We rushed to the training grounds, hoping to make it in time before mister Gunterson began his class.

We weren’t as scared of him now as we used to be in the beginning, but that didn’t mean we were stupid enough to test his patience for no reason. Whereas mister Hendricks had the air of an affable grandfather, and kept us straight mostly by making us feel reluctant to disappoint him, mister Gunterson employed a markedly different approach.

I shuddered. God knows which pit of hell they dragged that bastard out of to serve as our instructor, but there was no doubt in my mind that the devils must celebrate the day of his departure with a holiday. A week long one at that.

We reached the plaza where he had us gather for training completely out of breath and anxiously looking around. Karl and Andrei were already there, waiting, but thankfully the man we were all worried about was nowhere in sight.

“Hallelujah!” Bruce exclaimed. “Raia must have taken pity on our souls and had the old walrus face choke on a bone or something.”

Andrei snickered. I looked at him surprised. Bruce had taken to blaspheming the name of the Goddess who sent us here pretty early on, and while we never begrudged him for it, few found his quips all that funny. And yet I could see a growing grin on Andrei’s face.

Crap.

As if we were reenacting a scene from a horror movie, we slowly turned to look behind. Though we already knew what to expect. We were met with a pair of piercing blue eyes. The sense of impending doom taking us back to the day when we first met their owner.

***

So, you’re the whelps who don’t feel like being heroes?” We stood in front of a tall man, looking to be in his middle age. His scalp was completely devoid of hair and shined in the sun as if he spent hours polishing it every morning.

He let the question hang in the air, taking his time to inspect us.

Pfft! He spit a ball of saliva on the ground in front of us.

“Pathetic!” he roared. Maybe to compensate for his hairline deficiencies, he sported a powerful, bushy mustache that completely covered his upper lip and probably took him years to cultivate.

“The hell’s pathetic, old man!” Andrei shot back. “You people kidnapped us from our world! You’re lucky enough we don’t kill you! And you still expect us to fight for you?!”

“Hohoho, kill me, you say? Lucky, am I?” He laughed derisively. “Hendricks has been pampering you lot far too much. Whenever I see that old fart walking on eggshells around you bunch of brats, I truly don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

He kept strutting in front of us like an angry turkey. His mustache shook whenever he snorted in indignation, making it look like it housed a terrified animal inside.

“Know one thing. I am not Hendricks. I couldn’t give a flying fuck about your loss. In truth, when I look at you, I have to fight down the vomit rising in my throat.” His face scrunched up as if he really was on the brink of spraying us with his puke.

“To me the result of this war is meaningless. I have the confidence to survive regardless of which side ends up on top.”

“Do you know why?” He abruptly stopped walking and shot us a challenging look.

“Because I have the power to protect myself. The only reason I’m wasting my time here is because that coot promised me too much money for this job not to accept.”

In just two steps he crossed the distance of five metres between us and stood in front of Andrei. He was so close to him, they were almost touching. His piercing eyes drilled holes in the teen’s lowered head.

“So better believe me when I say how impressed I am, hearing I should feel lucky that a little fart like you is not going to kill me. Haven’t felt such relief since my last shit.”

His hand suddenly moved with the speed of lighting and slapped Andrei on the face, throwing the teen to the ground.

“But know this boyo... The last man who so magnanimously spared my life is now rotting under a pumpkin plot in Cheasure. Mate who owns the farm swears they never tasted better.”

We instinctively moved away from Andrei. He still laid on the ground, more shocked than hurt, and too scared to get up with Gunterson continuing to hover over him like a vulture.

“If you harbor any hopes of me acting like your nanny, presenting you my teat to suckle on whenever you start missing your home” he said, his gaze shifting to the rest of us, “then you can scram and lock yourselves in your rooms this instance. I’m getting paid regardless.”

We were all dismayed by the show he put on for us, but no one left. Even Andrei, who lifted himself off the ground and stared daggers at the old walrus face, chose to remain.

