Hyakuya watched closely at the Falcon Knight. Moments passed by with neither doing anything. But then the Falcon Knight charged and Hyakuya could hear the flapping of wings behind him. Another attacker was aiming an attack on him. With a quick look, he saw that it was a Wyvern Rider. The Manakete was flanked and the way out was up or down. But he had to watch for an opening. Anything really to take the two down or at least one of them.

The opportunity finally presented itself when the Falcon Knight deflected a kunai, momentarily distracting her from the attack. Hyakuya quickly charged with the Wyvern Rider behind him with his axe ready. He heard Hiro but he had to escape first and he would like to see if he can take the Falcon Knight down. He spat a ball of fire at the Falcon Knight. There was a moment of panic that spread across the face of the Falcon Knight but regained her composure soon enough. She dodged the ball of fire along with the kunai but the arrow hit the rider on the shoulder prompting her to let go of her weapon.

All three were on a sure crash course but with the Falcon Knight wounded, Hyakuya would smirk if he was in his human form. Since she was disoriented with the sudden pain rushing over her, he charged and then swooped down and took a hold of rider. He then flew up but the Wyvern Rider had struck down and hit his hind leg and another one on his upper front leg. Good thing he had some armor thanks to the Manakete scales but he was sure those would leave scar. He then circled around and was now heading towards the Wyvern rider and then released the Falcon Knight at full speed towards the Wyvern Rider.

The two tumbled hit each other and was now spiralling down the sky and onto the unforgiving Earth. With all his mustered speed, Hyakuya managed to catch the two and put them safely on the branches. "We're not allowed the kill them right?" He asked, looking at Hirotsuka before going back to Hiro and the group. Perhaps he would've let them plummet to their deaths if not for that rule. He didn't want to get disqualified after all. "Thank you for the aid Pauline, Hiro." He said, dipping his dragon head at them. "What next?" He asked. Only three remained after that whole stunt. In all honesty, the Manakete wasn't too sure about the plan in the first place. A miracle that it worked. He doubted he would be so lucky in the future. It was also obvious that his hind leg was curled upward as he landed, signalling that his injury was far from just a small wound but that could be fixed later.

By now, the coursing sparks of electricity that leaped from Aika's hand filled the room with a pale blue glow as she searched for a target. She was about to cast the bolt at one of the remaining swordsmen when the cavalier called her to strike the sorcerer. She pulled her arm back and scanned the arena for the undead magician before returning a comment to Mikhail. "Alright!" she exclaimed as she thrusted her arm forward, index finder extended at the sorcerer. "Hwurra! Eat this!"

A bright flash of lightning was instantly followed by an ear piercing crack of thunder as the magical electricity arced across the room, hurtling towards her target.

There was an odd buzzing ringing through Mikhail’s ears. Behind him, he knew Victor had just paid the price for his reckless decision. Maximillian suffered from a similar fate next to the sorcerer. Death always came some quickly on the battlefield that it was difficult to ever truly prepare for it. Things had seemed to have been going well, but in an instant they had lost two of their own. The obnoxious buzzing wasn’t going away, but the cavalier finally understood what was causing it: rage.

Aika’s lightning hit the sorcerer dead on, causing it to stumble forward from the aftershock. With his jaw clenched violently, Mikhail quickened his pace. He shut out all other thoughts and tightened his gron on the sword. The damn thing was essentially dead already, he just needed to give it the final push. The sorcerer attempted to stagger to its feet, but it would never get the chance.

”Vanish,” he demanded as his sword finished its arc through the creatures neck. The snarling face sailed through the air for a brief second before it dissipated into the Risen’s acrid smoke.

’That idiot,’ he fumed internally, ’They would both still be alive if he had just waited a few more seconds.’ Dismissing the thought, Mikhail turned towards the last Risen. ’It better hope I don’t get to him first.’

After drawing his blade from the throat of the risen, Mihkail saw the defeated sorcerer slump a bit forward, still held mostly upright as it dissolved by something lower than his point of impact. If he looked down, he would see the small spellblade crouched beneath his lunge, her sparking sword driven trough the stomach of the sorcerer. A pale blue flash crashed around the corpse's body as she pulled her sword from their enemy, allowing it to finally crumble to dust.

