Adrian ran out of the shelter and toward me, accompanied by Melina. I nodded, still supported by Dong Fang Yue Chu. The earlier battle had consumed too much of my mana, and coupled with the severe injuries I had sustained, I wasn't able to walk on my own.

"Are you all right?!"

"Sensei!"

Both of my disciples were staring at me in concern, especially when they caught sight of my current state. I forced a smile.

"Yeah, I'm still alive, am I not?"

"WAAAAAH!"

Unexpectedly, it was Rossetti who made the most noise. The moment she emerged from the bunker, she burst into tears and started wailing.

"Why the heck are you crying?!" I demanded.

"But…but…" Rossetti sniffed as she wiped at her eyes. "We all thought you were dead! The opponent is the strongest member of Grimaldus, you know? It's a miracle that you survived a duel against him!"

"Hah!" Craig chortled. "You give Richie too little credit!"

"Who is she?" Theodore whispered to Harrison. "She looks very familiar…but I don't know where I've seen her before…"

"She's from Saint Teresa Academy. We fought against her team during the national tournament."

While Harrison explained to the big guy, Rossetti joined Adrian and Melina in looking at me in concern. She reached out to touch me, and I grimaced.

"Ouch! Hey! Watch it!"

"You're hurt! Very badly hurt at that!"

I tried not to roll my eyes. Duh, of course I was severely injured. You knew who my opponent was, didn't you? And man, she had quite the penchant for stating the obvious.

"We'll get Sister Pearl to heal you once she reaches here," Dong Fang Yue Chu a.s.sured me, but I knew it was meant more for Rossetti and the kids, to stop them from worrying. However, there was something in his statement that caught my attention.

"Sister Pearl is here too?"

"Yeah, she, Lily and Sheila are all here. Cody too, actually. But we all came separately. The girls stopped by Cambria on the way here, to do some shopping, while Cody…you know how he is. Always playing a.s.sa.s.sin."

As long as he stayed out of trouble, I didn't care what Cody play-acted as.

"Thank you for saving us," the camp manager told us, even as the teachers and trainers were moving out to secure the location. Theodore handed over Xun Lian Jia to them, having picked him up after the battle ended. The chief trainer was still terribly injured, but at least he was alive.

That was more than I could say for the Black Swordsman.

"It's nothing," Harrison told her with a polite smile. He then turned and gestured toward the Four Heavenly Kings of Jing Tian. "In fact, I came too late to help. The credit should go to these guys. They were the ones who did all the fighting."

"Hey, you pulled our a.s.ses out of the fire at the end there," Craig protested. Then he grinned at me. "A fire ignited by Richie, of all people. What would you have done if Harrison didn't show up?"

"Richard would still have conjured that ice s.h.i.+eld of his," Theodore reminded him. The guy was as serious as ever. Craig groaned and tried not to roll his eyes.

"Never mind."

"They're coming." Harrison turned up his head when the roar of hovercrafts came, temporarily drowning out our voices. I watched as the ma.s.sive transports dropped down on the edge of the camp, disgorging troops.

"Hmph." Craig snorted. "They're late to the party. The fighting's already over."

"Hey, at least we don't have to walk home!" Dong Fang Yue Chu, on the other hand, was optimistic. "And we'll be able to bring the wounded back for treatment!"

"How did you guys get here?" I demanded. Surely the four of them didn't rush over on foot when they received the distress signal.

"Drop pod," Theodore replied seriously. He then pointed to a clearing over a hundred meters away, somewhere deep inside the forest. My jaw dropped when I saw a mechanical contraption that was about five meters high, its ramp-doors having slammed down for its occupants to disembark. What were my friends trying to be, s.p.a.ce marines or something?

"I came here by hover-bike," Harrison admitted as he pointed to a hover-bike that was parked next to the dop pod. "Rented one from Flandor City and zoomed all the way here."

That explained everything. There were still a few questions I wanted to ask, but I was too exhausted. For now, I just stared at the hovercraft wearily and did my best to not fall asleep.

