WTYTIAAN Chapter 124

Demetrius was worried.

His once-solitary dormitory had gained a roommate, and this roommate, unlike others, didn’t avoid his gloomy demeanor. On the contrary, he seemed quite interested in him.

Demetrius sighed softly, pondering how to divert his roommate’s attention. What he was currently doing wasn’t suitable for a second person to know.

However, his roommate was like a puppy with endless energy, constantly changing his antics, yet only maintaining a three-minute fervor. Nothing seemed to hold his attention for long.

Demetrius was troubled.

*

Over the next few days, Yan Yunqing searched for the fifth teammate while chatting with [Celestial Crow] about the upcoming external training.

During the process, Yan Yunqing learned that [Celestial Crow] was a female swordsman, and even went to observe her training.

To be honest, the male-to-female ratio of swordsmen on the Ermann Continent wasn’t that disparate, roughly 6:4. There were many female swordsmen in the Sigret Academy, but due to some physiological constraints, there weren’t many female swordsmen with strong explosive power. Most of them used one-handed swords or took the rogue path.

But this [Celestial Crow] was different. She was one of the few female swordsmen who used a greatsword.

Her name was Rowena, without a surname. She was a swordsman of common birth, who, through exceptional talent and fortunate circumstances, got the opportunity to study, entered a specialized swordsman school, and then went to Sigret Academy for further education after graduation.

There were quite a few commoner students like this in swordsman academies, and most of them had experiences similar to Rowena. However, in magic academies, they were very rare.

After all, learning magic was a very expensive endeavor, and few commoners could afford the money required to study magic, let alone reach the level to enter the most well-known academy on the entire Ermann Continent.

Back then, the talented girl Karenna from Sunset Village, with all the wealth of the entire village, had only managed to send her to the magic academy in the neighboring city.

Perhaps given a little more time, she could have passed the entrance examination of Sigret Academy with her talent and hard work.

However, fate was fickle, and Karenna ultimately died on the land she loved, dying to protect it.

His thoughts drifted for a moment before Yan Yunqing came back to his senses and continued thinking about Rowena.

Rowena was a commoner student, and she used a greatsword. None of this was a problem. What Barnett said was special wasn’t about these things, but about—

Rowena was an incomplete swordsman. She had lost half of her left hand in a battle with magical creatures, and her ring finger and little finger had been severed. Her left hand only had three fingers.

A greatsword was an extremely physically demanding weapon, because the greatsword itself was not light, and the damage basically relied on its own weight to increase the impact. Therefore, it had extremely high requirements for the grip of both hands and the strength of the arms.

Don’t think that Rowena only lost two fingers; it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it means that her left hand naturally lost some grip strength. Otherwise, why would humans have five fingers?

But even so, Rowena didn’t want to give up using the greatsword. Her reason was: female physiological conditions inherently limit the improvement of explosive power. If she wanted to continue to become stronger, she could only rely on the power of the weapon itself.

This was the reason why she chose the greatsword in the first place, but the loss of her hand was a subsequent regrettable event.

“In any case, this cannot become a stone that hinders me from continuing to move forward.” Rowena stretched out her left hand, not afraid to show off her slightly deformed left hand to Yan Yunqing.

The place where the fingers were severed presented an irregular, healed shape, looking very strange and terrifying. Coupled with the calluses rubbed out on the fingertips from practicing the sword, it had a bit of a resemblance to aliens with only three fingers in science fiction works.

“I understand.”

Yan Yunqing nodded, and also stretched out his left hand, holding Rowena’s left hand, “Then, teammate, please take care of me in the coming month.”

Rowena was stunned, “You… don’t mind?”

Yan Yunqing let go of her hand, “What’s there to mind? Since Teacher Barnett recommended you to me, it means that your strength has been recognized by him. Since your strength is enough, what does this little regret count for?”

He shrugged, “My goal is to get first place in the external training group, not to compare whose hands look better. Besides, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this. In a sense, this can also be considered your war achievement, isn’t it?”

“—Successfully surviving in that battle with countless casualties, and fighting to the end, this is a glorious medal, isn’t it?”

Rowena stared at Yan Yunqing for a moment, and slowly nodded: “You’re right, this is my medal.”

Sweat dripped from her forehead, hitting the floor of the training room that silently recorded every drop of her sweat and tears.

“Then, please take care of me, Captain.”

The third official member of the team was in place.

*

Yan Yunqing took time to bring Demetrius and Rowena to find [Sun-Eating Raven], after all, he had agreed to give both sides a chance to decide whether or not to become teammates.

When Yan Yunqing saw the real appearance of the other raven in his special message list, he was stunned.

