- Chapter 8 -

A young man with a pole arm on his back could be seen walking down the pathway toward the mess hall.

“Gosh these shackles sure make moving around hard!” Mano was still having a hard time moving normally with the training equipment Master Krieg gave him. It's no surprise though, even though he was wearing clothes that Krieg had given him to wear when he was on his free time, it still weighed 160kg. Mano was wearing down quickly. “I can't wait to go to the mess hall for the first time!”

Due to Krieg's relentless training, Mano had been missing out on what most students have been doing for years now. Not that he minded too much, he liked his master a lot and he knew she was doing what was best for him. But, Mano was still a young boy so he wanted to meet and make new friends too.

“Take a look at that boy over there.”

“Wow! Look at him! He's so dreamy...”

“Isn't that the forest prince? Do you think we should go talk to him?”

“He looked over here and smiled! As I thought, I should go talk to him!”

“As if! He wasn't looking at you he was smiling at me of course!”

“Hey!”

Just like the last time Mano was out he was gaining a lot of attention because of his looks. He couldn't quite make out the bickering of the girls but when he saw some of them looking at him and smiling he returned the favor with a smile and wave, causing a misunderstanding and argument between a group of girls. His clothes looked quite fashionable as Master Krieg didn't want Mano making her look bad by wearing shabby clothes. Definitely not because she wanted to dress him up in cute things.

Although he had his spear strapped to his back it was not uncommon to see students walking around with the tools of their specialty attached to their body. For instance if Master Feralis caught even a single one of his students without their bow and quiver it was going to mean hell for them, say goodbye to your free time and hello to fetching arrows for hours. There was even a story where years ago a boy fell asleep during night training with Master Tethys and lost his daggers. He was expelled from the class immediately. Leaving the student to only academics for the rest of his time that year and causing him to repeat the grade with a new instructor. Mano wasn't the only student having it hard.

It wasn't long before Mano made it to the mess hall.

Whoa the the mess hall sure is big..., Mano was impressed by the magnitude of the Myst school's mess hall as he walked through the large double doors. It was used to feed the entire student-base as well as staff so it was made to accommodate many people. The building was three stories separated by age groups and served dishes so impressive that some of the parents even asked their children to bring some of the desserts home with them on their free days.

Mano was becoming overwhelmed by all the smells and sights of the food. Because most of the students at mist would continue to stay after they graduated academically at 12 years old the mess hall had to make many different kinds of healthy food so that the students didn't get bored of it. Food is one of life's great pleasures after all and a great escape from the grind of daily training.

“Uhm...” Mano was standing confusedly at the beginning of the food line not quite sure of what to do to get food. There was a clear orb at the beginning of the buffet line that students would walk up to and touch before continuing on. Mano had no idea how it worked.

The girls didn't mind too much because he was nice to look at but the jealous boys who already saw Mano as their enemy were beginning to become agitated.

“Need some help there? Is this perhaps your first time here?” Just as some of the boys were reaching their wits end with their stomachs eating them from the inside a tall young man descended like an angel to save them by helping explain how getting food works at the mess hall.

“So this is a simple examining orb that will tell you what nutrients you are in need of to make sure you get all the right foods in your body. All you do is you put your hand on the side here...” The young man was patient and explained how to use the device and even answered all the questions Mano had about a such a wondrous device.

So I just put my hand here... Mano was excited as he placed his hand on the orb . It was simple device that only showed you what to eat but he was fascinated by the mystical nature of the device. He was also curious about what he was missing out on nutritionally.

>

The orb glowed with gilded letters which brought envious gazes from the students currently eating vegetables for the fifth time that week.

“Ho~” The young man widened his eyes in surprise. “You must be quite the diligent person. When that notification comes up it means to just eat whatever you like. I'm quite jealous. I've had to eat nothing but chicken the last three weeks. It's like the orb has a grudge against me or something...” He looked a bit dejected when he said this.

