Morgan’s week became somewhat hectic as he skipped most classes for fear of running into Gias and thus received a small mountain of assignments as a substitute for those classes. Such assignments were not uncommon and he had done plenty of these before as he had preferred to spend time in the library over going to most classes. However as he now missed almost all the classes he was suddenly swamped with assignments that were by themselves easy to complete but became quite the headache as they stacked on top of one another. About halfway into the week he was seriously considering going to class like he normally would. However he was not sure what would happen if he ran into Gias and since Rina and Ross had gone out of their way to warn him he decided not take any chances. Yet this left him with a whole lot of paperwork and sadly for Morgan the classes and in turn assignments were getting harder and harder the longer the semester went on. By Thursday he was rather sleep deprived and while he was thinking of the proper way of asking a girl he was not in fact interested in to a dance something happened.

“Good job Morgan.” The sound of a book shutting accompanied Alina’s pleased voice and Morgan had to catch himself not to land on his face as he stepped off the log.

“You’re kidding right?” Marith said in disbelief.

That and the gazes of the rest of the class along with their murmuring full brought him back to the present.

“What?” He said as he scanned the others before seeing the slowly setting sun through the window.

It took his muddled mind a few moments to understand what was going on. And his eyes widened as he looked down at the log. His mouth imitated a fish out of water for a few moments before Rina punched him in the arm.

“Ouch! Why did you do that for?” Morgan rubbed his arm.

“Just makin sure your still with us.” She said with a snort and she was about to say something else when Alina spoke.

“To think that Morgan would be the first student to pass the first test.” She shook her head in amusement. “Well since one of you succeeded I will leave you with a hint for today. Tomorrow I will be giving Morgan and anyone that I deem passable the next task.” She turned to the group with a smile that captivated the heart. “This task focuses on the balance of the body, independent of the mind. In all honesty all of you are at the point where you can succeed. Now…” She clapped her hands. “Now Morgan as a reward for clearing the first step I will teach you the basic footwork of the Rising Moon style. The rest of you are excused.”

After the grumbling students left while shooting him jealous glares he was left alone with Alina. Morgan was not sure if the jealous glares was due to him being actually taught something or because he was left alone with Alina but he did not have long to think about it. Alina showed Marith the four basic steps of the Rising Moon style. Only after Morgan had done each of them about half a dozen times did Alina give her tentative approval. Nodding Alina told Morgan to practice these steps at least a dozen times every Morning and evening before sending him off.

With the sun setting in the sky Morgan reflected on how simple yet strange the movement in the Rising Moon style felt. He was supposed to move without shifting his weight, as if he was floating. Alina had only given him her seal of approval when he had moved almost painfully slowly.

Arriving at the cafeteria Morgan spotted the rest of the class along with an exhausted Louie that was half slumped on the table. Before he even managed to sit down Morgan was barraged with questions, like “How did you do it?” and “What did Alina teach you?” and so on. He was a bit overwhelmed and he noticed Mary-Ann and Ross laughing and Rina wore a slightly miffed expression.

“Umm, well I don’t really know what I did… I just sort of was half-asleep thinking about the proper way to bow when asking a lady for a dance…” He trailed off at the looks he was given.

“Oh, what lady did you think of in particular?” Mary-Ann said in teasingly as she winked in mock seduction at Morgan.

Only with Mary-Ann’s taunt did Morgan think about what he had said. He looked down red with embarrassment much to the delight of the girls who giggled excitedly. The next person to speak was a boy that to amusement of the others had taken Mary’s joke much too seriously.

“So all you have to do is think of girls!” Marith said jaw open in realization looking like he was just about to run back to the classroom this very minute.

“No… you are focusing…” Surprisingly Louie who only had second hand information tried to explain in a tired voice when Rina interrupted.

“Yes! That’s right if you go back quickly Alina might let you try again.” Rina said with fake but convincing enthusiasm.

Marith was halfway out of his seat when he stopped himself and looked at Rina suspiciously. Clearly he found it strange that Rina whose interactions with him generally ended with her glaring at him would suddenly cheer him on. He looked from Rina who smiled without revealing any emotion over to Morgan. Feeling pressured by Marith’s gaze Morgan spoke in a small voice.

“I don’t think that is what helped me besides even if you go now Alina locked the classroom and left soon after me…” Morgan saw that Rina narrowed her eyes at him and shrunk a bit. “S-Sorry.” He said glancing over as Marith sat down grumbling in his native tongue. Rina locked eyes with Morgan and after a moment that felt far lengthier than it had been she shrugged and smiled before speaking in a light tone.

“I forgive you.” She turned back to her food and softly added. “Because you’re cute.”

Morgan breathed a sigh of relief and was unable to catch the last part of what Rina said. As she had spoken softly enough that her voice only carried to Mary-Ann and the brown-haired girls sitting on her opposite side.

“Right?” Mary-Ann said enthusiastically and the three girls leaned closer to one another speaking excitedly but quietly enough for only them to hear. While they spoke they glanced over at the other boys at the table with both giggles and snorts mixed into their private conversation. Morgan was blissfully ignorant of what was happening around him and was simply happy to not be at the centre of all the attention and began eating his food while looking over Louie.

