“I’m back.”

“Welcome h… ugh, took you long enough”

A white-as-snow young woman welcomed the returning Reo and Devios with a strict look and a pose with crossed arms that was suggesting that the two were in trouble as she responded to the blue-haired man’s greeting.

“Lord Perserios, you are not giving the others a good example, even though you are the one with the highest position in our little group.”

She furrowed her brows, doubling down on the blue-haired man in particular.

“I merely killed a monster about to go on a rampage that was in the middle of casting an offensive spell. I was not aware that protecting human lives is doing something bad, miss Metavicero.”

Devios responded by straightening his back and glaring up at the young woman trying to scold him.

Still, even if he went on his tiptoes it wouldn’t make the situation look any better, the blue-haired man with one murky-black eyeball’s head was at best at Metavicero’s ample chest level.

“Excuse me, but it would be best to refrain from using a phrase such as monster rampage. You see in this land when monsters start a rampage it means that the boss monster of the area had died and all of its underlings will start viciously fighting amongst each other for the freed spot. It usually brings forth many casualties amongst the human population, so you surely understand why it’s best to not speak about it without a valid reason.”

As Devios and Metavicero were confronting each other, a blond martial artist that was the one to talk with Devios and Reo during their little side quest stepped forward and said with an apologetic expression while glancing to the sides whether the conversation was overheard by someone bystander.

“You might want to point something like that out during the briefing before the sea fare or during it next time, would be more useful than boasting about all the ways a martial artist can stop or relinquish mana.”

“…”

The blue-haired young man turned over at the blond man and declared in a voice that was far more like an order than a suggestion, which made the martial artists escorting them frown with barely disguised enmity.

“Do not come up with new information to talk about when you clearly do not bother to remember the ones that were present. We were told about preserving mana because of the drastic drop in the speed of our mana reservoirs being refilled.”

Metavicero shook her head in annoyance and stepped in front of Devios, blocking his view and making him turn his attention back to her.

Which wasn’t that hard of a task to complete.

The whole group was offered sets of martial artists’ uniforms to wear for blending in and not gather too much attention on their way to the Heavenly Star Academy complex. Everyone except for Metavicero went along with it – only the white-as-snow young woman decided to wear a fittingly pure-white one piece dress and strapped white sandals and would not budge on her choice.

“I do not take orders from anyone other than the monarchs I pledged my allegiance to, and his highness Horeo Marets Bellcephora and his wives did tell me to resolve all matters that will occur here in the way I see fit. What you talk about were mere suggestions that do not affect me, to begin with.”

Devios snorted and tilted his head, putting his hand to his face and pulling down his eyelid to show the murky-black eyeball in a gesture that lacked only the showing of one’s tongue to be offensively mocking.

“Your status might be the highest amongst the ones here, but let me remind you that you aren’t the only one with the authority from the king. Watch your mouth or I will be forced to put you down, even though you are low enough.”

Metavicero scoffed, raising her head and glaring at the shorter man with a mocking smirk.

“Is that a challenge I hear, little miss? Because for me it really sounds as if you want me to knock you down off your high horse and pound some respect into you.”

Devios’s martial artist uniform suddenly became tight as the anger spoke through him and he took a step forward, ready for a brawl.

“Oh, dear heavens, get a room already! This is embarrassing to watch!”

As the clash between the two seemed imminent, another magician – a young earth magician that looked to be the age of a second-year student in the Aspakeony Academy – groaned, shaking his head at the two.

“…”

“…!”

Devios didn’t even budge, but Metavicero looked away and stepped down, possibly troubled because of the statement.

“Hmph. Mind your tone, Noex. I invited everyone to be more familiar with me and each other, but there is a time and place for everything.”

Seeing his opponent back down, Devios relaxed, but not before scolding the brown-haired boy.

“Ah… I… I apologize…”

The boy gasped in realization and lowered his head apologetically, blushing in embarrassment.

“Can we go already? It’s already bothersome enough that we were not provided with carriages and have to travel on foot while being unable to use mana…”𝑂𝑽𝐿xt.𝗰𝒐𝐌

Another magician joined in the conversation, a slim boy with yellow hair and eyes who looked like he was too young to even be in the group from the kingdom of Bellcephora.

“That being said, why weren’t we provided with carriages? Do you not have horses or domesticated horse-like monsters that would be able to make it easier to travel long distances?”

The yellow-haired boy breathed out forcefully before looking at the blond-haired martial artist with a blank expression.

“Huh? Oh! Well, you see, in the first place the Heavenly Star Academy is roughly within the distance that every martial artist runs during their training to stay fit and…”

“Oh, wow. Wow, those uniforms work better than expected! Noex, you’ve heard that? Even our escorts think we are marital artists!”

The blond man surprised by the question shook his head and answered a bit awkwardly, but the yellow-haired boy did not let him finish, instead turning away and talking to the earth magician who got scolded without changing his expression at all.

“Alright. Enough of this. I apologize to everyone for the delay. Let’s go now.”

Devios sighed and waved his hand to get everyone’s attention before lowering his head and announcing.