The Nova Ranker - The Sword Almighty

Chapter 5: Quinta Roca Manor

As we stepped into the mansion, I could feel the thoughts of several people headed our way. All of them were excited to meet the new recruits. Everyone was in the entrance hall, looking at us intently, and I could feel the judgemental attitude, excitement, horrible terrible fear, all mixing into one melting pot that was starting to give me a headache, but I managed to not show my discomfort too much. No sign of the odd whisper from before as far as I could tell. I tried to distract myself a little. I found it interesting that there were so many pots with flowers and strange trees sitting in here.

"Welcome all of you!" One of the people at the top of the stairs came up to us and smiled widely. He looked like an older man, with a thick golden beard and slight wrinkles at the corners of his friendly gray eyes, but he carried himself with the energy you would expect from a teenager. He was sprightly, and judging by his looks, also quite strong. Also, he had a slight accent, probably from some part of northern Europe. "I am Alphonse Godt, caretaker of Quinta Roca Manor, and second in command of Rosegold Squad. I'm glad to meet all of you, new recruits, I hope you will find your stay comfortable!"

All around us I could feel the presence of watching children and young adults, all interested in the sight of new recruits. I did feel a twinge of indignation from an upsetting amount of them. Indignation that certain... specific kids had managed to make their way in here. Apparently, Nova Ranker values skill over morality..

"Please go upstairs so we can assign you your rooms." The kind old man made a gesture, and everyone started to walk towards the stairs

I was the first to get to the second floor, with Franziska following behind me. It wasn't anything that intimidating or scary, all things considered, but I was on edge. I was used to being the new kid at school and being the target of pranks.

Mr. Godt took us to our bedrooms and gave all of us a small booklet that would turn into a full sized map that told you your position in the manor if you opened it on the right page. From the little booklet also hung a tiny key that we could use to open any door we had "clearance" to open.

After telling us we had a while to rest before heading to the dining hall for our introduction, Mr. Godt then headed back downstairs. Each room was built for two people, and all of us would be assigned a roommate within our same age range and gender. I was miffed that I couldn't be with Franziska but I could understand why they wouldn't want me to hang out with her alone in a bedroom.

And so, I said goodbye to Franny with a kiss and went to my room. When I opened the door I noticed that there was someone behind me. The other owner of the room, probably. He was shorter than me, with skin the color of fresh potting soil and almond-shaped eyes, the same shade of brown as my mom's. His black hair was braided into dreadlocks, which were tied back in a ponytail. He also wore clothes that looked a bit too big on him. He had thin shoulders and stood slightly slouched, with a permanent smile on his round young face.

"Uh, hey." I tried not to sound awkward as I entered the bedroom and looked around. Two beds, each on one side of the room, so we would each have some degree of separation from one another. And a little curtain that one could pull around the bed. That was probably to change clothes without worrying about getting naked in front of a stranger. "I'm Elias Vasquez." If I was going to share my room with this kid, I thought it'd be for the best to at least try to make friends, which meant cutting back on the mind-reading. "I guess we're gonna be Roomies from now on."

He looked up to me and smiled, a friendly twinkling in his eyes just like the one I saw in Mr. Godt's. "I'm Joel Campbell. A pleasure to meet you, Elias." He held his hand out to me and I shook it. And I felt like I just got shocked. I put my hand away and looked up, only to see Joel laughing like a little kid. Oh, he had a joy buzzer. I felt like I was in a cartoon from the 50's.

"Real funny, dude. I'll be on the lookout for whoopie cushions."

Joel stopped giggling at me and looked up, his brow furrowed in mock consideration. "Oh c'mon. Even that's too low for me." He held his hand out again, this time not wearing the joy buzzer. "Alright, let's start again. You can just call me Joey, alright?"

"Joey." I repeated and smiled. This kid was interesting already. "You from around here?" I started to unpack my luggage, feeling slightly self-conscious at the fact there was another person here looking at my clothes.

"I'm American if that's what you mean. From Louisiana if you want me to be specific. What about you, Elly?"

Elly. He gave me the same nickname Franziska gave me when we met. I don't know why it made me so happy but it certainly did. "Oh. I'm not from the States. I'm from Colombia. South America, not South Carolina."

"Oh, that's fun! Isn't that the place where they make really good coffee?"

"Sure. At least I think so, I don't really like coffee. Doesn't do much for me."

He patted my arm and pointed at the candy in his hand. Something he'd pulled out of my luggage. "What's this thing?" I looked at his hand. It was a small hard cube of red paste. "Smells kinda sweet."

"Oh that's called Bocadillo de Guayaba." I cleared my throat a little bit when I realized this kid maybe didn't understand Spanish. "It's Guava paste compacted into a little cube. You eat it with cheese because it's super sweet."

He stuffed the little piece of candy into his mouth and started to chew it. "Super Sweet. Turbo sweet Even. Mind if I keep poking around?"

"What, do you want me to run through my stash in a single day?" I joked, pulling out a small bag of Chokis. Man if you've never had Chokis you're missing out. They're little balls of puffed corn covered in chocolate. They're so tasty.

I won't say that I'm proud of this, but Joey and I managed to burn through almost half of my stash of Colombian sweets in the span of a few hours. A few bags of Mani-Moto, a full bag of assorted Jet chocolate bars, half a tub of Manjarblanco, and my entire box of Sparkies. All the while I got to know him a bit more. He told me about his home in New Orleans. He told me he knew French, and even taught me a few cusses. I'm not going to teach them to you, but I now know how to cuss out the heavens in the language of love.

I of course told him about myself as well, mainly about life in Colombia, school stuff. I also taught him how to cuss in Spanish. Of course, I made sure to mention Franziska. I felt proud of myself for being with Franny. So I wanted to let Joey know because I felt I should work extra hard to impress some dude I met today. I'm starved for validation, don't judge me.

"Say, think we should get going?" Joey said as he finished wolfing down a chocolate bar, licking the tips of his fingers. "I appreciate the air conditioning in this room but Mr. Godt did say to go to the hall."

"You're probably right." I stood up and adjusted my jacket, popping out the collar a little bit for the dramatic effect.

"How could you wear a jacket in this weather, dude? I'm cooking in my own juices."

"Oh uh. I'm a Fire Year. Temperature doesn't do much for me."

"Lucky." He stood up and stepped over to the door. "I'm an Earth Year myself." He raised his hand and the soil from a potted plant that sat on the hallway l levitated upwards and did a rude gesture. Nice.

We both stepped out of the room and looked around. I almost wanted to look around for Franziska's room. My phone wasn't getting any Wi-Fi so it wasn't able to talk much with her since we went to our rooms. Oh well, at least I could hang out with Joey for a while so I could introduce him to Franny over lunch.

"You think they have any blood iron stuff on display?" Despite his calm posture and relaxed face, Joey's voice had a hint of excitement in it as we headed down the stairs, and he rubbed his hands together. I could see a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Not likely. It'd be like keeping a display full of extra-dangerous weapons."

"How's a red sword more dangerous than a normal sword?"

"Well, it's metal that can channel magic, dude." I held a small fireball in my hand and allowed it to dance between my fingers. "Imagine if any kid was able to just rip out a sword off the wall and start showering fire and rocks all over."

"Wow, what a nerd." He smiled and lightly slapped my arm before stepping into the dining hall with me.