Some hours later, someone knocked at our door and started speaking.

"It's me, Hannah. I am here to pick you up."

It was already 7:00 PM, and I did not eat anything today, so I rushed to the door. "Let's go. I am starving."

"Go without me. I decided to meet up with an acquaintance soon."

Normally my emotional health bar would take huge damage now, but I was so hungry that I could survive a dinner without Miko, despite the fact that I would sit with a bunch of strangers.

"OK, I see you later."

"Oh, Miko won't eat with us?" Hannah asked, somewhat disappointed.

"Not because of you, but she will meet up with a friend. I guess that is more important to her." I tried to explain.

"Ah, I understand. Luckily, we will have more opportunities to eat together." She said, smiling.

We took the backdoor exit and arrived at a similar hidden entrance to the cafeteria building.

"This is a closed-off area for special occasions, aka where my friends and I hang around."

Hannah was more like a normal young woman than I expected; the first impression she gave me was much more serious and stricter.

I was relieved that she was so kind to me.

We finally arrived at our destination for tonight's dinner, where we were greeted by three other students already seated at a set table.

The student council was an exciting mix of people.

There was Nada, a 13-year-old girl who had been studying at this magical school for three years.

Alex, a 23-year-old woman who has been a student here for seven years.

And Elliot, a man who looked between 18 and 35 who just recently joined the school as a scholar... he concealed his age with the words, "Age is just a number."

We had the choice between several salads, meat, and vegetarian snacks. There was water, soft drinks, and even some champagne with fruit flavor to drink.

But I quickly realized that I was the only person at that table who was there for the food. The others seemed to have other priorities.

"Tell us, Kayla, why are you here exactly? Hannah mentioned that you need to undergo some training?" Elliot asked.

"Recently, I had my first mission at a dungeon and overused my magic, causing my mana system to rebel and damage my body... Since I never want to make that experience again, I asked for special training to learn my limits and hopefully improve my skills." Pretty solid summary if you ask me.

"So, you are fighting for money?" Nada asked.

"No, no. I am just a healer. I never fought in my whole life."

"Healing magic? Hannah also specializes in that field."

"Really? Will you also join a guild after graduating?"

Hannah shook her head, "No, never. I don't want to come near any dungeon. I want to start working in a hospital."

Right, some healers are working in hospitals. Mixing her magical abilities with traditional medicine to help sick people.

When my mother died, finding a magic user in a normal work environment was still unusual. But one cannot deny that magic's special opportunities are a blessing for any job.

Why did I never think about it? I guess because it was out of the question for me to use my magic seriously at all.

"I definitely respect your bravery; there must be people who clear the dungeons," Hannah said.

"Thank you, but I haven't done anything so far."

"And what is it like to work with Lilith and Miko? Are they as special as they're rumored to be?" Alex asked, with her head resting on the table.

"To answer this question, I first need to know any rumors...."

"They say Miko is a berserker, insanely violent, but incredibly strong and capable. It's rumored that the only reason she wasn't marked like Lilith was that the higher-ups feared Miko's reaction."

That sounded ridiculous. The Miko I knew was nice and maybe even silly at times, but she had her heart in the right place. But I never saw her fighting or seriously angry. In the end, I didn't want to imagine her being someone terrible.

"She's actually super friendly. You need to talk to her when you can. The rumors sound like pure fiction". I laughed a little, but no one seemed really convinced by my words.

"I guess you are right. She really seems like a good person." Hannah said. She was the only person who had met Miko so far and could confirm that she wasn't a violent person at all.

"Do you think she's up for a training fight?" Elliot asked, grinning. "I am just too curious; I want to know how strong she really is."

"I will ask her if you want." If I am totally honest, I really wanted to see her fight too. All the talk about her abilities kind of got me excited.

"Are you a fighter, Elliot?" I asked since he wanted to go against Miko.

"You could say so. I've been a group leader in a pretty strong guild that has cleared countless dungeons in the past."

"Why did you quit?"

"At some point, I was burned out. I had seen enough suffering. So, I wanted a change of pace. Now I study psychology and work with magical therapy for people with trauma."

"You can study psychology at this school?" I was surprised. I had no idea what you could choose to study here.

"Yes, of course. There are over a hundred fields of study in the general area. They are not mandatory; you can also study something magical only. But I always wanted to do a regular major, too."

"Impressive. What are you guys studying?"

"I'm studying otherworldly life forms; so far, it's very theoretical, but maybe one day we'll dive into a dungeon together," Alex explained.

"My major is magical items, plus I am going for a regular high school degree," Nada said.

"I am studying medicine and healing magic," Hannah exclaimed, smiling brightly. She seemed to love what she did. "How did you become a healer?" she asked.

"Tough question..." I scratched my cheek, "I just tried it out, and it worked pretty well... So, I kept using it for different occasions..."

"Sounds illegal," Nada noted, smirking.

Cold sweat began to form on my forehead. "Haha, sounds like it."

"You should start studying here. A healer with a degree has all the possibilities in the world." Hannah suggested, but I just shook my head slightly.

"I'm pretty happy with the way it is now. Maybe one day," I said.

Because of all the chatter, we barely got to eat, so a wordless agreement was made to shift the focus to feeding.

The topics of conversation eventually drifted off to quite amusing things, so the evening flew by. I helped the others clear the dishes, and we went to the dorms together afterward.

What I then discovered at the back entrance shocked me for a moment, Miko was in the arms of an unknown man.

The moment her eyes met mine, she smiled and ended the hug. The other person walked away.

"Who was that?" Elliot asked quietly.

"I don't know. It is way too dark…" Nada said.

Before they could continue whispering, Miko came up to us.

"Good evening. Sorry again that I could not attend tonight's dinner."

"No problem at all. We will definitely find another day to sit together." Hannah said.

"Ah, where are my manners? My name is Miko. I am glad to meet you all."

"I have a question," Elliot said a little too loudly.

"Hm?"

"Would you please fight with me? I've never been lucky enough to meet you in a dungeon, and I've always wanted to see your abilities."

"Oh wow, it seems like you got high expectations, but I hope I won't disappoint you since I've got these." Miko pushed up her sleeves, exposing several black rings on her arm.

"Magic seals… A lot of them." Elliot said, shocked.

It was the first time I saw Miko's bare arms and also the first time I heard about magic seals.

"Well, you surely know I'm a little weakened because of these, but if you want a sparring match, I'll be up for it. This should be a good warm-up before I start to torture my sweet apprentice." Miko said, smiling brightly.