That afternoon, all the beast tamer students received a message on their connected bracelet informing them that Crystal had received a disciplinary warning as Galen had anticipated. A notice was also put up on the boards near each entrance of all buildings. Everyone knew about Crystal’s bad behavior and how she had been punished.
That had been enough to bring back Crystal to Mr Carter’s classes. However, if the girl was indeed present for the beast training practical class, her attitude didn’t improve. She refused to let her Gray Stone Wallaroo participate in any exercise.
Mr Carter’s bullying had been going on all this time. His snarks and scornful remarks didn’t spare anyone, but his personal guidance – as he liked to call it – stayed focused on several students. He was always careful not to physically hurt the students or their pets more than Lucia’s [small heal] could handle. Among them, Jax, Nasir, and Artem suffered the most.
Mr Carter also often tried to harass Yaron, Mahlon, and Galen, but these three deflected most of his intentions, and the teacher didn’t insist. Yaron used his shamelessness and willfulness to act erratically, while Galen and Mahlon pointed out their future career to reject the teacher’s attention politely.
Since Crystal came back, Mr Carter naturally included the teenage girl in his flow of nasty remarks. He was merciless even as he appeared soliciting.
“Miss Petit, do you care to share with the class what your Gray Stone Wallaroo learned during your self-study?”
“I have nothing to share!” Crystal hotly retorted.
“You can’t mean that all this time you haven’t studied or trained your pet at all? Shame on you, Miss Petit. So many students wish to awaken, and here you are, wasting resources and talent. A shame! I can’t bear looking at you!”
Crystal couldn’t stand his rebuttals. Her reputation had suffered a lot since the last week. She had lost the few girls she had managed to convince to follow her, although as far as the beast-tamer girls were concerned, it was all Crystal’s wishful thinking. These girls were too strong-headed to act as ignorant sycophants: they had simply been accommodating before because of Crystal’s rare pet. So Crystal mostly thrived on the attention given by girls from the mundane classes. However, they had also heard the rumors about her being an incompetent beast tamer, and they were now keeping their distance or cutting off their relationship with her.
Mr Carter’s speech aptly painted her as a selfish and ungrateful girl, worsening her already damaged reputation. But all that was slanders from that awful teacher! He was responsible for her reputation! Crystal hadn’t done anything wrong! She didn’t deserve this treatment.
Crystal tried to defend herself, but she couldn’t outwit the teacher. She hated that teacher! She didn’t want to be there at all. She wanted to flee the training hall, but she couldn’t.
Seeing that no one was speaking out for her, Crystal ran to a corner of the room to sit down there. Bitter tears slowly fell on her cheeks. This wasn’t at all the glamorous life she had imagined for herself as a beast tamer. Her Gray Stone Wallaroo followed her, but it stayed a bit apart, looking at the other pets training seriously. Seeing that even her pet was ignoring her, Crystal turned away and put her head down in her arms to hide her sobs.
“What is that stupid girl doing?” Lyra said in rightful indignation. “If she doesn’t train her pet, it’s the same as neglecting it! She can choose to not fight, but she can’t stop training her pet!”
“Mr Carter’s right, it’s a shame,” Artem said as he glanced briefly at the dejected wallaroo.
Lyra had more to say, but she wasn’t the wallaroo’s CSI and should concentrate on her hosts. For now, the twins were training without much hindrances, but it wouldn’t last.
The beast training practical class didn’t give Mr Carter a lot of ways to harass his students, even with his lemur. However, Mr Carter still tried. He went up to Jax as the boy was guiding his Thunder Ship Rat through an obstacle course. “That’s not how it’s done, Mr Miller.”
Without his prompt, the lemur threw itself at the machine, messing up the recording and using its natural aura to intimidate the rat. The scared rat accumulated mistakes, giving the teacher more opportunities to belittle the boy. Jax clenched his teeth in silence and went to queue again for the machine.
If tormenting Artem and Jax made them more determined to become stronger and prove themselves, it just made Nasir wish to retreat and flee like Crystal. However, Nasir’s complaints were always dismissed as childish whines by his Family, who forbade him from skipping classes.
After reducing Crystal to a crying mess and making fun of Jax, Mr Carter turned his attention to Nasir. However, before the teacher could torment the whining boy like usual, Amir approached Mr Carter and showed him a paper. The teacher first read it silently. Then, he read it aloud to the class with a scornful smile.
It was a special authorization signed by the head of the Jamra Family to allow the four Jamra boys to do the bulk of their beast-tamer training at the Jamra Family villa. As such, Mr Carter didn’t need to teach them.
