Chapter 64 – A Tiff with Teival
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The rest of our week of recuperation consisted of Teival channelling mana through me while having me try out some new abilities on some days, while the other days were of him and Armin sparring with one another. I have to say, although spending a whole day with Teival was fun and comforting, the amount of times I was asked to do certain things only to end up failing was a big blow to my self-esteem. I mean before, when he wanted me to dig or channel the wind energy into my claws, I could do it pretty easily after a few attempts. However, with these new techniques he was having me incorporate, I must admit they were quite rage-inducing in their meticulousness and requirements for fine control.

 

Speaking of more positive things, Teival and Armin’s sparring matches did seem to be a better method of training for my master for when it came to close combat. For one, Armin had suggested better exercises to do to help build up muscle, as well as which foods would be more suitable for Teival’s health. Apparently, my master’s almost vegetarian diet was not conducive to his plans for packing on the muscle weight. “I knew eating plants was a bad idea! Hey, Teival! Why not try one of my crystal termites? I’ve heard they’re exceptionally nutritious! Hey! Why are you throwing my offered crystal termite back into my dish?! I gave you that with love behind it! Fine! I won’t share my food with you ever again!”

 

In a little bit of a strop over having my generosity thrown in my face, I decided I would give my master the silent treatment as punishment. As such, our last two days of recuperation week ended up being slightly constrained and tense in mood. For one, I chose to ignore his requests to sit and let him channel mana through me. Of course, I got a slight headache and some nauseous feelings from not doing as he said, however I was proving a point to him!

 

As for other causes, I raided his snack bag – spilling the contents all over the bedroom floor. I decided I would rip his pillow with my claws in retaliation for not being allowed to snuggle with him in bed. I urinated on his books on magic theory – making them go soggy and smelly. Oh, I also at one point during the two days bit him when he went to pat me on the head. Of course, I regretted doing the last one since I actually quite enjoy the head pats, but I had to make my stance clear! “No more miss nice aardwolf! Humph!”

 

Saying that, I feel I did not consider the repercussions of my actions when acting them out, since I found my meal sizes had been reduced and my position on the bed had been completely removed to the corner of the room on the opposite end. Why didn’t I just jump on when he was sleeping, you might ask, however he had attached a crystal device on my neck and attached it to the wall near the door. This effectively made it impossible for me to get close to that glorious bed.

 

“Hmm…I think I made him mad…”

 

By the morning of the next day, I ceased my cold war with my master as I had lost the battle of attrition. I mean, I was starving! A girl has got to eat, otherwise she won’t develop well in the right places. As for my master’s training with Armin, that carried on without much hindrance on my part. I mean, he managed to increase his flexibility which allowed him to manoeuvre himself so he didn’t get grappled and brought to the ground, so a silver lining to the brooding cloud of our relationship.

 

Once we had returned back to the classroom after the week of recuperation, Otto gave us our reassigned classes before giving a somewhat short speech which digressed into a mini-praising session over the crystal capturing devices he’d helped make for the trial. Of course, I shut off paying attention to him by then since I had already heard his many speeches regarding the wonders of crystal technology. I can sort of understand the benefits of using it, however I felt it was a bit uncomfortable when his current subject of interest was based around making catching crystal beasts easier.

 

With our classes reassigned, I soon discovered that our instructor was a familiar face full of teasing smiles and a coy attitude towards curiosity: Liesel. Introducing herself to those who hadn’t had her before, I examined our newly designated class and found there to be six children in total. Of the six children, one was of course Teival, while another one was Armin. I could understand why we ended up in the same class, since they had caught the same amount of crystal beasts and had similar academic results – with Teival being stronger at spellcasting and Armin being stronger at close combat. One child’s presence that did surprise me was Adelaide.

 

By all rights, Adelaide shouldn’t have been in our class. I mean, she got a guaranteed spot in passing due to catching that Zapada Leopard. As I ruminated over the possible reasons for her being in our class, I then came to the conclusion that it must have been due to her only catching two crystal beasts. Going by how many the other three in our class had caught, along with eavesdropping on how their own classes had done in the previous trial, it seemed that the other people who had caught rare crystal beasts had also managed to acquire a significant portion of regular crystal beasts, too. As such, poor Adelaide got shunted down the ranks and ended up in our class of 0-B.

