137 Mable challenge an old man

Everyone was watching Kaisla and Nessa with interest as they prepared themselves for their spar. Those that didn't know Nessa well hoped they'd see something great again but Emp already knew that her technique was extremely impressive.

"Now that you've seen Kaisla, who do you think will win this spar?" Aminui asked him loud enough for the people around them to hear.

If one hadn't seen Nessa's ability they would think that Kaisla was talented enough to win without a doubt but Emp believed that he knew better.

"Vanessa will win. It's a poor match up for Kaisla."

Hearing the certainty in his voice, Mable's mood improved sharply right away and showed an air of confidence. She was already preparing herself for this revenge victory.

Cyril that was also standing close asked Emp if he was sure. After all, he didn't think he had any chance of winning against Kaisla at all.

"You'd be certain too if you spared with us more regularly. I don't think Nessa could possibly loose here as long as she doesn't step under a tree like Brenia did."

"Now I can't wait to see that rumored skill! Are you two ready?" Aminui spoke almost as loudly as anyone else would shout.

The two of them answered positively as they took their fighting stance. Kaisla used a classic one, shield raised in front and sword ready to dart out at any moment, it was obvious at a glance that she was very used to it. Facing her, Nessa brought her feet together and raised her arms in the shape of a bell over her head, she held two swords and both pointed outward like an extension of her arms, crossing each-other above her head.

Seeing that, many guys frowned because that posture seemed full of openings and unbalanced. Aminui didn't react to it and instead, gave the signal for the spar to start.

Right away, Kaisla made a fatal mistake. She stood on the defensive because she didn't know what to expect of Nessa's strange stance. This gave Nessa plenty of time to start spinning. She move her arms front and back quickly and gave herself a swing.

Like Emp had seen so many times before, her feet started to move almost in a blur as she followed the complicated steps and after an instant, she folded her arms back close to her, and with a shake almost like a snap, a second pair of arms showed up. She started slashing around at an extreme speed and the glimmer of steel seemed to spread in the air around her like a flimsy cocoon. Anyone looking closely could see how fast she was moving her arms to achieve this, all her limbs were moving non-stop in what seemed to be a blurry mess. There was an incessant sound of clinking metal in the air as if a single shock was stretched to infinity.

"First stage." Emp stated casually.

Emp knew this was far from over though, Nessa had reached quite far into the second stage before.

Kaisla frowned at this unexpected display and didn't quite know how to react to it. Since Nessa wouldn't come forward however, she finally understood that something was wrong and hurried forward to reach her opponent before it was too late.

She wasn't fast enough compared to Nessa however. For everyone else looking, she seemed to drastically increase the speed at which she was spinning on herself and then stopped moving suddenly. The constant screeching sound of metal died instantly, she faced Kaisla squarely, her feet stopped moving and her arms bent into a curve pointing up on one side and down on the other. Then, other arms started appearing around her, first two more, than four more again, eight more, in the end, sixteen pairs of arms stretched around her forming delicate semi circles with each-other. Each pair formed a half-circle with two swords crossing, one pointing downwards and one pointing upwards. Each of those arms seemed blurry but the rest of her body seemed perfectly still.

"How does she do that!" The guys around them screamed, all of them slack jawed.

"Second stage, Kaisla lost." Emp commented.

Aminui turned his head in a way that he'd be able to see Emp at the same time he kept an eye on Nessa and asking him something.

"You gave one to her too, didn't you?"

Of course, he was talking about the elixir. Emp nodded and explained his reasoning.

"This technique requires so much speed and agility I didn't feel like she'd reach this stage any time soon. I really wanted to see it though and I really trust her to make good use of it."

"I understand" Aminui answered right away. "This is almost breathtaking, that flawless execution, the quickness of the movement, I know what you meant when you said Kaisla can't win. This is simply on another level compared to what people your age should be able to achieve. I can see all the efforts she put into her training. I can't believe a noble lady would put so much time and effort into a fighting technique."

"It's because she wants to inherit the dukedom instead of her brother who she finds too soft. I think she would do a good job." Emp told him honestly.

"It's a great thing but unfortunate at the same time." Aminui said with a bitter face.

"Why is that unfortunate?" Emp asked more than a bit confused.

Did he think that she wouldn't achieve it?

"She can't marry my grandson if she inherits all that territory."

Emp had no idea what to give as an answer to that. He was left speechless. He couldn't believe Aminui would say something like that with a serious face, then again, it seemed like a recurring theme.

