Mystical Journey

"Why were you so feisty, Serin?" Once again, Garen gently nudged Serin to sit down.

"Nothing, I just thought that it’s not right to talk behind someone’s back." Little Serin replied with a huff.

Garen suddenly felt a little strange; Serin had always been nice since their childhood, but as they grew up, Serin slowly began having her own opinions.

Even Eeleen was the same. Also, a few girls in the class were the same and had become very proactive, as though they’d matured over a short period.

Comparatively, the boys were much slower to mature. Aside from the two boys who were the most active, the other boys actually seemed to be submissive. Sometimes, they were even frequently bullied by the girls.

This phenomenon was utterly absurd.

Garen’s couldn’t help but glance over at the weird girl with platinum-colored hair.

"Syves Latin?"

After the incident with the venomous snakes, the school had slowly returned to a peaceful state.

Standard 2 soon ended uneventfully, and Standards 3, 4, and 5 without any major incidents. There were no anomalies that happened again. Garen’s violin skills had improved tremendously, but following the greater mastery of the Black Sethe Claw, he occasionally lost control during his violin practice and that bone-chilling aura would leak into his music.

The third child, Garen’s sister Vivien, had also finally been enrolled in primary school, and she proudly became a member of the primary school.

Standard 5 was the time when one would graduate to the next tier of education, but to everyone, it was an undeniable fact that Garen would qualify for the only junior high in the town.

As the matter of fact, this place should be called Standards 6, 7, 8.

Tick…

The bell for recess had rung.

Garen, who was now about 1.5 meters tall, stood up and began packing his notebooks into his backpack.

Following the end of the final year examinations, the straight A’s on his report made the teachers smile from ear-to-ear. As his graduation approached, the teachers prepared a dinner, with the finale being Garen’s violin play.

The twelve-year-old Garen now looked physically close to perfection. Unlike his past life, he now boasted a slender, well-balanced body, bright golden hair and his face had a hint of gender-neutrality. As he immersed himself in music all year round, he now exuded a mysterious femininity.

He was very polite in his daily engagements too; with a kind temperament, Garen soon became one of the top two popular boys in his class.

As for the most famous boy, Jimmy was a handsome boy with a strong physique and amazing athletic abilities. Garen had observed him from afar before, noting that this person has a healthy charm and a wild personality. He excelled in basketball, football and baseball, and had even been appointed the head of the school’s PE department. With a skin tone slightly darker than wheat, he was wildly popular among the girls.

"Hey Garen, shall we go home together?" Serin and Eeleen came by in pairs, the trios were best friends who have grown up together.

Serin was dressed in a red T-shirt and washed out bell bottom jeans and was about Garen’s height. Her fair and lovely face seemed a little rougher nowadays, as the pores became pronounced. However, her black pixie cut matched her handsome facial look, which was rather tomboyish at times.

Eeleen, on the other hand, had become much prettier, she’d gone to dye her hair one random day, and her previously black hair was now a lovely hue of burgundy. Moreover, her hair had become silkier, and one could even see the individual strands of her hair when the lighting in the room was good.

Eeleen had a stereotypical Asian look and was completely different from Serin’s Caucasian appearance. As both of them grew older, Eeleen now stood about 1.4 meters, and her skin condition was much better as compared to her childhood as her skin’s texture had smoothened, and her eyes were like a pair of crescent moons when she laughed. She was comparable to the two most beautiful girls in the class and was one of the most typical crushes among the boys.

Aside from the differences in their physical appearance, Eeleen’s personality was very similar to Serin's. She was slowly becoming more independent and opinionated, and when they were met with issues or conflicts, they might even brawl it out.

"Is there anything more important than the final graduation dinner?" Serin snickered while covering her mouth.

Just as the three of them walked out of the classroom and were descending to the second floor, a voice suddenly called out to Garen.

"Garen, could you wait for a moment?" a group of upperclassmen girls appeared behind them.

The three of them turned around. The leader of the group was a girl with shoulder-length hair and silky smooth skin. Although she looked slightly snobbish, her tall body had appropriate womanly curves, probably a student from the junior high Standard 6 class. It was apparent that this girl was confident in her body, as she wore a white skin tight tee as well as figure-hugging white jeans, showing off her perfect figure. A pair of brown leather boots gave out loud clear thumps with every step.

The students who were passing by started to slow down when they noticed that there was some juicy drama waiting to happen, they lingered with interest in the 2 groups, waiting to see what would happen.

"I am Raffaele." the upperclassmen proudly swept her voluminous hair back, while her boots thudded with every step she took towards Garen. "I have observed you for a long time, Garen. Why don’t you become my boyfriend? Aren’t you bored of being together with these two underdeveloped brats?"

