Belinda’s days were as busy as ever. She finished her task but didn’t dare to accept another one, fearing, she couldn’t finish it in time. She was desperate because she needed to do the special training two times a week. Not to mention the punishment. Every time Bertold came up with different ideas.  She needed to run around and collect herbs or other things. But in reality, the punishment’s gist was that she needed to spend some hours in the dark forest with Lebef on her belt... It annoyed her, but she couldn’t do anything.

She didn’t have time to stop and take a break until she successfully reached the 4th level. But it was 3 days before her monthly exam, so she only chose to rest for half a day.

After her breakthrough, Belinda happily went into the cafeteria to eat some meats. She missed it so much she couldn’t wait to try them out. She heard a lot about the demon beasts’ meats, it was so fragrant, so tasty, so... With one word, it was the best!

Before she didn’t dare to visit the place where those dishes were. She was afraid, she couldn’t stand the smell and lost control. It wasn’t easy to follow a fruit diet for years. Not to mention her favorite junk foods didn’t even exist in this world...

She stood in front of the counter and watched the different beasts’ meats and couldn’t choose. She used to eat dishes with synthetic chicken or pig’s meats... She didn’t even know how those tasted here. She didn’t saw any dishes with them.

All of the food had demonic beasts’ meats. The higher the level the tastier it seemed, but Belinda didn’t dare to think about them after seeing the price...

She forgot that meat was only free for the teachers. Those beasts were hunted down by the students and they sold them to the kitchen. Those meats didn’t go wrong for a long time but lost the energy in it. So every week, there was a day when there was a limited meat dish for free. Sorrowfully it was yesterday...

Belinda bit her lips and chose the cheapest dish, but it already cost 100 points. She could understand why the boys loved to hunt beasts. They could get back part of the meat after it was cooked. They could make money and eat at the same time.

Belinda slowly ate her food, but she didn’t feel it tasted good. She only felt the pain in her purse.

She remembered about Horác’s promise and her eyes lit up. She was interested in the Vihuda restaurant’s dishes. After the exam, she could ask Horác to go to the city...

  Shit! I forgot to visit him after we come back!

More than a month passed and she never went to his laboratory. She sorrowfully gave up the idea to go to the city and sighed.

  Let’s wait a little... Just 1 or 2 more months... Maybe he calms down after some time...

Even if she was Horác’s helper it didn’t mean she wasn’t afraid of him. She knew if a monster saw that you are afraid, it was your loss, so she never let him see it... At least, she hoped she hid it well.

Belinda left behind the idea to take a break and went back to train...

A day before the exam, she met with Gregori. He wanted to practice a little more and show to the others he did the right choice. He wanted their duel to be perfect.

Belinda felt that it was a pain in the ass. She didn’t care about her performance. Even if she fell off the stage after 3 seconds, no one would care about her. These exams were only for show. She heard some gossips about it and she was sad to realize, only Pedró cared about the students’ progress in martial arts. Sometimes she missed those classes, but it was rare. Bertold gave enough homework to her.

After some hours of training, they took a break. Gregori sat next to Belinda and sometimes looked at her.

„What is it?” she couldn’t not notice his eyes.

„You had a special training some days before too, not?” he hesitated. „Can you tell me what kind of training it is?”

Belinda looked at him blankly. „Why do you want to know?” she couldn’t understand him. If he was interested why did he wait a whole month before asking?

„... Recently your movements changed. You become more flexible and your reflex is better... I want to try if it will be useful to me too.”

„Oh.” Her face darkened. So I was a guinea pig in your head?!

After drinking a cup of water, she told him. It wasn’t a big secret in the end. She didn’t know if others did similar training, but she was interested if he really dared to do it.

After hearing how the training worked, Gregori blankly looked in front of him. He never thought this kind of thing could work! It was the best for him! He could do it alone!

„Where can I buy this Lebef?!” he asked excitedly.

„... Ask Bertold, I don’t know.”

Gregori nodded and they continued their training. He didn’t need to wait long, Bertold went to see them before dinner. He didn’t just ask about the fruit, but he had a lot of questions about the training too. Sorrowfully Bertold was as short-spoken as usual if it wasn’t related to his ’job’.

Gregori didn’t mind it, he could ask others too. He was really happy to try out something new and already had some new ideas.

After the training, they went to eat dinner.

On the way, Bertold suddenly stopped. „I go to the Market.”

„Now?” Belinda was surprised.

Gregori grabbed her shoulder. „You know, there are things that a guy needs during the night.”

Belinda’s face darkened.

  Don’t you realize you are learning the bad things from Zotmund?! What happened with my pure, little friend?!