Meanwhile, Kaisla stopped her charge before coming too close as she judged that Nessa's technique was too abnormal to take head on. Instead, she started chanting a spell. Emp understood it was an earth-type spell but he was too far to figure out which one.

Nessa didn't give her the time to chant it in full and moved forward quickly. She advanced fast but it was pretty special to see because she moved in small chunks each step rather than progressing in one smooth motion. Emp could tell her forward movement was following the steps of a music he did not hear, she had to wait for the correct beat to advance.

In a hurry, Kaisla moved backward and unleashed her magic pointing at the ground in front of her and swiping the air with her sword. The field inches in front of Nessa fractured itself and opened up into a wide gap stretching until it reached her feet.

The plan was clearly to have her fall into it or at least trip on the uneven ground but Nessa simply jumped over it all in a spin as if she had known what would happen from the start. Her feet parted with the ground at the very same time it opened to swallow her, not even managing to slow her momentum. She looked like a spinning top as she flew over the treacherous ground and landed like a fairy on the other side with utmost grace. She was just in front of Kaisla now.

Even though he was far, Emp could see Kaisla eyes flicker all over Nessa. She was obviously able to somehow see the movements of her arms at least partially which was very impressive as Emp wasn't able to at all even with a self magic improving his reaction time.

Once Nessa landed, Kaisla hurriedly stabbed at her in an attempt to at least get a feel for her technique. She must have seen what she thought was an opening but it turned out she was wrong.

For everyone else, her sword pierced accurately between two pairs of arms but it ended up hitting some sort of invisible wall. Her sword bounced sideways powerfully, the recoil was so strong she almost let go of it and was left wide open. She tried to bring back the shield in front of her but before she had even understood what she needed to do, the many swords around Nessa all moved at the same time. They didn't seem to have moved much, only their angle changed but this mere action produced a powerful and terrifying screech.

Kaisla's shield was blown away and sparks danced all over her armor. She looked utterly stunned.

Aminui didn't waste any time and Declared Nessa to be the victor. He wasn't displeased at all, he seemed impressed instead.

"Lady Hasting won."

Nessa stopped spinning with a satisfied smile under the impressed cheers of the crowd, all her arms quickly merged back into a single pair. For the spectators, it didn't seem as if she had made any efforts at all, she just walked up to Kaisla and defeated her instantly. Mable laughed in an exaggerated manner at his side possibly in an attempt to irritate either Kaisla or Aminui himself.

That wasn't necessary to upset Kaisla however, she was plenty upset on her own. She threw the borrowed sword to the ground in frustration and made some sort of growl.

"That trick is full of holes! I'd have won if I had used my Sap sipper!"

Before anyone could answer her comment, Aminui scolded her.

"Enough Kaisla. Nobody likes sore losers, you just lost a spar it's not the end of the world. It wasn't just a trick either, this was a truly impressive technique, there is no shame in loosing against that."

The knight still wanted to complain but since she had been told off so bluntly by Aminui, she could only hold her tongue and pout. The old Man turned his attention towards Nessa instead.

"Young lady Hasting I'm sorry for her rude behavior, what you showed me today is truly impressive. How is it named?"

"It's the royal sword dance my lord."

"I see, I remember it being mentioned in an old story, it was very mysterious and very strong. Hopefully you will master it before I die of old age, I would really love to see the complete thing." He said honestly.

Nessa felt satisfied by his apology and his compliment, she showed him a elegant smile.

"I hope I'll be able to satisfy that desire. How did you know that it isn't complete?" She asked curiously.

"It did not fit the description of the royal sword dance we have recorded and also, Emp here mentioned stages. Might I ask how many stages there are in total?"

"At least four." Nessa answered with an uncertain air. "My ancestor wasn't the one to create the technique and he only ever reached the fourth stage. He did speak about a fifth but there is no way for us to know if it was an actual thing or if he was just daydreaming. We also can't be sure that there aren't more stage after that."

"Well then I'm looking forward to my family working with a duchess of the northern grove who mastered the four stages."

"My lord!"

Nessa was so surprised by his words, this was the only thing she managed to say. Just like that, the eldest of the second most powerful house in the empire stated his support for her seeking the inheritance of the north of the kingdom. She had never expect to hear such a thing today nor any other day! There was no better support possible for her to achieve her goals.

"Thank you." She managed to say after being stunned for way too long.

