When Nox woke up in his room, he quickly looked around, only to see Regea standing before him.

  “You need to get ready. We’re meeting at the mission board in fifteen minutes,” Regea said.

  Only then did Nox realize what had happened last night. His cheeks turned slightly red as he remembered his embarrassing behaviour.

  “How did I even get into bed yesterday?” he asked.

  “Uhm…” Regea turned away and cleared his throat.

  “Beatrice and I were still talking, so Lina insisted on carrying you to bed.”

  Nox stared at the floor a second longer than necessary. His chest felt strangely warm, yet uncomfortably tight at the same time.

  “Oh my god… how embarrassing,” he thought, his cheeks burning even more.

  “W-Whatever, let’s go,” he muttered, quickly putting on his clothes.

  The mission hall was directly under the entrance hall. Large doors led directly outside, just beneath the entrance stairs. When they arrived at the large mission board, the two girls and Altair were already waiting.

  “All the F and E rank missions are taken, so you’ll have to choose a D-rank,” the teacher said.

  There were plenty of missions to choose from. From S-rank onwards, special approval from both the king and the school was required.

  “Which one should we take?” Beatrice asked.

  The D-rank missions ranged from subjugating monsters to protecting carriages. Some gave points for completion, while others rewarded based on the number of enemies defeated.

  “We should pick one that gives points per enemy defeated, plus a fixed reward,” Nox said, pointing to a particular mission.

  D-rank mission: Free villages from bandits

  Reward: +100 points per bandit, +1000 points for the bandit leader

  Description: Travel to the southern desert to free the villages under the control of ruthless bandits. Confirmation of criminal elimination will be provided by the village chief.

  “Alright, that doesn’t sound too bad. We must kill the bandit leader—just that alone will earn more points than an average E-rank mission,” Lina said.

  Altair’s gaze lingered on the bandit missions a little too long before she nodded encouragingly.

  “I wish you luck… and please be careful,” she added. She stole a brief glance at Nox, as if warning him explicitly.

  The four stepped outside and went upstairs. The teleportation hall was located at the rear of the castle, just behind the entrance hall.

  They stepped through a nearby teleportation and the scenery immediately shifted. The temperature rose sharply—twenty degrees hotter than before.

  Dry air pressed down on them like a physical weight. Breathing felt heavier, each step sinking slightly into the sand, as if the desert itself was trying to eat them up.

  “So hot!” Beatrice whined.

  Nox extended his hand, and a thin layer of frost formed along their arms.

  “Oh… thanks.”

  Ahead, a small town appeared, surrounded by the endless desert.

  When the group entered the village, the inhabitants regarded them with empty gazes.Nox noticed that none of the villagers held eye contact for long. Their looks spoke of repeated hope followed by constant disappointment.

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  Their bodies were emaciated, and their clothes were ragged.

  As the four students continued walking, the atmosphere shifted. Laughter drifted down the street that didn’t belong there. Too relaxed, too human for a village drowned in fear.

  The villagers’ eyes widened, and they quickly retreated indoors.

  Split seconds later, the town was completely empty.

  “What’s going on?” Lina asked, as a couple of men appeared down the street. They wore silk clothes and carried long swords.

  “Seems we found them sooner than expected,” Nox thought.

  The men stopped suddenly, their gaze dropping to the ground.

  A small girl lay there; her foot trapped under a wooden plank.

  The bandits laughed loudly, their loud voices distorting unnaturally.

  “I’m sorry, kid, but you know the rules,” one said, raising his sword. His eyes gleamed with a mixture of amusement and mockery.

  Before he could strike, a flame arrow streaked against him, blood splattering out of his mouth. The man slammed into the wall, and a stone golem lifted the girl to safety.

  “You bastards!” the bandits screamed, launching earth spikes toward them.

  Regea quickly summoned a massive sunflower, blocking the incoming attacks.

  Sand and shattered stone rained down around them. Nox stepped forward without hesitation, moving in perfect synchrony with Regea’s magic as if they had trained together for years.

