Things swiftly settled into a pattern, and time seemed to pass by quickly as week after week (or tenday after tenday) went by.

I spent each Freeday splitting my time between the Smithy and staying at home with mother. Little Zephyr and her doe-eyed mother came to visit a few times when I was home, the sweet young toddler happily roaming around my room sharpening her teeth on my toys while our mothers had tea. She was growing quickly, and had already managed to grasp enough language to pester me with constant questions (which I happily answered). Every time I saw her I was surprised at how quickly she was developing.

I passed the Apprenticeship Test of the Forge without much difficulty, my control over magnetism making up for any strength or dexterity I lacked. It was still incredibly exhausting, but only because I always tried to push myself to the limit, using as much of my own physique as I could with each hammer strike. I was by far the youngest blacksmith apprentice anyone had ever heard of, but since I had been visiting the Smithy since I was less than a year old it wasn’t very hard for them to accept me. All of them ‘knew’ that I was Merrik’s secret apprentice (having guessed from the rumors going around the village), and were proud both to have me at the forge with them and to keep my secret.

The biggest change was that the Master of Fire, Sylko, stopped singling me out after a while… or at least started being a lot more careful about how she abused her power. I found out from Master Jaduk (in one of our meetings) that he had been trying to get Kodan to lodge a complaint about her behavior, and had finally succeeded.

I had guessed that Master Jaduk was not a noble, which likely caused some problems when he was put in charge of a noble’s wife (Sylko). Academy instructors are generally not nobles at all, although it’s not specifically disallowed. In fact, when the Master of Fire had first been appointed, she had been a commoner like all the rest of the teachers of Academy… but all that had changed upon meeting and marrying Alder (who was, of course, a damn noble).

Master Jaduk still had final say in Academy – but any noble could make trouble for him if they wanted. Lord Runax was the true leader of the entire area, and could replace any Academy instructor (including the head) if he had a ‘good’ reason… which could either be real or fabricated, as long as nobody in The City bothered to look into it. It was actually a pretty complicated political tangle.

The Master of Earth wasn’t willing to explain the entire thing to me even though he was treating me much more like an adult than as a child. In fact, I think he was the first person I had met since I was reincarnated who actually spoke to me as an equal. Jaws came close, maybe, but he was still my father, and our relationship reflected that.

What he did tell me was that Kodan was actually a noble, which surprised me at first – that made Kodan the first noble I had met and not instantly disliked, and who hadn’t either tried to manipulate or mutilate me. And since the complaint came from Kodan, Master Jaduk had been able to transfer it straight to Lord Runax, bypassing the normal channels used for commoners… and from there I had to assume that Sylko was reprimanded based on the complaint. All according to Master Jaduk’s plan.

I had to admit that he had impressed me again, and I realized I had a lot more to learn from him than I had first thought. I was relatively spoiled growing up on Earth, I supposed. Everyone was (more or less) the same ‘class’ in that we all had to respect the same laws, and the government was supposed to treat us equally. I would have to get used to playing the system… or simply rise above it.

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Hunting was my favorite class, mostly because it was something that I had known absolutely nothing about. It was also the class I was doing the worst in (aside from physical combat training, which I didn’t count).

Master Jaduk was focused on teaching Kodan and Ertha, who were both fourteen and would be attending the Black Tournament in The City soon. He often took them outside the compound along with a full Platoon of House Flameward soldiers – or, possibly, they just accompanied a regular patrol. They were being shown actual Beast Hunts in action, though they always stayed well away from the fighting itself I would assume.

Even when I asked nobody had been willing to give me more details on exactly what they were doing, but I did learn that these Beast Hunts were the official purpose of the Garrison – the soldiers would constantly roam the land searching for beasts who had entered our lands. It was only rarely that Beasts came out of the mountains in great enough numbers to necessitate a full lockdown, at least partly because most Beasts only hunted in small groups; whenever larger groups came together they would generally start killing themselves… unless there was a powerful enough beast around to control the horde. That was when things truly became dangerous, and yet another reason why we had to rely on Merrik: Beasts strong enough to gather a horde were often powerful enough that the House Flameward soldiers could barely protect themselves… let alone hope to protect anyone else.

We were like an entire society of snapping turtles – we could bite if anything weak threatened us, but if a real predator showed up we simply hid in our shells and hoped for the best.

