“Good morning, and welcome to the lieutenant’s weekly knowledge-based assessment.” Claire announced calmly. “Please, take your seats and prepare for the test.”
Bloodhound assembled together in a small room near the barracks, accompanied by lady Eutychia and Jean—the prideful captain of the blue lobsters, and the blue lobsters themselves. The room was mostly abandoned, with a single pot plant in the corner opposite to the door, multiple seats, and a white board installed in the wall in front of them—set up like a classroom from the academy. Claire stood in front of the board to begin her class, waiting for the rest to take their positions.
“I thought we learned all we needed to know at the academy,” Scott commented—sitting down on his chair.
Tori giggled as she too sat down. “I could use a few reminders in the more complicated subjects.”
“I didn’t even go to the academy,” Eric said—sitting next to Gaspard.
The butler bowed at the lieutenant, waiting patiently for classes to begin. “I am ready to learn, young miss.”
“Remind me why am here again?” Eutychia reproached—taking her sit anyway. “I should be training to become stronger, not playing schoolgirl.”
“No one knows more than Jean, the greatest pirate known to man!” Jean raised her fist—to which her gang of pirates responded with cheer.
“Yeah!”
“Hm!” Claire hummed in satisfaction once everyone has taken their sits. “Alright, let’s begin with a few questions.”
“Wait!” Scott interrupted—raising his hand.
“What?”
“Can you draw a perfect circle?”
“Go to the corner.”
“Uh!?”
After a short timeout for Scott, classes finally began once Claire drew a perfect circle on the board—earning a set of applause from all present. Wasting no further time, she proceeded to test everyone’s knowledge on specter’s types and classes—drawing an impressive representation of a four-legged lizard with her marker.
“This is a specter classified as a delta threat,” she explained. “They resemble a small animal found mostly south of Pelkesk. This specter took its name from that same animal, can anyone give me their name?”
Scott raised his hand with confidence, smirking while pushing the bridge of his glasses—lighting up the lenses with a bright light. Eric also kept his arm raised, leaning his back on the chair.
“Um…” Tori thought carefully about her answer, covering her mouth with one hand. “Oh, I know!” she quickly raised her arm with a smile.
“Yes, Tori?” the lieutenant gave priority to the young medic—ignoring both men next to her.
“…!” Both Scott and Eric recoiled visibly at her choice.
“It’s called a monitor!” Tori enthusiastically answered.
Claire nodded while returning the smile, writing the name of the specter on the board. “Correct, you get one point, Tori.”
The classroom cheered with a round of applause, and their knowledge test continued with the next specter—a gaunt looking demon with a weak constitution, crimson veins running through its exoskeleton.
“This one should be easy. I will not accept wrong answers.” Claire warned.
“A beast most foul!” Jean suddenly shouted. “This one is clearly known as a zombie!”
“Wrong!” the lieutenant crossed her arms. “Go to the corner.”
“What!” the blue lobsters shouted in protest. “No one sends captain Jean to the corner, revolt! Revolt!”
Having sent the entire blue lobsters crew to the corner—placing paper hats in their heads with the name ‘donkey’ written on them. Claire continued with the class by asking about the gaunt demon once again.
Both Scott and Eric raised their hand immediately, competing on who would raise it first. Gaspard smiled innocently as he didn’t know the answer, while Tori almost jumped out of her sit while raising her hand—being the last to react at her question.
“Tori, what’s your answer?” the lieutenant pointed at the redhead—causing another ruckus among members of Bloodhound.
“…!” Eric and Scott flinched backwards—almost falling off their sits.
“We simply call them specters,” Tori answered. “They are considered alpha threats, the lowest level in Cerberus’ database.”
Claire crossed her arms and hummed with a smile. “Correct, you get another point, Tori.”
“H-hey!” Scott protested. “Aren’t you being a little unfair with us?”
Raising an eyebrow at the man’s words, the lieutenant turned her gaze towards Scott. “What are you talking about?” she queried. “You just need to be faster, otherwise you won’t get any points.”