Crystal was seething in jealousy. She had just been lectured by the dean because she had skipped Mr Carter’s classes, and here, the Jamra Family easily circumvented the school rules to act as they wished. The blatant unfair treatment was unbearable. However, everyone ignored her.
“Which Beast Trainer did your Family recruit?” Mr Carter asked in a disinterested voice.
Recalling Mr Carter had his job as a trainer for a Family stolen from him, the twins wondered if he was as unaffected as he looked. Amir gave the teacher a name the twins didn’t recognize. Mr Carter didn’t ask anything else and returned to teaching the class after telling the Jamra boys to wait for him at the end of the period.
Once the class ended, Mr Carter explained to the four boys that the letter wasn’t enough. As a teacher, he had a responsibility, and as a beast-tamer teacher, his responsibilities were heavier. Amir frowned slightly, and Nasir opened his mouth, but before he could argue with Mr Carter, the teacher asked them to follow him to his office.
“Why?” Nasir asked in a nasty tone.
“To make sure none of you will ever be able to complain that I didn’t teach you, Mr Jamra.”
“Who would complain? I can’t wait to never see you again!” Nasir sneered.
“I find adolescents to be unreliable and whimsical creatures. So all four of you are going to sign an official discharge of responsibility stating that as members of the Jamra Family, you rejected my teaching.”
Nasir sputtered curses and swore he would never complain about such an abusive teacher, but Mr Carter ignored him to lead the boys to the administrative building. At a quiet comment from Amir, Nasir calmed down and strutted out of the training hall after the teacher.
Seeing him so stupidly proud to be soon officially allowed to skip classes, Lyra wanted to mock him, but she couldn’t tear her gaze from Mr Carter’s satisfied smirk. Most of the students were still there and witnessed the whole exchange as it was now a free period. They were looking over and murmuring, surely gossiping about all this drama.
Artem didn’t want to linger like the others, but Galen went to talk to Zane for a bit. The twins had booked one of the small training halls for the next period, and Galen wanted to invite Zane. Since the shy boy refused, Galen returned to his brother, and the twins walked down the corridor leading to the smaller rooms.
They were quiet, the fairies flying around them. Lyra didn’t want to break this peace, but she was too bothered by the teacher’s behavior. She couldn’t help saying, “You know, I wonder what criteria Mr Carter uses to choose his targets.”
“Is that important?” Artem asked softly, as his mind was already full of the training regiment he wanted to put his brother through. Since for once, Artem didn’t have to tutor anyone else, he wanted to do his best. “There is no logic in his behavior.”
“On the contrary, I suspect he is smart enough to hide his real targets,” Lyra answered.
“Well, he often berates Paula, Mahlon, Silas, and some others, but he doesn’t try to get physical with them. That’s different from how he acts with Nasir, Crystal, or Artem.” Galen threw a glance around them to check that they were still alone. He was less careful than before, but holding a conversation aloud with Lyra – while more convenient – was a sure way to sound suspicious if overheard.
“So, are we his real targets?” Artem asked.
“I’m not sure yet,” Lyra said in a frustrated voice. “Do you think he has been bullied when he was a scholarship student? He could want to get his revenge on rich and arrogant beast tamers like Nasir or Crystal.”
“It’s a dangerous game to go against any Family,” Artem commented.
“I think he has a good grip on the Families’ inner politics,” Galen answered as he recalled what happened during the last period. “Nasir is from a minor branch, as are Mahlon and Anan. Our Family is weakened, some would say finished. If he is deliberate in his choice, he is very smart.”
“He lectured Larissa yesterday,” Artem pointed out, even though he could see how Sarah and Amir were mostly spared from Mr Carter’s nagging. And Larissa was known for her even temperament.
“To hide in plain view? I don’t know,” Lyra said again, pushing forward her own view.
“He doesn’t seem bothered by the fact that the Jamra boys won’t come to his classes anymore.”
“You think that was his purpose?” Artem asked.
“Maybe the job stolen from him was a position in the Jamra Family,” Galen said as he thought again about the teacher’s past. “So he doesn’t wish to teach them at all?”
“You mean that all that was just a big scheme to get to that point? What about Crystal? Collateral damage?” Lyra said in a doubtful voice.
“Maybe, maybe not!” Artem cut them off as they reached their training hall. “Who cares? Time for training!”