"There was no way I was going to let you challenge it on your own, even if it was staggered." she explained, hoping her incredible speed supprised Mikhail.

Seemingly eager to capitalize on Hyakuya's show of weakness a wyvern rider dove from above to strike at the dragon's head. Diana's eyes glinted with a fierce light and she ran forward, placing one foot on Hyakuya's back and leapt upwards, driving her lance into the rider's armor and sending him flying off his mount. Diana awkwardly fell through the air several feet towards the ground. Seeing a now or never moment the remaining two rider came at her from either side, weapons raised to finish her off while she was in the air. Well maybe this had looked a little better in her head. Hopefully her team wasn't too starstruck by her stunt to give her a hand. "Help!?" On the bright side the two rider's seemed committed, so if the two of them were finished off they won. Diana would like to be still alive when they did though.

Another set of flapping wings reached Hyakuya's ears and to be honest, he wouldn't be able to react in time considering was rejoicing internally on the plan that had just worked. Momentarily surprised by Diana suddenly jumping from his back, he turned around to watch Diana strike another Wyvern Rider. She had managed to push the rider out of its mount and the two were now falling. He looked at the other two riders, Pegasus Knigths, who zeroed in on the falling figure.

"You guys may have forgotten another flying unit haven't you?" Hyakuya said before putting all of his power into one flap to get him to the right speed and was now heading towards Diana. He would reach out using his front legs and attempt to catch the girl, which he does, and he flew away stopping once he was in a safe location. "You alright kid?"

Hiro was busy having his little rejoicing moment of not being impaled and the fact that they were working pretty great as a team thus far. However, another matter needed his attention, two Pegasus riders were heading straight towards Diana, who was free falling after taking out one of the wyvern riders. The archer took aim at one of the Pegasus riders before he saw that the Manakete had caught Diana, it was good because that would be one less dead team member. Hiro's eyes went back to the two Pegasus riders and fired on one of them, the arrow caught the rider in the side, most likely the armor prevented the arrow from doing much internal damage but the force was enough to knock the rider off. Quickly, Hiro fired another shot to ward off the other so that they would have to avoid being hit by both an archer and potentially a Mage.

Tybalt couldn’t help but let out an encouraged cheer as he saw the impressive maneuver the Manakete had pulled off to take two of the six opponents down in one fell swoop, toppling in a mass of flapping wings. He did noticed the dragon take a hit, but the young mage noticed how little the wound truly slowed the dragon down. He took a personal note to help find a healer for the dragonkin later, hopefully being able to help him in return for what incredible aid he just offered the party. This was almost immediately followed by an equally impressive movement by the group’s lance fighter, the girl who had introduced herself as Diana leapt up and in an astounding display had thoroughly incapacitated yet another rider. He had to admit, there was a definitely good reason these people were being chosen as candidates to protect the king, even as recruits these people were simply amazing fighters.

He wondered if he would even be in the running after the archer, lancer, and Manakete had just made such a mark.

Of course, he had to remain focused, Hiro had laid out another Pegasus who had tried to advance on Diana, knocking her off of her Pegasus knight and once more incapacitating one more rider. There was only one more set of wings in the sky, a single Pegasus knight now trying to fly back in the sky and retreat from the fight.

“Oh no you don’t!” Tybalt shouted, flipping his book open and lining up another shot. With a fiery gesture, he flung another bristling gust of wind, rocketing through the trees and ripping branches asunder.

The last knight never even cleared the treeline before the wind tumbled it head over heels, the pegasus shrieking as it was yanked out of its flight path. Tumbling back to the ground, the resulting descent was softened by the plethora of branches before the beast tumbled back to the ground.

“Haha! We did it!” Tybalt said in another ecstatic cheer. “That’s all of them, right?”

The death of the thief well, it was inevitable in the end, but the fact that they were determined to not lose another one of their own and actually accomplished it surprised the instructor, so much that the surprise was clear on her face.

When Tybalt asked if that were all of them, Hirotsuka turned to him with a simple, "H-Huh?" before composing herself and shaking her head, "I-I mean to say, yes. Those were all of them. I am quite surprised, actually. I expected more of you to die, what with this kind of improvised teamwork and whatnot."