“Thanks for the help! Um...” Mano turned to give his thanks to the young man that helped him but forgot he didn't even know his name.

“The name is Diano, 12 years old, subterfuge student. Nice to meet you.” Diano extended his large hands toward Mano.

“Nice to meet you! I'm Mano, eight years old! I'm training to be a vanguard!” Mano was excited at the thought of making a new friend and enthusiastically extended his hand to shake Diano's.

Diano was a beast-man. Evident in his large stature and quickly developing body. His posture was proper and he had a defined air about him. He had long dark brown hair with tall light brown ears popping out on top of his head. He had a long thin tail protruding from his rear as well. It was hard to tell what kind of beast-men his parents were, or if he was a half-breed.

“Well lets not keep the line any further.” Diano placed his hand on the orb before sighing and continuing toward the food line like a zombie.

“Look at that guys plate!”

“I wish I could eat like that sometime...I'm so sick of these vegetables...”

“How can he not be fat eating like that?”

“The other guy looks like his pet just died...”

The subject of these conversations were the two kids sitting at one of the tables in the mess hall with their plates in front of them. One of them was scarfing down his food in glee while the other was looking down at his food with lifeless eyes.

“Wow this food is so good!” Mano was having a fantastic time gnawing on the bone of a just finished rib before looking up and noticing Diano hadn't touched his food once. “Hey if you don't eat your food will get cold you know?”

Diano looked up slowly with deadpan eyes and ears down low. Slowly his eyes start to moisten. “I'M SO SICK OF ALL THIS CHICKEN!!!” As he screams he starts to stuff his face with chicken till his cheeks were swollen with tears in his eyes. “I don't care if the taste is passable! I just wish the orb would say protein and not specifically point out chicken everyday! I feel like I come here to train my jaw! If I wanted to eat this texture all day I would just eat my shoes!” Diano continued to eat his food with tears streaming down his face.

The herbs and garlic smell coming from the chicken is so good though... Mano was ignorant of his new friends struggles and they continued to eat their food till their dishes were clean.

“Ahem. I'm sorry you had to see that.” Diano says while dabbing his mouth with a napkin, wiping away the last of his war with his mortal chicken enemy. After clearing his mouth out with some water he stands up and grabs one of the containers from the side of the mess hall with a tap on the side of it and begins to pour a green liquid into his glass. “Would you like some te-”

“NO! I-I mean, I'm fine with water.” The moment Mano saw the green colored tea coming out of the jug he remembered a horrible liquid used to torture his taste buds and almost wasted all the food he just ate.

“It's good for your digestion though? No matter. How have you not come to the mess hall before? It should be your third or fourth year here so what were you eating?” Diano was curious to Mano's circumstances before coming here and why he didn't know how to use the orb.

“I live with my master in the forest around the vanguard wing. Master Krieg makes really good food and says I'll become fat if I come here too much. I only recently started to be allowed out like this. I came here first because my parents said it had great food and I could make friends here.

“To me this place is torture...” Diano looked downtrodden as he remembered his chicken enemy.

“You said you were 12 so does that mean you are graduating soon?” Mano remembered that Diano said he was 12 years old so he was curious about what he would do when he graduated, slightly disappointed that he may lose the chance at making a friend.

“No I'm staying here to continue my training for the time being.” Diano explained that his family were commoners living in the lower class district and because tuition at Myst was free and he got free meals it was best to stay in school while he can and try his best. Plus, he loved the looks on his sisters faces when he brought cakes over from the mess hall on free days.

“It won't be long before I can move my family out of the outer ring and into the nicer parts of town! I plan on becoming a merchant after accumulating enough wealth adventuring and gaining a bit of capital. So don't forget my name, Diano!” Diano made such a speech about such a serious topic while laughing.

“So cool! I'm sure you can do it!” There were stars in Mano's eyes as he met his first peer role model.

