After my scolding from Bea, everything calmed down right quick and Tom was quick to catch me up on what everybody else did today. Once they got off the subject of this Will's "faux pas" Bea became downright charming. It seems that all they had to do today was just what I would consider high school gym class. Granted they did it much longer, but I thought I could handle the life they described.
It seems I had broken away from them shortly after breakfast. We were all on the way to the training yards when I told them I would catch up and ran off by myself. Once their training actually began and I still had not returned they got worried but had to stick to their own schedule.
The training they went through was apparently a short run for a warm up, and then they we re allowed to do the "obstacle course" for the first time since coming here. Luckily this meant I would only be missing the first day of it, so if I seemed awkward tomorrow with everyone else then it could be explained.
With the little hints they were dropping I understood that the past week that they had all been here, all they did was non-stop running to condition their bodies. Even if I personally did not do that, this Will's body did, so he should not be out of shape or anything!
They would not tell me exactly what the obstacle course contained and insisted I had to experience first hand exactly how exhausting it was. Fine by me, I would definitely give them my genuine reaction and it wouldn't look strange at all!
They said the second training was the same as the first and I did have to hide my confusion at that a little bit. Seems like they did the whole ordeal twice today? That sounds like it actually would be exhausting having physical exercise for the entirety of the day, but when I saw the whole dorm walking in they all seemed to have plenty of pep in their step. Maybe this would not be as bad as they were making it out to be....
Either way, he sat back and let them do most of the talking, only interjecting every now and then to prod them along. I learned that the training grounds we were currently at was at the base of a mountain. In one direction from these grounds was the town Bea and I were from, Biel. In the exact opposite direction was where Tom was from, Svart. This training grounds we were at was colloquially called "Ordning". It seems the surrounding towns mistook the training grounds as the location for the whole group here, The Order of the Exalted Sun, even if was essentially just an outpost. Apparently as you climbed the ranks of the order you moved further and further up the mountain. Seemed rather stuffy to me, I'd much prefer a town, but everyone else here seemed to be striving for it so maybe they knew something I did not.
Which, all things considered, is entirely likely considering my knowledge is literally a few hours worth.
They began talking mainly about aspirations for after reaching knighthood, which you were promoted to after spending some time as a squire, which is what we were actually in the training program for. Now that I knew the hierarchy I am sure I could navigate this a little bit better at least, though all these references to "tiers" still left me a little confused. They actually name dropped Samuel as one of the top squires to aspire to as he and someone named Hugh were tied for the highest tier currently, at this location at least.
Seems once they reach the final tier they get shipped off somewhere else. Seems sketchy to me, but they were practically giddy when talking about them getting shipped off to "Solens" to reach their Knighthood.
I was not getting much more information out of them and after a few hours everyone seemed to be winding down, with more and more people crawling into bed. Tom and Bea were right nearby and we three were pretty much the last ones chatting. Even we had to call it a night eventually.
As the dorm grew quiet and everyone was trying to go to sleep, I just lay there cataloguing all everything I managed to glean from my two friends. While all the geography and training stuff was sure to be useful, all I kept coming back to is just the few choice words from Bea. The squire had 10 times my mana. Did that mean he was 10 times stronger, or did it just mean he could last 10 times longer? And the word itself, mana. That had to be related to magic, right?
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Why were we here fooling around with physical training and obstacle courses when we should be shooting lightning bolts and explosions?
And since we're talking fantastical here, did that mean there were honest to goodness other humanoid races? Orcs, elves, beastkin?
I'll be honest, those few words from Bea had my thoughts spiraling like crazy so much that despite being out for most of the day, I actually mentally exhausted myself to fall asleep shortly after everyone else.
—----
Waking very groggily I was surprised to see almost everyone else already up and about. I shifted to a sitting position which triggered Bea to stomp over.
"Finally!" she exclaimed, "How you manage to almost miss breakfast too is beyond me! You're lucky Tom is taking pity on you. Get up and get ready!"
"Okay okay, I'm moving...." I mumble out "Thanks for looking out Tom."
"I did it for us more than you. Once you get thrown in the obstacle course I didn't want any excuses for any mess ups you have. I want full rights of laughter!" Tom practically cackled with glee at his announcement.
I honestly couldn't help but laugh at this, he was just like my friends in college. "Fine, fine. Breakfast then? I'm starving." I prompted them as I threw on my shirt and boots.
"I'm bringing up the rear this time," Bea began "so don't even think about running away to accost another squire!"
That got a chuckle out of all of us as I motioned to Tom and began following him as he made his way to breakfast. We walked out the door they entered from yesterday and down a long hall. It too was studded with the torches I wanted to examine, but I couldn't spare much of a glance unless I wanted Bea to start thinking I was looney. Even now they burned, even though there were open windows in this hall letting in copious amounts of morning sunlight.
Eventually we reached another doorway to a very large cafeteria essentially. We moved into a line where once we got to the front we received a big old tray that already had the plates and food set up. Looks like the menu was the same for everyone and there was no one making any fuss asking about substitutions and the like. If nothing else it was efficient. We all received a big helping of bread, eggs and chicken of all things. Not my typical breakfast choice, but honestly by now I was famished and could not care less. I guess Bea wasn't wrong when she said I missed lunch and dinner.
We all grabbed the largest mug I've ever seen, filled with water. We found a table and dug in. Well I did at least, Bea and Tom were talking and eating at their leisure, but I wolfed mine down. They actually laughed at me and told me that's what I got for being foolish yesterday. I was about to ask if I could get seconds when I remembered my regimen for today. No way I should stuff myself and then do all the physical training they have planned. I did make sure to clean the tray though, and then settled back to listen to my friends and maybe any of the other groups if they spoke loud enough.
While doing that and looking around the cafeteria though, I did notice some proper adults. They were just casually weaving between the tables and looking at all the kids. Every now and then one would pause and write something down on a piece of paper I realized they were all carrying. If I thought this place had some sketchy ways before, I was even more sure of it now. I watched them all for a bit but I was unable to make out what was catching their interest by the time Tom and Bea finished.
At that point they stood and grabbed their tray and mug while motioning for me to grab my stuff.
"Come on" Beat started "I'm sure it'll be soon and I want to be early today so we get better spots!"
We dropped our trays and mugs off at a separate location and headed through a different door. There were a few kids in front of us but most were still in the cafeteria so it seemed like Bea was going to get her wish. While walking down a completely different but oh so familiar hallway a massive bell sounded out. Most likely the one I had seen from yesterday upon waking. I hear the chatter from the cafeteria die down immediately after the bell began. Looks like everyone knew what it meant.
"Your sense of time is the best Bea, we really need to learn that from you!" Tom said. I looked at him a little stunned, out of all the conversating yesterday he hadn't really sucked up to Bea like that. Interesting.
Bea for her part just looked extremely smug and said "Of course! Now let's hurry so we can watch Will despair!".
And with that, we hastened our steps a bit to reach the training grounds.