 

With such thoughts pushed to the side, I resumed my usual practice of sleeping during the indoor lessons, while keeping an avid eye on everyone during the practical ones. Thus, after several more weeks of tedious teaching – though nowhere near as eccentric as Otto’s – we reached a point where people started wondering when the next trial would be. I mean, going by the established pattern of the previous three trials, they usually occurred within several weeks of one another – with a brief period of rest and recuperating in-between.

 

As such, it was a matter of counting down the days to when Liesel would sashay into the classroom with an incredibly ambiguous smile and provide subtle hints as to why she was late. Of course, it was unfortunate that the instructor had developed a habit of arriving late every day, so it was difficult to ascertain whether her tardiness was indeed due to a meeting taking too long, or her just being slow at coming to class. Personally, if I had to go by her attitude – as well as previous examples of her ambiguous personality – then I’d say it was the latter.

 

With such musings, I have to admit it came as rather a pleasant surprise when she entered the classroom one day on time with a lovely smile plastered on her rather beautiful face. What made this morning different from others was how Liesel began talking about how she found it weird how much time had passed since the inductees began the induction process. She rabbited on about how she remembered when there were over twenty in the classrooms, but now it’s been reduced to barely six. She commented on how some classes were no more due to the lacking number of children before lamenting over how it wouldn’t be long before all the classes would be empty.

 

It was kind of strange how she talked as if we were going to die, or something. However, I then wondered if she was pragmatically suggesting that our next trial would be our last one before becoming members of the Clan. As such, during the lunch break, my suspicions were further reinforced when both Armin and Adelaide mentioned the same possibility. Of course, my master didn’t give much comment on the matter, however he couldn’t hide the anticipation and clenched fist beneath the table from me!

 

The rest of the day consisted of combat classes, with the current one being on spellcasting. Erected before the six children were target boards similar to the one I saw in my most recent dream. Recalling the events of that scenario made me shudder in pseudo-trepidation at the memory of Victor’s cold eyes and malicious voice. It also caused me to feel anger and frustration since it was the main reason why I was designated to the foot of the bed! Oh yeah, Teival had forgiven me for my antics during our cold war and I was sleeping on the bed again. “I wonder if he ever found that underwear I hid inside the wall by digging a hole then sealing it shut…”

 

Once the lesson came to a close, Liesel didn’t carry out her usual dismissal of the class for a five-minute break before our next one. Instead, she clapped her hands and had us all gather around. “Oh? Is this the time for an announcement?” Eagerly padding over from my spot on the side lines while the children were spellcasting, I caught up to Teival and lay across his feet so as to adopt a comfortable position while hearing the woman speak.

 

“As you’ve all probably figured out by now, the next trial will be the final one before you can become official Clan members. Isn’t that so exciting?! Anyway, I’ve been instructed to inform you all that this one will be different from your previous trials. Firstly, we won’t be using the Schwarzerberg Air Corps. Secondly, we won’t be leaving the Schwarzerberg Tower. Thirdly, the trial will be in a tournament format – so you’ll be showcasing your skills against your peers to prove you are strong enough to enter our Clan!”

 

“Oh? Does this mean they’ll have to show their skills in everything?” I wondered before Liesel continued with her announcement.

 

“Finally, you’ll be doing the trial in the Main Stadium that will be at full capacity with Clan members watching your every move! You’ll have a day to prepare yourselves before the big day! Good luck, everyone! I look forward to seeing how you’ve all improved!”

 

With that, she called an end to the class for the day before leaving with a bounce in her step. I imagine that no one really knew what to expect from this trial, however it seemed to be the general consensus between them all that the Clan members were there to possibly apprentice one of them. As the six children discussed the scenarios they might face in the tournament, I couldn’t help hoping that the annoying Anders wouldn’t be there. After all, I felt my performance would somehow be hindered by his very pervasive presence.

 

“Urgh…I can already hear him laughing and calling me a spoilt princess…Please, please, please, please, please don’t let that horrid human be in the stands!” I begged the unknown gods of this world with utmost desperation. I mean, I knew there were some deities – otherwise there wouldn’t be Neveah and Halhol – however I had no idea what, or who they were. Still, it didn’t hurt to ask them to grant my wish. As such, by the end of the day, Teival and I went to sleep filled with anticipation for the day after tomorrow. “Let’s hope my master will manage to do okay even if close combat ends up playing a large role in the trial…Ah…why does he have to be weak at the physical stuff?! He’s so wonderful at everything else!”

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