"This world of ours is like an hourglass. All of the people on the bottom always want to find an opportunity to rise to the top, only to slowly fall back down to the bottom again, and the cycle repeats itself over and over again."

If you thought that this was a quote from a certain philosophy student in the city of Sarus, then you would be wrong. Instead, it was a sentiment from a hostess who was from the province of Burmen. As she was muttering this to herself, the light of the setting sun had already begun to spill lazily into the deluxe suite of the Rivers Mansion.

The hostess's name was Riley, and that was a quote from her as she was picking up an hourglass that had fallen onto the ground. The gold-plated platter and fruits on the table had also been knocked onto the ground, as had the silver wine flagon, which was lying at the foot of the bed on its side. Beneath the soft, scarlet goose-down blanket on the bed laid a man who was still in a drunken, half-asleep state, and half of the bedsheet was already draping down onto the floorboards.

"Hmm..." The man moaned quietly as if to reply to Riley's words, but in reality, he simply felt her voice to be a distraction in this warm and quiet room and was moaning in protest.

"It's already close to nighttime, Master Erwin," Riley said in a seductive voice that was tinged with a little displeasure.

Lying on the bed, Erwin shook his head in a hazy state. He didn't have any more gold coins to spend here. Just a single night of pleasure alone had cost him 100 Loonies, which was enough to purchase several cottages outside of Sarus.

His mind was still addled by the premium wine that he had consumed, and the effects of the alcohol were refusing to fade. Erwin could only struggle to his feet before picking up the clothes strewn all over the ground and putting them on.

"When will you be back again, Master Erwin." Riley was still completely nude as she hugged him from behind.

Erwin patted Riley's hands, which had snaked around to rest in front of his chest, indicating to her that she was obstructing him from doing up the buttons of his coat. He then adjusted his collar and sleeves in front of the dressing mirror, and only when his clothes appeared to be in good order did he give himself a satisfied nod.

A displeased pout appeared on Riley's face as she turned around so that her back was facing Erwin.

Erwin made his way over to the clothes rack at the entrance of the suite, then pulled a bag of Loonies out of his sheepskin satchel, out of which he pulled two gold coins worth five Loonies each before tossing them onto the goose-down bed sheets.

Riley was seated at her dressing table, and she rolled her eyes at the sight of what Erwin was doing before turning back to face her mirror. Erwin was completely unbothered by that, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he turned and departed. 

"I'll come back when I get some more spending money next time." With that parting sentence, Erwin closed the door and left the suite.

Riley couldn't help but burst into amused laughter upon hearing this, only to heave a forlorn sigh as she realized that she was the only one left in the room.

After emerging from the deluxe suite of the Rivers Mansion, there were hostesses in see-through clothing standing at intervals of every 10 steps, and all of them smiled and bowed at Erwin, who was a regular client here. As for Erwin himself, he was still sorely regretting the 100 Loonies he had just spent here.

However, as the count's only son, he had to keep up appearances. He strode over to the luxurious marble reception desk of the Rivers Mansion, then tossed a bag of Loonies that he had already prepared onto the desk before turning around to leave.

"Thank you, Master Erwin." The manager at the front desk was naturally quite familiar with him as well, and he didn't even bother to count the Loonies before handing the bag over to the steward, then bade Erwin farewell with a smile.

After leaving the Rivers Mansion, it was already almost dusk, and the sun had almost completely set. Occasionally, groups of followers of the True Light Church could be seen hurrying along the streets in their white robes and judging from their plotting demeanor, it seemed that some minor noble family was going to be struck by misfortune soon.

Erwin looked up at the sky. He detested going to class at night.

The wide and lavish Phoenix Street segregated the entire city of Sarus into orderly eastern and western halves. The city was also split up into three sections that were separated by city walls, namely the palatial complex, the inner city, and the outer city. Places like the Rivers Mansion, which only the nobles could afford to attend, and all of the markets, were situated in the countless alleyways on the eastern side of the inner city.

Advanced academies like Teedus Academy, which taught martial techniques and magic to descendants of noble families, were distributed throughout the western side of the inner city, and that was also where the manors of most of the city's important officials and nobility were located.

Erwin took a glance at the giant magical clock hanging on the inner city wall, then cursed to himself internally before hurriedly crossing the lively and bustling Phoenix Street.

As Erwin rushed into Teedus Academy, he took a glance at the ornate Yin Mountain Stone arch of the gate, upon which was hanging a gold-plated royal plaque. Countless elite figures in martial arts and magic had graduated from the academy before going on to become pillars of the Effer Kingdom.

Just like Erwin, most of the students attending the academy had to come from some type of affluent background. This wasn't an academy that the descendants of the general public living outside the city could apply to enroll into. Once the descendants of these nobles and officials graduated from the academy, the most exceptional bunch among them could directly join the Royal Cavalry Brigade or the Court Magician Council. Even the mediocre graduates would most likely be able to secure roles in all of the important departments. After all, in an advanced academy like Teedus Academy with such lofty standards for its students, as long as one could graduate, they would be qualified to take on the roles that were virtually guaranteed to them upon graduation.

