhhh, sorry it's just....I overreact too quickly."

"It's fine Emilia, I think it's a great idea for you, Alpha, and Vali to experience the outside world."

Upon hearing that, Vali finally turned his gaze away from some staring guys (having been aiming a glare at them to keep them from approaching) and back to the older woman. "Mrs Fortuna, I've already been experiencing the outside world. Remember me getting my

Adventurer's License?" he questioned, frowning.

Yup, that's right, Vali had already achieved his Adventurer's License already, something that could only be granted by people with relevant authority like teaching staff or higher. They usually gave them to students who they had thought were ready to see the outside world while continuing their education, and to get one a student had to demonstrate significant survival/battle skills, alongside significant achievements. Thus, Vali could say that out of the three of them, he had the most outside world experience, hence why that last statement from this woman had caught him by surprise.

Now that he brought it up however, it seemed that Fortuna had indeed forgotten about it if the light of remembrance in her eyes, which then turned into an apologetic gaze along with her smile, was anything to go by. "Oh I forgot about that, then this is perfect Vali. Why don't you take Alpha and Emilia with you for an adventure?"

To take the girls out on an adventure, huh? Just him and them? Part of Vali wondered if that could be counted as something… oh, what was it called? He remembered his father saying the word to him once... Oh yeah, a date or something, but he quickly quashed that notion since it would be the three of them. Dates usually happened between couples, anyways, and neither of them could be considered in THAT type of relationship. "Hmmmmmm…...sure why not." In the end though, Vali still agreed since it would benefit the two girls involved, plus it'd give him an excuse to get away from the Students in this trash heap of an Academy. However, he had a condition for them. "But they have to be careful and not get distracted. Wouldn't want a bandit to capture the two of you again."

At this, accompanied by that shit-eating smirk of his, Alpha puffed her cheeks out whilst pouting. "I can handle myself, Vali and besides I've grown much stronger than ever before." she declared, leaning forwards with her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

Any normal man would have seen these gestures as cute, but Vali remained as composed as he usually did as he crossed his arms under his chest whilst shaking his head. "Lets let your actions do the talking, since like they say: actions speak louder than words. And what about you Emilia?"

"I…" At first Emilia tried to say something but she trailed off at the end, gulping as she thought of this decision she would make. After all, going out into the real world had not been something she had done of her own will before, and the first experience she had with it had been at the hands of some Bandits going to sell her into slavery alongside her cursed (at the time) friend. But, the more she worried about it, the more she remembered how Vali had helped her back then, of how he had continued helping her and Alpha for the last few years. He could do it, and so could Alpha since she had such a confident stance about things. If they could do this, then who could say she couldn't? "...I also want to go with you, remember what I said to you five years ago? I want to explore new places and go everywhere with you Vali!" She finally decided and firmly responded to Vai's words.

Said boy spent a short moment looking into her eyes, checking to see if there was any hesitation she may be hiding. Upon finding none however, he allowed a small smirk to form on his lips once more. "Fine, but you have to stay close to me, okay?"

"Got it, Vali!"

With that, the male gave her a nod of acceptance, pocketing his hands into his trousers. "Good, but I have to get back home and tell my parents. Wouldn't want them to be worried sick that I haven't been home in months." In his experiences, Vali found that some adventures could take about a couple weeks to months, even longer if there were any hiccups. In case any of those situations were to happen, Vali had always made it a must-do objective of his to inform his parents about his journeys beforehand so they wouldn't worry too much. Although, the boy could easily see his mother worrying sick about him regardless, since that was what mothers did according to his father.

However, before he could make any sort of move Fortuna then raised a hand, getting his attention. "Oh don't worry about that Vali, I'll handle that. I'll send in a letter to your father to let him know that you went on an adventure." She declared, smiling at the boy's care for his family whilst assuring him of things being taken care of for him already.

"Thanks Mrs Fortuna, appreciate it."

Vali gave her his gratitude… although that turned into indignation when the woman aimed a sly little grin his way. "Don't worry about that, just make sure that you use protection, would you? Wouldn't want my niece or Alpha to get pregnant early." she commented teasingly, her grin so wide by the end that it could actually be one more befitting of a gremlin or a prankster when things go their way.

"DAMMIT, WOMAN!"

"AUNT FORTUNA!"

"DON'T SAY IT OUT LOUD, AUNTIE!"

