A Brief Interlude
The Next Day.
Xander scrutinized the scroll Alya had just handed him with narrowed eyes.
He looked at it. Then he looked at her. Then he looked at it again. Then he looked at her again.
Finally, unable to ask himself, he asked bluntly.
"Is this a joke?" He asked her like she was messing with him, and Aubrey, Curtis, and Falael all looked confused at his reaction.
Meanwhile, Sergeant Alya just stared at him flatly.
"Nope. That's your assignment." She shrugged in a way that said 'not my problem'.
"What does it say?" Unable to help themselves, Falael asked with a raised brow, and Xander pinched the bridge of his nose. Without a word, he handed the the scroll to them, and they all read it together.
Then their expressions all changed simultaneously.
"They want us to WHAT?!×3" They all exclaimed, their reaction drawing the attention of the surrounding students.
'This is... certainly unexpected.' Xander smiled wryly.
Now one might ask, what was so shocking that it made everyone, even Xander, question the authenticity of the assignment.
Well...
'The Eastern Frontier.' He closed his eyes as he delved into the memories of the original Xander, and what he saw wasn't fun.
The Kingdom Xander lived in, Solvaren, is the largest (and only) human Kingdom on the planet.
To the North was the Frigid Heartlands where the Wraiths resided, and to the West was the Celiac Ocena that connected to other continents. The South contained uncontrolled human tribes, and further out were the territories of other races.
Then there was the East.
'That's Demon Territory.' Xander scrubbed a hand across his face.
In the world of Tatonia, there were things called Hell Gates, which were exactly what the name entailed. Gates that led to Hell. And from within them, Demons and Demonic beasts poured out in droves.
Solvaren faced a hard stop when they tried to expand in that area due to the existence of the Hell Gate. Moreover, the things that came from there were actively hostile. So both sides were locked in a perpetual conflict.
'The core of a Hell Gate is territory not even an Archmage us guaranteed to survive.' He shook his head. 'At the very least, we're being sent to a Territory that's quite far away from the frontlines. Still, it's quite daunting.' At that thought, he suddenly remembered something.
'Right. "She" should be around there too. Hm.' As he was deliberating this, Curtis called his attention.
"Uh, is this really fine?" He said, his usual nervousness returning full force. "I-I know we've gotten a lot... stronger recently. But... demons?" At that, Xander smiled a little.
He understood his worries perfectly. Demons came in all shapes and sizes, after all, and their abilities more often than not seemed to defy logic. But...
"The school is strict, but it wouldn't be sending us to our deaths. The scroll said we're only going to be assisting the border guards of a Territory that's quite far away from the Hell Gate, so we won't be in any extreme danger." He assured, then his smile widened.
"Moreover, there's something to look forward to." That got their attention, and Xander said shamelessly.
"Credits. Think about all the credits we can earn from this!" He spread his arms, and the three of them just stared at him. Then Falael snorted.
"Is that all you can think about? You humans and your greed." They rolled their eyes.
"Aren't you the one who came to me two weeks ago to ask for credits because you couldn't stand the food?" Falael flinched at that, and then spun, their face flushing.
"Th-That was one time!"
"Still happened."
"Shut up!"
Before the bickering could proceed further, Alya interrupted them.
"Now now. Before you bite each other's heads off." She cleared her throat and spoke again, and this time, her voice was heard by all. "You are all set to depart to your destinations by this evening." That startled a lot of them, but she continued.
"Those of you who have assignments in distant locations, you will use the school's teleportation formation to get there quickly. Or as close as you can anyway. So you won't waste time.
Remember, the duration of your assignments is one month. Nothing more or less. Now I suggest you people start packing. The earlier you leave, the better." With that, she turned and left. No goodbye or anything.
'... Huh. I guess that's that?' Xander scratched his head before turning to his teammates.
Curtis was still the most visibly nervous, constantly fidgeting with his hands. It was a bit concerning, but Xander had committed to calming him down. Aubrey was also constantly pulling and releasing the string of her bow (not dry firing, Xander butchered her for that), which became her new nervous tick when she kept running out of glasses.
As for Falael, they were... weirdly excited.
"... You don't seem overly concerned." Xander pointed out, and the half-elf glanced at him, a slight smile tugging at the corner of their lips.
"Neither are you, so what's your point?"
"I'm calm. You—on the other hand—seem happy about our predicament." At this, Aubrey and Curtis looked at them as well, and they failed to hold back their grin.
"Oh come on, you can't tell me you haven't thought of it?" That earned a few confused looks, and they rolled their eyes.
"You can't honestly tell me that none of you have been wanting to prove your skills on active battlefields since we entered this place. I mean, come on, it's been a month and we have improved by leaps and bounds. We finally have the chance to put our abilities to proper use. Not just training, but actually participating and making a difference. Isn't that exciting?" At this, Xander, Aubrey, and Curtis were... genuinely taken aback by their enthusiasm.
"... Wow, who knew you could express emotions other than pride." Aubrey said with genuine surprise, and Falael rounded on her.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" They demanded, and she just looked away with a shrug.
"Just stating the obvious." She hummed, sounding smug.
"You...!" While the two of them bickered, Xander turned to Curtis who was fidgeting again and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, man, it'll be alright, okay? I've seen how much you've improved this past month. You'll be alright, I promise." He squeezed his shoulder gently to ground him.
Curtis hesitated, and Xander sensed that there was something else bothering him. However, the larger boy took a breath and exhaled, forcing himself to calm down.
"A-Alright. Yeah." With a slow nod, Xander retracted his hand and cleared his throat, getting their attention.
"Is there anything anyone needs to do before packing? If not then why don't we go get our stuff and meet back here in say... an hour?" He offered, and after a moment, all of them agreed.
With that, they split temporary, and Xander quickly went back to his dorm. As he was about to open the door, one of the 5 doors on that floor opened, and the figure of Samuel, the other Gold card holder, stepped out.
Both of them locked eyes for a moment, then they nodded at each other in greeting before Samuel went on his way, and Xander entered his room.
As soon as he entered, the first thing he saw was Mia staring at him.
"..."
"..."
He looked around and soon spotted Mary standing in the far corner, as far away from Mia as possible.
'Some things never change.' He sighed and looked at the smaller girl.
"So... Will you come with us on the assignment?" He asked carefully, running under the assumption that Mia already knew what it was.
She nodded.
"... Do you need to prepare anything?"
She shook her head.
He sighed.
"Alright, well, I need to start packing soo..." As he started to walk past, then Mia spoke.
"Go check on the egg."
"Huh?" He blinked, confused.
"The egg. The one you bought. It's about to hatch. Go to it before then." Xander blinked, then he scrambled to his room, and Mary forced down her fear before swiftly following after him, while Mia just walked at a leisurely pace.
He arrived in his room, and sure enough, the egg was shaking on his desk.
'Uh, wait, what do I do?' He floundered for a moment before gritting his teeth and standing right in front of the table. He didn't know why, but something told him that things were about to get messy if he didn't take the necessary precautions.
"Mary, isolate the room. No external energies or mana so get in or out."
"Understood." Mary's eyes glowed briefly, and a faint breeze went through the room. Suddenly all sounds from outside ceased, and his senses were suddenly unable to peer past the walls of his room.
Of course, Mia didn't care about that and just strolled in like the isolation didn't exist.
Before he had time to dwell on it, a crack appeared in the egg, then something breached, and what Xander saw made him stiffen.
'... No way...!'