Fight

Cotton-candy-like clouds drifted across the sky, while the sea breeze brushed over the grass of the Training Ground on campus.

A group of students sat sprawled across the grass at the edge of the Training Ground.

Castleton was a city built on the southern slope of the Coastline. This mountain range stretched from the inland all the way to the sea, and Castleton stood at its easternmost end.

Elf Academy was southeast of the Upper District. Sitting on the grass of the Training Ground, one could see where the sky met the sea.

A sea breeze swept past, making Klayr's soft silver hair and pointed ears sway in the wind.

Roy lay on the grass, looking at Klayr in his leather vest and white shirt as he complained to him.

"I've never understood this. Since it's a grudge between you and Steve, why doesn't he just be more direct? Find a place to corner you and beat you senseless. Better yet, make sure you can't get out of bed for three months..."

"..."

Klayr turned his head, his eyes full of speechlessness. Do you hate me that much?

It had to be said that this young Silver Moon Elf was definitely handsome enough to stand out, but his features were too delicate, and there was no threat in his gaze at all.

"That's because he's afraid of my sister. Steve and I are both nobles of Castleton. He probably doesn't want to break the rules between nobles either. If he attacked me in private, he would inevitably anger my sister, so he wants to teach me a lesson during Elementary Martial Arts Training. My sister beat him up that way last year."

Roy sneered. "This Steve is a coward. He doesn't dare take revenge on your sister, so he plans to vent his anger on you. In the end, he dragged me into it too."

Klayr glanced back at Roy and said with the bearing of a nobleman, "Sorry. I didn't expect him to disregard a noble's dignity and have his friends attack you."

Roy got up from the grass and looked toward the distant sea. "Klayr, do you want to spend a different kind of summer?"

"What?" Klayr asked curiously.

"The more we try to avoid certain things, the harder they are to escape. Sometimes, all we lack is a little courage. Courage means daring to draw our swords. When enemies meet on a narrow road, the brave shall prevail..."

As he spoke, Roy made a motion of drawing a sword from his waist. Though he had no sword at his side, he still looked imposing.

"..."

Klayr continued staring at Roy.

Roy turned and stood still. Dozens of meters away, Steve was chatting and laughing with several young elves on the grass...

"Since they're looking for trouble with us, we have to fight back. Otherwise, we'll always be on the receiving end," Roy said.

Klayr hesitated slightly. "But Steve is stronger than us! He studied Elementary Martial Arts last year."

Roy leaned close to Klayr's ear and whispered, "When the time comes, the two of us can do this..."

After martial arts class ended, Klayr left the Training Ground with a troubled expression.

Steve ignored Klayr. He stood on the Training Ground, staring at Roy from afar, though no one knew what he was saying to the young Silver Moon Elves beside him.

Next came history class. The teacher was once again that stunningly beautiful elf woman who never interacted with her students.

The lecture hall was nearly packed with students attending Modern Elf History.

Roy noticed that during the previous class, most of the students had been female elves. Yet for this class, a huge number of male elves suddenly flooded in.

There were almost not enough seats in the classroom...

Roy still sat at the edge of the Half-Elf section, listening to how the last Elven King of the Elven Dynasty had divided elven civilization into three. He found that studying history might not be as practical as studying botany.

Besides, she clearly was not a particularly good lecturer, yet an unexpectedly large number of people had rushed over to attend her class.

When the bell rang, Roy followed the surging crowd out of the classroom and down the stairs.

He arrived at the academy gate, intending to take a Long Carriage back to Brown Street the same way he had yesterday.

A hand reached out from behind and pressed down on Roy's shoulder.

Steve squeezed out of the crowd with a smug, mocking smile. "Roy, if you don't want to embarrass yourself in public, I think we can go over there and have a talk."

Roy did not struggle. He merely flicked his arm and knocked the hand from his shoulder.

Many students had gathered at the academy gate. Quite a few were already looking in their direction, and some elves were even pointing at them.

Surrounded by Steve and several young elves, Roy left the bustling area outside the academy gate.

Beside a tall hedge wall near the academy's side gate, there was almost no one around.

Roy leaned back against the hedge wall.

Steve stood before him. Among Silver Moon Elves, he could be considered fairly tall. He wore a set of Light Leather Armor and had a sword hanging at his waist.

"Roy, if you're willing to take the initiative and tell Instructor Nora that you don't want to practice with Klayr, you can leave right now. I guarantee I'll never trouble you again," Steve said smugly.

His status as one of the Elven Nobles had probably given him a sense of superiority, making him somewhat full of himself.

