The first one to step forward was the ma’gan wicked beauty, her eagerness reminded me of various rumors I heard about her race. The most popular three said that their negative affinity rendered them unable to feel emotions, which I could already dismiss as false after watching her for a while; that they could command blood beasts, but this one was probably born out of The Eagle Empire’s historic loss at the battle of Ulvia; and that they were fascinated with humans. The more I watched her, the more I was sure that the third rumor wasn’t entirely groundless. The beautiful girl kept observing the half-dead candidate number Forty-five with undisguised curiosity, she seemed to be enchanted by the blood puddle slowly forming on the stone floor, and meticulously scrutinized his mangled body while bending towards it as much as she could without being seen as rude. The attention of many legionnaires gravitated towards her well-shaped assets despite the practically nonexistent cleavage of the academy’s female uniform.
The second one to step forward was the pale skinned, black haired member of the house of Raven. Rex looked annoyed by the fact that the ma’gan girl managed to make the decision to take someone’s life ahead of him. But in contrast to her, he was probably only concerned about the promised ten points and just wanted to quickly get this over with. According to the stories I heard about his infamous house, such behavior was only to be expected. In comparison to rumors about ma’gans, those stories were less of wild guesswork and more of simply stating that every horrible thing a human could possibly imagine had been already done and mastered by the house of Raven.
But the imperial adjudicator didn’t pass the gladius to any of them, he was still waiting and silently putting pressure on the rest of us, sensing that some candidates were wavering and a slight push was all they needed. Right now, the junior judge’s bald head and square jaw were far from funny. His face was slowly turning more and more severe as if he wanted us to realize that we were going to pay if we made him stand with his hand outstretched for too long. The pressure was additionally strengthened by all those fully armed legionnaires who looked approvingly at the two candidates in front of the line. This situation lasted at most for a few minutes, but it felt much longer than that. All the while there was this dying man in front of us, at this point it would be more merciful to spare him the suffering that was bound to come if he regained consciousness… more merciful for him and for us.
The stench of blood and burned meat was disgusting, Maya seemed to be on the verge of vomiting.
Finally, one person broke and stepped forward, this sudden movement caused another candidate to make up his mind.
The one who moved first was similar to me in age and build while his many bruises and a black eye told me that it had to be Forty-three, the guy who had been beaten yesterday by Fifty. That single step cost him greatly, huge droplets of sweat dripped down his chin as he tried to calm himself down by taking deep breaths. This black haired candidate probably saw accepting the junior judge’s offer as the only way to survive in this place.
The person who moved right after Forty-three was a short trembling boy with blond hair. He didn’t look that much younger than me, maybe two or three years, but his hunched posture and uncertain movements betrayed a severe lack of confidence which made it hard to treat him seriously. He seemed to regret the decision to step forward as he unconsciously kept shaking his head in denial. I took notice of how weak he was to pressure and how this could be used in the future. The number XLVI was burned on his left hand.
I had yet to see the number of that orange-haired girl since she wore gloves similar to Rex's, but since I already confirmed the numbers of everyone else, there was no need for that. Each number from forty-one to fifty had been finally connected with a specific face: the white-haired little girl was forty-one; the exotic ma’gan girl was forty-two; the guy with a black eye was forty-three; the shamed naked guy was forty-four; the half-dead man was forty-five; the trembling boy was forty-six; Rex was forty-seven; I was forty-eight, Maya was forty-nine; Fifty was fifty. It would be nice if all those remaining numbers turned into proper names soon, that would make everything easier.
Focusing on this matter was also a good way to cope with my growing nervousness. I never killed anyone or at least had no memories of it, but being prepared to take someone’s life was only natural, especially if it was to protect the ones dear to me. Nevertheless, I wasn’t in a hurry to experience it, and if possible, I would prefer to avoid staining my hands with blood entirely. The candidates standing next to me also had their own reasons, and the five of us refused to budge.
Imperial Adjudicator Hector Umbric probably decided that four out of nine was good enough for now and returned the gladius to the decanus, then he relaxed and smiled. “Soldiers, provide each of those four with a dagger.” Four short, sharp daggers were given to the voluntary murder squad, in comparison to gladiuses they lacked vifer cores. “It wouldn’t be fair if you took turns, and stabbing a corpse would miss the entire point. Soldiers, pick him up.” Two legionnaires quickly grabbed the nomad by arms and kept him standing. Bloody bubbles and foam were coming out from the unconscious man’s nose and mouth with each of his shallow breaths. “Two stab him from the front, two stab him from the back. Any place is fine, just make sure to plunge the blade up to the hilt, and I will give ten points to each of you. However, if even one person fails this task, then all four of you will lose ten points. You have three minutes, starting now.” The junior judge took out his very small golden hourglass and with satisfaction observed both the show unfolding in front of him and the falling grains of sand.