Like this the boys hit it off well and conversed until Mano had to go back to the training hall. They planned to meet again next time Mano had some free time so Diano could show him around. Diano wanted to be a merchant so he worked hard on networking and making many connections and friends while in school to help him in the future. Apparently Diano had graduated from his academics even sooner than Mano, at seven years old. While being trained by his subterfuge instructor the whole time. Diano sure worked hard and inspired Mano to do the same.

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On the porch of a cabin next to a lake in the vanguard wing sat three women drinking tea. If you brought a painter here he would immediately bring out and easel and start his next masterpiece.

Sitting at the table of course was Master Krieg along with two guests. One of the guests was an elf woman that looked to be no older than Master Krieg herself, although she was strikingly beautiful with brown hair and calm green eyes her assets were definitely on the modest side. Perhaps because she wasn't half barbarian like Krieg she fell short in those areas. Either way she was no short on suitors and wasn't jealous of Kreig in the least. They were best friends after all.

In addition to the two was a small girl that looked like a doll. She had cherry blonde hair and dark hazel eyes. Her fair skin was so perfect it would make women demand to know what lotion she used. She had a large presence even though her legs were dangling just above the floor displaying that she still had a lot more room to grow, and was on the shorter side of girls her age.

Both women were wearing cute casual clothes well suited for travel. Just a simple white blouse with brown slacks. Their white robes draped over the back of their chairs signified their status as a mage of the healing order. The older woman's robes was trimmed in gold, representing her status as a master in her art. While the young girls robes were trimmed in a blue thread, signifying a novice mage in training.

“It's so nice to see you two. It's been too long Tabatha, how is your boyfriend doing?” Krieg took a sip of her tea and wondered about her best friends boyfriend who she remembered from years back the last time Tabatha visited. Although she was sure she knew the answer.

“Oh I dumped him ages ago! I'm currently single but I'm sure ill find the one this time!” Tabatha was a notorious flirt and had men pining for her all over. Krieg sighed, she lost count of the amount of fights Tabatha started because she led too many men on. “By the way I forgot to introduce my young apprentice here!” Tabatha turned towards her young pupil to introduce her to her friend,

“This is young Hoku Stevens. She is a noble from the Greenwood Kingdom to the east. Her family come from a long line of knights so she is quite prideful. I apologize in advance for her harsh attitude.”

“Hey! What attitude!” Hoku puffed her cheeks up and looked extra adorable which completely ruined her attempt at being intimidating. Both the older women laughed at this just causing her to puff up more and attempt to stomp her feet. Which just let her legs to just swinging around not touching the ground.

“Hmph, anyways I hope this wasn't a mistake! I can't believe that I have to heal some meat head for training.” Hoku shared her concern with the two women which slightly ticked off Master Krieg. She let it slide because it was her best friends pupil but irritation was visible on her face.

Tabatha noticed and attempted to calm the situation down and chided Hoku, “Hey didn't I tell you to watch your mouth! Besides didn't I tell you that he was cute?”

Hoku just laughed, “You said he is going to be a vanguard right? I've seen them many times training under my father! The men are all just dumb muscle-heads slapping shields with each other, and they are all covered in scars and unsightly muscles! Who in their right mind would say that they are cute!?” Hoku had the face of someone who couldn't be wrong and her face showed her smug attitude.

“Oh there he is right now.” Master Krieg motioned toward the distance behind Tabatha and Hoku.

“Master I'm home!” A pleasing young man's voice could be heard in the distance as Mako was running home while waving, making sure to get home on time.

“At least his voice is nice to hear...” Hoku said aloud while turning her head to see the origin of the voice.

And like that...time felt like it stopped.

Everything felt like it was moving slowly as blood started to rush to Hoku's face.

What she saw was nothing like the rugged men and trainees she saw in her estate. The boy had fashionable hair and a good sense of style. His eyelashes were long but couldn't hide his deep blue eyes. His hair was sparkling and shimmering with the setting sun. His clothes couldn't hide the work he put into his body and was pleasing...

It was love at first sight...