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Ch 9 - Misinformation

And then I danced with Higg for a whole piece, I couldn't help but listen bits and pieces of what was being whispered here and there.

This nobility stuff is really annoying, this system of ruling is getting too old.

The envy of those with less power, the fear of those with equal or higher rank. Everyone is all smiles and pleasant, but plots brew out of the minimum rumor it seems.

‘So it was true that the pegasus daughter was engaged into the royal family’

‘That damn Mark trying to surpass our family’s rank’

‘When will he settle, having command of the strongest squad wasn't enough’

‘She is just a kid, who knows what could happen to her in the future’

‘As long as the first prince is the heir no matter how many sons you get aiming high is impossible’

‘Well the kid is still fresh in the Academy, not yet in the second range of her studies’

‘As it was said, if she graduates’

Not to mention the women that were not happy with the fact at hand, having shown their daughters and not having them chosen seems to have dealt a big blow to them.

Well it’s not like I’m worried or anything, while they plot and get eaten by envy I’ll take my time to challenge Higg every year.

I’ll make sure the engagement is broken and I’m free to pursue my own interests soon enough.

And so the night ended, while dancing here and there and talking to friends and those not so much. Wearing fake smiles here and there and politely answering questions everywhere.

In the end it seemed most enjoyed the party, I myself had a fair share of fun.

Now all that’s left is to see how the Academy life evolves.

I managed to jokingly hint that the engagement could be broken and what the method was. Higg wasn’t too keen on the talks which made me have even more fun, it seems it’s going to be an interesting next couple of years.

I’m arriving to the Academy with Ali as per usual, being the first day of the following week we were talking about our training and classes.

“So hows your week ali? We are about to reach finals week soon”

“Ehehe, as good as ever Gat, I’m taking that spot again ~tehe~”

“You are awfully cheerful today, anything good happened during the weekend?”

“~puu~ is not what happened but what’s going to happen soon ~ehehe~!”

Huh!, whats with that, Ali seems to be planning something. That mischievous smile of hers only leads to problems, hmmm I better ask and prepare myself.

“What's that supposed to mean Ali?”

“Don’t be impatient Gat, it’s going to be fu~Unn~! Soon ~ehehe~!”

Oh well I better not pay much attention to her when she is in this mood, or I’ll get dragged down into whatever prank she is planning to play.

“Yea yea, I’ll steer clear of whatever you are plotting here.”

She just smiled and didn’t say a word, and just like that we got to the Academy grounds and turned left on the fountain, separating at the plaza each going towards our respective buildings.

Speaking of the Royal Academy, this place is incredible! Believe me, I know I haven’t taken much time describing it, and that is not quite fair is it?

The area in which the Academy is located is a huge plot of land surrounded by a large white stone wall. From outside you can see the top of several beautifully maintained trees. 

There is a single entrance at the southernmost part of the wall, a large stone-carved archway is hugging the huge blue metallic door. When the school period starts the door splits open inwards by the middle leaving students walk inside.

Following the entryway is a wide street made of flattened light-gray stone, with lovely gardens on both sides and huge trees planted in their centers and outer borders.

The street reaches up to a large central plaza, with a gorgeous fountain and there splits into three directions, left and right and front.

The central way leads towards the Teacher’s buildings and huge auditorium hall.

After following either left(beginner’s course) or right(advanced course) one can find a large lovely plaza with long seats in its borders and there it forks into five ways.

Four go to the study halls(Politics, Shadow studies, Knight’s studies, Engineering and construction) and the fifth goes towards the training area and cafeteria, keeping this way the two level of students separated. Beginner’s with beginners, and Advanced with Advanced.

It’s always kept clean and the greenery is really eye catching and beautiful! Worthy if the name ‘Royal Academy’. The buildings are tall and regal structures built on the most elegant fashion of the kingdom.

The Royal Academy makes no distinction at the time of accepting students, so you can find students from all statuses in the place, down from commoners up to royal family members.

The Royal Academy is maintained by the King himself, as he believes that studies should be for everybody. Not just for those who can afford it.

That is not to say that there is no discrimination among the students of course, but that’s both a common occurrence in noble-based politics and at the same time a whole different story.

At lunch break we meet up at the plaza as usual, to make our way to the cafeteria.

Ali being her usual self was walking with her odd jumpy-dancy movements left to right. You know like a kid having fun? and that smile on her face just enhanced that image.