The two fairies picked up their exercises to train [glow] and [fire trail] while the two boys warmed up. At this point, Lucia gave up on summoning several globes of light to pursue Ayden. As the Fire Fairy kept changing her rhythm by igniting or cutting off [fire trail], Lucia tried to match her by overcharging the sphere of light to speed it or reducing its energy to slow it. This method did wonders to help both fairies work toward their skill mastery.
Once the boys were warmed up, Artem instructed Galen in a few more moves using the shield. He prioritized defense but didn’t forget to teach Galen about offense too. Afterward, they practiced in several bouts so that Galen could learn to apply what he just learned. Artem didn’t go soft on his brother. He knew that the more you sweat, the less you bleed.
Once the fairies finished their first exercise, they began the next one without any prompt from their tamers. Ayden did the overcharged training to push her limits. She wasn’t able to make her [spark] explode yet, and even if she could, the explosion would be weak since she was low on spiritual energy. However, the exercise forced her to manipulate her energy more delicately.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Lucia cultivated a bit before training her [light shield]. Remembering her tamer explaining she needed to make the incoming damage disappear before it landed, the Light Fairy attempted to use the morning light to give the shield some absorbing properties by healing the damage. However, it didn’t give her satisfying results, so Lucia went with her instinct and used moonlight instead. She didn’t cultivate much during the night, so she had difficulties manipulating this unfamiliar type of light.
Lucia stubbornly tried again and again. Finally, she managed to get the hang of it. Confident that she could form a proper [light shield], she looked around for a way to test her shield.
Her tamer was practicing with his brother, and she didn’t want to bother him. Instead, she went to her sister. She knew her shield wouldn’t be able to stop Ayden’s [spark] since it ignited directly on the target, but she trusted the Fire Fairy to find a way to help.
By now, Ayden had finished her overcharged training and was cultivating to fill up her energy. The energetic fairy gladly stopped to help Lucia.
The purpose wasn’t to break the shield but to test if it worked as intended to stop incoming damage. Once the fairies shared their ideas, they took their positions.
Ayden formed a weak ball of fire in front of her, similar to the small ball of light Lucia created for [glow]. It was irregular and wobbling. The Fire Fairy knew it wouldn’t last long, so she immediately threw it at her sister’s shield. The fireball weakly crashed on the shield, but it was enough to see the shield’s light shining as it absorbed the attack exactly as it should.
The Light Fairy’s efforts were rewarded.
“Achievement! The first rare skill! The defensive skill [light shield] uses moonlight energy to block incoming damage by adsorbing it. As a reward, you get three uses of the random shuffle, and as a special bonus, you can find instructions to evolve the skill [light shield] to the next tier in the encyclopedia entry for the Light Fairy.”
Galen was distracted by Lyra’s announcement, allowing Artem to kick him in the sides. Inhaling a short, hurtful breath, the older boy raised both hands in surrender. “Hold on! I need to see Lucia!”
“Don’t skip on training! You shouldn’t allow anything to distract you like that!”
“Lucia’s just learned the skill [light shield], I need to see her,” Galen repeated.
Mollified, Artem congratulated his brother and went with him to see the Light Fairy. He was glad for them, but he hoped his Fire Fairy would soon catch up.
Artem’s pride for his fairy peaked when the pets showed the twins how they made the shield work. Artem had never trained Ayden to learn the notable skill [fire ball], but she was still able to think of using an imitation of it to help Lucia.
After praising the fairies for their initiative and sending them back to training, the twins turned their attention to Lyra. They didn’t have much enthusiasm for the random shuffle, but they hadn’t forgotten that Artem was waiting to redeem a fire skill from their inventory. They had three tries to get a piece of fire skill suitable for Ayden.
Lyra snickered at their eagerness. They had mocked her system, but look at them now! When she saw their first gain, Lyra giggled. She knew this wasn’t what they wanted. “Congratulations! You got one piece of the ‘Pet Stables’ feature. This feature allows a beast tamer to ride one of his pets without any issue.”
“Why are we only getting useless features?” Galen complained.
The twins had won two random shuffles when they got the 20th entry for the encyclopedia. They had obtained a piece of the “Mines” feature and the entry for the rare Sand Swimming Shark. The “Mines” could only produce one type of resource, chosen randomly by the system once the feature became operational. The twins didn’t want to take chances, so they ignored the “Mines” and the possibility of producing spirit stones with it.
“It’s true we won’t ever ride the fairies, but who knows what our next pet will be?” Artem said to appease his brother. He could still remember pictures of their father proudly riding his legendary Fire-Hoofed Brave Steed, be it to charge into battle or to travel with his wife while having an excuse to hug her. Thinking of this made Artem long for the rare Fire-Maned Lion he had dreamed of having as his first pet. He could have ridden this pet.
