The Author's POV

Inside a small classroom that was about the size of a bedroom, two individuals sat facing each other.

Of the two individuals, one was a female while the other was a male.

The male had his head held down and was fearfully looking at the female who was looking at him with her legs and arms crossed. Her face was incomparably dark.

It looked as if they were in a murder trial with the male student being the one under trial.

Breaking the silence was the female whose voice sounded extremely dark.

"Ren. Dover."

"...I-It's been a while Melissa"

Yes, the boy who was currently being persecuted was in fact me.

Sitting down in front of Melissa, I tried my best to avoid her eyes. Right now her face was smiling but her eyes weren't. I had a feeling that she wanted nothing more but to eat me alive.

Why was she in a bad mood?

Looking at my number and Melissa's number, a few tears streamed down my cheeks.

[Group 9]

...my plan backfired badly.

"....w-would you believe me if I told you it was an accident?"

"Accident? Prey do tell me what might you be referring to. I do recall seeing an insect winking at me during our class...or did I see wrong?"

"...err"

Please someone save me!

Nervously looking around the room, my eyes paused on a black concoction in the middle of the table. Out of desperation, I tried to change the topic.

"This is?"

Expecting my question, Melissa dazzlingly smiled and said

"New potion I've been experimenting with. Just for you, free of charge."

Squinting my eyes, I moved my chair back and warily asked

"What does it do?"

Covering her mouth with her hand, Melissa lightly laughed and said

"Nothing much apart from making you throw up dozens of times over and making you feel like you had just been through hell. What makes this potion even more special is that if you are lucky enough there's a chance you can throw up your own intestine killing you instantly"

"...can I pass?"

It honestly scared me how she managed to say all of this with a straight face.

-Bam!

Just as I was despairing at my situation, opening the door, three young prideful individuals entered the room.

Looking around the room, they soon noticed Melissa who was sitting in front of me. Instantly their arrogance deflated a notch.

"Hello there, Melissa Hall"

Walking in front of Melissa, what seemed to be the leader of the trio elegantly bowed in front of her.

His facial features which were devoid of any imperfections accompanied by his sharp eyes and brows made him look suave and elegant. He had short black hair and green eyes that resembled finely polished jades. Though he was not extremely handsome, his looks were enough to make any girl swoon.

"It is an honor to meet Melissa Hall, one of the most beautiful women in our academy and pioneer in the scientific field"

Pausing, and fixing his uniform he said

"My name is Donald Berson"

...who?

Another extra who thought they were the shit.

Honestly, if the guy could read Melissa's mind at the moment he would've probably have made a run for it.

Smiling, Melissa glanced at the young individual before her and said

"You must be Rank 167 Donald Berson whose father is an A rank Hero of the Starlight guild"

As soon as Melissa finished speaking, Donald straightened his back with pride. Looking at me he smirked

hm?...what did I do?

Do I even know you?

Is he that proud that Melissa knew who he was?

Ignoring Doland's subtle action against me, Melissa smiled and politely said

"How can I help you?"

To me it just looked like she was saying 'Be quick and fuck off, I don't have time to deal with you scrubs' but maybe I was just too biased.

"Ah, let me introduce the rest of the people before I continue"

Stepping to the side, Donald presented one of the other group members.

"This is Rank 298, Evan Smoke"

Standing behind Donald, a rather chubby individual with ginger hair and freckles all over his face appeared. With his hands behind his back, Evan haughtily looked around the room.

...his demeanor reminded me of one of those villainous nobles you would find in novels.

Smiling amiably, Evan lightly bowed in front of Melissa.

"Nice to meet you, Melissa Hall, I have heard of your outstanding achievements since I was very young. I had been eagerly awaiting the day where we would meet and upon seeing you I can say with confidence that there is no other woman out there that can confidently claim to be more beautiful than you"

...talk about excessive flattery.

Unlike Donald, I actually knew who he was.

He was no one important per se, he was another extra. But this time, I actually knew him cus I actually remembered writing about him. He appeared on the trip and arrogantly confronted Kevin only to be instantly shut down.

True extra.

After Evan finished his introductions, Donald turned to the remaining student.

"...and this is Rank 475, Cassandra lee"

Standing next to Evan, a rather skinny young female with a buzzcut presented herself. With her hands in her blazer pockets and whilst chewing gum she looked at Melissa with interest. She had two piercings on her right lip and nose and her lips which were black, accompanied by her eyes which were filled with eye shadow reminded me of someone who was in their emo phase. She had black metal bracelets on her arm and her uniform was unkempt.

Smiling lightly she looked at Melissa and said

"Pleasure to meet you"

Greeting everyone, Melissa turned her attention back to Donald.

"Nice to meet you, so what do you want?"

"Nothing much, we are in the same group so I wanted to introduce myself and my companions to you who is going to be part of our team"

"Since we still have about a week before going on the trip I thought it would be a great idea to form a good bond while we are at it, hahaha"

Laughing lightly, Donald, Evan, and Cassandra eagerly looked at Melissa.

...sigh.

How more obvious can you be?

