‘11/13/500

My party members are finished with preparations. Tomorrow, we will venture into the dungeon of Nariso, and retrieve the minor core. We are a skilled and experienced group. There is nothing to fear.

However, I worry.

Earlier in the day, we encountered a not so strange situation. A veteran party of adventurers had taken offense at the conduct of their juniors. ‘They failed to show the proper respect,' as they said. Whether one is the most powerful in the land or the weakest, we all share the same goals.

My comrades and I knew of this veteran party. They are the ones assigned to assist us tomorrow. Knowing this, knowing that a great rift might form, and conflict would follow, we took the side of our juniors.

We could tell it wounded their pride, and I fear they are the vengeful sort.

But I do not regret my decision, whatever may come. For an adventurer, we are not to fear tomorrow.

-Eamun Skychaser’

I turned the page while also finishing the last stringy piece of my food. A boy from the table over dropped his tray, startling me.

“Why is it always cold meals!”

Cold?

I didn’t have anything left to test what he said, but it felt fairly warm to me. There was a slight but clear difference between the heat of the food items and the air around. Leonard was also buying out the meat from students again. Five particularly large chunks were on his tray while he handed the smaller ones to those at his table.

I turned the page. Last night I could only spend a few hours reading. It took me much longer to return to the dorms than I thought it would since I spent the better part of the night going around in circles afterward. Nothing in Skychaser’s journal mentioned anything about recruiting or gathering party members, but I was only in the first quarter of the book.

There was a crash.

A tray lay upside down as food littered the floor. Leonard sneered as another student—an aremshai-ir from the scales on his neck—grabbed him by the collar, “Apologize to me and all the other arem students!” A group of arem stood nearby. I recognized a few of them who were previously in line. They still had their meat.

“Get your filthy hands off me.”

Leonard grabbed the scaled arem’s arm and dug into it with his stone-covered fingers. He let out a yell and pushed Leonard, sending him tumbling onto the spilled food. Gasps rang out. Leonard’s face twisted as he saw the squashed greens staining his white uniform. He shot up, burning red. “Do you even know who I am?! I can crush you or any of the half-humans anytime I want.”

Scales spread across the arem’s body like living armor. “If you think you can, then try it.”

Leonard scoffed. The stones around his hands turned to mud. It wrapped around his arms, coating them before hardening. A piece around the shoulder grew out into a pauldron. Students scattered toward the safety of the crowd, and tables were moved in anticipation of the fight.

“Stop!”

The doors to the cafeteria were thrown open. In walked an instructor sporting a well-fitted suit designed to emphasize the ruby pin around his neck. He carried a cane that contrasted his squared and gruff features.

“Fighting in the cafeteria is forbidden, even more so if unapproved.”

“Then approve this fight,” Leonard shouted.

“And why would I do that?” The oddly-dressed instructor leaned on his cane. He shook his head as if he’d had to deal with this situation a hundred times.

“He assaulted me, that’s why!”

“You threw all my food on the ground and called all arem students pigs!”

“Oh, my apologies then. I didn’t know it was so grave an error to call you by your parent species.”

The two boys stepped toward the other.

“Enough,” the instructor said. “What are your names?”

“Malburk Gollak,” the arem student said.

Leonard snorted. “What a vile name. So guttural.”

Malburk snarled in response. The instructor threw a hand up. “Your name. What is it?”

“Leonard Hemming.”

“What?” Someone almost choked. “He’s Leonard Hemming?”

A few feet away were Rainen and his friends.

What are they doing here? Don’t they usually sit on the other side of the cafeteria?

“Great,” Axel sighed. “He sure is living up to the rumors.”

The crowd murmured and the instructor adjusted himself, leaning less on his cane and tidying his clothes. Leonard smirked. The stone coating his arm dissolved and he adopted a casual demeanor. “Instructor, I would greatly appreciate if you would accept my request for a duel. This… Malbork fellow has not only put his hands on me and stained my clothes, but this would stain my honor as well since I’ve already shown aspects of my flow control.”

“It’s Malburk,” he growled.

