Chapter 21: Banquet?

"You sure you want all that?" The senior who showed me my swords was now worrying about my health too.

She did seem like a worrywart. But maybe more like a nerd. I mean, who wears glasses these days? With correction technology and actual healers, the use of glasses wasn't really all that popular.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure." I'd stacked my plate with meat, curry, rice and even pancakes. There were all sorts of stuff on this dinner table and I wasn't going to back down. Besides, I hadn't had a proper meal in two days anyway.

This dinner though was more like a banquet. There were all sorts of food and all sorts of other things like music and dances. Was every dinner like this?

"Ah…" She placed her hands on her head. "Well, if you're okay. I could never eat that much. Weight management is a major drag." She was sobbing to herself. She didn't seem overweight, rather, fairly normal.

"Why? How much are you?"

She looked at me with dull eyes. "There are certain things you should never ask a girl." She cleared her throat. "Anyway, I'm Artemis: I'll be looking after you for the time being. Think of yourself being like my intern."

Isn't Artemis the Goddess of…?

For a second there I was lost. I'd heard of a lot of names ever since I learned how to understand words. But this one was probably the most extravagant out of all of them.

So I had to clear my throat too. "I'm Jintel. Feel free to call me Jintel."

She giggled. "Well then, feel free to call me Artemis."

It wasn't a bad name and I guess it was better than mine anyway. "I will-"

"Hey, Amie, don't go feeding the newbie lies." One of the seniors shouted from the other side and all of them around us started laughing.

I looked at Artemis, rather Amie, and she was flushed. "You know…. Maybe just once, you'd let me…" She started slowly. "Properly introduce myself!" The last part she yelled, louder than my eardrums could withstand.

Amie's hair turned white and flowed with the wind as she glared at everyone. Was it me or was the atmosphere a lot cooler?

The floor beneath her feet was frozen stiff. It didn't take a genius to know what was going on now.

Oh boy.

Oh boy indeed. Apparently, this girl was furious for some reason. I didn't get it though.

But the guys didn't really take it seriously and just continued laughing. Needless to say, it only infuriated her even more.

There was a sigh. "I'll take care of it." Eve came out of nowhere. And she was drinking lemonade too. Was she an expert at hiding her presence or something?

Eve finished her drink in a second and unsheathed her sword. Just a plain traditional sword: it lit on yellow flares.

"We might have an interesting show." Robert sat next to me.

Where did you come from?

"I'm just here for the food." I stuffed my face with rice and meat. Pancakes were for dessert anyway. It was a shame they didn't have any maple syrup left though.

Robert didn't say anything and neither did anyone else. The silence was loud and everyone looked with anticipation at the two girls in the center of the room. This room was big and there was enough space for a bout. But it wasn't enough to make sure outsiders won't get hurt.

I didn't care though. The food was good and they were putting up a show for me. I still didn't get why though.

"Get out of the way. I've had enough of these name callings!" Amie declared, her fists straight at Eve. I guess she didn't like to be called Amie?

"Yeah, but this seems fun so I don't wanna." She struck a pose with the sword. Eve wasn't backing down.

Amie grinded her teeth in frustration and took a deep breath. "Alright." It was more of a shout than anything else though.

"Wait that's it?" the words escaped my lips and without a doubt, I was the center of attention.

"What? You wanna fight?" Eve looked at me, amused.

"I still have pancakes to finish, so I'll leave it to you guys." I chuckled, nervously.

The views shifted.

"Alright, let's give 'em a good show." Eve charged with her sword drawn. Her sword was pointing straight at Amie. She was serious.

"Who cares about shows!" Amie went full throttle with just her bare hands. She swung her fist over Eve's head and Eve just ducked.

"Not bad, but not enough." Eve spun her leg like a tornado and knocked Amie off hers. Her sword was right over Amie's head who was now reduced to tears.

"I kind of thought there'd be more you know. Ice and fire and all." Robert sighed in disappointment.

"Who cares?" I stuffed my face with pancakes: it was good but nothing special. I really wished there was some syrup left. These guys had apparently gulped down every last drop before I even arrived.

