The charade earlier quickly becomes a mere memory after my arrival at the cafeteria. Unlike the noisy place it usually is, the cafeteria today is almost devoid of life. The spooky cafeteria ladies aren’t here, but food had already been prepared first-hand at the counter. Only a few diners remain in the room, one of them being someone I haven’t met for a while.

“Oh, it’s just you, Akuma.”

The bald, muscular man speaks up to me. He’s sitting in the middle of the room, feasting on some sort of…dark, demonic soup. It’s like the guy’s eating left-over from an oil spill as his lunch. But well, sights like these no longer surprise me, and that’s what I’m afraid of...

“Happy new year, Mr.Lodbrok.”

“Happy new year to you as well, you maggot. Ahahaha.”

The bald teacher answers with a noisy laugh. Unlike the other days, Bjarni Lodbrok is fully clothed. He’s wearing a plain brown shirt and black pant. Just your typical attire for a middle-age brawny guy. However, the brown crystal in the middle of his forehead is still as noticeable as ever, especially with how bald he is.

“Care to join this old man for lunch?”

Seeing that it’s pretty awkward to sit alone after hearing the guy’s offer, along with the fact that all the other guys around are soldiers, I instantly accept his offer, but not without getting myself a meal to eat first. After I’m done picking, I return to the seat opposite of Bjarni and make myself comfortable.

“Did the cafeteria ladies depart for their homes?”

“Well, even the Accursed ones have their own families.”

Bjarni answers. As much as I’m curious about the “Accursed”, my curiosity dies the moment my hunger kicks in.

The meal I serve myself is the same type of soup as Bjarni’s. Since all the food here suck in the same way, I don’t even have the luxury to be picky. All I should care about is to stomach this soup before the terrible taste catches up to my tongue.

“Yuck! This tastes horrible!”

That plain fails, and I waste no time to complain after having a quick taste of the hellish soup.

“Ahahahaha. To the common soldiers, meals like this are actually a feast, you know? Edible foods on the battlefield are actually scarce. If you can’t stomach things like this, then I have bad news for you, maggot!”

The man laughs, which only helps fuel the fear of the upcoming dark future before me. With shitty foods like these, I guess the act of starving the captives might actually did them a favor instead.

“..”

I drop my spoon on the table. Despite my growling stomach, my appetite dies the moment the earlier thought crosses my mind, dragging the whole execution scene from before back to my head. The terrible taste finally catches up to me and gives me an urge to puke whatever I have left in my stomach. Thankfully, I manage to contain myself before I let everything out.

“You saw that, didn’t you?”

The man sees through my gestures as he drops the boisterous charade. His scarce words hit all the important points. I can only nod to confirm Bjarni’s question. The man sighs. The following minute is filled with silence, allowing me some time to return to my sense before our talk can continue.

“You better get used to it while you can, cadet. The path you young'uns chose…will be far bloodier than this. The young will fill rivers with blood, and valleys with bodies. Killing will become your daily meals, and death will wait like a predator at every taken steps. But all of you knew it, didn’t you? Nonetheless, it didn’t stop any of you.”

“...”

In my heart, I already know about that. But…I have ventured too far to look back, let alone run away. My problem however…is whether or not I can accept bloodshed as a part of my life in near future. I thought I have already prepared my mind before I shot Amadia that day, but it seems like I still doesn’t have what it takes to actually kill a person. I think it’s a good thing, though. Only a sociopath can feel comfortable with killing in mere minutes, and I believe humans are inherently born good. Which makes it rather ironic, since I’m trying to harden my mind to kill humans (and human-like enemies) easier, just so I can blend in among these...demons.

After giving a glance at this confused boy, Bjarni can only put on a manly smile before speaking.

“You still have time, youngster. Just take it easy and think about it later. It’s not like the Alliance’s army will march here by tomorrow morning and attack this place, right? Try to enjoy your vacation while it lasts.”

