Chapter 11

While standing in front of his duel, Jaxael remains emotionless. He maintained a straight face as he stared directly into his opponent's eyes. He exhibited no interest in his opponent, which irritates the nobility.

The nobleman kept his stance despite his annoyance, grinning as if he won already. 'Don't look so cocky, the heads won't be looking at you anyway.'

"Start!"

Gress ran towards Jaxael and hit each other's sword causing a loud 'clang'.

"Even if you hit me with the hardest wield you got, they won't be noticing you anyway." Gress whispered as soon as he managed to block Jaxael's sword.

Jaxael then turned to face the knights who were supposed to be evaluating the participants. His brows wrinkled as the knights are only chatting with each other, except Crown Prince Vincenzo and Prince Lawrence who were captivated by how extraordinary Jaxael's moves were.

Jaxael became irritated, 'There's no point in going all out here if that's the case.'

Jaxael then loosened her grip on his sword, allowing the nobleman to strike it, sending his blade flying away.

"Why did he do that? He has the upper hand." Nash mumbled. Why does he let the weak nobleman go his way when he is qualified to become a knight?

The noble Gress joined Squad 2 and Jaxael joined Squad 15.

Squad 2 doesn't accept anyone anymore as they only need one new member. They are a squad of 5.

The duel continued and the last one to duel was Nash and Lady Gwyneth.

Nash was still clapping her hand silently after the previous duel. The commoner also ended up at Squad 15.

'Man, I think I want to team up with them,' Nash thought.

"Make sure to lose," Lady Gwyneth whispered. "I don't want to be at the last squad number, I want to be at first."

"Lady Gwyneth Furet- daughter of the Viscount Furet."

"Nash, commoner"

"Start!"

The lady Gwyneth rushed towards her and hit her sword. Nash's brows raised at how good the Lady holds her sword.

Nash fights back which causes surprise to the Lady.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Lady Gwyneth said in between her defense. Nash continues with only her sword as Lady Gwyneth backs out. Nash looks at where Squad 1 is. Full of nobles with disgust on their faces.

She then looks at Squad 15 who already has 3 new members. Squad 15 and Squad 1 are the only ones left.

"Let me win! I need to be on Squad 1!"

"Why should I?" Nash continued to hit.

She noticed death glares from Squad 1 members.

'I guess I won't be welcomed once I win.'

"Do you really want to win?"

"Yes."

"Then, say please." she teases the lady.

Lady Gwyneth hesitated for a while before saying, "Please!"

"Attack me," Nash said and smirked. She loosened her grip to her sword as Lady Gwyneth hit it. Her sword flew just like how Jaxael did.

"I lose!" Nash shouted but with a smirk on her face, continuing to tease Lady Gwyneth who is currently annoyed by her smirk.

'I hate her smirk.'

Nash usually has the habit of smirking if she tries not to laugh at the situation.

She walked towards her sword and went straight to Squad 15 before even letting the supervisor announce.

"I'm Nash." She introduced herself to their leader.

"I'm Yjhan, I will lead you with the others. I just want to say that I don't do any special treatment just because you're a lady." says their leader who has an undercut red hair and maroon eyes.

"I understand,"

The rest of the Squad members introduced themselves with a handshake.

"Idris." His dandelion eyes sparkle as he emanates this lively attitude. His cyan hair was down as his bangs were tied up. "How old are you? I'm 18."

"16"

"You're too young..." says Aeries. He has a graceful voice and looks pretty with shoulder length purple hair and eyes. "I'm Aeries"

"Kane." A man with blonde hair and blue green eyes who has a serious demeanor.

"Aidan." He is a guy with the same hair and eye color as her. When he and Nash are currently shaking hands both their brows are furrowed while looking at each other.

"Are you twins?" Idris asked. "You look alike... a little."

"No." they both said in unison. Then laughed after. "Let's get close. Shall we? My squad twin?"

"Haha sure!" Nash chuckled.

"Jaxael." He's the one who caught Nash's attention earlier. His hair was gray, and his eyes were light blue. His expression remained the same as before--straight and emotionless.

"Does that glove come with your costume?" Idris asked. He kept on looking at Nash's left hand.

"Oh this?" Nash took off her gloves. Some members were shocked, particularly, Idris and Aidan. "I'm afraid people will keep on asking what happened to my hand, but I suppose it's no different when I'm wearing gloves."

"May I ask what happened?" Idris asked.

"Well, a relative of mine is boiling water then I put my hands inside 'cause I want to pop the bubbles" she lied.

"Insane!" Idris and Aidan exclaimed in unison.

The other members were about to ask more but the supervisor announced first.

"Now each of you has a squad. I just want to clarify some things. First! You have your own inn to stay, for the female members, you have the option of staying at a different inn or joining your members. Next, you have your own schedule for the training grounds and you will receive a mission once or twice a week. Your allowance will increase as the number of your successful mission's increases, so try your hardest! That is all. Your leader will go over the rest of your questions with you." The supervisor left.

"Nash, will you stay at a different inn or what?" Yjhan asked.

"You don't have to worry, we won't do anything to you." Idris said. "It will be fun!"

"Then I'll be in the same inn as you."

I said that because in an inn you have your own room but I didn't expect that the inn is all old and rusty looking.

"It looks like it'll collapse any minute from now," Aidan whispered.

"Are you sure, Nash?" Yjhan asked once again. "As you can see, we don't have much allowance, therefore this inn is the only inn we can afford."

'He's considerate despite the fact that he looks like a jerk.', Nash thought to herself.

"That's because they practically never offer us any missions, and when we complain, all they say is that we should've done our missions better," Aeries explained.

"Yes. I'm fine with this."

After assigning rooms they will meet at their inn again after an hour. They will collect their belongings and transport them to their inn.

"Be sure to be back in an hour, don't go anywhere." Yjhan said, in a serious tone.

Nash, Jaxael, Kane and Aidan will get their luggage to where they stayed before. Because their inn was close to each other, the four of them walked together.

While walking towards the inn Nash noticed Katherine who looked like on her way to their diner. "Kath!"

Nash ran towards her friend who was shocked when she spotted Nash's friends. "What the hell did you do to be with those handsome guys?"

"Huh? We are assigned to the same squads. Would you like me to introduce you?"

"No! I look haggard today, maybe next time. I'll go first since I'm all sweaty and tired!" Katherine takes off leaving Nash alone.

"Who was that?" Aidan wrapped his arms over Nash's shoulder. Nash smacked it away with a slap. "Ow!"

"My friend, Kath" She faced her friends. "My inn's that one, how 'bout you?"

"My inn is located on the other alley," Kane said, his arms folded and his face bored.

"How 'bout you?" Nash asked Jaxael.

"We stayed in the same inn,"

Nash nodded,."Then I'll get going!"

"Aren't you going to ask me?" Aidan pouted like a child.

"Nah. I'll go first! See you!" Nash ran towards the diner to pack her things.

The three guys looked at her as she entered the diner.

"I didn't know that was an inn?" Aidan asked.

"It's a diner. Maybe she's acquainted with the owner." Kane answered.

The three of them then go to each other's ways.