Feeling the twins’ mood shifting, Lyra brought their attention back to her. She teased them in a singsong voice, “You still have two tries. Be positive!”
On their second use, the twins finally got a fire skill: the notable [burning rage]. It was a buffing skill used to improve attack power. However, Artem didn’t intend to redeem it. His father had always warned him against fighting in a berserk manner, so Artem didn’t trust a skill with such a name. Moreover, the path he chose for Ayden was one where she fought as a sharpshooter or a skirmisher. This skill was for a support pet.
The twins didn’t have much luck with their last try. They got a new entry for a notable Blue-Cap Mushroom. Galen and Artem complained about their bad luck a bit more before focusing back on their training. None of them wanted to waste their opportunity to train together.
***
The next two days passed without much trouble. During the dual combat practice class on Thursday afternoon, Mr Carter seemed to relent some of his bullyings, an attitude confirmed in his next lessons on Friday. He didn’t give any personal guidance and only threw nasty remarks around.
This gave weight to Lyra’s speculation. What reason could Mr Carter have to stop now, other than being satisfied with achieving his purpose? The consequences of the Jamra boy’s absence were numerous. Following their lead, Yaron and Crystal also wanted to skip Mr Carter’s lessons, but their families weren’t influential enough to get the right paperwork.
Without much choice, they just went on with their refusal to do any of the proposed activities. Yaron lived it down in a good mood, never letting Mr Carter’s rebuttals get to him. However, Crystal was much more sensitive. She hated being seen as an incompetent beast tamer, but she was stubborn and refused to let Mr Carter teach her or her pet anything. She might have given up on skipping Mr Carter’s lessons, but she was obviously still looking for a solution to her problems.
Artem and Galen didn’t give much attention to all this drama. They were glad that Amir wasn’t there anymore to lead their classmates in mocking them. They weren’t the only ones. Julius and Zane also looked much more relaxed. This just showed how much the four youths from the Jamra Family had influenced the class’ atmosphere.
Another source of peace was Jax’s focus on his training. He had listened when Yaron and Crystal asked questions about the paperwork needed to skip Mr Carter’s classes, but not for long. Jax knew he needed a Beast Trainer’s guidance to grow and become stronger. This was his only resource to catch up to Marcus, Larissa, Sarah, and Amir. So, even though he hated how the teacher treated him, he refused to give up.
Moreover, Jax saw how Artem didn’t give up despite his Family’s situation and Mr Carter’s attitude toward him. His jealousy wouldn’t allow him to do any less than the Eos twins. Jax was also too proud to let a mere teacher push him away from his dream of becoming a Beast Explorer to help his father’s business.
Being so rational about all of that hadn’t been easy. When Jax had gone home after his utter defeats in the exam matches, he had spoken with his father for a long time. Since then, he had exchanged letters with his father frequently. Jax respected his father because he had achieved his status thanks to his own strength and skills. So, when his father told him to use the teacher’s foul mood and harsh treatment during classes to sharpen himself, he clenched his teeth and did it.
***
Just like that, the time for Galen’s last elective class for the week came about. That day, more than the others, Galen felt the isolation forced on him because of his parents’ supposed crimes. As his classmates were preparing for the competition, they ignored his input, feeling right to do so since Mrs Bousrani agreed with them and lectured him for interrupting his classmates’ work.
Galen had to dig deep within himself to keep his calm. Despite everything, he respected Mrs Bousrani, and even if he had the arguments to call her off on her attitude, he didn’t want to do it in front of witnesses.
“You should,” Lyra said. “She has influence over the others. When you come to the competition tomorrow, they won’t understand why and will imagine the worst. Like you putting pressure on Mrs Bousrani or using dirty ways.”
“I also don’t want to cut their practice short,” Galen answered before admitting to his other reason. “And this won’t be an easy conversation.” Galen considered again the information he had found recently. It gave him the right tools to get out of his predicament while putting salt on his wounds. However, Lyra’s advice was sound, and Galen decided not to ignore it. As such, five minutes before the end of the period, he called out to Mrs Bousrani.
Seeing his determined face, she understood what he intended to say and threw him some warning glances. However, Galen didn’t react to them and said aloud that he had something important to say. With an impatient sigh, Mrs Bousrani said, “I gather you haven’t changed your mind. I’m disappointed in you. I didn’t think you were such an egotistical individual.”
