A few days passed, and the day Nico agreed to meet arrived.
Inside a café in a somewhat secluded part of the city center, three people were sitting at a table, talking to each other.
This small group, consisting of Nico and two other young men, one tall and brown-haired and the other of average height with straight black hair, had been waiting for other people to arrive.
However, as expected, the main guests, namely Jay and Vilda, did not arrive, which caused the distrust of each of them to increase.
"I wonder if they had something else to do...?" Said the brown-haired young man, taking the opportunity to take a sip from his coffee cup.
"Or it could be that Nico gave them the wrong date, that's also possible." Added the other young man.
The reason why right now there were only two people accompanying Nico instead of his usual group was because he had done a filtering process on that group, aiming for quality over quantity.
As a result, with the exception of another student who acted as his information gatherer, only these young people were now accompanying Nico.
As for the person both young men were talking about, Nico, he just kept quietly occupied with his thoughts.
To him, the two options his companions had suggested were quite unlikely.
It would be one thing if Jay and Vilda were 15 or 30 minutes late, but it had already been more than an hour, and he had not received any message about the reason for their delay.
That he had made a mistake in giving the date was even more unlikely, as he not only told them the time verbally, but also sent it to Jay in the form of a message.
'...I'd better text him again, he might have forgotten.' Nico thought as he pulled out his smart watch and got ready to open his chat window with Jay.
*Pin!*
"...Oh, can it be?"
Just then, however, the notification that he had been messaged popped up on his watch screen.
He couldn't help but get a little excited, but that excitement quickly died as soon as he saw who the person who had sent him the message was.
It wasn't Jay, but the student who was acting as his information gatherer.
"...Ah, I guess today is weekly report day..." Nico said with a resigned expression on his face.
The weekly report thing was the way they had agreed that said informant would deliver to him all the information he was able to collect in a week, from information sheets on notable supers, unusual places in the city, and even rumors worth paying attention to.
Normally it would be something interesting to read, but the message had unfortunately come at the wrong time.
And since he was now on to something more important, namely waiting for certain people, he decided to put his informant's message aside to instead send a message to Jay.
*Pin*
However, another notification arrived on his smartwatch, from the same informant.
"...Tch, if you want me to read it so badly, I guess it'll be important." Nico said with a tone of annoyance in his voice.
Opening the chat window, Nico's expression changed to one of surprise.
[I know that this has nothing to do with the report but I'm still letting you know, I passed by the rural market today, and the stall where Veldran used to work now has another student as an employee].
[I tried to ask about him and they told me that he no longer works there. I got curious so I also went to check at other places in the school as well as the dormitories, but apparently... for several days now his entire schedule has changed!]
*Pin*
While I was reading the messages, another one came in, and its contents were as follows.
[I'm afraid to say this... but we've completely lost track of him.]
"This..."
With these three simple messages, it only took Nico a few seconds to understand what had happened.
The fact that Jay and Vilda had not shown up was not because of a misunderstanding, far from it, it was because they had decided not to come!
Instead of taking his generous offer, what they decided to do was to side with Vedran!
Immediately, Nico's expression frowned, evidence of the anger he was feeling at the moment.
"...I really thought that him out of all people would understand which path was more beneficial... but it seems I'm just surrounded by fools." Nico said, his tone brimming with contempt.
Thanks to the encounter he had with Jay a few days ago, it had been impressed upon his memory that such a person was not simple at all.
The main reason for this was simple, and that was because each of the words Jay had said were things that Nico himself knew but had been too unsure to say.
To Nico, Jay had not simply spoken to him in words, but had told him the truth.
Therefore, that Jay said the words Nico wanted so desperately to hear, i.e. the truth for Nico, coupled with his show of strength and calmness he displayed at all times, resulted in Nico coming to the conclusion that such a person would definitely want to reach a higher altitude than he was at present.
The quickest way to achieve that was, for Nico, obviously to latch on to a person who was already at a higher altitude, who had not only resources but above average personal strength and talent by far, like the Baron.
Nico thought Jay would be able to see this... but said esper, with this action, had shown him quite the opposite.
"Tom, Kai, let's go, no one is coming." Nico then said, getting up from the chair and walking towards the exit.
In response, both young men, understanding from Nico's tone of voice that it was better not to say anything, also followed closely behind him.
Although Nico's composure was calm, he was actually quite upset inside, causing him to mutter a few words full of determination.
"This time I'll be sure to show them... the reason why the baron chose me... and why they should have accepted my offe-"
"Excuse me, you haven't paid for your coffees yet!" Said suddenly a waiter standing nearby, standing in the doorway to block his exit and unexpectedly interrupting Nico's statement.
"...Sorry, here you go." Said the mage as he paid his bill, his cheeks a little red.
Without a doubt, this had not been a good day for Nico.
