Campaign 21

A week had passed since Malachi and his class subjugated the Hell Worm. During that week, the construction for Malachi’s training complex was still ongoing and was nearing the halfway point. Since Alexa had gone missing, Malachi no longer needed to hide his presence from the academy and openly walked free of worry—well, not entirely free, since he had to take note of any inconveniences that may result from Alexa’s disappearance; for example, an increasing frequency of hostile encounters from Class 1 and, due to his hijacking of their drills, from Class 7. Nevertheless, their attempts to make him suffer was all for naught as they were either beaten down in fair matches overseen by Axton or deterred completely by Malachi being in the armory due to the strict engineers.

By the start of the following week, another event occurred in Class 13’s room.

“Due to certain circumstances, you will be having a new classmate,” announced Carlos, “Please enter and introduce yourself to the class, Ms. Li.”

Class 7’s Erika Li had been transferred into Class 13, causing an excessive amount of attention from the rest of Class 13. As for Malachi, Arlianne glanced towards his direction and found him ignoring the entrance of their new classmate and focused on writing in his notebook. Erika passed through the doorway, scanned the class as she approached the front, and stiffly marched before them. Once she reached Carlos’ side, she mechanically faced the class with both hands clasped to her back.

“Greetings, fellow cadets!” she said, “I am—in accordance with your custom—Erika Li, and I came from the Empire of Taijun as a foreign student!”

As expected from being born in the Empire, Erika’s introduction was tense and extremely disciplined. Her introduction managed to garner a few raised brows, especially when she clasped her hands and bowed towards Malachi at the end.

“I thank the Headmaster for giving me an opportunity to thank Skaria for the lesson,” she said, “I never thought that I would be placed in your class after that incident with my former class.”

An Eskur next to Malachi tugged his sleeve.

“Young Master, what did she mean by that?” asked Dinah, “It seems as if you had something to do with her transfer.”

Malachi lifted neither his eyes nor his pen from the notebook, and answered Dinah.

“I just forced her to realize that she will be unable to do everything on her own,” he replied, “Afterwards, I left. I hadn’t thought that she would request a class transfer, and neither did I think that the Headmaster would actually put her in here.”

Although he was indifferent to the situation, his eyes had narrowed and the corners of his lips went slightly upward.

Naturally, this treatment towards Malachi was surprising since they all knew how severe the treatment against Eskurs was in the Empire. Erika’s initial hostility towards Malachi when they first met had lessened somewhat, but her imperial stiffness was still present and caused a bit of difficulty when identifying her amity. Still, Malachi quietly acknowledged Erika’s gratitude. Though, this unusual gesture also garnered a bit of attention. He would usually be loud and annoying, but he suppressed himself this time.

A few thoughts from his classmates assumed his intentions.

‘He surely has ulterior motives,’ thought Patrick.

‘Malachi should have something in mind,’ thought Rae, ‘The last time he was quiet was… I cannot recall…’

‘Did he plan this?’ thought Arlianne, ‘Class 13 is, technically, a “class of rejects.” I wouldn’t put it past him to make things easier for himself.’

And the like, as they had already come to terms with Malachi’s out-of-the-ordinary personality.

-

Since Class 13 had accomplished their previously assigned mission, their exemptions were no longer in effect, and were now tasked to resume their normal classes. Of course, since the previous weeks had them outside of the curriculum, they were left behind by the other classes and were forced to catch up. Well, that was for the rest of Class 13. For Malachi and Arlianne, most of what they were learning in class, they had already learned ahead of time due to Ibrahim’s tutoring or due to Malachi’s past knowledge. The words were different, but the logic and theories were the same, causing Malachi to merely replace the respective words used in his past life with the words used in his present life.

The only time he would attentively listen was during Arts and Sciences. Anything he could read from a book, he already knew, but anything in life could change causing him to compare what he knew with what their teachers taught. Although, the moment Malachi spoke a word, their classes would always turn into a debate or a discussion, giving his class and his teachers a new way of learning. The most heated discussions were, unsurprisingly, between him and Erika.