The instructor ran a hand over his dark hair. A moment ago, he seemed prepared to end the situation. Now, he contemplated the duel. How much of the academy was influenced by nobles?

“Fine. I’ll preside over your duel. Come outside.”

Nearly the whole cafeteria followed. I was a step behind, closing my book and hurriedly putting my tray away. Those relaxing outside were confused by the sudden outpour of people. Following the flow of the crowd, being pushed and pulled, I somehow ended up at the front. Opposite me, I saw Rainen with his friends. I wanted to shrink back, but the crowd wouldn’t absorb me back in.

“The duel between Leonard Hemming and Malburk Gollak is approved by me, Instructor Neway.”

Leonard took that moment to step in and whisper something into the instructor’s ear. After a moment of hesitation, he nodded.

“If agreed upon, this will be a red duel.”

“Red duel!?”

“For just that?”

“That arem is going to regret this.”

“Good.”

The front seemed even worse now. As Ms. Ein had explained it, there were three types of duels. Green duels were fought with protective equipment and ended when any danger was apparent. Blue duels were the standard for the academy, ending when it was decided one side took substantial damage or surrendered. Red duels followed the same logic, but allowed for the spilling of blood and only ended when one side surrendered or could no longer fight.

At least the instructor can step in.

I didn’t know if I truly believed that, but I wanted to.

“What’s going on?” Nula asked. She’d made her way to the front.

“A duel,” I answered.

“I agree to the duel,” Malburk said.

“No!” An arem girl with white fur and an elderwood pin tried to get in the circle but another student held her back. “Don’t do this. We have nothing to gain from quarreling with a great house!”

She was one of the representatives for the arem students. She sat one table away from me.

“Is your representative going to come save you?” Leonard taunted.

“I’ve already agreed,” he said, ignoring her pleas. “Stop trying to delay this.”

“Fine. I agree to the red duel. Start it.”

Mr. Neway grimaced, “The duel will now commence. No one is allowed to interfere.” His red pin glowed and a barrier formed around them.

“No…” They pulled the arem representative away from the fight.

Leonard coated his arm in stone and cast an earthbolt. Malburk dodged it and dashed forward with his claws. Leonard fell back, using his hardened arm to block the vicious strikes. Each hit tore off chunks.

“Too much for you to handle, great house kid?”

Malburk kept his assault up, ripping away more and more of Leonard’s makeshift magic armor. The broken pieces fell to the ground and another wave of mud hardened to fill the holes. Even if it felt effortless, every strike drained more of his mana.

“Don’t you get tired of running?”

“Just setting up,” he said, stopping.

Leonard let his arm take another hit and pushed back. Malburk gripped the arm for balance but the stone acting as armor and littering the ground turned into mud. He fell and Leonard followed with a furious punch. Malburk rolled out of the way and the brick below shattered from the blow.

The arem shot a stream of air, staggering Leonard. The mud moving around his arm began to slow, harden, and crack. Malburk smiled. Engrossed in the battle, it took me a second to realize this was what the journals meant about disrupting the flow of mana. Flow control dictated how mana moved inside and outside the body. By forcing the mud to change states or to waver, was Malburk’s way of proving his power.

Slowly, Malburk pushed him to the barrier, with sweat running down the scaleless parts of his face. The crowd started to mutter. Nobody thought a great house would lose. I didn’t either, despite knowing nothing about them. The arem students let out little cheers. Mr. Neway almost dropped his cane. Pressed against the barrier, the noble groaned.

“We aremshai-ir might have come to your academy, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t already strong. Great houses are names only. Give up now and I’ll settle for a scratch on your arm.”

Leonard was crouched on one knee, screaming. “A-AARRGHH!” The students began to look at each other as if wondering if something should be done. “AARRH… hahaha!” It’d turned into laughter. Leonard hit him with a stone fist.

“W-Wha?” He fell on his back.

“You really thought you won?”

“What’s going on?” an observer asked.

“I don’t know,” replied another.

Malburk launched an airbolt and followed with a windblade. Neither did anything.

“You thought your pathetic flow control could trump mine!?”

