As a class, we all ran in the same direction away from the clearing. After reaching a point where our location was no longer visible to those at the clearing, we slowed to the stop and caught our breaths. Once the majority of the class had regained themselves, Armin – who was acting as the pseudo-leader of the group put forward his idea:

 

“I’ve said this before, back in the city, but I think we should all work as a team for this trial.”

 

A few seconds passed by with no one saying anything before a girl from Armin’s friendship group stepped forward and announced her willingness to team up with him. I found this surprising since I knew for a fact that many of Armin’s close friends held disdain towards select individuals among our class – Teival and myself included. Of course, this surprise was rectified with her following words:

 

“However, I refuse to work with the whole class.”

 

Another girl piped up and shared her own opinion on the matter, “Yeah. I’d rather work with those who won’t drag me down. So, if I’m going to be in a group, Teival better not be with me.”

 

“How can you say that?! Last I saw, Teival is the best at spellcasting in the entire class!”

 

As I protested in defence of my master, one of the boys followed up with his view: “He’s even worse at spellcasting than I am, and I’m pretty bad at it myself…Ah, but I’m good at close combat!”

 

“How dare you lie?! You take that back, or I’ll- ah, wait…I forgot that Teival hadn’t been taking the spellcasting classes seriously and ended up messing about – resulting in him seeming worse than everyone…ah…Now you’ve gone and done it, master…” I drooped my ears and tail on recollection of my master’s actions as of late with regards to spellcasting in class. During training, he was the best…during class, he pretended to be the worst. I swear, I was beginning to wonder which one of us was supposed to be sabotaging the other.

 

I came out of my mulling over things to hear Armin speak up once again: “Didn’t you hear what Liesel told us before we entered? It’s better to work as a team!”

 

“Working as a team doesn’t mean working as a class, though! This trial is to worm out the weak! Why should we help the weak ride along while we do all the hard work? I refuse!”

 

The class continued to argue over their course of action for another fifteen minutes. I had at some point managed to discover a butterfly flitting around the area. Being utterly bored out of my mind from the nonsensical back and forth between Teival’s classmates, I gave chase to the butterfly and – quite frankly – was having the time of my life! Just don’t pay attention to when I accidentally faceplanted the tree the butterfly was resting on moments before I pounced.

 

“Kia, let’s go.”

 

“Hmm? Is everything arranged, now?”

 

I bounded over to my master as the rest of the class ceased their arguing and stared at him. “Since no one wants to work as a class, then I’ll be on my way. I don’t want to stay in this spot any longer than I have.” I noticed the children go silent before staring at one another with a determined look. Armin wryly smiled before agreeing that they should split into groups.

 

Already walking away from the class, I glanced back to see the rest had split into three groups of five, with the remaining people going their separate ways. With mine and Teival’s direction already chosen, we ran away at master’s top speed for a few minutes before slowing down and changing directions. Relying on my innate navigational sense, I noticed us heading around the clearing so we were opposite the position we had entered in.

 

To be completely honest, I had no clue what Teival was up to by opting for this unusual route, however I remained compliant with his actions as I followed beside him. After several hours of walking, jogging and resting, we eventually came across a rather hilly section of the forest where we soon stopped. With the sun setting in the sky, my master told me to dig into the hill sideways – which took barely any effort at all on my part.

 

After casting a few spells to harden the loose soil, my master searched for loose foliage before carefully placing it in front of the entrance. By the time we had finished forming our makeshift camping area, the sun had hidden from the world as the moon took centre stage. With this, we spent our first night of the trial in the forest hill.

 

+++

 

It’s been five days since we entered our hilly pseudo-cave and I can quite confidently say that I am exceptionally and unequivocally bored out of my mind! I think Teival’s plan has ensured that barely anyone is going to cross our path – however how are we supposed to get a high rank in the trial if we just sit on our rear ends all day?! With having zero interaction with any other participant since leaving master’s classmates, I had decided to take matters into my own hands!

 

As such, by the second day I had delved further into the hill and established a small tunnel system ranging from the base all the way to the top and sides. Now, some may call this extravagant and excessive, however I need some form of entertainment or activity to keep me sane! Yes, I receive the occasional grooming session from Teival but there’s only so much I can enjoy without moving about. “I don’t want to get fat from lack of exercise!”

 

As for Teival…well he’s been focussed on practising his combat stances the whole time. He won’t even sing to me anymore. I vaguely recall his excuse being that he didn’t want to draw attention to our location but I feel he’s gone a bit extreme with the mitigation of sound pollution. So, with my master preoccupied with attempting to improve his close combat skills, I continued to dig more tunnels in the hill.

 

I suppose if one came to investigate my paw-work, then they would most likely assume there to be some form of society that resides within the land. Little would they know it was me, Kia! Anyway, with the fifth day since arriving here passing by, I absentmindedly dug out a new tunnel while avoiding the random tree root here and there when I chanced upon a growth of brown crystals jutting through the soil. “Hmm?”

