Instructor Lamia was strange.

Miieie had only ever had one teacher in her whole life, so she didn’t really have a great measuring stick but it did appear that the majority of the class agreed with the sentiment. She had thought Lamia had carried herself differently, but there was no way she could’ve predicted she was going to throw away something that seemed important. Iris was no noble and she was probably just as rattled as Endra and the others were about the dismissal of scores that not only determined who the class rep was traditionally but how close to the academic guillotine they were.

The raven-haired adult shuffled her feet as she looked left-to-right across the room, checking each student as she did.

“I know some of you are disappointed I’m not doing things the usual way.” She stated, her expression blank. “...but I don’t really care.”

She wasn’t surprised by her instructor’s remark, but the fact she said it must have wrinkled a few feathers. The pink-haired girl next to her had her mouth open in shock and a few of the other faces she could see had their brows raised. The noble majority were people who definitely expected things to go their way all the time, but people like Miieie didn’t have that predisposition. Still, Miieie wondered what kind of circumstances led to this instructor being assigned to this class. If she wasn’t operating like instructors normally did, there must’ve been some kind of reason involved.

“Anyway. Here’s the thing.”

The instructor removed her left hand from her pocket and reached up, drawing down a map that was rolled up in front of the blackboard.

“The Ieielian Kingdom is a dangerous place, and this school isn’t a normal academy.” She pointed at the Island of Rosenfel without looking at the map. “This is a combat school. You’re not here to become a merchant or some kind of cleric. You’re here because you want to fight. There are thousands of monsters out there in the tides, people who have fallen astray, and all sorts of other problems that it is going to be your responsibility to solve by the time you graduate.”

Miieie rose her hand, “Um, but why did we have to pass a written test to get in?”

Everyone seemed to look at her like she was an idiot. Well, outside of the teacher.

“What’s the difference between a merc and a guardian?”

It was a question that seemed pretty simple on paper. Mercs were in it for the money and guardians were in it because it was the right thing to do. Mercs weren’t affiliated with anybody officially, while Guardians had a direct line of responsibility to the kingdom. Officially, they had handlers who controlled their commission. Miieie wasn’t sure how book knowledge played into either, but there had to be an answer somewhere.

“Mercs… only care about money?”

The pink-haired girl next to her growled, “No, you dummy! Mercs only care about fighting. Guardians care about problem solving and doing it the right way.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Miieie scratched her head nervously.

“More or less, yeah.” The instructor nodded. “A merc only has to know who they have to beat up. You guys have to be more than that. Plus, you guys have way more red tape.”

“Red tape?”

“Uh, don’t worry about it. More on that later. Right now I want to focus on figuring out where all of your heads are at. For a show of hands, how many of you are trained with a weapon?”

Hands rose up in class. Miieie’s arms felt like lead as she saw the majority of the class raise their hands. Kalo, Rel, Endra, the pink-haired girl, others in the back.

Unless Lamia considered the sticks and stones Miieie dallied with back on Skilma, she couldn’t in good conscience raise her hand. It wasn’t for the lack of interest, but most of the fighting she had done was with her own two hands, not with a sword or spear. It had worked fine with the people she trained with and the monsters she had dealt with around her village, but she felt small seeing how many people had far more experience than she was.

“And how many are ready to select their weapon?”

Some hands dropped, but not many.

“And how many have already prepared one?”

A few more hands.

“Cool. Then you won’t mind if we go directly over to the armory and get you guys started. Gonna get you guys ready for the year you’re about to have. Now, if you guys don’t mind, stand up and follow me.”

As the majority of the classroom moved from their seats and began to follow Instructor Lamia through the halls, Miieie remained one of the last to move. She was excited to try a weapon, but what if she picked something that didn’t resonate with her? What if she wasn’t good with any of them? And–

Her mind paused as the sound of shuffling snapped her out of her own head.

While the rest of the class shuffled out, nobody had noticed Miieie hadn’t yet joined the group. As Miieie remained in her seat as the sight of a silver-haired figure shuffling through the trashbin the instructor had used only a handful of minutes prior to throw away the test scores became clear as day. The green-haired class rep moved from her seat without making much noise and curiously moved behind the other girl.

“Endra?”

The girl screamed and knocked over the bin as her hands held a piece of paper, she looked at Miieie like she had seen the most embarrassing thing in the world.

“T-t-this is-isn’t what it looks like!” She stammered as she shambled to her feet.

Miieie smiled, “So, what’s it say?”

Endra looked at her like she was insane, trying to hide the paper behind her back.

“W-we should get going… b-before we get a reputation for being late.”

Miieie laughed the whole way to the armory, looming behind Endra the entire time.