Erika, coming from an Imperial background, had a different world-view compared to those born in Perlas. This was especially true when it came to Malachi who had the best and worst of two worlds; physically, mentally, and spiritually. Malachi’s unorthodox thoughts clashed with Erika’s upbringing and with Perlasian understanding. Still, despite his unusually well-learned thoughts, his words were easy to comprehend and made it able to shed new light on newer knowledge—newer in the case for his classmates.

However, as long as he shared his thoughts, the gazes of his teachers would always focus on him—both in wonder and in suspicion—for they were still subordinated to Eleazar.

When a teacher finished class and bid farewell to Class 13, this teacher did not go back to the faculty rooms but went to the Headmaster’s office. The guards freely let the teacher enter the room with just the locking of their gazes, and Eleazar let the teacher enter after a certain series of knocks.

“Are you here to report something?” asked Eleazar.

The teacher nodded.

“Regarding that task about watching over your grandson, sir,” said the teacher, “I do not believe that he truly is your kin.”

Eleazar raised a brow.

“Your reason?” he urged.

The teacher cleared their throat.

“Malachi is too well-learned for his age,” answered the teacher, “Even if his records age him at fifteen years—the amount of things he knows—I believe that I would need my entire lifetime to know everything he had shared even if I’ve read all the books this world has to offer. This contrast with the earlier reports from his childhood is too extreme. I believe that there is a possibility that the real Malachi had already gone and was replaced by this person we see before us.”

Another knock came from the door.

“Enter,” said Eleazar.

A soldier immediately entered his room.

“Your Highness, an applicant has appeared at the registration hall,” reported the soldier, “You might, uh… you might want to look at it, sir.”

The newcomer handed to Eleazar a piece of paper containing the details of the applicant. It only took Eleazar a moment to realize why the soldier was hesitant about it and understood the strangeness of the situation. He lowered the paper and massaged his head.

“This generation is beginning to become a damned headache.” He commented. Eleazar looked at the soldier in the eye. “Have the others noticed yet?”

The soldier shook his head.

“No, sir,” he said, “Only the higher ups and Shadows recognized the applicant.”

Eleazar stared long and hard at the paper in his hands. For a while, the room was silent, save for the ticking of the clock. Eleazar heaved a sigh and pulled open a drawer from his desk and pulled out a small disc. It was a coin with a hole in the middle that seemed to have resulted from a bullet puncture. He flipped the coin across his palm with nostalgic eyes before placing it atop his thumb. With a flick of his thumb, the coin launched into the air with an excellent spin and caught it in midair once it dropped to his eye level. For someone in his early sixties, Eleazar’s reflexes were in top condition.

The teacher and the soldier waited with bated breath. It would seem that this action of Eleazar was nothing new for them since they did not have befuddled eyes, but anticipating eyes. Eleazar only felt the shape of the coin in his hands to know the answer. A soft laugh left his throat.

“Haha, is this what you suggest, my friend?” He said to no one in particular. Eleazar looked at the soldier and gestured him to receive the document. “Let’s see how it plays out? After all, I can only guide the succeeding generations.”

.

At the gates of the academy was a young Perlasian wearing the uniform of the academy. The back of his head had black hair that reached just above his nape, and his bangs split evenly before his face. On his back was a bag, similar in design to Malachi’s backpacks, and had a rod jutting out of its top flap. The young man was approached by a faculty.

“Mr…” the faculty looked at the document in their hands, “Mr. Jamante? Due to your, uh, sudden enrollment, you will immediately be placed in a class with a free slot. Looking at the results of your scout and exams, you are qualified to be in Classes 2 to 6, and out of those five, only Class 3 has a free slot.”

“I see. Then, are you the faculty in charge of that class?” Asked the young man whose voice was a bit feminine, but still boyish—an androgynous voice.

The faculty’s head shook.

“No, I’m just here to guide you there,” said the faculty, “Classes are currently in session, so the faculty in charge of that class is busy teaching. Oh, but they have already been notified.”

The young man smiled amicably.