Since Galen suspected she was trying to make him feel guilty, he responded in kind by pointing out that his monetary situation didn’t allow him to pass this opportunity. He respected her, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t push back when she was so mean. So he raised his head to look Mrs Bousrani in the eyes and said, “Or else, do you intend to pay back my debt?”
That gave her pause. She opened her mouth before closing it. The other students murmured among themselves. Hearing them, the teacher ignored his jab and firmed her stance. “Your participation in this competition is still inappropriate.”
“I fail to see how. Or are you saying that the social stigma of my supposed parents’ crimes – because I might as well remember everyone present that their culpability hasn’t been proven yet – should bar me – an innocent – from participating in normal student activities?”
“You can’t stop people from gossiping!” Mrs Bousrani sharply answered. “Like you can’t stop them from thinking that you – the heir of your Family – is guilty by association!”
“I know, and I don’t mind the gossip because it doesn’t have a real impact on my life. But barring me from competing does have an impact, so I can’t accept it.”
“She doesn’t seem to understand where you are going with that,” Lyra said as she carefully observed the woman. “Be careful. If she can’t keep control of the conversation, she might turn to forceful means to stop you.”
“That is irrelevant. I forbid you from participating in any competition this year!”
“Called it!” Lyra said. “Her handlers really should have found someone else to do their dirty work: she is too straightforward for it.”
“Like I said last time, Ma'am, that is against the rules: you don’t have the authority to forbid me from competing. But I’ll go further this time so that we won’t have this conversation again: it is against the law.”
In front of the teacher’s astonishment and his classmates’ curiosity, Galen went on to explain about the Zmiya and the Nebe case. It had happened dozens of years ago, however, few people knew of it.
“At the time, some members of the Zmiya Family were found guilty of torture, murders, and slavery. In the wake of this announcement, the Zmiya Family’s Villa was assaulted by an angry mob made of mundanes and beast tamers. In the following weeks of additional investigations, the Family suffered from persecution. Without any means to defend themselves, the Family died away. All these deaths had been bloody and cruel, but it was made all the more so when it was revealed that the head of the Zmiya Family had been an upright man ignorant of the crimes committed by a few members of his Family.”
Galen paused to look around as some of his classmates gasped in horror or surprise. Mahlon looked thoughtful while Mrs Bousrani was frowning. Galen felt uncomfortable talking about this case – especially because he was bringing to light events that seemed to have been hidden away. However, he was aware that only citing the resulting law wouldn’t have been enough to change everyone’s mind about him.
“But the unfairness didn’t end there. The Nebe Family had been the main ally of the Zmiya Family because they both had Bulgarian roots. As such, the Nebe Family had been considered guilty by association. Because of this social stigma, they lost their prestige, they lost members, they lost opportunities. Years after years, even after the Zmiya Family as a whole was proven innocent of most crimes, the Nebe Family wasted away. People didn’t know anymore why they were isolating this Family: they just did it. The Family finally disbanded, moved out of Olympia, and changed their surname to begin anew somewhere else.
“These two unfair treatments – more severe in a way than simple mistrials – revealed the necessity to find ways to keep such events from happening again. That was how the Nebe law came to be. It states that in case of stigmatization impacting the daily life and needs of a criminal’s family member or acquaintance, one can sue the offender and apply for reparation.”
After Galen finished his explanation, glossing over most details, Mrs Bousrani kept silent while the other students gossiped. She suddenly frowned at everyone and said, “What are you all still doing here? Get out!”
Galen knew this meant she begrudgingly agreed to let him participate in the competition. He wasn’t proud of what he did since he didn’t like using the law and the tragedies behind it in such a way – and because Galen wasn’t a criminal’s family member –, but he reassured himself by thinking he didn’t have much choice.
As he debriefed with Artem later in the evening, his brother agreed with him. Artem then asked for more details about the Zmiya and the Nebe Families. As Bulgarian Families, they would have been part of the Balkan Families. Galen smiled at his brother’s good instinct.
In fact, the Nebe law was put forward by the Balkan Families under the lead of the Kranos Family. It was disputed for a long time, making it too late to save the Nebe Family. Still, it made Galen suspect the fall of those two Bulgarian Families was in part due to some political scheming from other factions. The similarities with their own situation didn’t escape Galen and Artem.
The twins were sure that studying this case in depth and finding out more about what happened to these two Families would benefit them. However, it was also risky. It seemed obvious to them that the other factions tried to push back this law and hide any traces of these events.
But for now, Galen got what he wanted: he would participate in the pharmacist competition and hopefully gain some money and resources from it.