The Hidden World

The hovercraft took off and zoomed across the sky as it flew back to Junction. Inside the craft, the students around Yuki were quite rowdy as they talked about their assignments. From what he could hear, those groups seemed to have a much easier time than Yuki’s team. 

‘There seems to be a chance that we weren’t supposed to be fighting fifty trolls.’

Looking at his own team, he saw Jared talking quietly to his brother who seemed to be struggling to keep conscious. Natalie was talking to some girl from another group that Yuki didn’t recognize. Ben was staring at his fingers as he twiddled his thumbs. Yuna was sleeping in the seat next to Yuki.

‘Akira, are you busy?’ Yuki asked.

[No, what is it?] she replied.

‘When we arrive at the Academy, I’m going to go to the restroom,’ he said. ‘In there, you’ll come out and then go and track down where Shindol is. Once you do, just keep watch and follow him. I’ll probably be taken aside to be questioned so I want you to wait until I tell you when to go. Do you understand?’

[I understand. Do you have any questions you want me to ask? Anything in particular you want to find out?]

‘Ask about the woman in the forest. Ask about his role in the Shikaku. Other than that, you’re free to ask him whatever you want. I might have more things to add later, though, once I have more time to think.’

[Alright,] Akira said. [Tell me when it’s time. I’ll be preparing.]

‘Preparing what?’ 

[Just a little test,] she replied vaguely. [Erica taught me a little something.]

‘Then I’ll just have to trust you,’ Yuki said. ‘Anyway, I’ll be signing off. We should be landing soon.’

[Good luck with the questions.]

‘Good luck with your questions.’

Yuki cut off his conversation and checked his watch to see where they were currently at. According to his map, they were approaching Junction and should be arriving within the minute. He closed the map and sat in his seat as he stared at the metal wall in front of him, thinking about nothing in particular. 

“Arriving at the Academy of Magic and the Arts,” Raphael announced, its voice echoing around the hovercraft.

The craft landed and the side door slid open. A set of stairs extended out and Yuki walked out. Outside, he found three Academy staff members standing. They seemed to be waiting for someone and Yuki could guess who this someone was. 

“Team Jared?” a wolf beastkin asked. “Please come with us.”

Yuki followed them without a word and the rest of his team walked behind him. The curious gazes of the other students followed them as well as the staff members led Yuki and his team toward the Headmaster’s Castle. The giant double doors of the castle swung open to let them in. The staff then led them up the stairs and sat them inside what looked to be a meeting room.

“Do you know why you all are sitting here right now?” the wolf beastkin asked.

“I think so,” Jared replied. “But first, um, about my brother.”

“I know,” the beastkin said. “Julie, take Joseph to the healer ward.”

“Yes sir,” a female elf said. She gently took Joseph’s arm and helped him along as they left the room. 

“So, back to the reason why you are all here,” the beastkin said. “You all somehow dropped out of our radar as we were tracking you students during the assessment. We will now be conducting a quick—.”

“Excuse me,” Yuki interrupted. “Can I use the restroom real quick?”

The beastkin blinked for a second. “Yes, of course. I’ll just have my associate follow you. Do you know where the restrooms are?”

“Yes, I go to school here,” Yuki replied as he stood up.

He left the room and walked down the stairs. Then he took a left and went into one of the restrooms. The person that was sent to follow him waited outside.

‘You can come out now,’ Yuki thought.

With a flash of light Akira popped into existence. She stretched and yawned, showing off her pointed canines. 

[Then I’ll be heading off then,] she said with a smile.

Yuki nodded and looked at his watch as he waited for a few minutes. Then he walked out and went back to the meeting room. The man inside nodded and continued from where he stopped when Yuki left for the restroom.

“Like I was saying before, we’ll be questioning you all very quickly so that we can get a good grasp on what it is that happened inside the forest,” the beastkin said. “So just answer as I ask. What was your assignment?”

“We were to locate a troll settlement and clear it,” Jared answered.

“Do you know when contact might have been cut off?” 

Jared shook his head and looked at the others.

“I could feel a barrier of sorts when we were walking,” Yuna said. “I could only really feel the mana. I wasn’t sure what it was.”