“I am excited to meet new friends.” He said. When he smiled, the faculty with him stared at him for a while since his androgynous voice and features made him look fairly attractive. “Shall we go on ahead, teacher?”

The faculty snapped out of their daze.

“Ah, yes, let us go.”

The faculty and the young man passed by a number of cadets on their way to Class 3. Among the cadets, some had to do a double-take after glancing at the young man, making their companions ask.

“Hey, what’s up?” asked a cadet.

“Uh, I…” said another hesitantly, “I thought I saw someone familiar…”

The two cadets looked at the young man walking with the faculty. Their silhouettes slowly shrunk in the distance.

“Huh, a new cadet?” said the first, “At this time? We seem to be getting a lot of late enrollees and transferees lately. What about him?”

“Er, no, I must have been seeing things,” replied the second, “Yeah… that must be it.”

The first cadet scratched the back of his head as he looked at his companion.

-

Malachi, as usual, went to the armory with Arlianne. This time, he was to inspect the various rocks—or ores—he had gathered from the construction site. There were already a number of engineers around the pile of rocks, and he was approached by Remi once he entered.

“What do you plan to do with these rocks?” she asked, “Some of those seem to be iron ore, but a number of them have yet to be unidentified.”

Malachi smiled at the little girl.

“You’ll see in time,” he said, “Don’t worry. Once I figure out which ones contain metals, you’ll see what I mean to do to them. Can I borrow a smelter?”

“We have a few at the back,” she replied, “Do you know how to use them, though?”

“Nope, I’ll just have some of your men teach me how to.”

Remi gestured towards a few engineers, and had them assist with whatever Malachi needed to do. Afterwards, Malachi and Arlianne were led to the rear of the armory where there were numerous vents letting loose gusts of hot air. Under the light, the images of the surroundings blurred from the heat. Once they went through a door, however,

“Good gods, that is hot,” commented Malachi, “How in all Hells do these guys survive this heat?”

The place where the smelters were located was hot enough to fry an egg. Even so, the Perlasian engineers worked normally and unperturbed despite the extreme heat. Malachi glanced at Arlianne who was standing beside him, and she was also not affected by the heat. She was sweating, but her expression was still the same as before. Malachi trudged forward as he followed the other engineers to a smelter.

The smelter was as big as a house, and was wholly made of brick and stone with an extremely thick iron cauldron supported by metal and brick posts. The entire thing took up as much space in the armory.

“Here’s the smelter, Malachi,” said an engineer, “Would you like me to explain how to use it?”

“Never mind explaining to me,” answered Malachi, “Just show it to me, and I’ll learn as you go.”

Malachi inspected the piece of technology before him.

‘Not much difference with medieval smelters,’ he thought, ‘I should learn more about this.’

The engineers operated the smelter and guided Malachi on-the-spot. As for Arlianne, she also assisted Malachi by lifting and ferrying the rocks or ores to be smelted. Sometimes, the engineers would point out which ores were yet to be identified.

“Ah, that’s iron ore,” said an engineer, “You can put it on this pile.”

They had decided to smelt the unidentified ores first. Chucking one rock after another, the slag poured out of one drain and, soon, the bright glow of molten metals painted over their faces, accompanied the extreme heat it emanated. Fortunately, Malachi has grown accustomed to the heat from being next to the smelter and was able to shrug off the molten metal’s heat. The ores really did contain metals. The only thing left for them to do was to identify the metals once they have cooled into ingots.

After half an hour of making sure the molds will not grill their skins, they dumped out the ingots on to a tray. The ingots were as big as one’s foot, about 3 x 4 x 8 centimeters. The engineers looked over the unknown metal, applying different tests to it to see its toughness, malleability, and other physical characteristics. Malachi, however, was just strangely standing far from the tray. When Arlianne noticed this, she took a look at Malachi’s face and made an expression of understanding.

Malachi was smiling at the ingots on the tray.

‘The colors are the same as what I know,’ he thought, ‘The ore’s characteristics… and now its metallic attributes; they are the same as the one I know about…’

Malachi thanked the engineers for their assistance, before having the ingots stored for future use.

