Large piles of bodies filled the training. Raina and I stood in front of them in silent contemplation.
Finally, Raina spoke hopefully.
"......Do you think they're ready for another round yet?"
I walked over to a large simmering pot of soup and stirred it a couple of times, letting the tantalizing smell of it waft through the room.
Not a single body twitched.
"*Sigh* Not even my addictive energy increasing soup is causing a reaction, looks like they truly don't have enough strength to go on....."
Earlier that day....
This was the fourth day of the 'special training' and the teachers and students had been combined together.
At this point in time, the unwilling participants had realized that Raina and I stopped training when they were completely out of energy, and attempted to fake complete exhaustion in order to get out of training sooner.
The fake collapsed bodies were greeted by an angelic smile, and the words, that since they were so tired, they could have an early lunch of revitalizing soup that he had been cooking on the side of the field to regain their energy.
Believing their ploy had worked, the worn out teachers and students eagerly began eating the delicious soup Felix had prepared for them.
Heh, what fools~~
They were amazed at new swell of energy that filled their bodies from the soup, and were quite complacent in returning to training, believing that if it got to hard, they could just wimp out.
Their energy did indeed soon fade away, and once more the training grounds were covered in fallen bodies.
But instead of letting them rest, Felix brought out a spoon and stirred the soup, using a little bit of wind magic to send its scent all around the field.
All of their heads suddenly perked up, mouths watering.
"Heh, seems you guys still have some energy after all, get back to work!"
They got back to work reluctantly, but there was still hope in their hearts, they had just made a mistake this time, if they didn't react to the soup next time, they could still cut their training short.
Yet, when collapsed bodies once again filled the field and Felix once again sent the scent out, their head popped up against their wills.
"Ah, I suppose I should mention, that while this soup does revive energy quite well, it is also extremely addictive, so if you have any energy left at all, you most definitely will react~"
Despair immediately filled all of the poor souls trapped under the rule of Felix and Raina.
Back to the Present
"It's a pity we couldn't squeeze any more out of them, but we did get several more rounds out of them with the soup~"
"Ah, yes, I would like the recipe, if I could have it."
"Sure thing Raina! I'll have Arvid write it down and leave it in your room."
"Thanks!"
Suddenly, loud horns filled the air.
I felt Raina turn towards the sound, her body brimming with excitement.
"Fresh meat has arrive!"
".........Do you mean literally, or figuratively?"
"Both. The older students go on a long expedition for the first few weeks or so to one of the nearby low level danger areas to fight magical beasts. They usually bring back quite a bit of magical beast meat, and they last a lot longer in training than the first years........"
........I had been wondering where the older students were.......
I dived for the nearest pile of dead bodies, and pretended be just as corpse-like as they were, shifting my wings from their sleek and black form to the golden and fluffy.
"Felix, what are you doing!"
"There is no way I'm going to chance missing out on the interesting interactions with the older students! To do so, they can't find out I was involved with this!"
"I see, but won't the other first years tell them about you?"
I pulled up a magical formation I already had prepared in my mind, and snapped my fingers twice.
"Already dealt with, the students memories of all these strange days have been replaced with normal class days in their minds. It looks like our special training will be cut short, since I was planning to use this anyways since scared toys are boring, this even has moved up my plans."
"You said the students....so the teachers will still remember?"
"Of course! I don't want all the conditioning I worked into their minds to be undone!"
"Mmmm, then be sure to advise them not to say anything when they wake up."
"That was the second part of my spell, once they regain consciousness, they will hear my voice instructing them to say nothing of the matter, or face the consequences."
"As expected, you've thought of everything. "
"Heh, of course I have~ Oh, I hear them coming!"
Several minutes later, the approaching footsteps I could hear finally rang clearly through the hall.
"Still, I wonder why nobody greeted us at the gate, there should have been at least one to lead-Ah! What happened here!"
Kekeke, what a wonderful reaction~
Older Students Point of View:
We had spent weeks in the low danger area Sweet Scent Forest. The sweet scent the trees in the forest gave off attracted many low level magical beasts and even some medium level creatures as well.
After facing many life or death battles, we were quite eager to return to school, greeted by the sweet smiles of our juniors.
But upon our arrival, laden with delicious magical beast meat, not a single person greeted us, not even when we sounded the horns to announce our arrival!
What was wrong? Could we have gotten the rare batch of evil tempered juniors that didn't feel any need to show respect to their seniors!?
The gates swung open easily at our touch. Why weren't they locked?
Could it be that our juniors were inside, with a surprise for us?
Our hearts began to warm and we hurried inside.
Maybe we had good juniors afterall!
The Crown Prince of Lothyde kingdom, Darius Starbright, took the lead. He was the strongest student in their school, breaking into high rank last year at the legendary age of 12. It was said that the only reason he hadn't applied to enter a high rank school was because he wanted to guide his close acquaintance, the Crown Prince of Ediraseth, who would be a first year this year.
The peace agreement between the four kingdoms had caused the royal families to grow quite close, but the bond was especially strong between Ediraseth and Lothyde.
The classrooms we passed were all empty, solidifying our theory that the first years were all gathered somewhere to greet us. But.....where?
The first princess of Aleridon, Sophia Heartstone,also near the front, finally guessed.
"They are probably at the training fields, that's the only area big enough to fit them all, and it is an excellent place for presentations."