I smile and thank the man. Yeah, I shouldn’t be hasty about this. The war is still out there, and it hasn’t reached us yet. I’m still safe behind the castle’s sturdy walls. Let’s take it easy like the teacher said. After all, haste makes waste.

“Thank you, teacher.”

“Just a part of my job, maggot! Ahahaha”

The man smiles again. While having a counseling from an older man is cool and all, I would prefer the guy to stop calling me a maggot once every five sentences. Like, seriously.

When there’s no tales left to be told, we decide to finish our meals before they go cold. But for me, it doesn’t even matter since the taste is the same. I think I’ll die before I even get a chance to fight the war if I keep having meals like this. Maybe I should start learning how to cook…

After several minutes, we both finish our meals. I don’t know about Bjarni, but I definitely don’t want to savor the taste of this meal. Normally, teachers and students rarely have any common topics to talk beside school work, but Bjarni is surprisingly chatty. The random things he keeps spouting are about the stupidity of his beloved students, Caelan included. The man has the smile of a tough but doting father. While I normally don’t want to deal with teachers, but since I’m in no rush right now, I’ll entertain him with some conversations.

“Akuma. Do you…have a family?”

“Family…”

When the words escape from Bjarni’s mouth, I fall silent. This is not a topic I will talk about with full enthusiasm.

“I don’t think I ever had one.”

I have parents, yes. I mean, certainly a stork didn’t magically carry me to the hands of my parents in a wrap. But…just like a house doesn’t mean a home, having parents doesn’t mean I have this thing called family.

“How about you, teacher? How’s your family? Why didn’t you take a vacation home to see them?”

In an attempt to avert myself from this topic, I revert the question back to Bjarni. The man only puts on a sad smile before answering.

“My wife died years ago. I have a daughter, she’s a bit older than you. But that girl enlisted herself to the army last year. So even if I go home, it’ll be meaningless when there’s no one waiting for me. And since I can’t see my daughter among the soldiers here, I guess she didn’t make it back this year. Or maybe, that girl just found it’s meaningless to go home, knowing that I won’t come back, and stayed behind to fulfill her duty.”

I can only look in awe when the guy reveals his daughter’s existence. Bjarni hasn’t finished his story yet, so I continue to be a good listener for the guy to tell his tale.

“My daughter was a real handful. She’s a sweet country girl you can find everywhere. However…I don’t know when, but that girl secretly practiced martial arts behind my back, and against my will. Then…we got in a fight, and it ended badly. Before I knew it, when the chance presented itself, the girl voluntary enlisted to the army, and went straight to the frontier to fight. Stubborn girl…”

Let’s hope it’s only a verbal fight that he’s talking of.

“Why did you two fight?”

I ask.

“That girl said she wanted to protect me. She told me I’m the only family she has now, so it’s her duty to protect me instead. That damn foolish girl…Why would an adolescent girl worry about the welfare of a rugged old man like me? I can crush skulls like walnuts, yet she still wanted to protect me, damn it!”

Mr.Bjarni averts his gaze to the ceiling above for several seconds, before he resumes his story.

“I used to serve in the invasion army before the ceasefire ten years ago. I quitted the army after that since I got tired of the meaningless bloodshed. However, the war was just stalled, it hasn’t ended yet. What good would come from enjoying this unstable peace as a farmer? If I’m just a mere farmer, how can I protect my daughter from the armies that still lurking on our lands? Beside, fighting is all I know about, the peaceful life just isn’t for me.”

“So that’s the reason you chose to be a teacher here.”

The man nods. He takes another pause as he sighs before telling the rest.

“I loathe war. I enjoy a good fight, but I am tired of the act of killing. It would be better if people solve their wars through personal fights rather than sending youngsters to die. But this world doesn’t work that way, doesn’t it? Hahahaha!”

Bjarni lets out an ironic laugh.