"It's still your father who's going to decide. All I can do is state my honest opinion." Aminui answered.

She still gave him a bow to express her gratitude and shortly after, things got a bit chaotic. With the end of this important discussion for Nessa, everyone believed it was a great time to speak and all sorts of questions flew from everywhere and everyone.

A great amount of students wanted to know all sorts of things from Aminui, why he came to the school, how long he'd stay, if they could also be evaluated by him, what he intended to do next and if he had some teaching to impart them.

Aminui answered only vaguely to most of those, he said he was here for his grandson, that he didn't know how long he'd stay and that even though he wasn't a teacher, he might find the time to look at everyone's performances and give his honest impression on them.

Then, Aminui along with many students had more questions on the royal sword dance. In particular, Aminui wanted to know how she could tell how far she was in her comprehension of the second stage. He wanted to know if there were any clear indication on when she'd be ready to attempt the steps of the third stage.

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Nessa explained to everyone that the second stage was a drastic ramp up between the first and third. She needed to build up more and more speed and listen to what her friends observed.

"The more arms they see, the better I am. If I master the second stage, there should be only one blurry arm circling all over me because all the arms starts to overlap each other. Either that or they will see no arms at all, the old texts are unclear on that. When this happens, I should be ready to attempt the first steps of the third stage."

"But you're already spinning so fast! How can you not get dizzy?" Norval asked.

"I don't know, I just got used to it I guess. The trick is to try to not fix my eyes on anything at all, I just need to let everything go by without paying attention. The only thing I need is to listen to the song." Was her answer.

"Just remember to not stop too suddenly afterwards or your brain might end up turned into mush." Aminui told her.

She nodded to signify she understood and while she was having that conversation, many others where asking Kaisla about her sword techniques. Emp who brought back her wooden shield was more curious about what the sap sipper was though.

She thanked him politely for the shield and for lending him some equipment and proudly explained what the sap sipper was.

"It's the divine treasure I received from from the god Forest for beating his trial."

She removed her sword from its scabbard and Emp saw that surprisingly, it was entirely made out of wood, not processed wood but grown wood instead, living. there was even a tiny leaf growing midway along the blade.

The sap sipper was a set of sword and shield made of living wood but it was truly a pair worth its status of treasure. It had a great amount of advantages.

First of them, the sword was extremely sharp to a point where steel swords were blunt in comparison. The blade was brittle however and the edge would shatter if she hit something hard with it. Both the body of the blade and the shield were hard and sturdy however, much more than ordinary wood. Both still followed the rules of what made wood what it was and could still be broken, snapped or even burnt.

The treasure being made out of living wood made it possible for her to move it at her will thanks to the blessing she received with it. She showed Emp and the crowd that while she was holding the sword, she could twist the blade however she wanted. She could twist it like a snake, split it into five, brandish it like a whip, stretch it to be long and thin or shorten it until it looked stocky and wide. The same could be done with the shield, turning it small and thick or wide and thin, shaping it like a buckle, a square or a triangle, all she had to do was will it's shape to change.

The final abilities of the sap sipper were what Kaisla guessed gave it its name. That piece of wood could absorb other wood into it to strengthen itself and regrow lost pieces. She could hit a tree with her shield and make the whole thing part of it. She could already control the plants so it didn't seem that good of an ability but the wood fused with her sap sipper would gain its incredible resistance right away and became able to take a shape it shouldn't be able to, turning a tree into a giant cube or a wall for example.

Not only this the sap sipper could drink the blood of any living thing, the sap of trees, human blood, monster blood, as long as it ran through veins, it would drink it. The sap sipper drinking speed was ridiculous and it would use the blood to repair and strengthen itself in the same way it would when absorbing wood. Emp understood it worked a bit like blood-iron except this thing would actively suck the blood out of its victim, and quickly at that. This was the reason why Aminui didn't want Kaisla to use it, a simple accidental cut could suck out all the blood from her opponent in a moment and kill them. The only one protected from this effect was Kaisla herself who the blade recognized as its master.

She explained that if she wanted, she could plant the blade into a tree, take control of it and turn it into a thousand spears to pierce dozens of enemies at once and suck all their blood away.

The sap sipper was an extraordinarily powerful treasure, there was no doubt about that. Everyone would want such a fabulous tool.