The woman cleared her throat, before she went on.

"Congratulations, everyone! You've passed! You were able to work as a team, even though you were simply plunged inside this forest and given some orders. You chose to also incapacitate your opponents, though you were trying to reach the ruins instead. You've showed me that you've not only wits, but also the strength to follow through with your convictions."

The woman then jumped off the tree and approached Tybalt.

"Sir Tybalt, 'twas an excellent work trying to be a leader. Often, when people are lost, they look up to those that decide to take an stand. I've high hopes on you." She said with a slight smile, before slamming her hand on the mage's back, probably with enough strength to make the mage stumble forward and fall face first.

Of course, all of it with a smile.

She then approached Diana, slamming her hands on both of the girl's shoulders, "You are courageous and quick to act. Your rash actions, however, may very well be your downfall some day. For now, though, rejoice and make sure to thank those that had your back during this training exercise. Without them, you'd pretty much be a pincushion."

She moved on to Pauline, probably the most sensible of the whole squad, "You are meek and maybe even weak. There is no denying that. But I know potential and brains when I see 'em," The head maid winked as she tried to encourage the shy ninja, "Yours and my own fighting style isn't all that different. I'd be willing to train you if you wanted."

With that said, she moved on to Hiro, "Your marksmanship is most definitely noteworthy. I take it you were a hunter before? Regardless, your ability is true, as well as your concern for others. I look forward to seeing you grow." The head maid then jabbed him lightly right on his shoulder.

She intended for it to be a slight, friendly punch, but Hiro would definitely feel that in the morning.

"And Hyakuya. What can I say that I haven't said already? You can be kind of a pain sometimes, but your dedication to Alex, err, I mean, milord Alexandro, is definitely true. I trust that your power and wisdom will help the others when they most need it, so take care of them, a'ight?" The head maid smiled at him.

After going by each of them, Hirotsuka backed away and put herself in front of the group.

"Oh, but don't think we are done just yet or that I'm going to be all sunshines and smiles after some pretty words. This was only the first trial. There will be another one in a pair of months or so, and that's not mentioning the regular training I'll put you through. In other words, I'm still going to go medieval on all of your asses. So be prepared. For now, make sure to go back to the castle's grounds. Alex, I-I mean, king Alexandro wishes to make an speech for the recently recruited knights. Afterwards, you'll receive your dorm and bed assignments."

She nodded, before turning on her heel and heading for the castle by herself.

---

Loot: Bullion(S) x 2, Silver Lance x (2), Iron Axe x (2), Hirotsuka's Silver Kunai, Vulnerary.

---

The sudden death of their teammates was indeed surprising, but Claude was accustomed to death.

He clicked his tongue and hurried to finish off the last two Risen still standing, the one that Maximillian had damaged before and yet another myrmidon that went by mostly ignored.

Claude kicked the one already hurt on the stomach, and then stabbed him right on his face. It was about to vanish into that putrid and disgusting smoke that they turned into after being defeated, but the brutish merc took the whole body of the Risen and threw it against the other melee fighter.

It stumbled and then fell to the ground. Claude did not want to let it get back up, so he jumped and skewered the two Risen bodies with one single lunge of his sword.

The two Risen then vanished into smoke and Claude was left on the ground.

Even if he had been in this line of work for a while now, he still couldn't get used to when a teammate, and a good one at that, died. Victor was nothing more than a fool, rushing into the battle without a proper weapon, and Maximillian was powerful, but like Claude he just didn't have the resistance necessary to face off against a Sorcerer.

Illian's lip trembled a bit before she actually started speaking, "Y-YOU FOOOOOOOOOLS!"

Or well, shouting would perhaps be more accurate.

"Y-You are all strong on your own, but none of you know how work as a team! Everyone was scrambled across the mausoleum. It is a pretty small place, s-so organizing and cutting off the Risen wouldn't have been too much trouble if you had stopped to think and organized. T-that way... neither would Lord Maximillian or sir Victor would've died." The girl turned her gaze to the ground.

"The mercenary over there is a first rate idiot, but he at least has his brute force! He could've kept the physical Risen at bay!"

