Overwhelming Firepower

The sun was nearly setting when Lucen was satisfied with their progress. Alexander and the others were not able to attend any other class except for Lucen’s class, since he did not allow them to leave unless they all hit at least one stone.

By the time the final stone shattered in the air, almost all of them fell to the ground, tired.

Every hour or so, they failed to complete the task. Lucen added restrictions to their movements.

At first, they were allowed to stand however they wanted. Then Lucen told them they could no longer move their feet.

After another thirty minutes, he told them they could only use one hand. After that, he told them they had to shoot immediately after the stone was thrown.

By the time the sun had started to sink, Ryan was lying flat on the ground with both arms spread wide, looking as if his soul had already left his body.

Nina, despite panting heavily, did not fall to the ground since she thought that was unladylike to do.

On the other hand, Mina was only on the ground trying to stabilize her breathing. While her childhood friend Alex was meditating, trying to visualize what he had just learned.

Despite also breathing raggedly, he was not complaining; instead, he smiled joyfully as he learned a few things from that simple practice.

Then there were Cael, Elion, and Catherine; these three had finished hitting the stone in either their first or second try.

Cael had done this because he had quite a bit of experience using a revolver, even though he much preferred the sword.

Elion had a similar reason for having experience with actually using the revolver a few times. In fact, he had an original arquebus and every other version Lucen gave to the royal family in his room.

As for Catherine, she had finished the task on the first shot with no difficulty. The second she made the shot, she felt ecstatic and asked Lucen to throw several stones at once.

She was able to shoot a few, but not all, still, that did not deter her as she continued trying it despite not needing to do so.

”Here’s the schedule for my class.”

Lucen handed each one of them a piece of paper, except for Catherine, whom Lucen did not know what to do since he did not expect a blind student to be joining his class.

’This fantasy world has a lot of miracles, but they haven’t even invented something similar to Braille... Should I invent that as well?’

Lucen looked at the paper in his hand, then at Catherine a few times. Catherine tilted her head slightly. ”Sir Lucen, is there a problem?”

”No, it’s nothing. I’ll just tell you when the next classes will happen.” Lucen then told Catherine each time slot given to him by the Principal.

On this first day, he was allowed to take up as much of their time, but in the following days, he could not do that.

They needed to learn other things, and he was not allowed by the Principal to monopolize their time.

Once he was done telling Catherine the schedule, she and the others left the training grounds.

***

”Hey, you guys wanna grab something to eat?” Ryan asked.

Nina stared at him in disbelief. ”That is the first thing you think about after nearly collapsing from exhaustion?”

Ryan slowly sat up from the ground, his face serious. ”Food is important. Also, look at you trying your best to stop your feet from wobbling.”

Nina’s expression stiffened. ”My feet are not wobbling.”

”They are.”

While the two started doing a back and forth, Mina, who was still trying to stabilize her breathing, spoke. ”I... I think I want to eat something too.”

Watching the scene before him, Alexander smiled. ”I guess eating together would be nice.”

”See?” Ryan pointed at Alexander as if he had just won a debate. ”Alexander understands the importance of food.”

”... Fine... I will concede that we need to eat.”

”How about you, Cael? Are you coming with us?” Alexander asked the silent Cael walking beside him.

Cael looked at Alexander for a moment before answering. ”Yes.”

Ryan blinked. ”That was fast.”

”I am hungry,” Cael answered simply.

Ryan shrugged his shoulders. ”How can I argue with that reasoning?”

While they were talking, someone interrupted their conversation. ”If it’s alright with everyone, can I join in as well?”

The group looked at the one who spoke; it was Catherine, the second-year S-class mage.

Ryan blinked a few times before smiling and answering first. ”Of course you can join.”

Nina nodded politely. ”It would be our pleasure.”

Mina quickly added, ”Please join us.”

Alexander smiled. ”The more, the better.”

Cael looked at Catherine for a moment before nodding. ”Yes.”

Catherine smiled faintly. ”Thank you.”

It was also at this moment that the group remembered that the Third Prince was also walking beside them. They were unsure if it would be rude to invite the prince or if it would be rude not to invite him.

For a moment, no one spoke.

Ryan looked at Alexander.

Alexander looked at Mina.

Mina looked at Nina.

Nina looked at Cael.

Cael looked at Elion.

Elion looked back at all of them.

The silence became strangely awkward. Finally, Elion smiled faintly. ”If everyone is wondering whether to invite me or not, then allow me to make it easier. Unfortunately, I have other business to attend to and will be heading back to the dorms.”

Ryan immediately let out a sigh of relief. ”Thank goodness.”

Nina sharply looked at him. ”Ryan.”

”What? I mean, thank goodness His Highness understood the situation.”

”That did not make it better.”

Elion chuckled softly. ”It is fine. I understand that my presence can make things uncomfortable.”

Alexander quickly shook his head. ”No, Your Highness, that is not what we meant.”

”I know,” Elion replied with a faint smile. ”But for now, I will excuse myself. I hope I can join you all another time.”

Mina nodded quickly. ”Of course, Your Highness.”

Cael looked at Elion and gave a simple nod. ”Next time.”

Elion looked at Cael for a moment before smiling a little more naturally. ”Yes, next time.”

After saying that, Elion left them and headed in another direction.

Once he was gone, Ryan placed one hand against his chest. ”I felt like I was one wrong sentence away from being executed.”

Nina stared at him. ”You are always one wrong sentence away from trouble.”

Ryan and Nina talked like they had been friends for a long time, but they had only had this much interaction a few days ago.

Alexander laughed softly as the group continued walking. Catherine walked beside them quietly, her cane tapping lightly against the stone path.

***

The group guided by Ryan arrived in a rather noisy-looking tavern named the Rusty Greaves. It was supposedly a tavern where mercenaries gather, but it was also a tavern that made great food.

”This place looks dangerous,” Mina muttered.

Ryan raised a thumb with confidence. ”Exactly. Dangerous places usually have the best food.”

”That logic is questionable,” Nina replied.

”It has never failed me.”

Before Nina could answer, a wooden mug suddenly flew toward them from inside the tavern. Catherine calmly tilted her head, and the mug passed beside her ear before shattering against the wall behind them.

Ryan stared at the broken pieces. ”See? Free entertainment.”

Inside, two mercenaries were wrestling over a table while the owner shouted at them to break each other outside instead of breaking furniture.

Cael looked at the scene quietly. ”This place is noisy.”

Alexander smiled as he spoke. ”This place looks quite interesting.”

At that moment, one large mercenary turned toward them and grinned. ”What are brats from the Academy doing here?”

Ryan slowly smiled back. ”Oh, I think we found today’s fun.”