However, having the choice, Emp felt that he would still choose his own anchor instead of the sap sipper. After all, the treasure Space gave him let him live twice as much as anyone and could be used to double his own power in battle as long as the two him were close. He wouldn't refuse the sap sipper but he'd never feel that he needed it either.

Once Emp had heard a satisfying explanation, he removed his armor and moved back to Mable who was brooding alone with Aglaya and Celtine. She felt annoyed because Aminui and Kaisla didn't get upset enough about their defeat. The young knight did get a good reaction that satisfied her but the whole thing was shut down by Aminui before she could vent her frustration using that. On top of that, Nessa was clearly thankful about the words of the old man and left her feeling betrayed.

"Don't be like that Mable, everyone here is on the same side." He told her as he sat next to her.

"I feel like we don't have the same definition of the same side." She said grumpily.

"I don't think that the elder is the problem here Mable. You shouldn't place everyone in the same box without knowing them. That man hasn't led any troops since a long long time ago." Aglaya told her.

"So I'm the problem?"

"Of course not, that's not what I'm saying at all. Think about Celtine and other Cursed-bloods, when guys in town think Celtine is evil because she's a cursed blood you always say that they're idiots. I'm just saying you should give him a chance, you might be surprised. If he can help all your friends then isn't it a good thing? It's not like he came here just to frustrate you."

"It sure feels like it though."

Emp just chuckled and wrapped an arm around her in a hug. She ended up with her head resting on his shoulder and looked up to him with a pout. She complained in words but didn't do anything to stop him. Instead, she wiggled a bit as if to embed herself into him like a cat on a cushion.

"Not here, it's embarrassing."

"You don't look all that embarrassed though."

"I mean, not now, it's not time."

"So you mean to say that its okay to hug you as much as I want later?"

She quickly looked away and finally turned her eyes towards her best friend for support.

"Mhn... Aglaya, help me save my dignity."

Although she asked it like that, Emp felt that all the times she struggled against Aglaya's hugs were much worse than that for her dignity.

"Oh no, my best friend's lover is comforting her with a hug, whatever shall I do." Was the playful answer Aglaya gave her.

"You're both terrible friends..." Mable sighed and hugged his arm with the tiniest of smiles. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Emp answered along with Aglaya.

He could somewhat feel the heavy stare of his grandfather on him but he wasn't quite sure of the reason behind the stare. He might feel that this wasn't a good place or time to hug a girl or maybe he was just eager to start the training for real and felt annoyed that he was currently swarmed by students. There was no way for Emp to know since he barely knew the man.

Animated discussions of all sorts continued for a while after that and Aglaya took the time to convince Mable to be more welcoming towards the old man Muracier.

"After all, Emp will need him if he wants to go far as a soldier. You know this too Mable, you're just hindering the both of you by getting on his bad side."

Mable silently agreed but Emp knew she hadn't put aside her misgivings. She had just been convinced to hold them back for now. It would have to suffice for now he assumed. He'd have liked for everyone to get along but he was missing too many parts of the story to fix everything. Maybe he'd be able to if he told her his name but maybe it would be the opposite. That was a scary thought that often crossed his mind. It might have been an important part of why he hadn't told her his name yet, more than he would like to admit.

Now was not the time to take such a risk however. It was time to train instead, training wasn't complicated, it felt relaxing, it always calmed him down.

He released Mable who groaned in disappointment about loosing her comfortable seat and stood back up, putting his armor back on right away. When he got back to the group, Nessa was asking an important question to Aminui.

"I do not want to seem ungrateful but could you tell us what is happening with the imperial army? My father is struggling to hold the northern border. What are they doing? Why are they so disorganized?"

Even Mable perked her ears at that question, it was after all a pretty significant subject. Aminui breathed once through his nose and answered honestly like always.

"The truth is that my sons haven't been there to command the armies for quite a while now. Everything feels sluggish because there is no proper head to tell the troops what to do and the tribes can feel it. Because they feel it, they get bolder, more aggressive, that's what's happening in your father's territory."

"Where are they then?" Mable asked with a skeptical air.

"By direct order of the emperor, I cannot say."

Mable seemed to want to protest but she held her tongue.

"Then couldn't you do something about it? You could lead the armies couldn't you?"

"Physically yes, but the rules won't allow it. There can be only one great general per emperor, no more and no less. I cannot lead the troops because I am not the great general anymore. When the emperor yields his crown to his successor, then a new great general will be appointed."

Nessa frowned.

"But the north is crumbling while we wait."