"What ya say, bitch?!" Claude stood up and was about to go and impale the woman with his sword, but no... she was right.

He was as guilty as the others for the death of their comrades, perhaps not Maximillian's, but Victor's, yeah. They could've protected him in more ways than one and yet they still allowed him to die.

"The cavalier... I understand that not having your horse with you might hinder your battle style some, but you could've stopped that Axe Fighter and sir Victor would still be alive." She narrowed her eyes on Mikhail.

Then she turned her accusing gaze to Aika, "I guess you were too busy, miss magus, making pretty magic tricks to be able to cover lord Maximillian. Your thunder magic would've most definitely allowed him to land the decisive blow."

And finally, Azi, "While your value as a vanguard is low, buffing and encouraging other units would still be a fine job fo you, mister singer. Perhaps helping Victor or lord Maximillian with a song before their eventual downfall would've changed the tides greatly."

It seemed that there was no one more bitter about the death of the recruits other than Illian.

"I cannot entrust the safety of Lord Straizo to you! You only care for individual strength and.... and....!"

"That is quite enough, Illian." A deep voice said from up the stairs.

The owner of said voice was coming down the stairs to the mausoleum, and upon hearing it, Illian instantly kneeled down.

"L-Lord Straizo, I did not expect you to come all the way here...."



"Do not be so stiff. Get up, Illian. I only came here to check on the recruits... and to make sure you were okay."

"M-Milord! I-I mean... I'm sorry, but I am thinking seriously of-!" The girl started as she stood up.

"Don't. I know what you mean to say, but I will not allow you to fail these brave knights. They all fought for their lives and did magnificently. Teamwork is important, but it means nothing if the individuals are not strong. I thought you understood this by now, Illian."

"I never cease to learn when it comes to your wisdom, lord Straizo." The girl smiled.

"Don't exaggerate, please." The man puts his hand up.

"In any case, I do believe congratulations are in order. You have passed this test set up by my apprentice Illian. It is regrettable that two of your partners were not able to make it, however that just meant that it was their time, cold as it may sound. When death arrives, and it will, it doesn't matter what you do. Do not blame youselves, as it was meant to happen this way."

The stoic man explained with a serious look in his face, but soon it turned into the ghost of an smile for the recruits.

"You've passed the first trial, everyone. From this point onwards, squad Trignita is considered among those squads of knights that will participate in the remaining trials and also a candidate to become the Royal Guard. Now, I do hope you will improve your teamwork for the coming second trial to be held in a couple of months or so. For the time being, head for the royal throne room. My cousin wishes to offer you a few words. For you and the other succesful knights. Some knights were also able to pass their trials but ended up without a squad. Two of them shall join you to make the squad whole again. Now, if you'll excuse us."

Motioning with his head towards Illian, Straizo turned on his heel and left the Mausoleum. Illian was quick to follow behind, not before offering a quick bow.

---

Loot: Bullion(s) x 2, Silver Sword x 2, Silver Axe x 2, Ruin x 1, Iron Bow x 1.

---

After the trial, the remaining squads gathered in the throne room to hear Alexandro.

The young king was waiting nervously for all of them to assemble, and when the room was filled with more than one tough-looking guy, he stood up, Dainsleif hanign from his hip.

"E-Everyone!" His voice was high pitched and ridiculous, a clear sign that the man was unbelievably nervous. "I-I mean..." The man took a deep breath and, when he finally managed to calm himself down, continued. "Everyone, thank you very much for coming here today. It fills my heart with joy to see that not only those from Jotenvarr wish to serve this great country and continent. With all of you behind me, I am certain we can make Jotenvarr an even greater nation."

His voice was now steady and trustworthy. The look in his eyes had also changed, becoming more determined and valiant.

"I look forward to seeing how you grow. I am certain that all of you will become knights worthy of protecting this whole continent."

"With that said, I also must inform you of what follows. Until the accolade, and to sort out people from this still big number of 16 squads, there will also be two other trials aside from this one. Until these trials are held, knights are required to stay in the barracks of the castle and train daily. The second trial will be just as harsh as this first one, whilist the third one will be a tournament to determine who will become part of the royal guard. The winner of this tournament as well as the runner-up will be selected for this honor, so you'd better train yourselves, everyone. With this, you are now dismissed!"