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I was finally allowed to see Tetra again only a few days before the older students were to leave for the Black Tournament. I would miss Kodan – even though he hardly ever spoke to me, he seemed to have a strong enough sense of fairness that he had gone out of his way to improve my lot in life – but the news I had received from Master Jaduk was more than enough to make up for it.

“Really?” I asked, standing up from the chair I had been sitting in, placing my hands on the desk in front of me.

Master Jaduk raised an eyebrow, gesturing for me to sit back in my chair. “Yes, of course.” He said to me, “What did you think would happen? Two students are leaving, and we require that each room have a full quad of students whenever possible.”

I sat back down, a grin beaming on my face. He had just told me that I would no longer be living with the two giantesses, Idonea and Mei, when we returned after the next Freeday. And not only that, since Tetra was turning ten this year it seemed she was finally joining Academy, and would probably be one of my roommates!

I didn’t respond, too busy smiling at this amazing news.

“The investigation into the deaths at the Garrison has ended, and the nobles involved will be returning to The City along with our candidates for the Black Tournament.” Master Jaduk leaned forwards on his desk again. “I have done what I can for you, Heller, and so far nobody has connected you to the dead soldiers. But once you start to display your powers that may change.” He paused. “I expect great things from you in the future, but for now do not draw any further more attention to yourself than you have to, understood?”

I nodded, bouncing out of my chair again. “Yes, Master Jaduk, thank you!” I said, waiting for his nod before dashing for the door. He had ‘strongly advised’ me not to visit Tetra until after the investigation was concluded, as it might be disaster if Alder or his wife realized that Tetra and I knew each other (and therefore decided we may have been colluding all along).

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“Hello, Heller.” Tetra said with a smile. She still seemed to be in some pain as she sat up from the bed, but at least she was speaking fine.

“Are you alright?” I asked her.

Tetra rolled her eyes, “Did you fry your brains with your stupid powers, you beast-brained block head!” She snapped at me, gesturing at her plentiful bandages. “Do I look alright?”

I smiled even wider, resisting the temptation to give her a hug. “You look amazing.”

She blushed, scowling at me as she plucked at her bandages, for once unable to come up with a reply.

I was definitely looking forward to having her as a roommate, especially with the two giantesses having to move out of my room to fill the gap left by the graduating students. Every year was a shuffle, but this year it was definitely in my favor.

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I heard sounds of banging and yelling from the staircase all the way at the end of the hall, images of my fight against the three soldiers springing instantly into my head. I checked my Ion Shield and peeked around the corner, half expecting another ambush. It was clear, but I saw a number of students standing just outside their rooms, looking down the hall towards… towards my room.

What the hell? I broke into a jog, looking through the open doorways as I passed to make sure no soldiers were hiding in wait. The coast seemed clear, and the other warrior trainees mostly ignored me as usual, giving me a brief glance at most. The door was wide open, and as I took a careful peek inside I couldn’t help but draw in a surprised gasp. Mei was lying on the floor, dazed or unconscious, and Idonea was on her back flailing with her fists and gnashing her toothy maw at a strong looking man (with regular human features) who was bleeding from gashes all over his arms and face.

The man deftly parried a blow aimed at his face and lashed out with his left hand, striking Idonea neatly in the chin and knocking her out cold. As he reached up to wipe blood from his eyes (it was dribbling from his forehead) he glanced around and his eyes locked on me. He stood up unsteadily, bracing himself on a nearby table.

“Oh, hello. Are you Heller?” He asked me in a high pitched voice, completely out of place with his frame. Then I noticed his smooth cheeks (beneath the blood) and bright eyes – this was no man, this was a man-sized child. I nodded to him slowly, wary of an impending attack.

He smiled and reached out a hand to salute me (a traditional greeting between equals). “Good to meet you! I’m Wulfric, your new roommate!”

I started, almost thinking he had said Wolfram for a moment – the names were so similar – but I had spoken with Wolfram only a few hours ago over our soul-link, and I could still sense that he was quite far away.

I greeted Wulfric, asking what had happened. He told me that Idonea and Mei had told him he was to do their laundry and cleaning, and that Mei had slapped him when he refused. He hadn’t liked that, and things had devolved from there. Wulfric told me that his father was a guardsman in The City (where he had grown up) and that he had been learning how to fight from a young age because of his large frame.

I laughed, completely unable to feel sorry for the soundly defeated former-bullies. Yes, I had a feeling this next year was going to be a whole lot better than the last.

============= End of Book 1 =============