*

After such a crisis, there was no way for the camp to continue. Not to mention, the camp buildings were razed to the ground, the lake was gone and the facilities were wrecked. The middle school students also lost a lot of their beginnings, thanks to the Black Swordsman's spamming of his Excalibur. Speaking of which, I wondered why he was ripping off Excalibur from a famous anime series.

Probably because he watched the whole duel between Saber Alter and Berserker.

Pearl and the other girls were waiting for us when we returned to Flandor City on the hovercrafts, and true to form, she cast healing spells on me. Xun Lian Jia also received medical treatment from more professional healing mages, and I was informed that his life wouldn't be in any danger. I was actually surprised that he had somehow escaped all of those Excalibur shots that the Black Swordsman had fired off repet.i.tively.

"You were too reckless!" Pearl snapped at me. "Taking on the strongest member of Grimaldus on your own…do you have a death wish or something?"

"Uh, you do realize that I actually fought alongside Xun Lian Jia at first, then with Dong Fang Yue Chu and the others?"

"Why didn't you retreat after Xun Lian Jia was taken out?" Sheila asked, though her tone was not as harsh as Pearl's.

"Retreat to where, exactly? And what's going to happen to the middle school students if I run away? I can't just abandon them."

"You're always too reckless, Brother Richie." Adrian shook his head. Then he beamed. "But that's exactly why I follow you!"

Pearl glared at him. "Don't encourage him."

"It's all thanks to Sensei that we're still alive." Melina tried to sound conciliatory. She glanced down, looking guilty. "If it weren't for him, we would have been…"

"Ah, no…that's not what I meant." Pearl softened her tone and waved her hands. "I'm glad that Richard did his best to protect you guys. I'm not saying what he did was wrong. But I just wish he will be more careful…and treasure himself more. He always makes us worry about him."

"Well, it's Richie we're talking about here." Dong Fang Yue Chu clasped his hands behind his head. "You know how he is. We love him because he's a hero."

"Yeah, I think Richie is fine the way he is." Craig chuckled mischievously.

"His actions saved a lot of lives today," Theodore said seriously. Adrian and Melina nodded vigorously at that.

"That's right!"

"Sensei protected us!"

"All right, all right…" Pearl held up both of her hands. "I get it. Good job, Richard."

I snickered, and then rested against the bed. My body continued to throb from the various bruises and cuts. Pearl had done a sterling job with her healing spells, and all of the major injuries were gone, particularly the internal ones. However, as with everything else, healing magic was not some miraculous instant cure that restored HP like a game. It took time for the body to slowly recover and heal. For the wounds to fully disappear, I had to wait for a day or two.

In the meantime, I could do nothing but lay in bed and wait for my body to fully heal.

"B…but…" Rossetti was blubbering. For some reason, she couldn't stop crying and it was getting on my nerves. "Richard shouldn't have to sacrifice his life for ours!"

"That's what heroes do. That's what sets them apart from other people." Harrison smiled warmly at me. "Richard has set a good example for us to follow."

"Uh…I think you're giving me way too much credit…"

Even as I said that, I couldn't help but feel fuzzy inside. My goal was to be a hero like Dad, after all. Ever since he saved me from monsters almost six years ago, I had been chasing after his back. I had found his ideal beautiful – the desire to save other people, to fight for their sakes…that just appealed to me. Perhaps I was too much of a kid, but when I watched all those shows and read all those stories about heroes, I admired them.

Dad turned out to be a real-life hero, something that was even more glorious and amazing than fictional characters. That was why I wanted to emulate him. If Dad could pull it off and become a hero in reality, then I could too. At least that was what I thought.

Had I…finally achieved my goal?

While I was pondering on all that by myself, Craig leaned over and whispered into my ear.

"Hey, what's the deal between you and that Rossetti girl?"

Sheila smacked at him, and he glared at her defiantly.

"What?"