Light golden hair, a slightly childish familiar face, and a slightly short height…

Wasn’t this William?!

The half-brother who grew up with Alice, the tenth prince of Bato Vita, William Bato Vita.

If he remembered correctly, William should only be 13 years old this year…?

No wonder he was so short.

No, was William actually a first-year student? If he didn’t remember correctly, Alice, as William’s younger sister, had already become a second-year student in the magic academy, right?

Yan Yunqing subconsciously sized up William’s small body and suddenly understood.

William had entered Sigret Academy as a swordsman, which was different from Alice’s mage identity. For the magic academy, advancing to the second year required completing all the first-year courses, reaching level 35 or above, and achieving an overall grade level of A to successfully advance.

However, at the swordsman academy, students’ physical fitness was also an important assessment item. After all, it was difficult for swordsmen to continue on this path for a long time without a healthy and strong body.

William’s small body really didn’t look like he could pass the academy’s assessment.

While Yan Yunqing was sizing up William, William was also sizing up Yan Yunqing’s side. First was the captain ‘Xavier’ who had contacted him.

Hmm… didn’t look much like a swordsman, strange, but since he was recognized by Teacher Barnett, his strength should be fine.

Then there was ‘Rowena’. William also had an impression of this female swordsman. After all, her insistence on using a greatsword despite losing half of her hand had once been evaluated by William as: foolish persistence.

However, they had fought once in the annual grade competition, and after that time, William’s impression of Rowena had changed slightly, but he still didn’t approve of her idea of insisting on using a greatsword.

But Rowena’s strength was also beyond doubt.

The last one…

William’s gaze fell on ‘Demetrius’, and he hesitated and frowned, searching for the other person’s name in his memory: “You are… that first-year chief of the magic academy?”

Demetrius nodded silently, his gloomy aura constantly radiating outwards, as if a few dark clouds were enveloping his head, setting him off as particularly gloomy.

William frowned at the sight.

He subconsciously wanted to take a step back and stay away from Demetrius.

This wasn’t strange. Demetrius’s temperament was too gloomy. Those with this temperament were either bad people or potential bad people.

It was really impossible to treat him as a good person. Otherwise, with Demetrius’s identity as the first-year chief, he would have been surrounded by friends long ago, and the whole world would have kissed him.

He wouldn’t have only had Yan Yunqing kiss him from the beginning of school until now… Oh, no, it was approaching him.

Fortunately, William knew that taking a step back was too rude, and William, who had undergone crash-course royal etiquette training, restrained himself.

“Hello.” William endured the physiological repulsion he felt towards Demetrius, barely greeting him, before looking around again and looking at Yan Yunqing.

“These are all your teammates? Shouldn’t there be one more?”

Yan Yunqing answered sincerely: “No, there are still two.”

William:?

Yan Yunqing pointed at him, “Isn’t it because you haven’t agreed yet? There are currently only three official members in my team, me, Demetrius, and Rowena.”

He held out three fingers, looking at William, “If you agree, then there will be four of us.”

He slowly bent out his fourth finger.

William: “…I said, didn’t I? I will consider whether or not to join your team after seeing all the other people on your team.”

Yan Yunqing spread his hands, “There’s no way, the fifth person is too difficult to find. I’ve asked many people these days, but they either have teams or don’t want to join my team.”

Nonsense, he was from the magic academy, and he couldn’t grandly say his identity. When asked which class he was in and what his name was, he stammered and couldn’t say it. Which swordsman who wrote of innocence and read of stupidity would join his team?

Rowena would join because Teacher Barnett was endorsing her, and Yan Yunqing’s words to her at their first meeting touched her. That’s why she joined this team without even figuring out which class Yan Yunqing was from.

“Actually, I also wanted to ask you, do you know any more powerful friends who don’t have a team yet? I’ll try to see if I can pull them in.”

William subconsciously followed what Yan Yunqing said, thinking, “How could I know many people from the magic academy… but Alice should… wait!”

“I haven’t agreed to join your team yet!”

Yan Yunqing spread his hands, “Then make a decision now. The three people on the team are all here. If you agree to join and become the fourth person, then the fifth candidate can be left to you to choose. Finally, as long as your candidate passes the unanimous agreement of the three of us, you can directly make a decision.”

Yan Yunqing really didn’t want to trawl the sea like searching for a desired swordsman. He thought that the strength of the current team was already very good, and it wouldn’t matter if the fifth person was a little useless. It would be good to have a vase.

But with William’s personality, even a vase probably wouldn’t pass his test.

“Oh, right, I forgot to say, our fifth candidate has to be a swordsman, not a magician.”