With a sweep of his hand, Alexandro dismissed the squads.

---

The squads both received their assignment for their rooms which were (what a surprise) actually the same.

Lined next to the walls, there were rather simple bunks made out with wood. The beds on the bunks didn't exactly look comfortable, but well, it was better than sleeping on the floor.

There were 6 at each side of the room, making for a total of 12 beds.

Seemingly, they were expected to sleep there. For the time being, the recruits started arriving one by one...

The first trial had been won, nearly all of the squad had survived, except for the theif who made a mistake in his own way. Though that would not get in front of the celebration since Squad Quinque would still have their great teamwork, along with a great leader as well. Hirostuka was going around giving everyone a good compliment, he gave her a smile when she came to him. Hiro was glad to hear her words, though her jab was... strong to say the very least, pain shooting into his shoulder. Sort of ike being hit by one of his own arrows. He turned and gave his team a smile before they had to go and hear the King's speech.



After the speech, everybody was given their dorm and so came the added perks of being able to actually rest. Hiro moved to the furthest bed on the left and set his bow down on it, claiming it as his own without conversing with any of the others. After that, he took off his torn hood and set on top of his bow before turning to everybody and saying "Good job Quinque! If we keep up this teamwork I'm sure we'll come out on top!" Some words of encouragement would surely keep everybody happy, that was everything that he wanted for now. Though, he did know he would have to fix his hood at some point.

After Claude finished off the last two Risen, Azi's ears suddenly perked up as Illian began dishing out scalding criticism. Though he constantly kept a faint smile on his face, he felt a distinct weight on his chest from her words, but not only because of the shared guilt. "Did... No one hear me singing?" he thought to himself, slightly disheartened and confused. Even if he weren't very loud, he still should have been heard in the small mausoleum. Troubled, Azi pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind for later, as Lord Straizo walked in, congratulating them on passing.

After the king dismissed them to the barracks, Azi immediately flopped onto the nearest bed on the right and buried his face into the pillow, letting his long fluffy tail swish hypnotically back and forth like a metronome. Today was incredibly mentally exhausting, and he would have simply fell asleep if his thoughts from before didn't return. He let out a long sigh. "Ah, this really is troubling," he said aloud, his voice muffled by the cushion in his face.

"Oh, it's not too bad, Azi." Aika stated as she made her way to the next bed after his, sitting on the side facing him. She laid back across the middle of the mattress, stretched her arms in a wide arc, and folded her hands behind her head. Her hands along with the hood of the cloak she still hadn't removed made a nice pillow for her to prop her head up a bit, looking down her body to see the left side of Azi's buried face. "At least we're still alive. And I'm fairly certain we weren't going to please that sorceress even if we did all survive." After a moment she sat up and began to remove her cloak, sword, and armor, placing them on the shelf above her bed. She slung her bag around onto her lap, and dug through it before revealing a tome from within. She placed the bag aside and opened the book to somewhere in the middle and began to skim the pages.

"Besides," she remarked. "Check out this sweet pad we've got."

The sarcasm was painfully obvious as she peered over the top of the tome and glanced around the cramped mundane quarters, particularly at the dark-skinned archer in the far corner.

"Must be someone from one of the other squads," she stated a bit softer.

The Manakete landed safely on the ground after dropping Diana gently on the ground. He transformed back into his human form. His right leg was actually bleeding, the blood streamed down his leg. Hyakuya looked at it and then knelt down. He ripped some of the trouser's cloth and wrapped it around his leg as to prevent further bleeding. He then stood up and then stomped his right foot on the ground. His face showed pain as it hit the ground and so he started leaning on his left leg so it would hurt. He then drank some of his vulnerary to hopefully close the deep wound or at least lessen the pain.

He was doing this while Hirotsuka was giving off a meaningful speech to everyone. When she turned to him and gave her compliments to him and actually stuttered when she mentioned King Alex's name, he smiled. The two always had a close relationship and the Manakete even assumed that they were involved in a romantic relationship. He nodded at her. His power might as well be the only thing he can contribute to the group. That and his knowledge about some things. He then started limping towards the throne room to hear his king's speech.

