Chapter 173: Chloro raimo

Jelo and Mira began searching through the academy grounds for Chloro. They had just finished talking about him, and Mira had said he would be the perfect person to help Jelo learn how to use his fire powers.

Earlier, Jelo had been looking for Ken and Atlas. Instead, he ran into Mira. Ken was probably away on a mission with his master, but Atlas’s whereabouts were completely unknown.

Jelo had wandered the eastern corridor for nearly twenty minutes before spotting Mira near the equipment storage hall, arms crossed and leaning against the wall like she was waiting for someone. When he told her who he was looking for and why, she had listened carefully, nodded once, and then brought up Chloro’s name without much hesitation.

“If we’re looking for Class 2 students, where should we go?” Jelo asked, glancing around as they passed the training court. A few students were drilling footwork nearby, their movements sharp and practiced.

“The Class 2 dorm, I think,” Mira replied. “They could also be in the Arena Nexus.”

“Wait, wait,” Jelo said suddenly, slowing his pace. “What’s his name again? I should at least know the name of the person we’re looking for.”

“His name is Chloro,” Mira said. “Chloro Raimo.”

The name sounded strange to Jelo. It didn’t roll off the tongue the way he expected. He said it quietly to himself, testing the syllables.

Chloro Raimo.

It was the kind of name that made you pause for a second, like it belonged to someone who had been somewhere before and hadn’t said much about it. Still, he didn’t think too much about it as they continued walking through the academy grounds.

They started with the dorm. A few students outside pointed them down the hall, and another told them to check the common area near the second floor balcony. That led them nowhere. They backtracked, asked again, and the third person they approached — a quiet girl carrying a stack of bound training logs — finally told them to check the courtyard behind the east wing. She said she had seen him sitting there maybe an hour ago.

After asking several Class 2 students, one of them finally led them to where Chloro was sitting. He was alone, focused on something on his phone. They couldn’t tell exactly what he was doing — his expression gave nothing away, completely still in that particular way that made it unclear whether he was bored or deeply absorbed.

Chloro looked up when they approached. His eyes moved from the student who had brought them to Jelo and Mira, taking them in without much urgency.

“Hope there’s no problem,” he said, sounding slightly worried.

Before anyone else could speak, Mira answered.

“No, there’s no problem. We just need your help with something… something only you could do.”

That statement made Chloro look even more uneasy. His eyes narrowed slightly, the way someone does when they’re already preparing a reason to say no.

“Only me?” he asked slowly. “Alright. I’m listening… as long as it’s not something against the rules.”

There was a beat of silence. A distant shout from the training court carried over on the wind.

“Well,” Mira said, gesturing toward Jelo, “my friend here needs someone who can teach him how to use his fire powers. We know your abilities include fire, and you’ve mastered it to some extent. We thought you’d be the best person we know who could teach him.”

Chloro didn’t react right away. He glanced at Jelo — just a quick scan, like he was sizing something up — and then looked back at his phone for a moment before setting it face-down on his knee.

He sighed softly. This wasn’t what he expected them to ask, but it also didn’t sound too troublesome.

“Why should I help you guys?” he asked, leaning back in his seat as if he wasn’t interested. The posture was almost theatrical — arms loose, chin slightly raised, like the question itself was barely worth the air.

“We know you don’t really have a reason to help us,” Mira began to explain.

Before she could finish, Jelo suddenly cut in.

“Please,” he said urgently. “I really need your help. There are a lot of things I still need to master. I’m already behind where I should be. My other abilities are decent — I’ve mastered them to some extent — but my fire ability is the only one I haven’t mastered yet.”

His voice had dropped some of its usual composure. It wasn’t desperation exactly, but it was close. Something honest and unguarded had come through in those few sentences, the kind of admission that wasn’t easy to make in front of someone you’d just met.

Jelo almost dropped to his knees as he pleaded.

Chloro looked at him for a moment. Something shifted in his expression — barely visible, but there.

He casually dropped his phone onto the table.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” he said. “Why should I help you? What’s in it for me?”

Mira was already drawing a breath to answer, already sorting through what she could offer, when Chloro suddenly raised his hand.

“I’m just kidding,” he said. “Relax. I’ll help you.”

“Really?” Jelo asked in surprise. Just a moment ago, Chloro looked completely uninterested. The shift was fast enough that Jelo wasn’t sure how to read it — whether this was the real version of him surfacing or just another layer of the same hard-to-read performance.

“I would really appreciate it,” Jelo said.

“Fine,” Chloro replied, picking up his phone again. His thumb moved across the screen once before he locked it and slid it into his pocket. “Let’s go to the academy yard. We’ll start with the basics. Nothing too stressful. Nothing too complicated.”

“Alright,” Mira said. “We’ll head there now.”

“I’ll meet you outside in five minutes,” Chloro said, already looking elsewhere.

As Jelo and Mira turned to walk away, their footsteps quiet against the stone, Jelo leaned toward Mira.

“Is it just me,” he whispered, “or does he seem uninterested in everything we said? Is that just his personality?”

“Beats me,” Mira replied. “I don’t really know much about him. I only heard from some people that he’s really good with fire powers. That’s why I thought of asking him.”

She paused for a moment, her gaze drifting briefly back toward where Chloro was still seated.

“Though… those class two people weren’t really on good terms with us. That might be why he acted like that.”

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