What does a Chosen do when stuck in a maze? Bake, eat, or annoy Penelope? The correct answer is all of the above. As I munch on my poisoned carrot cookies, I stare Penelope dead in the eyes. Bite, stare. Bite, stare. Bit-

  “Will you stop that already? I’m trying to concentrate over here,” she says incredulously.

  “What’s wrong, Penelope? Do you want one of my cookies? All you would have to do is ask,” I say with a devilish smile.

  “Charlatan, I’m going to-”

  The sound of footsteps interrupts her. We immediately jump to attention as we stare into the darkness of the maze.

  “Do you think it’s another toad?” I ask as I grab a pebble from my pouch.

  “No, the toad came from the lower floor, not this one,” she says as she grabs her greatsword.

  As we watch the darkness, we see a familiar pair of white bunny ears. “Sorry, I got a little lost in there, but thanks for the markings,” Hopper says as he pushes his glasses up.

  “Oh, thank the Gods. I thought we were going to have to fight another one of those demon toads. Have any trouble on the way here?” I ask as I throw a bag of carrot cookies his way.

  “Oh, please, Charlatan. You’re talking to Hopper Lightfoot, one of the few first years to beat a second year,” Penelope lightly teases.

  “Oh, Penelope, how could I be so foolish. Of course, Hopper Lightfoot, son of Holland Lightfoot, would never have any trouble down in this maze,” I lightly tease.

  “Shut it, both of you. At least I won my match,” he says as we pack our stuff.

  “That’s only because we haven’t had our matches yet. Just wait, Hopper, we’ll show you how it’s done,” I say with a smug smile.

  Looking him over, he looks fine. Guess Sylvian University does have the best healers on standby. Even then, I wasn’t expecting this level of healing. I wonder what kind of [Blessings] they have.

  “Enough idle chit chat. We’ve already lost too many days of progress on this floor. Let's move on to the sixth floor and see what awaits us,” Penelope says as she leads us down the stairs.

  Lovely, another floor. First, we start with a murderous slime, then a teleporting creature, a puzzle room, a bunch of ants, a terrible maze, and whatever’s on the sixth floor. Oh goody. I’m sure it’s going to be lollipops and rainbows down here.

  As we enter the sixth floor, it’s… disappointing to say the least. Swampy ground, swampy trees, and swampy bugs. This seems swell.

  “Penelope, correct me if I’m wrong-”

  “Always,” she replies immediately.

  “Let me finish, but wouldn’t this Dungeon have to be an advanced one for it to mimic terrain this way?” I ask.

  “Yes, yes, it would. I’ve been wondering for a while what kind of Dungeon this is. It doesn’t have a theme, and it’s deeper than I thought it was going to be,” she says with a hint of dismay.

  “What do you think’s at the bottom?” Hopper asks as he looks around.

  “Treasure and gold, I hope,” I say.

  “Doesn’t seem very ‘Chosen’ of you,” she mocks.

  “Of course I would use it for good and the needy,” I [Lie].

  “I’m sure you would, Charlatan. Based on my internal clock, we don’t have much time left. We’ll have to pick up here after the weekend. I recommend bringing clothes you don’t care about,” she says with a sad sigh.

  “Well, since we’re stopping here for today, would you like to accompany me after class, Penelope?” I ask.

  She glares at me. “Why only me?”

  “Is it odd for me to enjoy your company?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hopper’s busy today.”

  Penelope looks over at Hopper with an inquisitive look.

  “I already made plans with Lu and Luna. Sorry, Princess.”

  “What exactly are we doing?” she asks.

  “Oh, just a little meddling,” I say with a devilish smile.

  Bundled up under multiple layers of winter clothing, we sit on the roof of Iris Hall. The view is beautiful and isolated. Exactly where we need to be for the beginning stages of this plan.

  “Charlatan, you still haven’t told me what we’re doing,” Penelope says from under her scarf.

  “Patience, Penelope, patience. You’ll see soon enough. Just know that this will help us win the Class War. Also, let's try to stay a little quieter. I don’t want anyone to know that we’re up here, yet,” I say with a wink.

  She cocks her head and lets out a sigh. “This winter is really cold, isn’t it?”

  “I’ve dealt with colder.”

  Her green eyes glow beneath the bundle of her scarf. “Charlatan, do you have a home?” she asks as snow floats down.

  “Of course, I do, Penelope,” I [Lie].

  “Hmm… Charl-”

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  The sound of footsteps thump through the nearby stairs.

  “Hold that thought. I think they’re here. Follow me,” I say as I pull Penelope along.

  Hiding behind some boxes, we watch as two second years enter the roof.

  “Good, it’s so hard to find time to our selves, Fiona,” the male human with black hair says.

  “I know. She’s so persistent. When are you going to break it off with her, Derek?” the woman named Fiona says.

  “You know it’s not that easy. My family needs her family's mines. Once we’re out of the hole, I’ll break it off,” Derek says.

  “You'd better. Sneaking around is fun, but… I can’t do that forever,” Fiona says with a silky voice.

  Penelope leans over to me and whispers, “What is this, Charlatan?”