Erwin took a glance at the Nightglow Stone lamps on either side of the academy's main path, which had already lit up, and he immediately picked up the pace.

There was barely anyone on the path at this time, so he didn't have to worry about running into anyone. To the left of the Red Cross Holy Spring statue was Teedus Academy's magic division. After rushing all the way here, he was already severely out of breath, and the alcohol that was still lingering in his brain certainly wasn't helping his cause.

He was panting heavily as he rushed into the classroom, and his friends at the back of the class immediately burst into laughter. These were naturally the "friends'' with whom he had gone to the Rivers Mansion the night before. Thankfully, the lecturer still hadn't arrived yet, so everyone was casually chatting among themselves.

"You're a bunch of assholes! You lot really deserve to be thrown into the mines of Fooz to work as miners! How could you have just left me there?" A furious look appeared on Erwin's face at the sight of his unreliable friends. 

"So it's our fault?" Kaiba spread his hands open with a sly smile in response. "Why don't you go blame Miss Riley for wearing you out so much?"

Larwood also joined in on the jeers. "We tried to wake you up, but you wouldn't respond! As always, you're just too weak and feeble! If you were even a little stronger, you'd be able to study martial arts with us."

"Then I'd die even sooner!" Erwin harrumphed with a disgruntled expression.

Amid the chatter and commotion, the lecturer of the offense and defense lesson entered the room with a stern expression, followed immediately by a tall and rotund figure, who attempted to sneak down to the back without being noticed. Unfortunately, he was simply too bulky to avoid attention.

"Stop right there, Chase! I can see you!" The lecturer casually released an immobilization spell, and Chase was immediately rooted to the spot. All of the students in the classroom turned toward the direction that the lecturer's magic staff was pointing in, and they couldn't help but burst into raucous laughter at the sight of Chase's rotund body immobilized in a compromising pose. Of course, Erwin and his friends were the ones laughing the loudest.

Only after the laughter in the classroom had subsided did the lecturer undo the immobilization spell, then cast a disdainful glance toward Chase, clearly not very pleased with this tardy student.

Chase sat down beside Erwin and the others with an enraged expression, then cursed in a low voice, "You assholes! Why didn't any of you wake me up?"

Kaiba and Larwood couldn't help but chuckle once again upon hearing this, and Erwin was also quite amused. As a result, they attracted a stern glare from the lecturer, and a few of the girls in the front row also turned around to take a look.

These offense and defense lessons were attended by both martial arts and magic students of the same level, and they involved sparring drills between pairs, each of which consisted of one martial arts student and one magic student.

Generally speaking, Larwood would approach Gwen from the front row during these lessons for sparring practice. Initially, Gwen didn't think very highly of Larwood, who was a rather average martial arts student. However, Larwood was extremely persistent and good with his words. Due to his persistent efforts, he was finally able to get Gwen to agree to spar with him once.

During that drill, Gwen's eyes were opened to just how cunning one could be in combat. Larwood relied on his exceptional reflexes to evade all of Gwen's magical attacks, and in doing so, he was able to close down the distance between himself and Gwen. However, Gwen was among the most exceptional magic students of their level, and she was able to send an ultimate fireball spell hurtling directly toward Larwood's face. Unfortunately for her, Larwood had read her like an open book, avoiding the fireball with an agile sidestep before stopping just short of Gwen's throat with a vicious straight punch, displaying an unprecedented level of speed in the process.

As it turned out, he had never used his top speed during his prior evasion of Gwen's attacks, thereby luring her into a false sense of security, which ultimately proved to be fatal. Even though Larwood had only used the most basic martial techniques, he was able to win due to his reflexes and cunning, and even the lecturer had been quite impressed by his stunning display during that lesson.

Gwen was naturally very unwilling to stomach the loss, and thereafter, she saw every offense and defense class as a chance to teach Larwood a lesson. However, Larwood was no slouch himself, and he was able to maintain quite a good record against Gwen throughout their sparring sessions. Not only was Gwen an exceptional magic student, her looks were well above average as well, and thus, Larwood became the envy of the class's entire male cohort with his ability to secure Gwen as a permanent sparring partner.

As for Chase, he also had a female partner by the name of Chanel. Erwin and his friends had always suspected that perhaps Chanel's eyesight was somewhat lacking, but then again, Chase was no less a smooth talker than Larwood, so the situation kind of made sense.

Erwin wasn't a fan of interacting with strangers, so he formed a group with Kaiba, putting an end to Kaiba's dream of matching up with a female magic student himself.

Even though Kaiba didn't possess reflexes on the same level as Larwood, he was extremely well-grounded in basic martial skills and excelled in defense. In addition to that, he crafted a huge magic shield specifically for these sparring sessions against Erwin, rendering him completely helpless.