***
The next day, since it was Sunday and there were no classes, a relaxed atmosphere reigned over the bronze city, with students going from one place to another, taking advantage of this free time to get to know the city better or simply to distract themselves for a while.
Although it might seem similar to the scene that happened after classes the other day, it was different, as this time the students were truly trying to rest.
However, if one were to mention an aspect of the weekends that was equal to the school days, one cannot overlook those students who, regardless of the day or time, were subject to expending their physical or mental energy for the benefit of the city.
That is, those students who had a job.
Currently it was 12 noon, and the sun was high in the sky, which while it meant being able to go out in more refreshing clothes and even take advantage of certain aquatic facilities in the bronze city, for those students who had jobs it only meant something.
Whether it was someone who worked inside a cafe, through those who were in the hospital, and ending with those who had jobs in open areas, it was clear to everyone that they were going to sweat all day.
Normally, being supers, they had above average heat resistance, but almost as if the sun shining on the cities did not want to lose against such resistance, it shone and heated much more intensely in the academy than in other parts of the world.
This, of course, was the work of the academy itself, whose aim with this was to allow their students to enjoy the natural weather for a little longer, for the stronger these became, there would come a point where only a fire or a snowfall would make them feel anything.
Although the intention was good, that didn't take away the fact that there were students who might have preferred that the academy didn't take so much consideration with them.
And those who were perhaps the students who were least pleased with this consideration were right now on the outskirts of the bronze city, at one of the many farms in the surrounding area.
Several students were hard at work in the field, with sweat running down their bodies, which, it must be said, regardless of gender, were packed with toned muscles, making it clear that the physical level of each of them was high.
These muscles were on display as, thanks to the heat, they had to take measures to combat this, such as taking off the top part of their attire or rolling up the sleeves of certain garments, all in order to be able to feel a little more of the breeze in the surroundings.
This was one of the many jobs available to students at the academy, although it was undoubtedly at the top of the most physically demanding.
Hence all the students present were in such good physical shape, because it was a necessity in order to be able to perform this job.
Although fortunately for the students, just as the job demanded a lot from them, not to mention a decent salary, this was one of the most beneficial jobs for students that could be found in the city.
From being able to buy all kinds of fruits and vegetables at a much lower price than even in the rural market, to facilities for renting apartments, and ending with free passes to various entertainment facilities in the city or even the training center, these were just some of the most well-known benefits.
That was why, despite the fact that they were working hard in the heat of the scorching sun, not a single student was complaining.
In fact, it was quite the opposite; as one could even see students standing out either because they were doing an excellent job or because they were bursting with energy.
This was the case of a certain pair of students who were in one of the many plots available, one of them was tall and had a smooth wine red hair gathered in a ponytail that did not prevent the student from using his great physique to plow the land, giving slow and precise strokes that did not need a second review, achieving an enviable progress.
As for the other student, although his stature was smaller and his wavy black hair could not be tied back as it was not long enough, in addition to the fact that he could not plow the land in a single blow like the previous student, this student in question compensated for these things with his great display of energy, which allowed him to afford the luxury of being able to work twice as fast as most students.
While he made mistakes by the bucketload, he just used more energy and effort to fix them quickly on the fly!
"Haha, looks like I'll be going to bed very soon!" Jay said with a smile on his face as he watched his energy parameters rise and fall constantly, putting his mental stability at risk.
"As I was saying before... you really didn't have to come... you can even go back now if you're tired, I'll take care of your part of the work." Vedran replied, not stopping with his work.
While summing up his work with so much motivation that he even seemed to have flames in the pupils of his eyes, Jay said, "Of course not! As the person who got you into this job, I should at least accompany you at the start of this difficult task!"
Just as he had said, this job had been part of Jay's plan to get both Nico and others to stop paying so much attention to Vedran.
Although it took some convincing on Jay's part, after repeating to him over and over again that it would only be temporary if he really didn't like the job along with the benefits he could gain from this work, Vedran finally accepted.
The reason why Jay was here too, while it had to do with accompanying Vedran, was not the only reason, and of course, he couldn't just tell Vedran, since that other reason... had to do with the system.
At that moment, as Jay and Vedran were conversing, they suddenly noticed that the sound of other students working the field had begun to diminish, until it got to the point where only they were working.
"...?"
Intrigued by this, they both turned around, to find that all of their fellow workers stopped to look at a certain person who had arrived at the crop field.
With short golden hair that reached her shoulders, smooth flawless skin to the eye and incredibly refined facial features, a young woman was walking through the crop fields, her attire consisting of a white tank top along with brown colored pants and a small sun hat that barely served its purpose.
Although there were several good looking students present, the moment this girl entered the crop fields, each and every one of them were completely overshadowed.
At the sight of this person, even Vedran was momentarily frozen.
In the midst of all this, only one person reacted relatively normally, revealing a satisfied smile on his face.
"So she's finally here...." Said Jay.
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