Vali and the girls screamed at Fortuna with completely red faces… Although Vali had a red face from his anger, not embarrassment.....okay it was embarrassment that Vali tried to hide, but for the Elf girls their faces were so red that they almost resembled ripe tomatoes, already imagining if they had a family with Vali. The students that were walking past them gritted their teeths so hard that it was almost showing blood from the extreme anger they felt for Vali, he'd already became a prince in the academy, but now he is already getting married?! IT'S NOT FAIR! PLEASE CPUS DELIVER DIVINE PUNISHMENT TO THE SILVER HAIRED BOY FAST, I DON'T WANT TO BE MARRIED BY AN OLD WOMAN!!!! That could be summarized from the expressions they were making towards him right now, not like the object of their malice cared for their idiocy.

"Hahahahaha just imagining what would happen if you did, now good luck Vali, keep my nieces safe."

"Y-yo-you a-as w-well"

Vali said under gritted teeth, as he struggled to form a sentence without exploding at her. As soon as she left whilst still chuckling in amusement, an irritated Vali and two flustered Elves began to walk to the other side of the school where they kept airboats for when students buy one and go out on an adventure. Usually there was only for teachers when they teach students on going on an adventure, but with Vali's case he could buy and use one.

"W-well Vali, where's your boat?"

"Oh, it's right over there."

Upon hearing Alpha's question, Vali pointed at a large boat that was as big as the class boat. Over the years of going to the forest, he had managed to amass lots of credits and loot from the monsters that spawned in the forest. Of course he got a LOT of loot from the monster drops, but at one point his collective loot took so much space in his inventory that he had to buy a chest to keep it all, and as for the Credits he'd give what he didn't need to his father and mother, so that way they won't be in a financial crisis that would force him to be married unwillingly. Of course, the chest almost became full as the years passed by, not to mention that when other people noticed that he had lots of experience from going outside, they decided to give Vali an Adventurer License that had gotten approved from the Redgrave family. Therefore, he had decided to sell all the loot that he had gathered and bought himself an airboat.

"Wooow Vali, that boat is as large as the campus boat!" Emilia exclaimed, causing Vali to smirk with a surge of pride flowing through his chest.

He then puffed out his chest whilst further inflating his own ego. "What can I say, the years of saving money in case I want to explore the whole world paid off."

Soon however, Alpha decided to put things back on track by gesturing to the Boat's entrance. "Okay, let's change to our adventure outfits."

Timeskip three months later

BOOM

Over the past three months since they left on an adventure, the trio of Vali and the two Elves had been exploring more and more lands in Gamindustri. They had encountered lots of monsters, but there's nothing that they can't handle, what with the combination of Alpha the sword wielder, Vali the ranged attacker with his Mana Series, and Emilia's Ice Magic.

Right now, Vali stood atop the main deck of his Airboat, pointing his finger at a floating fish that was approaching them. Though that didn't remain so for long as, with a quick MR, he had punctured a hole right between its eyes, instantly killing it. As for the drops, he simply used a mix of acrobatics, the surrounding floating rocks as platforms, and some luck to gather them all then return to the Airboat's main deck. 'Hmph, today's going quite well, I'm replenishing my stock of loot at a significant pace…' the boy couldn't help but think to himself. He did understand that adventuring was seen as a dangerous chore by the nobility in Leanbox, but he instead saw it as a valuable experience. It just went to showcase their idiocy more in his mind.

In terms of apparel, instead of his school uniform, the silver haired teen wore some leather armor that was strapped in his chest, arms, and legs. It was the standard adventurer's gear that he had been given by the teaching staff, although Vali couldn't wait for the chance to change into something more… suited to his tastes.

"Looks like you got a decent haul today, Vali."

Turning to the direction a familiar voice came from, Vali saw Alpha striding confidently towards him with a smirk on her lips and a hand on her hip where a Sword lay strapped to. She'd taken to wearing a skin type black suit that mostly covered her body from the neck down,not to mention enhancing her womanly figure, with a hole in the torso section exposing a moderate amount of her bosom. Around her waist was a single black veil-like waistcloth, whilst her forearms remained concealed by black and gold vambraces. Atop her legs, she wore some black thigh high boots that had some golden outlines as well as golden high heels, not to mention that over her forehead she had a black domino Mask. This apparel she wore, combined with her already hourglass figure, would have made any man instantly lust at her beautiful figure, but not Vali as he already experienced multiple flirt attempts at the academy to the point that he was actually used to seeing beautiful women.