Some boys thought that a few girls, Marie at least, would run off. But by this point they had reached the same unpleasant realisation as the rest of us. If we didn’t learn to defend ourselves, then the only outcome waiting for us was death.

Kidnapped or not, we were trapped in this rotten world, and every now and again we could overhear the servants whispering between each other news of another city falling to the demons.

In fact, when mister Gunterson asked for someone to duel him, it was Anastasia who was the first to step up.

“Finally, someone with balls.” he quipped.

“I don’t have balls, mister Gunterson.” Anastasia replied through gritted teeth, “Nor do I need any in order to learn how to defend myself.”

“Well, you certainly don’t have much tits either, so you better make up your mind quickly and decide on one or the other.” He said with a grin, handing her a sword from a nearby rack.

“Now arm yourself and show me just what kind of material they brought me here to work with.”

Anastasia held the massive iron sword in two hands and slowly raised it. Looking at it, it must have weighed over twelve kilograms, but after accustoming herself with its weight, she wielded it comfortably and started swinging it in the air.

“Well, what are you waiting for, missy?”

“Can I really go all out?”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to cry if you accidentally cut my head off.” he sneered.

Having finally lost her patience due to his constant taunting, Anastasia pushed aside her apprehension and prepared herself for battle. She inhaled deeply, rousing the mana in her body, exactly like we were taught in our classes.

In a flash, she exploded with forward momentum, and keeping her sword low, she aimed it straight at Gunterson’s stomach.

The walrus face stood his ground, his hand leisurely resting on the grip of his sheathed sword, seemingly unperturbed by the mass of iron coming to skewer his body.

A loud metal clang rang out as Anastasia was thrown to the ground. Her sword got launched high into the air, freely rotating around its axis, until it finally came crashing down, raising billows of dust.

Anastasia herself laid on the ground, massaging her swollen wrists with a frown on her face. The whole confrontation happened so quickly, we weren’t even able to catch when he moved, all we saw was Anastasia’s initial charge and the subsequent aftermath.

Without moving a step from where he stood, Gunterson looked at us and simply said, “Next.”

One by one, we stood up, picked up the fallen sword, and tried to challenge the bald freak. Some followed Anastasia’s example and recklessly charged forward, hoping to land a lucky hit before getting disarmed. Others took a more cautious approach. They kept their distance, circling around the man, and trying to take advantage of his stationary position to sneak in an unexpected attack.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

That’s what I did, but sadly, I didn’t fare any better. Even in my own duel I wasn’t able to make out how exactly I was defeated. The man moved with such agility it beggared belief. At one moment I was still approaching him, trying to act out whatever I remembered about sword fighting from the movies I saw, and in another, I found myself lying on the ground, the impact from our swords colliding leaving my arm completely paralyzed.

It didn’t take him more than fifteen minutes to disarm us one by one. His feet never moved from the spot he stood on.

Or group laid on the ground moaning. I got lucky, but most of us weren’t just massaging our wrists. Andrei, who had the bad luck of attracting his attention earlier on, sported a new bruise on his face and kept muttering curses in Russian under his breath. Even Allie got punched in the gut by the bastard.

Nevertheless, no one broke into tears or got discouraged to the point of quitting. It was gradual, but we were slowly shedding the protective layer of weakness we got accustomed to in our former lives and discovering that a bit of pain wasn’t something that couldn’t be overcome.

Which isn’t to say that our first impression of the man was in any way positive. Still, while we weren’t aware of that fact at the time, Gunterson had actually exercised a measure of restraint on our first day. Small mercy that wouldn’t be repeated.

He fiddled with his mustache as he gave us his assessment.

“No skills to speak of. Utter lack of even the most basic instincts. I have come across some pampered noble brats in my line of work, but this is truly something I haven't seen before.”

He didn’t even appear to be taunting us. Only summarizing what he had to work with.

“At least you don’t have any bad habits, though I have to say, even a bad habit would be a happy surprise at this point.”