"So you've been causing me trouble these past two days just because I'm paired with Klayr?" Roy asked Steve.

"Other than that, what else could possibly be worth my handling personally?" Steve shot Roy an extremely disdainful glance.

"As long as I tell Instructor Nora that I don't want to be paired with Klayr, you'll let me go?" Roy asked tentatively. "Of course."

After saying that, Steve nearly broke into a victorious smile.

He felt that Roy's mental defenses had already collapsed. He only needed one last bit of pressure.

He glanced at the companions beside him. One Silver Moon Elf immediately understood, stepped forward half a pace, and reached for Roy's collar as he shouted.

"What are you waiting for, Nit Cat? If you don't agree, we'll beat the shit out of you..."

At the corner of the street, Klayr walked in alone.

A young elf who had been watching the street corner closely hurriedly whispered something to Steve.

Steve turned around carelessly and said to the approaching Klayr without any courtesy.

"What? Klayr, are you coming over to get beaten up too?"

"Steve, do you think I came alone?"

Klayr drew closer as he spoke.

Steve looked behind Klayr in panic.

Klayr had already moved to Steve's right...

In the instant Steve was slightly distracted, someone beside him shouted.

"Now!"

Roy and Klayr lunged at Steve almost simultaneously.

Roy wrapped both arms around Steve's waist and drove his shoulder hard into Steve's lower abdomen.

Klayr darted behind Steve first. As Steve lost his balance, Klayr hooked one arm around his neck and, using the momentum of Roy's tackle, brought Steve in his Light Leather Armor crashing to the ground.

The two of them practically pinned Steve to the ground.

Steve had never expected Roy and Klayr to strike first. There were clearly more people on his side. The other side should not have had any chance of winning...

Caught off guard, he had been knocked down by Roy. Klayr had even locked an arm around his neck, making it hard for him to breathe, much less struggle.

Klayr seized the chance to punch Steve in the ribs, making Steve curl up like a shrimp.

But when he saw Steve's miserable state, he hesitated a little and could not bring himself to hit him any harder.

When the young elves around them saw Steve thrown to the ground, they immediately crowded in, raining punches and kicks on Roy and Klayr as they tried to drag the two of them off Steve...

Roy was utterly ruthless at that moment. He did not bother dodging the punches and kicks from the other young elves, merely hammering Steve beneath him with his fists.

After taking several punches, Klayr was almost dragged away by the other young elves.

Like a madman, he clung tightly to Steve and clenched his fist before smashing it hard into the side of Steve's ear.

Nearly all the young elves around them swarmed in...

No martial skills were needed for a brawl like this. They only had to protect their vital areas from being hit, then beat the other side as hard as they could.

Ignoring everyone else, Roy and Klayr focused solely on beating Steve.

The brawl turned vicious. It was not until someone at the street corner noticed the fight and called over the Elf Rangers patrolling the street that it stopped.

A string of shrill whistles sounded in the distance.

"Beep..."

Steve's friends pulled the bruised and swollen Steve out from beneath the two of them, gave Roy and Klayr a few vicious kicks, then rushed to the street corner, jumped onto a carriage, and fled.

Klayr and Roy were in rather miserable shape. They sat weakly against the hedge wall, grimacing as they slapped palms.

Though the two of them had been beaten badly, Steve was no better off than they were.

The boiling excitement stirred up by the fight made Klayr feel for the first time that getting beaten up could be exhilarating too. Young people should settle their grudges like this.

"How are you?"

"Not bad. At least nothing's broken..."

With great difficulty, Roy felt along his arms and ribs as he answered.

At that moment, two Elf Rangers ran over from the street corner. Seeing Roy and Klayr bruised and battered, covered in footprints, and then spotting the rapidly departing carriage, they immediately pulled long faces and demanded loudly.

"What happened here?"

Klayr was just about to expose the violence of Steve and his group when Roy spoke first.

"Nothing. We just fell by accident and got a little hurt..."

"..."

Klayr and the two Elf Rangers all stared at Roy with strange expressions.

Yet Roy, leaning against the hedge wall and breathing lightly, appeared completely calm and unafraid of the Elf Rangers' stares.

One of the young Elf Rangers wanted to scold Roy, but the other secretly pulled him back.

"Watch where you're going. If you run into any trouble, you can come to us," the more experienced Elf Ranger said. He waited before the two of them for a while.

Roy forced out a smile. "No, we just fell by accident. Sir Ranger, may we leave now?"

The Elf Ranger stared at Roy but said nothing more.

Roy nudged the dazed Klayr beside him. The two endured the pain in their bodies, supported each other to their feet, and limped out of the street along the hedge wall.