She puffed out her chest in a seductive manner. The fourteen, fifteen-year-old had already learned the ways to exhibit her body’s charm.

Garen was taken aback. Even though there were girls who wrote him love letters, they no longer approached him if he didn’t reply to them, but it was certainly a first to him, for a girl to be this brazen and confessing to him in public.

Deep inside, he was still a conservative Eastern man, and to suddenly encounter events like a public confession from girls, he couldn’t help but be shocked.

Just as he snapped back to reality and was prepared to reply, two silhouettes suddenly walked past him and blocked his path.

"Who did you refer to as ‘underdeveloped’?"

Serin’s face turned cold.

"Raffaele Dockman, I know you, Class 2 Standard 6, are you here for trouble?"

"Two tomboys, having absolutely no femininity, do you think Garen would like people like you two?" Raffaele sneered as she crossed her arms.

The girls behind her began snickering too.

"Only our lady boss is fit for Garen, the two of you are better off blending in among the lowerclassmen, you’re sorely lacking in both breasts and butts."

"Our lady boss is the boss beyond the Standard 6, how dare you oppose her?"

"They are children, after all, it’s normal to think that they would be of the same class after graduation, we have to be considerate and forgive their silliness."

That group of girls started chattering and laughed non-stop.

Serin chuckled coldly for a moment.

"Are you all made of only mouths?"

She clenched her fists, which let out a crisp crack. Her expression turned darkened, and she was unusually angry.

In actual fact, both Serin and Eeleen had secretly liked Garen for a long time. It was just that Eeleen had become more beautiful while she only became worse, and as they grew older, this gap only became wider. Serin then buried her affection in order to encourage Eeleen to be with Garen, it felt like the two of them had become more compatible with each other, but now, an outsider had appeared, with the intentions of ripping apart their friendships.

Garen frowned; in his eyes, this was all but a childish drama, but as he realized that her words were a bit too offensive and that Serin and Eeleen might have been hurt, he moved his body slightly in order to stand out to talk.

"Don’t you dare meddle in!" Serin suddenly blocked him, "This is an issue among us girls, just sit back and be quiet." She sounded determined with no hesitation in her tone.

Garen gazed at her and Eeleen beside her. Their eyes held a firm determination and sincerity and clearly, they didn’t want him to mediate this disagreement.

"Very well."

He no longer resisted while he nodded slightly. Kids have to face these difficulties eventually in life, as this was a part of growing up.

"How do you want to do this?" Raffaele began laughing and folded her sleeves, showing her fair, slender arms, "One-on-one?"

"Don’t even bother us again if we win!" Serin began to flex her shoulders.

"Let me do this, you take on the other people." Eeleen took a step forward and spoke in a low voice.

"Okay." Serin’s dad was the squad leader of security, so she’d learned many combat techniques from her dad. It wasn’t her first couple of times in a brawl either. "Do you remember the techniques I taught you?"

"Yeah." Eeleen nodded.

The two girls took their stance and were prepared to fight.

"Right here?" Raffaele frowned as she looked at the crowding spectators. "Let’s change the venue, it wouldn’t be fun if the teachers come over."

"The grove of trees behind," Eeleen said impassively.

"Sure."

The two groups then walked down the stairs, they stormed off to the grove behind the school with a strangely grim vibe.

"I was saying…" Garen was speechless, he’d a small suspicion after he started primary school, but he didn’t expect that these indicators had begun to exacerbate and become more obvious.

The townspeople of this place were disproportionately female and here, the women took up the role of breadwinner. The women were also the ones who resolved conflicts, and this phenomenon was not unique to the schools, he’d also observed similar experiences outside.

Aside from working outside, women took charge of most of the similar issues. The patriarchy system of the outside world seemed to be reversed here,

Just like now.

Two gangs of girls prepared to fight it out over a boy, "See you at the grove after school." Wasn’t that what boys would say?

If it was the outside world, the situation would be the inverse. Two groups of men fighting for a girl, that would be the logical way…

To be a protagonist being fought over, Garen felt weird, but Serin insisted that he didn’t follow, it’s a woman’s matter and men should stand aside.

It didn’t feel logical no matter how he looked at it.

Speaking of which, he didn’t have any heterosexual attraction towards any of those girls, he was an old man inside, after all, if he was attracted to these kids, then he was truly twisted inside. Of course, this was related to the fact that Serin and Eeleen were slow to grow. If it were to be Raffaele’s figure, it would have been normal to have some lust and react to the body’s natural reaction at this age. Otherwise, he would have to assess if this body had any issues.