Upon seeing her, Vali shrugged his shoulders uncaringly. "What can I say, I'm not like those nobles that use magic and equipment. Sometimes they need to train their body so that they can give me a decent challenge, Alpha." he stated.

Something which caused the blonde Elf girl to sweat drop at how battle-orientated her savior was. "You are a battle maniac that you even encourage your opponents to get stronger?"

To her question, Vali nodded as if nothing was wrong with that opinion. "Yes I am, so that way I can battle them when they become stronger to beat me. Thinking about it, the only decent challenge I had was Reinhard Van Astrea, the candidate for the human body saint. He was tough of course with his sword, speed and skills, we always ended up in a tie. He was a good guy even exploiting my weakness and Mana and how to get better. Shame that he had to leave to become a knight though. Since then it's been boring around the academy that there is no one that can give me a decent challenge."

On that note, Alpha had to at least say she agreed with him on this standpoint, as proven by her next few words. "A shame indeed, I would've asked him for some tips about swordsmanship. Maybe then I could have challenged those guys trying to propose to Emilia and accurately slice their 'prides' off, if you catch my meaning."

"Indeed…" At the end there, Vali swore he felt chills going down his spine for some reason, but figured that to be just his imagination. Insted, he decided to inquire as to another subject of his interest. "By the way Emilia, how's the egg going on?" he queried, thinking back to a moment ago where… an interesting thing had occurred.

One time they had been surveying an island isolated in the middle of an ocean with what seemed to have been a floating asteroid belt around it, Vali and the girls had discovered a destroyed Monster Nest. Of course, they hadn't been the ones to destroy it, and the perpetrators had been nowhere to be found, resulting in the three of them declaring this place to not be worth searching for anything decent… that is, until something had triggered Vali's senses, causing him to dig through a seemingly random spot to the girls. But before the girls could have questioned him, Vali had pulled out… what had looked like an egg, a dark blue egg with slightly silver patterns on it.

Their consensus had been that this egg had been laid there by the original owner of the Nest, hidden away from predators so that it could hatch safely. One part of him thought to leave it there, but Vali ended up crushing that part of him mercilessly, mostly due to this, in an alternate fate, could have been him if his father hadn't found him as a baby. Therefore, he had decided to take the Egg back with him… to a place where he believed it could hatch it safely.

Now that they were talking about it, Alpha's eyes became impossibly bright as she proceeded to gush about it. "It's doing, great Vali! Emilia's been taking care of it, keeping it warm by wrapping it in blankets whilst holding it in her arms like a pregnant mother. We just have to find an incubator or an environment where the egg can be hatched."

"Guess can't be helped. From what I read about dragon eggs, they have to be grown in a certain place where their parents were born. Emilia! How's it going over there?"

"It's doing fine, Vali!" After yelling back to the boy, Emilia came out from the back of the ship and approached Vali. She was wearing the same white and purple dress-like outfit she wore when she'd first met Vali, though if she had a choice she likely would end up wearing an outfit similar to Alpha's… there being a bit of a situation there which was why she wasn't at the moment. "You know Vali, we should meet with Delta, Gamma, or Epsilon more often, don't you think?"

At this, Vali gave a long, weary sigh as he had figured that Emilia would ask this eventually. "I'd like to do so girls, I really would, but with that bitch Zora trying to use anything she can get her grubby mits on against me, I'm unable to, sorry girls." Vali didn't show it as much as he should have, but he HATED the situation with his group right now, but most of all he hated Zora for forcing him to be apart from his comrades. Comrades whom he had helped like he had helped like how he had Alpha, but it had NOT been meant to be. After all, Zora had expressed her immediate disapproval of them the moment she had first met the girls when Vali had brought them to his home since they didn't have anywhere else to go during the few holidays that they had at the Academy. She'd done a LOT to try and make their lives as miserable as she could, only for Vali to use every trick in his arsenal to divert her attention to himself, seeing the girls as important enough to warrant doing so, just like his mother.

"It's...….fine Vali, I understand your situation."

"Thanks Alp-?!"

"Hm? What is it Vali? Something happened?"

"The compass, its… it's spinning around."

Vali looked at his compass as it was spinning around like crazy. From what he had learned from class the compass ran on a magnetic field that showed where north, south, east and west. If the compass is spinning around, then that means that the field around him and the elfs is having too much magnetic field.