  He summoned a row of ice crystals in counterattack.

  Frost spread unnaturally fast, crawling across sand and stone alike. The desert resisted, but Nox’s magic didn’t care.

  However, the men weren’t weaklings. They put their hands together and summoned a giant earth shield before answering with even more earth spikes.

  When they attempted to dash forward, their faces went pale. Their legs were glued to the floor by a thick layer of ice.

  “How… is there ice in the desert?” one screamed, as blue flames engulfed them.

  After checking the scorched corpses, silence fell abruptly. The smell of burnt earth lingered.

  Nox forced himself to breathe slowly, reminding his hands to stop trembling. A cold, heavy weight settled over them as the reality of what they had done hit.

  He knew that they were considered bad, but it still felt wrong. Especially because he knew there would be many more killings in the future.

  Suddenly, a tall, overweight man ran toward them, breathing heavily.

  “Thank you so much for saving my daughter! I am Ambre Gasak, the village chief,” he gasped.

  “Let me treat you to some tea so we can discuss your mission.”

  They entered a shabby restaurant, spider webs hanging in every corner.

  After introductions, Ambre began explaining the mission.

  ‘Our town is just one of many under the control of bandits. A few months ago, they came here and forced us to give them almost all of our goods. They took the main stigma wielders with them as well.”

  “Everyone who couldn’t comply was slaughtered. If you find their base and defeat the leader, the forced labour will stop in every village.”

  Every sentence sounded rehearsed, as if he’d repeated them to adventurers who never returned.

  “Here. Take this chest plate before going… It’s not good and I only have one…”

  “Thank you so much sir,” Lina said. She grabbed the armour and threw it to Nox. “He will need it…”

  Nox didn’t protest because he knew she was right.

  “A- Alright. I wish you best of luck,” Ambre said.

  Despite his trembling voice, he desperately tried to keep a neutral expression.

  “Don’t worry, sir. We’ll handle this… job,” Beatrice said calmly. She took a sip of tea but immediately spit it back out.

  “Well, that’s what I said… but I have no idea where to start,” she muttered after dismissing the village chief.

  “We could visit another oppressed village and pressure the bandits for information about their base,” Lina suggested.

  Everyone nodded in agreement, and they headed further south.

  In another village, two men walked down an empty street. Their voices were loud and disturbing, their bodies laid back.

  “Hah… this village is boring,” a black-haired man said.

  “We’ve already… taken what we wanted here,” his eyes gleamed with hunger- not from starving, but from something else.

  “Let’s report back to leader Bamlus.”

  “Sure, but first, I want some fun,” the other replied.

  As he moved to enter a house, a loud bang echoed behind him.

  Turning around, he saw three children standing over his comrade’s lifeless body.

  Before he could react, someone dropped from above and a strong hand slammed against his neck, knocking him unconscious.

  “Well done, Nox.”

  When the bandit regained consciousness, he found himself tied to a streetlight.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll spare your life if you answer our questions,” Beatrice said, carefully examining his face.

  “Oh yeah? And why should I trust you?”

  “You have no choice.”

  “…”

  “Now, tell us where your headquarters are.”

  “Our headquarters? That’s not much of a secret. Follow the nearby river, and you’ll eventually find it.

  “A- Alright.”

  “Will you let me live now?” he asked hopefully.

  “No. Tell us about your leader. How does he fight? What are his weaknesses?”

  “W- Well… I’m not sure myself. Everyone says he has a powerful weapon, but I don’t think he’s particularly strong physically.”

  “Okay. That’s it. We’ll leave you alive as a token of appreciation,” the four said, walking away.

  “Wait! I’m still tied to the pole!” he screamed.

  “That wasn’t part of the deal,” Nox said, turning with a bright smile.

  “You should be grateful we spared your life, you bastard.”

  As they walked away, Nox didn’t feel victorious. But for the first time in months, the village seemed… quieter.