If you wanted to hang out with Melissa you could have just said so from the beginning. Why go through all of this nonsense.

Noticing my reaction, Donald stopped laughing and gloomily said

"What's so funny?"

Rolling my eyes at his immature display I said

"There's a week left before the trip and you're planning on making friends rather than just allocating our tasks"

Annoyed by my rebuttal, Donald finally acknowledged my presence as he asked

"Who are you?"

"Rank 1750 Ren Dover"

Instantly the whole room was filled with laughter and ridicule.

"Hahaha, Rank 1750 and you dare talk to me like that?"

"hohoho, to think that someone who is ranked so low exists"

"I bet in terms of spouting crap his rank is around the top three in the whole year, no, the academy"

Rolling my eyes at them I said

"To think there was not only one delusional person here, but three? How disappointing"

"..."

Instantly the room became quiet. Donald and the other two's faces instantly crumbled. After a brief pause, and processing what I had just said, Donald shouted

"What!?"

Summoning his spear from his dimensional space, Donald grabbed it and pointed its sharp tip at me. A blue glow appeared around his body.

"Shut that flimsy mouth of yours before I cut your tongue off with my superior skills and talent that a nobody like you can ever hope to have"

Seeing him taking out his spear, summoning my sword from my bracelet, I grabbed it and a white glow started appearing around my body as I spat back

"No, you shut your mouth! How more obvious can you be that you're a third-rate villain with your third-rate quotes!"

Hatefully glaring at me and gritting his teeth, Donald pretended to hit me with his spear but I didn't even flinch.

"Grrr"

Seeing that his faint was seen through, Donald clenched his teeth even harder.

Seeing his reaction, I triumphantly smirked at him and raised my middle finger

"Wanna bet that I don't even need to lift my finger before I can decapitate that useless head of yours!"

"Youuuu bastard!"

Finally snapping after hearing my comment, Donald prepared to stab me for real. But before he could do that, he heard an annoyed sigh coming from behind him.

Sigh

"Is it fun to waste time like this?"

Sitting on the table, Melissa covered her face with her hands.

"Melissa?"

Stopping, Donald and the rest looked at Melissa who seemed to be in an extremely bad mood.

"Why are you all acting like children?"

"B-but he started it?"

Snapping at him, Melissa looked at Donald in utter disgust

"What? Are you some kind of child? He started this he started that? Do you know how many fucks I give about that?"

Raising her hand, she did an 'o' sign with her fingers and said

"Absolutely zero"

Being berated by Melissa, the rest lowered their heads in shame. If it was anyone else they would've probably have fought back, but since it was Melissa they could only suck it up.

Every time someone tried to talk they would immediately be glared at by Melissa shutting them up instantly

Clicking her tongue, Melissa continued

"Stop flapping those useless mouths of yours and do the work. We were asked to talk about our work. I had come with the expectations that the people in my group would be regular humans but it seems like I was paired up with a bunch of useless chickens and buffoons that can only dance around wildly yapping their mouths non-stop"

"Frankly, shut up! Your mere existence is annoying me"

"b-b.."

Raising her hand to stop them from talking, Melissa glared at them and said

"Don't wanna hear it. If you want to do me a favor just stop breathing. You'll be plenty useful then"

he he

Seeing the trio's deflated looks I couldn't help but laugh lightly. Karma got them good.

"And you why are you smiling?"

"...hm?"

"Yes you...you are the most useless of the lot and yet you dare enjoy this like it's some sort of show?"

"Bu-t.."

"Shut up, and follow their example and stop breathing!"

Shutting up, I dared not to utter a single word.

I was pretty sure she realized I was making fun of them from the beginning and thus why she was glaring at me the hardest.

Turning my head right, the first thing that caught my sight was the trio smirking in my direction. Seemingly enjoying my predicament.

Squinting my eyes at them I made a mental note to myself

'...it seems like three more names will be added to my long list of people who I should beat up. Just you wait. I will definitely turn those smiles upside down.'

"sigh, alright let's get this over with"

Seeing that everyone had started to become more obedient, Melissa sat back on her seat, crossed her legs, and looked through the tasks which we were supposed to do.

It had to be noted that she was the only one sitting as the rest of us were still standing with our back straight not daring to utter a single word.

"You and you will be responsible for the first task"

Pointing at Cassandra and Evan, Melissa apathetically spoke as she allocated their task not caring for their opinion.

"You and you will be responsible for the second task, whist I will do the third task alone"

Looking to my left, my eyes met Donald's. Our eyes both screamed 'Hell no!' but we just pretended to smile at each other in a friendly manner.

The groups were Cassandra and Evan for task 1, Me and Donald for task 2, and Melissa for task 3.

I wanted to rebuke so badly, but I didn't dare to.

I'm sure Donald shared the same sentiment as me, but we were both too scared of Melissa to dare speak out our thoughts.

"Alright, I've wasted enough time babysitting the lot of you. I am heading back now, I have better things to do"

Throwing the group ticket away, Melissa stood up and left the room. Right after her, everyone else left the room, me included.

Staring at the now darkening sky, I let out an exhausted sigh.

This was going to be a long trip....