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
With a goal now in mind, we hurried our pace. As we approached the entrance to the training field, Darius, in a pondering tone, asked.
"Still, I wonder why nobody greeted us at the gate, there should have been at least one to lead-Ah! What happened here!"
His startled exclamation came as we entered the training field and saw the horrific view panning out before us.
The bodies of our juniors and teachers alike were strewn about in limp piles around the field, with professor Raina standing in front of them with a small smile on her face.
"Welcome Back~"
At those cheerful words, our blood turned to ice.
"P-professor R-Raina, what happened here?"
Prince Darius barely managed to speak through cold lips.
It was an unnecessary question, really, we all Knew what had happened, but the question helped break the silence that had fallen at Raina's cheerful greeting.
"Ah, we had a Special training session, ehehehe~ "
A truly joyful smile broke out on professor Raina's face,, and we all felt a strong urge to take a step back, but for some reason, our legs wouldn't move.
"You must be tired from your journey, why don't you come and have some of this soup!"
.........Maybe she wasn't going to have us train?
Cautiously, we all took a bowl of soup and tasted it.
Delicious!
But for some reason, the warmth of the soup was failing to heat our frozen blood.
"Now that you've all recovered your energy, why don't you join me in a training lesson, I won't let you refuse~"
............*Cry*
Felix's Point of View:
Hrmmm, it seems the older students aren't the brightest, having previous experience with Raina's training fanaticism, I thought they would have at least seen that coming.....
"B-but Professor, shouldn't we take our juniors and teachers to the infirmary? This really isn't the time for training......"
Oho, not bad, the guy with the tenor voice actually tried to refuse~
"........They're fine....."
"No, from even just appearances alone, you really can't say that......."
"......I said they're fine, so they're fine!"
Raina..........can't you come up with a better argument than that? Your precious training is in peril....of course, an constantly honest type of person like you probably can't do any better......
"That.....surely their health will effected saying outside unconscious like this, and make it harder to participate in training later on!"
Using what she loves most to persuade her, nice!
".......they're not unconscious, just sleeping....."
I could feel a heated gaze on my wings.
What, Raina, you can't handle them on your own, so instead of admitting defeat, you're calling for help!?
"No, that's clearly not sleeping......"
Hey, if you stare any harder, my wings are are going to catch on fire!
Ugh, if I help her, my future interesting interactions with the older students might be harmed.....but if I don't Raina will probably be mad at me and not let me help out with training secessions any more......
.......I'll just have to get as much fun out of this moment as I can and help Raina out at the same time!
I let my wings twitch and let out a small moan as I slowly sat up and faced towards the older students and Raina.
Crown Prince Darius's Point of View:
I could see Raina weakening at my argument! After so many years, it was only natural that I learn some methods for dealing with her.
............But for some reason, she was staring really hard at something on one of the nearby piles of my poor juniors and teachers....
I turned a little bit to get a better look at the pile.......why was there a pair of fluffy golden wings on the pile!?
Suddenly, the wings twitched, and moved, revealing a small kid who sat up slowly and turned his face in our direction.
The little......girl?.....no......boy? had a loose black cotton sleeveless shirt on that displayed finely toned tanned arms and small black leather shorts that revealed long lean legs. Long white hair with golden tips spilled over slender shoulders and big gold eyes blinked sleepily at me. All of this was framed perfectly by fluffy gold feathers.
C-cute! Boy or girl, this kid had to be the most adorable thing I had ever seen!
"T-teacher, who are these strange people I'm feeling?"
That voice, so the kid was definitely a boy, but...Feeling? why hadn't he said seeing?
I took a step forward and looked closer......there was no pupil! This little boy is blind?
"These are your seniors in school, Felix."
Felix lept off the pile of bodies he had been sitting on and gave a small bow, then looked up and smiled sweetly.
"Welcome Back~"
Something sounded familiar about that phrase....but all my thoughts were washed away by the greeting of my adorable junior.
Felix took a step forward and then tripped, falling flat on his face, wings spreading out clumsily.
I stepped forward, intending to help him up, but Felix pushed himself up easily into a kneeling position.
He rubbed at tears in his eyes and his wings turned a pale pink color, as though they were blushing from embarrassment.
"Ita! How embarrassing......Sowy Seniors, I'm a bit clumsy since I'm blind...."
My heart began to beat rapidly.....I-I want to protect this cute junior.
"Ne~ I heard that the seniors are really strong right? You've been hunting magic monsters for a long time right? You must be really strong~"
T-this is the adoring respect that all seniors long for!
"Ah, that's right little brother, this senior is even the strongest of the school!"
The kids mouth seemed to twitch downwards in a frown for a moment, but then he gave a brilliant smile....I must have been imagining the frown...
"Ah, I would really like to feel a display of seniors strength, would you show me!"
"This senior would do anything for a cute junior like you....."
Professor Raina suddenly cut in, I had almost forgotten she was there.
"I think a training secession would be the best way to display the seniors strength, don't you?"
Urk!
Felix opened his big gold eyes wide and looked in my direction hopefully.
"Oh, would you really!"
"......Ok......"
For my cute junior, I'll do anything, even subject myself to Raina's training!
Felix's Point of View:
As the idiotic seniors began their training, I walked casually over to Raina, and had her bend over so I could whisper into her ear.
"Pull out all the stops, don't hold anything back."
NOBODY gets away with calling me 'little brother'!!!!!