Over the course of the entire winter season, Ethel had been busy training with Vyron over the recent changes in their schedule. Because training had took up the rest of her time with her friends, Vyron had had to deal with the constant verbal banters of both Albright and Porte, who reluctantly turned over a new leaf after being scolded by her.

Of course, the knowledge of being harassed by her friends was something that Vyron chose not to divulge, probably for fear of making the problem bigger than what it ought to be. Carys, who would spend his leisure time in the library, got along well with Porte who held a minor course in history as part of his noble duties.

Fleur had even taken it upon herself to write letters to Vyron in consideration to his rather handsome face and healthy body. After being tempered by Ethel in regards to that horrible pride of his, Vyron managed to pique her interest after chancing upon their usual training.

When spring had come and it was finally the month of Mayu, Ethel decided to stop their training and had allowed him free reign over his schedule. Vyron had initially wanted to celebrate being freed from the hellish training, however a few days after he found himself feeling a little lost and empty.

And so after several persuasions from Albright and Porte, the four of them decided to train with Ethel.

The time had finally come for their teacher, Baron Kapfem to assess them for the following weeks until the second week of Xunu, which he’ll then pick 10 students to come with him to the Empire.

“If you guys get picked, what are you going to do?” Porte asked as they ate their lunch in one of the guardtowers. The canteen and Great Hall were too rowdy, as opposed to the towers where the eagles were stationed at. Except for giving out signals, eagles would rarely ever bother you.

Albright was muching on a piece of turkey leg and muttered, “Obviously go with our teacher, duh...” to which he earned a smack to the head, almost choking on the piece of meat.

“WHAT THE FUC –”

“Language,” Ethel interjected.

“– hell is wrong with you? Who smacks people in the head while eating?”

Porte rolled his eyes in response.

“Why you –!”

As both men tussled on the ground, Ethel engaged in conversation with the two other present, Vyron and Fleur, who no longer tried to seduce him to sleeping with her. After driving a hard bargain, Ethel managed to convince Fleur to find a better target in exchange for a coupon in one of the spas just outside the castle. Since seniors were the only one allowed to go outside, Ethel could use some relaxation and use her coupon when the others left for Mars. After all, they’d technically already be graduated before the competition would start.

“How about the both of you?”

“What do you mean?”

“What would be your response if you had qualified for Mars?”

Vyron pondered on it and almost immediately said, “Bring honor to my family.”

‘What a typical answer.’

“I’d go,” Fleur nonchalantly replied.

Ethel raised a brow. “Really?”

Warriors had the option of refusing the spot if they didn't want to. Of course, a warrior must have a valid reason to refuse such an opportunity.

“Yes, don’t you believe me?”

“Well, I do but you’d probably want something else than fame or fortune, do you not?”

Her family is already famous. As her grandfather is a retired general from the Werdolf Empire and her father is the prime minister, her status could be comparable to the royal princess. Though she was quite different. After all, unlike her older sister and other ladies in the capital, she chose to study here in the cold north and become a warrior. Such actions were supported by her grandfather, so even when bad rumors shrouded her reputation, Fleur acted as if she wasn't concerned.

Prepared to be skewered if you ever get on her bad side, as Ethel would always empathize when visiting her previous admirers. Not that it would work, that woman was a seductress capable of causing the downfall of a country, you see?

Fleur’s laughter could be heard. “My my, you really know me so well, don’t you?”

“Yeah right,” Vyron snorted as he chewed on his sandwich.

Irked, Fleur inched closer to him with a smile, to which Vyron scooted closer to Ethel to shield himself from the seductress. Others might find her beautiful but he found her annoying and haughty. Albright and Porte had settled down and had scratches on their faces with messed up hair.

You wouldn't usually find nobles like them. Despite being an institute for warriors, there was still a noticeable divide between the two classes. The school forbade servants in Agora, which forced those blue bloods to take care of themselves. Still, nobles rarely interacted with commoners unless needed. Suprisingly with not much malice.

“But who do you reckon would get picked?” Porte mumbled with a bruised lip.

Ethel wondered. Since only a handful had reached 7th class, she supposed all of them would be picked, excluding herself.

“Baron Kapfem would probably pick me,” Albright shrugged, a cut from his forehead continued to drip down the side of his face, though frankly no one seemed to care.

“And why would he?” Vyron scoffed. He disliked it when someone boasted. Ethel had to remind him that he was like that just a few months ago.

“Because wouldn’t it make sense if he went for a balanced team?”

“Balanced?” Fleur tilted her head in confusion.

“Strength and power should take priority,” Vyron interjected as he stabbed a piece of meat from his lunch.

Albright, who is not good at explaining things, turned to Ethel for help. All of them got the message as Ethel sighed. If she kept talking, then when will she be able to finish her hearty meal? Alas, she could only concede.

With a cough she then spoke, “We all know how good of a swordsman Baron Kapfem is, am I right?” The rest nodded.

“And since warriors have not managed to win for the past seven years, then it would only make sense that a man of his wits and strength would lean towards a strategic approach as to how Mars would be conducted.”

Vyron looked as if he wanted to speak, but is quickly elbowed in the ribs by Fleur, shushing him. He had an indignant look on his face but chose to remain quiet.

“There’s a limit to strength and power. Like most warriors who go on expeditions to subjugate the northern wolves and ice bears, blindly attacking with pure strength and power alone is not enough. To put in an analogy, bears have thick hides and wolves are fast. If you keep using strength alone, then you might not be able to effectively kill the beasts, much less land a hit. You have to bear in mind the most optimal fighting style that allows you to fight while preserving most of your strength with minimal effort.

The same applies to Mars. Magic users have classes that uses different mediums in casting magic. All of them have different strengths and different weaknesses. Of course, the same applies to us. So for warriors, it would only make sense that Baron Kapfem would pick people who is able to cooperate and have different strengths that suit different situations. Ergo, it would be preferable to have both long-ranged and short-ranged fighters.”

Albright gave a thumbs up and said, “So I was right, Ethel is a much better teacher than those old blokes in theoretical classes.”

Vyron nodded, Porte enthusiastically agreed, and Fleur hummed in response. Ethel ignored it.

“By the way, I haven’t seen Carys around as much.”

“He’s cooped up inside our room, only goes out to train and bathe at night, and sleeps the whole day with the blanket covering his entire body.” Vyron harbored no intention of finding out why because he was so busy with training and he was too much of an idiot to suspect anything suspicious going on.

Ethel begged to differ. She already harbored doubts about his identity, what with a certain accessory he wore on his wrist. Thinking of this, she looked down at her ankle that hid the same bracelet under her shoes. Though she hadn't managed to find anything seeing as they were not close and rarely held a conversation.

Their interactions revolved around polite greetings and occasional spars with evenly matched skills and curt and concise flaw corrections. As such, she hadn’t so much of a thought about how weird he acted at the moment.

“Should we pay him a visit then?” Ethel said, attracting the attention of the others, who stared with a mixture of shock.

Fleur giggled. “Oh my, has our dear Ethel developed an interest in Carys?”

She had no intention of denying it in the first place, and her curiosity merely stemmed from the fact that she has her own guesses as to why he was acting out of order.

“Yes.”

Vyron dropped his fork, Fleur widened her eyes, Porte’s jaw slacked, and Albright’s mouth had opened so wide that the meat he was chewing fell to the ground. Ethel paid no heed and quickly finished her lunch before standing up and wiping the dirt off her pants.

“Well then, shall we?”