“So you crossed the barrier and then what?”

“We proceeded like normal and found the troll settlement,” Jared replied. “Then we cleared it.”

“The troll settlement,” the beastkin nodded. “Describe it to me. What did it look like? How many trolls were inside?”

“There were wooden shelters that the trolls used as homes,” Yuki said quietly. “The population of the settlement was around fifty trolls. They were being led by a troll chieftain.”

“Fifty.”

“Fifty.”

The beastkin started to rub his head. “And a troll chieftain.”

“That is correct.”

“How did you clear it?” he asked.

“We came up with a plan to distract the trolls,” Yuki answered. “We set off fires with some fire magic and the trolls left the village to investigate. Then we killed the troll chieftain and ran away. The trolls then dispersed.”

“Did none of you think that it was odd that you had to potentially fight fifty trolls?” the beastkin asked slowly.

“No sir,” Jared replied. “I thought that it was a test to see how we would deal with adversity or something like that.”

The man sighed. “Yes, that was the point of the test but no one is supposed to go up against fifty trolls. And you managed to clear it. How exactly did you kill the chieftain?”

“It killed itself,” Yuki said. “It used magic and then it killed itself.”

‘Because it provoked me and so I killed it,’ Yuki added in his head.

“Well, you all managed to complete the task despite your situation,” the beastkin said. “We’re going to need to send a recon team to investigate that area. One last question for all of you. Did you see or find anything unusual at all?”

Yuki’s team said nothing and only looked around uncomfortably. Yuki thought carefully about what he should say next. They had already told the man everything they could that wouldn’t cause suspicion or further questioning.

“Sir, I want to ask something if that’s okay,” Yuki said. The man nodded. “How do you guys find locations and objectives for us?”

“Do you mean for the assessment?” the man asked. “If that’s what you mean, then we usually send out people to scout the forest. They’ll return and tell us whatever nests they find and the details around that nest.”

“And how do you determine what group gets what nest?” 

“We look at your members and give you the nest that would cause you the most problems. For instance, your group doesn’t have a healer. That’s why you were all task to go against trolls who can cause major damage with a single attack that would prove fatal without a healer. Joseph is an example of that.”

“I see,” Yuki murmured. Then he raised his voice. “Who scouted out the troll nest?”

“Um, I don’t remember off the top of my head,” the man replied. He tapped on his watch and swiped through a few pages. “Ah, I’ve found it. It seems that Shindol did that one.”

“Shindol?”

“That’s correct. He’s the caretaker of the Academy Forest.”

“Who was the one that gave us the task? The person that assigned us the troll nest?” Yuki asked.

“We, as a collective, decide that. But Shindol did put a note recommending this nest to a group that doesn’t have a healer.”

“I see, thank you,” Yuki nodded. 

“Any other questions?” the man asked. “Or comments?”

No one replied.

“Okay then. The questioning is finished,” he announced. “We’ll be getting to the bottom of this. I wish you the best of luck on your final scores. You’re free to go.”

Yuki opened the door and left as the others were standing up from their seats. He walked at a leisurely pace as he headed back towards the Academy gates.

‘Akira, where are you?’ he asked.

[I have a visual on Shindol right now,] she replied. [I’m inside of the Academy. He’s talking with a few other staff members about the assignment.]

‘Good. So from what I’ve learned from the little interrogation that I was just a part of, Shindol was the one that found the troll nest,’ Yuki told her. ‘Or at least said that he found it. He was also the one that recommended that a team with no healers go against it.’

[How many teams had no healers?]

‘I don’t know. Can you ask Uriel for me? I don’t have my ear piece out.’

[Not a problem,] she said. She didn’t say anything again for a few seconds. [It seems that there were two groups that didn’t have a healer. Yours and one other one.]

‘So it’s safe to say that our group was probably targeted?’

[Yes. The other group had a berserker so they wouldn’t have needed to worry about a strength contest between them and the trolls. So that only left your group.]

‘Well, now you have one more thing to ask Shindol about. You can go have fun now. I’ll be at home thinking. We’ll talk some more when you come back.’

[Alright,] Akira said. [I’ll be back as soon as I can.]