“Are you ready for this?”

Alana and I walk together to Kierra’s torture ground. We’ve gotten rather comfortable with each other. I heard somewhere that shared horror has a way of bringing people together.

I laugh at her question. “There’s no being ready for her. Expectations only make it that much worse when she goes beyond them.” Trust me, I am speaking from experience.

“Mm. I certainly feel a fool for thinking my knight training prepared me for her…methods. Though I must say, she is rather proficient.” She demonstratively clenches her fist. “Despite practically tearing my muscles in two, I still feel rather good. This is the effect of a great healer, huh. I can only imagine what it would feel like to be melded.”

I pause, catching her arm. I feel like I’ve heard that word before and it’s making alarms go off in my head. “What’s that?”

“Melding? You’ve never—ah, I suppose you wouldn’t. Sometimes I forget that you aren’t training to be a knight.”

Thanks, I guess?

“Melding is the reason why physical affinities are so highly valued. It’s a process of guiding the body to its best state. Then, if the melder is really good, they can cater to the person’s specializations. For example, boosting a knight’s power or making a messenger run faster. My instructor told me that a good melder can boost a fighter’s power by three times. A great one can make a man beyond human.”

Ha. Haha. She didn’t. She wouldn’t. “This melding. How does it work?”

“Hm. The same way one normally gets stronger. Training. The melder guides one’s efforts, not replaces them.” Her lips turn up into a smirk. “Thinking about skipping foundation, weren’t you? Every trainee does when they hear of it for the first time. Unfortunately, it’s not a quick way to becoming the ultimate warrior. Besides, melders are incredibly rare. Only one in ten healers have the potential to become a melder and only one in a hundred of those actually master it. When you think about how rare greater affinities are…”

She shrugs. “Those people are secreted away by the kingdom as precious resources. All of the Royal Knights have been melded. The chance of finding a melder without joining a prestigious order is abysmal so don’t even think about it.”

Abysmal chances, huh. About say…the chances of meeting an elf locked away in a forest by her militaristic mother who happens to have a pure physical affinity?

She wouldn’t? Who am I kidding? This is exactly something she’d do! I was wondering how I was progressing so fast.

“Let’s go,” I say, breaking into a jog. I need to have a talk with a certain elf.

-

“Eighty-seven.”

“Don’t pout.”

I glare at her as I come back up. “Eight-eight.” Despite my misgivings about her practices, that doesn’t mean I am exempt from the lesson. Today, she’s testing our strength. At the moment, it’s push-ups.

Kierra kneels down. “I admit, I didn’t say anything about the melding. I didn’t want you getting squeamish about it. It’s much harder to turn it away once you’ve seen the results.”

“Eighty-nine.”

“…you aren’t really mad, are you?”

“Ninety.” I pause. She leans down until our noses are almost touching. Staring into her slightly anxious eyes, it’s impossible to be angry at her. “I want an explanation later.” This isn’t the best place to talk about it. Who knows who could be listening? In a place filled with experienced casters, spying is harder to detect.

“Mm. Then for now…”

“Ninety—geh!” I almost bite my tongue as I feel a heavy weight on my back.

“What’s wrong?” she whispers in my ear as she leans over me. “You haven’t even reached a hundred yet.”

“Gonna…die…”

“My wife isn’t so fragile.” One of her hands touches my cheek, the fingertips glowing green. As usual, energy feels my body but now I know that’s not all it’s doing. It’s reaching inside of me, twisting, molding me into something different. Something…better.

This is both insidious and amazing.

I follow through on the push up, my creaking bones telling me that if I keep this up, they’re divorcing me and taking my crying muscles with them. “Ninety-two!”

-

After she finishes with me, Alana has to drag me to the Bronze Dorm’s dining hall, dropping me off at the usual table. Then she goes off to grab my usual serving, each bowl filled to the brim with stew. Lucky us, there’s a few pieces of bread left and three of them are on my tray. What a true friend.

I dig into the food without a care for my image. My tablemates who have dined with me twice already are still surprised. Especially Abel. He looks downright disgusted. “Animal. To think you have the audacity to call yourself a noble.”

I don’t even bother responding. Food is more important than idiots.

“Give her a break,” Alana interjects. “That elf really went too far today.”

“What’d you have to do?” Mike asks quickly. He and the rest of the table are in another group of initiates. They have the same mandatory classes as me but their schedule is different. For them, Foundation I is right after lunch and the unlucky bastards also got Kierra for a teacher. They get to sit with their stomachs clenched for an hour, listening to our horror stories while knowing they have to endure the same. I don’t know which of us has it worse.

“Today seemed to be an evaluation of strength. The exercises were recognizable, thank the saints, but the extent…” She sighs. “Our teacher has a grief against Lou though. She sat on her back while she did push-ups. I thought her veins were going to burst.”

“Amazing.” Thanks, kid. Feels good to have my efforts appreciated. Kierra just demands more and more.

“It’s not amazing. That elf is abusing her authority. At this rate, Lou will end up seriously injured or worse.”

Whoa, now. I’m glad you’re worried about me but that’s a dangerous path. I finish drinking the dregs of current bowl of stew and tap her on the shoulder while grabbing another. “Relax. I can take this much.” Really. I hurt so much I can’t feel my aches anymore. “Besides, the two of us have an…understanding.”

“What kind of understanding allows her to—”

Someone bumps into me, causing me to spill my stew. Right into Alana’s lap who hastily jumps up.

