Chapter 112 - An Oath

"I got put into the dark class," said Arya finally, staring Neville in the eyes.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you kind of look like a gir-, wait what? Did you just say you got put into the dark class?!" shouted Neville, realizing the weight of the words Arya just uttered.

"Yes I did," confirmed Arya.

"Wait, so what about you being an ice mage? There's no way you could've lied, after all, you showed me that you could really use ice magic," replied Neville in confusion.

"Yes, I did," said Arya nodding his head in confirmation, still maintaining eye contact with Neville.

"So does this mean you're a dual wielder?" asked Neville, hesitating to even believe what he was implying.

"It seems so," replied Arya once again, the tone of his voice never changing.

"Are you perhaps lying? Proove to me that you can use dark magic. Cast something," 

"I can't, I just found out that I could use dark magic this morning. I haven't learned any dark spells as of yet," replied Arya.

'He has no reason to lie,' thought Neville as he looked at Arya in disbelief.

"So not only are you a variant, but a dual wielder as well. And to make things worse your second element, or should I say third, is a rare element on top of that," murmured Neville, more for himself than Arya.

"Wow, that's a lot to take in. And how did everyone in your class react to that?" asked Neville.

"I haven't told anyone yet. And I don't plan on doing it any time soon either. That's where the favor I was talking about comes in. I need you to keep this a secret."

"W-what!? You haven't revealed that you're a dual wielder yet? Do you have any idea how much praise you'd receive if you did? The whole school will hail you as a genius," shouted Neville once again in disbelief.

"Exactly. It would be nice if all I received was praise. But in a school filled with people from magical bloodlines, how do you think the seniors would feel if they heard that a first year, and a commoner at that, is able to use two rare elements. They'll make my life a living hell,"

"I-I suppose. Okay, I'll try my best to keep it a secret, though only on one condition," replied Neville.

'Of course, there's always a price,' thought Arya as he realized that he and Neville weren't truly friends. After all they had just met each other the day before.

"I want you to remember me once you're discovered to be a genius. It would be nice to be friends with someone as powerful as you in the future, who knows it might even help me skip all my brothers and sisters in the line of succession," said Neville with a smile on his face.

"I-I see. Sure," 

"Anyway, did you hear? There's a rumor going around that a few first years have already joined the disciplinary committee. Man, they're so lucky, usually first years only get chosen at the end of the year imagine being chosen at the first day of school" said Neville, breaking the silence that had filled the room.

"You don't say," replied Arya, a nervous look on his face.

"Yeah, you don't seem all that surprised though. Did you perhaps see them being called out?" asked Neville, looking at Arya with a suspicious gaze.

"Yeah, about that,"

Neville looked past Arya and noticed the title of the book he was reading.

"Disciplinary Committee rules and guidelines? Why would you need to study th- Wait don't tell me," Neville's eyes opened wide as he realized what was going on.

"Wait, are you one of the students who were chosen?" asked Neville, once again looking at Arya in disbelief.

Neville stood up abruptly, his hands on his head as he paced around the room.

"But how? It doesn't make sense. Didn't you say that you can't use dark magic?" asked Nevile, still pacing around the room.

"Yeah, I did," said Arya once again, exhausted by the number of times he had to say it in the past few minutes.

"Then how? If you couldn't use magic how did you get chosen?" 

"Well, there are other ways of fighting,"

"Pfft, please. Look at you, there's no way a pretty face like that can-" Neville was about to say before he realized that Arya wasn't joking.

"You're telling me that you're so skilled at hand-to-hand combat that you were scouted to join the disciplinary committee on the first day?" asked Neville before he started laughing, the insanity of it all causing him to feel like it was all just a prank.

"Exactly," replied Arya.

"Come on, you don't expect me to believe all this," commented Neville as Arya went back to reading his book.

"Believe what you want, just keep the dual-wielding thing a secret," replied Arya, as he paged through the book.

"Then if you're so skilled, catch th-"Neville was about to say as he threw his pencil at Arya but stopped mid-way when Arya caught it in between his fingers.

"Y-You weren't kidding huh," commented Neville as Arya tossed his pencil back to him.

Arya just nodded his head and continued reading.

"I think I need to rest, wake me up when you go for dinner," replied Neville before going to bed. All the bombshells that Arya dropped on him were giving him a headache.

***

"Oi, I'm heading out," said Arya as he woke Neville up.

"Dinner already?" yawned Neville, getting off his bed.

"Yeah. Anyways I'll catch up to you later, there's something I have to do before that," announced Arya, leaving the room before Neville could ask any further questions.

"What a strange guy," murmured Neville as he picked up his student card and walked out as well.

***

"Is this all of you? Where's the snobby one?" asked Gabriel as he looked at the group of new recruits lined up in front of the committee office.

"Who, Anclara?" asked Draven, as he noticed that Anclara was the only one absent.

"I-I'm here!" shouted Anclara as he ran towards the rest of the group breathing loudly, his face covered in sweat.

'Sigh, why can't the committee get normal people for once?' wondered Gabriel as he looked at the group once again.

Anclara was trying to catch his breath, Ayaz was staring at Dio as if he wanted to fight him, Dio's face looked devoid of all emotion. Sheela was yawning as if he were already bored, Yuuki was looking at him intently and Averos and Arya were obviously trying to analyze any openings he may have.

The only semblance of normality this group had was Marya, but even she gave of a weird vibe.

"Anyways are you guys ready?" asked Gabriel, before pulling out his badge and drawing a star in the air with it.

As he did this, a star symbol appeared in front of him.

"Don't worry, it's just cosmetics, there isn't some pact that will kill you f you break the rules," added Gabriel, once he saw the looks of surprise on their faces.

"Of course that's not to say that you won't be killed, trust me the captain is way worse than any curse I could inflict on you."

"Anyways repeat after me," instructed Gabriel, holding his right hand to the left side of his chest.

"I pledge,"

"I pledge" repeated the recruits.

"To carry out justice on behalf of the academy,"

"To carry out justice on behalf of the academy,"

"To seek righteousness and fairness in all my doings."

"To seek righteousness and fairness in all my doings."

"And to maintain the law to the best of my abilities,"

"And to maintain the law to the best of my abilities,"

"Through day and night"

"Through day and night"

"Through pain and suffering"

"Through pain and suffering"

"Till the last bit of mana has been expended,"

"Till the last bit of mana has been expended,"

"I will maintain order behind the academy walls."

"I will maintain order behind the academy walls."

"Diis Major!"

"Diis Major!"

"You are now officially scrubs of the disciplinary committee. Aishe will give you your new uniforms before you leave," said Gabriel before leaving the group.

The committee door opened and Aishe walked out in her alluring fashion.

"Come inside, I'm unable to use dimensional magic outside of the committee office," said Aishe as she gestured for them to enter.

"Though I'm not sure whether they got the sizes right, here are your uniforms.. If you have any complaints about their size come back to me and I'll ask to get it fixed," said Aishe as blue rifts opened in the air, dropping the uniforms to their respective owners.