CHAPTER 35: A RARE SPECIALTY: SCOUTING

Eric woke up the next morning with a parcel resting on his face. He pretty much slept like a log—no stirring, no turning—so the parcel must have been placed on his face since last night.

It was then he remembered that Gary had told him about a letter, but he was too tired to get up to open it.

’That short demon must have dumped it on my face.’

He tore the envelope open and brought out a card from it that had a single word pressed on it.

It read, "SCOUT."

After pulling the card out, he saw a military camouflage design on a piece of ribbon. The ribbon had a sticky seal on both ends, and it was clear they were meant to be glued together. But those two objects left him confused.

Silver found him staring at the card, and he rushed over to take a look.

"What do you think this means?" Eric asked, confusion at the edge of his voice.

Silver only looked from the paper back to Eric’s face, and then back at the paper.

"Dude, you... you’ll be specially trained as a... what, Scout?" Silver yelled, but with a tiny edge of cringe lacing his excitement, like he wasn’t really impressed with what he was seeing.

Gary and Opal jolted up after Silver’s loud voice. Their eyes were all fixed on Eric now. Silver proceeded to explain:

"After every freshman takes their first test at the academy’s training ground, their performance is evaluated, and a meeting is held among the leaders with the Archon to select the suitable special training they will undergo under a particular section. Everyone is basically branded as a swordsman, but everyone must have a specialty also.

"A majority of student first-years are specially assigned as swordsmen because, well, that’s what constitutes most armies. But there are archers, and also assassins—just like Bastion over there," Silver pointed to the wardrobe beside Opal’s.

"Who’s Bastion?"

"C’mon, Bastion. Get out of there. I can’t believe you haven’t shown yourself to your new roommate yet!" Silver yelled while storming over to the wardrobe.

The moment he opened it, instead of robes, uniforms, hangers, or weapons, Eric only saw a tiny little boy with messy black hair folded up in a sitting position inside the closet.

He forced a smile while slowly sweeping his long hair out of his face. He waved timidly at Eric and proceeded to slam the door shut against himself. Silver sighed and bounded back to Eric.

"That’s Bastion, our fifth roommate. He’s being specially trained as an assassin, and I think he’s going overboard about it. He won’t even leave the cupboard to eat comfortably."

Eric looked around and only then did he notice that there were three bunks in the room, which meant six people were meant to occupy it.

Eric stayed at the top while Gary stayed beneath him. Silver didn’t have a bunkmate. Opal had one who only left a black cloth on his bed to show he’d occupied it. If it was occupied, Eric guessed that must be Bastion’s bed.

But who was the sixth person? Another assassin in training? The bed clearly was occupied. But Eric didn’t ask further. Something else was urgent, and that was the section he was assigned to. "A Scout?"

"I think only one of the freshmen was assigned Scout. The seniors said that section barely had new students every year, and when they eventually do, such a student quits later or fights to be relocated to somewhere else. Looks like you have a companion then," Silver concluded.

Eric was speechless. He had a lot of questions, but decided not to bother asking. He’d find out about it all later anyway.

He glanced over at Opal and only got a mean look as a response. It seemed her hatred for him had resumed now that she’d slept over her excitement of kicking a mage in the nuts.

Gary tapped him lightly on his leg. "Get up and let’s get going for the basic swordsman training. You can visit your special training center after you’re done. Just to take a look."

---

Silver stood tall and fit with his slightly polished wooden sword as they all came out of the room.

Gary still carried his old sword with him— the one that was forged by his father. It wasn’t allowed to be used in training or anywhere inside the academy, but Gary would never part with it. His wooden sword was held in his hand but the real sword was sheathed and pinned to his belt.

Opal really did not touch her wooden sword. She’d promised not to use it again as it’s been adorned with the blood of a mage. She’s kept it as a relic of some sort. She was going to ask for a new one from today’s training teacher.

Silver said she’d most likely be granted another one easily since she was a top ranker among the first-years, and a favorite.

Eric turned around in search of Bastion but he was nowhere to be found.

"Had he left already?" Eric wondered aloud.

Silver caught him searching and understood quickly. "Bastion? He left while we were dressing up. I didn’t see him either. I only caught a wisp of air fly past me and I heard the door open and close swiftly and without a sound. That’s definitely Bastion. He was born to be an assassin."

Eric found that impressive, but also unsettling. He didn’t feel good about someone sneaking up on him.

He felt uncomfortable with how his arm itched for the second time this morning. Looking around the his arm, he saw the camouflage ribbon wrapped over it, with the help of Silver. He said he must always put it on for training henceforth.

Opal, Gary, and Silver each had white ribbons on them, and Eric was told Bastion had black. It however was uncomfortable to him that he was wearing a mixture of all these colors, including green and even light traces of deep blue and a lot of brown.

’A Scout, really? I need to have a word with Master Max about this. That man is no mentor of mine. Nah.’

When they got to the training center for freshmen, the swordsman knight, Lancel, was already waiting on the podium, ready to start the session.

About 200 students stood before him. As soon as they entered, Lancel announced the new recruit, Eric, and urged everyone to help him adapt to the academy, while calling him forward to stand beside him. A murmur rose among the students as Eric bowed and whispered a "thank you."

Suddenly, a wooden sword was thrown straight at him after a yell of, "Just a fucking scout?!"

Eric simply side-stepped, dodging the sword as it whooshed past and its point dug thick in the wooden wall behind him. Lancel declared a -2 rank reduction on the student, but Eric already declared a revenge on him the moment he saw him. He was not going to forget it that face.

’If you think I’m one to be bullied, you can’t be more wrong,’ he said to himself.