“Damn!” I flounder for a napkin which I don’t find. This isn’t a restaurant. “Watch yourself!”

“Huh?” Standing behind me is a mountain of a man. His voice tells me he’s young but the heavily tanned skin and beard make him look older. He’s dressed in full armor, the gray metal dull and spotted with dirt. Behind him are two others in similar dress. They look ready for a fight.

“You should stay out of my way, idiot.”

“Out of your way?” Come on, we’re all the way on the right side of the room. What, were the three of you on your way to squat in the corner? Don’t screw with me. “You have to be dumb and drunk for us to get in your way. You knocked into me on purpose, didn’t you?”

“And what if I did, pipsqueak?” he says, looming over me. My nose wrinkles as I take in the smell of his sweat and rancid breath. “What are you going to do about it?”

Hey, I might have to take shit from that bald bastard but do you think you’re on the same level? All it’ll take is one good hit to knock him on his ass. I’ll go for the skinny one next—

A hand on my shoulder jolts me out of my violent visions. “Don’t fall for it, Lou.” Alana stares them down. “They cannot harm you without incurring severe consequences which is why they want to goad you into accepting a duel.”

“Stay out of this!” the smelly ape shouts. “This doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

I wonder who it does have to do with. After the first day, seeing how much attention they were getting, I decided it’d be better to keep my elementals out of sight. Geneva follows me in the morning to assist in my meditation before returning home to maintain the house. Bell shadows me. Can you hear me, my lovely imp?

[I am always ready to serve, Master Lou!]

Got to love her work ethic. What is wrong with him?

[Hm. Right now, the male is feeling both excited and fearful. The image of you is also connected with thoughts of severe violence and a large amount of gold. It would appear he is being offered a substantial amount of wealth to cause problems for you.]

I immediately think of my want-to-be assassin. Is the same person causing trouble for me? I highly doubt two separate people would put a price on my head. I really don’t have that many enemies.

Though, this is good. We were willing to ignore them in favor of coming to the Grand Hall but it looks like the prey has followed us.

[Shall I detain them to obtain the information of their owners?]

Mm. No. We can’t make such blatant moves here. I’ll chase them off and then you tell Geneva to follow them. She can handle herself no matter how powerful their backing is and I prefer to have you around for my personal protection.

[I won’t fail you!]

“Are you ignoring me?”

I look back at assassin number two. Doesn’t seem as capable as my first attacker but this is an acolyte of the Grand Hall. Who knows what tricks he’s capable of? I’m still confident I can beat him but not confident in doing so in only my human skin.

“What’s your name?”

“Saint Executor.”

Bell.

[His name is Remus.]

“Uh huh. Well, Mr. Saint, I’m going to leave now. You can and your friends can go back to your room and continue playing your little hero fantasy without involving me.”

“You really want to die, don’t you?”

[His room is on the second floor, number 12. The two beside him share the room and he is very unhappy with the small space.]

It’s almost unfair with her on my side. And it would really suck if he’s trying to kill me for a little extra space to stretch his legs. Now, if they offered him a place like ours and to cover his tuition, that I can understand. “Relax, I’m doing this for you. As much as I love making friends, I care about your futures more. I mean, seeing that you’re stuck in the Bronze Dorm and wasting your time messing with initiates, you can’t have progressed too far with your studies. I wouldn’t want to be another distraction. You don’t have the brain capacity to spare.”

“You—I could crush you with one hand!”

[He’s a foundation acolyte. His original goal was to become a spellsword, like most others. His water affinity is terrible but he has enough skill with the blade to be recognized by a lackluster group.]

What group in your opinion isn’t lackluster?

[The Royal Knights are passable. Working together, they may provide a challenge for me and my mistress.]

“Great talking to you, hero. I’ll be going now.”

“Hold it!”

He grabs my arm as I try to move past him. Seeing the veins on his hand jump, I think this is supposed to be hurting me. Hah. He seems unnerved by my non-reaction, his grip easing. “Are you going to make a scene? We wouldn’t want the Hall to get involved. Pretty sure they frown on this sort of thing.”

“Cheh.” He lets me go. “Remember this.”

He stomps away, taking his friends with him. I shake my head as I notice the dining hall didn’t pay us a lick of attention. Is this kind of thing commonplace? Company aside, I think it may be better to take my meals in a different dorm for a while. “Look at that. More bark than bite.”

“Be careful of him.” Alana watches them until they leave the building, only then retaking her seat. “I know the type. He won’t let this go. In the meantime, I will accompany you if you need to go out and wait for me before moving to the next class.”

“How dashing~” You chivalrous knight. Trying to make me fall for you? Nothing makes my heart race like someone dependable.

“Though I want to know how you managed to get involved with such a character.”

“How should I know? It’s the first time I’ve seen him.”

“…you’re quite unlucky.”

Haha, you’re telling me. “It all balances out in the end. Since that ape came to bother me, I might trip over an artifact on the way home.”

“Which is where?”

I smile at her until she gives up the question. It’s not that easy, though I have to admit, my first friend here is growing on me.

As for the other four, I’m rather disappointed. While Alana didn’t hesitate to stand up with me, they did their best to ignore the entire situation; Abel out of disregard, the brothers out of fear I think, and Marthe out of anticipation. Compared to her, you’re all of far too inferior quality, something I no longer have to waste my time with. I’ll hang around until I can convince her to find an alternative.