<h4>Chapter 85 - What about I join your group?</h4>


    Souta said that he had a n to collect the red g of other sses. He knew that it was never going to be easy but he still wanted to try it. He’s itching to test his power right now.


    Lumilia stared at him before she nodded her head. She closed her eyes and seemed to think about something. After a few moments, she opened her eyes and looked at everyone.


    "It’s reassuring that Souta, one of the strongest in our ss, is nning to contribute to our ss," Lumilia paused for a moment before she continued, "Then, we will divide our ss now. The first group will protect our red g while the second group will focus on gathering the red g of other sses."


    Bryan raised his hand and said, "Me too, I wanted to fight other sses, so I think I will help Souta in gathering the red g."


    Lumilia looked at Bryan for a while before she opened her mouth and said, "Okay, for those who wanted to gather the red g you can raise your hands."


    Souta turned his head and looked at Alice who was silent beside him. She didn’t even utter a single word ever since they arrived here in this ce.


    "What do you n to do? Do you want to stay here or join us?" Souta asked her.


    Alice looked at him for a second before she replied, "I will stay here. I think your nning to do something that will gather everyone’s attention. I don’t like it when everyone’s paying attention to me."


    "Okay, I understand." Souta nodded at her.


    He could see that she doesn’t like it when she’s in a limelight. She doesn’t want any attention. She preferred to be alone, or more like a silent ce. But there’s a possibility that he was wrong. He really doesn’t know her but it seems that she’s a good person. That’s what he concluded from the past two months.


    Souta looked around and saw that eighteen people volunteer to collect the red g with him.


    Lumilia was surprised to see her friend. "Lynn, you wanted to gather the red g!"


    "Um... M, you know why I’m joining this group." Lynn lowered her head and said in a tiny voice that only she and Lumilia could hear.


    "Ah!" As if something struck Lumilia’s head, she turned to look at Souta. Coincidentally, she met his gaze but she quickly averted her eyes after a few seconds.


    She took a deep breath and looked at Lynn. "I understand it. I will support you, Lynn."


    "Thanks, M, you really are my friend!" Lynn jumped and hugged Lumilia.


    "Are you really sure about that, Lynn?" Nayo asked with a grin on her face. "You’ve said before that you’re interested in him but nothing happens in the past two months. You’re just watching his ranking battle every time he fought."


    "Don’t mention it." Lynn shook her head heavily and tinged of redness could be seen forming in her cheeks.


    "But I’m worried..." Nayo said as she looked down.


    "About...?" Lynn tilted her head in confusion.


    "Of course, it’s you. I’m worried about you." Nayo said as she looked at Lynn.


    "Thanks." Lynn thanked her.


    "No, that’s not it. I’m worried about different things." Nayo shook her head.


    "And what’s that?" Lumilia, who was watching her friends, asked.


    "You know. I’ve also watched Souta’s fight and I’ve got one thing to say. He’s too brutal in his every battle. It doesn’t matter if you’re a girl or not. All of his opponents suffered the same thing." Nayo said with a worried expression.


    Lumilia recalled what Souta said when they fought in the mini-tournament.


    "I’m not going easy on you just because you’re a girl. Remember, on the battlefield, there’s no girl or boy there’s only life and death. So do not expect your opponent to go easy on you just because you’re a girl."


    Lumilia still remembered his words clearly at that time. She looked at Nayo and said, "That’s not it. I think that Souta is a good person."


    "See, what are you saying, Nayo? Even M thinks that Souta is a good person!" Lynn said to Nayo.


    "He doesn’t have any friends except Bryan and Alice. He also doesn’t talk to any of our ssmates." Nayo said.


    "Still... I think that he’s so cool." Lynn said with a hint of redness in her cheeks.


    "Hais... You’re hopeless. If you really like him then I will support you." Nayo said as she ced her hand on Lynn’s shoulder.


    "Thank you, Nayo!" Lynn said with a smile.


    ...