 

Intrigued by my discovery, I padded over to investigate, only to immediately retreat a few steps back! “Eh?! How did they end up here?” Before me were three crystal ants about a third of my size each circling around the collection of crystals. “Ah! No! I found these first! They’re mine!” Witnessing one of the crystal ants use its pincers to grab hold of one of the crystals, I charged forward in defence of my loot.

 

If Teival had been present, I’m sure he would have been proud of my skills since within a few seconds I had managed to slice the heads off two of my foes. Just forget there was a third one, okay? I know I did… “Ouch! Let go of my tail!” I kicked at the final crystal ant biting my tail – resulting in it cutting the last quarter off. “M-M-MY BEAUTIFUL TAIL!” Getting blurred vision due to weeping at my loss of beauty, I ran away with the crystal ant following close behind – most likely trying to destroy my appearance even more.

 

Eventually, I reached a vacant tunnel near the camp where I stood my ground and readied myself for the final stand against my most hated enemy! However, I didn’t get to experience a proper showdown as Teival arrived, kicked the crystal ant away and threw a crystal dagger at it. Witnessing my foe get pinned to the ground by the dagger, I took advantage of the opportunity and sliced its head and legs off before stomping on its head in fury. “THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR RUINING MY TAIL!”

 

After a few seconds of smashing the head to mush, I realised I was hungry and so began happily nomming on my newly acquired food. “Yay! Free meal!” I wagged my tail in delight before lamenting over my significant loss. “Next time, I’ll be sure to keep my prized self safe!” While establishing a new goal for self-improvement in combat, I heard my master mutter something:

 

“How did crystal ants get in here, I wonder…? Why were they even here?”

 

“Oh, I think I know, master! Follow me!”

 

I gave up my meal as I recalled the crystals I’d seen earlier which was the cause of the initial conflict. Bounding through the tunnels, I heard Teival’s footsteps behind me as I reached my destination. “Here, Teival! Crystals!” I circled around them before sitting at the side while my master carefully dug them out. “Are they of any use?”

 

I observed him channel some mana through them, causing their structures to glow brown and green, before sitting in quiet contemplation. Curious about whether these could be used for my development, I sniffed at them and licked one to see what it would taste like. However, I soon found my face being gently pushed away.

 

“No, Kia. These ones aren’t good for you.”

 

“No good? But the crystal ants seemed fine. I mean, sure they had no class or decorum – attacking a girl’s pride and joy like that – but I don’t think the crystals had any part in their upbringing, you know?” I watched as Teival opened his backpack and carefully placed the crystals inside before glancing at the two crystal ant corpses I’d abandoned earlier.

 

“Kia, check the area for more of those crystal ants. I don’t want to risk our camp being compromised.”

 

“You mean I can actively hunt for food? You’re the best, Teival!” I instigated my search for food through all the tunnels, not paying attention to anything else. “Free food! Free food! Where are you, free foooood?” I sniffed around the entire tunnel system I’d created with little success. However, I did manage to locate a tunnel, not my own, a few passages away from where I caught sight of the crystal ants.

 

Peering down the tunnel, I noted that it delved a little too deep into the ground for my liking, and so determined it a wise idea to use my superior digging skills to close up the hole. Once the incriminating orifice was patched up, I headed back to the camp, remembering to pick up the partially consumed crystal ant in the process. Reaching the main area of our current living quarters, I spotted Teival cooking one of the other crystal ants inside a device powered by a red crystal – thus discarded my meal to investigate.

 

Circling around the device, I detected an incredible scent wafting through the ventilation holes of the device, making me involuntarily salivate. Placing my paw over the dome retaining the heat to cook the crystal ant, I felt the urge to eat it. Just as I was about to attempt to break the dome with my claws, a gentle hand pushed me away followed by Teival’s calm and quiet voice:

 

“No, Kia. I’m planning on eating this to not waste food rations.”

 

“Eh?! B-b-but it smells so good! Can’t we share? You have a tenth, I have nine-tenths?” I sat demurely and gave my master the most cute and adorable stare I could muster – hoping to appeal to his protective side. I even added in a few whimpers to give it more effect. I felt his hesitant gaze and knew he was taking the bai- I mean, knew he was such a benevolent master!

 

“…Fine. You can have two legs. I won’t give you the bulk of it, though since using the portable grill needs a red crystal – and I only have the one.”

 

“Yay! I knew master was benevolent! I love you, Teival! You know that, right?” I swished my shortened tail excitedly along the ground as I imagined how wonderful the cooked crystal ant would taste. My assumptions were correct, too, as the taste of the cooked meat was divine once I got to dine on it!

