The Western Frontier was what one would expect of a recently reacquired stronghold.

It was a lot smaller than the royal capital and the houses here were simple ones made of stone, but that much was to be expected.

The students walked out the bus and lined up in front of the giant man who had walked into the bus earlier.

He scanned their faces, his eyes resting on the Prince and the Saintess for a second before moving on without a single change in his expression.

"This year’s batch," he muttered to himself, "how pathetic."

He finally addressed them.

"Welcome to the Western Frontier," the man started, "in other words, hell."

"Listen carefully," he continued, folding his arms, "out there, your titles mean nothing."

"The beasts out there won’t care if you’re a noble or not, they’ll tear you apart equally and no one would be around to save your asses."

The students silently listened to his words, suspecting that if they even tried breathing out too loud, he’d notice them.

"And before any of you get comfortable thinking this is still the academy," the man’s voice dropped slightly, "let me correct that misconception right now."

He walked a bit forward, stopping just a short distance away from the group.

"This is a stronghold," he continued, "a military one at that. Everything here is earned."

His gaze swept across them again.

"And everything you have can and will be taken."

Before the students had the chance to understand what he meant, an order was given.

"Drop your supplies."

The students just stood there for a second, a bit confused at the command, but the man snapped them out of it.

"Now!"

Without hesitation, most of the students dropped the bags that contained their supplies.

Even most of the third years did the same.

A second later, a group of spirit mages walked towards them and picked up the bags, emptying it just beside the man.

"Damn, it’s been a long while since I last ate something from the capital," one of them said as they dug into the packaged food supplies with grins on their faces.

"T-that belongs to us," one of the students let out, causing the man to look directly at him..

"Is that so?" He asked, "then try taking it back."

The student contemplated for a while before stepping back quietly, much to the man’s disappointment.

Though he hadn’t expected much from a bunch of pampered kids, he at least expected them to not be cowards.

Guess he was wrong.

"Consider this your first lesson," the man continued, "nothing you carry belongs to you unless you can protect it."

"You’ll be assigned zones shortly," he added, turning around and picking up a chocolate bar from the pile before adding, "and you’ll spend a month out there."

Done with them, he walked away and a moment after, another spirit mage stood before them and said, "follow me."

***

It took a few minutes of silently walking before the group reached a large circular hall.

The man leading them finally stopped and said, "I apologize for our commander’s behavior."

He let out an awkward chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck, "he makes it a habit to bully newbies, but he’s not a bad person....I think."

Even he didn’t sound completely convinced of his own words.

"It’s fine," Cassian stepped forward before looking around the hall and asked, "but can you tell us where we are?"

"Ah right," the spirit mage said, straightening slightly as if remembering his role, "this is the assignment hall."

He gestured towards the center where a raised platform was.

Laying on said platform was a large map, projected by a couple of magic tools.

"This is where you’ll each be assigned to a different sector," he added pointing to different glowing spots on the map, "some are closer to the stronghold and others, not so much."

"Anyway," he clapped both hands and turned to the group, "that task is up to me, so spilt up into your various assigned groups."

Following his instruction, the students separated themselves into their already assigned groups before waiting for further instructions.

"Great, now then, let’s begin."

***

A few minutes passed and every group was successfully assigned a sector...

Well, rather than calling them sectors, it was more accurately just an unclaimed part of the corrupted lands.

Their danger levels depending on how close they were to this stronghold.

"Each group will depart within the hour," the spirit mage continued, "you’ll be given your starting direction and that’s it."

"No escorts beyond your assigned senior," he said, "oh and one more thing, please don’t try to return here before the month is over."

"Because if you do," he continued, "we’ll just send you back out again, and probably a lot deeper than you were previously assigned."

Some of the second years nervously swallowed at his words, most were certain that since they were in Class One, they were special enough to be valuable to the Kingdom.

And yet, they had been rudely awakened.

Here, they were completely expendable.

He then reached into his coat and pulled out a small, circular device.

"This is your emergency token," he then tossed it toward Cassian and the third years of the other groups.

Cassian caught it easily.

"Break it if you’re about to die," the man said plainly, "or if you feel like dying soon."

A few of them frowned.

"That said," he added, "don’t rely on it."

His gaze sharpened slightly.

"Response time depends on distance... and priority."

In other words, they might choose to not come at all.

"Understood?" he asked.

The various group leaders nodded as they looked at the tokens in their hands.

"Finally," the spirit mage spoke up again, "I hope you all survive, and return back here in a month’s time."

With that, he turned towards the door that led outside again and instructed, "wait here, I’ll come get you in fifty minutes."

He then walked away, leaving the students in the hall, to at least prepare themselves to depart.

"Chocolate?" Adrian suddenly muttered, pulling out a bar and handing it to Renelle causing Darius to look at him with surprise.

"I thought we all handed our supplies?" He asked.

"You did," he answered calmly taking out another bar, "but my lady is a sweet tooth, and I can’t prepare sweets from beast corpses, so I didn’t hand them over."

"I see," Darius muttered before looking at the bar and asking, "um...can I have one."

He was certain Adrian was going to say no, but to his surprise, a chocolate bar was tossed towards him which he quickly caught.

[Thank you,] Renelle’s voice was heard in Adrian’s head and he turned to her, noticing a smile on her face.

Across from them, Cassian watched the exchange with a small frown, clenching his fist tightly.

"Enjoy it while you can," he muttered quietly.

Darius glanced at him.

"Hmm?"

"Nothing," Cassian said calmly, turning away, but his thoughts were far from calm.

One month was all he needed to handle this pest.