"It's none of your business."

"Eh? Don't be so boring. I'm sure you want to know too, right?"

"Not really…" However, Sheila was unable to meet his gaze when she said that. Craig grinned and turned back to me.

"Nothing," I replied.

"Really? Nothing?"

"Yeah."

"Then why are you avoiding your gaze?"

"Hmm…" Despite herself, Sheila had joined Craig in studying me. "Suspicious."

Despite my firm declaration, I was unable to meet his eyes. For some reason, I remembered that weird dream I had about Rossetti the night before the Black Swordsman appeared and I had to do my best to stop myself from blus.h.i.+ng. Like h.e.l.l I would tell anyone about that. I would much rather die!

"Oh, there really isn't anything between us!" Rossetti somehow overheard our conversation and decided to put an end to it once and for all. "We just ended up working together for the middle school training camp, that's all."

I was glad that she was wise enough not to mention that we ended up sharing a room because of the lousy logistics of camp management. That would have caused a disaster and set tongues wagging.

"Guys, stop teasing them." Lily, fortunately, was more mature than the others, and she stepped in to ensure that the atmosphere didn't get awkward.

"I don't mind." Rossetti was smiling. "It's just that…Miura has an interest in Richard, so I can't possibly steal him from her."

"What the h.e.l.l is that about?!" Dong Fang Yue Chu was wrapping his arm around my neck, almost suffocating me. "Spill the beans, Richie, or we won't let you rest!"

"N…nothing!" I croaked out, trying to wrench his fingers open. "I have no interest in her!"

���Aw…" Rossetti made a face. "That's a pity."

Like h.e.l.l it was. Miura La Noir was too devious for my tastes. I could never tell what that diabolic girl was thinking. As beautiful as she was, I would rather stay as far away from her as possible. I didn't want to get caught up in her schemes.

"How disappointing…" Dong Fang Yue Chu shook his head. Craig joined in, grinning insidiously.

"Yeah, man! You need to liven up!"

Fortunately, I was spared from this awkward conversation regarding romance when Harrison spoke up. All this while he had been silent, reading emails and text messages on his smartphone. His eyes lit up and he smiled.

"Good news, people. The police have found Grimaldus's hideout and they have the dark guild surrounded."

"Father…"

Everyone turned to stare at Melina inquisitively, and she blinked, timidly hiding behind Adrian. Clearing her throat, she raised her own smartphone.

"After the last incident, my father took matters into his own hands and organized an investigation. He wanted to expose Grimaldus and eradicate them from their very roots."

"Yeah, Duke Ferguson is leading the crackdown," Harrison confirmed as he glanced at his smartphone. "Thanks to the trail that the Black Swordsman left when they released him to attack the middle school students of Saint Teresa Academy, they were able to track down the main headquarters of Grimaldus. Turns out that they have been hiding in the underworld of Flandor this entire time. They caused their own downfall – the mana signatures of the Black Swordsman were so powerful that they were unable to erase them."

"Heh…" Craig marveled.

"What incident?" Dong Fang Yue Chu asked blankly, turning back to Melina. She shrank back, and my friend had to withdraw apologetically. "Uh, you don't have to tell us if you don't want to."

"No, it's not that…"

"Grimaldus tried to kidnap Melina a few weeks ago," I explained, saving Melina from the awkwardness. She nodded gratefully. "That's why her father is so up in arms."

"By the way, it was Brother Richie who saved us from the kidnappers."

I wasn't sure why Adrian was acting so smugly when he was the one who needed rescuing, along with Melina, but I decided not to comment on that. I was too tired to engage in any sort of banter.

"Whoa…Richie, you're everywhere, aren't you?"

Dong Fang Yue Chu shook his head in amazement. I shrugged.

"I just happen to be in the right place at the right time."

"Well…" Pearl stared at me sternly. "For now, the only place you should be is in bed." Then she clapped her hands and began beckoning toward the door. "Okay, everyone out! Let Richard rest!"

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