    "George, Joshua, you’re going to join us?" Bryan said in a loud voice.


    "Yeah, yeah, I wanted to test my new spell against the other sses," George said as he clenched his fist tightly.


    "Me too," Joshua said as he smiled.


    Everyone started to talk about what they wanted to do in this special test. The whole ss got noisy as everyone was talking to their friends.


    Lumilia then raised her voice to gather everyone’s attention. "Everyone!"


    Everyone stopped talking and they looked at Lumilia.


    When Lumilia gathered her ssmate’s attention, she opened her mouth. "Then, what should we do about the ss leader. Should we keep quiet about it or not?"


    "ss rep, I think we should let the ss leader decide it." One of her ssmates raised his hand and said.


    Lumilia knew that if the ss leader kept silent about it then there’s a high chance the other sses would not know about it. If the whole ss knew about the ss leader then there’s a possibility that the information will be leaked to other sses.


    "Okay, I understand." Lumilia nodded her head. She then looked at everyone and said, "I will count one to ten. If the ss leader wants to reveal himself/herself then you should just raise your hand. If you don’t want then you don’t have to respond. Just stay in your position."


    The whole ss shut their mouth and they waited for someone. In the end, a man raised his left hand in the air.


    They looked over and saw that it was Yujin Drune. Yujin was a man with long ck hair that was tied in the back of his head. He had sharp features and his build was average. His ears were pointed like an elf and there’s a long ck tail sticking out behind him.


    A half-elf and half-beast kin.


    The one who surrendered when in the semi-finals before. He’s opponent at that time in semi-finals was Souta but he surrendered before even fighting Souta. He knew his limits so he thought that there’s no point in fighting a match that he couldn’t win.


    "So, you’re the ss leader?" Lumilia looked at Yujin.


    "Yeah, I’m the ss leader. I will stay here and protect the red g." Yujin nodded and said.


    "Are you sure? It’s harder to capture you if you’re going to wander around this mountain." Lumilia asked and suggested something to him.


    "Nope, I’m going to stay here. I’m quite confident in my skills." Yujin said as he gripped the sword on his waist.


    "Oh~" Souta looked at Yujin with an amused expression. He looked at the sword on Yujin’s waist and thought that he was a magic swordsman.


    There’s no magic swordsman ss in this institute, so Yujin joined the Mage ss. He must be pretty confident in his sword skill that’s why he decided to join the Mage ss. If he found that he’scking in terms of sword skills then he would have joined the Sword ss instead of the Mage ss.


    ’One of the rare ss, Magic Swordsman.’ Souta thought. He guessed that’s the reason why Yujin surrendered before even fighting him. It must be because he saw the couldn’t saw himself against Souta without using the full potential of his ss.


    "Okay, I understand." Lumilia nodded her head then looked at the students who volunteered to gather the red g of other sses. She opened her mouth and said, "We will divide you into three groups since there are eighteen of you."


    Souta immediately raised his hand and said, "If possible I wanted to fight alone."


    "Eh...?" Lumilia was surprised when she heard his words. She didn’t think that Souta would fight alone.


    "What are you saying, Souta?" Bryan said from the side.


    "Okay, then I will change my condition. If possible I don’t want a lot of people in my group." Souta said as he opened his palm.


    "Um..." Lumilia then looked at Lynn before looking back at Souta. "Then, we will divide you into five groups. Each group consists of four people except for your group."


    "That’s okay for me." Souta nodded.


    "I’ll join you, Souta!" Bryan raised his hand and said in a loud voice.


    "Nope, that’s not possible." Souta shook his head. He doesn’t want Bryan to join him this time. He wanted to fight the enemy alone, so why would he bring someone who’s a battle maniac.


    "No." Lumilia also shook her head. Souta was strong and Bryan too. If the two join in one group then the strength of the gatherer group would be focused on Souta’spany. She wanted to distribute the strength of the group equally not focus it in onepany.


    "Then, what about I join your group?" Lynn shyly raised her hand while looking at Souta.