“B-but I was first!”
“No,” Eric chimed in with a serious tone. “It was me, Foley. I raised my hand first.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Yes, I did.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Both of you, to the corner with the lobsters.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“Alright…” the pair replied as they placed the donkey hat in their heads.
A few minutes after their punishment, classes quickly resumed after Eric and Scott took their seats. The day continued with the class as Claire instructed everyone on advanced knowledge about the specters and the Deadlands, distributing points for every right answer given, and taken them away for every wrong reply.
“Now, for the next question.” The lieutenant clapped her hands together—glancing from side to side at her students, each of them swallowing dry with sweat rolling down their foreheads—except for Gaspard and Eutychia, with the butler smiling gently, and the princess frowning while resting her head on one fist.
“It is time, lobsters.” Jean announced to her gang with a whisper—smirking confidently.
“This is a specter Bloodhound encountered during a small operation inside the Deadlands,” Claire said. “They have a muscular body and bladed arms, with a humanoid appearance. We know it as, Ravager. I want you to tell me where this specter’s core is located.”
“Me, please!” Scott raised his hand.
“Alright, Scott.”
“She actually picked me!” the man’s mind was blown with astonishment. He quickly cleared his throat, ready to answer. “In the chest, of course. Just like most specters.”
“You lose one point.”
“What!”
“During a fight with a specter you can’t just mention a general area in the body,” the lieutenant explained. “It might get you or your team killed if you are not specific.”
“What is the right answer then!”
“This specter has a chest length of 41 inches long, and its core is located somewhere near the left side, about 10 inches from the center. In this way you can provide the necessary information to your allies, and ensure the extermination of the specter with swift and accurate action. That was the right answer.”
“What the hell…” Scott’s mind was—once again—blown away.
“You are out of your mind,” Eutychia expressed at the lieutenant’s absurdly detailed answer.
“What was that?” Claire’s eyebrows curved downwards with an intimidating glare.
“I said, you are out of your mind.” The princess challenged her authority. “You have a problem with that?”
“Go to the corner.”
“Make me,” Eutychia stood up from her seat, cracking her knuckles.
“Fine,” Clarie dropped the marker in her hand—slowly approaching the princess. “I’ll send you there myself.”
“W-w-wait!” Tori tried to calm things down from her seat. “H-how about we go back to class? It was actually kind of fun…” she laughed nervously.
“Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” Scott, Eric, and the blue lobsters incited violence however—banging their fists on their knees.
“Stop it!” Tori yelled as she turned to Gaspard, who continued smiling as if nothing was unfolding in the room. “Gaspard, you have to help.”
“I am afraid this is beyond my expertise, miss Endel.” The butler replied. “But do not fret, I am confident things will resolve themselves in just a minute.”
“It is time!” Jean suddenly jumped out of her sit, raising her arm with a strange spherical device in hand. “Kneel before peasants, as this place now belongs to the blue lobsters!”
“What the hell!” both Claire and Eutychia reacted in shock once they noticed the strange device in the girl’s hand.
“Heheheee!” Jean laughed devilishly, displaying her weapon in hand. “Now that I have your attention, this thing in my hand is a handcrafted grenade that will blow the roof out of this place!” she claimed. “If you don’t want to be blown to pieces, then I suggest you comply to my demands!”
“Captain!”
“A true genius, captain Jean!”
“Our days of planning have finally bore fruits!”
“Go lobsters!”
The girl’s crew cheered enthusiastically.
“Damn you, Jean Bonheur!” Scott stood from his seat and shook his fist.
Eric followed after, gritting his teeth. “They played us like a fiddle… what do you want from us!”
“Hmph!” Jean huffed a chuckle. “I want your base of operations of course! This place will now be known as the Blue Lobsters HQ!”
“Security,” Claire calmly called out.