This subject was obviously close to her heart, it was the territory of her father, his duty, the lives of the knights working for him and the security of the people entrusting their lives to him. All of it might one day be hers and she didn't want to allow it to wither before that if she could stop it.

"The north isn't crumbling young lady Hasting. I'm keeping an eye on it, you can be sure of that. If I can't lead the armies, I can still lead my own house to war if I please and all our vassals will follow. The reason it looks bleak isn't because I'm not doing anything, it's because my nephew Graube who's supposed to take care of this along with the armies is too busy trying to wrestle the future position of great general from my grandson instead of pushing back the tribes. He isn't that talented in the first place but if he had put his head to it he should have fixed everything much sooner. I understand that this is frustrating for you but most of my sons work fell onto his shoulders and it might be too much for him. He always struggled to take care of many tasks at once."

"Then can't you put someone else in charge of this problem? How about the grandson you mentioned, couldn't he do it instead and show your nephew how to work properly?" Brenia cut in from the side.

Aminui smiled at the bold question but shook his head.

"No, I can't put anyone else in charge of the whole thing because Graube was next in the chain of command of the armies. In the absence of my sons, he takes the decisions. There were four more who could do it but three of those four put themselves behind Graube right away. The duke Jazay was against it but he was driven out to this school by his own sons and replaced by one of them as general.

I could bypass Graube and ask someone from the family to lead troops there and take care of it but if I undercut the authority of my nephew so much, I must be sure that the rest won't degenerate further. The rest would see that I do not trust Graube with the situation even though I left him in command of the whole thing, everyone would stop following orders and follow their own judgment, it would become much worse than it is now.

I do not see anyone who would be willing to wrestle the control of all the armies from my nephew, even in my own family. My grandson would be willing, It might be worth it if it was him I tasked this with but he's too young and untrained still to take care of this."

"Then my lord protector Emp could do it!" Mable boldly claimed.

Emp almost chocked hearing her loud provocation while Aglaya slapped her own forehead at this unexpected nonsense. Emp saw her struggle desperately to hold a fit of laughter at bay.

"He's just as young and untrained as my grandson." Aminui said with a neutral face.

It was true after all, it was impossible for him to be more experienced and trained than himself.

Mable wrongly disagreed however.

"Emp is the strongest in the school and he's got a blessing too. I'm sure he's better than what you think he is!"

Her words brought chaos to the group again. The many students originating from other group disagreed with her and all appealed to prove that they or someone else they knew was the strongest. The guys from his own group refuted saying that they probably couldn't even fight on equal ground with Nessa or Brenia.

Mable taunted them by reminding them of the last tournament they had and affirmed that they'd end up just like last time while Noirantel claimed that he wouldn't have trouble defeating Emp this time around if they did fight again.

Kaisla looked at the whole group with a face showing how much she thought they all looked like idiots. Aminui ended up having to stare everyone down until they all shut up in order to speak calmly.

"More strength is always good but it's not all about that. It's about experience, wits and respect."

"So then you can eliminate Emp right away because he lacks the wits." Noirantel mocked.

"What did I just say about respect? Are you looking forward to another hit?"

"No, of course not, I apologize." He replied hurriedly.

"Respect is something you have to gain but its also something you can give out freely. Always show at least a minimum amount of respect to your allies so that when they stand with you on the battlefield, they won't leave you to die. Show respect to your enemies as well so that those you face might fight you with honor. Someone willing to put his life on the line for something other than themselves is always deserving of respect, even if he stands against you." Aminui explained the obvious.

"Going back to the main topic, no one in this school will be put in charge of the north because the soldiers won't follow an inexperienced sprout who hasn't earned their respect. As a student here, your task is to learn and strengthen yourself so that when the time comes, you might be able to earn the respect of your peers. That's why, I'm willing to lend a hand to whoever deserves it here, each of you will become a pillar for the future of our empire after all."

Emp was very fine with that, he'd be very annoyed to be sent away before he was done learning and training. Mable wasn't done however.

"It's great for them but you can't just put Emp in the same bag as them. I maintain that he's the best in this school and any test you can impose on him will just prove I'm right. I think that you should place more efforts on him and those on the level of Brenia and Nessa than the rest."

"What, are you saying we're no good?" A guy Emp didn't know said, offended.

"Well he said that he'd lend a hand to whoever deserved it and Emp clearly deserves it more than the rest of you. Some of you I have never even seen on this training field while Emp comes here every single day and often more than once."