“Move.” Rex slapped the back of the trembling boy who in turn almost dropped the dagger, then he continued to hit him in such manner until they moved to stand in front of Forty-five. “Just close your eyes and stab forward when I tell you to.” Rex’s voice was hardly different from his usual tone, but to that boy it must have sounded really reassuring, he even had his posture corrected to avoid any incidents.
“Oh? Good job Whitey.” Praised the ma’gan girl from the other side. “On three?” She asked the candidate standing next to her to which he nodded while biting his lip and clutching the knife with both hands so hard his knuckles turned white. “Relax, you will only make him suffer if you won’t do it properly.” She tried to imitate Rex’s guidance.
“Two minutes.” Said Junior Judge Umbric.
“Alright, I’m starting. One!” The tip of the girl’s knife pointed at the lower back of their victim.
“Two!” She continued the countdown, her voice full of anticipation.
Rex held the knife with his right hand, aiming at the heart, while his left was on the blond boy’s back, both supporting him and making sure he didn’t chicken out.
“Three!”
Up to this point, the five of us watched in silence, but when the actual moment of killing commenced, only me and Forty-one didn’t look away.
They stabbed.
It was terrifyingly anti-climatic.
There were no screams of pain, no fountains of blood, no sudden judgment. This ‘clean’ outcome was mostly due to Rex who skillfully stabbed into and then twisted his knife inside the poor man’s heart - it was the last straw required for Forty-five to pass away. The remaining weapons were only a second slower, but the man was already gone by the time they were plunged up to their hilts. Forty-six left his knife buried into the corpse’s stomach and unsteadily walked away two steps before vomiting on the floor. Next, he dropped to his knees and quickly turned into a mess of tears, snot, vomit, and sweat. Maya avoided similar fate only thanks to keeping her eyes tightly shut and Fifty’s hand holding hers.
The ma'gan girl’s behavior went far beyond the act of killing and entered the realm of performing a dissection. She continued to cut and stab fervently, trying to cut out a piece of the dead man’s spine. At one point she even grabbed the already visible bone with her fingers, to stabilize it and make her disturbing work easier. Only when the two legionnaires moved the corpse away from her, while giving her looks full of disbelief and disgust, she realized that she wasn't supposed to do that. She cleared her throat, wiped out the blood from her face with a handkerchief, and was about to obediently step away when she saw something that made her slightly apologetic expression change into a one of wrath.
“You…” She squeezed that one word through her clenched shark-like teeth, the vertical pupils of her red eyes were focused on the only knife among the four, that remained clean.
“The candidate for an imperial adjudicator number forty-five, Levy Darkwater, has been disposed of as a threat to the empire. Other than that, the rest was disappointing, only Forty-seven managed to behave properly. But my word is law, and law cannot be easily taken back, all four of you lose ten points because of Forty-three’s inability to act.” Concluded the junior judge.
“I-I c-couldn’t, t-the knife, m-my hands j-just… I couldn’t, i-it’s not m-my fault.” The black haired guy remained frozen with the knife ready to strike, his eyes unfocused and legs shaking. Suddenly, he was slapped with a pair of bloodied gloves that a second ago were on the slim hands of the ma’gan girl. Since there was something wet smeared next to his lips, he reflexively licked it and literally tasted someone’s blood before realizing what he had done.
“Oh? I didn’t expect that, you like it?” Said sweetly Forty-two to the terrified guy, but then the tone of her voice dropped and became ice-cold like the eternal winter in the far north. “Just wait, I will shove your own intestines down your throat.”
Rex only clicked his tongue and returned to the line following after the fuming ma’gan girl. In the meantime, due to the junior’s judge gestures, one of the legionnaires dragged the still crying Forty-six closer to us, while another forced the petrified Forty-three to move until he was back in the line. All four knives were confiscated, and the corpse was taken away.
“Forty-seven.”
“Yes, your honor?”
“I give you ten points for being a good role model for other candidates.”
“Thank you, your honor.” Rex virtually gained nothing, and he knew it, yet he still looked to be in a better mood after having his effort recognized and points returned, at the same time, the hatred emanating from the orange-haired girl towards Forty-three grew twofold.
“This place is awfully filthy.” Said Umbric and snapped his fingers. Six servants immediately came into the entrance hall from behind the door to the corridor and started cleaning. “Anyway, this was only an unplanned distraction. We can finally move on to the main matter, but we will do that in a moment. First, a break. You’ve got five minutes, use them however you want.” The junior judge sat down on one of the leather sofas and again took out his very small golden hourglass, he must have really liked it.