Abruptly—like a storm that suddenly appeared with a strike of lightning, the lieutenant’s relief team responded to her call. Multiple troops from Cerberus busted the door open, shattered the glass windows in the room, and broke inside the place through the ceiling—descending into the classroom with the assistance of multiple ropes. They quickly rushed towards Jean, surrounding the girl while pointing their rifles at her.
“Ah!” Jean dropped the spherical device in surprise, raising both arms in the air. She quickly slammed her hands on the top of her head, smiling innocently. “It was a joke, bleh.” she pulled her tongue out.
“Take her,” the lieutenant commanded—to which the troops responded immediately—grabbing Jean by the arms and dragging her away.
“You can’t arrest me! I am Jean Bonheur, the greatest pirate known to man!” the girl kicked, screamed and squirmed as she was taken away—her loud claims echoing throughout HQ. “You will feel my wrath! The seas call for me, and you will suffer the power of nature!”
“Yes, captain!”
“The blue lobsters will raise again!”
“We cannot be stop, blue lobsters go!”
“Blue lobsters!”
Jean’s crew was also taken away, dragged away by Cerberus’ officers.
Back at the classroom, Claire and Eutychia’s fiery confrontation cooled down thanks to the short interruption of the pirates. The princess took her seat, and the lieutenant picked up her marker from the floor.
“Alright… I guess that does it for today’s class.” Claire said. “I will announce the winner of today’s assessment, so please be quiet.”
“Hmph!” Scott huffed a chuckle, pushing the bridge of his glasses to bright up the lenses. “Surely it is my win, I am the smartest of the group after all.” He claimed.
“You must be delusional, Foley.” Eric retorted. “Clearly, I answered more questions than you did.”
“Are you stupid?”
“Are you?”
“Boys, please!” Tori chimed in, putting a stop to the men’s fight.
“And the winner is…”
Bloodhound leaned forward on their seats waiting patiently for the lieutenant to announce the winner.
“Gaspard, congratulations.”
“What!” Both Eric and Scott shouted to the sky, leaning back on their seats while holding their heads with their hands.
“Really?” Eutychia raised an eyebrow—as even she didn’t expect such results. “I thought the redhead would take it. You favored her throughout the whole class after all.”
“Shut up,” Claire retorted. “Everyone gave a few wrong answers during the test, including you.” she said.
“But Gaspard didn’t answer a single question!” Scott expressed.
The lieutenant sighed in frustration, preparing to reveal the results. “Scott, you finished the assessment with -1 points, Eric with -2, Tori with -3, Eutychia with -5—”
“What!” the princess jumped on her seat—interrupting the lieutenant. “I only answered one question, even if it was wrong, why do I have so few points?”
“Because I don’t like you.”
“Find me outside then, we’ll settle things there.”
“Will do.”
“Can we continue with the results?” Eric interrupted the exchange—prompting Claire to finish the count.
“Jean had -4, and I counted all lobsters as a single person with -2.” Reading the paper one last time, Claire then proceeded to announce the butler’s results. “As Scott said, Gaspard didn’t offer a single answer, which makes him the winner with a total of 0 points scored.”
“You have to be kidding me…” Scott sunk in his depression, burying his face on both hands.
“That’s it for this week’s assessment, thank you everyone for coming.” Claire announced. “Even you, lady Eutychia. Now please, make your way—”
A sudden squeaky sound abruptly interrupted the lieutenant, and the entire classroom turned to look over their shoulders—noticing Jean’s grenade lying open on the ground. Cerberus’ officers somehow forgot to retrieve it during the pirate’s arrest, and the device burst open inside the room as intended. Instead of a fiery ignition however, the plastic bomb was filled with paper and confetti inside—emitting the squeaky sound once it detonated.
“I’ll have a serious talk with that girl…” Claire pinched the bridge of her nose, grunting with anger.
With class over and the results in, everyone in the room left to continue with their usual day—outside of Jean and the blue lobsters, who were locked up in the dungeons.
END OF CHAPTER