He picked up the sword lying on the ground. “It’s going to be some time before there’s any point in you trying to hold one of these.“

He wasn’t lying.

We spent the next six weeks going through the most grueling training regiment of our lives. The core of it was comprised of what you could consider standard exercises, if somewhat augmented to compensate for our new powers. Long distance running, while carrying weights, through an obstacle course. It wasn’t even that we were forced to run till we puked, or that we had to learn to cope with the novel and incredibly unpleasant sensation of mana depletion.

The man had an uncanny ability to sense just when you were about to reach your breaking point. That moment when there was no more wind in your lungs, mana had become but a faint memory, and the muscles in your body screamed so horribly you thought you’d go insane... That was when he’d pounce on you. Just as your body was about to completely shut down, offering that sweet relief of oblivion, he’d appear behind you and give you a kick over the cliff, forcing you to carry on.

It got so bad that we dreaded the end of mister Hendricks’s lessons. They weren’t the most riveting stuff, his voice simply didn’t lend itself to long symposiums, and even learning about magic was of no help to our boredom. Still, we prevailed, and as we noticed the sun steadily approaching the meridian, signalling another session with mister Gunterson, we’d start bursting with questions, suddenly gripped with unquenchable thirst for knowledge.

Not that it helped. Mister Hendricks would just laugh knowingly, entertain us for a short while, and then excuse himself with a sore throat, imploring us to write down our questions and ask him at the beginning of tomorrow's lecture.

***

We limped our way back from mister Gunterson’s class. While the issue of us challenging the demon king was still something so prepostreous that we had no way of wrapping our minds around it, we were quite fired up about one day using our powers to bring down a foe much more intimate and possibly even more villainous.

Bruce and Kazuki were completely entranced in their discussion of what they would do to Gunterson when they finally how learned to control the incredible reservoirs of mana supposedly coursing through our bodies. Disturbingly, the most graphic examples came from Anastasia, who sometimes chimed in with an idea so horrific, that even the boys were momentarily at a loss of words.

Meanwhile, I brought Karl and Andrei up to time on what happened with Marie and why we were late.

“Ah, I get what you mean” Karl said.

“I don’t, and I don’t feel like going vegetarian. I need meat! Meat!” Andrei shouted incoherently. While he didn’t have to suffer through the penalty exercises like the rest of us, Gunterson had a way of reducing you to a semicatatonic state regardless of your transgressions.

We entered the dining room and were surprised to see Marie, wearing a cute apron over her normal clothes, and setting the communal table with plates and cutlery. There was a pot filled with hot stew to the side, wafting an enticing aroma into the air.

“Marie?” Allie asked, “What happened? Don’t tell me that mister Hendricks forced you to cook your Cluckypoof after all?” she questioned, her voice rising in anger.

Marie smiled at her and let out an embarrassed giggle.

“No, no, no. It wasn’t like that. Mister Hendricks was very supportive, I came to the realization on my own.” she explained. “When I told him I wanted to pick a nice tree to bury PoofPoof under, he even offered to go with me and help me choose a good spot.”

“But as we were walking, I suddenly felt very absurd, and a bit scared.”

“There I was, carrying that dead chicken, all alone, save for mister Hendricks, when all of you have already left to train with mister Gunterson. It just felt so completely ridiculous.”

“Like… you went off to get stronger, to learn how to protect yourself, and here I was all on my own, when it was the last thing I wanted! And what was even worse, later you would come back and only have vegetables to eat, and everyone would get cross with me.”

“Oh, Marie, you know we wouldn’t get angry at you!” Allie exclaimed.

Marie blushed. “I know, Allie, thank you, it’s just what it felt like. But it wasn’t bad, really. I don’t know why, but it was as if all my worries were just a soap bubble and when I realised how silly I was being, they all burst and I felt much better.”

“You are very strong, and you have nothing to feel silly about.” Miss Berry interjected. “Now give me a hug, sweety.”

