Chapter 99: Course List
The tour continued as Neri explained the Coliseum’s facilities. Despite being very spacious, almost all of the Coliseum’s area was dedicated to battlefields, so there wasn’t much to see. After wandering for a while, the three left the Coliseum and headed to a nearby restaurant for a meal.
As the three ate, Neri’s collar emitted a blue light, drawing everyone’s attention.
"Excuse me, I need to take this, just a moment," Neri stood up from the table and went to a corner of the restaurant, her expression continuously changing. It was clear that whatever they were telling her was not to her liking. After a few moments, Neri returned to the table but didn’t sit down. "I’m sorry to leave so unexpectedly; I have some matters to attend to, so I’ll be leaving early. I hope you enjoyed the tour and welcome to Black Rock Academy. You have my personal contact; if you need anything, you can send me a message, and I’ll try my best to help you." Neri’s tone was that of someone trying to contain their feelings, so William easily noticed something was wrong. He stood up and looked her in the eyes before saying, "If you need help, you can tell us. We’ll do our best to help you. It might not seem like it, but we’re trustworthy people, hehe." William tried to sound as relaxed as possible, but his gaze was firm. He had always been a man who repays friendship tenfold and enmity a hundredfold, so if Neri was in trouble, he wouldn’t hesitate to do everything possible to save her, regardless of the consequences.
William’s words touched Neri’s heart, but she bit her lip and only responded with a somewhat forced smile, "There’s no problem at all, just some family matters. It was a pleasure." Lía stood up and accompanied her to the exit while William waited, seated, eating an ice cream of a flavor he had never tasted before.
After a few moments, Lía returned with a long face. "What happened? Is something serious, right?" William asked, while Lía replied with a sigh, "They’re calling her for a forced engagement. Neri just turned 20, so she’s considered old for her age, and they want to force her to marry someone because she hasn’t found a partner on her own due to being so dazzling."
"So the family is the problem. This will be a complicated situation. From what she told us, her family has an elder in the academy, so if that person prioritizes their own interests above all else, they won’t back down no matter how she pleads. But if her grandfather isn’t the problem and it’s just her parents, maybe there’s a way to avoid all this. From what she said, her grandfather cares for her a lot and gave her that set of spells..."
"I don’t know, we can only offer her our support and wait if she wishes to take it. Although, I’m worried that when she told me that, her eyes were determined, just like when she fought you. They were eyes that say she won’t give up even if she dies..." Lía made the comment with a deep sigh. That was the look she had seen many times in her life, and things always ended badly. Despite only knowing Neri for two days, they had grown quite close, and she treated her as a true friend.
"Try to keep in contact with her. If her words start sounding strange, then we’ll have to see how to intervene."
Ding! The sound of the collar resonated in both of them as a large red light emitted. As it was the first time something like this had happened, both were very scared, thinking some calamity was approaching. They quickly checked their collars, only to see it was an announcement that they had to report for their first academy class tomorrow morning. It also included a map of where the classes would be held and the schedule with the names of the subjects and a program description.