Apparently, the guys heard me this time too. Again, I was the center of attention. I might have used a louder voice than I thought. "Sorry?" Of course, I wasn't sorry but I wasn't really in the mood to stir up trouble anyway.

They all burst into laughter. These guys were hard to follow. I was lost from the moment I got here.

Eve gave Amie a hand in getting up and they both just went to the other side and drank juice.

Water under the bridge I suppose.

With a sigh, I finished the cakes. Loads of the guys introduced themselves but unfortunately, I couldn't catch a single one's name. Was I always this bad at names?

Monty eventually did show up but he was still sniffing. I was really worried about his nose though. Poor nose, first the snorts, and now the sniffs. Was his nose really okay?

I still didn't see Selene around though.

Though it was supposed to be forbidden to drink under the age of 17 in this state, these guys still had some mild alcoholic fruit juice. The second years were probably old enough but I surely wasn't. Needless to say, a guy like me, who never went near alcohol, was curious no doubt.

I took a ladle and when the juice almost touched the glass, I was banged solid, with something on the head.

"AWW!" I dropped the glass and caught my head. The glass was made from plastic so no harm was done to it, but the same couldn't be said about my head. "What?" I glared at the proprietor. It was Eve.

"Have you ever drank before?" Her voice was awfully flat.

"No?"

She struck a pose. "Then you shall not pass!"

"Who the hell are you imitating?"

"Saldal? Maldarf?" She herself was lost.

"Ganda-"

"Yeah, yeah that dude!" She banged my head with the scabbard of her sword, again. "Drop the ladle! I say, drop it!"

Needless to say, it hurt.

"What is wrong with you?" I dropped the ladle just like a victim caught by the police.

Her playful glee was nowhere to be found. "If you've never touched that thing then don't. It's not worth it." She turned around. "Well, it's just my advice anyway. I'm your senior and I've seen a lot of stuff. And a lot of those stuff, I shouldn't have…" She smiled, looking back through her peripherals. "Take with a grain of sugar and love."

"It's salt, you moron." I cursed under my breath.

She giggled and left. But it did leave me wondering though. If this thing was so bad, then how come everyone was drinking it and looking that happy?

Drink, don't drink? But why? Why!?

I agonized for half an hour before eventually just giving up on thinking.

In the end, I just gave up on the drink. Not because of Eve but because my mother had said the same thing.

How could I forget?

I sighed and just tried to leave. Dinner was over and I didn't have anything else to do here. So getting out wasn't a bad idea. Besides, the curfew would start in about an hour anyway.

"Leaving already?" I was about to exit, but the captain stood by the door with his usual smirk.

"Yeah, thanks for having me." I really meant that too. The food was good and I hadn't eaten anything decent in ages: the ages being two days. "It was pretty good. Do you guys always throw parties like this?"

"Not exactly." He scratched his head. "Some of our troublemakers aren't in this party, so I thought why not make it a bit more extravagant? When those troublemakers are in town, they just ruin things you know." He chuckled. "Besides, consider this a welcome party for you newbies. Cause the one next week might not be…" He cleared his throat and looked serious for a second. "You know, I won't force you to join. It should be your decision. Think it over." He turned and went towards the party. He was being awfully chill about this.

I took his words with a grain of sugar and love-, argh! Eve had corrupted my mind. Why couldn't I get her words out of my head!?

With another sigh, I just left. There were still plenty of people out. I guess no one really cared about the curfew.

As I was walking around, I heard loads of commotion about there being some sort of fight at the gate. I didn't care though. It wasn't my business and I already learned my lesson from the last time.

"I heard she's real pretty." Students were going in the opposite direction.

"Her blond locks are said to be like gold!" There were all sorts of talks. "I really hope she makes it out alive."

Wait, golden hair?

Sweat started to pour. I didn't like where this was going.

"I heard, she could control water-"

"Isn't that rare?"

More sweat poured. It was like the whole world came crumbling down. "Oh shit!" I cursed and ran in the opposite direction.

Just how dumb is she?

More importantly, just how dumb am I?

I should have just assumed she'd come sooner or later. But why were the students saying things about her making out alive?