  “Market Research. Derek is the student who won against Viola,” I say with glee.

  “What are you thinking?” she asks, even though she fully knows what I’m thinking.

  “Just a little meddling. Now watch this,” I say as I [Disguise] myself as a woman with blond hair and brown eyes.

  “No, you’re not going to-”

  “Oh, yes, I am. If he gets physical, I need you to interfere, alright?” I say as I step out.

  “Derek?! What’s this?!” I say using the [Disguised] voice of one, Regina Rusk.

  Midkiss Derek basically pushes away from Fiona. “Regina, what are you doing here!?”

  “What am I doing here!? You have some nerve, Derek! To think you were using me for my family's mines and you’re cheating on me with my best friend! How dare you!?” I say dramatically.

  “No, no, no. That’s not it at all, Regina. It was Fiona. She’s the one who tried to seduce me. I’m innocent in all of this. Trust me. I’ve never lied to you before,” he lies as naturally as he breathes.

  “You bastard! I’m not taking the fall for this! It was his idea, Regina! He wanted your family’s mines, and he’s the one who seduced me!” Fiona lies.

  As the two bicker, I hide a devilish smile. “You expect me to believe the two of you?! Really, after what I just saw?!”

  Derek gets down on his knees and starts to beg. “Please forgive me, Regina. It was a moment of insanity. You know I love you. I’d do anything to gain back your trust,” he says the magic words I was looking for.

  “I can’t even look at you right now, but…” I say, leading him on.

  “But?”

  “I could give you another chance. You just need to do one little thing for me,” I say while turning my back to him.

  “Anything! I’ll do anything!”

  “I need you to prove your worth. I want a vial of pure spring water.”

  “Of course. I’ll buy-”

  “I said prove your worth, not buy it. I want you to physically get me a vial,” I demand, hiding a hint of glee.

  “It’s winter. The only place I can get a vial is the Harmonic Forest. I’d miss almost the entirety of the Class War,” he explains.

  “Is the Class War more important to you than me?” I ask with threatening tone.

  “No, of course not. I’ll go now,” he says as he goes to leave.

  “Wait! Take her with you. If you want to be my friend again, you'd better get to work! Also, I don’t want to hear a peep from you until you find it and personally deliver it to me. Now get!” I yell

  As they scurry away, I drop the [Disguise].

  “What was the point of that, Charlatan?” Penelope asks as she dips out from the isolated corner of the roof.

  “Like I said, Market Research. Mr. Derek, here is Rank 19 for the second years and water magic is a hard counter for a lot of the abilities that we have. Ms. Fiona is also Rank 23 and has access to eye magic, which is extremely difficult to fight if you’re not fast enough to stay out of her visual range. They’ll be busy for… a while,” I explain.

  “I understand taking them off the board, but did you have to personally deliver that message?” she asks.

  “No, but it seemed fun,” I say as we look at the snowfall.

  “What about, Regina? She may be our enemy now, but I don’t know how I feel about not telling her that her boyfriend is cheating on her,” she asks.

  “Oh, I already left her a note. She’ll probably find it in the morning. In fact, I’ve left a lot of notes for a lot of people,” I say as I sneak a bite of a cookie.

  “How did you manage to do this in one night? The information gathering would’ve taken you at least weeks,” she says with an odd amount of surprise.

  “One night? Please, Penelope, I’m not sloppy with my work. This has been in the works since I learned about the Class War. Not to mention, my information-gathering skills are top-notch,” I gloat as I hand her a cookie.

  “I’m going to be honest, I didn’t expect you to take this seriously, at least not this seriously. You usually seem flippant about these matters. Good work, Charlatan,” she says with a sweet smile that I swear could beckon spring.

  Scratching my horn, I look away. “Well, don’t get your hopes up too much. This will only divide and distract the second years long enough for us to get info on their [Skills]. The hard part is still to come. Actually winning those duels,” I say as I clear my throat.

  “I don’t know about you, but I have full faith in our classmates. They stand a good chance of winning their duels. Speaking of, what are we going to do about our duels?” she asks.

  “The Top 3, huh? They’re monsters in their own league. If I’m being honest, I don’t know if you stand a chance,” I joke.

  “Funny, but I’m being serious here. You don’t have… actually combat ability. Are you going to be okay?” she asks with a hint of kindness in her eyes.

  “I don’t know what you mean, but I’ll be fine. Things always just seem to go my way. The real question is, how do we divvy them up?”

  Penelope lets out a long sigh. “We have Rank 3, Abigail Luft, master of wind magic and an annoying one to fight. We both know Rank 2, Luna Sharpfang, the fastest second year. Then there’s Rank 1, Tristan Mallory, the only second year with a [Title]. Certainly a lineup.”

  The gears turn in my head as I think about what to do. “We’re probably going to have to fight them all if we want to win. Let's focus on avoiding any contact with them for now. We’ll deal with them later. For now, let's keep doing Market Research. I have about three more people that I need to [Disguise] myself as. So, keep up.”

  “Charlatan, wait! How long is this going to take?!”