I’ve recently been thinking about getting into cakes. I don’t have anything against cookies, but I have to expand my portfolio eventually, and cakes just seem like the natural progression. Well, I guess I could try making jello, but that’s more of a summer thing. The sound of the cathedral bells pull me out of my inner culinary thoughts.

  That’s what I should be doing, but here I am at the cathedral. Why am I here a whole day earlier than usual? All those answers and more can be found in this letter. Apparently, as Mateo's guardian, I’ve been summoned to talk about an incident that occurred. They didn’t really outline exactly what kind of incident it is, but I’m sure it’s nothing good. Alright, let’s get this over with.

  Pushing through the cathedral doors, I’m quickly met by a familiar Dwarven Paladin. “Chosen One, it’s good to see that I didn’t have to fetch you this time,” he says with annoyance.

  “Yes, well, I was told by the school that rumors of an old Dwarf were spreading around. Didn’t want people to get the wrong idea,” I retort.

  “What rumors?”

  “Nothing of importance. Just of a Dwarven man roaming the halls looking to eat children or steal your socks. Typical rumor things,” I [Lie].

  David strokes his beard. “That is worrisome. I’ll ask the Headmaster if he knows anything about these rumors, but besides that, we need to talk about Mateo.”

  “What happened?” I ask as he leads me further into the cathedral.

  David opens the door to a small office and sits behind the desk. “Well, to put it bluntly, he got into a fight.”

  “Really, why?” I ask with genuine surprise.

  I was expecting him to get in trouble for stealing or something closer to that, but a fight? That was the furthest thing from my mind. Then again, I used to get in a bunch of fights when I was his age. It was usually against rats, but that’s besides the point.

  “From what I can tell, he fought two older boys here in the cathedral. Of course, the boys have their own story of the events, but that’s the only story I’m getting. After all, I can’t understand the language that Mateo speaks, and I’d rather not bother the Holy Maiden about this,” he explains in a grumpy manner.

  “So, you’d like me to check in on what happened?”

  “Yes. I also wanted to inform you of the altercation, as you are his guardian. Obviously, we don’t tolerate violence amongst the children, but I’m not naive enough to believe that this happened for no reason.”

  Odd. I took Paladin David to be more grumpy and judgmental, but he surprised me. Most would just assume that Mateo was in the wrong. After all, he’s not from the Empire and can’t even speak the tongue. It could be that he’s being careful because he’s The Chosen One’s brother, but I don’t think that’s the case. He might not like me, but at the very least, I can trust him to be fair when it comes to Mateo.

  A small chuckle escapes my lips. “I misunderstood you, Paladin David. You’re not a bad guy after all.”

  “What?” he asks with confusion.

  “Nothing. I’ll talk to him. I’ll be back,” I say as I leave the room and walk over to Mateo's room.

  With a knock, I wait. Silence follows. I knock again. An even louder silence follows. I knock for a third time.

  “Stop your racket already. I don’t want to see anybody!” Mateo yells through the door.

  “Not even me?” I ask through the door.

  A long silence follows. “What are you doing here, Horned One?”

  “Apparently, checking in on a rough houser. How you feeling, Kid?” I ask as I sit in front of the door.

  “They called for you? They shouldn’t have.”

  “Of course they did. I’m your brother after all,” I say as I snack on some strawberry-filled cookies.

  “Why do you care? We’re not even real brothers,” he whispers through the door.

  “I could tell you the multitude of reasons why I should care. It keeps up the cover that we’re brothers, it makes me look better as The Chosen One, or maybe it just amuses me,” I explain.

  “...”

  “But those are just many reasons why I should care. The reason I do is quite simple. Because I want to. Because I can. Because nobody else will. So, stop asking stupid questions and answer mine. What happened?” I say as I lean my head back against the door.

  “... These two older kids were picking on one of the younger kids. I told them to stop using the words I know of the imperial tongue, but they wouldn’t. So, I made them,” he explains.

  “Hmm. Did you win?”

  A small laugh breaks through the tension. “No. I got my ass handed to me, but I didn’t go down without a fight.”

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Good. Listen, Kid. Being a hero isn’t what it’s cut out to be, but do you know what motto I live by?” I ask as I remember a fond memory.

  “Talk your enemies to death?” he jokes.

  A smile forms across my face. “No, at least not that one.”

  “Then what?”

  “To do what I want when I want. Be that stealing or lying. Helping someone or fighting something. Sleeping when I want or eating what I want. I want to do what I want to do, and I don’t care what stands in my way. So, if you want to help someone, do it, but at least be smart about it,” I explain.

  The door suddenly opens, causing me to fall back into the room. Looking up, I see Mateo with a black eye.

  “Do you mean it?” he asks with a hint of tears in his eyes.

  “I see no reason to lie. Also, you look like shit, Kid,” I joke.

  He clears the tears from his eyes and gives me a smile. “You should see the other guys.”

  I stand up and pass him a cookie. “Now, let's explain everything to David, and then we can go shopping for those clothes I promised to get you.”