 

As soon as I saw him place the second crystal ant into the ‘portable grill,’ I put on my act again, hoping to get even more this time. Unfortunately, Teival had wised up to my trick as he pointed out how I had a partially eaten crystal ant lying right beside me. “Boo! No fair! Master is a meanie who doesn’t share!” Sulking over not receiving another delectable meal, I rested my head on Teival’s thigh in the hopes a few scraps would come my way. Alas, it was not meant to be as he ate every last morsel without even allowing me to lick his fingers clean for him.

 

In a final bid for more delicious cooked meat, I dragged the half-eaten corpse over to the device and dumped it in front of Teival. However, my master just shook his head and said no – explaining how I didn’t even need the meat cooked for me to eat it, so was a waste of limited resources. He wasn’t wrong, but how could I go back to eating the uncooked crystal ant after experiencing such tantalising tastes? It was a crime against lovers of food and flavour!

 

I still ate the ant corpse, though, since I was still hungry. I mean, I have my priorities! If I’m hungry, I’m going to eat. Just as I completed my disappointing meal, my ears twitched upon hearing several chiming sounds from a distance outside the hill. Pricking my ears up, I tilted my head in the direction of the source while Teival took out the red crystal from the device.

 

“Kia, close up the entrance a bit.” My master muttered in a quiet voice.

 

Following his orders, I made the soil gather around the entrance to our camp and stopped once there was only a tiny hole for us to peek through. Moving over to the peephole, we both peered at outside to analyse the situation. The scene presented to me was odd but interesting, in the grand scheme of the trial we were in.

 

Outside, I saw five children of a similar age to Teival – and bearing the same inductee wristbands – running away from what seemed to be a humongous crystal boar! The chiming sound was resonating from the crystal bells they were all ringing while shouting for help. I wondered why they didn’t attack the enemy with their crystal beasts, only to realise there was just an injured crystal lion cub visible with no signs of where the others were.

 

With such a dire situation, I witnessed it become more severe as the crystal boar rammed into one of the children – pierced its crystal tusk into her chest – before shirking her off into a tree trunk. After observing the body for a few seconds, I concluded that the child had lost her life and so resumed taking in the show before me. I suppose the image of a comrade crumpling to the ground from one attack was cause for alarm, as I saw them run around aimlessly while screaming in trepidation.

 

Eventually, my poor sensitive ears were given respite when a high-ranking Schwarzerberg Clansman arrived and uttered a chant before purple lightning came out of his clapped hands and struck the crystal boar. Stunned from the shocking impact of a lightning spell, I observed the man as he placed a familiar-looking crystal device from my dream on the crystal beast’s head, trapping it in a sturdy net. Seeing him turn to the stupefied children with an unimpressed face, he ignored their shouts of thanks and pointed at the ground.

 

“Throw away your crystal bags, you’re disqualified.”

 

Three of the children began retrieving their crystal bags from their backpacks until the fourth one – a girl – stated how she didn’t ring the bell once, so shouldn’t be disqualified. The scene then became comedic as the children all began arguing about none of them having rung their bells. To be honest, I was a little flabbergasted by the blatant lies, since I saw with my own perfect and – no doubt – pretty eyes that they all rang their bells.

 

From the looks of it, the man was unimpressed as he crossed his heavily muscled arms and eyed them all coldly: “Only the weak lie. I heard five bells ring, so don’t pretend otherwise!”

 

“If only the weak lie, then does that mean every village child in Penfallow was weak for lying about Teival all the time? No. I imagine it’s the strong who lie the most. After all, who can refute the words of someone with power at their disposal? Would you believe a deity, or a beggar?”

 

It seemed that the children realised the man was not to be trifled with and so all admitted to ringing their bells. Seeing them all discard their crystal bags, the Clansman began guiding them out of the forest towards the clearing but not before glancing in our direction. “Hmm?” I suddenly felt Teival grab hold of me and move away from the entrance, then hold his breath.

 

Tilting my head to better listen out for the people outside, I heard them all trample away from us through the forest. Licking Teival’s cheek to reassure him that the forest was clear, he still refused to move from our position until at least half an hour had passed us by. After finally being released from my master’s embrace, I licked at my slightly messed fur before hearing Teival ask for the entrance to be opened up again.

 

Complying to my master’s request, I continued to groom myself while he left our hovel to gather up the discarded crystal bags. After a few minutes of him searching the area, he returned with all five bags before asking for the entrance to be closed again. Lying next to him as he rummaged through each bag, I examined the full extent of damage to my beloved tail and was filled with remorse. “May you rest in peace, end of my tail. I shall not forget your courageous sacrifice!” While giving my eulogy to my precious tail tip, Teival pulled me close and hugged me as he did before going to sleep. Taking that as my cue to get some beauty sleep, I closed my eyes while pondering over what the next nine days of the trial would be like.