‘An adorable nine years old kid walking with her somewhat older sister. Lightly jumping left and right while flailing her arms front to back.’

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

After lunch we have combat drills and then we are free to go home.

The air in the cafeteria was tense, I couldn't grasp the reason clearly but decided not to pay much attention to it and went upstairs to eat with those “newly made” friends. I spent a somewhat pleasant lunch time talking and eating.

As the bell rang informing the end of the break, the males in the cafeteria sprinted out almost as if they were running away from something.

Uh? Whats going on here? Are that eager to get to combat practice?

I make my way with Ali towards the training grounds and what I found was a huge line of male students, all wearing their usual training attire. It was as if they were waiting for someone. 

‘Is someone important coming today to lead the practice’ I thought as I kept walking.

When I got to the first guy in the line I was received with a loud cry by the students, there was no instructor in sight. 

It felt really weird so I started looking at the line of males, over sixty-odd students lined up anxiously waiting for the first one to start talking.

“Lady Gatriel Decebal, I would like to challenge you to a training duel, if I win, as stated in the rules of your engagement with the first prince Higg, you will be promised to me in marriage instead”

Huh? What did I just hear? Isn’t this somewhat different from the truth of... No no that’s not it, what’s going on here, I start looking around.

“Excuse me, I don’t seem to understand what you just said, would you please repeat?”

The man straights up his body, his hands lined down on his legs and his chin raised a little, took some air in and he spoke those absurde words.

“We were told, that if we managed to win a practice match with Lady Gatriel, your engagement with the first prince would be broken, and we would gain the right of that engagement as the winners, so please, accept my challenge to a duel”

This is a huge misunderstanding.

What? Oh no, I looked at Ali and she was giggling walking away from my side moving her head left to right while muttering some cutesy stuff like pyon pyon... is this your doing Ali?

“This seems to be a misunderstanding, it is indeed stated that once a year after my birthday whomever loses the previous fight between Higg and I can challenge the winner to either re-enact the engagement or break it. But there is nowhere a word that says ‘if somebody else challenges me, the engagement breaks and I become engaged to him instead’ so would you please stop this nonsense at once and forget about this ridiculous challenge?”

A lot of disheartened words and sounds could be heard from the males in the line and about sixty left the queue, the other 15...

“It matters not, would you at least accept our feelings of friendship and accompany us on duels every once in awhile, we want to know how is our strength growing, measure our improvement and deepen our friendship with Lady Decebal”

Uh? That was a somewhat dignified comment, I’m not quite sure what their endgame is but if it ends up giving me friends/allies, why not! Easing up my days in the Academy is not a bad idea.

“It is clear then that you just misunderstood the situation right? You want friendship, so do I, but are you sure you want to fight with me? I’m strong you know!”

Cheers could be heard from the small crowd of guys, indeed they seemed to have understood the situation at hand and were eager to spar with me.

“~tehe~ then I’ll join Gat’s team ~kay~!”

Ali joined with a cheerful smile and was welcome by the guys warmly.

“Well then, I’ll welcome any challenges. Let’s steadily build a proper friendship you lot!”

Smiles were plastered on the guys faces, they were mostly guys but there were also some girls that joined us after the misunderstanding cleared up. 

This is going to be fun!

This set of fights started happening once a month, at the afternoons when classes were over. We would meet at the training grounds and fight together, we started fighting in groups, one on one, a group against one, and a group against two, etc.

Normally Ali and I would team together and fight.

The one and one fights were all my wins, didnt lose a single one. When fighting against small groups, me and ali were mostly victorious, but we tasted defeat several times. Teams of six or more against just us two was too much for our young selves.

Not a year afterwards this day, there were many female knight that joined our training sessions, and the group ended up being a big mob of kids.

We fought happily and seriously against each other during our afternoons until the group was just too big. The sheer amount of kids ended up being too much to train at school so in the end we met every two weeks at my father’s castle.

This ended up benefiting my friends too, as my father’s knights would join and train with us, plenty of times Higg and Roxana joined us too.

I feel very happy, not just because I’m training and fighting, but because for the first time in thousands of years, I’ve made many many friends.

Not being alone in the long passage of time sure is reassuring.

I hope this times can last for a long while.

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Thanks for reading my fiction! I hope to get your comments and help from now and in future issues.

Give and Take you know undefined, you help me, I help you! isn't that the main reason why most of us gather here in RRL? to learn from each otner?

Cheers.