----

Once the speech has ended, Hyakuya followed Hiro towards the dorm room. He was actually disheartened to hear that he needed to sleep with his fellow squad as he was used to simply sleeping alone and inside the cold walls of where he slumbered when the king who saved him told him to go. His eyes scanned the room for a moment, seeing two others in there who weren't from the squad. A young girl and boy were there... perhaps not 'young' if they were to be called in human years but to him, they seemed very young.

He limped as he entered and then sat down on a bed that was closest to the door on the left which meant that the one in front of his bed would be Azi's bed. He looked at Hiro and then nodded. Their teamwork was good despite just meeting a couple of hours ago. For Hyakuya, it was mostly because they had an acting tactician, Tybalt. he then took off his own hood, revealing his long blonde hair and his pointed ears. He looked at Azi and Aika once more before bowing his head at them. "Greetings young ones. I am Hyakuya of Squad Quinque, a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Well, might as well talk to the people who he hasn't met before when they will all share a room.

Aika's eyes darted from Hiro across the left side of the room until she met Hyakuya's gaze, and she was still barely peeking from over her book as she scanned the newcomer up and down for a moment. Her scrutiny landed on his ears and she lowered her tome, revealing a surprised yet excited smile.

"Woah! A Mamkute!" She exclaimed, setting the tome onto her bed and shooting onto her feet. "My name's Aika, and this is Azi!" she pointed to the blue haired man whose face was still one with his pillow in the bed across from Hyakuya. "We're from one of the other squads, the, uh... Trignita! Yeah that's it." She placed her hands on her hips and looked to her right side with a bit of a somber expression. "We had to fight some zombies, but two of us didn't make it, and it doesn't look like the other two followed us in here yet." She turned back to Hyakuya before giving him the last of her ranting. "Were the two of you the only ones who passed your team's test?"

Hyakuya ended up smiling once more at the surprised look she had on her face. Everything had always been like this. Even when he woke up and served both the King and Prince Alex, both were surprised about his race and held the same looks on their faces. It was quite amusing to see it once more.

"Manakete, actually." The blond said, correcting the young girl's pronunciation. Now, now, he wasn't being picky about how she said it but he would like to let the girl know of her mistake. If she wanted to call him a Mamkute even after knowing, then that is fine as well. It seems some of Aika's squadmates had suffered the same fate as Itazu, their thief. How sad. "No. In fact, only one of us didn't make it. Perhaps the others are just looking around before they go in here. There are three more." The Manakete said with a shrug. He wasn't sure what Diana, Pauline and Tybalt were doing but they would come sooner or later. After all, he was sure that they would come to rest.

Pauline jumped from the tree, clenching her weapon. She barely had time to see Diana falling down, Hyakuya catching her - time flew faster than usual and by the time the ninja got back on earth, it was surprisingly silent around. Was that... all? Tybalt was the one who voiced her silent question and, surprisingly, they've passed! Pauline stretched her arms and scratched the back of neck slightly, but tensed up when Hirotsuka came to her. To say she was surprised by the Royal Maid's speech would be an understatement. Pauline blushed and poked her cheeks lightly as she muttered: "Could you really be a mentor to me?"
_____________
After the speech was over, she went to the bedroom. Apparently, Hiro and Hyakuya have already arrived and there were two more people in the room, apparently from another squad. Pauline sat down on one of the beds and yawned as she rubbed her face slightly. She eyed the girl in the bed next to hers and smiled shyly.

"Well, it's 'mamkute' where I come from but you're the dragon in the room so..." Her voice trailed off as the fifth person came into the quarters and planted herself on the bed just next to Aika's. "Hey!" she gave Pauline her regular cheery smile.

Diana blushed, "Uh, t-thanks." she said to the manakete that had caught her. It seemed like they had one. Their instructor appeared, giving each of them a short speech. Diana looked suitably abashed, maybe she hadn't thought that one all the way through.

---

Diana strolled into the barrack and looked around yawning, she could use a nap. Shared dorms!? That was rather uncouth wasn't it? It seemed there were quite a few people here already. She should introduce herself to the other people they were apparently rooming with. "Hey guys, I'm Diana." She said to introduce herself and tossed her spear and small pack onto the closest bed. Diana prodded it expecting it to be soft and plushy but was severely disappointed.