The naked muscular guy immediately went upstairs, fed up with his shameful state, though no one paid him any attention anymore. Fifty guided Maya to the lavatories with one hand while with the other he grabbed the crying boy by his collar, forcing him to go with them. I was quite impressed by that silver-haired hunk devotion to being a good guy. The rest of us was lost deep in thought, refused to accept reality in case of one particular guy with a black eye, or tried to remain composed by distracting themselves with the ongoing cleaning. As for me, I was wondering what in the world Forty-one was thinking about. She showed almost no reaction during the whole execution and even now looked as if she had more important problems to deal with that someone’s being killed in front of her. I had this strange urge to whisper a few orders to her, and for once I wanted to act on this desire and see what would happen, but I postponed this for after the junior judge was gone.
He was going to go away soon, right…?
There was a limit to how much stress and death I could take in a single day. Of course, I wasn’t a naive kid and knew that the act of killing was a rather common occurrence that most of us would experience at least once in their lifetime or die. But making a show out of it and forcing others to participate? No, thank you. The price of authority was a step one indeed, and I was already sick of being in this academy. However, I had this feeling that I was forgetting about something, it was most certainly caused by that seal on my memories, and was extremely irritating. But there was no more time to think about it, the break given to us by the junior judge was almost over.
Imperial Adjudicator Hector Umbric put the golden hourglass back into his pocket, did a quick head count, and unnecessarily clasped his hands to gather our attention. “My name is Hector Umbric, I’m an imperial adjudicator, and my standing is that of a junior judge. This is the dormitory number five and that makes you the members of the class number five, I have been assigned as your main tutor and mentor. Relax and listen carefully while I will give you a brief explanation of the rules of this academy and tell you a few important things about living here.” His sudden introduction took us by surprise which was soon replaced by increased wariness. “See? That’s how it should be if all ten of you had just complied with the initial order. But nothing is lost yet, don’t cause any trouble and I will personally make sure each of you becomes a splendid imperial adjudicator. As a sign of my good will, you’ve got my permission to call me Baldy.” He chuckled and happily patted his shiny head a few times. “Come on, anyone wants to give it a try? Maybe you Forty-two?”
“N-no your honor, I mean, this is too much of privilege for a simple girl like me.” It was officially confirmed now, ma’gans could sweat bullets and go through a small nervous breakdown when faced with a sudden offer to commit suicide. “... but if your honor insists… t-then can I have your honor’s words, that I was given permission and told to do so, in writing with your honor's seal on it?” Composing this answer drained the ma’gan girl both physically and emotionally and before she knew it, she was using Rex’s arm for support while internally asking herself ‘why me?’. The pale guy tried to look reliable and silently helped her, but time after time he glanced at the top of her head, probably annoyed that the girl was a bit taller than him.
Seemingly content with the beautiful girl’s reaction, the junior judge continued. “Calm down, I was only joking. Everyone, listen carefully now. As you should all know, the imperial law is your god no matter which part of the empire you're in; however, the situation here is different when it comes to the vassal states laws, none of them is enforceable on Dove Island. The written law is the same as always and remains valid, but thanks to your status as the candidates for imperial adjudicators you don’t have to worry about the unwritten law. You’re also outside the scope of the military law, but of course, the same can’t be said about any of the legionnaires. You may give them orders, but in some cases they have the right to forcibly subdue you, so treat them with respect.” He gave us the basic rundown.
Though in theory, the imperial law was always more important than vassal states law, in practice it rarely was like that outside The Crimson Kingdom, especially when there were no imperial adjudicators nearby. This was a tricky situation because many vassal states tended to have the law that had a lot of common points with the imperial one, but the details could be different - making us vulnerable to unexpected traps hidden within our own knowledge. I just hoped that the group study room had enough copies of the imperial law codex for everyone. Otherwise, there was going to be a bloodbath in there today.
“There is also something called the special law of the academy, and it is only applicable to the candidates for imperial adjudicators.“ Complicated the situation further the junior judge. “As you may have already guessed, it is connected with the point system. Only the imperial adjudicators may freely give and take those points, but some people are permitted to reward or punish you in accordance with the rules we’ve established. Which actions will earn you more points and which ones will cause you to lose them? This is up to you to discover, I must admit that I’m a bit jealous of the fun you’re certainly going to have while at it. Now, the most important thing, you may exchange your points for various rewards. For example, two hundred points can help to refresh your memory that for sure is a bit clouded right now.” Umbric’s words caused a stir among us, but he ignored it and gestured towards the two decanuses to distribute something.
