Classroom of the Elite: Amnesia Haven

Arc 3 - 1: To New City of Damuro

A/N: The Ending of this Arc will be dope. But, yeah, only in my mind. You know the Meme about how Expectation and Reality are pretty different. 

And of course, there's also how I can just lose enthusiasm and stir into a completely different course of action. Just like the existence of this Arc. All because I don't know how to write Kiyotaka activity during the twelve days of Suzune's group training in guilds.

The very first Chapter's scene should be just after this. Or possibly to the deeper levels of Cyrene Mines instead, in a level where Death Spots ain't a fucking thing. Progression, my man. Even though I'm bad at it, I like it so I'll do it.

***

"I didn't expect you'd be in Spearhead."

Honami giggled. "I didn't expect Manabu-san to invite you here either."

"The others put up quite a fight at first, though."

"But here you are, which means you've proved yourself capable. You're also the one who defeated the Death Spots, aren't you? We had such a terrible time dealing with it back then, and yet you took it out by yourself. That's incredible."

"She said it!" Mako exclaimed. She was constantly beaming with a smile. I'm genuinely curious how she could maintain that. "You're so awesome...! I can feel it, y'know?"

Yuki sighed. "Your feelings are usually mistaken, though."

"Uh, for real?!"

"Well, not this time," she mumbled, giving me a quick peek before averting her gaze. "Even I can tell."

"I can't tell anything!" Sou proudly stated.

...they underestimated this a bit too much, I thought. We're in enemy territory right now, even if it's just the Old City. Lack of caution will lead to something awful.

"Enough, focus on your roles," Ryuji ordered. He seemed used to it.

I've discovered in advance that Honami's party is in Spearhead from Manabu. There is one other party, and they are currently scouring Wonder Hole for an alternative path to the former Kingdom of Arabakia. It seems like something happened there causing them to not be able to come back.

"So you're subjugating Arabakia for the sake of glory or what?" I inquired.

Honami wore a dry smile. "You may see it that way."

In other words, I may suspect they have other purposes.

As I wasn't a member of Spearhead, it was natural for them not to just blindly pass on their intentions to a stranger. "Still, what exactly are we planning to do by scouting New City?"

Honami had no problem answering that question. "Well, we're aiming to negotiate with the goblin's king."

"The other races have this preconception about goblins being too foolish to come to a negotiating table," Ryuji carried on. "But with a little bit of understanding, we should be capable of bringing them to the same table, mutually benefitting each other. The Kingdom of Arabakia did that once with the construction of Alterna long ago."

"Alterna's construction, huh...?"

I also had a slight suspicion about that. With such proximity to Damuro, the Arabakia side must have had some talk with the goblins to have them turn a blind eye to the city's construction. It seemed that the orcs or kobolds didn't even care about the goblins' activity. They both looked down on them despite having been in the same alliance long ago.

"Deadhead Watching Keep built shortly after to keep an eye on human activity. Now and then they'd try to overthrow Alterna."

"Ahh, that did happen recently, didn't it?" Sou recalled. "That assault from Ish Dogran. The new recruit Renji slew him, they say. Damn, the batch after us is dope."