The armeshai-ir tried to get up but he was hit with a stonebolt.

“I knew from the start how this would end,” Leonard said.

Students, nobles specifically, began cheering him on. “You got this!”

“Show those half-humans what happens when they mess with us!”

“I knew I could count on a great house!”

They traded spells. Reminiscent of Rainen’s duel against Abelard, Malburk’s were consumed by Leonard and took hit after hit. His uniform, covered and mud and under strain from his scales, ripped from the impacts.

“Forfeit!” the arem rep screamed.

He lunged with his claws. Leonard caught his hands and they pushed against each other. Malburk stood a few inches taller, his muscles a bit bigger, his build just slightly larger, but he fell to his knees. The noble’s stone dug into his scales, ripping them off and showing the pink vulnerable flesh underneath.

“Submit,” Rich Boy said.

Malburk’s eyes were clouded and he breathed unsteadily. However, when he heard Leonard speak, “Go fuck yourself,” he said, spitting in his face.

“Fuck,” Nula cursed.

“YOU!” Leonard pulled back and slammed into the arem. He fell flat on the ground and Leonard followed with a stomp to his chest. “I would have let you go!” He stomped on him again and again until Malburk found the strength to roll to his side. Then came the kicks. One after another. Blood flowed from his stomach and chest where the stones scraped and pierced his skin.

Malburk choked out the words.

“I”

Kick.

“Sur-”

Kick.

“rend-”

Kick.

“de-”

Leonard reached down and clamped his mouth shut with a muzzle made of rocks. “I’m not done yet,” he screamed. His kicking continued. The crowd that had been excited about Leonard’s comeback grew silent. The savageness of his kicks continued.

“NEVER.”

Kick.

“SPIT.”

Kick.

“ON.”

Kick.

“ME!”

Kick.

Malburk tried to speak but they came out as only muffled wails.

My body was shaking. “W-What? Some-somebody stop this…”

How could he be so cruel? Were relations between the aremshai-ir and nobles this bad? I looked to Nula, but I couldn’t ask her. Words wouldn’t come out anymore. Her grim expression said she knew this was how it was.

“Stop!” the white-furred arem rep, cried. “He’s had enough.”

Leonard’s hateful fury calmed. A smile crept across his face. “Mr. Neway hasn’t stopped the duel. That means what I’m doing is still within academy rules.”

The arem representative looked at him with pleading eyes. “Instructor…”

“...Malburk’s life is not in danger. He has also not surrendered.’

“Wha- H-He can’t! He can’t surrender! He’s brutalizing him!”

“No, no. You won’t be making a villain out of me.”

“Then stop,” she said.

Leonard’s face twitched. He made excuses to continue terrorizing his opponent but hadn’t expected to be called out.

He thought for a second, then his smile returned. “Alright, fine. If you think I’m going too far, then let’s ask some others in the crowd, hm?” He scanned and stopped on Feno. “You, do you think this is too much?”

“I-I, I think that-that this might be a bit extreme…”

“Hold on. Let me make this clear. I have requested a duel that this lizard thing accepted. He put his hands on me first, insulted me and my family, refused to surrender, spit in my face, and the instructor overseeing this duel has said nothing. However, you believe that I am a brute, that I am relishing his pain and suffering, and you want to intervene?”

The last word made Feno and the crowd shudder. Rainen glared at Leonard, which made his smirk grow wider.

“I-I… I… I think this should end when he surrenders…” Feno answered.

Leonard’s smile widened. “How about you?” He pointed to another aremshai-ir.

“I-I think he should be allowed to surrender,” the boy replied.

He continued his game, framing it in such a way as to scare everyone away. One by one, nobles and non-nobles alike failed to stand up to him.”

“You, roluk. What are your thoughts?”

“Huh? M-Me?”

I didn’t know why. For some reason, it never entered my mind that he’d choose me. My voice was nothing more than a whisper. I could see the arem representative shaking her head, praying, pleading for me to side with her.

“I-I-I think-”

Nula grabbed my arm. “Don’t. Whatever’s happening to him, will happen to you ten times over. Look at how the instructor hasn’t done anything. Your life in the academy will be over. Think about your family. Think about your sponsor.”

