We Unite

The 【Hunting Festival】 was a survival game for most first-years, but to Alicia Wayne, it was more like a stage.

The Wayne family ranked in the top five among the imperial nobility, and their inherited water magic was famous for its precision and elegance. Growing up in such a family, while others were still learning how to hold a wand, Alicia had already begun learning formal magic.

Others: rubbing a few sparks, unable to cast any magic.

Alicia: Water Bullet.

It was just like that, you know?

So she went straight to the second-years of the Silver Circle Society and gave her surname. The other party understood immediately. There was no need to speak too plainly about matters between nobles. A direct daughter of the Wayne family requesting to join the hunting team was not an unreasonable request. Besides, Alicia had indeed shown her value. Her Water Bullet could already produce considerable impact. Although she was at the bottom among the second-years, against the first-years, she completely outclassed them.

There was another benefit to moving with the Silver Circle Society's team: other second-years wouldn't attack you. After all, the Silver Circle Society was a massive organization, and no one wanted to offend them.

Thus, Alicia had safely and securely played the role of the hunter for most of the night.

She had already personally eliminated three first-years. Under the cover of her seniors, she knocked them unconscious with Water Bullets, took their school badges, and handed them to the seniors. She had no interest in the badges themselves; she simply enjoyed the process.

However, her attention was soon drawn to something else.

In the distance, four pillars of light were moving through the night. The light emitted by other school badges was at most the brightness of a torch, but those four pillars of light were like four lighthouses erected in the academy.

“What on earth is going on there?” Alicia squinted.

The Silver Circle Society member beside her also noticed. “Those pillars of light seem to be coming this way.”

“Which club is it?”

“I'm not sure,” the person shook their head. “I heard it seems to be the group led by Erich.”

What a small world, Alicia thought. Grape. That bastard actually called her Grape. She had been raised like a princess, surrounded by adoring crowds, and even her elders spoke to her politely. Yet, that guy who had been expelled from his family called her Grape the very first time he saw her.

And he seemed completely unbothered by it.

That was what annoyed her the most. If Erich had insulted her on purpose, it would at least mean he took her seriously. But his attitude made it seem as though she was just an obstacle in his path, not even worth taking seriously.

A person stripped of even his noble status—what right did he have to look at her like that?

The pillars of light drew closer and closer. Alicia could already make out the silhouettes of the four people. The silver guy right at the front was particularly eye-catching.

“I'm going to take care of some personal business,” she said to the Silver Circle Society member beside her.

Without waiting for a response, she left the team and walked quickly to meet them.

As the distance closed, Erich's silhouette became clearer and clearer. Seeing someone blocking the way, he stopped.

Alicia stood in front of him and raised her wand.

“Erich,” her voice trembled slightly with anger, “today, I'll make you regret what you did!”

Just as she was about to start chanting, a fireball hurtled toward her, immediately followed by a massive fist crashing into her face.

Alicia was instantly knocked unconscious. Erich stepped over her fallen body, casually plucked the school badge from her uniform, and tossed it into the cloth bag at his waist.

“Hey, skinny monkey, isn't that the grape?”

Balin, who was following behind, clearly recognized Alicia's face and shouted to Erich.

Erich hadn't recognized her just now. Too many people had blocked his path tonight, and they were all pretty much the same: they would recognize him, say some harsh words, start chanting, and then get knocked down by him.

If there was any difference, this grape had gone down before she could even start chanting.

“You guys!”

The people from the Silver Circle Society arrived. The leader's expression changed when he saw the unconscious Alicia on the ground.

“You did that to the Wayne family's...”

Another fireball shot out. Erich's chantless fireballs were becoming more and more practiced.

Accompanying Erich's fireball, Ragg charged from the side, directly scattering the formation of the Silver Circle Society members. With Balin and Yser coordinating, a few more unconscious second-year students were added to the ground.

Balin fished out their school badges and weighed them in his hand. “How many is that now?”

“Counting that grape from just now, thirty,” Erich opened the cloth bag to take a look. “About twenty of them are second-years.”

A quarter of those were unlucky first-years who had also run into them. Adhering to the philosophy of not leaving free money on the table, Erich had casually taken their school badges as well.

“Boring,” Balin slung his warhammer back over his shoulder.

Erich didn't reply, but that was indeed what he thought.

The magical level of these second-year students was actually decent, and their spells had power. It was just that they were a bit too arrogant. They always came at them one by one and even chanted right in front of Erich, so they were all treated as speed bumps.

Perhaps it was the environment. In the academy, everyone practiced combat in an orderly and rule-abiding manner. No one did sneak attacks. Over time, they took chanting for granted.

The four of them continued forward. They didn't have a destination; they just moved along the main road, waiting for the next wave of people to deliver themselves.

...

On the roof of the teaching building, Cecily stood at the edge, watching the four pillars of light move. Dominic stood silently behind her.

It wasn't that there were no experts in the second year. Those who ranked at the top of the leaderboard, including Dominic and Cecily, hadn't made a move tonight. The Hunting Festival was more like a game to them; snatching a few first-years' school badges held no challenge. The real highlight would be the chess match between the various clubs in the latter half of the night.

But now, the situation had changed.

Four first-years were grinding the face of the entire second-year class into the dirt.

“We can't let this go on,” Cecily turned around and looked at Dominic. “Otherwise, this Hunting Festival is going to descend into chaos.”

Dominic leaned against the railing, the corner of his mouth curving upward. “The guys from the Silver Circle Society are actually going to ask Sparkfire for help?”

Cecily said solemnly, “We need to unite, Dominic.”

Dominic's smile faded.

“Then we unite,” he said. “They're just four troublemakers. It's not like they can actually make waves.”