Memories, for two hundred points I could get them all back. Shit. They got me.
The frozen lake of my negative emotions cracked loudly under the strain of this revelation.
So what if I knew that it was a trap which aimed to motivate me to work hard and obediently let myself to be indoctrinated? I had to get those memories back no matter the cost, there were people who had their full faith in me, and letting them down was not an option. Imagining a situation in which I returned to those two and was unable to recognize their faces and recall our promises filled me with dread. The empire was going to pay for it, but for now, I had to keep a low profile… I also had this feeling that everything was going to be fine if only I read something, which was true, memorizing the imperial law codex should significantly help with earning points.
“Two hundred… two hundred… no, two hundred and two…” Murmured the white-haired girl, she wanted to regain her memories no less than me.
“One hundred ninety-nine for me.” I whispered a challenge into her ear, causing her to flinch. In response, she looked at me as if I was her worst enemy, which led to a discovery that teasing this little girl was a great way to unwind.
The others’ reactions varied, but there was no time to pay much attention to them, the legionnaires moved around busily, received something from their respective decanuses, and in no time one of them was standing directly in front of each of us. Those soldier clad in steel emanated an imposing aura of power, the flame motif engraved on their shoulder plates meant that they belonged to the second legion “Scorch”. If they were ordered to activate the vifer cores in their cuirasses, then we would literally burn to ashes, there were rumors that even their dicks were capable of ignition. I had to admit that this situation was even worse than when the junior judge had tried to put pressure on us.
Another point was added to my internal list of things to do - obtain a military grade vifer core for protection. Not having one made me feel awfully defenseless.
“Those are your badges.” Stated the junior judge and the legionnaires solemnly put necklaces with the symbol of bronze burning scale around our necks. “Wear them proudly and treat with great care. Losing a badge is equal to losing your life, and I’m not even talking about the points. The legionnaires outside the dormitory are ordered to kill any of you who is found moving around the academy grounds without this precious symbol. And you Forty-eight...” Each time I heard my number being called by this junior judge, it definitely shortened my life a bit. “... you’ve got the honor of being the first in your class to obtain a point coin. This will be noted.”
The legionnaire standing in front of me gave me a coin the size of a standard empire’s gold coin with the number I engraved on it. Its pure light green color, metal sheen, and the fact that it was really warm to the touch meant that it was made out of unprocessed vifer which was as far from being a proper core as wheat from bread, but nevertheless, just holding it made me feel a little better.
“Thank you, your honor.” I said and put the coin into one of two pouches attached to my belt.
“As I’ve said you can exchange those for various rewards at the item house, you can also use them to remove the negative points. The list of all candidates and their current amount of points will be available for everyone to view at the fountain plaza. But let’s say that someone lost one point coin and you picked it up, in such case it has to be reported as soon as possible to the item house, because each time a point is given or deduced is being officially recorded, and if due to some unfortunate misunderstanding your points won’t match the amount you should have then one of the imperial adjudicators will be forced to resolve such problem personally.” The junior judge told us that stealing was a terrible idea.
But what was the point of giving us those coins if they were going to keep an eye on our points balance anyway?
The morning assembly already lasted for more than an hour, and some of us were growing tired and sick with it. Besides, this faint smell of blood permeating the air was a constant reminder of what happened to Forty-five, and that made pretending to forget harder. But we persisted and tried not to look too discouraged in front of the junior judge, maybe except for the Forty-three who remained standing only thanks to some ‘merciful’ legionnaire. However, contrary to our expectations, Umbric indulgently wrapped up the rest of his explanation in the next few sentences.
“Next matter, monthly special rules. Each month there will be a one or more special rules that will be either a blessing or a curse for you. They are to teach the candidates that following the law is always necessary even if the law itself seems funny, unneeded, or straight out harmful, because that law may be a part of a greater scheme that you’re unable to perceive. But those rules are also a good chance to earn some points. There is no special rule for this month, but since today is Nineday of Third-Aprius, in two days the first set will be posted in each dormitory. Lastly, remember to take a look at the information board every morning, your schedule is already posted on it. That is all for now, the rest of today is free time. In case any of you have interesting questions or ideas, you can find me in the imperial adjudicators living quarters.” Said the junior judge, took a last long look at each of us while smiling warmly, and left the dormitory. Following after him were the legionnaires while servants probably decided that it would be wiser to remove themselves from our sight, especially since the nine of us were about to explode in a flurry of unpredictable emotions. Only the two unlucky ones who had to open and close the main doors remained.