  “Ok… Are we going to steal the clothes?”

  “Maybe, maybe not. We’ll see. Depends on my mood.”

  The freezing air of winter permeates through me. Even with all these layers, I’m basically freezing. Leaning on the edge of the Gazebo I look over the familiar surroundings. To think we fought that Krone, Bianca, over there. You can barely tell anything even happened here. The groundskeepers did a really good job fixing this place up.

  “Charlatan?! I’d rather not spend the rest of the night out here,” Penelope says with more than a hint of annoyance.

  “Yeah, yeah. Thank you all for being here,” I say to the students of the advanced class.

  “Didn’t really have much of a choice, did we? We’re losing twenty to ninety-six after all,” Garus says beneath an ungodly amount of scarves.

  “Which is why I wanted to talk to you all before the weekend was over. I want to thank you all for going along with my plan and for gathering the information that you did. It’s time to start challenging the second years,” I say as I take out a handful of paper notes.

  Talon stands there unbothered by the cold. “It was quite difficult to avoid battle so disgracefully, but patience will only make the eventual battle far more satisfying.”

  I hand the notes to Hopper, who works on handing them out to the class. “Yeaaah, sure. There will be plenty of battles to come, but we need to pick and choose our battles. The notes that are being handed out are for just that.”

  Viola flips through her notes quickly and then looks over at Ruby's notes. “Why are each of our notes different?” she asks.

  “Simple, really. These notes are tailor-made for each of you. They list out the second years that you should avoid and why. They also list out the ones that you should target,” I say with a devilish smile.

  “How did you get this information about us?” Ruby asks with a hint of concern.

  “Market Research.”

  Penelope rolls her eyes. “I looked over the recordings for the first duels and combined that with information that I know about your [Skills]. That information, along with what ‘The Chosen One’ had led to the creation of these notes. I recommend you memorize them and then promptly burn them,” Penelope explains in detail.

  “It’s not as cool if you explain the whole process, but she’s right. Use these notes to target the second years and win this Class War. Now get out of here before we freeze to death,” I say, dismissing them.

  Even though I told them to scram, a good majority of them stick around to strategize with each other. Well, aren’t they hard workers? I’m out of here. I need my beauty rest.

  As I go to leave, I’m promptly stopped by Penelope. “Not so fast, Charlatan. We’ve put it off for long enough. We need to talk about which second years we’re going to challenge.”

  “Yeah, I guess we do. Anyone you want to take?” I ask.

  “From what I understand of their [Skills], I stand the best chance at winning against Luna,” she proclaims.

  Yeah, she’s probably right. Leaving Luna to Penelope is the only way I see us winning that. After all, Luna’s the last person I want to fight against. She’s my hard counter. She’s far too fast for me, and she can take a ton of hits. As I currently am, there’s very little I can do against the overwhelming force that she is. Not to mention she's the straightforward type. That’s just difficult to deal with.

  “Yeah, that sounds like a plan. I’ll take on Tristan, then.”

  “Are you sure? He is Rank 1 for a reason,” she asks with a hint of worry.

  “Trust me. I think I’m the only one who can take him on,” I say with a devilish grin.

  Penelope lets out a sigh. “You’re either delusional or you actually can win. I’m going to err on the side of hope and experience. That leaves Rank 3 Abigail. I hate to say it, but I don’t think I can win against her,” she says with frustration.

  “I’d hate to agree with you, but I think you’re right. The way she fights with wind magic makes it basically impossible for either of us to get close enough to actually do anything,” I lament.

  “Not to mention she’s fast enough to dodge most attacks, including my [Light Beam]. The only outcome I can see for that fight is defeat. Any ideas?” she asks.

  “A couple, but none guarantee victory. There's a more drastic plan that I have in mind, but it’s not something I can pull off.”

  It’s not like I couldn’t do it, but rather I won’t do it. It goes against my moral code. Yes, I do have a moral code. A flimsy one, but it’s still there.

  “If we want a chance of winning, we need to win against all three of them,” she reminds.

  “Yes, I know, but who-”

  “I think I can do it,” Garus says as he rudely interrupts the conversation.

  Penelope stares down Garus. “You do know that she specializes in wind magic, right? Your fire magic won’t stand a chance. Why don’t you rethink this?”

  I recognize a glimmer of confidence in Garus's green eyes. “Princess, I think I can do it.”

  “Lord Garus-”

  “Wait, Penelope. Garus, I’m only going to ask this once. Can you win?” I ask.

  Garus stares back at me. “I know I can.”

  With a devilish smile, I pat him on the shoulder. “So be it. Garus will take on Abigail. Seems we have all our ducks in a row. Let's turn in for the night,” I say as I leave.

  Penelope catches up with me. “Do you really think that letting Lord Garus duel Abigail is a good idea?”

  “No, but he does.”

  “And that’s enough for you to believe him?” she asks with a hint of curiosity.

  “More than enough. Penelope, let's believe in Garus.”

  Penelope sighs. “Fine. Let's see what he can do.”