Yep, she’s lost.

  A few minutes have gone by and she still is unable to find the canteen. Instead of asking someone for help, she just keeps on aimlessly walking around the Academy. She’s not checking the view nor getting to know the place, no, she actually seems lost in thought. Thinking about what just happened I would guess, but there is nothing else she can do about it. Yes, she can beat the living crap out of those students one more time and potentially fix everything with it but, that will give her more problems than anything else. Either way, it seems hunger has finally hit her as she grabs her not so weird looking purse and from the inside of it, she takes out her lunch.

  A small recipient made of glass with a plastic tamp, filled with food made by her. She looks around trying to find a place where she can eat. Fortunately for her, there is quite the nice place right next to her. To her left there is a metal bench, an elegant one at that, next to it there are two trees on each side, one bigger than the other, although the smaller one is at around 3 meters tall and it has much more “volume” than the bigger one. That one seems to be 6-7 meters tall. The smallest one is a simple cherry blossom tree while the other is a pine tree. Quite the difference between them but it will serve.

  She walks up to the bench, sits and from there she eats. Before opening up the lid, she first heats up the food by using a Pyro spell. A good way to use Pyro in day-to-day necessities, though you do need to have somewhat decent magic control and element control as you might burn the whole recipient thanks to the high temperatures. She balances the recipient on the palm of her left hand, since the recipient has a rectangular shape to it, it balances quite easily on the palm of her hand. A magic circle appears right between the recipient and her hand and from there it slowly heats it up. A minute or so later the food is up to temperature, not too hot nor too cold, just the perfect one to start to eat. She then proceeds to eat the food as a normal person would, although said normal person would’ve already figured out where the canteen is by now.

  .......

  ......

  ...

  Swoosh!

  The wind softly blows in the air. It gently hits her soft platinum-pink hair, making it dance with it, an elegant dance at that. The breeze caresses her pale cheeks and it cools down her silklike lips. The leaves of the cherry tree sing as they rustle with the wind, while the leaves of the pine tree are far up too high for the ears of our Kiana to be able to hear them. It seems she found the “golden” spot as everything is as calm as it can be in a place like this. It’s a massive difference from just a few moments ago and because of it, as Kiana enjoys her food, her meatballs with spaghetti, she can relax for this single moment. In just a few hours several things have happened to her, leaving a mark on her very own soul, in other words, new memories.

  But, what about them? What do they think about Kiana?

  A good question to ask, and while Kiana is occupied eating, I will answer it. For Alice Florence, the mark that Kiana left is that of someone strong and capable, however as Alice was able to acquire that skill, she ended up seeing a side of Kiana that probably traumatised her. Alice is not weak by any means but the sight of an A rank individual is something else. The amount of magic energy that Kiana was letting out into the world could send anyone weaker than A- into a deep state of fear and desperation. Alice felt that first hand so I wouldn’t discard the possibility that she might as well fear Kiana. Time will only tell and it will depend on how Alice takes this experience into her own growth or lack of it.

  Anya Pandora however, I would say that she sees Kiana in a good light, a little violent but nonetheless a good person at heart, kind and gentle. Taniah Clarence will depend on the “truth” that she will get after her investigation. If she reaches the conclusion that Kiana was lying then, anyone will guess what she will think of Kiana. If she is able to find the real truth then, with the exception that she is a little bit violent, she’s a good person ready to help out those that she cares about. Each one of them can and will have a different opinion about her. The perspective that Alice has is different from Anya, the one from Anya is different from Taniah, and the three of them are different from ours.

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  Well as always, as I was yapping about this way to physiological question, Kiana is done eating. Wow, 45 minutes have gone by in an instant! Time sure flies when you are jabbering some nonsense. Once she is done eating, she quickly cleans up her recipient and tableware by using a simple Hydro spell, though she does the same thing to her mouth, wetting it to clean it properly afterwards. Once she’s done cleaning and with everything stored on her “good looking” purse, she gets up and walks around the Academy, hoping to find something that gets her interest. Until now the options she has, none of them seem to interest her that much.

  People talking!

  Just as she was walking around, she hears quite the commotion nearby, just enough to grab her attention towards it.

  “Welcome! I welcome all of you! You have made the correct decision to come here! To come to the Merchant Class! Here you will learn how to be a true business man! Or women as we do not discriminate against no one! In fact, in this field of work anyone can be successful! But as he once said, seeing it is believing in it, so please come closer.”

  A middle-aged man says all of this with quite the smile on his face. He is dressed rather bourgeois like, his suit is elegant but extremely expensive looking, his pants are the same, an outfit made of materials that the vast majority of the population won’t even have the privilege to touch it let alone wear it or own it. Everything about this man shows of a rich vibe and even beyond that. Though, I don’t think this type of stuff will interest Kiana- Oie! Kiana, your eyes are shining! And it’s not with that golden colour they have! No, they are shining with the symbol of money on them! Where are you going!? Kiana, don’t let greed win! You are better than that! I think! Yeah!

  “Not everyone has the abilities to be a merchant, not everyone has the intellect for it nor the charisma. Before you make a fool out of yourself before the world, I’ve prepared this complex puzzle for any of you to solve. If you can solve this, you are apt to this field of work, fail to solve it then, I would recommend you to stop pursuing this field of work. Ah, before I forget, the first ones to complete this, the test is over with it :)”

  People talking!

  With a smirk on his face, he finishes saying this and the moment he finishes it, confusion breaks with it. The students that are there start to let out their thoughts although a few of them seem more like complaints than anything else. Everyone wants to have a chance at this, to show off what they are made of, just the fact that when someone solves this the test is over, it is creating a bit of chaos because of it. Although it seems Kiana has lost any interest that she might have had before.

  Cocky Student- Step aside you peasants! I am the only one who can solve such a test! Let the prodigy take the lead!

  Rude Student- Shut up you odd looking guy! You’re nothing compared to myself! Step you aside, you damn weird looking guy! Yeah, I said it!

  Cocky Student- Ha! You just are a mere pebble before my intellect! You can’t even insult me properly! I can solve this in 2 seconds you buffoon!

  Rude Student- Hahaha! You wish! I can do it in 1.9 seconds! Faster than what you would ever hope! Haha!

  Extremely Arrogant Female Student- You ignorant fools! Before me you’re nothing! Nothing! I am the one that will be the first to have a go at it! Not only that, none of you will have a chance for it! As I! Will! Win!

  And anyone that has at least one brain cell active can see where this is going. They go back a fourth for quite a bit of time getting louder and louder by the second. Insults start to fly around hitting whoever was the last one to talk, initiating a cycle of insulting. What a bunch of idiots, they have been at this for at least 10 minutes and none, literally none of them have tried to solve the puzzle yet. To make things worse to them, but to be honest quite smart on his part, the merchant teacher is taking notes about those who are doing this charade, almost all of them in this case, around thirty people mind you. Even if they end up solving the puzzle, they might never be able to be part of his class thanks to their attitude. They are putting their feelings first rather than the problem itself. It seems there is a misunderstanding on their part and to be honest, I also did think the same way until I thought about it for a few seconds. He actually never said that only one person could win this, in fact he said “The first ones to complete”. As far as I am concerned, a whole team can be the one to win. But when you are more occupied with insulting others, it’s normal that they would miss this small play of words.