"Vali, look!"

Emilia pointed to the sky, prompting him to look too as he and Alpha saw something spinning around in the sky, something that he can't even see in the spiraling land.

Blinking at the sight, Vali whistled under his breath. "Well would you look at that… not something you would see everyday."

Meanwhile, an excited giggle escaped her lips as Emilia bounced up and down, a complete contrast as to what she had been like before embarking on this adventure. "An uncharted land, Vali! We should try and go there!"

Vali, as he looked upwards, did NOT share the same sentiments as the silver haired Elf girl, however. "I don't know Emilia. By the looks of that spirling land, it seems like this thing could potentially shred us into atoms in minutes, even I'm not sure if my magic can protect us. Let's get out of here."

Upon hearing him say that, and knowing that he had the authority here, disappointed whine escaped Emilia's lips. "Oookay Vali."

Alpha became quick to admonish her friend on her behaviour, knowing just how serious things could get with the unknown. "Don't be like that, Emilia. Even I agree with Vali on that, it could kill us....uhhhh, Vali? Why isn't the ship turning?" she then questioned the boy after trailing off, having noticed that instead of pulling AWAY from the vortex, the Airboat seemed to slowly be inching TOWARDS it.

As for the boy himself, Vali gritted his teeth as he tried turning the helm to get back to a reasonably safe distance from the spiralling land… only for it to not budge one bit, even with his level of strength. "I'm trying but the wheel won't budge! Fuck, were getting sucked in!"

"Oh no!"

"Brace yourselves, this will be a bumpy ride!"

As soon as Vali said that, Emilia held on to Alpha as she held the ship's railing, all the while Vali held the wheel. When the ship got close to the vortex ship started to shake so much that they had to hold on the thing they are holding onto in order to not get carried away from the vortex

"AAAAHHHHHH FUCK! THIS SHIP IS NOT GOING TO HOLD!"

"HOLD ON, EMILIA!"

"I'M TRYING, ALPHA!"

It was then that Vali remembered something that he got from the monsters nest. "FUCK, THE EGG!!"

"VALI WAIT!"

Vali, ignoring Alpha's warning, proceeded to let go of the wheel as he went to get the egg from one of the rooms, knowing that if the Airboat got destroyed, it would go along with it. As he struggled to maintain his balance from the whipping winds and debris flying about, Vali managed to enter the room and saw the egg almost falling down to the ground. Quickly, perhaps even quicker than he had ever thought himself capable of, Vali jumped forwards, reached out and managed to catch it before it fell.

However, by the time he held the egg the ship started to break apart from the vortex.

"NOOOOO ALPHA, EMILIA!"

""VALI!""

Instantly, Vali lost his consciousness when a piece of wood slammed into his head hard whilst he and the Elfs floated up into the vortex above them.

"Ow, ow ugh…...where the fuck am I?" Vali groaned with a pained hiss, returning to the waking world from the realm of sleep. Slowly, the boy proceeded to sit up whilst stifling groans of pain and discomfort. His left hand held the egg and the other held his head, which had begun getting assaulted by a pounding headache. By the time he managed to get into an upright sitting position, Vali's eyes shot open wide when he recalled his comrades, before proceeding to look around to see where they were, soon calling out their names. "ALPHA, EMILIA?! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"I'M HERE!"

"ME TOO VALI!"

Their voices, much to his relief, returned to him and they sounded like they were close, too. Thus, Vali promptly looked to the right and saw Alpha sitting on the tree branch while Emilia was upside down at the tree, hanging there on one foot like a monkey. Quickly Vali looked away for the sake of the girl's dignity, something which she quickly picked up on if the flustered expression on her face bore any indication. She then proceeded to use her foot to vault up onto the branch, landing on her backside before adjusting to a proper sitting position.

Meanwhile, after calming down from that, Vali looked towards Alpha who looked just as relieved to see him as he felt inside. "Oh thank the CPUs that you two are safe." she exclaimed, joy in her voice as she jumped down from the branch, landing on the ground before Vali who had promptly stood upwards. Once Emilia had done the same thing, the trio regrouped with one another, now safely back together again.

"(GASP) Vali look!"

Not long afterwards, Emilia noticed something behind him which prompted her to yell it out whilst pointing behind him. Confused, Vali turned around and his eyes shot open WIDE when he saw an old building, but that's not what made him surprised, instead it was something else that they recognized when they landed on this land.

"Lost items!"