Marie’s figure momentarily disappeared as she got swallowed in Miss Berry’s powerful embrace. It took her a good few moments before she disentangled herself from that woman’s loving arms, and with a face red like a tomato, she continued to narrate her story..

“So, anyways, I told mister Hendricks that I wanted to prepare dinner for my friends to surprise them when they came back. He was really bewildered by my sudden change of heart and repeatedly asked me if I was sure, but I just put my foot down. On my way to the kitchen I met miss Berry, and when I asked her, she said she’d be happy to help me. We cleaned the chicken together and then prepared a stew.”

“And if I see even one of you forget to complement Marie’s hard work, you can all forget of ever tasting my cookies again!” Miss Berry declared with a huff.

We all bellowed, “THANK YOU MARIE”

Marie just smiled at us sweetly and led us to the table.

The aroma coming from the stew was mouthwatering. It wasn’t anything fancy, just chicken and a mix of vegetables boiled together for a long time in a sauce, slathered over potatoes, and then sprinkled with a large heaping of till. But there was something about simple country food, especially after many hours of physical exertion, that was irresistibly appetizing.

Marie took it upon herself to prepare our meal this time, but normally everyone was involved. We would separate into groups, and some would scrub the vegetables, others would prepare meat, while the rest would man the stove or set the table.

The mansion we lived in was filled with servants who did nearly everything for us. They woke us up when it was time to rise, cleaned and pressed our clothes, even ran our baths, but cooking was something we had to do on our own. We were told that it was a skill that everyone needed to master, in now way less important than sword fighting or mana control.

The reason wasn’t all that important, because there was something so enchanting about eating food that we all worked together to make, that we would probably stick to it even if we weren’t forced to.

We ate ravenously but still found time to talk.

“You know, Marie. My father took me hunting since I was young, so it wasn’t difficult for me to accustom myself here”, Karl started, playing with a potato on his plate, “but I still remember the first time I killed something. It was a partridge. I think I was eight at the time. My Pa had to help me steady the rifle when I took aim, cause it was too heavy for me, and the knockback alone almost floored me.”

”I don’t know how I have managed to hit anything, but that bird must have had the worst luck luck in the world, cause I saw it suddenly falling to the ground. He wasn’t dead though. He just lay on the ground, not squawking or anything, just awkwardly flapping his broken wing. I remember feeling terrified looking at it. Not like it stared at me accusingly, haha, it just laid there, silently flapping that wing of his. It looked really stupid, but I just didn’t know what to do, in the end my dad had to break its neck. He wasn’t angry at me or anything, the opposite, he put his hand on my shoulder and said that it’s good I felt bad. That I shouldn’t be embarrassed or fight it down.”

He kinda mumbled the last part, but then he picked up again. .

“Well we often went hunting after that, I really loved the forest, and of course I stopped feeling scared very quickly. But… well, what I wanted to say, I guess, is that it’s natural and you shouldn’t feel silly or in the wrong about feeling bad…”

“Haaa-” he let out a long sigh. “I don’t know if what I’m saying is making any sense.” he quickly finished, smiling awkwardly.

“It doesn’t.” Andriei interrupted. “What kind of a nut takes his child hunting, only to tell him that he should feel bad after he scores a kill? If you ask me-”

“No. It helps. A lot.” Marie suddenly said, giving Karl a bright smile, “I know what you mean. Thank you for telling me about it, Karl. I feel a lot better after hearing it.”

Karl smiled back at Marie.

We continued exchanging stories over dinner. It felt good. I was a loner in my previous life, and I could already feel myself slipping into the background just like before, but I wasn’t anxious. It wasn’t like high school where everyone was divided into cliques, and acted as if anyone outside existed only to mark the boundary.

I only added a comment here and there, but no one looked at me like I was some freak, infringing on their social space. We were all thrown into this surreal situation, and each day brought with it new things that we would have never experienced in our previous lives. It forged a special kinship that didn’t exclude anyone. There was space for strong people like Anastasia, gentle girls like Marie, outspoken brats like Andrei, and even a small corner for a shy and introverted kid like me.