The camp didn’t seem to share his sense of humor.

Weapons came up almost instantly – steel, mana, spells ready at bay. The loose structure Darius had been building was showing, students shifting into position without needing to be told twice.

Elara moved first.

"Stop."

Her voice cut cleanly through the noise as she stepped forward, hand already raised, mana gathering faintly at her fingertips. Her eyes locked past Ronan, and then on the figures behind him.

"Identify yourselves."

"We are class A," the leader of the group said. "Lower your weapons. We are not here to fight."

Darius’ gaze landed on Ronan.

For the first time since he stepped into the clearing, the attention was fully on him.

"Explain." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

No anger, just questioning.

Ronan didn’t answer immediately.

He let the silence sit for a fraction longer than comfortable, just enough for everyone else to feel it, and then he opened his mouth to speak.

"They already knew we were here."

A few students stiffened.

Darius didn’t react, waiting for him to continue.

"They were scouting," Ronan continued evenly. "If I didn’t bring them in, they would have found this place anyway. On their terms."

Elara’s expression tightened slightly, but she didn’t interrupt.

"Better controlled contact than forced conflict, or would you disagree?" Ronan finished.

"Listen to the Ashbourne brat," Reddy said cockily behind him.

The leader stepped forward. "Again, let me introduce myself. I am Armani Faelar. Class A, as I mentioned before. We are not here to fight, nor are we here to cause conflict. As Ashbourne said earlier, we are scouts. If we wanted conflict, we would have abducted Ashbourne."

"Lower your weapons," Darius commanded, raising his arm.

There was hesitation – brief, but visible – as a few students glanced between Elara and Darius before slowly lowering their weapons.

But they were still on edge.

Elara didn’t move.

Her hand remained raised, mana still gathered around her palm, her eyes locked onto Armani like she was waiting for a reason.

"Stand down, Elara," Darius said. "We will hear them out."

Elara clicked her tongue after a moment’s hesitation, lowering her palm.

It was clear she wasn’t happy about it, but he didn’t question the authority. Not here, at least.

Armani’s gaze flicked across the clearing again, slower this time. The perimeter, spacing, and general organization of the students earned an appreciative hum from him.

"Efficient," he said simply.

Reddy snorted. "For B class."

No one laughed.

Darius stepped forward, closing the distance just enough to make the interaction deliberate.

"You’ve seen what you came to see," he said. "State your intent clearly."

"Information exchange. Nothing more."

Elara’s eyes narrowed slightly. "And what exactly would you offer?"

"We’ve mapped the terrain up north. And from the looks of it, we have covered more ground than you."

"You don’t know that."

"Ashbourne was clearly much further than instructed," Armani said. "And he wasn’t even particularly far."

Darius stepped in front of Elara.

"What do you want?"

"Right now, nothing. We are willing to give you a general understanding of what to expect further up north. In exchange, we would like to ask you to meet up with our leaders and discuss a potential alliance."

"An... alliance?" Elara clearly hadn’t expected that. "We are enemies. Why would we want to ally?"

"If the alliance is a mutual agreement and benefits both parties, then what’s the problem?" Reddy scoffed.

She’s nervous, Ronan noticed. It looks like the intention was to probe information, but it just came out sounding like a foolish question instead.

Darius stepped in.

"And what exactly do you think we gain from that?" he asked. "You speak as if it is a mutual agreement, but knowing the general layout north doesn’t sound like anything interesting."

Armani met his gaze without hesitation.

"Position," he said. "Information. Stability. Control."

Reddy let out a quiet laugh. "And less idiots trying to stab each other over nothing."

No one reacted.

Darius didn’t break eye contact.

"You approached us," he said. "You crossed into our perimeter.

"...We’re evaluating early alliances," Armani said after a moment. "Before the larger classes begin consolidating."

That was more honest.

Elara folded her arms slightly, her posture still tense.

"And you decided we were worth evaluating?" she said.

Reddy shrugged. "You built fast. That’s already better than most."

Darius didn’t acknowledge the comment.

"An alliance requires trust," he said. "You have none from us."

"And you expect us to trust you?" Reddy shot back.

"I expect nothing," Darius replied calmly. "Which is why we’re still standing here instead of fighting."

"...Then consider this preliminary," he said. "No agreement. Just a future discussion."

Darius was silent for a moment.

"You will get your discussion..."

Elara turned. "Darius–"

"But on our terms. Your leaders will come to us."

The leader’s calm expression finally twisted into something complicated. He obviously didn’t like the idea.

Or more specifically, it looks like he doesn’t like the fact that he has to agree. Seems like they need something from our class.

Ronan turned to the shy girl who backed him up earlier. She was the main reason their class had made so much progress so fast already, and it was because she was an extremely knowledgeable runesmith.

Far better than anyone in class A, at least.

"...Fine," Armani said.

Reddy clicked his tongue but didn’t argue.

The formation behind them shifted slightly as Class A began to pull back.

Not turning their backs.

Watching until the distance widened enough to matter.

Then they were gone.

The clearing didn’t relax.

If anything, the tension lingered heavier than before.

Elara turned immediately.

"This was a mistake."

"How so?"

"They are obviously desperate," Elara said, pointing to where they were walking away. "They obviously don’t have their shit together, that’s why they are looking for allies."

"Maybe so," Darius replied. "But it’s worth hearing them out."

Elara turned towards Ronan.

"And you! What do you think you’re doing making decisions on your own?"

"They were going to take me with them," Ronan said. "That would have caused unnecessary conflict. I did what I thought was most efficient at the moment."

"That doesn’t justify bringing them into the center of our base," Elara snapped "What if it was a trap?"

"If it was a trap we would already be dealing with it."

"It is," Ronan said calmly. "If they intended to attack, they wouldn’t have walked in with four people and a negotiation."

Elara stepped forward slightly. "Or they wanted us to lower our guard."

"They didn’t," Ronan replied. "You didn’t."

That stopped her for half a second.

"Enough."

Darius cut in.

"You said they were going to take you," he said. "Explain that."

"They tried," Ronan replied. "Or at least, they were considering it."

"Why didn’t they?"

Ronan didn’t answer immediately.

Because the truth wasn’t clean.

"To avoid unnecessary conflict, like I said earlier."

Darius looked like he wanted to continue, but then a voice interrupted him.

"Darius!"

Darius turned. It was a student from the scouting group.

"Speak."

"We have found a statue! Quick! We must claim it as soon as possible!"