“Your answer,” Leonard prodded.

I wasn’t sure of what I was going to say before. Now, even more so, the words jumbled around in my mouth. Too many things. Too many eyes.

“I-I… I don’t know…”

“Oh? Undecided it seems. Well, how about this? I will stop if you change your mind. Isn’t it kind of me to let this roluk decide, Representative of the Aremshai-ir?”

“He didn’t know,” she said.

“He didn’t know?” That set him off. “He didn’t know, you say? Did you know not to insult me? Not to spit in my face?”

Malburk’s groans were muffled by the stone. He shook his head desperately. Tears pooled at the edges of his eyes.

“I see.”

Then he kicked him.

“WELL.”

Kick.

“NOW.”

Kick.

“YOU.”

Kick.

“KNOW!”

Kick.

Malburk rolled from the last kick. He clutched his stomach, the tears rolling down now. The savage beating quelled the enthusiasm of the less hateful nobles. His voice was muffled, but I heard the faintest traces of his words. “I’m sorry,” he seemed to say. My stomach churned. I could save him. Just one word. One word and it’d be over.

But I couldn’t.

How much harassment could I take before it was too much? It wasn’t only me on the line. I had to think about my sponsor like Nula said. They paid for me and gave me this opportunity. I couldn’t throw it away.

Fire coated Rainen’s arm. He raised it to bash the barrier in when Axel calmed him down with a gust of wind. Leonard snorted as Axel dragged Rainen back. “As I said, I’ll stop when the roluk tells me to. However,” his gaze lingered on Rainen. “Since the first-year representative in the academy duel is clearly tired of watching, and lunch is nearly over, we should end this.”

Relief washed over me.

“Mr. Neway, it should be sufficient to say this half-human can no longer participate if I break his arm, correct?”

Mr. Neway reluctantly nodded.

I felt my stomach drop. The arem representative looked on in horror. Malburk tried to crawl away, but Leonard planted a knee on his back. I had to say something. Now. Do it now! The emotions swirled. Tears welled in my eyes on the cusp of breaking free. My mouth moved without a single sound.

“What are you doing, Leonard? Let him go.” A familiar voice cut through the silence. Iris and Elis emerged.

Leonard relaxed his grip, “Ms. Bellard! You’ve decided to come watch as I win my first of many duels? You brought your… friend along as well it seems.”

“Best friend, Hemding,” Elis said.

“Hemming,” he corrected.

“Sure, whatever you say.”

“Everyone knows this duel’s over. Let him go.”

“Is it? He hasn’t surrendered and neither has that roluk said anything.”

I flinched when Iris turned to me. It felt worse than the nobles’ disdain. I refused to meet her eyes.

“The aremshai-ir aren’t our enemies,” Iris said.

“Not while they’re learning from us. Not while they build their little connections on the inside. Maybe if your family had been at the forefront of the war against The Winter Alliance, you’d feel the same way.”

A few of the arem and human students shuffled uncomfortably. The human students were paler and had sturdier frames than other students. They were from the north, part of the absorbed Tusgnar Kingdom.

“My father commanded the second army,” Iris said.

“The defensive line,” he retorted. “If that is all you have to say, I have a duel to finish. Anything from you roluk? I didn’t think so.”

As Leonard pulled on Malburk’s arm, the stone covering his mouth loosened and fell off.

“I surrender,” he croaked.

“The duel is over. Leonard Hemming is the victor!”

Leonard's eyes went wide and he looked at his hands, then shot a glare at the teacher. "It's not over yet. Someone must've messed with our duel. I-”

The arem representative ran past Leonard and to Malburk’s side. She helped him stand. “You won. At least take your victory with grace.”

His face twitched but with the crowd still watching and the teacher’s interference he snorted. “I’ll make sure to be the first-year duelist next time.”

“Good. At least you managed to not piss him off,” Nula said. “Ellar?”

I pulled away from her, clutching at my book. I wouldn’t read it again for the whole day. I wasn’t worthy of reading it.

I was too ashamed.