“You look exhausted, did something happen?” The concern in his voice was almost funny considering how he was wolfing down food.

“More or less.” Louie sighed heavily and took a bite of his now cold food.

“He got placed in Elionora’s group for the Imperial style’s group training session.” Marith said with a shrug. “She is apparently putting her group through the ringer.”

“Everything is a bloody contest when it comes to her!” Louie half shouted as he sat up straight. “’There is no point in training unless you aim for the top’ she says!” He said in a deliberately squeaky voice that in Morgan’s opinion sounded nothing like the fierce redhead.

“I’ll tell her you said that.” Mary-Ann said sweetly causing Louie to stiffen.

“Please don’t!” Louie said, putting his hands together almost pressing his head to the table. This caused the girls to laugh, making Louie turn quite red. But he still breathed a sigh of relief. Morgan stopped eating with his fork halfway to his mouth, Louie who was normally so pale that people had spitefully called him a ghost looked like a cooked river lobster when blushing. Shaking himself he got back to eating making sure that Louie had not noticed his dumb look. When the lively dinner ended the others tried to convince Morgan to show what he had been taught but he was dead tired and told them that it was only four simple steps anyway. So reluctantly they let Morgan return to his room.

The following day Morgan only had two classes including Alina’s so he took the opportunity to catch up on the several assignments he had to finish. So after practicing his steps he sat down and finished a good handful of his assignments by lunch. By now he was feeling the effect of skipping breakfast and went to lunch with a growling stomach. That was the point when unbeknownst to him his luck ran out. Turning the corridor before the cafeteria he ran into three people he had been told to avoid. Before Morgan managed to notice his predicament the brawn boy had positioned himself behind Morgan and Gias stood in front of him with a wide cruel smile. It was a smile that somehow looked perfect on his handsome face.

“Look who we have here.” Gias voice made Morgan look up in alarm from his daydreaming. “It feels like you have been avoiding me.” His smile turned into an expression of mock hurt. “That’s not very nice.” Morgan swallowed hard and noticed that the other students seemed to disperse from the hallway. Before he could say anything Gias took a quick step forward and Morgan doubled over as Gias hit him hard in the gut. Before he could collapse Gias grabbed his hair and pulled Morgan’s face close to his own.

“It is not very smart to make fun of your betters.” Saying this Gias drove his fist hard into Morgan’s stomach. This time he let the retching Morgan collapse to the ground. Crouching down he spat Morgan in the face before speaking with a voice that did not hide his anger.

“You and I are going to have a nice and long conversation.” Saying this he grabbed Morgan by the hair and dragged him to his knees.

“Would you mind getting out of the way?” As Gias was drawing back for a punch a bored voice interrupted him. Turning back to the voice with a furious look Gias saw a short redheaded girl.

“What do you want?” Gias spat at her.

“As I said I asked you to get out of the way.” She sounded rather annoyed.

Morgan saw Elionora through teary eyes and for a moment thought that he would somehow get through this but the word he heard made his heart sink. He had not imagined that Gias would take things so far and wondered if he would stop even if a teacher showed up since he was apparently far angrier than Morgan had thought.

“Are you to a friend of this little clown?” Gias said as he let Morgan fall back onto the floor. Gias took a step closer to Elionora and glared down at her menacingly before he could say anything Elionora spoke.

“Are you deaf as well as dumb?” She said with disgust. This was apparently more of an insult than Gias would take and he pulled his arm back to backhand Elionora hard. What happened next made Morgan doubt his eyes. Elionora ducked under the strike and in an instant sifted her stance and delivered a lightning fast kick that struck Gias in the neck and sent him crumpling to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

There was a moment of stunned silence as time seemed to stop. Alas it lasted only for a moment and with a shout the large boy that had been blocking Morgan’s retreat charge at Elionora. Morgan was unable to see what happened to him as his wide back completely blocked Morgan’s view. Yet as the large boy sagged to the ground Morgan could at the very least judge that the winner of the contest was Elionora who clicked her tongue and shook her head in disgust.

“Is this all that the Ilian nobility amount to?” She looked down at Gias with a sneer.

“Y-you you! Do you know what you have done?” Vipen shouted with a pale face.

“I defended myself.” Elionora stated flatly.

“You attacked Gias Wellmond! Son and heir of Duke Aerod Wellmond! You just attacked the son of a duke!” Vipen was almost frothing at the mouth.

“So what? I am the daughter of the duke.” Her sneer deepened. “Even if I was not I am an official emissary of the Ethian Empire.” Morgan could hear Vipen grind his teeth as he walked over to Gias and pulled him onto his back.

“You will pay for this.” He said in a growl.

“I doubt it.” Elionora said flatly.

Vipen carried the larger Gias off towards the infirmary leaving Morgan the large boy whose name Morgan did not know and Elionora behind.

“T-t…” Morgan coughed “T-thanks” He finally managed.

