Unlasting World

The carriages were parked in the lobby, and there were fifteen carriages in total. The academy--no, the student council went ahead and rented fifteen carriages for every single team.

And from the looks of it, the carriage looks to be quite glamorous.

"Rize! Right here!"

Alden called from the right while I was strolling down the lobby. There are plenty of people here, and all of them are students. They must be the contestants, because they all grouped up in a group of three.

I can see seniors and the students from my year here, all glaring at each other like some lifetime rivals. Well in the end, we all are going to beat each other up in a large arena, so might as well try to look scary for once.

I arrived at the edge of the room where Lemillia and Alden are standing. The two felt quite timid inside the lobby, where all the scary seniors and students were residing. The air felt quite stiff here, after all.

After chatting with them for a while, someone else entered the lobby, wearing full blue clothes.

The word 'referee' came across my mind.

"Everyone, please enter the carriages that have been designated for your teams."

The man in the blue suit said to the students, and the students quickly looked for the carriage that was for them. There is a note right at the door saying the team's class, which means we just have to find the right one for us.

But after searching until the end, we found no cart that belonged to us.

And from the looks of it, two other groups also couldn't find their carts.

"Excuse me, sir. We couldn't find our carts."

The senior said to the blue suited man, and he shook his head.

"Nonsense. There should be a cart for everyone. Try looking outside."

The man then formed a grin and turned around. He left the lobby and headed to his own carriage, which was already inside the academy.

The final three groups that still haven't found their carriages then went outside the academy, only to find three ugly looking carriages parked outside. There, we found the carriages with notes placed on the doors, saying 'Class E'.

So… those seniors are the representatives of class E as well. Looks like everyone here are the unlucky ones.

"Damn it! Those assholes just couldn't be more cruel!"

One of the seniors from the third year kicked the ground using his right foot while cursing. He then glared at us and pointed his fingers at us.

"You! Juniors from the first year! Mark my words… If you want to live happily, you better leave class E next semester, or you will suffer a life harder than a poor commoner."

He said to us while his eyes were brimming with hatred. I replied with a nod and then entered our carriages.

He has lived his entire years in the academy like hell, and I could read that just from the hatred in his eyes. But, there is nothing he can do. After all, he is weak.

If he is strong, he wouldn't be in class E.

Inside the carriage, there's three armbands for us, and each was written a text saying 'E-1'. Must be for our identification. We put it on and waited inside the ugly looking carriage.

After waiting for a while, the carriages from the inside of the academy's lobby then head out from the gates. The carriages belonging to class E can only wait until the final carriage has left the gate before we start moving.

While we were strolling down the path, we looked outside and saw the city from the windows. The city looks to be quite lively at 10 o'clock. There seemed to be a lot of people walking around and doing their own business, and a lot of families and adults working and selling stuff.

"Woah! Look at that!"

Alden shouted while his finger pointed at the scene on the left of the road. In the middle of the park, the waterfall coming from the top of the floating island fell down, and it glowed as the water crashed into the ground. Golden sparkles flew out of the waters while everyone watching got petrified from the beauty. Even kids are getting closer to looking at it better.

"Wow... The kingdom of magic really is different..."

"I know, right!?"

Alden seemed to be quite enjoying the trip, but Lemillia has been silent the whole time.

"What's wrong?"

"Eh? Nothing, nothing. It's a beautiful waterfall indeed..."

She is hiding something. But seeing how sad she was when she said that, I decided not to pry any further. So I decided to just change the topic.

"Say, Alden. Are you from Xyphon?"

"Huh? Me? No, I'm from the west. I'm a noble from Naverne kingdom, you see."

"Ah... What is the western kingdom like?"

"Well, first of all, it was extremely hot."

Alden started to describe a lot of things about the Naverne kingdom that I have never heard before, and hearing that from him made me quite interested in it.

If Xyphon is the kingdom of magic, and Mazino is the kingdom of knights, then Naverne is the kingdom of culture. Every culture, fishing, farms, music… They seem to be booming there right now, and a lot of people are loving it.

Alden kept on telling stuff about his dream of opening a factory for a powerful magic weapon. He kept going on and on about his weapon that he had designed, but I simply chuckled and agreed to everything he said.

"Speaking of dreams, do you have a dream, Rize?"

He suddenly asked me that. He must have been getting tired from telling his dream, so he decided to know mine.

"Yeah, I do."

"Oh, what is it?"

"... I can't tell you."

"Oh... Is it important?"

"It's my only dream, so yeah."

"Woah... Must be easy only having one dream."

"It... Really wasn't."

Lemillia has been listening to us the whole time, so I thought I could ask her.

"What about you Lemillia?"

"Eh? Me?"

"Yeah. Do you have any dreams you wish to realize?"

She ponders about it for a while, and she sometimes puts up a slight sad expression. I can tell it has something to do with her past since she does looks having quite the difficulty saying it.

"Well... My dream is to protect my people. That is my only dream."

That sounded rather specific.

"Ah, but what do you need protection for?"

After Alden asked that, Lemillia quickly turned shy and pondered even longer. I quickly shook my head towards Alden and he quickly understood.

We spent the rest of the trip talking about Naverne, and we finally arrived in a loud arena.

"Why is it so loud?"

I took a peek outside, and bloody hell there's a lot of people.

It seems like an event is going on at the spot, and we are going past it. But why are those people going crazy when we move past them?

"Why are they shouting at us? Some of them even throw 'boo's at us."

"Not sure... Looks like we are ruining their event or something."

After moving past the crowd, we arrived on a dark path where sunlight doesn't touch us anymore. And after a while inside the darkness, the carriage stops.

"You guys can come out now!"

A shout from the driver can be heard outside while we stare at each other in the darkness. I lifted a finger and casted a green flame to bright things up.

"We arrived?"

"So those boos were really meant for us?"

I didn't say anything and headed to the door. Stepping down, I can feel the ground as hard as rock, and everything around us is very dark.

There is… no light source whatsoever.

"Why is it so dark here?"

"I don't know... where is the driver?"

JENG!!

All of the sudden, a bright light came from above us, shining us directly. Little by little, that bright light became bigger and bigger and merged with the other lights on the left and right. The source of the light continues to grow bigger and bigger until it covers the entire ceiling.

This room… is huge…

Now, I know exactly where we are.

The ceiling is the skies... and we are in a really large stadium.

Shouts can be heard from the spectators seat above the walls behind us and far on our two o'clock is a large room with green walls and a glass. Inside must be the control room for the stadium, as well as the commentator.

A sound of a speaker device being turned on can be heard throughout the entire stadium. Then a female spoke to the device.

"Welcome everyone! To the annual Magic Academy Battle Royale Event!!"