Of course, the other students wouldn't let her trample all over them like that and they argued back loudly. Mable didn't go back on her opinion however and stood in front of them all fearlessly with her hands on her hips and her hair ornament glowing.

Emp believed that she sounded very selfish right now. She was trying to hoard all the old man's attention to her closest friends so of course her words weren't received well. She was exaggerating, even him thought this was excessive. In the first place, this whole thing was ridiculous since the man was his own grandfather and had already told him that he wanted to show him the secrets of their family.

Another thing making it awkward for him was that even though he hadn't said a word, Mable made him the enemy of everyone just like that time which led to him facing another group entirely on his own. Everyone was talking about him but no one asked him about his opinion.

Nessa and Brenia found this whole thing awkward as well because Mable dragged them into it as well and placed them on a step over the rest of their classmates. They could only give some apologetic looks to Cyril and Norval who were so earnest in their studies.

"Are you really sure of what you're saying?" The old man asked Mable.

"Yes, of course I am, I'm willing to bet a large strawberry cake on it."

Emp suddenly wondered if this was all about cakes after all. He heard she had some trouble asking for cake to be delivered to her since the duke locked down the school. Maybe she was just grumpy because of the lack of said cakes.

"In that case, how about we test this whole thing? I want to help everyone here grow but if they collapse right away it's pointless. Everyone that survives the warm-ups will be helped further and I'll continue to shave off people like that. In the end, there's only gonna be a few left"

So what Aminui was saying could be boiled down to: I'm going to train everyone so hard they'll all drop out except for the best.

Emp could get behind that, it seemed like a good idea. Anyway, he felt that if one didn't train with his hardest, he wasn't training properly. Mable agreed as well because she was convinced that Emp couldn't possibly fail.

"And if Emp last until the end, you'll have to give me a cake."

"Alright young lady, I'll find you that cake. If he doesn't last until the end though, I don't want you to offer me some cake, there'll be no reason to feast."

He turned to the rest of the group right after and told them what he wanted from them. Some like Noirantel weren't afraid at all but others that were less confident in their abilities started to fear what would come next.

"Let's start by moving your legs a bit by running. The field is a bit small so I'll have all of you run laps around the whole school. Fifty laps should do for a start, the girls too, Kaisla, show them how it's done."

"Right away sir!" She answered as if it was a common occurrence.

The others were a bit more reluctant.

"But my lord, it's burning hot out here and the school is the size of a fortress."

The sun was scorching today so they all feared they might get a heat stroke but neither Aminui or nor Emp understood the concern.

"Yes, that's why it's the perfect size. I would have asked you to run a few laps around the whole city but the old duke locked you all in. This will do just fine."

"It's gonna take us the whole afternoon."

"I hope not because we have a whole lot more to do."

The students seemed dejected and the scene seemed rather familiar to Emp for some reason.

"And you, I know about your blessing, fifty laps is nothing to you so do us two hundreds for a start, I'll crank it up if it's too easy."

Mable complained it was unfair but Emp thought he was right, doing the same as the rest would have been too easy since he could cross the thirty meters long field in a single step. Going around the whole school was much more reasonable for everyone and him doing four times more than the rest was just obvious. He'd probably have to do three hundred more laps to start feeling tired.

"Anyone that doesn't want to do it can give up, remain here and chat while the others prove themselves. You can all go whenever you feel ready."

Mostly everyone started running shortly after but not that many finished the run. Everyone Emp knew managed to do all the laps, Nessa and Cyril barely lasted long enough. Kaisla, Brenia and a few other guys from other groups finished easily and were ready to go onto the next exercise. Emp himself ended up having to do seven hundred laps to satisfy himself and Aminui which disturbed those that gave up midway greatly.

All the while, the crowd of interested students spectating them kept increasing and by the end, almost the whole school was here to watch the few crazy surviving students do the last few laps. Even some of the teachers and knights joined the crowd spectating the training.

Emp didn't quite know how it happened but tables and chairs had been arranged everywhere and the students were all enjoying food and drinks under the burning sun. Those that lasted until the end had to watch everyone drink while they had to keep moving and felt very parched themselves. They ran with some sort of party going all around them, stretching across the training fields, the grass, under the trees' shade and all the way to the gardens on the other side of the school with animated discussions taking place everywhere. At least, the crowd kept cheering them on as they ran. It was almost like a festival.

Emp thought it was a fun afternoon and it was really just a start.