Chapter 137: Oakhaven (1)
The week passed in the blink of an eye.
Before Noah had fully registered it, Friday had arrived. The day of the field trip.
He had spent the week training without much rest, pushing his weapon handling and ice creation further each day.
By the time Friday morning came, he was ready. More than ready. He had even made a quick trip to the market earlier in the week to pick up a few extra supplies. Just in case things went sideways out there.
---
The academy’s departure point was buzzing with noise and movement.
Four classes had gathered outside nearly four hundred students in total, lined up in rows in front of their respective instructors. Class A-1, A-2, B-1, and B-2.
The sheer number of people gathered in one place gave the whole thing the feeling of a small expedition rather than a school trip.
The four instructors stood facing their classes.
Morgana, leading Class A-1. As composed and sharp as always, her amethyst eyes sweeping over her students as she counted heads.
Victor, the broad-shouldered head instructor of Class A-2, arms crossed with his usual stern expression.
Lucia of Class B-1, calm and collected, clipboard in hand.
And Atticus of Class B-2, who somehow managed to look both relaxed and entirely in control at the same time.
Noah walked over and found his place in Class A-1’s row. Damien was standing just ahead of him and turned around when he heard footsteps.
"Noah. Good morning. "
"Morning."
Morgana finished her count, gave a single satisfied nod, and turned to address the group.
"We will be departing for Oakhaven City now. Follow your instructors and move in an orderly line."
She turned and led them inside without further ceremony.
---
Deep within the academy was a large chamber that Noah hadn’t visited before.
It was vast– high ceilings, stone walls humming faintly with embedded mana formations, and rows of large arched gates standing at even intervals across the floor.
Staff moved efficiently between them, checking settings and monitoring outputs. The air inside had a distinct charge to it, like the moment before lightning.
Teleportation gates.
Each instructor directed their class to one of the gates, instructing them to enter one by one in a single file line. The students obeyed, stepping through with varying levels of nervousness and excitement.
When Noah’s turn came, he stepped forward without hesitation.
The world blinked.
And on the other side, he walked out into an entirely different chamber– bright, spacious, and beautifully decorated compared to the utilitarian one they had left behind.
Workers in neat uniforms stood ready, smiling as each student emerged. The teleportation gateway station of Oakhaven City.
They were guided outside in groups.
And then Noah saw it.
He stopped walking for just a second.
The city spread out before them, alive and calm. Warm stone buildings woven seamlessly between enormous trees, their canopies arching overhead like a second sky.
Greenery spilled from window boxes and climbing walls and the spaces between rooftops.
The streets were clean and wide. And the air... the air was different. Cooler. Cleaner. Like the city itself was breathing slowly and the breath was good.
Noah hadn’t expected it to look quite like this.
He stood there for a moment just taking it in.
"Beautiful, isn’t it."
He turned. Damien had appeared beside him, along with the rest of their usual group. Lyria, Emma, Arisha, Leonard, and Kaelan– all of them looking out at the city with equally impressed expressions.
"The air alone is worth the trip," Lyria said softly, her pink eyes moving slowly across the treeline.
"I want to explore the whole city," Emma said.
"We’re here to fight monsters," Kaelan reminded her flatly.
"We can do both," she replied without missing a beat.
Noah smiled and joined their conversation, adding his own observations as the group talked and pointed things out to each other.
The energy between them was light and easy. That came naturally when people were somewhere new and genuinely happy to be there.
---
Lined up along the road outside the station were five large black buses, long and wide enough to hold a hundred students each with room to spare. One extra, just in case.
Morgana directed Class A-1 toward the first bus in the line. Students began filing in and spreading out across the seats, noise filling the cabin immediately as bags got shoved into overhead compartments and friends argued over window seats.
Leonard and Kaelan slid into a row together toward the middle, already talking about which monsters they were hoping to run into. Damien found the row directly behind them and dropped into the seat by the window.
He looked back over his shoulder and spotted Noah.
"Over here," Damien said, waving him over.
Noah walked over...but didn’t sit.
He paused, glancing across the aisle.
Emma was making her way down the row toward Lyria, who had already settled into a window seat on the opposite side, her bag on her lap and her gaze drifting out toward the street.
Noah reached out and caught Emma lightly by the shoulder.
She flinched and spun around, brown hair swinging.
"What was that for?!" she demanded, eyes sharp with irritation.
Noah just smiled pleasantly and steered her. With a firm but calm hand movement.
He guided her down into it with the quiet efficiency of someone who had already decided how this was going to go.
Emma looked up at him with an expression that was several emotions at once, most of them annoyed.
"Why did you do that?!"
Noah tilted his head, the smile not going anywhere. "I just thought it would be better for you to sit beside Damien."
"And why," she said, voice dangerously flat, "would you think that?"
He leaned down very slightly and lowered his voice just enough to sound conspiratorial.
"Well... don’t you like him?"
The color that flooded Emma’s face happened in approximately half a second. A deep, thorough red that started at her cheeks and went everywhere.
"YOU—!!"
Her voice jumped up several volumes. A few nearby students turned their heads.
Damien, seated right beside her, looked between the two of them with a perfectly blank expression, his brow furrowed in mild confusion.
"...What’s happening?" he asked.
Nobody answered him.
Noah had already turned away, completely unbothered, and walked back across the aisle to the seat Emma had originally been heading for.
The window seat beside Lyria.
He sat down comfortably, settling his bag between his feet and leaning back. Natural. Easy. Like this had been the plan all along– because it had.
Lyria had not missed any of what just happened.
She turned to look at him as he sat down and immediately the tips of her ears went pink.
She remembered it clearly, involuntarily, and all at once exactly what had happened last time they had spent an afternoon together in temple.
She turned her head and looked very naturally...or at least tried act naturally and watched outside the window.
Noah glanced at her.
The tips of her ears were very visibly red against her blonde hair.
He pressed his lips together.
Then let out a quiet, helpless chuckle.
Lyria said nothing. She kept her eyes fixed on the street outside with great concentration, as though the road was the most fascinating thing she had ever seen.
The bus doors closed. The engine rumbled to life beneath them.
And Oakhaven’s forest, waiting somewhere ahead, drew one step closer.
---
The bus rolled steadily forward, carrying the noise and chatter of a hundred students along with it.
Noah leaned back in his seat, relaxed, one arm resting against the side. He glanced at Lyria once. She was still looking out the window, her expression carefully composed, though the faint pink at the tips of her ears hadn’t fully faded yet.
He reached down and touched his storage ring.
A moment later he held out a small, neatly wrapped bar of dark chocolate toward her.
Lyria turned at the movement and looked down at his hand.
Then back up at him.
A faint blush dusted her cheeks. "W-why?" Her voice came out slightly unsteady, which she clearly hadn’t intended.
Noah kept his expression simple and honest. No teasing in it this time. No hidden smile waiting at the corner of his mouth.
"I just wanted to give you something," he said. "I thought it might make you happy."
The blush deepened.
Lyria looked at the chocolate again. Then at him. Then at the chocolate.
She reached out and took it from his hand with a composure that was only slightly undermined by how carefully she was avoiding his eyes.
"...Thank you," she said quietly.
She unwrapped it neatly, broke off a small piece, and placed it in her mouth.
The effect was immediate. Her expression softened. Just genuine, quiet happiness. The expression that was difficult to fake and impossible to hide.
She looked cute.
She took another small piece.
Noah watched her for just a moment, then turned forward and said nothing.
While Arisha sitting behind them watch everything with calm amusement.