I was the first candidate to move towards the mentioned posted schedule, gathering information was more important than venting my anger or idle chatter.
“You’re dead!” Exploded the anger of the ma’gan girl who was about to throw herself at Forty-three. The ‘traitor’ was still out of it, and now when no legionnaire supported him, he simply sat down on the floor. “Because of you, I lost ten whole points! I heard that you humans are cowards because you’re spineless, but he had a spine! Why then? Just a single stab! Such an easy thing to do! Maybe I should check your spine?!” She screamed at him and then brought him down with a punch to the side of his head. There was quite a lot of force behind it, and Forty-three’s head bounced off the stone floor after hitting it with a sickening dull sound. He either lost consciousness or lacked the will to pick himself up.
“Hey! Hey! Hey, come on, calm down.” Interfered Fifty and grabbed the girl by the shoulders as she was about to begin stomping on the lying guy. “Killing’s not as easy as you make it sound, everyone’s different, and he wasn’t ready to cross this-”
“You’re going to lose more points if you further damage this trash.” Interrupted Rex. In comparison to Fifty’s ineffective attempts, his words were like a bucket of cold water, instantly calming the orange-haired girl. Still, a low growl kept coming from behind her clenched sharp teeth.
Rex didn’t watch the rest as he was en route to the information board.
“First day and you already tried to win the heart of the littlest among us?” Maya’s jokingly poked my side with her finger, trying to lighten the mood, she didn’t seem concerned with my yesterday’s outburst but was far from looking alright. In response to her words, I searched for Forty-one, but the little girl was already gone. In addition, there was no sign of Forty-four and Forty… that was it, I had enough.
“Maya, I’ve got an important mission for you.” I said with all the seriousness I could muster, to which the grey-haired girl raised her brow.
“Yes?”
“This is a matter of life and death, and me being sick with all those forties. Grab Fifty and go with him on a holy mission to bless every nameless person in this dormitory with a name.” It was high time we did that. “If anyone refuses to talk with you, then just give such person a random humiliating nickname.”
“Ha! I knew you were a funny guy.” She responded with a smile and patted gently the place she poked before. “Leave it to me, I won’t rest before conquering every single one of those forties! Right, Fifty?” She turned towards the handsome guy who was walking in this direction after ordering one of the doorkeepers to take care of Forty-three, but before Fifty replied to Maya, someone else spoke.
“De Mora, and it’s my real name.” Interjected the wicked beauty from the side, she also came to check the information board and take her mind off the source of her anger, but it didn’t seem as if she was going to say anything else.
“Well, one less person to name I guess?” Said Fifty with his usual smile while I took note of the 'real name' part.
“Yeah... and sorry for yesterday.” My voice was small, but the friendly duo accepted it with a nod. "Anyway, leave that white-haired girl to me, I will find her and give her a proper name personally."
"You want to become her papa?" Asked Fifty, there was a small warning hidden inside his words.
"Shut it, she just has to answer a few questions for me."
I moved my attention to the posted notices. There were two pieces of paper attached to the board that hadn’t been there yesterday. One was a simple map of the academy, the other was our lessons schedule:
Everyday:
7.00-7.45 Exercises - training grounds;
12.00-13.30 Dinner - class V dormitory or main building banquet hall;
17.00-7.00 - Free time;
Oneday:
8.00-17.00 Imperial Law - main building room II;
Twoday:
8.00-12.00 Effective Law Enforcement - main building room II;
13.30-17.00 Vifer Manipulation - vifer workshop;
Threeday:
8.00-12.00 Basic Tactics - main building room I;
13.30-19.00 Basic Self-defense - training grounds;
Fourday:
8.00-12.00 Written Law - main building room I;
13.30-17.00 Unwritten Law - library;
Fiveday:
8.00-17.00 Military Law - main building room III;
Sixday:
8.00-12.00 Theory of Law - main building room V;
13.30-17.00 History of Law - main building room V;
Sevenday:
8.00-12.00 Etiquette and Heraldry - main building banquet hall;
13.30-17.00 Etiquette and Heraldry - library;
Eightday:
8.00-17.00 Vassal States Law - main building room IV;
Nineday:
8.00-20.00 - Projects and Achievements - main building lecture room;
Tenday:
8.00-12.00 Flaw Correction - correctional house;
13.30-17.00 Basic Logistics - fountain plaza;
Unsurprisingly there was quite a lot of subjects with the word 'law' in them. This was also the main topic of ongoing conversations around me. No one talked about the dead guy. There was no point in ruining the mood that was finally starting to recover. At least for now.