“Is it a familiar metal to you, Malachi?” asked Arlianne.

“Heh, as strange as it may seem,” he replied, “I don’t know whether I should be thankful that much of the things I know and have lived through are the same in this life or not. Remember that flashlight the Imperials supposedly created?”

“Is that metal…?” she understood.

“Yep, a vital component for much of the things I will recreate.”

Without another word, he and Arlianne went to class.

-

The next day, Malachi had Class 13 resume their drills in the morning. With their new addition, Erika Li, Malachi had to explain to her…

“Why in the world is there a Manticore on the field?!” She shrieked. It would seem that Manticores also existed in the Empire. “And what is that Hell Worm doing around your waist?!”

Erika had received a great shock in her life. The rest of Class 13 nodded in understanding and consoled her. Erika looked back and forth at the strange acceptance of the class and the two black monsters with them.

“We will be having Shyama, the Manticore, aid us with running,” explained Malachi, “Jin is just here to sleep… or, from the size of his body over the past few weeks, carry those who have collapsed to the side.”

Since the last time Malachi had been with Jin, the Hell Worm, its size had become considerable bigger. If it was able to wrap itself around Malachi’s neck like a scarf before, its size had forced it to move down Malachi’s waist like a gigantic belt. When it heard what Malachi planned for it to do, it raised its head towards Malachi’s face and looked at the other members of Class 13. The cadets stiffened when Jin’s golden eyes seemingly leered over them, especially since Hell Worms did not have eyelids to blink.

“Collapse?” Erika caught onto that word. “Won’t we just be drilling?”

“Nope!” replied Malachi, “I need to raise everybody’s stamina; up until they can last for as long as I can or more.”

Erika looked at the rest of Class 13 for confirmation, but they all averted their gazes. The only persons to nod were the Eskurs that she had no choice but to ask from. Levi made a deep nod with a serious expression.

“All right, I understand the stamina part,” she said, “What do these beasts have to do in it, specifically, that Manticore?”

Malachi had a nasty grin.

“Shyama will maul anybody who lags behind the entire group,” he answered gleefully, “Oh, but it isn’t as bad as it sounds. Though, the face of a growling Manticore should mentally scar those who fell to work harder.”

“You’re a slave driver!” retorted Erika.

“Exactly!” agreed Malachi.

A cadette placed her hand on Erika’s shoulder. It was Rae.

“Give it up,” she suggested, “Though he is like that, he does keep his promises to take good care of us.”

Erika glanced at the hand on her shoulder, but she let it pass.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

Malachi answered for her.

“The lower half will get extra drills, but the upper half will get a break depending on their results later, after lunch,” he said, “Yep, Class 13 undergoes strict drills under me. A sort of special treatment, considering the services I have rendered.”

“Do you mean those guns?” clarified Erika.

Malachi smiled.

“Yep, it’s good that you understood immediately,” he replied, “That said, in addition to new weapons, the training will also change accordingly. You did get to experience what it was like to be in another class, right? Class 13 is different. I made it different, and that difference is for the betterment of this kingdom—and maybe the Empire, by extension, since you are here. With that… SIC’EM, SHYAMA!”

Malachi immediately bolted ahead of the class, and Shyama roared in response. Using that as a signal, the rest of Class 13 shot forth, one after the other, leaving Erika behind who still stood in her place. Because of Shyama’s growl, however, she took the time to look back and see the fangs of the Manticore bearing down on her.

“To hell with it!” she cried, “Baendan!”

Erika shouted a string of incomprehensible words, which seemed to be the Imperial language, at Malachi and the rest of Class 13.

As they ran, a change could be visibly seen. All of Class 13 was able to go past 20 laps together, with a few hanging on until the 30th lap. Erika was finally able to catch up to the middle of the group, and found what happened to those who were left behind. Each one was body-slammed by the Manticore into submission, and the Hell Worm crawled beneath those who fell to carry them off. Despite Jin’s size, it was still able to lift those who were many times its size to safety.