It was barely better than the floor. Then she noticed the tail on the other side of the barrack. The fluffy, fluffy tail. Daina's eyes followed its rhythmic swishing. She slowly stood and walked towards it as though under a spell. Unable to control herself any longer Diana lunged at it and tackled it onto the bed, hugging it with reckless abandon. So warm, and silky, and FLUFFY! A small squeal of delight emerged as she stroked the tail and Diana closed her eyes. Mhmm....

Tybalt could not help but exhale a large sigh of relief once Hirotsuka had anounced they indeed finished her test. With incredible skill, wits, teamwork, and a fair share of luck, the squad had indeed routed the flying pursuers. He beamed wholeheartedly at his teamates, proud of how quickly they had come together to try and overcome the incredible odds they had faced. Without Pauline, Diana, and Hyakuya keeping him safe, there would have been no way for Hiro of himself to get such clean shots. There was clearly a shred of hope among the group to act as a unified squad.

Which made it all the more startling that Hirotsuka came to him and commended him for trying to lead. He was taken aback, his eyes wide even from the suggestion. Leading? He had not been leading the group, had he?

“I-I was only trying to do what was best for the squad, Lady Hirotsuka,” He said, smiling warmly as she approached with a confident bow to her. “But I certainly proved I’m more than just a handsome face with a sense of humor, didn’t I?”

His confident remark was immediately interrupted by her hand slamming him in the back, knocking the wind out of him in a wicked slap. He gasped, she was much stronger than her little maid form let on, it took quite a bit to actually stay on his feet. He was quick to try and play it off as nothing more than a mere gesture however, hiding his grimace as he tried to stand back upright.

“Oh, I’m looking forward to it.” Tybalt answered when HIrotsuka delivered her warning. He was eager to pursue the next challenge, the sooner he could try to become a knight, the sooner he would win back his family’s honor.

And that was a promise he would swear on his life to keep.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had taken Tybalt a bit longer to get to the dorm, he had made arrangements for Itazu’s burial and paid for the young man to be traditionally buried as his Fox Spirit heritage would permit. Despite his singular and selfish nature, the young thief had made taken out one of the flyers, that alone was worth a proper burial.

When he finally did arrive, he could already see his teammates talking with the other squad, Triginita. He did not immediately join the groups, instead choosing to survey the living quarters. Huffing in disapproval, he noticed that it was just one big room, with one bed for each of them in bunk formation. This was unfitting for a noble of his stature, he was used to living in embroidered silks and fine linens, not cots with what looked like cotton bedding. He placed his hand on the pillow, gasping silently in disgust. Good Gods, was that duck feathers? He’d get poked by the little stems all night!

Another frustrated huff escaped his lips, running his fingers through his hair as he laid his tomes neatly onto one of the beds, claiming it as his own. He understood he would have to get used to such drab accommodations if he was going to keep trying, but he was not going to be happy about such circumstance.

Not one to show such ugly distaste, he blanketed his disappointment behind an optimistic smile as he turned his attention to who was present. It seemed Hyakuya and Diana were already entertaining some new faces, most likely from the other squad. He considered joining them, but it would be rude to just interrupt their conversation just to introduce himself, so he let them be for the time being. Instead he made his way to Hiro, who was already claiming his bed as well.

“I have to say, I am incredibly impressed at your skills, Sir Hiro. You are an amazing archer.” The mage said, leaning against the wall near the archer’s bed. “Who taught you to shoot a bow like that?”

Pauline smiled back at the girl sitting next to her and decided to continue the conversation - "Nice to meet you, I'm Pauline. And you are...?" She noticed her teammate come in and waved her hand, greeting her - " Oh, hi!" Pauline glanced at Diana, who was moving to the other side of the barracks for some reason, and grabbed a pack of sweets our of her bad. She grabbed a candy for herself before offering one to her neighbour from another squad. A loud bump and a high squeal turned Pauline's attention to the back of the barracks and... Well, she would've never expected Diana of all people to do it. "Uh... Diana, just what are you doing...?"