It turned out that Zavier didn't have to do much to confirm his suspicions. In a way, his suspicions were indirectly confirmed.
Once again, day crept up on Zavier like a thief. Once again, he stumbled out of bed with bloodshot eyes. The lingering memories of his nightmares from the previous night hung over Zavier like a storm cloud, shadowing his every move and influencing his every thought.
Zavier got to school and was met with another daunting challenge. It wasn't a mysterious masked man, neither was it his uncle clutching a knife, in a way it was something worse. Valarie called him out in front of the class and informed him of a new mission.
"Zavier Adam!"
"Yes ma'am!"
"You are to form a three-person team with two other students to complete an F-rank mission!"
Zavier's face darkened.
"Damn it, I really don't need this kind of heat right now. How do I get out of this?"
He looked at Valarie with pleading eyes, hoping she would concur. She did not.
In this world, there are several professions. In descending order, they are; X, SSS, SS, S, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Typically, high school students are nowhere near being qualified to take on missions.
This rule can be amendable if and only if a high level teacher leads the younger students.
It wasn't completely uncommon for nobles to bend the rules in this regard. These high ranking nobles would have their kids go on these missions (relatively simple, low level missions) before they graduate high school just so their portfolios could get some glowing content.
Thus, putting them in the best position to be favored by some higher institutions. This was widely practiced amongst noble students and it had become the norm for them.
In this particular case, as a member of the Marquess' household, Zavier had been called to participate in a level-F mission.
He wasn't thrilled about it. Naturally, Valarie was chosen to be the lead teacher who would run point on this mission. As for the other two members of his team, they Dahila and Alissa. Zavier was a bit concerned that Alissa had been selected.
It was common knowledge that she didn't know any magic, and yet for some odd reason, she had been selected for a mission such as this. Zavier approached his aunt privately and inquired about the matter.
"Aunt Valarie, I have a question about this mission…"
She frowned slightly before answering him presumptuously.
"Don't even bother Zavier, you're not skipping out on this one."
Zavier protested.
"It's not that! I would like to know why Alissa is on this mission. I know she doesn't know any magic, so what's the motive behind this?"
Zavier wasn't just asking for asking sake. He had seen firsthand the abomination that had sunk its deep dark claws in Alissa's mind.
He wasn't completely sure that it was safe for her to be out there. Valarie assuaged him with the truth.
"It's good you're looking out for her Zavier, but there's a bigger picture here."
Zavier's eyes widened. Sensing his interest in, Valarie continued;
"Alissa's presence is essential to balancing the skill average on the team. Despite having competed an F-level assignment, Dahila's grades are so high that they appear to be unrealistic in the sight of the professors."
The three of them were being taken for a ride along on the mission that had been accepted in the name of Valerie.
She had thought that taking along the students would have been a good learning experience for them even though it was quite risky.
She had decided upon the rendezvous point after they had all made their respective preparations.
Moreover, they all were in dire need of supplies. The students had never been on such a mission before but she being a professional had taken on several jobs and knew that no matter the mission there were always some essentials that a mage needed before heading out into the wild, for example some recovery potions and ration items were absolutely necessary for everyone.
Valerie being a girl, and a beautiful one at that could not bring herself to travel without her beauty kit.
Therefore, she had instructed everyone to meet up at one of the offices in the school after everyone was done gathering their own things.
When Zavier entered the office that had been designated as the meeting place, only Dahila was there. Rest of them had yet to arrive.
Zavier was already ahead of the appointed time but Dahila had come even earlier. And from the looks of it, she had been there for quite some time.
Despite living at the same place, Zavier and Valerie had not arrived together but had decided to come separately. Dahila noticed the anomaly but had nothing to say about that.
In fact, Dahila had nothing to say about anything at all. She just stood by herself being her icy self without a care for the world and the people around her.
She was like an aloof snow lotus that had withdrawn itself from the world and was flowing at the surface of the lake all by its lonesome, being carried away by the current unbothered by anything in the vicinity.
Dahila only nodded towards him upon his arrival and disdained to speak any further. It was like she thought that there was a price tag on the usage of words.
Previously when she had talked to him out of her own volition, he had thought that she was not as icy as she looked. But now that he was interacting with her again, she was still the living proof of the silence that prevailed on the icy peaks.
She was just like her magic; icy and beautiful. Zavier himself was unwilling to talk to her because of her habit of replying in simple hand gestures or single word replies.
He would have to think of something to talk about every minute and the heartless girl would shoot down all those topics with a single word. That would have only prolonged the awkwardness between the two.
To Zavier that would have felt like torturing himself, so Zavier felt that silence was the best solution when it came to Dahila.
Before the uncomfortable atmosphere could have lasted any longer, Alissa arrived with a cheerful air about her. She had brought along a heavy bag with her. From the looks of it Alissa was treating the mission like some tour.
She was dressed in light clothes due to prevailing weather but her suitcase was close to bursting with how much stuff she had somehow managed to put inside it.
At times like these, girls usually got together to chat and boys were left alone but Alissa was not like the rest of the girls.
She was more comfortable with Zavier. She came to his side and put her suitcase in front of her before greeting the both of them.
Dahila nodded in reply. Alissa didn't even wait for her to reply and turned around to look at Zavier.
"Is Miss Valerie still not here?"
Zavier had a faint smile on his face looking at all the things that Alissa had brought. Although Alissa's family was not comparable to Marquess Val's family, they were quite well off.
This was evident from the amount of luggage she had brought along.
"No, she told me to go ahead. She was still busy collecting the stuff that we might need for our mission."
Alissa seemed to be the most excited among all of them. She was smiling throughout, even when they were waiting for Valerie to arrive. Apparently, she was thinking that this was an excursion for all of them. She was oblivious to the dangers of the mission that they were going to embark upon.
But Zavier was not as heartless as to douse her spirits with reality. He just let her be and so did Dahila.
The trio did not have to wait very long before their teacher arrived to take them along for the F rank mission.
Valerie was not dressed in her usual clothes. This new attire seemed to be a professional one. It comprised of a tight-fitting set of clothes that clearly elaborated her exaggerated figure.
Even Zavier had never seen her dress in that way. She had always worn dresses like the noble ladies wore for as long as he had known her.
She didn't seem to be conscious of what effect, her dressing had on the only male figure in the team and was busy addressing the three of them with a calm but solemn tone.