Soon, the group was cut down to half by the 60th lap, and Erika was able to catch up to the rest without showing any signs of fatigue. She still glared angrily at the person who was leading the pack. By the 100th lap, the top people from before still remained: Levi, Patrick, Rae, Arlianne, and Malachi; this, however, also included Erika. Malachi turned around to those behind him and backpedalled, almost mockingly.

“Haha! That’s good! Good!” He exclaimed joyously. Malachi still maintained his speed despite being unable to see where he was going. “It seems the entire class has improved a bit!”

‘A bit?’ wondered Erika, ‘This amount of laps is just “a bit”?’

Eventually, one of them dropped out. It was Patrick at 134 laps. Then, Levi had gone at 152 laps. Malachi was smiling widely when he realized that he was the only male remaining. Unfortunately, the girls did not notice his malicious grin as he had already faced forward. As for Rae, she was already struggling by 177 laps, and finally dropped out at the 180th lap. By then, though, Shyama was already leisurely running behind the remaining three.

Malachi shouted at Shyama.

“Go have a rest if you want, Shyama!” He said, “I assume that these girls still have a lot left in them! Hahaha!”

Arlianne and Erika glanced at one another.

“Is he always like this?” asked Erika.

Arlianne shrugged and nodded in return.

“Ever since we were kids.” She replied, “Oh, but he only does this when he’s having fun.”

“This is fun for him?” wondered Erika, “To be such a slave driver… how was this class before? He said that they improved.”

“Let us say that Class 13 was a ‘class of rejects,’” replied Arlianne, “This class was the lowest of the low, with neither motivation nor ambition. A number of us are from nobility who only entered due to their influence. Malachi doesn’t care about that. He will drive anyone he finds useful beyond their capabilities. A fact I learned firsthand.”

Erika raised a brow.

“I used to be a clueless girl back then,” shared Arlianne, “But, since meeting Malachi, my life changed a lot.”

The two girls leisurely chatted with one another up until the 250th lap. Although, along the way, Malachi felt a bit lonely since the two girls left him out.

‘To think Ms. Li would open up to Arlianne,’ he thought as he ran, ‘Is it because they’re women? Is it because I’m a guy?’

After the 250th lap, Malachi continued running in the company of Shyama. Arlianne and Erika had already left the field and returned to the remnants of Class 13. They all watched as Malachi continued to run.

“What was Malachi’s record, by the way?” asked Levi, “We this should be the first time we ran with him… well, the bottom half did.”

“400.” Said Tyler succinctly.

Those who belonged to the top half, and Erika, looked at those who dropped the earliest. Arlianne did not mind the discussion within the class and freshened herself up with a bottle of water since she already knew about Malachi’s capabilities. When those who ran with Malachi were pestered for answers, they could only give the same answer as Tyler. The rest looked at Malachi who was now running alone.

“Damn! Was someone counting?!” cried a cadet.

As though he heard them, Malachi replied.

“I’m on my 355th lap!” he shouted, “You can go and have your lunch if you want!”

They could only stare at their Class Leader nonchalantly dismissing them, as if they no longer needed to be there. Still, there were a few who immediately left once they knew they were free to do whatever they want. The only ones who remained were the Eskurs, Patrick, Erika, and Arlianne. Arlianne and the Eskurs glanced momentarily at Patrick who, strangely, remained fixed at Malachi’s figure in the distance.

All of a sudden, Patrick left them and returned to the field. He ran once more, trying to catch up to Malachi.

“Mr. Bryant, I assumed you were tired,” greeted Malachi, “Any particular reason for running again?”

“If I must give a reason,” replied Patrick, “Then let that reason be for self-improvement.”

Malachi shrugged.

“All right, let’s forget about the laps and just run for as long as we can before our lunch.”

Malachi readily accepted Patrick’s answer and continued running. The sight of the two of them still running seemed to have urged the Eskurs to join them again. Erika stared at the group running in the field, and looked at Arlianne.

“You won’t join them?” she asked.

“No need,” replied Arlianne, “What about you?”

Erika looked back at the running group.

“I’m satisfied with what I have,” she said, “Excuse me.”

Erika turned and left the field, leaving Arlianne to wait until high noon.