“I guess…that’s probably the last thing a teacher who teach youngsters how to kill should talk about. It’s hypocritical. But I won’t hide the fact that I’m a hypocrite and a lowly maggot. I train people to fight because I want them to help protecting my daughter on the frontier. I depend on them to do something a father like me cannot. That’s the least I can do right now…as that girl’s father.”

He calls it hypocritical, but I call that love. People go to great lengths for their loved ones all the time. At least…that’s what the books I read taught me.

“Do you want to reconcile with your daughter?”

I ask.

“I want to. But…I’m stubborn. I don’t want to see my daughter soaking herself in blood for this old man’s sake. But she’s stubborn just like I am. She wants the two of us to fight together on the battlefield, against my own wish. How can we come to agreement when our interests stand opposite from each other?”

“…”

His story suddenly reminds me of another tale…about an equally foolish boy and girl.

“I may not in the position to tell you this but…there are times you should just turn your brain off and stop overthinking things.”

“What do you mean by that?”

The bald man asks.

“Trust me, I had…some experiences.”

Not a fact I am proud of...

“When we deal with stubborn girls, being stubborn yourself won’t help, even just a bit. However, people like us also try to make the other bend too much to our own will, consciously or not. That’s why, we should play dumb!”

Play dumb, not being dumb, mind you!

“Play dumb…? Hmm?”

Looks like the guy gets it.

“Right. You shouldn’t overthinking stuff. Let the both of you come to an understanding naturally. Let’s do things both of you love to do. Like having dinners, picnics, watching TV…err…nevermind the last part.”

“You sure say strange things, as befitting a strange familiar. But I get your point. I shouldn’t rush it, nor trying to actively enforcing her to change her mind?”

Yes, kinda like that.

“Do you think it will work ?”

The man asks.

“Honestly I don’t know. It’s an untested plan, since I’m going to test it later. But let’s hope it do. Beside, deep inside, I know it will work. Even if you two may not come to an understanding, as long as both of you still love each other, you are a family, and you’ll eventually sort things out.”

Right, family…

The man looks stunned, but his reaction quickly turns to a big laugh.

“Ahahaha. Being taught the lesson of family love by some brats. The guts of you!”

Bjarni stops laughing, but a kind smile still persists on his lips.

“Alright. I’ll think of something and maybe write her a letter. I guess I’ll pull some strings to net her a vacation home. Our old house probably gathered enough dust by now, maybe cleaning it together will help us sort things out.”

“That’s a start.”

I smile, knowing I just do a good thing.

“Let’s hope this will work, and we’ll become a family like before.”

Let’s hope so.

“But what about you, Akuma?”

The man suddenly asks.

“Me?”

“Your family.”

“That’s…”

I fall silence. The man looks like he want to say something, but he holds back and changes his mind.

“Well, I don’t know the details, so I won’t barge in. But…I hope you can sort things out with your family as well. Hearing someone’s son telling me he didn’t have a family pains me as a father. Like what you just said before: As long you still love each other, you are a family. I hope those words of yours are not just empty words.”

I can only put on a weak smile as I listen to Bjarni. He’s right, those are just empty words if I can’t back it up myself. But…it’s too bad, my family circumstances can not be solved merely by saying “I want to make up, let’s make up and be a happy family again.”. I can’t fix something that is already broken beyond repair from the beginning.

“Thank you, Mr.Lodbrok. I’ll try what I can do…”

The teacher doesn’t say anything, but his sense is sharp. He stares at me, but doesn’t call me out and just keeps smiling. We keep our silence until we know our conversation options are up.

“Excuse me, Mr.Lodbrok. But I’m afraid I still have something to do.”

“It’s okay, I won’t keep you busy anymore. Thank you for talking with this old man, Akuma.”

I take my crutch and start walking away. The man stays behind in the cafeteria. But that’s not my business, since I have someone I need to reconcile as well.

“Family…heh?”

Let the feelings be my guide, I start walking toward the Darkwood forest.