“Why are you thanking me? Are all Ilian nobles deaf or something?” She sounded exasperated.

“No…” Morgan said clutching his stomach as he sat himself up. “Even if you didn't…” He stopped to catch his breath. “Even if you didn’t aim to help me, intentions are irrelevant.” He groaned suddenly feeling happy he had skipped breakfast. “The result is that you helped me…” He took a deep breath that almost caused his stomach to spasm. “So I owe you my thanks at the very least.” Standing up with the help of the wall he gave Elionora a shallow bow, unable to do any better due to the pain. Elionora gave him a strange look before raising an eyebrow as she spoke.

“Are you really so weak that a punch or two can bring you to your knees?” Elionora looked unimpressed.

“I have always had a weak body you see.” He forced a smile.

“That so.” Saying this she gave a lazy wave of the hand and walked away having lost interest.

This Left Morgan alone with the large and still unmoving boy. He considered for a moment, to try and carry the boy with him to the infirmary or calling a teacher. But quickly gave up on the idea as he was not sure he would have been able to carry the boy under normal circumstances and did not have the energy to deal with the questions of any teacher. Instead he gingerly rubbed his sore stomach he moved to the cafeteria feeling both hungry and nauseous.

Before he reached the cafeteria Marith came running towards him followed by a flustered Louie. As they reached him and stopped the two looked over Morgan and Louie breathed a sigh of relief and Marith almost growled.

“I’m glad you’re alright.” Louie said as the first to speak.

“What do you mean all right?!” Marith snapped. “He looks awful! He is even paler than you.”

“Ehmm…” Morgan was about to speak when Louie spoke.

“He came here right? Since he went to the cafeteria and not the infirmary he can’t too much worse for wear.” Louie said in a placating tone and looked to Morgan for confirmation.

“Yeah I’m okay.” Morgan said with a strained smile.

Marith just clicked his tongue and muttered something under his breath in his native tongue that Morgan did not understand.

“Still I really am glad.” Louie said grabbing Morgan’s shoulder reassuringly. “I was afraid that Gias would take things way too far…” He was about to continue when Marith snapped.

“He did take things too far! Just look at Morgan!” He shouted gesturing at Morgan in his dirty clothes, disorderly hair and pale visage.

“Well yes.” Louie sighed. “But Gias probably thinks that he let Morgan off easy.” Saying this he seemed none too pleased. Marith’s eyes widened in surprise at this before narrowing again in anger and he ground his teeth.

“Um…” Morgan mumbled getting the other boys’ attention. “He didn’t really let me go per say…” He looked at the surprised expressions of his friends and chose to change the subject. “By the way how did you know what was happening?”

“We heard from a senior that gossiped in the cafeteria that Gias was bullying someone.” Marith said indifferently. “More importantly what did you mean by ‘he didn't let you go’” He narrowed his eyes and gave Morgan a stern look.

“Well…” Morgan looked around making sure no one was eavesdropping and told the two what had happened. After the explanation Marith whistled and Louie looked at Morgan in shock.

“She attacked a ducal heir?” Louie sounded appalled. “And she’s an official emissary of the broken empire…” It didn’t look like he could quite believe it.

“Hu, I know she was from the broken empire but an emissary ey?” Marith wore an impressed expression. “Aren’t you at war with the broken empire?” He said giving the two questioning looks.

“No… at least not openly.” Morgan spoke haltingly trying to think how best to explain it.

“We actually have several treaties besides the First treaty that all countries have signed.” Louie said with a somewhat conflicted expression. “They might launch several coastal raids every year along with their frequent attacks on the merchants traveling between us and the Isles. But that is about it, we are not openly at war with them and most of those attacks and raids are made under the black flag. Our fleet mostly excites to defend against those raids as is significantly smaller than theirs.”

“And the emperor just accepts that?” Marith said wide eyed.

“As Louie said, the broken fleet is much larger than ours.” Morgan added with a troubled smile. “Also the broken continent is not a simple place to live in, much less attack. Even if the Imperial legions managed to land on the broken continent they would have to rely on food and supplies from the mainland. So without destroying the broken fleet any attempt at attacking is reckless at best.” Morgan shook his head.

“How come the broken fleet is so much stronger than the Ilian fleet? From what I understand the Ilian Empire is more populous and your resources are more abundant.” He looked rather puzzled.

“It is due to the First treaty.” Louie said flatly.

“How is the first treaty responsible for your fleet being weak? I know that it is signed by all countries and that basically all laws are written with the first treat as their core but besides that I’ve heard little.” Marith scratched his head sheepishly. Louie gave Morgan a look and Morgan sighed and stretched with a grimace before gently rubbing his stomach.

“I don’t know the first treaty that well if I’m honest, but I can tell you what I’ve read.” Morgan grimaced. “It will take a while though and first I think my stomach is better now and I haven’t eaten all day so I would prefer to grab some food first.”

The two nodded and returned to the cafeteria with Morgan. Marith unsurprisingly grabbed another plate of food and happily ate the rather bland porridge with a sprinkling of dried meat.